R.C. Sproul's Blog, page 538

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Christian Parenting

Allie was having a rough night. She had already been disciplined once for slapping one of the pastor's sons across the face, and she had just done it again, this time to his brother. Her mother was humiliated and frustrated. Allie was angry, ashamed, and hopeless as she sat in her room awaiting the consequences.

When her mom went to speak with her, Allie cried, "I don't deserve to be out there with my friends."

How would you have answered her?

Practically every parent on the planet has had a conversation with a child about the impropriety of hitting others. The question before Christian parents is not "Should I correct this behavior?" The question is "How does the gospel inform the way I correct my children?" Perhaps a more pointed question would be "How does my parenting differ from that of my Mormon neighbors down the street?"

Continue reading Christian Parenting, Elyse Fitzpatrick's contribution to the March issue of Tabletalk.

Audio And Video Now Available — 2012 National Conference

Last week we held our 2012 National Conference on the theme, "The Christian Mind." R.C. Sproul has said in the past that "burning hearts are not nourished by empty heads." This was experienced during the conference as thousands of hearts were inflamed to worship and serve our Lord as they sat under biblical teaching, either in person or via our live stream, and were exhorted to think like Christians in the midst of an anti-Christian culture.

We are now pleased to announce the audio and video from each main session is available either to purchase or stream for free:

Have You Lost Your Mind? by R.C. Sproul
We Don't Need No Education by Robert Godfrey
Q&A with Ferguson, Godfrey, Lawson, Mohler, Sproul
I've Got Half a Mind Too by Albert Mohler
The (True) Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by R.C. Sproul Jr.
Losing My Religion by Sinclair Ferguson
Rock of Ages & The Age of Rocks by Stephen Meyer
Q&A with Horton, Meyer, Sproul, Sproul Jr., Tackett
The Fear Factor by Michael Horton
When Worlds Collide by Del Tackett
Ignorance Is Not Bliss by Robert Godfrey
Foolishness to the Greeks by Steven Lawson
Love The Lord Your God With All Your Mind by R.C. Sproul

Optional Sessions:

Parenting by God's Promises by Joel Beeke
Thriving at College by Alex Chediak
The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon by Steven Lawson

Michael Card's optional session is not available due to a problem with the recording.

We hope to see many of you at our other events this year in Houston, Alaska, and Seattle. In 2013, our National Conference will be February 21-23, 2013. Save those dates and stay tuned for more details.

Charles Spurgeon on Calvinism — Unconditional Election

In Steven Lawson's latest book, The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon, Lawson argues that Charles Spurgeon's fervent commitment to the doctrines of grace "sharpened" his "gospel focus." So what exactly did Spurgeon believe about the five points of Calvinism? Using excerpts from The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon, we'll answer that question in what will be a five part series on the blog. Our prayer is that these truths will sharpen your gospel focus also.

Today we discover what Charles Spurgeon believed about the doctrine of Unconditional Election.

Charles Spurgeon tenaciously held to the doctrine of unconditional election. By necessity, this biblical truth flows from belief in human depravity. Because the will of man is utterly dead and cannot choose God, God must exercise His sovereign will to save. Out of the mass of fallen humanity, God made an eternal, distinguishing choice. Before the foundation of the world, He determined whom He would save. Spurgeon contended that were it not for God's choice of His elect, none would be saved.

