Perhaps one of the most amusing aspect of this conference is the regular "pastor rushes." Every time a session begins, a crowd gathers around each of the ten or twelve doors to the worship center. At the moment the doors open, a crowd of pastors rush to the front, seeking to nab the premier spots. They will, quite literally, sprint to the front, sometimes even pushing and shoving a little bit to get there. It makes for sick comedy and generates a lot of comments and giggles from bystanders. Tomorrow I may try to snap a picture of this in action!

This morning we will be treated to a session led by Mark Dever of Capitol Hill Baptist Church who will speak on unbelief.

He began by reflecting for a short time on the message John MacArthur brought us last night. He asked, if this message we bring is so wonderful, why would anyone ever not believe it? Why didn't the younger brother, the older brother and the pharisees we learned about last night believe? Why don't our friends and relatives believe? This is a question that haunts believers and unbelievers alike and was the topic of Jesus in John 12, beginning at verse 37 and continuing to the end of the chapter.

The Unbelievers

Though Jesus had done so many miraculous signs, the people still did not believe in Him. This passage concludes the series of signs that define the first part of the gospel. The tragic story of the first 12 chapters is summarized in the first verses: "His own did not receive Him." This was the grim reality that the recipients of this letter would have labored under.

Why did so many reject Jesus? Those who minister today labor in their churches as they do because of their answer to that question. Will they believe if we change our music? Will they believe if we lower the lights?

The nature of unbelief: John, following in the footsteps of Jesus, turns to the Scripture to answer this question. He turns to a quotation from Isaiah 53 and by examining this passage we can understand what John sought to call to mind. The people's rejection of the Messiah was part of the Messiah's substitutionary atonement for us. Isaiah shows us a comprehensive unbelief. Belief, and therefore unbelief, never involve the mind alone.

The core of unbelief: The core of unbelief is a lack of acceptance of Jesus' words. Rejecting His words is rejecting Him - His person. This is a pattern we see throughout Scripture. God's word in the Garden of Eden was clear, but Adam and Eve rejected this word and thus, they rejected God. In Adam we have all sinned and have all rejected the word. The Bible continues with the story of what it means like to reject God. Central to Jesus' message is that He has not rejected God and is in intimate communion with Him. This has great ramifications for anyone who would seek to love or worship a Jesus who is different than what we read in Scripture. This is a live issue in the church today where the substitutionary atonement is under constant attack. It may involve the academic hubris of recasting the words of Christ or involve subverting the rest of the New Testament in an apparent effort to make the rest of the Bible better "fit" Jesus' words. If we are would believe, we cannot change or disbelieve the words of Christ.

Reasons for unbelief: Verse forty says that they would not believe "so they would turn and be healed." The purpose is that they will not turn and be healed. It is not that these people are unwilling to turn, but are unable to turn. It is impossible for them to turn as they did not have the power. These people we love and pray for and preach to - they do not have the power to turn. Now, of course, formally they do have some power, but not the power as in the virtue, strength or disposition. They have no such power to believe.

At the end of his life Moses summoned the people and reminded them of all they had seen God do. But to that day the Lord had not given them the ability to see, hear and understand. The same is true with Isaiah and thus with John. God had not given a mind to understand, eyes to see or ears to hear. Did God to this merely by not extending grace? And certainly there is a self-hardening aspect of sin and thus we are all culpable for our own unbelief. But do note that God is also said to be active in causing hardening in unbelief as a just punishment for those who have deliberately chosen to be what they are. It is a judicial hardening.

Pastor Dever shared that he has taught this today to protect pastors from those within the Christian world who seek to sell a product or program in order to prey upon the conscience of the pastor. There are so many who seek to tell us that the reason people do not believe is that we have not bought into their program or product.

In Isaiah 6 God tells the prophet to preach to the people and Isaiah asks how long. How long are we to bring this message? In Romans 11 Paul answers "until the fullness of the Gentiles is complete."

There are five applications to this:

God's activity is never pitted against human responsibility: "You do not have to cut out Romans 9 to have Romans 10." The doctrines of election or reprobation, like in Paul's ministry, ought to bring greater emphasis to evangelism. We are to preach to everyone, not attempting to discern who is elect and who is not. We bring the message in faithfulness and let God do His work. God loves us and wants us to be in on this. He is glorified by our recounting of the gospel. He uses us because He loves us.

God's sovereignty is also a ground of hope: Our only hope is that God is sovereign. A pastor will not keep preaching without an understanding of God's sovereignty. The problems of another person may look insurmountable, but do you not remember what you were like before you were saved? We must never look down on another person and assume that he will never be saved. The only reason anyone is ever saved is because of God's sovereignty.

Unbelief is somehow part of God's larger plan of redemption: "I don't really know much more about it than that."

Note the hardening effect of the Word: In the ministries of Moses and Isaiah, the ministries of people in church history and especially the ministry of Jesus we see that the preaching of the word has a hardening effect. Sometimes we see people becoming harder through our ministries because we are doing something right.

Be willing to serve even when a ministry seems unfruitful: God, in His sovereignty, calls us to be faithful ministers and see no results. Jesus preached to Judas all the time, even though He knew what was in Judas. Somehow the glorious grace of God was displayed and portrayed when the Lord preached to Judas.

There will be times, of course, where a pastor has done a poor job and has not been faithful. But there are times where a pastor has been faithful. In these times we are following in the feet of Jesus who was rejected. Pastors are not called to generate results, but to be faithful.

It is clear that the general hardening of people did not preclude the salvation of all people.

Real belief:

Real belief centers on Jesus: This was true even for Isaiah. He saw Jesus' glory and spoke of Him. Christ is known by the prophets through the Holy Spirit. Again, hearing Jesus is hearing God. Seeing Jesus is seeing God. Faith in Jesus involves the mind, the ears, the eyes and is an acknowledgment that we are seeing God.

Believing in Jesus brings benefits: Believing in Jesus leads to, and actually is, eternal life.

