R.C. Sproul's Blog, page 21

Deepening Our Assurance

While it is possible for Christians to lack assurance of their salvation, they should seek never to remain in doubt. In this brief clip, Joel Beeke prompts us to pursue an ever-deepening assurance that we are the children of God.

Subscribe to Ligonier’s YouTube channel to watch hours of free biblical teaching.

Transcript:

And so, the New Testament, in its repeated admonitions to seek assurance, also acknowledges the possible lack of assurance. "Give diligence to make your calling and election sure," 2 Peter 1:10. So, you can be a Christian and lack assurance. But the normative is, you should have at least some measure of it. You're falling short if you don't. You need to work with it; you need to seek it; you need to pursue it. Assurance in both Testaments, therefore, is normative for believers, based on the covenant of grace, sealed with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, we need to ask ourselves: Do we possess this kind of personal assurance of faith of which Scripture speaks everywhere? And are we longing to grow in this kind of assurance? To glorify God, and for our own souls' good, we are to seek diligently a well-founded assurance and to have it deepened, always deepened, in our own Christian lives.

 

Truth and Growing in Grace

The postmodern world in which we live is marked by its extreme denial of any authoritative truth. As believers, we must stand squarely upon the Word of God as we witness the rejection of truth, whether in the world or in the church. We must pursue the truth in our lives through a life of commitment to Jesus Christ. Throughout the centuries, believers have gained strength from the many godly examples of their historical predecessors. As we consider what a life of allegiance to Christ looks like, I want us to consider the example of the noted Scottish pastor Robert Murray M’Cheyne.

M’Cheyne’s conversion to Jesus Christ came through personal tragedy. At age eighteen, he experienced the trauma of watching his older brother die. M’Cheyne was deeply impacted by the strong faith of his brother and the supernatural peace with which he faced death, and it led him to commit his life to Jesus Christ. His conversion launched him into a life of ministry that would last only eleven years. M’Cheyne would himself die at the early age of twenty-nine. Though brief in years, his life was rich in depth.

A sickly young man, M’Cheyne was advised by his doctors to relocate to another climate in an effort to regain his health. So he sailed from Scotland to Europe and traveled to Israel in order to avail himself of the arid climate in the Middle East. Though instructed to rest, M’Cheyne spent his time in Israel evangelizing the Jews and preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He pushed himself to the very brink of exhaustion for the cause of the gospel. He recovered to some extent, returned to Scotland, and resumed his pastorate. A short time thereafter, M’Cheyne passed away.

Before his death, this young Scottish preacher wrote in his journal, “Set not your heart on the flowers of this world, for they all have a canker in them. Prize the rose of Sharon more than all, for He changes not. Live nearer to Christ than anyone else so that when they are taken from you, you may have Him to lean on still.” M’Cheyne lived with abandon; he held nothing back, investing his entire life with supreme devotion for the kingdom of God. Though he had only eleven years to live for Christ, the effect of this one life that was wholeheartedly committed to the Savior was such as though he lived eleven lifetimes. He was a mighty instrument in the hand of God, used to bring seasons of revival in the Church of Scotland.

The example of M’Cheyne should challenge each one of us to live with full commitment to Jesus Christ. As iron sharpens iron, so this fiery Scot should motivate our souls to live with greater abandon for the sake of Christ. What do you live for? What consumes and preoccupies you? What dominates your thoughts, ambitions, dreams, and aspirations? It is better to die at age twenty-nine and be radically committed to Jesus Christ than to live to be seventy or eighty years in passive mediocrity toward Him. The reign of truth in a believer’s life is exemplified in the completely committed life of M’Cheyne. All who embrace the truth must pursue this decisive dedication as well, endeavoring to make every moment count for time and eternity.

One passage in the Bible that should inspire us to live in such a manner is Romans 12:1–2. This critically important text stands in a pivotal position in this epistle that is regarded as the most definitive doctrinal explanation of the gospel. After laying a theological foundation in the first eleven chapters of Romans, the Apostle Paul moves to its application. Here is how the gospel is to be lived on a daily basis. These two verses are the launching point for this new section on the reign of truth in our growing in grace.