He that perishes chooses to perish; but he that is saved is saved because God has chosen to save him. —Spurgeon

Like all the doctrines that Spurgeon held, he believed this truth because he was convinced it is rooted and grounded in the Bible: "Whatever may be said about the doctrine of election, it is written in the Word of God as with an iron pen, and there is no getting rid of it." In his sermon titled "Election," preached on September 2, 1855, Spurgeon read many passages that unmistakably teach this doctrinal truth. Among the texts he cited and explained were Luke 18:7; John 15:16; 17:8–9; Acts 13:48; Romans 8:29, 33; 9:11–13; 11:7; 1 Corinthians 1:26–29; Ephesians 1:14; Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; 2 Thessalonians 2:13–14; Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1–2; and 2 John 1. In this exposition, Spurgeon stated:

In the very beginning, when this great universe lay in the mind of God, like unborn forests in the acorn cup; long ere the echoes awoke the solitudes; before the mountains were brought forth; and long ere the light flashed through the sky, God loved His chosen creatures. Before there was any created being—when the ether was not fanned by an angel's wing, when space itself had not an existence, when there was nothing save God alone—even then, in that loneliness of Deity, and in that deep quiet and profundity, His bowels moved with love for His chosen. Their names were written on His heart, and then were they dear to His soul.

Spurgeon further asserted, "God from the beginning chose His people; when the unnavigated ether was yet unfanned by the wing of a single angel, when space was shoreless, or else unborn, when universal silence reigned, and not a voice or whisper shocked the solemnity of silence, when there was no being, and no motion, no time, and naught but God Himself, alone in His eternity." In eternity past, God sovereignly set His affections on a particular people and predestined their salvation. Moreover, sovereign election, Spurgeon affirmed, was based not on divine foresight but on divine foreordination: "'But,' say others, 'God elected them on the foresight of their faith.' Now, God gives faith, therefore He could not have elected them on account of faith which He foresaw."

Spurgeon further denied that election can be dismissed as the choice of nations rather than individuals. He declared:

It is the most miserable shift on earth to make out that God hath not chosen persons but nations. . . .If it were not just to choose a person, it would be far more unjust to choose a nation, since nations are but the union of multitudes of persons, and to chose a nation seems to be a more gigantic crime—if election be a crime—than to chose one person. Surely, to choose ten thousand would be considered to be worse than choosing one; to distinguish a whole nation from the rest of mankind, does seem to be a greater extravaganza in the acts of divine sovereignty than the election of one poor mortal, and leaving out another.

Because God's sovereign election of individual sinners is clearly taught by Scripture, Spurgeon insisted that it must be preached: "God gave me this great book to preach from, and if He has put anything in it you think is not fit, go and complain to Him, not to me. I am simply His servant, and if His errand that I am to tell is objectionable, I cannot help it. Let me tell you, the reason why many of our churches are declining is just because this doctrine has not been preached." Spurgeon recognized that a refusal to preach the truth of sovereign election is a hindrance to the growth of the church. Such preaching is necessary if sinful men are to receive the seed of the gospel.

Moreover, Spurgeon maintained that withholding this great truth is a grievous offense against God:

Some of you have never preached on election since you were ordained. "These things," you say, "are offensive." And so you would rather offend God than offend man. But you reply, "These things will not be practical." I do think that the climax of all man's blasphemy is centered in that utterance. Tell me that God put a thing in the Bible that I am not to preach! You are finding fault with my God. But you say, "It will be dangerous." What! God's truth dangerous? I should not like to stand in your shoes when you have to face your Maker on the day of judgment after such an utterance as that.

From a positive perspective, Spurgeon boldly declared that preaching unconditional election is evangelistic. He said, "I have never preached this doctrine without seeing conversions, and I believe I never shall." When people asked him how he reconciled preaching election with extending the gospel, he asserted, "There is no need to reconcile them, for they have never yet quarreled with one another." He was right. Divine sovereignty and gospel evangelism go hand in hand, the former preparing the way for and ensuring the success of the latter.

While all in heaven are there by God's choice, Spurgeon said, those in hell are there by their own choice. He testified: "From the Word of God I gather that damnation is all of man, from top to bottom, and salvation is all of grace, from first to last. He that perishes chooses to perish; but he that is saved is saved because God has chosen to save him." In other words, salvation is possible only when God's will liberates the human will from its bondage.

Excerpt adapted from Steven Lawson's The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon. Available now from ReformationTrust.com.

