R.C. Sproul's Blog, page 112

Worship Influences All of Life

In this brief clip from his teaching series Discovering Deuteronomy, W. Robert Godfrey examines how the Sabbath influences the way we plan our whole lives.

Transcript

And so, the Lord is building in to the life of His people structures that are constantly going to be saying to them, "Are you serving Me? Are you serving Me in My way? Are you going to structure your life around Me?" This, I think, is an important relationship to our belief in a Christian Sabbath on Sunday, because if Sunday is a Christian Sabbath it's going to really influence how we structure our week and our time and what we do and how we think about it. If worshipping God on Sunday is an obligation, not just an occasional opportunity, it's going to influence the way we plan our whole lives. It will influence maybe the jobs we take, and God is structuring life so that His people are constantly having to think about Him and keep Him central in the lives that they live. And that's what we're finding here in a remarkable way.

What Is the Doctrine of Divine Election?

The idea that God does what He wants, and that what He does is true and right because He does it, is foundational to our understanding of everything in Scripture, including the doctrine of election.

In the broad sense, election refers to the fact that God chooses (or elects) to do everything that He does in whatever way He sees fit. When He acts, He does so only because He willfully and independently chooses to act. According to His own nature, predetermined plan, and good pleasure, He decides to do whatever He desires, without pressure or constraint from any outside influence.

The Bible makes this point repeatedly. In the act of Creation, God made precisely what He wanted to create in the way He wanted to create it (cf. Gen. 1:31). And ever since Creation, He has sovereignly prescribed or permitted everything in human history, in order that He might accomplish the redemptive plan that He previously had designed (cf. Isa. 25:1; 46:10; 55:11; Rom. 9:17; Eph. 3:8–11).

In the Old Testament, He chose a nation for Himself. Out of all the nations in the world, He selected Israel (Deut. 7:6; 14:2; Pss. 105:43; 135:4). He chose the Israelites not because they were better or more desirable than any other people, but simply because He decided to choose them. In the words of Richard Wolf, “How odd of God to choose the Jews.” It might not have rhymed as well, but the same would have been true of any other people God might have selected. God chooses whomever He chooses for reasons that are wholly His.

The nation of Israel was not the only recipient in Scripture of God’s electing choice. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is called “‘My Chosen One’” (Luke 9:35). The holy angels also are referred to as “elect angels” (1 Tim. 5:21). And New Testament believers are called “God’s chosen ones” (Col. 3:12; cf. 1 Cor. 1:27; 2 Thess. 2:13; 2 Tim. 2:10; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1; 2:9; 5:13; Rev. 17:14), meaning that the church is a community of those who were chosen, or “elect” (Eph. 1:4).

When Jesus told His disciples, “‘You did not choose me, but I chose you’” (John 15:16), He was underscoring this truth. And the New Testament reiterates it in passage after passage. Acts 13:48b describes salvation in these words: “As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” Ephesians 1:4–6 notes that God “chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” In his letters to the Thessalonians, Paul reminds his readers that he knew God’s choice of them (1 Thess. 1:4) and that he was thankful for them “because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved” (2 Thess. 2:13). The Word of God is clear: believers are those whom God chose for salvation from before the beginning.

The foreknowledge to which Peter refers (1 Peter 1:2) should not be confused with simple foresight. Some teach this view, contending that God, in eternity past, looked down the halls of history to see who would respond to His call and then elected the redeemed on the basis of their response. Such an explanation makes God’s decision subject to man’s decision, and gives man a level of sovereignty that belongs only to God. It makes God the One who is passively chosen rather than the One who actively chooses. And it misunderstands the way in which Peter uses the term foreknowledge. In 1 Peter 1:20, the apostle uses the verb form of that word, prognosis in the Greek, to refer to Christ. In that case, the concept of “foreknowledge” certainly includes the idea of a deliberate choice. It is reasonable, then, to conclude that the same is true when Peter applies prognosis to believers in other places (cf. 1 Peter 1:2).

