R.C. Sproul's Blog, page 517

Early Bird Rate for Our 2012 Fall Conference Ends Friday

"I fear that too many of us have domesticated God, that we have lost the ability to be amazed at His glory and to recognize who we are as humble creatures before our transcendent and holy Creator."
—R.C. Sproul

On September 21–22, 2012, we are hosting our annual Fall Conference at Reformation Bible College in Sanford, Florida to address this issue. Drs. George Grant, Michael Morales, Stephen Nichols, and R.C. Sproul Jr. will be joining R.C. Sproul to consider the theme "Surprised by God." They will look at God's call for His children to wonder at His power and grace, how His glory cannot be tamed, how theological decline has contributed to the "domestication" of God, and the Lord's surprising acts in church history. The conference will also include Reformation Bible College's annual convocation with guest speaker Dr. Stephen Nichols.

Register today and save $20. Early Bird Rate ends Friday, August 24, 2012.

Also, if you're interested in studying at Reformation Bible College, attend their Preview Weekend and receive free admission to our Fall Conference. Learn more.

The Threefold Use of the Law

The Reformation Study Bible contains 96 theological articles on a wide variety of subjects. Here is a helpful article that succinctly explains what is common called the threefold use of the law:

"Scripture shows that God intends His law to function in three ways, which Calvin crystalized in classic form for the church's benefit as the law's threefold use.

Its first function is to be a mirror reflecting to us both the perfect righteousness of God and our own sinfulness and shortcomings. As Augustine wrote, "the law bids us, as we try to fulfill its requirements, and become wearied in our weakness under it, to know how to ask the help of grace." The law is meant to give knowledge of sin (Rom. 3:20; 4:15; 5:13; 7:7-11), and by showing us our need of pardon and our danger of damnation to lead us in repentance and faith to Christ (Gal. 3:19-24).

A second function, the "civil use," is to restrain evil. Though the law cannot change the heart, it can to some extent inhibit lawlessness by its threats of judgement, especially when backed by a civil code that administers punishment for proven offenses (Deut. 13:6-11; 19:16-21; Rom. 13:3, 4). Thus it secures civil order, and serves to protect the righteous from the unjust.

Its third function is to guide the regenerate into the good works that God has planned for them (Eph. 2:10). The law tells God's children what will please their heavenly Father. It could be called their family code. Christ was speaking of this third use of the law when He said that those who become His disciples must be taught to do all that He had commanded (Matt. 28:20), and that obedience to His commands will prove the reality of one's love for Him (John 14:15). The Christian is free from the law as a system of salvation (Rom. 6:14; 7:4, 6; 1 Cor. 9:20; Gal. 2:15-19, 3:25), but is "under the law of Christ" as a rule of life (1 Cor. 9:21; Gal. 6:2)."

Own The Reformation Study Bible and have access to more than 20,000 study notes, 96 theological articles, contributions from 50 evangelical scholars, 19 in-text maps and 12 charts.

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R.C. Sproul Proves that God Does Not Exist

In this excerpt from his teaching series, Foundations, Dr. R.C. Sproul proves that God does not exist.

Transcript

I gave a lecture once at an Orlando conference where the whole point of my lecture was to deny, as emphatically as I could and as categorically as I knew how, the existence of God. And when I began that lecture I said, "What my task is today is to convince you folks that God does not exist." "Uhh?" came this gasp from the crowd. "What are you talking about? What kind of game are you playing?" "I'm not playing," I said, "The worst thing that could ever happen to us is to discover that God exists..." in the specific meaning of the term exist. Because the term exists in our language, has derived etymologically from the Latin existere—ex means out of and stere means to stand.

So somebody who exists is somebody who's outstanding, but outstanding in what sense? Well what was meant by this word philosophically centuries ago, going all the way back to Plato and before Plato, was the idea that there is being, pure and simple. And pure being depends on nothing for its ability to be. It is eternal, it has the power of being within itself; it is by no means creaturely.

The thing that characterizes creaturely existence is not being, but becoming, because the chief character trait of all creatures is they change. Whatever you are today, you will be different ever so slightly tomorrow. And today, you're that much different from what you were yesterday if it's only that you are 24-hours older than you were at this time yesterday.

