Honoring R.C. Sproul: Legacy and Mission of Ligonier

I had read The Holiness of God and so on, and then when I met him he was just such a down-to-earth person and fell in love with him and realized that God raises up, from time to time, a unique set of gifts and a voice and a person that addresses not just the literati, but addresses the church, but addresses, you know, whoever this person is, but the ordinary person in the church. [00:01:51]

I remember being, many things, being drawn into friendship by him and then thereafter getting invitations to do things with Ligonier. And it was, you know, I can't tell you how much I felt like out of my comfort zone as a young man with R.C. I remember a conference with John MacArthur, other men you know that we all would look up to, but feeling that he had drawn me somehow or another out of the like the outer circle into an inner circle of friends. [00:04:37]

And I will have to say this, no one was ever more encouraging and affirming to me after I would preach than R.C., and that meant more to me than anything. I remember even one sermon I preached, Chris I don't know if you remember, we met over at the Marriott Hotel, it was a pastors' conference, and there were like three hundred, four hundred pastors in there, and I preached a sermon on Romans 11:36. [00:11:27]

And I think secondly, we have to go back to what R.C. was trying to do with Ligonier Valley Study Center in the first place was between the Sunday school and the seminary, to offer that, as you say, sort of bring those cookies down a little bit for those to partake in. But he was all about equipping equippers, equipping those who would go on to teach Sunday school classes, equipping those who would lead Bible studies in the local church. [00:29:30]

And the way he was able to do that, I think, encouraged ministers to simultaneously provide food for the children that made them stretch and therefore strengthened them. You know, so much of his literature was like that and to me one of the great things about the ministry was, unlike so many ministries, its center was actually the center. So the thing in Ligonier Ministry was not a thing, it was God Himself. [00:32:38]

And I think as it continues to build on that, one of the ways in which you see especially serving pastors and the church is that it's equipping both to be ready for whatever comes, absolutely whatever comes. Because it's only when you understand the center and the whole that it doesn't matter where the falsehood or the heresy or the deviation or the attack comes from, you are actually ready for it. [00:33:43]

Now, we don't link arms with everyone, but on essential matters we have risen above sectarianism, which I think is a very, very unhealthy spirit, and have been able to work with people who see certain things slightly different. But for me, those things are secondary and we have agreed on what is primary, and I think it's been a marvelous example and you mentioned the Presbyterianism. [00:36:21]

I do think that we are in a fairly unique moment because of social media and how theology and theologizing is done in an instant without peer review, and if I can just link back to the previous question, what I think of when I think of Ligonier Ministries is a base where you can be sure you can find some measure of stability and certainty about an issue. [00:39:34]

And I think that's what Ligonier Ministries needs to be and I pray is in a world that is constantly shifting, and questions can bubble up these days just instantly, and we need something that we can trust, a resource, and what unites us is far, far more important than what divides us, a passion and a love for Reformed theology. [00:41:04]

I think that what I would summarize, even in terms of what we just talked about, is that what distinguishes Ligonier Ministries is a defense of historic Protestantism. It is a defense of Protestant confessionalism. It is a defense of biblical orthodoxy. It is a defense precisely aimed, as I think the Reformers would well understand and affirm, where the devil's attack is coming most acutely. [00:45:06]

I hope that that's what animates them and drives them, and I hope and am confident actually that there will been more need for Ligonier Ministries then than even now, as there is now, from when this organization and ministry was first started, but we're going to do everything we can to make certain that the theology taught and the doctrine preached and the ministries that are extended by Ligonier Ministries are exactly what they were established to be in the beginning, which wasn't to be something new, but a continuation of that faith once for all delivered to the saints. [00:46:58]

Father, we're so thankful to You to be privileged to take part in this conference, to fellowship with God's people together. We are so thankful for every memory of the work of R.C. Sproul, who would want to say tonight that he was a sinner saved by grace, and we pray O Lord that you will grant blessing and wisdom to those who seek to carry on the work that he began to the glory of Christ, so that many more might know the saving work of Jesus on the cross, that many more might be brought into the fellowship of His church, that many more might be encouraged by the riches and comforts and depths of His Word. [00:47:15]