LigonDuncan.com

RTS and the Current State of Theological Education

Some of you may have seen this important article over at The Gospel Coalition about the decline and relocation of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) by Collin Hansen, who is a graduate of the school. Reformed Theological Seminary has been friends with TEDS for many years. Over the years, a number of our faculty have done their studies there before coming to RTS, and a number of our graduates have gone on to do doctoral work there. We wish TEDS all the best in this new stage of their institutional life. The last twenty years have been tough for accredited graduate theological education…

All Peoples

If you have your Bibles, I would invite you to turn with me to Psalm 117. This very short psalm, one psalm removed from a very long psalm, is a jewel and quoted in the New Testament — quoted in the New Testament in a very, very important passage on a very, very important topic because it's succinctly explains something about the plan of God in history that is vitally important for all Christians to know but it was especially important for them to understand it in the days of the early church. It's a short psalm but it's filled with big, huge, worldwide truths. And as we read it, I want you to be on the lookout for two or three things. First of all, this psalm gives an exhortation to the entire world. The psalm is not just an exhortation to the people of God gathered in one…

Weep for Yourselves

The Lord's Day Morning October 23, 2011 “Weep for Yourselves” Luke 23:26-31 The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Luke 23. We’ll be looking at verses 26 to 31. Luke has us following along the way with Christ on the way to the cross. As you look at this passage together, I'd like you to see two things in particular. In verse 26, Luke tells us about Simon who bears the cross for Jesus. It's an irony, isn't it — Jesus is about to bear the sins of the world on His shoulders but He's unable to bear the cross that He's carrying and so the Romans conscript a stander by, a passerby, to carry that cross for Him, behind Him, on the way to Golgotha. And Luke wants us to see something of the price, the pain…

I Love the Lord because

If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Psalm 116 as we continue to make our way through the fifth book of the psalms. This psalm is the personal tribute of a person who has experienced an overwhelming answer to prayer and it supplies us words to pray and to praise with when we can't find the words we need to lift up to the Lord in gratitude for the answers that He has given to us in prayer. If I were to outline the psalm for you, it would go something like this. In the first two verses, you have an overarching resolution that the psalmist makes. He declares his love to God and his determination to pray without ceasing as long as he lives. And so there's an overarching resolution that's made in the first two verses. And then after that, the psalm breaks…

Before Herod and Pilate

The Lord's Day Morning October 16, 2011 “Before Herod and Pilate” Luke 23:6-25 The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 23. We’re going to be looking at verses 6 to 25 together. I would invite you, as you’re turning there, to look immediately prior to this section that we're going to read, and then just a little bit after it. You’ll notice that the passage is going to begin with the words, “When Pilate…

Non Nobis Domine (Not to Us, O Lord)

If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Psalm 115. As we read this psalm together tonight, I want to point out several parts of the passage as we look through it. The opening declaration of the psalm is the destination to which the psalm is going even though it is stated out front. Now how do I make that argument? Because of what it said in verse 2. In the second verse, we have a taunt from the unbelieving nations against Israel, and that is the context for this psalm.…

Are You the King of the Jews?

The Lord's Day Morning October 9, 2011 “Are You the King of the Jews?” Luke 23:1-5 The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 23. We’ll be looking at verses 1 to 5 this morning as we continue through the gospel of Luke. I'd invite you also, as you’re turning there to Luke 23:1-5, to allow your eyes to look back to verses 66 to 71 of Luke 22. Those verses contain the account that Luke gives of Jesus before the…

Skipping Mountians and Fleeing Seas

If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Psalm 114. This psalm is a remarkable recounting of the redemption of God, of His people, in the exodus. And it's marked by exuberance. I dare say that the exuberance of the text of this psalm is every bit the match for Miriam and the women on the shores of the Red Sea. If you look at the two poems which are sung on that occasion or the song that's sung on that occasion and compare it to this psalm, you’ll see the same kind of exuberant…

Beaten and Questioned

The Lord's Day Morning October 2, 2011 “Beaten and Questioned” Luke 22:63-71 The Reverend Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 22. We’ll be reading from the sixty-third verse to the end of the chapter as we continue to work our way through the gospel together. Luke is showing us the mistreatment that Jesus endured during the night in anticipation of His trial before the Sanhedrin in the very early morning hours. And…

There’s No One Like Him

As we continue our way through the fifth book of the Psalms, I'd invite you to turn with me to Psalm 113. This psalm is a part of a set of psalms known as the Egyptian Hallel, a series of praise songs that are related to the Passover celebration and which praise God for His work of creation and redemption. And tonight as we look at this psalm we find yet another exhortation from the psalmist to us to worship God. And we should never get tired of God telling us in His Word to do the basic…