Now the idea of existence says to exist is to stand out of something. And the idea meant to stand out of being. So that something that exists is something that has one foot in being, and the other foot in becoming, or in non-being. Unless it's connected somehow to being, it couldn't be. We wouldn't be human beings, we would be human becomings. And if it had both feet in being, it couldn't be a creature. Well the point I'm saying is that we don't want to think of God like this.

If you ask me, "Is God?" I say, "Yes of course God is." But does He exist? Not in this sense, because that would make Him what? A creature, a dependant, derived existence. But rather we say God is here [pointing on board to being]. God is being, not becoming, not changing. He is eternally the same. And so we say there's one being.

Now within that being there are not three separate existences. Remember the difference in the prefix. Exist means to stand out of being or non-being, but the word that the theologians use with respect to the trinity is not the word three existences, but three subsistences. That is, underneath the pure being of God, at a lower dimension, we must distinguish among these subsistences which the Bible calls Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Not three existences, not three beings, but rather three subsistences within that One eternal being.

R.C. Sproul Proves that God Does Not Exist [VIDEO]

In this excerpt from his teaching series, Foundations, Dr. R.C. Sproul proves that God does not exist.

The Religious Affections

Here's an excerpt from The Religious Affections, Owen Strachan's contribution to the August issue of Tabletalk.

Many years ago, in a wild and woolly period known as the First Great Awakening, colonial pastor Jonathan Edwards took on the tricky task of sorting out what place the "religious affections," as he called them, have in the Christian life. Here's what he said as a foundational tenet:

There are false affections, and there are true. A man's having much affection, don't prove that he has any true religion: but if he has no affection, it proves that he has no true religion. (Works of Jonathan Edwards 2:121)

Edwards wrote these words to help people process the revivals of the 1730s–40s, a series of spiritual awakenings when many people claimed their hearts had been profoundly stirred by God. Edwards' beloved wife, Sarah, had herself fallen into a sort of rapture, feeling herself remarkably close to the Lord. Some "Old Lights" cried down these emotive expressions of faith, charging that they were nothing more than attention-seeking excesses. True spirituality was not expressive and swept up but modest and buttoned-down. This discussion on "spiritual ecstasies" became a referendum on the revival itself.

Continue reading The Religious Affections.

The Grounds of our Justification

At the very heart of the controversy in the sixteenth century was the question of the ground by which God declares anyone righteous in His sight. The psalmist asked, "If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?" (Ps. 130:3). In other words, if we have to stand before God and face His perfect justice and perfect judgment of our performance, none of us would be able to pass review. We all would fall, because as Paul reiterates, all of us have fallen short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). So, the pressing question of justification is how can an unjust person ever be justified in the presence of a righteous and holy God?

The Roman Catholic view is known as analytical justification. This means that God will declare a person just only when, under His perfect analysis, He finds that he is just, that righteousness is inherent in him. The person cannot have that righteousness without faith, without grace, and without the assistance of Christ. Nevertheless, in the final analysis, true righteousness must be present in the soul of a person before God will ever declare him just.

Whereas the Roman view is analytical, the Reformation view is that justification is synthetic. A synthetic statement is one in which something new is added in the predicate that is not contained in the subject. If I said to you, "The bachelor was a poor man," I have told you something new in the second part of the sentence that was not already contained in the word bachelor. All bachelors are men by definition, but not all bachelors are poor men. There are many wealthy bachelors. Poverty and wealth are concepts that are not inherent in the idea of bachelorhood. So, when we say, "The bachelor was a poor man," there is a synthesis, as it were.

When we say that the Reformation view of justification is synthetic, we mean that when God declares a person to be just in His sight, it is not because of what He finds in that person under His analysis. Rather, it is on the basis of something that is added to the person. That something that is added, of course, is the righteousness of Christ. This is why Luther said that the righteousness by which we are justified is extra nos, meaning "apart from us" or "outside of us." He also called it an "alien righteousness," not a righteousness that properly belongs to us, but a righteousness that is foreign to us, alien to us. It comes from outside the sphere of our own behavior. With both of these terms, Luther was speaking about the righteousness of Christ.

