Of course. Well, wait, it’s complicated. Most Christians agree that we are not to obey what Bible scholars call “the ceremonial law.” The notion that a believer must be circumcised was a critical battle while the New Testament was being written. And the apostles were clear that such was not only not required, but that… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.Posts By Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
Our gratitude has a short memory. When we ask, we never forget. When we receive, we move on to asking for the next thing. For twenty-five years I prayed for the soul of a dear friend. Twenty five months after his deliverance and I find I don’t give thanks as often as I should. I’ve… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.One could argue that on the most important issues surrounding our understanding of the last things are those convictions we hold in common. Christians agree that He will come again to judge both the living and the dead. We all agree on a future bodily resurrection. We all agree that His kingdom is forever and… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.It’s the fuzzy stuff around the edges that gets us. When we are aware we are facing a text from God’s Word, we tend to tread carefully. We move slowly, break out our exegetical tools, and get to work. The trouble comes when we’re dealing in broad generalities. We take a vague notion grounded in… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.Written 2010 I mentioned in a recent note dealing with the blessing and pain of my imminent return to Orlando that within a few feet of me as I type there hangs a banner. It is roughly four feet wide and six feet tall. The font of the letters, and the color scheme, manifest the… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.There’s a great deal of history and nuance to this question. One could argue that the terms are identical. Both groups trace their roots to a prior term, and the shift to the new term to the same source. That is, in a very real sense these once were synonyms for the prior term Protestant…. Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.The purported value of ethical relativism, the idea that there are no transcendent, binding rules for right and wrong that all humans are morally required to submit to, is that it allows us to live in peace. That is, if you have your ethics, and I have my ethics, well then there is no real… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.Written 2008 It was a good idea my dear wife had. She is eager to exercise. I am eager to exercise. We live in rural southwest Virginia, on a rather flat road that follows the contours of the river that flows beside it. So what we have been doing of late is walking together early… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.Of course. And of course not. The sermon is that part of the service where God’s Word exposes our failures and proclaims Christ’s provision. The end is not the sin, but neither can the sin be ignored. We do not preach simply to tell the congregation, “Stop it. Try harder. This is the right way… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.I’m cleaning up my desk. Not the one my computer sits on, but the one that sits inside my computer. I’m filing old Kingdom Notes, sermon notes, personal notes. And in so doing I came across the below. In coaching my dear friend who recently lost his wife I told him to save what wisdom… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.There is wisdom in the playground adage that every time we point a finger at others we have three more pointing back at ourselves. It’s also true for adults who are given to hurling accusations against those who are just like us. Christian A complains to Christian B about what a horrible gossip Christian C… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.There may be no more significant Old Testament description of how God relates to His people than this Hebrew word hesed. I argue that the best translation of this term would be “loyal love.” God loves His people genuinely, immutably, loyally. Both the love and the loyalty are, of course, tightly bound together. That is,… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.When a great man dies, it is our habit to stop and chronicle his achievements. In obituaries and homilies we retell success stories and tally victories. While this is utterly fitting, it can be misleading. Were our eyes more attuned to looking at and for the things of God we would confess that what makes… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.There is I suspect a difference between being grateful and being a fan boy. God has blessed the church with all manner of godly men who preach and teach faithful to the Word. My own desire is to cultivate deeper gratitude while avoiding the awkwardness of being a fan boy. But I suppose part of… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.We don’t understand God. What is it about Him that so often leads Him to mute His power, to hide behind the weak and lame? It’s not as though He doesn’t understand His own power. His Word created the whole of the universe. His Spirit gave life to us when we were dead. That Word… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.The power of the media is less what it gets us to think, more what it gets us to think about. That is, they have less influence on our credenda than our agenda, less on what we believe, more on what we believe we’re supposed to do. I was driving down the interstate after a… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.We want to be like Jesus. What I tend to want, however, for those whom I love, is that they would be happy and healthy. I want the good stuff for me, something less for others. When my wife was first diagnosed with leukemia I was worried for her, but happy for me. This, I… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.The wisdom of