Three Applications:

• The objective component: You need to have a clarity on the gospel which is composed of particular words. Holy, perfect, image, unwilling, choice. But God, who would have been just to consign us to hell, has run out to us by taking on flesh and becoming incarnate. We are called to repent and trust and so be saved. A pastor must continually drill his congregation on the gospel! If our members do not know the gospel, there is great responsibility for this upon the pastor.

• The subjective component: The subjective component is the fulness of belief. There must be a subjective appropriation of the gospel. There must be more than mere mental assent.

• Real faith is tied to the word: We cannot separate truth from the word of God.

Any real faith must be built upon the real word and must be centered on Jesus.

I have not visited very many churches that are as large and important as Grace Community Church, but I have been inside a few. I was not prepared for the "plainness" of Grace. The church is, to be honest, quite unremarkable but for its size. The inside is not at all exciting - the walls and ceilings are plain. The walls are unadorned and the entire focus of the church is a rather simple pulpit The campus is large, but plain. I guess this shows that the church does do what MacArthur claims: it focuses on the gospel while worrying far less about what people may want from a church. It gives people little more than what they need.

I asked Phil Johnson and one of the long-time elders at Grace Community Church about this over dinner tonight and they told me that this was a deliberate decision. It is interesting to note that this church was built at around the same time as Schuller's Crystal Cathedral. The difference between the buildings is striking. So is the difference in the focuses of their ministries.

This evening's session began with a time of singing. I was struck by the difference in singing between this conference and the Desiring God conference. Last year, when I blogged the Desiring God conference I remarked on the large number of hands that were raised during the times of worship through song. Tonight the singing was loud and powerful, but there were far fewer hands in the air. I would conservatively estimate the number of hands in the air at 1. Maybe 2. At times I am struck by the diversity within the body of Christ. At times that are more spiritually significant, I am struck by the sweetness of this diversity. It's a beautiful thing to behold.

Tonight's session will once again feature John MacArthur.

Scripture is very clear that God has no joy in the death of the wicked. He takes no pleasure in their destruction, for as we read in Scripture, Jesus wept over Jerusalem - sincere weeping. God finds His joy not in the destruction of the wicked but in the recovery of sinners. We don't talk much about the joy of God. We preach a lot of things about the nature of God, but one thing that gets left out is the joy of God. Do we think of God as joyful? God experiences unending, consumate joy, every moment. What gives him this joy? Deuteronomy 30 points to the obedience of His people.

God rejoices as a groom rejoices over his bride - the supreme human expression of joy. God finds His joy in the salvation of sinners. Do we think of God as shouting with joy? But He does, for He finds His joy in the recovery of lost sinners. Jonathan Edwards said that God supremely values His own joy and finds His highest joy in the recovery of the lost. And thus the end of all we do ought to be the joy of God.

Luke 15 looks at this in an incomparable way in the parables of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin. Jesus challenges the pharisees to ask who would be so superficial that he would rejoice over the finding of a lost coin, yet not rejoice at the salvation of a sinner? Who would be that selfish? That ungodly?

And then we turn to the story of the prodigal son. This parable is premised on a society that was dominated by the concepts of shame and honor. People and families sought to gain honor while avoiding shame. The listener fully understood the shame of this story. Everything that everybody does in this parable is shameful and unacceptable. It is counter to all conventional thinking. It is shocking, outrageous, unbelievable, unthinkable. Some of it is perceived to be shameful when it is not, and some of it is truly, deeply shameful.

A shameful request: It begins in verse eleven with the story of a father who had two sons. The one son requested his inheritance. It was a shameful request that would have raised the eyebrows of the pharisees. It is selfish, hateful and disrespectful. He is, in reality, saying to his father "I wish you were dead." The father was standing in the way of how his son wanted to live. The son wants his one-third of the estate and feels it is rightfully his. He wants it not so he can build and develop a business or to manage the money himself, but rather for his own selfish purposes - for his own freedom and independence. The pharisees would expect the father to beat him, punish him, and perhaps reduce the amount of his inheritance. He would do this because of the shame it would bring the family to have a son make such an outrageous request.

A shameful response: The father divided his wealth between them. No father would do this because it would bring further shame to the family. Instead of reacting in an honorable way, the father gives in to his son's request. Giving his son that much freedom would heap shame upon a middle-eastern nobleman. It was a very dishonorable act.

A shameful rebellion: The son gathered everything together, selling all he had and turning it into cash. He would have sold it cheap with the understanding that a person could not claim the wealth until the father was dead. Who would do something so dishonorable? What older son would stand by and let this happen? What father would allow this to happen? And all of this so the son could go on a journey into a foreign, unclean land and squander this estate in loose living. And again, the pharisees would have asked, "who would do this?" It would have been inconceivable to them. The level of shame and stupidity displayed by the characters in this story was extreme.

But as we know, the son became destitute. Loose living and a famine robbed him of all he had. He squandered all that he had been given. The son was sent into the fields to feed swine. He could go no lower. He is not herding pigs, but is a pig. He is a sinner in the most extreme form of rebellion.

In this story we see sin. Sin is a desire that God was dead and to want nothing to do with Him. It is to take all we have been given and squander it. It is to waste life in selfish indulgence while shunning all that is good and right. "This is the freedom of the will and it is a horrible bondage." The picture is flagrantly extreme.

A shameful repentance: The son came to his senses and we see that the beginning of repentance is an accurate assessment of one's condition. He realized that his father's hired hands had far more than he did and received more than enough. His father was kind, merciful, loving and generous. He has faith in his father's heart and willingness to take him back. He realizes the height of his sin (as high as heaven) but will confess his sin to his father and beg to be anything to his father. He will make no demands, no excuses, but will throw himself on the mercy of his father.

What could the son expect from his return? The villagers would have a responsibility to heap scorn upon him. This was part of the culture and he would have known this. He would expect that his father would send a message, not even willing to see him, and tell him to sit in the town and soak up his shame for a week or two. He would then grant an audience of great indifference and may lay out a long, harsh program of restitution that may just lead to a cold reconciliation after sufficient time had passed.