Excerpt adapted from R.C. Sproul's latest book, Are We Together? Available now from ReformationTrust.com

Twitter Highlights (8/19/12)

Here are highlights from our various Twitter accounts over the past week.

Only love for Christ, with all that it implies, can squeeze out the love of this world. —Sinclair Ferguson

— Reformation Trust (@RefTrust) August 14, 2012

As soon as we are slaves to human opinion...the message of Christ will be compromised. —R.C. Sproul

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) August 14, 2012

Prayer is only the voice of faith to God through Christ (Jonathan Edwards).

— Tabletalk Magazine (@Tabletalk) August 16, 2012

God is seeking people who's souls are aflame, who can't wait for Sunday, who love the worship of God. —R.C. Sproul

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) August 16, 2012

What Scripture ever said that the greatness of man's sin could hinder the greatness of God's mercy? No Scripture says so (T. Hooker).

— Ligonier Academy (@LigonierAcademy) August 17, 2012

It is God and God alone who can pronounce the final verdict of my justification or my lack of it. —R.C. Sproul

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) August 17, 2012

God has determined that His people will walk through divinely appointed times of adversity. —Steven Lawson bit.ly/fB8z7f

— Reformation Trust (@RefTrust) August 18, 2012

You can also find our various ministries on Facebook:

Ligonier Ministries | Ligonier Academy | Ligonier Connect | RefNet
Reformation Bible College | Reformation Trust | Tabletalk Magazine

What is Most Needful in our Pulpits?

First, we need to know which pulpits we are talking about. The world is full of "pulpits" that are filled by men and women who are missing the most important thing- the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That is, the pulpits in mainline churches are not truly "ours" for they are marked by fundamental unbelief. This is why J. Gresham Machen wisely titled his great work Christianity and Liberalism, affirming that they are two different animals, and that there is no such thing as liberal Christianity.

So perhaps we would be better to ask what is most needful in evangelical pulpits. The first most needful thing, of course, is the evangel. And our pulpits will be filled with the evangel when they are filled with the Bible. We need sermons that are expositing the book of the good news of the work of Christ on our behalf.

There is, however, yet one thing lacking- courage. It is safe to say that most church members in most evangelical churches have at least heard the good news that Jesus came to save sinners. It is even more certain that everyone attending the preaching of the Word in an evangelical church is well aware that he is a sinner. It is absolutely certain, however, that no one at the service is sufficiently aware of the depth, the scope and the power of his sin, nor sufficiently aware of the depth, the scope and the power of the grace of God. We know not what we have been saved from nor to what we have been saved.

Which is why we need courage. We need shepherds who walk into their pulpits having seen and used the Bible as a mirror to his own sin. We need shepherds who by God's grace come to see their own sin for what it is, and who preach confident in the knowledge that his flock is neither more nor less sinful than he is. Knowing his sin, he preaches against his sin. He does not shy away from it, but lays it out for all to see. Because he is speaking to his own sins, others can hear him. Because his sins are the same as those under his care, he speaks to the sins of others.

The courage to speak to our sins, however, is grounded in gospel confidence. A pastor is able to look straight into his own heart of darkness because of the light of the gospel. He can face what he is insofar as he is able to embrace the fullness of the gospel promises. We need pastors who are not merely relieved that their sins are covered, but that are overjoyed to know that they have been adopted. We need pastors who not only know they have by His grace escaped the fires of hell, but who know they will see Him like He is, and so will become like Him.

The church needs preachers who have the courage to believe not only the glories of the gospel, but the sufficiency of the gospel. We don't need more word studies. We don't need more scholarship. We don't need more stories. We don't need more homiletic genius. We need more courage to preach more gospel. Because Jesus changes everything.

New Teaching Series: Economics for Everybody

From government policy to household budgets, economics is everywhere. Yet few people have a proper understanding of economic principles, and how Christians should think about them. Economics for Everybody: Applying Biblical Principles to Work, Wealth, and the World by R.C. Sproul Jr. is a new 12-part video series and curriculum tailor-made for families, churches, and individuals who want to understand this important topic. Thoroughly unconventional, it links entrepreneurship with lemonade, cartoons with markets, and Charlie Chaplin with supply and demand. It's funny, clever, profound, and instructive all in one place.