Enlightened Self-Interest

The last Saturday in October is perhaps my favorite day of the year. The Southwest Virginia church I served for more than a dozen years has a grand celebration every year on that day. The people celebrate the grace of God in bringing us the Reformation, which began October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the church door in Wittenberg. The celebration includes a telling of the story of Martin Luther to the children around a bonfire with s'mores. (I told the story when we lived there.) It includes contests in cooking chili and in cooking pies. It includes a grand street fair, with fresh fried doughnuts, barbeque, and hot french fries. All Ninety-Five of the theses are recited. Children and adults sing and play their instruments. And as the day draws to a close, the people dance. They dance with each other. They dance before the watching world. Most of all, they dance for the pleasure of our King and Redeemer. It's a wonderful day, celebrating a glorious gospel.

On the last Saturday in October 2011, however, I was not at our Reformation celebration. I was not in the mountains watching the fall leaves float to the ground. I was not eating funnel cake or serving as a judge in the chili contest (a perk of winning in the past). I was, instead, in hot and muggy Orlando, surrounded by concrete. I was sitting in the hospital with my dear wife as she received a blood transfusion, part of her continuing treatment in her battle with leukemia.

Continue reading Enlightened Self-Interest, R.C. Sproul Jr.'s contribution to the March issue of Tabletalk.

Understanding the Prophets — The Unfolding of Biblical Eschatology

What is a Prophet?

The interpretation of the prophetic books is not a simple matter, and in order to understand these books, they must be approached with care and caution.i They cannot be approached as if they were little more than collections of arcane predictions. As we shall discover, they are much more than this, but before proceeding to an examination of the individual prophetic books, we must answer some preliminary questions. First, what is a prophet? In the Old Testament, the word used most frequently to refer to a prophet is nabi'. The general meaning of the word is "spokesman." In the Old Testament, a prophet "was a spokesman for God with the distinct call to be the ambassador of God."ii In fact, it was the call of God that gave the true prophet his legitimacy.iii Other titles used to describe prophets are ro'eh, meaning "seer;" hozeh, also meaning "seer;" and 'ish-ha'elohim, meaning "man of God." Pieter Verhoef explains, "These titles together define the prophet as a man who has been called to communicate the revealed word of God, a man who has an intimate relationship with God as his servant and messenger, and as one whose task it is to keep watch over God's people."iv

According to Scripture, the prophetic office originated with Moses in the events at Mount Sinai (Deut. 18:15–16; cf. Hos. 12:13). The office of the prophet, then, is directly associated with the Sinai covenant.v After the exodus from Egypt, Moses had led the people of Israel to the mountain. Upon their arrival, Moses ascended the mountain, and it was revealed to him that God would descend in a thick cloud in order that the people might hear and believe that which he would speak to Moses (Exod. 19:9). On the morning of the third day God descended on the mountain in smoke and fire (vv. 16–20). There he gave the Ten Commandments (Exod. 20:1–17). In fear, the people then said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die" (v. 19). The people asked Moses to be a mediator of God's word. All of the prophets who followed Moses shared this role.vi

The Context of the Prophets

A second important issue that must be raised is the broad historical context of the prophetic books. The ministries of all of the writing prophets can be dated from the eighth to the fifth centuries B.C.vii The books of 2 Kings, Ezra, and Nehemiah, therefore, provide the redemptive-historical context for these prophets. It will be recalled that these historical books recount the events leading to the exile, the exile itself, and the early stages of restoration after the exile. As Robertson explains, "…the writings of Israel's prophets eventually must be seen as centering primarily around two events of immeasurable significance: Israel's exile and restoration."viii The redemptive-historical context of the writing prophets, then, is "the death and resurrection of Israel" (cf. Ezek. 37:1–14).ix