A shameful reconcilation: This is most shameful of all. His father had compassion, ran to him and kissed him. The pharisees would have rolled their eyes and mocked, thinking that there was just no helping this father. The father must have been looking for his son, for he saw him a long way off. Without having his honor restored, he runs to his son and plays the fool. He felt compassion like some type of wimp. He ran to him, sprinted to him, something old noblemen do not do, for it is neither dignified nor proper. It was shameful for a man to expose his legs and he would have had to do this to sprint. He acted indecent and shameful, disdaining cultural convention. He hugged his son, the vile, filthy, pig-stinking rebel, kissing him over and over.

Where is the same for this kid? Where is the price he has to pay? He should have been shamed. Should have been beaten. Should have had to wait. The pharisees could not comprehend the actions of the father because they could not understand grace. They had no category for grace.

The son got it. He understood grace. He said to his father that he was no longer worthy to be called his son. He left out the part about being treated as one of his father's hired men, for he understood that he had received reconciliation with his father's hugs and kisses. He received the mark of full acceptance and reconciliation. This picture was outrageous to the pharisees. A dignified, honorable person embracing a filthy sinner: this picture was incomprehensible to them.

It is God who seeks the sinner and initiates. He finds the sinner before the sinner could ever find Him. It is God's love for the penitent that is lavish, loving, gracious and apart from any work. God finds His joy in the salvation of one lost sinner. He runs and He embraces and He restores the penitent sinner.

We are not used to seeing God in that picture. We are not used to seeing God so eager, so anxious. We're not used to seeing Him with His robe pulled up, running through town, taking mockery for something so dishonoring and shameful. We're not used to seeing God unrestrained and over-the-top happy and joyous.

A shameful rejoicing: As if this isn't bad enough, they now have a party. He calls for the best robe - his own robe - and puts it upon the son. He treats his son like royalty, sharing in his father's dignity. He puts a ring upon his hand - a ring used to symbolize full authority to act for him. He puts shoes on him to symbolize leadership for slaves and hired people did not wear shoes. He calls for the fatted calf, the prime meal to be saved for the greatest occasion. All this because he has received his son back, safe and sound. This is heaven's joy.

The party is in honor not of the son, but in honor of the forgiving father. We will be at this party in heaven and will celebrate God's love forever. This father continues to be ludicrous in his conduct in the eyes of the pharisees.

A shameful reaction: The older son is in the field, not involved in the family's greatest party. This probably indicates that he had no relationship with his father. Should he not have been at the party? Should he not have been consulted? He had no interest in his father's joy. This is the first person in this story that the pharisees can understand. The son was angry, and to the pharisees this was the first honorable reaction. They can understand the older brother because they were the older brother. They were very bit as lost as the brother.

A shameful lie: The son complains about all that he has done for his father and notes that his father has never given him anything. He is discourteous and shows his lack of respect for his father. He has no joy in his father's joy and has no relationship with him. This is a terrible, slanderous attack on his father's graciousness. Rather than reprimanding him, the father answers gently. He affirms that all he has has always been his son's. The older son is as extreme a sinner as his brother, but in a different way.

God is gracious. He rejoices because one sinner repents. Heaven is not holding off the party and the celebration is going on right now. "There is a party going on in heaven all the time." The joy in the middle of the party is the joy of God Himself.

And here is the obvious application: are you seeking to bring the lost to Christ for the joy of the father?

And then the story ends without a proper ending. What is the son's reaction? Did the older son repent? Did he find reconciliation? The real ending was that the son beat his father to death in front of everyone there. It would be only a few months before these pharisees killed the Son of God, thinking that they were protecting righteousness and honor and the Law. As he crushes the father, he screams, "You are evil, you are evil, you are evil."

The final, ironic twist is that the father, who should have beaten the son, is beaten by the son.

As the evening ended, MacArthur led us in singing "Grace, Grace, God's Grace."

It is interesting to look around and see how many people travel alone, and how many travel in groups. There are a great number of people, it seems, who travel to this conference on their own. These people tend to sit quietly on their own, sneaking into the auditoriums before they are supposed to be open to the public and sitting quietly with their books or laptops. There are also plenty who have come with friends and co-workers. These people travel in laughing, shouting packs. They go to the same seminars together and insist on sitting beside each other in long rows.

I tend towards the former. I am starting to understand myself as something of a loner - a conviction that grows with each conference I attend. It is not that I dislike meeting people and talking with them: it’s that I am not the type to strike up a conversation with a stranger. I guess that is why I enjoy blogging. It allows me to stay comfortably isolated. I wonder who meets more people during the course of the conference: those who tend to seek isolation or those who find community in the group they travel with. Either way it seems that a person is likely limiting his contact with others.

It has become quickly apparent that this conference exists not merely to equip pastors, but also to serve and honor them (and perhaps even spoil them a little). At the close of the earlier session one of the organizers announced that there was an area for "shoe-shining and everything else a pastor needs." I don't know too many pastors that need to have their shoes shined (or who need to travel to Los Angeles to have them shined, at any rate), but there are obviously plenty of them who will take up the offer if presented with it. So it seems that this is an opportunity for Grace church to honor pastors who give so much of themselves for the sake of the gospel.

We are about to begin the first round of seminars. I have chosen to listen to Phil Johnson expose the "damning doctrines of Roman Catholicism" in a seminar entitled "Rome is Burning." From what I know of Phil, he won't pull any punches, but will continually turn back to Scripture to show where Catholicism has abandoned the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Phil decided to retitle this seminar, "Is the Reformation Over?" It has now been more than a decade since the release of the Evangelicals and Catholics together statement of unity. This began a long campaign of trying to bring unity to Protestants and Catholics and has been signed by multitudes of prominent Evangelicals and Catholics.