The ninth chapter of Romans also reiterates the elective purposes of God. There, God’s electing prerogative is clearly displayed in reference to His saving love for Jacob (and Jacob’s descendants) as opposed to Esau (and Esau’s lineage). God chose Jacob over Esau, not on the basis of anything Jacob or Esau had done, but according to His own free and uninfluenced sovereign purpose. To those who might protest, “That is unfair!” Paul simply asks, “Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?” (v. 20).

Many more Scripture passages could be added to this survey. Yet as straightforward as the Word of God is, people continually have difficulty accepting the doctrine of election. The reason, again, is that they allow their preconceived notions of how God should act (based on a human definition of fairness) to override the truth of His sovereignty as laid out in the Scriptures.

Frankly, the only reason to believe in election is because it is found explicitly in God’s Word. No man and no committee of men originated this doctrine. It is like the doctrine of eternal punishment in that it conflicts with the dictates of the carnal mind. It is repugnant to the sentiments of the unregenerate heart. Like the doctrine of the Holy Trinity and the miraculous birth of our Savior, the truth of election, because it has been revealed by God, must be embraced with simple and unquestioning faith. If you have a Bible and you believe it, you have no option but to accept what it teaches.

The Word of God presents God as the controller and disposer of all creatures (Dan. 4:35; Isa. 45:7; Lam. 3:38), the Most High (Pss. 47:2; 83:18), the ruler of heaven and earth (Gen. 14:19; Isa. 37:16), and the One against whom none can stand (2 Chron. 20:6; Job 41:10; Isa. 43:13). He is the Almighty who works all things after the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11; cf. Isa. 14:27; Rev. 19:6) and the heavenly Potter who shapes men according to His own good pleasure (Rom. 9:18–22). In short, He is the decider and determiner of every man’s destiny, and the controller of every detail in each individual’s life (Prov. 16:9; 19:21; 21:1; cf. Ex. 3:21–22; 14:8; Ezra 1:1; Dan. 1:9; James 4:15)—which is really just another way of saying, “He is God.”

This excerpt is adapted from Foundations of Grace by Steven Lawson.

Ask Ligonier with John MacArthur

On November 5, Dr. John MacArthur joined us as a special guest on our Ask Ligonier team and answered your biblical and theological questions live online.

Dr. MacArthur has been pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif., for the past fifty years. He is the featured teacher on Grace to You, and he has written numerous books, including None Other, Good News, and Final Word.

This special online event was streamed live on Ligonier’s blog, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. You can also watch a recording of the event below.

Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, November 2019

The November issue of Tabletalk considers gratitude and ingratitude in the Christian life. Our great God has blessed all people beyond measure, for as sinners none of us deserve anything more than the wrath of our Creator, and yet the Lord continues to do good to all people. As Christians, we have reason to be even more grateful than others, for in addition to the good gifts that come to us through creation and providence, we have also received eternal life from God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. However, we often fall short in showing gratitude, and we even find it difficult at times to understand what true gratefulness looks like. This issue of Tabletalk explores the place of gratitude in the Christian life and offers practical guidance for avoiding ingratitude and for expressing thankfulness in multiple spheres.

For a limited time, the new TabletalkMagazine.com allows everyone to browse and read the growing library of back issues, including this month's issue. You can also purchase the issue or subscribe to get the print issue every month.

Gratefulness and Entitlement by Burk Parsons
True Gratefulness by David Murray
Ungratefulness as the Root of Sin by William B. Barcley
Gratefulness and God’s Sovereign Goodness by Eric J. Alexander
Covetousness and Gratitude by Robert M. Godfrey
Gratefulness and Ambition by Paul Levy
How Gratefulness Shapes Our Service by Steffen Mueller
Helping Our Children Grow in Gratefulness by Melissa Kruger

Read the Entire Issue

Subscribe to Tabletalk today for only $23 a year, and $20 to renew. You save even more if you get a 2- or 3-year subscription (as little as $1.36 per issue). Get your subscription to Tabletalk today by calling one of Ligonier Ministries’ resource consultants at 800-435-4343 or by subscribing online.

Why Are People So Resistant to Reformed Theology?

When we find ourselves resisting what Scripture teaches, it may be because the Bible challenges our presuppositions about who God is and how He should act. From one of our Ask Ligonier events, Burk Parsons reflects on his former objections to the doctrines of grace.