In discussing the practical aspect of living the Christian life, Romans 12:1 implores, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God. . . .” The greatest motivation for living for the Lord Jesus Christ is remembering the fullness of the saving mercies of God. This is a strong word of exhortation from the Apostle Paul issued to all believers. He is not encouraging his listeners with his personal persuasion to live for Christ. The motivation for following Jesus Christ, and thus the basis of Paul’s appeal, is the mercies of God. This refers to the entirety of the saving grace of God wrought in eternal salvation that is described in the first eleven chapters of the book of Romans.

These preceding chapters in Romans make it clear that all mankind lies under the wrath of God (1:18). We have fallen short of the glory of God (3:23), we do not seek God (3:11–12), and we are entrenched in our sin (3:9). Yet consider what God has done for wretched sinners. God has justified us freely by His grace (3:24), giving us peace with Him (5:1). He “shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). God chose us in eternity past and predestined us for glory (8:29–30). Nothing will ever separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (8:38–39). Once slaves of sin and ungodliness, we have been redeemed (3:24), set free, and resurrected to new life in Christ (6:4, 9). Consider what we have become: we are children of God, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ (8:17). For those who are called according to His purpose, God is taking every circumstance, every trial, and every event, both great and small, and orchestrating it for His glory and our good (8:28).

These truths of our salvation are only a brief overview of what God has done to redeem us by His mercies. This should motivate us and compel us to live with full devotion to Jesus Christ. Do you understand what God has done for you in Christ? Are you truly motivated by the mercies of God to live in complete dedication for Him? The realization of what God has done for us in Christ Jesus should overwhelm us like a spiritual tsunami, flooding our souls, overwhelming us, and producing the motivation to do what He calls us to do.

This excerpt is adapted from The Moment of Truth by Steven Lawson.

Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, April 2021

The April issue of Tabletalk provides an overview of the life and work of Martin Luther, with a special focus on the Diet of Worms. In 2021, we will celebrate the five-hundredth anniversary of the Diet of Worms, where Martin Luther made a bold stand for the gospel, staking his very life on the truth of Scripture. Because of the significance of this event, it is worthwhile to consider what led up to it, what Luther was defending, and how the truths he advocated remain relevant today. This issue of Tabletalk sets Luther’s work and the diet in historical context, explores what happened at the Diet of Worms, and explains why we should continue to embrace and defend the biblical truth recovered at that important point in history.

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.

Steadfast in the Truth by Burk ParsonsThe Road to Worms: The Diet of Worms in Historical Context by Stephen NicholsThe Proceedings of the Diet by Herman SelderhuisThere He Stood: Luther at Worms by W. Robert GodfreyAfter the Diet by Gene Edward VeithThe Legacy of Luther by Keith A. MathisonRead 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.

John 3:16 and Man's Ability to Choose God

It is ironic that in the same chapter, indeed in the same context, in which our Lord teaches the utter necessity of rebirth to even see the kingdom, let alone choose it, non-Reformed views find one of their main proof texts to argue that fallen man retains a small island of ability to choose Christ. It is John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

What does this famous verse teach about fallen man's ability to choose Christ? The answer, simply, is nothing. The argument used by non-Reformed people is that the text teaches that everybody in the world has it in their power to accept or reject Christ. A careful look at the text reveals, however, that it teaches nothing of the kind. What the text teaches is that everyone who believes in Christ will be saved. Whoever does A (believes) will receive B (everlasting life). The text says nothing, absolutely nothing, about who will ever believe. It says nothing about fallen man's natural moral ability. Reformed people and non-Reformed people both heartily agree that all who believe will be saved. They heartily disagree about who has the ability to believe.

Some may reply, "All right. The text does not explicitly teach that fallen men have the ability to choose Christ without being reborn first, but it certainly implies that." I am not willing to grant that the text even implies such a thing. However, even if it did it would make no difference in the debate. Why not? Our rule of interpreting Scripture is that implications drawn from the Scripture must always be subordinate to the explicit teaching of Scripture. We must never, never, never reverse this to subordinate the explicit teaching of Scripture to possible implications drawn from Scripture. This rule is shared by both Reformed and non-Reformed thinkers.

If John 3:16 implied a universal natural human ability of fallen men to choose Christ, then that implication would be wiped out by Jesus' explicit teaching to the contrary. We have already shown that Jesus explicitly and unambiguously taught that no man has the ability to come to him without God doing something to give him that ability, namely drawing him.