The ecumenical juggernaut has continued to roll on. John Armstrong, for example, was first against this statement but has since become one of the most outspoken activists for ETC. Timothy George, at first withheld his signature, but since became an activist for ecumenicism. Ecumenicism continues to gain ground. Those who object are seen as being uncharitable reactionists.

Mark Noll has written a book which asks, "Is The Reformation Over?" and the title of that book is what Phil borrowed for this seminar. Interestingly, Noll is now leaving Wheaton College and moving to Notre Dame. One of the reasons for leaving is to prove his commitment to Protestant-Catholic dialogue. He feels that Protestants need to embrace the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has changed, especially since Vatican II. The Reformation has succeeded and thus, is over. But, Phil believes, what has really changed is not Catholicism but Protestantism. Protestants have largely abandoned their own doctrinal heritage. They have replaced it with a brand of quasi-Evangelicalism that is no longer opposed to or offensive to Rome.

This seminar will examine various arguments for Catholic-Evangelical ecumenism.

What is so appealing about ecumenical relationships with Rome? They come in five categories: practical, political, historical, biblical, theological.

1. Practical: there is no longer any substantive difference between Roman Catholics and Protestants. It is easy to find Catholics who now act in ways identical to Protestants, whether seeking the gifts of the Holy Spirit, leading Alpha classes, and so on. And this is, in many ways, true. Post Vatican II Catholicism has a greater emphasis on the role of the layperson. This looks like a Catholic understanding of the Protestant concept of the priesthood of all believers. In short, if Roman Catholics and Protestants look alike, worship alike and have similar emphases, they ought to be together. This is a very pragmatic argument, but one that is effective because so many Protestants have long since sold out to pragmatism.
2. Historical: the dispute over justification by faith has not been settled in five hundred years and will probably never be. No person, group or council has been able to resolve this dispute. If Protestant scholars keep entering this debate, perhaps it proves that this is a false argument and one that will never be solved. Another historical argument is based around the traditional Protestant understanding that the Catholic church is not a true church. The question then is, where was the true church before the Protestant churches? This question has led many Protestants to cross the Tiber. Catholics can point to an apostolic pedigree whereas Protestants cannot. Noll's book is heavily slanted towards a Catholic bias and understanding of church history.
3. Political: abortion has long been an important issue on both the Protestant and Catholic radar. We share many political and social and moral concerns. While Protestants and Catholics argue about theology, society is falling apart. Should we not lay aside our disagreements, people say, and focus on issues that are of greater importance to our lives? This was one of the original purposes of ETC. Another major political argument is based on a heightened awareness of the threat of Islamic terrorism. Catholics and Protestants should stop trying to evangelize each other when the threat of Islamic facism is hanging over the world? Should we not evangelize others?
4. Doctrinal: in the big scheme of things there seems to be much on which Catholics and Protestants can agree. We both affirm many of the same creeds and confessions. We admire and are indebted to many of the same Church Fathers. We reject many of the same heresies and heretics.
5. Biblical: most of these are based on the Bible's continual injunctions to seek peace among all men and to seek Christian unity. And unity is important, even to the point of being the very measure of the strength and growth of our faith. But on what basis?

This is an imposing array of arguments. Within the spirit of the age in which we live, we can see why the desire for unity has found such strong support.

So, what then, is the problem with seeking a tie between Evangelicalism and Catholicism?

There is one argument that trumps all of these and puts them down in one fell swoop: the doctrinal disagreement between Rome and Evangelicalism is not small and profound: first, we disagree on the very heart of the gospel and how to answer the question, "what must I do to be saved?". Second, we disagree on who has the authority to settle that argument. Two things must be affirmed among Evangelicals: The gospel and the authority of God's Word.

A thumbnail sketch of Evangelicalism and what makes it what it is:

Evangelicalism used to be defined by a clear, specific theological stance. It used to mean that a person had a faith built on two pillars: the authority of Scripture and the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. The Five Solas were a guide to the major doctrines of the Protestant Reformation. Two of them in particular stand out as the key issues over which the bulk of the debate took place: sola scriptura, the formal principle of the Reformation, and sola fide, the material principle of the Reformation. Note that these are the distinctive doctrines of Evangelicalism. All Evangelicals, until recently, affirmed these doctrines. Only in recent years has the expression Evangelical been broadened to include people who deny these pillars.

Sola scriptura affirms the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. No higher court of appeal exists or is needed beyond Scripture. Neither is anything to be added to Scripture. All differences between Protestantism and Catholicism stem from the difference in this point of doctrine.

Sola fide (faith alone) summarized the main doctrinal point that was at stake between Protestantism and Catholicism. It is a dispute about the most basic issue of the gospel. It summarizes the Protestant understanding that it is by faith alone that we are saved. It is an alien righteousness (not our own, but Christ's) that is reckoned to our account. Those who have this righteousness need no other to stand before God here and now. It is not a process but is an instant decree. It grants us a perfect standing with God the moment we believe. Scripture affirms this repeatedly. Sola fide points us only and entirely to Christ for our salvation.

Roman Catholicism and Protestantism preach different gospels. This is the heart of the disagreement between Evangelicals and Rome. That Rome preaches a false gospel has been the position of every major Reformer since the Reformation. A defective view of justification is what drives much of the Catholic practice and theology that is foreign to Protestantism: from the veneration of Mary to the mass and from prayer to saints to auricular confession. Catholicism insists that justification is a process requiring not just faith but also obedience. The bottom line is that we are saved by faith plus nothing! These are two different gospels.

Our difference is so profound that both sides have traditionally agreed that only one can be right and one of us must be anathema - damnably wrong. Until we can agree on the substance of the gospel, this breach cannot be healed and should not be glossed over.