The Language of the Prophets

In addition to understanding the historical context of the prophetic books, it is also necessary to understand the nature of the language they used. Although other genres are found in the prophetic books, including biographical and autobiographical narrative, the most common form of prophetic speech found in these books is the oracle.x The term "oracle," as John Sawyer observes, "is applied to all manner of prophetic utterances from lengthy 'oracles concerning foreign nations' (e.g. Isa. 13:1; 14:28; 15:1; 17:1; 19:1; 21:1; 23:1) and whole books (e.g. Nahum, Habakkuk, Malachi) to shorter prophecies addressed to specific situations (e.g. Ezek. 12:10)."xi The prophetic oracles may be distinguished according to their content as either oracles of judgment or oracles of salvation.xii

The prophetic oracles tend to employ poetic language rather than prose.xiii This is significant because Hebrew poetry is a highly stylized form of literature. It is characterized largely by its extensive use of figurative language and striking imagery. Hebrew poetry uses numerous metaphors and other figures of speech. When it is understood that the biblical prophets make extensive use of poetic language, it becomes evident that those parts of the prophetic books that are poetic in nature are not to be interpreted in the same manner that prose is interpreted.

The Prophetic Message

A final topic that must be examined before proceeding to the individual books of the prophets concerns the nature of the prophetic message. Undergirding the message of all the prophets is their understanding of the law and the covenant. The blessings and curses of the Mosaic covenant found in texts such as Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 are the foundation for the prophets' messages of judgment and restoration.xiv As Douglas Stuart explains, "Nearly all of the content of the classical (writing) prophets' oracles revolve around the announcement of the near-time fulfillment of covenantal curses and the end-time fulfillment of covenantal restoration blessings."xv O. Palmer Robertson observes how the connection between the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenants explains some of the apparent paradoxes in the prophetic message.

The binding together of these two covenants explains how the prophets of Israel could anticipate both disaster and blessing for Israel. Disaster must come because of violation of covenant law. But blessing can be promised as the final end because of the sovereign commitment on the part of God to bless his people despite their deserving nothing.xvi

The Davidic covenant also provides a foundation for the message of the prophets. God's promise in this covenant to preserve a descendant of David on the throne and to defend Jerusalem "provides the strongest basis for hope in a future messianic king beyond the judgment of exile…"xvii

Oracles of Judgment

The basic message of the prophets included both oracles of judgment and oracles of salvation. In the oracles of judgment, the prophets condemned Israel for violating the covenant law and declared the imposition of the covenant curses.xviii Many of the oracles of judgment take the form of a prophetic lawsuit at the end of which God pronounces his sentence on Israel (cf. Jer. 2:5–9; Hos. 2:4–25; 4:1–3; Mic. 6:1–8).xix Exile was the ultimate judgment because it was, in effect, a death sentence for Israel.xx A significant part of the prophetic message of judgment was the proclamation of the coming "Day of Yahweh" or "Day of the Lord." In the prophets, the Day of Yahweh is a complex idea that encompasses both judgment and salvation. This concept is best examined in the context of its usage in the individual prophetic books of Scripture in which it is found.

There is some controversy regarding the purpose of the oracles of judgment. Were they intended to produce repentance and avoid judgment, or were they intended to be understood as predictions of unavoidable judgment? Using the terminology of speech-act theory, Walter Houston asks whether these oracles are "calls for repentance (which would fall into the category of directive acts), or announcements of coming doom (which would presumably be assertive)?"xxi O. Palmer Robertson rightly concludes that these oracles were intended to lead to repentance and to avert the prophesied judgment (cf. Jer. 26:2–3).xxii As he explains, the prophetic word "does not primarily involve prediction regarding future events."xxiii

Oracles of Salvation

In addition to oracles of judgment, the basic message of the prophets also includes oracles of salvation. These oracles proclaim the coming of a new era following judgment. Like the oracles of judgment, the oracles of salvation are also rooted in the covenants (cf. Lev. 26:40–45; Deut. 4:30–31; 30:1–10). John Bright observes the significance of these messages of restoration.