Fallen man is flesh. In the flesh he can do nothing to please God. Paul declares, "The fleshly mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:7, 8).

We ask, then, "Who are those who are 'in the flesh'?" Paul goes on to declare: "But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you" (Rom. 8:9). The crucial word here is if. What distinguishes those who are in the flesh from those who are not is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. No one who is not reborn is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. People who are in the flesh have not been reborn. Unless they are first reborn, born of the Holy Spirit, they cannot be subject to the law of God. They cannot please God.

God commands us to believe in Christ. He is pleased by those who choose Christ. If unregenerate people could choose Christ, then they could be subject to at least one of God's commands and they could at least do something that is pleasing to God. If that is so, then the apostle has erred here in insisting that those who are in the flesh can neither be subject to God nor please him.

We conclude that fallen man is still free to choose what he desires, but because his desires are only wicked he lacks the moral ability to come to Christ. As long as he remains in the flesh, unregenerate, he will never choose Christ. He cannot choose Christ precisely because he cannot act against his own will. He has no desire for Christ. He cannot choose what he does not desire. His fall is great. It is so great that only the effectual grace of God working in his heart can bring him to faith.

This excerpt is taken from Chosen by God by R.C. Sproul.

Death Is Swallowed up in Victory

After Jesus’ perfect atonement, the curse of death could not contain Him. Christ has emerged from the grave in glorious victory, and so will all who trust in Him. In this brief clip, R.C. Sproul displays the hope at the heart of the Christian faith.

Transcript:

Here’s the crux of the work of Christ in the resurrection, that He gives us a new humanity, that He restores the original image of God in His people, and has prepared them to live forever. Now, Paul concludes by saying, “Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood can’t inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption, but behold I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For the corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality, so when this corruptible has put on incorruption and the mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Death is devoured, consumed by victory. O death, where’s your sting now? O Hades, where’s your victory? The sting of death is sin. And the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through the Lord Jesus Christ.” That’s the point of His work is that He is raised by the Father, by the power of the Spirit, not simply for His own vindication, but He is raised for us. He may be the first to be raised in this manner, being brought forth in a glorified state but is by no means the last. Everyone who is in Christ Jesus will share in this resurrected glory. This is our hope. This is at the very heart and center of the Christian faith.

 

Take Away the Resurrection and You Take Away Christianity

Here is the watershed of human history where the misery of the race is transformed into grandeur. Here the kerygma, the proclamation of the early church, was born with the cry "He is risen." We can view this event as a symbol, a lovely tale of hope. We can reduce it to a moralism that declares, as one preacher put it, "The meaning of the Resurrection is that we can face the dawn of each new day with dialectical courage."

The New Testament proclaims the Resurrection as sober historical fact. The early Christians were not interested in dialectical symbols but in concrete realities. Authentic Christianity stands or falls with the space/time event of Jesus' resurrection. The term Christian suffers from the burden of a thousand qualifications and a myriad of diverse definitions. One dictionary defines a Christian as a person who is civilized. One can certainly be civilized without affirming the Resurrection, but one cannot then be a Christian in the biblical sense. The person who claims to be a Christian while denying the Resurrection speaks with a forked tongue. From such turn away.

The resurrection of Jesus is radical in the original sense of the word. It touches the radix, the "root" of the Christian faith. Without it Christianity becomes just another religion designed to titillate our moral senses with platitudes of human wisdom. The apostle Paul spelled out the clear and irrefutable consequences of a "resurrectionless" Christianity. If Christ is not raised, he reasoned, we are left with the following list of conclusions:

Our preaching is futile.Our faith is in vain.We have misrepresented God.We are still in our sins.Our loved ones who have died have perished.If all we have is hope, we are of all men most to be pitied.

These six consequences sharply reveal the inner connection of the Resurrection to the substance of Christianity. The resurrection of Jesus is the sine qua non of the Christian faith. Take away the Resurrection and you take away Christianity.

This excerpt is from Who Is Jesus? by R.C. Sproul. Download all 28 Crucial Questions ebooks for free here.

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 2021 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.