All of this has changed in recent years. An Evangelical is no longer a person defined by theology but by experience or church membership. "Evangelical" has been stripped of doctrinal content. Mainstream Evangelicals have been assaulted by movements that seem to be motivated by removing the doctrinal distinctives: The lack of theology in the Church Growth Movement, the anti-intellectualism of the Charismatic movement; the neo-ecumenism in Promise Keepers and other movements, the new understanding of justification in the New Perspective on Paul, the denial of propositional truth in the Emerging Church, and so on. These have all worked to the detriment of Evangelicalism. So now, Evangelicalism which was once a movement defined by doctrine, understands doctrine to be divisive and of secondary importance. The obvious casualty in all of this is the gospel. Catholics and Protestants have long agreed that the heart of the debate is the gospel, but now people would have us believe otherwise.

If we agree with ecumenism, we have set aside the gospel. It is positively sinful and grossly disobedient to seek the type of unity that many have sought between Catholicism and Protestantism. The only real hope for our lost and dying culture is the very gospel message they seek to relegate to secondary importance.

None of the leading Reformers discounted the importance of Christian unity. Because the Catholic Church abandoned the gospel of faith alone, the Reformers were driven to the conclusion that the Church was apostate and the Gospel was the issue.

While many changes have taken place within the Catholic Church since Vatican II, these changes are merely cosmetic. The Church has not made any significant changes in doctrine for the very reason that Catholic doctrine is unchangeable, irreformable. The new Catholic Catechism affirms all of the doctrines of the Council of Trent. Rome has not changed or Reformed doctrinally. She still rejects the gospel of justification by faith alone through Christ alone.

Scripture is clear on the obligation of those within the church who offer a different gospel. We are to reject them and the message they teach. This teaches us what type of unity we are to seek: a unity built on sound doctrine! Scripture's exhortation for unity is a unity built only upon the foundation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Is the Reformation over? Perhaps it is, but this points not to changes in doctrine within the Roman Catholic Church, but to a weakening of doctrine within Evangelicalism.

Phil concluded in prayer that pastors would continue to stand for the truth.

I would not have expected John MacArthur to begin the conference with a comedic monologue, yet that is what he did. He made jokes about the length of his tenure at Grace and even his age. He asked for how many people this was their first Shepherd's Conference. When at least half the men in attendance stood up, he asked, "So whose conference have you been at?" He remarked, though, that looking at the number of men in attendance, he has never been more ready to depart this world knowing that the church is in good hands. He thanked us for attending and turned the stage over to the Master's Seminary Choir, which, when accompanied by the orchestra, led us in several songs.

And then John MacArthur stepped to the pulpit for the first session: a session dealing with some of the challenges to the contemporary church.

There is a landscape of pseudo-churches and the word "church" is terribly overused. It is easy to call a body a church but more difficult to be one. He mentions George Barna who calls for the demise of the church. MacArthur feels that it is time for us to defend the church and who gets to use the word.

He says that the most common call or letter that comes into Grace to You is "I can't find a church." People can find a place called a church but have a hard time finding a real church - a biblical church. To discover what the church is, we need to go back to Scripture and, in particular, Matthew 16. In the text, where that statement is given by Jesus, all the foundational aspects of the church are given. Everything else about the church in the New Testament builds upon this verse: "I will build my church." This is the first mention of the word "church." It contains the necessary marks of the true church, either explicitly or implicitly. This has the doctrinal foundations for a biblical ecclesiology.

1. A true church is known by a great confession. The great confession in this passage is Simon Peter: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Thus the first absolute is a biblical Christology: a biblical view of Jesus Christ. There must be an understanding of the truth of Jesus Christ. It is not built on a wrong or inadequate view of Jesus Christ. Without Christ there is no gospel, no salvation. The church is an assembly of people who make the great and common confession that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. To say Christ is at the center of a church is simply to say that this is a church. To confess Christ is the heart and soul of the church. "I simply cannot understand people for whom Christ is not the main subject of their preaching."
   
2. That great confession is built on a great communication. God communicated the truth of this confession to Peter. Peter was able to make this confession on behalf of the apostles on the basis of God's revelation. It did not come from a human source but from God Himself. There is no human source for this saving confession. You cannot know the saving confession without the Divine revelation. It was objective, divine, external revelation. All we know of Christ must come through us by God. "The revealed Word is everything. Absolutely everything." The foundation of the church is the Word of God because faith comes by hearing that Word. "How can church be church if it is not relentlessly Christ-centered and Bible-saturated?" The church is a gathering of people who are brought together on the foundation of God's Word. A major attack on the church today is by people within the visible church who attack the certitude of Scripture. "God has spoken plainly; they don't like what it says." Jesus never allowed people to feel that the Old Testament was anything less than clear. What was in the Scripture, people were responsible to know and understand.


3. The church is marked by a great contrast. Jesus warns the disciples to "tell no one that He was the Christ." Why would He do this? He perceived that the people were going to make Him king. The people had a warped view of the Messiah and His kingdom, so they were not in a position to deal with the truth of this profession. They were looking for an earthly ruler and Jesus wanted nothing to do with that. His kingdom has no connection to any earthly kingdom. The church has no role in rearranging sinners into more acceptable lifestyles. Our mandate is to proclaim the Word of God. We are to penetrate our culture with the gospel, not to change the culture into a Christian one. "The biggest mission field in America is professed Christianity."


4. The church is marked by a great conquest. It is at the cross that all the issues of sin, righteousness, judgment and imputation are made clear. The cross my be exalted in everything. The cross must prevail in conquest.


5. The church is marked by a great conflict. Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him. Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Get behind me Satan!" The church is engaged in a relentless war for truth. You either set your mind on God's interests or you capitulate and set your mind on man's interest. Many who profess to be Christians, even today, are siding with Satan. Many who think they are aiding the gospel are actually in the way. They are hindering the work of God.


6. The true church understands the great contradiction: "Whoever wishes to gain his life must lose it." Of all of the invitation statements Jesus could have said, he says this one. The great contradiction is that going after Jesus will cost a person everything. Church is not about making people feel good about themselves. It is made up of people who want to escape themselves and bring an end to themselves. This clashes so blatantly with what so many churches are offering today (see MacArthur's book Hard to Believe for more on this subject).


