R.C. Sproul > Quotes

“The prayer of
faith is not a demand that we place on God. It is not a presumption of a granted request. The authentic prayer of faith is one that models Jesus' prayer. It is always uttered in a spirit of subordination. In all our prayers, we must let God be God. No one tells the Father what to do, not even the Son. Prayers are always to be requests made in humility and submission to the Father's will.”
― R.C. Sproul, Surprised by Suffering: The Role of Pain and Death in The Christian Life

“When Jesus speaks of people who are given to Him by the Father, He is referring to the elect. The elect whom the Father gives to the Son are preserved by the Son. That is the basis of our true assurance, not our own ability to persevere. We talk about the perseverance of the saints, and I believe that the saints do in fact persevere, but they persevere because they are preserved by God. So it’s better to speak of the preservation of the saints than the perseverance of the saints. We hear this in Jesus’ appeal to the Father to keep those who have been given to Him.”
― R.C. Sproul, Can I Be Sure I'm Saved?

“The Apostle Paul frequently admonishes and instructs Christians not to be quarrelsome, divisive, or combative. He extols the virtues of patience, charity, and tolerance. Yet when it came to the gospel itself, this same apostle was uncompromising.”
― R.C. Sproul, What is Reformed Theology?: Understanding the Basics

“To me, there is nothing more comforting than knowing that there is a God of providence who is aware not only of every one of my transgressions but of every one of my tears, every one of my aches, and every one of my fears.”
― R.C. Sproul, Does God Control Everything?

“Etica este o știință normativă care caută să descopere fundamentele esențiale care descriu obligațiile, sau ce trebuie să facă omul. Ea are de-a face în primul rând cu lucruri imperative și cu premisele filozofice pe care sunt bazate imperativele. Moralitatea este o știință descriptivă, care se concentrează pe ceea ce omul face. Etica definește ceea ce oamenii trebuie să facă, în timp ce moralitatea descrie ceea ce oamenii fac în realitate. Diferența dintre ele este diferența dintre normativ și descriptiv.”
― R.C. Sproul, How Should I Live In This World?

“Far from God seeking to destroy the "self" as many distortions of Christianity would claim, God redeems the self. He heals the self so that it may be useful and fulfilled in the mission to which the person is called.”
― R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God

“Paul was saying
that in all of his teaching, in all of his preaching, in all of his missionary activity, the central point of importance was the cross. In effect, this teacher was saying to his students, "You might forget other things that I teach you, but don't ever forget the cross, because it was on the cross, through the cross, and by the cross that our Savior performed His work of redemption and gathered His people for eternity.”
― R.C. Sproul, The Truth of the Cross

“We must add that there is no real conflict between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. It was the Old Testament God whom Christ called "Father." It was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son to redeem it. it was Jesus' meat and drink to do the will of this God. It was zeal for the God who slew Nadab, Abihu, and Uzzah that consumed Christ. It was the God who destroyed the world by a flood who pours the waters of His grace out to us.
The false conflict between the two testaments may be seen in the most brutal act of divine vengeance ever recorded in Scripture. It is not found in the Old Testament but in the New Testament. The most violent expression of God's wrath and justice is seen in the Cross. If ever a person had room to complain of injustice, it was Jesus. He was the only innocent man ever to be punished by God. If we stagger at the wrath of God, let us stagger at the Cross. Here is where our astonishment should be focused. If we have cause for moral outrage, let it be directed at Golgotha.
The Cross was at once the most horrible and the most beautiful example of God's wrath. It was the most just and the most gracious act in history. God would have been more than unjust, He would have been diabolical to punish Jesus if Jesus had not first willingly taken on Himself the sins of the world. Once Christ had done that, once he volunteered to be the Lamb of God, laden with our sin, then He became the most grotesque and vile thing on this planet. With the concentrated load of sin He carried, He became utterly repugnant to the Father. God poured out His wrath on this obscene thing. God made Christ accursed for the sin He bore. Herein was God's holy justice perfectly manifest. Yet it was done for us. He took what justice demanded for us. This "for us" aspect of the Cross is what displays the majesty of its grace. At the same time justice and grace, wrath and mercy. It is too astonishing to fathom.”
― R.C. Sproul

“True Christians can have radical and serious falls but never total and final falls from grace.”
― R.C. Sproul

“The essence of our salvation is found in this phrase: Simul justus et pecator.”
― Sproul R. C.

