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Solid Foundations

2022 Autumn Lectures

This Autumn Lecture series looks at key foundations of the Christian faith that help us live out the Bible’s teaching every day. It explores wonderful truths revealed to us in the Bible, from creation and the Fall to Christ’s death and resurrection.

Jesus is clear that we must hear and obey his teaching if we are to have a solid foundation for our lives and for eternity. Those who follow false teaching are building on sand. So are professing Christians who trim their faith to fit in with popular culture. A house built on sand won’t survive the storms of life – or the judgement of God.

 

1. Biblical inerrancy

God’s Word is our one and only sure foundation for knowing him. But in recent years, some have claimed the idea of biblical inerrancy is a recent innovation unknown in Church history; they say calling the Bible ‘inspired’ is enough. But if we are not sure whether we can rely on the words of the Bible, we are vulnerable to those who reject or distort it. We can only be sure of the Bible when we believe it to be God’s perfect revelation to us. Revd William Macleod.

 

2. Gender and sexuality

Although our sex, and its purpose in marriage and procreation, is embedded in our creation and written into every cell of our body, pop culture says you can change ‘gender’ in pursuit of ‘your true self’. Likewise, ‘sexual orientation’ is viewed by many as the centre of their identity, even claiming it is ‘harmful’ not to act on it. God sent his Son to restore us from this and every other way in which sin has ruined us. The Bible teaches us to rediscover our true created identity – our real ‘true selves’ – in Christ. Revd Matthew Roberts.

 

3. Common grace

While salvation from sin is the most amazing gift God has given us, it is not the only blessing we receive from him. There are blessings outside of salvation, even for unbelievers. The Bible has much to say about human flourishing in this life as well as in the next, and makes clear that even the most mundane aspects of daily living are part of the theatre of God’s glory (1 Cor 10:31). Simon Calvert.

 

4. Penal substitution

It is almost twenty years since Steve Chalke called the belief that God sacrificed his Son “cosmic child abuse”. In the years since, many have rightly reaffirmed the importance of Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross in our place, taking the punishment we deserve. It is not, as Chalke put it “a vengeful Father, punishing his Son”, but the very heart of the Gospel, the only way of salvation for those who believe. Revd Dr Andrew Sach.

 

5. Creation mandate

In the first chapter of the Bible, God established the ‘creation mandate’ that we should be fruitful and multiply, and subdue the Earth. After the Fall, sin and death meant Adam could not properly fulfil the mandate. But God always had a plan to perfect the creation mandate in Christ. Some suggest this means it no longer applies to us as individuals. But the Bible’s teaching on creation, the family, stewardship and society are fundamental to what it means to be a human being in God’s world. Bill James.

 

6. Biblical inerrancy

By Revd William Macleod

 
  • 1hr 19mins

God’s Word is our one and only sure foundation for knowing him. But in recent years, some have claimed the idea of biblical inerrancy is a recent innovation unknown in Church history; they say calling the Bible ‘inspired’ is enough. But if we are not sure whether we can rely on the words of the Bible, we are vulnerable to those who reject or distort it. We can only be sure of the Bible when we believe it to be God’s perfect revelation to us. Revd William Macleod.

 

7. Gender and sexuality

By Matthew Roberts

 
  • 1hr 19mins

Although our sex, and its purpose in marriage and procreation, is embedded in our creation and written into every cell of our body, pop culture says you can change ‘gender’ in pursuit of ‘your true self’. Likewise, ‘sexual orientation’ is viewed by many as the centre of their identity, even claiming it is ‘harmful’ not to act on it. God sent his Son to restore us from this and every other way in which sin has ruined us. The Bible teaches us to rediscover our true created identity – our real ‘true selves’ – in Christ. Revd Matthew Roberts.

 

8. Common grace

By Simon Calvert

 
  • 1hr 18mins

While salvation from sin is the most amazing gift God has given us, it is not the only blessing we receive from him. There are blessings outside of salvation, even for unbelievers. The Bible has much to say about human flourishing in this life as well as in the next, and makes clear that even the most mundane aspects of daily living are part of the theatre of God’s glory (1 Cor 10:31). Simon Calvert.

 

9. Penal substitution

By Andrew Sach

 
  • 1hr 19mins

It is almost twenty years since Steve Chalke called the belief that God sacrificed his Son “cosmic child abuse”. In the years since, many have rightly reaffirmed the importance of Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross in our place, taking the punishment we deserve. It is not, as Chalke put it “a vengeful Father, punishing his Son”, but the very heart of the Gospel, the only way of salvation for those who believe. Revd Dr Andrew Sach.

 

10. Creation mandate

By Revd Bill James

 
  • 1hr 14mins

In the first chapter of the Bible, God established the ‘creation mandate’ that we should be fruitful and multiply, and subdue the Earth. After the Fall, sin and death meant Adam could not properly fulfil the mandate. But God always had a plan to perfect the creation mandate in Christ. Some suggest this means it no longer applies to us as individuals. But the Bible’s teaching on creation, the family, stewardship and society are fundamental to what it means to be a human being in God’s world. Bill James.