APRIL PRAYER FOCUS:

Week 1: Pray that you and your family will be committed to studying, doing, and teaching the Word of God, which is the means of awakening. “Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” (Ezra 7:10)Week 2: Pray that you will be willing to speak God’s Word to the people in your life and that God will supply opportunities to do so. “You . . . shall talk of [God’s commandments] when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” (Deut. 6:7)“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.” (Eph. 1:17)Week 4: Pray that missionaries and church leaders throughout the world will be delivered from the opposition of unbelievers so that they might preach the gospel without hindrance. “I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints.” (Rom. 15:30–31)

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.

DOWNLOAD NOW

Ultimate, Infinite, and Eternal

As Anaximander searched for the source of the world’s existence, he was seeking something—or someone—that is infinite and eternal. In this brief clip, R.C. Sproul considers how this philosopher unknowingly described the God who is boundless and ageless.

Transcript:

In this whole process, Anaximander comes up with an idea that, from the perspective of history, was extremely important. He said that ultimate reality—really ultimate reality—is what he called, and I'll transliterate it—the "apeiron” from the Greek language. Now, you've probably never heard of that word in your life, and that’s okay. But what he meant by this little word, “apeiron,” was that which is boundless and ageless. That which is boundless and ageless. For something to be boundless means that it doesn’t have any boundaries. There is no finite dimension that can capture it or contain it. In a word, whatever is boundless must be infinite. And whatever is ageless doesn’t have a birthday and has no birthday parties. Because, if it has no age, it is somehow above and beyond the normal currents of time. So, in a word, that which is ageless is that which is eternal. Now, you and I have an age. We all have birthdays. We all have a finite point of beginning in time. But we also have finite limits of space. As creatures, we have natural boundaries. I am experiencing that now, not in an abstract, philosophical way, but in a concrete existential way as we are videotaping this program. You see, because behind the scenes, behind the cameras and the microphones, we have directors. And they wave their hands at me and tell me how much time I have. But the worst thing they do is that they put these things on the floor, that I don't think you can see right now. But they are little pieces of black tape right there. And over here, there is more black tape. And that black tape goes over here, and then there is another one along here. They’ve put me in a cage. I like to walk around. I'm a peripatetic teacher. And when I'm moving, it’s hard for the cameramen to keep me in focus and in sight. So, they put me in this cage. They bound me. See, I am not infinite. But now, I wish I were. I try to trick them. I come right up to the edge of this tape, and I lean and see what happens. In the meantime, I'll be satisfied with my creatureliness and try to stay within the boundaries. But nobody is going to mistake me for ultimate reality or the supreme metaphysical point of unity for the entire realm of existence. No, Anaximander said that which is ultimate can have no finite bounds. And that which is truly ultimate cannot have a beginning in time or a definite age to its life span. But it must be infinite and eternal.

 

What Does the Cross Mean?

What is the meaning of the cross of Christ? In this brief clip, Derek Thomas identifies several important words that draw out the rich depths of meaning behind the crucifixion of Jesus.

Transcript:

But what does the cross mean? And here, Paul doesn’t explain it, but elsewhere he does, and he uses words to explain the cross. That's why a movie of the crucifixion of Jesus is wholly inadequate. The cross has to be explained. In the movie, all you see is the person dying on a cross, like other people died on a cross. But to really answer the question, “What does the cross mean?” there has to be a word, a “logos” of the cross, as Paul says elsewhere. He’s used words like “redemption.” The cross is redemptive, and it’s the language of the marketplace: the payment made to release from bondage and from slavery. The cross sets me free from bondage to sin and self. He has used words like “propitiation” in chapter 3 and verses 13 and 14, where the word specifically means that the cross is where the judgment of God descends, the wrath of God descends. And we asked the question in an earlier lesson: Why did the wrath of God descend here? If Jesus is sinless—death is the wages of sin—but if He hadn’t sinned, why does He die? And the answer that Luther gave was “substitution.” At that point, He was the greatest sinner the world had ever seen, because our sins had been reckoned to His account. Elsewhere, Paul will use the language of “reconciliation,” the language that comes from broken relationships, and that God's relationship with us is broken and needs to be restored, and the cross reconciles us to God.

 

Since We’re Justified by Faith Alone, How Should We Understand Jesus’ Words in Luke 9:23–24?

True saving faith is not mere head knowledge or sentimental emotion. From one of our live events, Steven Lawson shows that following the Lord in faith involves a decisive break with our old selves and entrusting our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ.

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

Read the Transcript