Virtually all of the pre-exilic prophets, albeit by no means in identical ways, looked beyond the judgment they were compelled to announce to a farther future when God would come once again to his people in mercy, restore their fortunes, and establish his rule over them in righteousness and peace. This promise of future salvation is one of the most distinctive features in the message of the prophets, and it is this perhaps more than anything else that serves to bind the Old Testament unbreakably with the New in a single canon of Scripture.xxiv

The pre-exilic prophets looked forward to the restoration of Israel following the exile. As we shall discover, however, the post-exilic prophets view the return from exile as only the beginning of the eschatological restoration.

The Kingdom of God

One of the most significant elements found in the prophetic message of salvation is the establishment of God's kingdom through a descendant of David, a Messiah.xxv The roots of the messianic idea are found in several texts in the Pentateuch (Gen. 17:6, 16; 35:11; 49:10; Num. 24:17; Deut. 17:14–20).xxvi The primary foundation of this concept, however, rests in the covenant God made with David (2 Sam. 7). According to the prophets, the coming Messiah will establish God's kingdom, transforming creation and bringing blessing to all the nations, thereby fulfilling the purpose of God's covenant with Abraham (cf. Gen. 12:3; Ps. 72:17).xxvii

Creation

The transformation of creation associated with the coming of the Kingdom of God ties together God's creational purposes and his redemptive purposes. According to the prophets, "there is no redemption unless it affects the whole of creation."xxviii The prophets recognize that there is something radically wrong in the present creation, but unlike the followers of many pagan religions, they do not assert that the physical world is itself inherently evil. The present corruption of God's creation is due to sin. The prophets, therefore, affirm that all of creation will be transformed and what is wrong will be set right in the eschatological victory over evil.xxix

i For a helpful introduction to the subject, see Willem VanGemeren, Interpreting the Prophetic Word (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990); O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Prophets (Phillipsburg: P&R, 2004).
ii Van Gemeren, Interpreting the Prophetic Word, 42 (emphasis in original); cf. also John F. A. Sawyer, Prophecy and the Biblical Prophets, rev. ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), 1.
iii For a complete discussion of the divine call and commissioning of the prophet, see Robertson, The Christ of the Prophets, 67–90.
iv NIDOTTE, 4:1068; cf. also Robertson, The Christ of the Prophets, 2004, 23; Edward J. Young, My Servants the Prophets (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1952), 13.
v Cf. William Dumbrell, Covenant and Creation (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1984), 136–37.
vi Robertson, The Christ of the Prophets, 2004, 25. Moses was unique in being the mediator of God's covenant. All of the prophets were mediators of God's word.
vii Hans Walter Wolff, "Prophecy from the Eighth Through the Fifth Century" in Interpreting the Prophets, ed. James Luther Mays and Paul J. Achtemeier (Philidelphia: Fortress, 1987), 15.
viii Robertson, The Christ of the Prophets, 2004, 195; cf. 453–98.
ix Donald E. Gowan, Theology of the Prophetic Books (Louisville: Westminster, 1998), 9.
x C. Hassell Bullock, An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophetic Books, rev. (Chicago: Moody, 1986), 29.
xi Sawyer, Prophecy and Biblical Prophets, 28.
xii VanGemeren, Interpreting the Prophetic Word, 78.
xiii Bullock, Introduction, 1986, 31; Dan McCartney and Charles Clayton, Let the Reader Understand (Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1994), 217.
xiv Robertson, The Christ of the Prophets, 122. As Dumbrell (Covenant and Creation, 138) explains, the covenant office of prophet was needed "because of Israel's potential infidelity."
xv Douglas Stuart, Hosea–Jonah, WBC 31 (Nashville: Nelson, 1987), xxxii.
xvi Robertson, The Christ of the Prophets, 2004, 178.
xvii Robertson, The Christ of the Prophets, 180–81.
xviii VanGemeren, Interpreting the Prophetic Word, 78–9.
xix For a helpful explanation of the prophetic lawsuit, see VanGemeren, Interpreting the Prophetic Word, 400–407.
xx Gerhard von Rad, The Message of the Prophets, trans. D. M. G. Stalker (New York: Harper & Row, 1967), 12.
xxi Walter Houston, "What Did the Prophets Think They Were Doing? Speech Acts and Prophetic Discourse in the Old Testament" in The Place Is Too Small For Us: The Israelite Prophets in Recent Scholarship, ed. Robert P. Gordon (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1995), 145.
xxii Robertson, The Christ of the Prophets, 94.
xxiii Robertson, The Christ of the Prophets, 26; cf. pp. 407–51.
xxiv John Bright, Covenant and Promise (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976), 15; cf. also VanGemeren, Interpreting the Prophetic Word, 89.
xxv VanGemeren, Interpreting the Prophetic Word.
xxvi Daniel Block, "My Servant David: Ancient Israel's Vision of the Messiah" in Israel's Messiah in the Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. Richard S. Hess (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic: 2003), 37.
xxvii VanGemeren, Interpreting the Prophetic Word, 233.
xxviii VanGemeren, Interpreting the Prophetic Word, 86.
xxix Donald E. Gowan, Eschatology in the Old Testament, 2d ed. (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2000), 2.

