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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…

You Are What You Do

The Lord's Day Morning October 11, 2009 Luke 6:39-49 “You Are What You Do” Dr J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 6. We’re going to be looking at verses 39 to the end of the chapter as we continue our way through the gospel of Luke. These are Jesus’ words at the end of Luke's recounting of the Sermon on the Mount. These are the stirring words of exhortation and challenge that Matthew also records at some greater length in Matthew chapter 7. They are words of commitment, they are words of what a true disciple is, and Jesus uses the figure here to make the exhortation and challenge and to issue the warning. He uses the metaphor, the figure, of building a house. All of us are building houses. Each one of us in the room is…

Judge Not?

The Lord's Day Morning October 4, 2009 Luke 6:37-38 “Judge Not?” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 6 as we continue our way through the gospel of Luke together. We’re going to be reading from verses 37 and 38 today, but I want to go back up to verse 27 so that you have the context. In this whole passage, Jesus is teaching us how to love those who either don't love us at all or who haven't loved us well. And so the verse that is before us especially this morning with the famous phrase, “Judge not, and you will not be judged,” which is so often misunderstood and misapplied and misinterpreted, falls within the larger context of this section where Jesus is talking about how we can love those who don't…

Loving Those Who Don’t Love You

The Lord's Day Morning September 27, 2009 Luke 6: 27-36 “Loving Those Who Don't Love You” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you’ll remember throughout Luke chapter 6, from the time Jesus called twelve disciples to follow Him, He is clearly sending the signal that He is creating the people of God anew. And just like Moses gathered twelve tribes and Joshua led twelve tribes into the Promised Land, so also Jesus has twelve disciples in this new Israel that He is bringing about. As we looked at the Beatitudes these last few weeks, we saw that Jesus was saying that one difference between His disciples, His followers, and the world, is that His disciples value something different than the world values. They treasure something different than the world treasures. They worship something…

What True Happiness Looks Like, and What Looks Like…

The Lord's Day Morning September 20, 2009 Luke 6:20-26 “What True Happiness Looks Like, and What Looks Like True Happiness, But Isn't” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I'd invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 6 as we continue to work our way through this gospel and as we double back to a very important passage in Luke. It's from the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus begins with four words of blessing and four words of warning and woe. This is…

Blessed or Cursed? Weal or Woe

The Lord's Day Morning September 13, 2009 Luke 6:20-26 “Blessed or Cursed? Weal or Woe” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles I would invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 6. We’re going to look at verses 20 to 26 today as we continue to work our way through this Gospel together. Last Lord's Day we looked at verses 12 to 23 and we said that in part, what Jesus was doing as He introduced the Beatitudes, these surprising words of blessing, because the kinds of things…

Poor, Hungry, Weeping, Hated Rejectedand Blessed!

The Lord's Day Morning September 6, 2009 Luke 6:12-23 “Poor, Hungry, Weeping, Hated, Rejected…and Blessed!” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Luke chapter 6. We continue now our study in the Gospel of Luke that we began a number of months ago. We left off in Luke 6:1-11, a passage in which the Lord Jesus is teaching us about the Lord's Day, and today we pick up in a passage in Luke 6:12, in which Jesus is gathering His larger circle of…

Elijah: Every deam lost. Every dream fulfilled.

The Lord's Day Morning August 23, 2009 1 Kings 19; 2 Kings 2:1-14 “Elijah: Every Dream Lost. Every Dream Fulfilled.” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III The Anthem: – “He that shall endure to the end.” (Elijah) …..Mendelssohn Amen. You have no idea how true those words are or how applicable they are to the life of Elijah and to the message we are going to consider this morning. If you have your Bibles, I'd ask you to turn with me to first Kings, first Kings chapter 19. This year is…

Lord of the Sabbath

The Lord's Day Morning May 31, 2009 Luke 6:1-11 “Lord of the Sabbath” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III Turn with me to Luke 6, as we continue our way through the Gospel of Luke. This is a passage in which one of the familiar encounters between Jesus and the Pharisees occurs. Over and over in the Gospels we find places where the Pharisees criticize Jesus’ and the disciples’ practice of the observance of the Sabbath Day. You know that the Sabbath command was a distinctive mark and sign of…

He Came for Sinners

The Lord's Day Morning May 24, 2009 Luke 5:27-39 “He Came for Sinners” Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III Amen. If you have your Bible, I'd invite you to turn with me to Luke 5:27-39, as we continue our way through the Gospel of Luke. The story that we're going to read this morning is all of a piece. It presses to one great point, but I want you to see three parts in it before we read it so that you can appreciate what Luke is laying out for you under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The…