this question, I would argue, is that it gets at the real horror of hell. A lake of fire is a frightening thought indeed. The greater dread, however, is the duration of hell, that it never ends. This, I suspect, is what tempts some to try to tweak the church’s historic view… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.The Westminster Confession, when dealing with how Christians ought to understand the place of the Old Covenant civil law (that is, the laws God gaveIsrael’s government at the founding of the nation), argues that we are bound by the “general equity” of these laws. That is, I believe, that we are called to apply that… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.In a plane, on my way to address a large crowd, many of whom may well be hostile, fear is heavy on my mind, and truth be told, even on my heart. There are many who have a deep seated fear of flying. I am not one of them. For all the hassles, and all… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.Though it is most often attributed to the great sports writer Red Smith, no one knows for sure who first bled this great insight- “Writing is easy. You just open a vein and bleed.” Like all great metaphors, this one invites us to slow down and examine its many facets. First, writing hurts. It hurts… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.Empathy is a tricky thing. Great thing to have, not so great thing to prematurely claim. We are called, as much as we are able, out of love to enter into the sufferings of our neighbor. That’s a good thing. But one can’t do it mildly, or vicariously. “I know how you feel” is a… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.It is not at all unusual for us to defend our own peculiar perspective by painting our opponents in the worst possible light. There is genuine disagreement over whether political issues have any place in preaching, even among the Reformed. Those who stand opposed, however, lob their arguments against those who wrap their sermons in… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.We serve an exponential God. He who made everything out of nothing does not increase through addition, but through multiplication. We move from faith to faith, from grace to grace, from blessing to blessing. The more we grow in grace the more blessed we are. The more blessed we are, the more we grow in… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.Sorrow over the loss of a loved one, at least for those of us who trust in God’s loving, sovereign care for us, is pretty simple to understand. We don’t, when our wife passes, have to wonder what God is thinking. We don’t, when our little girl joins her, have to listen to the accusations… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.Sure it is. As long as what we mean by “having a conversion story” is broad enough to include, “I have loved and depended on the finished work of Christ as far back as I can remember.” Sadly, it is unlikely this is what people who say such things mean. There are at least two… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.Written 2011 Watching The King’s Speech reminded me of the purpose of kings who reign but don’t rule. They serve an important function for a given culture, one that in turn touches on the whole nobility. Kings serve as “public persons,” personifications of the morals and manners of the nations. This concept, rightly understood is… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.It is because we love the world so profoundly that we think we’re already being persecuted. That is, we see ourselves as bold prophets confronting the sin of the world because we vote for candidates approved by the National Right to Life. We watch pundits on CNN mock us. We might even face a moment… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.It is an important part of my task as I teach Reformation Bible College students systematic theology to familiarize them with the grammar of our theological conversations. I’m called to introduce them not just to the issues theologians wrestle with, but to the language they use when wrestling with the issues. In the broader evangelical… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.I don’t much care for physics. Never did. That, of course, doesn’t keep me from being grateful for physicists, and for engineers. This message has reached you through the labors of men who do care about such things. But usually when physicists start talking about wormholes, or engineers start talking about heat transfer rates, my… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.Pastors, when they get together, are given to grumbling when with our sheep we feel the need to present ourselves as self-confident leaders. We can’t let our flock see us as we are. With each other we tend to be more honest. Trouble is, too often we grumble about all the wrong things. In order… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.A mirage, wrapped in propaganda, surrounded by demagogues. It is Chicken Little running around crying out that the end is near because she stubbed her toe, while the sky was actually falling. It is sound and fury, signifying nothing, while MacBeth hawks the crown jewels to buy more knives to kill more enemies. Not long… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.I have been blessed, over the past ten days or so, to spend rather a lot of time with my father. I understand that the time I normally have makes more than a few of you jealous. I, however, am grateful to have heard my father preach at Ligonier’s national conference, to address several thousand… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.When I formulated the purpose statement of Highlands Ministries now more than fifteen years ago, that “we exist to help Christians live more simple, separate, and deliberate lives for the glory of God and for the building of His kingdom, I knew how people would react. They wouldn’t understand simple; they wouldn’t like separate; they… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.We are a worldly people and we know it. Trouble is, we don’t know it well enough. As the broader western culture sinks more deeply into the moral abyss, as even our anemic and apologetic Christianity is vilified and judged it becomes all too easy to awaken to the dangers of worldliness. And of course… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.