Adapted from From Age to Age by Keith Mathison. ISBN 978-0-87552-745-1
Used with permission of P&R Publishing Co. P O Box 817, Phillipsburg N.J. 08865 www.prpbooks.com

From Age to Age is available in the Ligonier store.

Twitter Highlights (3/18/12)

Here are some Twitter highlights from 2012 Ligonier National Conference, "The Christian Mind."

If I want to know what you really believe...I have to look at your life. —R.C. Sproul #lmnc

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 15, 2012

Your Christian life will not progress further than your knowledge of God's Word. —Steven Lawson #lmnc

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 15, 2012

Behind the scenes at #lmnc instagr.am/p/INN4xkCakM/

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 15, 2012

Christians, in the midst of the intellectual confusion, need intellectual grounding. —@AlbertMohler #lmnc

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 15, 2012

Until you die or until Jesus comes, keep thinking. —@AlbertMohler #lmnc

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 16, 2012

The first time my wife was diagnosed w/ cancer...I said to her, "Dear, now is the time to believe what we've always believed." —@RCSproulJr

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 16, 2012

Are you willing to be thought a fool for Christ's sake? —@RCSproulJr live.ligonier.org #lmnc

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 16, 2012

In the light of the mercies of God, we need to give ourselves as sacrifices to God. —Sinclair Ferguson #lmnc

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 16, 2012

You don't need a seminary education to dig into the Word of God...so dig in! —Sinclair Ferguson #lmnc

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 16, 2012

We have evidence for a transcendent cause and a definite beginning of the universe. — Stephen Meyer live.ligonier.org #lmnc

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 16, 2012

Our churches are dumbing down Christians at an alarming rate...they're unarmed when they get to the universities. —Mike Horton #lmnc

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 16, 2012

Apart from our Mediator, any knowledge of God would be deadly. We would only know Him as our worst nightmare. —Michael Horton #lmnc

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 16, 2012

You are the most connected generation in all of human history, but you are also the loneliest! —Del Tackett #lmnc

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 17, 2012

Neither the Republican party or the Democrat party care about the cause of Christ. —Robert Godfrey live.ligonier.org #lmnc

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 17, 2012

It is God alone who can save us from God Himself. —Steven Lawson live.ligonier.org #lmnc

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 17, 2012

A mindless Christianity is no Christianity at all. —RC Sproul #lmnc

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 17, 2012

R.C. Sproul concludes #lmnc instagr.am/p/IR8b01Caj7/

— Ligonier Ministries (@Ligonier) March 17, 2012

 

You can also find links to blog highlights and overviews of each session below:

Session 1, R.C. Sproul
Session 2, Robert Godfrey
Session 3, Albert Mohler
Session 4, R.C. Sproul Jr.
Session 5, Sinclair Ferguson
Session 6, Stephen Meyer
Session 7, Michael Horton
Session 8, Del Tackett
Session 9, Robert Godfrey
Session 10, Steven Lawson
Session 11, R.C. Sproul

Session 11, R.C. Sproul — 2012 National Conference

The final message of the 2012 Ligonier Ministries National Conference was from Dr. R.C. Sproul, titled "Love the Lord Your God with All Your Mind."

Dr. Sproul expounded the noetic effects of sin, that is, how the fall affects our thinking. For sinners to love God with their minds they must first be regenerated.

The complete audio and video of this session will be available soon, but below are a few highlights from Dr. Sproul's session.

Dr. Sproul opened with a reading from Romans 1:19-25, 28.

The faculty by which we reason has been seriously disturbed by sin and the fall

The fall has seriously damaged our ability to think and reason, however, our ability to think has not been totally annihilated. It is true that pagan thinkers can add 2 + 2. You don't have to be regenerate to get a PhD in mathematics. Yet, when it comes to the knowledge of God, men and women suppress this truth, denying what is plainly seen in Creation.

The Christian faith is reasonable

Dr. Sproul referenced Augustine as saying a faith without reason, is not faith, but credulity. God never calls us to make a leap of faith into the darkness. Instead, the Scriptures call us to take a leap out of the darkness, into the light. Our faith is reasonable, but it is not deemed as reasonable by the unconverted.

Regeneration is the necessary condition for loving God with your mind

The moment you are regenerate is the first time you are disposed to the things of God instead of being opposed to them. However, you still carry the baggage of your unconverted way of thinking with you. We therefore need to continually grow in loving God with our minds.

If you despise doctrine and knowledge, it is possible that this indicates you're still in your fallen condition. The unconverted don't want God in their thinking. Whereas the Christian wants God to dominate their thinking.

Dr. Sproul said, "Mindless Christianity is no Christianity at all. You can't love what you don't know."

Dr. R.C. Sproul is Ligonier’s founder and president, known for helping Christians understand what they believe, why they believe it, and how to defend it. Dr. Sproul also written over 70 books, and serves as both the senior minister of Saint Andrew’s in Sanford, Fla. and president of Ligonier Academy of Biblical and Theological Studies.

Session 10, Steven Lawson — 2012 National Conference

The tenth main message of the 2012 Ligonier Ministries National Conference was from Dr. Steven Lawson and titled, “Foolishness to the Greeks.”

Dr. Lawson reminded us that anti-intellectualism is not the only danger Christians face. Those who seek to reclaim the Christian mind face the opposite danger — allowing a desire to please God to mutate into pride and a vain desire for worldly respect. In this message, Dr. Steven Lawson explained how we must walk a fine line and never accommodate the gospel in an attempt to please the cultured despisers of Christianity. 

The complete audio and video of this session will be available soon, but below is a brief overview of Dr. Lawson's session.

Dr. Lawson opened today’s lecture with a reading of 1 Corinthians 1:18–25.

Dr. Lawson began by reminding us that from the dawn of history, man has tried to discover what life is all about – the ultimate questions.  

The Greeks addressed these questions and sought to answer them through philosophy. They offered man’s answers to man’s problems, and there were as many philosophies as there philosophers.


When Paul arrived on the scene, he preached the Gospel in the marketplace of ideas, and it was in direct conflict with the philosophies of the day.


Paul taught that all the answers to these questions are found in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.


The Gospel is absolute foolishness to the unbeliever. In our efforts to avoid anti-intellectualism, the heart of our message is absolute insanity to the world.


The day our message stops being foolish is the day that our message has lost its purity

Dr. Lawson explained the threefold foolishness to the Greeks.