Message us for clear, concise, and trustworthy answers to your biblical and theological questions at Ask.Ligonier.org

Read the Transcript

Ask Ligonier with John MacArthur: Live Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. ET

Tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. ET, Dr. John MacArthur will join us as a special guest on our Ask Ligonier team to answer your biblical and theological questions live online.

Dr. MacArthur has been pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif., for the past fifty years. He is the featured teacher on Grace to You, and he has written numerous books, including None Other, Good News, and Final Word.

Simply tweet us your questions by using the hashtag #AskLigonier or leave them as comments or messages on our Facebook page. This special online event will be streamed live on Ligonier’s blog, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. We hope you’ll join us tomorrow.

Do You Believe the Whole Gospel?

Unbelief. This one word expresses the judgment Emil Brunner, the Swiss “crisis theologian,” used to describe nineteenth-century liberal theology. The rise of such liberalism was a conscious synthesis between naturalism in the world of philosophy and historic Christianity. Liberalism sought to de-supernaturalize the Christian faith and to restrict the modern significance of Jesus and the New Testament to ethical considerations, particularly with respect to the needs of human beings, and especially with respect to their material needs.

This provoked a significant dilemma for the organized church, first in Europe and then in America. If an institution repudiates the very foundation upon which it is built and for which it exists, what happens to the billions of dollars worth of church property and its numerous ordained professionals? The clergy were left with nothing to preach except social concerns. In order to maintain a reason for the continued existence of Christianity as an organized religion, nineteenth-century liberalism turned to a new gospel, dubbed the “social gospel.” This was a gospel that focused on considerations of humanitarianism and had at the core of its agenda a commitment to “social justice.”

The use of the term “social justice” involved an ironic twisting of words. What was in view in this philosophy was basically the redistribution of wealth, following the template of socialism. The false assumption of this so-called social justice was that material wealth can be gained only by means of the exploitation of the poor. Ergo, for a society to be just, the wealth must be redistributed by government authority. In reality, this so-called social justice degenerated into social injustice, where penalties were levied on those who were legitimately productive and non-productivity was rewarded — a bizarre concept of justice indeed.

The rise in importance of the social gospel provoked a controversy known in church history as the “modernist-fundamentalist controversy,” which raged in the early years of the twentieth century. This controversy witnessed an unholy dichotomy between two poles of Christian concern. On the one hand, there was the classic concern of personal redemption accomplished by Christ through His atoning death on the cross, which brought reconciliation for those who put their trust in Jesus. On the other hand there was the consideration of the material well-being of human beings in this world right now. It included the consideration of clothing the naked, feeding the hungry, giving shelter to the homeless, and caring for the poor.

Many evangelicals at this period in history, in order to preserve the central significance of the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, gave renewed emphasis to evangelism. In many cases, this emphasis upon evangelism was done to the exclusion of the other pole of biblical concern, namely, mercy ministry to those who were poor, afflicted, and suffering. So glaring was the dichotomy between liberal and evangelical concerns that, sadly, many evangelicals began to distance themselves from any involvement in mercy ministries, lest their activities be construed as a surrender to liberalism.

The fallacy of the false dilemma takes two important truths and forces one to choose between them. The assumption of the either/or fallacy is that of two particular matters, only one is true while the other is false; therefore, one is required to choose between the true and the false. The either/or fallacy that stood before the church in this period was either the gospel of personal redemption or the gospel of social concern for the material welfare of human beings.

Even a cursory reading of the New Testament, however, makes it clear that the concerns of Jesus and of the New Testament writers cannot be reduced to an either/or dilemma. The problem with this fallacy, as with all fallacies, is that truth becomes severely distorted. The New Testament does not allow for this false dilemma. The choice that the church has is never between personal salvation and mercy ministry. It is rather a both/and proposition. Neither pole can be properly swallowed by the other. To reduce Christianity either to a program of social welfare or to a program of personal redemption results in a truncated gospel that is a profound distortion.