“Theological liberalism no longer announces itself with old men in big steeples but disguises itself in young men in skinny jeans and glasses.” I tweeted the above this morning. From all appearances, based on the responses I have received, theological liberals were not offended. Old men were not offended. Big steeples were not offended. Young… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.No, on both counts. Our labor is a service. Its value is determined neither by law nor by wish but by the market. All of us, I suspect, would love to be paid $1,000 an hour. Given that all of us would want this, why don’t we pass a law stating no one could be… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.I don’t know. The Bible doesn’t directly say. It does, of course, say that women are not to teach or rule in the church (I Timothy 2:12). For this reason the evangelical church has always held that women are not to be ordained as elders in the church for elder is an office of rule…. Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.It was a tree I had climbed dozens of times. It was base when we played hide and seek, our meeting place for planning the day’s play. It was, one could argue, the epicenter of my childhood. And it nearly killed me. I nimbly started up its limbs, hopping from one to the next. I… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.Because I wish to answer some likely objections before answering this question, you will likely guess my answer. When the Bible calls us to “pray for the peace ofBabylon” (Jeremiah 29:7) I believe that means we are called to pray for the peace of our nation. When the Bible calls us to pray for our… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.It is my conviction that too often those of us who think ourselves prophetic are actually cowards. One can easily enough, in the evangelical church, earn a reputation for boldness by railing against the sins of either an unlistening world, or the church down the street. We stand in the streets of Jerusalem pronouncing God’s… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.At Highlands Ministries, one of the places I am blessed to labor, our purpose statement reads, “We exist to help Christians live more simple, separate and deliberate lives to the glory and God and for the building of His kingdom. I addressed what we mean by simple here. While simple by not be easy for… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.It is rather fashionable, in certain Reformed circles, to bemoan the church’s historical ignorance. We don’t know our Bibles, nor our creeds, nor our fathers. In slightly smaller Reformed circles we likewise bemoan our anemic understanding of the church. We live in the age of the para-church, the house church, the self-authenticating, social network framed… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.Among those lies hatched by the devil’s Research and Development lab that have found the most favor among modern American evangelicals is this- the path to personal prosperity is acquiring specialized educational credentials in a field in great demand. This, we believe, is what we must give our sons, or if we are slightly more… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.It is a legitimate and important question- the appropriateness of celebrating the incarnation, the celebration of Christmas. I believe it fitting and appropriate, but am in turn always uncomfortable disagreeing with brothers to my right. I understand their concerns, and appreciate their passion for the regulative principle of worship. On the other hand, one can… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.It is a legitimate and important question- the appropriateness of celebrating the incarnation, the celebration of Christmas. I believe it fitting and appropriate, but am in turn always uncomfortable disagreeing with brothers to my right. I understand their concerns, and appreciate their passion for the regulative principle of worship. On the other hand, one can… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.No. Christians, of course disagree on this. And when we disagree we can usually expect someone to trot out the whole “meat offered to idols” and weaker brother texts discussion in I Corinthians and Romans respectively. Neither of these texts, however, were given to us to squelch discussion nor to leave us blind to moral… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.Education is the sacrament of the Enlightenment. That is, when people caught up in enlightenment thinking, whether inside or outside the church, see a problem, their means of grace of choice is ever and always more education. The priests of the secular realm are, after all, educators. Consider all the public service announcements we are… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.My life, I am persuaded, would fall apart in a heap in a moment were I not a servant of the Lord. Though it is true that Jesus is the very font of my happiness, that is not why I follow Him, nor how I would encourage you to follow Him. Rather I trust in… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.It may well be in the calculus of evil that the only character faring worse than a Nazi is the Pharisee. These were the original black hats. In each of the gospel accounts they are the no-accounts, the very foil of Jesus Himself. We, because we are sinners just like them, ascribe to the Pharisees… Read more »
Posted by Dr. R.C. Sproul, Jr.