7. The church anticipates and understand the great consumation. The church needs to recover an eschatology that looks forward primarily to glorification. The church desperately needs to look forward to this great consumation. "The great wonder of wonders in heaven is that I'll be there."

How do you recognize a real church? You'll find a person whose proclamation is Christ, the cross and resurrection, humility and submission and obedience to God as sinners desperately in need of grace, and who are living in anticipation in the fulness of grace when they see the Savior face-to-face. No wonder that such churches are hard to find.

And with that, we were sent on our way for lunch!

So here I am. I’m sitting in the worship center of Grace Community Church. Apart from the orchestra, which is doing some last minute practicing, and a few scattered conference staff, talking in small clusters, the auditorium is empty. The Master’s Seminary choir, which must number at least 100, just finished practicing a few of the songs they will lead us in later today.

I arrived in Los Angeles yesterday afternoon and immediately met up with Doug McHone from Coffeeswirls (www.coffeeswirls.com). My travel was boring but uneventful. I ended up sitting next to someone a little bit surly and completely untalkative on the long flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles which was disappointing. And so I read Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point from cover-to-cover while in the air. We rented the smallest, cheapest car available from Enterprise and made our way to Santa Clarita where we are staying with a host family from the church. The family is spoiling us. We had a huge basket of snacks and drinks and other good things waiting in our room. One of the granola bars came in hand last night when Doug woke me up with his snoring. I grabbed one from the basket and launched it in the direction of the noise. The snoring stopped and I got back to sleep.

When I arrived at the conference this morning I was offered two choices: I could sit in the second row from the front or sit in the back. Being who I am, I opted for the very back. So I am sitting in the back row, beside the center door. For those who are here and would like to drop by to say “hi,” I am immediately to the right (when facing the front of the room) of the center doors (one row over from the sound booth). At this point I’d anticipate that I will be in this spot for most of the conference.

It is a beautiful, warm, cloudless day in California. It was amazing to show up here this morning and to see the parking lot filled to overflowing and thousands of men milling about, registering, shopping, and drinking countless gallons of coffee. Doug is probably out there still. He managed to disappear sometime when we were registering. I assume he’ll show up sooner or later.

As we registered we were given a badge with our names; a nicely-printed catalog with a schedule, a list of seminars and maps to various local restaurants and attractions; a discount card for the bookstore; and a box containing a leather portfolio.

As I am writing this, they have just opened the doors and men are pouring in, running down the aisles to get seats near the front. Hundreds of them. Thousands. I hear there will be almost 3500 people here, the vast majority of whom as pastors. Looking about I can see three or four women. Everyone else is male.

We are about fifteen minutes away from the beginning of the conference. The first session features none other than John MacArthur. I’ll check back after he has spoken.

I have been given the great privilege of liveblogging this year’s Shepherd’s Conference. The conference, which is geared primarily towards pastors and is sponsored by Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, is composed of both General Sessions and Conference Seminars.

The General Sessions “are times when we gather as one great congregation to worship the Lord in music and sit under the teaching of godly men--men who have proven themselves to be passionate teachers of God’s Word and faithful shepherds of God’s people.” The keynote speakers at these General Sessions are: John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Al Mohler, Ligon Duncan, Mark Dever, and Steve Lawson.

The Conference Seminars allow “access to a variety of teaching from pastors and elders of Grace Community Church and professors from The Master’s College and Seminary. Seminar topics range from expository preaching and shepherdology to key theological issues vital for shepherds today.” Among the seminar leaders are Phil Johnson, Irv Busenitz, Nathan Busenitz, Rick Holland, Steve Lawson and Richard Mayhue.

There will be eleven General Seminars and each person will attend five of the more than forty Conference Seminars. While there are different “tracks” available, I am attending seminars on a variety of topics.

I have been given free rein as to how I blog the conference. My intent is to allow those who are not able to attend the conference to be able to understand what is happening and perhaps to gain some idea of the atmosphere at such a gathering. I will provide commentary on each of the General Sessions as they unfold and will also comment on the Seminars I choose to attend. I am hoping to have opportunity to speak with some attendees and ask how they are enjoying their time. I hope that my endeavors will prove valuable to those who choose to read the updates.

I am on my way to Los Angeles today (with a three-hour stop in Atlanta) and will begin blogging in earnest when the conference begins at 10 AM (Pacific Standard Time) on Wednesday March 5. I’d appreciate your prayers for my travelling safety and for the healty and safety of my family while I am away. There will be people staying with my family, so I do not really fear for their safety, but I do tend to miss them when I am away!

If you have any input as to how I can make the liveblogging of this conference more valuable for you, the reader, please do not hesitate to let me know, either by sending an email or by posting a comment.

I returned safely from Minneapolis last night. The journey home was quick and uneventful. While I had a wonderful time at the conference, I am always glad to return to the comforts of home and family. Today is Thanksgiving Day (yes, we celebrate it on a Monday unlike our American neighbors who prefer Thursday) so I intend to spend the day with my family. But first I thought I’d provide a few topical reflections on my weekend at the Desiring God National Conference.

Doug McHone

Doug is a nice guy - at least as nice as you’d expect if you’ve communicated with him via email or read his web site. His love for God and his desire to know Him more fully is evident within minutes of meeting the guy. He is far more out-going than I am and likes to talk just as much. One thing you probably did not know about Doug is that he shaves with Baby Magic, some sort of baby cream. He insists that he has sensitive skin, but I’m guessing he probably just wants to have baby-soft cheeks. If you ever have opportunity to spend some time with Doug (and that is unlikely because he lives precisely in the middle of nowhere) I’d recommend you take him up on that opportunity.