“Philosophy was born in the ancient quest for ultimate reality, the reality that transcends the proximate and commonplace and that defines and explains the data of everyday experience.”
― R.C. Sproul, The Consequences of Ideas: Understanding the Concepts that Shaped Our World

“This is the essence of idolatry: replacing the reality with a counterfeit.”
― R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God

“The more we are in the Word of God, the more the Spirit who inspired the Word and who illumines it for us will use the Word to confirm in our souls that we are truly His, that we are indeed among the children of God.”
― R.C. Sproul, Can I Be Sure I'm Saved?

“Gradul de libertate este determinat de nivelul de putere, autoritate și responsabilitate ce se găsește la nivelul fiecăreia.”
― R.C. Sproul, Can I Know God's Will?

“Once we refuse to honor God as God, our whole view of life and the world becomes distorted.”
― R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God

“Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it.
JONATHAN EDWARDS”
― R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God

“The Bible's truth does not depend in any way on whether or not a person believes the truth.”
― R.C. Sproul

“When Adolf Hitler came to power, the Nazis were not content to find a “final solution” for Jews and Gypsies. They also sought to eliminate intellectuals whose ideas were at odds with the “values” of the Third Reich. My friend was removed from his position. When he spoke out against the Nazis, his wife and all but one of his children were arrested and executed. He escaped from Germany with his young daughter.”
― R.C. Sproul, The Consequences of Ideas: Understanding the Concepts that Shaped Our World

“In thinking about fruitfulness, we must remember that we are not saved by our works. Rather, we are justified by faith alone. Yet we also remember that the magisterial Reformers of the sixteenth century, such as Martin Luther, said we are justified by faith alone but not by a faith that is alone.”
― R.C. Sproul, Can I Be Sure I'm Saved?

“Needless to say, the reign of our Lord is a tremendous benefit for those who love Him and follow Him. For this reason, it is clearly better for us that Jesus left than if He had stayed.”
― R.C. Sproul, The Work of Christ: What the Events of Jesus' Life Mean for You

“Augustine once wrote, “The New [Testament] is in the Old [Testament] concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.” To”
― R.C. Sproul, What Is The Trinity?

“Întrucât neprihănirea noastră izvorăște din justificarea noastră, iar aceasta este bazată pe neprihănirea lui Hristos și doar pe ea, nu trebuie să ne lăsăm niciodată amăgiți să gândim că faptele neprihănirii noastre ar avea vreun merit în ele însele.”
― R.C. Sproul, Can I Know God's Will?

“Conversion doesn’t mean we instantly jump from sin to perfection, but that our lives are fundamentally turned around. From the moment of our conversion, our lives are moving in a different direction, back toward God.”
― R.C. Sproul, What Is Repentance?

“At the fall, we became alienated not only from God and other people but also from ourselves.”
― R.C. Sproul

“it must be good that evil exists, because God sovereignly, providentially ordains only what is good. In terms of His eternal purpose, God has esteemed it good that evil should be allowed to happen in this world.”
― R.C. Sproul, Does God Control Everything?

“In our society cultural analysts speak of the “politics of envy,” where politicians, for their own interests, stir up strife among people to create a kind of class warfare. The poor are set against the rich, employees against employers, women against men. Envy is the breeding ground for strife and even war. Envy is not restricted to the poor.”
― R.C. Sproul, Loved by God

“Our preservation is a Trinitarian work. God the Father keeps and preserves us. God the Son intercedes for us. God the Holy Spirit indwells and assists us.”
― R.C. Sproul, Chosen by God

“The purpose of theology is not to tickle our intellects but to instruct us in the ways of God, so that we can grow up into maturity and fullness of obedience to Him. That is why we engage in theology.”
― R.C. Sproul, Everyone's a Theologian: An Introduction to Systematic Theology

“The life of faith is not just about believing that God exists; it is about believing God or trusting God.”
― R.C. Sproul, Can I Have Joy In My Life?

“Any time we discuss a historical event, we review the facts, and sometimes we argue about what really took place, what was said, what was observed. However, once we agree on the facts (or agree to disagree), we are still left with the most important question we can ask: What is the meaning of the event?”
― R.C. Sproul, Who Is Jesus?