We have a foolish message in the eyes of the world – the word of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18-25).


We are not only dogmatic about the word of the cross, we are “bull-dogmatic” about the word of the cross.


The Jews want miracles, and the Greeks want worldly wisdom, but Paul doesn’t give them what they want. He gives them the truth – Christ crucified.


We are never to attempt making the foolish message appear wise to the Greeks.


In the eyes of the world, we have foolish messengers (1 Corinthians 1:26-31).


Generally, God calls those whom the world considers foolish.


He has intentionally reached to the bottom of the barrel.


God does this so that no man may boast before God.


Finally we have what the world sees as a foolish method – simple expository preaching (1 Corinthians 2:1–5).


Paul did not come with superiority of speech.


Paul was determined to know nothing among the Corinthians except Christ and Him crucified.

Dr. Steven Lawson is a pastor, seminary board member, Ligonier Ministries Teaching Fellow, and the author of such books as The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon and Pillars of Grace.

Session 9, Robert Godfrey — 2012 National Conference

The ninth main message of the 2012 Ligonier Ministries National Conference was from Dr. Robert Godfrey and titled, "Ignorance is Not Bliss." Dr. Godfrey reminded us of the importance of rejecting anti-intellectualist approaches to the culture and to engage the philosophical, scientific, and religious challenges of the day in a fully-informed, Christ exalting way.

The complete audio and video of this session will be available soon, but below is a brief overview of Dr. Godfrey's session.

Dr. Godfrey opened today’s lecture with a reading of Psalm 49.

The Psalmist reminds us that life is a riddle.

The Psalmist focuses on one riddle in particular – why do the wicked prosper? Why does history run the course it does?


We observe a steady decline in the influence of Christianity, and Christians are often treated patronizingly today.


It is true that professing Christians have been guilty of wicked deeds in the past.

Dr. Godfrey observed that there comes a time to engage with post-Christian culture and ask how their ideas have worked out in history.

What were consequences of these ideas?


Christians should point out the outworking of Hegelianism known as communism. We should point out that Stalin was a shepherd of death to millions of people.


What about the scientific ideology of Nazisim – the idea of the survival of the fittest applied to human beings?


If there is no transcendent God or morality, why shouldn’t the strong have their own way? Hitler too was a shepherd of death.


Postmoderns who deny God should have to face what the denial of God has done in the last century.


We have to ask the world, “Who will be your shepherd?” The true shepherd or the shepherd of death?

Dr. Godfrey asked us, “What vision of this life can Christians hold up as an alternative to the postmodern worldview?”

We as Christians have done a good job of engaging theologically? We have wonderful resources to help us to think theologically.


But when we move beyond the realm of theology, we are not doing well in engagement.


We don’t engage well with politics. We need to be smarter than we have been in our engagement with politics.


Abraham Kuyper provides a helpful example of how a Christian can engage with politics.


Kuyper applied the idea of regeneration to individuals, ideas, and institutions. He established a daily newspaper, a weekly Christian devotional, a university, a new denomination, a Christian labor union, Christian day schools, and a political party.


One of Kuyper’s key ideas was that this world is abnormal. This is not the way God created this world – it is the result of sin and the Fall.


Kuyper said, the way modern thought is going, we are going to end up either with societies where the state becomes tyrannical and runs everything or we are going to end up with societies where the individual is a tyranny and destroys all institutions.


Kuyper said we only avoid this by recognizing that God alone is sovereign, and God has created spheres of responsibility – the state, the family, the church – and each is responsible to God.


Kuyper challenges us in profound ways to engagement.


He calls for a distinctively Christian way of thinking.


Ignorance is not bliss. Knowing Jesus Christ is bliss.

Dr. Robert Godfrey is the president of Westminster Seminary California, professor of church history, and a Ligonier Ministries Teaching Fellow. He is a member of the board of Ligonier Ministries and the author of An Unexpected Journey and many other titles.