Justin Taylor

I did not get to spend as much time with Justin as I would have liked as Justin was kept busy taking care of John Piper. I have often wondered what the job description is for a “theological director” and after seeing one in action I believe it is composed of several aspects. First, compiling indexes for books. Second, chasing after the most eminent theologian within a certain proximity and making sure he stays hydrated and comfortable, whether that involves fanning him or giving him a back rub. Third, I think Justin is also responsible for security, a task he seems well-built to handle - he is a big guy and could make short work of me if I got too enthusiastic about insisting that Piper sign my copy of Desiring God. As for something you didn’t know about Justin, it would probably have to be that the wallpaper on his computer is a picture of the cast of “Dr Quinn Medicine Woman.” Oh, and the home page in his browser is Girl Talk blog. This is a guy who must be quite secure in his masculinity.

In all seriousness, Justin seemed like a deep and genuine guy who is very clearly well-suited to be a theological director. I’m sure we’ll be hearing his name a lot in the future.

John Piper

I only met John Piper very briefly so have no real thoughts on him from a personal level, but I was blessed to see and experience him as a pastor and speaker. I was almost surprised to see what an experience it is to sit under one of those “only a few every generation” type of preachers. When Piper preaches he seems to do little more than bridge one Bible verse to the next, building to a deeply biblical conclusion. With some preachers you begin to feel that they could get along just fine without the Bible, but with Piper you feel that if he didn’t have the Bible he’d have nothing to say. It is easy to see the Spirit moving in John as he preaches. He begins slowly, but builds in forcefulness and excitement with every passing minute. His passion for God and his passion for preaching must be obvious to all who sit under him.

Desiring God

I was deeply impressed with Desiring God as an organization. The conference was well-planned and seemed to go like clockwork. There was a great emphasis on prayer and worship through the proceedings. A prayer room was open throughout each day and there were people constantly interceding before the throne on behalf of the attendees. The worship in song was biblical and with primary emphasis not on when a song was written, but whether it focused on God or man. Every member of the Desiring God team with whom I came into contact was pleasant and eager to serve me however possible.

Midwest Airlines

I flew Midwest Airlines and had four flights when them in three days. I very much enjoyed travelling with them and it was easily the best flying experience I have had thus far. The fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies are every bit as good as you’d expect. They had me at, “would you like a warm cookie?”

My Family

I returned home to cries of “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy’s home!” as my daughter raced not towards me, but away, to find her brother. I then got bowled over with hugs. And when the kids had finished with me, I embraced my wife, whom I am not accustomed to being away from. She took great care of the kids while I was gone and seemed to have a good time with them. I love her dearly.

Tim Challies

I had a great time at the conference and came away with a lot of things I need to think about. I did a lot of writing during my journey home and I would assume you’ll see some of that writing over the next few days. I am deeply thankful for the opportunity to participate in this conference. Will I go back next year? I don’t know if I will be asked, but if I am, I’ll go in a heartbeat. I was blessed with the comments I received both at the conference and by readers of this site. It seems that this live-blogging was a useful addition to the convention and I hope that in the future there will not be a major ministry that does not include live-blogging at its conferences.

Today’s message is “Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, Part 2” by John Piper.

The purpose of this message to to magnify Christ in His suffering and in that process to venture what is the ultimate biblical explanation for suffering. Further, we will do it in a way that would free us from the paralyzing effects of discouragement, self-pity, fear and greed, but rather to be free to spend ourselves whether able or disabled, to spread a passion for the supremacy of Christ in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.

Big Statements

The entire universe exists to display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God. The greatest display of God’s glory is the display of the glory of His grace. All that is, then, exists to display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God. The ultimate aim and explanation for the existence of sin and suffering is for this display. Jesus’ suffering is the supreme manifestation and is the highest, clearest, surest display of the glory of the grace of God that is possible or conceivable. If so, a stunning truth emerges from Scripture, namely, that suffering is an essential part of the tapestry of the universe so that the weaving of the grace of God will be seen in all of the fulness of its glory.

Most simply: the ultimate reason that suffering exists is so that God might display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God by the suffering of Christ to deliver us from suffering. In conceiving such a universe, God did not choose “Plan B.” Christ’s death is the moment for which the entire universe was explained, for it was the greatest display of the glory of the grace of God.

We will now walk on a biblical pathway to how Piper learned this. What may sound like high theology will now be proven to be the teaching of the Bible.

Biblical Support

Revelation 13:8 - “And all who dwell on earth will worship him [the beast], everyone whose name is not written before the founation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain.” This verse means that before the creation of the universe was a book that already had in view Jesus Christ as slain and people as purchased by this sacrifice. The suffering of Jesus was not an afterthought but was a planned event from before the foundation of the world. This book was written at the beginning of God who had no beginning.

2 Timothy 1:9 - God saved us and called us to a holy calling, not becuase of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.” What is grace? Grace is undeserved favor toward sinners. In Christ Jesus God gave us this grace before the ages began. We had not yet been created so we could sin and become undeserving, but God had already decreed that grace, “in-Christ grace,” would come to us in Jesus Christ. Don’t miss the magnitude of the word “slain.” It is only used in the Bible in Revelation and it means “slaughter.” It is not a nice or sweet word, but a gross, vile one. Here we have suffering in the slaughter of the Lamb of God.

Ephesians 1:4-6 - God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love. He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will to praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.” Twice we see that the praise to bring glory to the grace of God is related to Christ before the foundation of the world. We know that our adoption was rooted in Christ’s death as a Redeemer. So what Paul means is that God chose us in Christ and chose us through Christ because the plan was the suffering of Christ that warranted our election and adoption. The goal of all of this was unto “the praise of His glorious grace.”

Revelation 5 - The hosts of heaven are worshipping the Lamb. What makes Him worthy? His slaughter. “And they sang a new song singing ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth’…Then I looked, and I heard around the throne…myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands saying in a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered!’” The people sing praise to Christ because He was slaughtered. Therefore we can conclude that the centerpiece of the worship of all eternity is the Lamb who was slain. The suffering and death of Jesus will never be forgotten. It is the highest, clearest, surest display of the grace of God.