"I can do nothing but give the highest recommendation for this study. It serves as a desperate warning to a country that is heading in a wrong direction and as a guide to help individuals, families, churches, and governments rightly understand their roles in God's sovereign schematic."

—Pastor Jeremy Lundmark

"I highly recommend Economics for Everybody for any middle schooler, high schooler, or adult who desires a greater understanding of the field of economics. The economy has such a great impact on our day-to-day lives, we owe it to ourselves to take a little bit of time to understand the principles better."

—Debra Haagen

Messages include:

And God Created Economics: Stewardship in God’s Image
The Economic Problem of Sin: Law, Liberty & Government
The Path from Work to Wealth: Production, Property & Tools
The Route From Scarcity to Plenty: Money, Markets & Trade
The Role of the Entrepreneur: Capital, Calculation & Profit
A Tale of Two Theologies (Part 1): From God to Politics
A Tale of Two Theologies (Part 2): Economic Philosophies & Systems
Government Intervention: Basic Principles & Education
The Two Mysteries of Monetary Policy: Inflation & Depressions
The Welfare & Corporate States of America: The Costs of Redistribution
Economics Has Consequences: The Real Effects of Sin
Kingdom Economics

Package includes DVD and Study Guide.

Buy Economics for Everybody for $45 $36 from the Ligonier Store.

Catechetical Evangelism — Puritan Evangelism

Although evangelism differs to some degree from generation to generation according to gifts, culture, style, and language, the primary methods of Puritan evangelism—plain preaching and catechetical teaching—can show us much about how to present the gospel to sinners. Last week we explained plain preaching; today we'll consider catechetical evangelism.

Like the Reformers, the Puritans were catechists. They believed that pulpit messages should be reinforced by personalized ministry through catechesis—the instruction in the doctrines of Scripture using catechisms. Puritan catechizing was evangelistic in several ways.

Scores of Puritans reached out evangelistically to children and young people by writing catechism books that explained fundamental Christian doctrines via questions and answers supported by Scripture. For example, John Cotton titled his catechism Milk for Babes, drawn out of the Breasts of both Testaments. Other Puritans included in the titles of their catechisms such expressions as "the main and fundamental points," "the sum of the Christian religion," the "several heads" or "first principles" of religion, and "the ABC of Christianity." At various levels in the church as well as in the homes of their parishioners, Puritan ministers taught rising generations from both the Bible and their catechisms. Their goals were to explain the fundamental teachings of the Bible, to help young people commit the Bible to memory, to make sermons and the sacraments more understandable, to prepare covenant children for confession of faith, to teach them how to defend their faith against error, and to help parents teach their own children.

Catechizing was a follow-up to sermons and a way to reach neighbors with the gospel. Alleine reportedly followed his work on Sunday by several days each week of catechizing church members as well as reaching out with the gospel to people he met on the streets. Baxter, whose vision for catechizing is expounded in The Reformed Pastor, said that he came to the painful conclusion that "some ignorant persons, who have been so long unprofitable hearers, have got more knowledge and remorse of conscience in half an hour's close disclosure, than they did from ten years' public preaching." Baxter invited people to his home every Thursday evening to discuss and pray for blessing on the sermons of the previous Sabbath.

The hard work of the Puritan catechist was greatly rewarded. Richard Greenham claimed that catechism teaching built up the Reformed church and seriously damaged Roman Catholicism. When Baxter was installed at Kidderminster in Worcestershire, perhaps one family in each street honored God in family worship; at the end of his ministry there, there were streets where every family did so. He could say that of the six hundred converts brought to faith under his preaching, he could not name one who had backslidden to the ways of the world. How vastly different was that result compared with those of today's evangelists, who press for mass conversions and turn over the hard work of follow-up to others.

Excerpt adapted from Joel Beeke's Living for God's Glory: An Introduction to Calvinism. Available from ReformationTrust.com