Sinclair B. Ferguson Resources

‘Friends have told me that they have discovered books written by some of the Puritans that have been a tremendous help to them! Could you recommend a few classics to me?’ Many Christians ask that question today. Nor are we the first to feel we need someone to guide us. Already in the Puritan period […]

Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson gives a brief overview of Hugh Martin’s life, and discusses some of his important writings and sermons. Books By Hugh Martin

I wish there were ten or a dozen Christmas days in the year; for there is work enough in the world, and a little more rest would not hurt labouring people. Christmas day is really a boon to us, particularly as it enables us to assemble round the family hearth and meet our friends once […]

It is something of a commonplace in these days to read about the ‘psychology of conversion’ or the ‘anatomy of a soul’, and often enough what masquerades under such titles is but an onslaught on faith and a denigration of both conversion and the notion of the soul. It is in stark contrast to this […]

This excerpt is taken from chapter three of Maturity by Sinclair B. Ferguson, a new release from the Banner of Truth Trust. * * * In the early years of a plant’s life, the basic function of pruning is not to produce fruit immediately, but to prepare for future fruit. Good pruning helps create the proper form […]

Fifty years or so ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find anyone who could recognize the name John Owen. Today, he is regularly quoted from pulpits and in articles as though his name were a household word. This is even more surprising because almost everybody who mentions him adds, ‘But he is not light […]

‘In grammatical terms, then, the words repent and believe both function as a synecdoche — the figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole. Thus, repentance implies faith and faith implies repentance. One cannot exist without the other.’ When the gospel is proclaimed, it seems at first sight that two different, […]

[A sermon preached at the morning service in St George’s-Tron Church, Glasgow, on 31 August 1997, following the announcement of the death in Paris, earlier that day, of Diana, Princess of Wales.] I urge, then, first of all, that requests, praers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and all those in authority, […]

Taken from an appendix to a new book on holiness by Sinclair B. Ferguson, entitled Devoted to God: Blueprints for Sanctification. In almost any discussion of the role of the law in sanctification there is one commandment that causes considerable debate—the commandment on the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8-11). It is certainly the commandment that seems to give evangelical Christians the greatest difficulty. […]

Others may prefer to begin by reading a whole book, and there are several which can be read without undue weariness to the mind – although it is always wise to read with paper and pencil at hand. Owen’s divisions can be perplexing [Goold tells us in volume 1, p xiv that they are denoted […]

John Owen was born in 1616 and died in 1683. During the course of his life he held pastorates in Fordham and Coggeshall, in Essex, served as Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, as army chaplain under Oliver Cromwell, and finally as the minister of a gathered congregation in the city of London. Little is known of […]

An extract from Chapter 7 of From the Mouth of God: Trusting, Reading, and Applying the Bible, by Sinclair B. Ferguson.1 About one third of the New Testament is made up of Letters, thirteen of them written by Paul, three by John, two by Peter, one each by James and Jude, and one other anonymously […]

Sinclair Buchanan Ferguson retired in 2013 as Senior Minister of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina, and returned to his native Scotland. Prior to this he held the Charles Krahe chair for Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary and served Church of Scotland congregations in Unst (Shetland) and Glasgow (St George’s Tron). He received […]

The Foreword to Kenneth B. Wingate’s new Banner of Truth book1 There is a long and honourable tradition in the English-speaking world of lawyers who have distinguished themselves not only in their profession as attorneys, but in the exemplary way in which they have served their cities, states and nations with great distinction. The southern […]

Incorporating the Law into the gospel presentation does many things. It primarily shows the sinner that he is a criminal, and that God is his judge. The Law (in the hand of the Holy Spirit) stops his mouth and leaves him guilty before God (see Romans 3:19-20). It reveals that he deserves nothing but judgement […]

Are altar calls biblical? If they aren’t, then why are so many evangelical churches doing them? The altar is mentioned often in the Scriptures, but there’s no mention of an altar call. Then again, we’re not told that the 3,000 who were saved on the day of Pentecost came forward to some sort of ‘altar’ […]

A hundred years ago, H. C. G. Moule, the Anglican Bishop of Durham, said in his simple but elegant commendation of The Loveliness of Christ that it was ‘a small casket stored with many jewels’, and expressed the hope that it would have a wide circulation. These pages contain short extracts from the letters of […]

Geerhardus Vos’ Biblical Theology is well known to Banner of Truth readers and is foundational to understanding his writing. Recently an anthology of Vos’s writings has been published and the book has been reviewed by Sinclair Ferguson in New Horizons January 2006, the magazine of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. A Geerhardus Vos Anthology is edited […]

[The second half of a lecture given at the Dedication of the Puritan Resource Center, Grand Rapids on October 20, 2005] 2] Recovering the Pulpit (continued) As you read the Puritan sermons you understand that this was their great characteristic: they spoke the truth of the Word of God in the power of the Holy […]

[A lecture given at the Dedication of the Puritan Resource Center Grand Rapids on October 20, 2005] Because Dr Joel Beeke, the President of the Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary is a long-standing friend, propriety and the privilege of years of friendship demanded that I should come and begin to answer this question: “The Puritans: Can […]

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Saviour. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. (Eph. 5:22-24) Submission […]

The name ‘Alexander’ is virtually synonymous with the story of the first one hundred years of Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey, and is woven deeply into the tapestry of its origin, development, and justly-deserved international fame. Many Christians first encounter the name without recognizing it. At the end of Paul Gerhardt’s hymn (based on […]

Dr. SINCLAIR FERGUSON: "THE MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION." RECONCILIATION (1) by Dr Sinclair Ferguson Our subject is reconciliation, its meaning, message and ministry. How important in a conference like this to concentrate of the Lord Jesus and his ministry. It is possible to go to the gospels and to preach systematically but to major on the […]

MEDIEVAL MISTAKES We could well do with a Luther redivivus today Sinclair Ferguson Althought provoked by the indulgences peddled by Johannes Tetzel, the very first proposition which Luther offered for public debate in his Ninety Five Theses put the axe to the root of the tree of medieval theology: “When our Lord and Master, Jesus […]

by Sinclair B. Ferguson [For four decades now the Banner of Truth Trust has been committed to republishing and keeping in print the works of John Owen. All over the English-speaking world there exists testimony to the incalculable value of his biblical teaching in many vital areas of Christian doctrine and experience. For some time […]