What does this tell us about the existence of suffering and death? God permits sin to enter the world. He ordains what He hates to come to pass. (See Mark Talbot’s session). It is not sinful for God to will what will be, even when what will be is sin. What people meant for evil (the Fall), God meant for good, as it came to show the greatness of the glory of the grace of God. Adam and Eve set the stage for a display of the greatness of the glory of the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Suffering entered the world and Romans 8 tells us how to deal with this. Sin has now pervaded the world so that none are immune to the effects of suffering.

Ezekiel 33:11 tells us that God does not delight in human suffering. God does not, from the bottom of His heart, delight in what He ordains, but the plans stay in place. The stage is now set and the drama of redemptive history begins to unfold. Sin and suffering are in force and are present and ready to consume the Son of God. Everything is now in place for the greatest possible display of the glory of the grace of God. And so, in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son. Everything Christ accomplished for us, was accomplished through suffering. Everything good that comes to us does so through the suffering of Christ. Suffering exists so that Christ might display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God by entering into suffering so that He might deliver us from everlasting suffering.

What Did Christ Accomplish for us by Suffering?

We must remember that everything good has come only, only, only through the slaughtering of the perfect, sinless Son of God. With that in view, here are seven things Christ accomplished for us:

1. Christ absorbed the wrath of God on our behalf and did so by suffering. He became a curse for us. The eternal wrath of God was absorbed by Christ on the cross and this is the glory of grace.

2. Christ bore our sins and purchased our forgiveness and He did so by suffering. The sins that should have crushed us with the weight of our guilt were transferred onto the only innocent being who ever lived.

3. Christ provided a perfect righteousness for us that becomes ours in Him and did so by suffering.

4. Christ defeated death and did it by suffering death.

5. Christ disarmed Satan and did it by suffering. He put the rulers and authorities to an open shame by triumphing over them. Satan has one damning weapon and that is all: unforgiven sin with which he can accuse us. That is the only thing that can send us to hell. That unforgiven sin was nailed to the cross, thus defeating Satan.

6. Christ purchased perfect, final healing for all of God’s people and did it by suffering. While we do not get the whole inheritance in this life, we do get it eventually.

7. Christ will bring us, finally, to God and will do it by His suffering (1 Peter 3:18). Christ brings us to God and this is the apex of the glory of God.

The ultimate purpose of the universe is to display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God. And that is found in the death and suffering of His Son. The ultimate reason that suffering exists is that Christ might display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God as He suffers to overcome our suffering that we might bring praise to God for the greatness of the glory of His grace.

Piper closed with an exhortation that we, whether able or disabled, enduring loss or delighting in friend, suffering pain or enjoying favor, might embrace the truth that in Christ Jesus immeasurable riches are ours. We have so much to live for. “Don’t waste your life!” he cried. Instead, savor the riches that we have in Christ. Spend ourselves at any cost and spread these riches to a desperately needy world.

Quote of the Session: “Suffering is no respector of persons. You cannot look to Christ on the cross and believe that you will be spared.”

At lunch time today Doug and I had lunch with Adam (aka Ochuk) who lives nearby. It was great to eat with him (and witness Adam eating his first-ever Big Mac). Ochuk is every bit as well-read and intelligent as one would assume from reading his web site. At dinner we ate with Jack, a new friend, who is a reader of this site. Jack shared with us about his wife, whom he recently lost after an incredible fifty-seven years of marriage. It was wonderful getting to know him.

The fifth and final session of the day is “Suffering for the Sake of…” by Joni Eareckson Tada. Joni is something of an icon in the evangelical community and in earlier discussion Adam Omelianchuk, Doug and I agreed that it is likely that more people have heard of Joni than John Piper! The conference planners opened up extra seating in order to hold what they feel will be a large crowd of people eager to hear her testimony.

After another beautiful time of worship, which began with an upbeat, but worshipful South African song and ended with the “Deep, Deep Love of Jesus,” John Piper introduced Joni. Prior to this, during the African song, Joni was off to the side of the stage, worshipping God by singing and dancing in her wheelchair. It was a beautiful picture of worship. The room was filled with thousands of worshippers singing and clapping their hands, ten or so signing their worship with their hands and indeed their whole bodies, and three or four dancing with joy in their wheelchairs. There was joy in that room - the joy that only Christians can fully understand.

We watched a short video which introduced Joni and her charity which supports the disabled. “Why is the woman in the video so happy?” Joni asked after she took the stage. Because God is happy! But this begs the question, why is God so happy? God is so happy because He is satisfied in His Son. He never tires of boasting about His Son. Jesus shares His joy with us so that His joy might be in us. The catch is that God only shares His joy on His terms, and He may just call us to share in suffering. She quoted often from Shawshank Redemption. “Hope is a very good thing. Maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.” Am I going to get living or am I going to get dying?

Joni shared some of her testimony about her accident, hospitalization and hopelessness. And, of course, she shared about her growing realization of God’s sovereignty even in this. Joni pointed out that when God tells us to pick up and bear our cross, it is not a wheelchair or any physical infirmity. “My cross is not my wheelchair. It is my attitude.” Anything that produces bitterness against God is what we are called to die to daily. Through the power of the resurrection we can become like Christ not only in death, but in life! Suffering allows us to be better bonded to the Savior. Joni continually breaks into song as she speaks, even leading the assembled group in songs of praise. Narrative, theology, poetry and prose combine in a seamless whole.

It is little wonder that Joni has served to inspire so many. She is filled with joy despite, and perhaps even because of, her affliction. She sees her disability not as a hindrance but as an opportunity to minister and to bring glory to the one who ordained it from before time. And she looks forward, with great anticipation, to the day that suffering will be no more, and she will spring from that chair.

Joni closed by singing “On Christ the Solid Rock” while the assembled congregation hummed the melody, altos, tenors and basses rising and falling together in a song to the healer of broken bodies and broken hearts.

Quote of the Session: “I did not want to let go of the strange and sick comfort of my own misery.”
Runner-up: “When we finally are able to stop laughing and crying, God will wipe away our tears. And it is ironic that when I finally will be able to use my hands to wipe my tears, I won’t have to.”