Historically, before the outbreak of nineteenth-century liberalism, the church did not seem to struggle with this false dichotomy. For centuries, the church understood her task as both to proclaim the saving gospel of the atoning work of Christ and, at the same time, to follow Jesus’ example of ministry to the blind, to the deaf, to the imprisoned, to the hungry, to the homeless, and to the poor. The ministry of the church, if it is to be healthy, must always be firmly committed to both dimensions of the biblical mandate, that we may be faithful to Christ Himself. If we reject either the ministry of personal redemption or of mercy to the afflicted, we express “unbelief.”

This post was originally published in Tabletalk magazine in 2010.

Will You Pray for Awakening? Download Your Free Prayer Guide

We live in a world that needs awakening. Millions of people do not know Jesus Christ. The church itself needs renewed zeal for the truth, for spiritual growth, and for missions. Scripture reveals how this awakening comes about: by a powerful movement of the Spirit of God. It also tells us that when just two men—Paul and Silas—prayed, the earth itself shook (Acts 16:25–26). So we are dedicating the entire year of 2019 to pray for awakening, and we hope you will, too.

To help as many people as possible, we produced this free prayer guide. Download it today at PrayForAwakening.com, find it in the PrayerMate app, or order the prayer booklet in packs of ten to share with your loved ones.

To use the guide, find the prayer that corresponds to the current week. Each week of the month focuses on a different group to pray for, starting with you and your family and expanding to the world and the global church. You can also share your desire to #PrayForAwakening on social media.

NOVEMBER PRAYER FOCUS:

Week 1:  Pray that you and your family will trust in the Lord and not in your understanding so that you will walk the straight path of faithful discipleship. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” (Prov. 3:5–6)
Week 2: Pray that God will bless your church with sound teachers who equip people well to minister to others in their neighborhoods and workplaces. “He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Eph. 4:11–12)
Week 3:  Pray that the leaders of your city and nation will not be antagonistic toward the church but will allow us to freely live godly, peaceful, dignified lives that bear witness to Christ. “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.” (1 Tim. 2:1–2)
Week 4: Pray that God will raise up missionaries to every tribe and tongue throughout the world. “I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.” (Rev. 7:9)

We hope this prayer guide encourages you this year and in future years. Join us in praying fervently for a mighty movement of God’s Spirit today, thankful that He has graciously promised to hear us, and confident that He will answer our prayers according to His will.

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The Diet of Augsburg

In this brief clip from his teaching series A Survey of Church History, W. Robert Godfrey gives a brief description of the Lutheran actions at the Diet of Augsburg. Watch this entire message for free. 

Transcript

Luther knew that the next great historical event in the Reformation was going to be the Diet of Augsburg in 1530. The Emperor had not been in Germany since 1521 when Luther was declared an outlaw at Worms. So Luther knew this presence of the Emperor at a Diet now was going to be a big deal and might well say great deal about the future of the Reformation and Luther desperately wanted to be there. But the Emperor refused to give him a safe conduct. So Luther was unable to go to the Diet at Augsburg and Philipp Melanchthon went in his place. And when the emperor asked for a summary of what the Lutherans believed, Melanchthon wrote out the Augsburg Confession which has remained the basic confession of Lutheranism ever since. This was presented to the Emperor as a statement of where the Lutherans, the people, the preachers and particularly the Lutheran princes stood. The Emperor didn't like it. The Emperor didn’t like it one bit. But the Emperor really was counting the political cost. Can I really oppose Luther? Can I really oppose the Lutheran princes?

And so he really didn't do very much at the Diet of Augsburg, but the Lutheran princes went away sufficiently worried that they immediately formed a defensive political League which came to be known in history The Schmalkaldic League to prepare for war with the Emperor. War wouldn’t come for fifteen years or more but clearly Luther saw that Germany was on the verge of civil war and he would say in his marvelous way, “If I'd wanted to plunge Germany in to civil war, I could've done it but it's not the way I thought the gospel should advance or would advance.” He said “rather, I sat in the garden with Philipp and drank beer and let the word do it.” 

Is All Scripture Equally Applicable?

Every word in the Bible is important. But not everything in the Bible is equally applicable to our everyday lives. From one of our Ask R.C. events, R.C. Sproul helps us to think carefully about the purpose of different passages in Scripture.

To get real-time answers to your biblical and theological questions, just Ask.Ligonier.org.

Read the Transcript