R.C. Sproul's Blog, page 566

Twitter Highlights (10/09/11)

Here are some highlights from the various Ligonier Twitter feeds over the past week.

Tabletalk Magazine Not until we take God seriously will we ever take sin seriously. (R.C. Sproul)



Ligonier Whatever works we perform are the results of our justification and in no way the grounds of it or the cause of it. - R.C. Sproul



Tabletalk Magazine "Death is the funeral of all our sorrows." - Thomas Watson



Ligonier [Jesus] endured the unimaginable spiritual agony we deserve so we would be saved by Him from God's wrath. -J Bridges http://bit.ly/p8hpyr



Ligonier Your checkbook is an objective, concrete record of where your treasure is... -R.C. Sproul



Reformation Trust Faith says: "Yes, God counts my sins. But He does not count them against me. Rather, He counts my sins against His Son." - S. Ferguson



Reformation Trust The pastor ought to have two voices: one, for gathering the sheep; and another, for warding off...wolves. -John Calvin http://bit.ly/eaos1h

You can also find our various ministries on Facebook:
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If a Leader Falls

If a man in leadership falls into sin, admits it, repents and turns  from it, should he ever lead again in the same role?

All men, save Jesus, are sinners. All men, save Jesus, are called to repent and turn from their sins. And only men are called to lead in the church. As such, if we are going to have leaders, that is, elders, and deacons in the church, we had better leave room for repentant elders and deacons. The only thing worse and the only other thing possible is unrepentant elders and deacons.

That said, I suspect the question, while vague, is aiming at something a bit more particular. What do we do with a pastor who has committed adultery? What do we do with a deacon who has embezzled the church’s funds? If they repent, it would seem we are called to forgive. And doesn’t forgiveness mean we act as though it never happened?

Yes, of course we are to forgive the repentant. That doesn’t mean, however, that we are to act as though it never happened. When we forgive we do not forget as if we had amnesia, or as if there is nothing to be concerned about. Instead we forget in the sense that we no longer hold the sin against the sinner. We do not hold a grudge against them. We love the repentant. We embrace the repentant, And we seek to help not just the repentant, but those whom they have wronged. We do not require the embezzler to wear a scarlet E for the rest of his life. But we do not either leave him alone to count the offering. We would be poor stewards of his soul and the kingdom’s funds were we to leave him to his temptation.

Consider how God’s law deals with adultery and divorce. Were I unfaithful to my wife, and were I to repent for such a sin, she would have an obligation to forgive me. She would not, however, have an obligation to stay married to me. Adultery is biblical grounds for a divorce precisely because it is such a betrayal of a trust that future trust is hard to come by. The victim is to forgive. The adulterer is forgiven, But the divorce can still happen, and is still laid at the feet of the adulterer. He is the one who broke the covenant. The victim is free to acknowledge that reality by seeking the legal divorce.

One could argue, and indeed some have, that a pastor who is guilty of infidelity is to be forgiven, but as with marriage itself, has so betrayed the trust inherent in his office that it would preclude his future service as a minister of the gospel. Others, perhaps pointing to Peter’s betrayal of Jesus, and Jesus’ admonition after his repentance that he strengthen the brethren, that a pastor in such a circumstance is oddly even more empowered to serve as a minister of the gospel, having experienced its power so immediately. The danger is, in both positions, papering over our emotional response with pious words. That is, too often the pastor is put out not because it is the right thing, but because of anger, because we haven’t honestly forgiven. Even more common we are fearful of how the church would fare without our pastor, and so keep him on, even cover up for him, and excuse our fear by baptizing it in “forgiveness” and “grace.” Because we are all sinners our temptation is always to do what we want to do. Because we profess Christ, we then cover our desires with rationalizations.

God is good. God can and does not only forgive us, but can and does cleanse us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9). That said, a man who has proven his willingness to betray his family is more likely than one who has remained faithful to walk into adultery again. A man who has betrayed his office sexually, is likewise more likely to do so again. My counsel would be to remove the man from office. But it is just that, counsel. I cannot claim that the Bible commands it, nor that if forbids leaving such a man in office should he repent.

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$5 Friday: Romans, David, and Christ

Find $5 Friday resources today on David, Romans, the person and work of Christ, and "Christianity". The Church: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic provided this week courtesy of P&R Publishing. Sale starts Friday at 8 a.m. and ends Saturday at 8 a.m. EST.

View today's $5 Friday sale.

That the Scriptures Might Be Fulfilled

The glory of Jesus Christ shines more clearly when we see Him in His proper relation to the Old Testament. He has a magnificent relation to all that was written. It is not surprising that this is the case, because He is called the Word of God incarnate (John 1:14). Would not the Word of God incarnate be the sum and consummation of the Word of God written? Consider these summary statements and the texts that support them.

1. All the Scriptures bear witness to Christ. Moses wrote about Christ (John 5:39, 46).

2. All the Scriptures are about Jesus Christ, even where there is no explicit prediction. That is, there is a fullness of implication in all Scripture that points to Christ and is satisfied only when He has come and done His work. Graeme Goldsworthy explains: “The meaning of all the Scriptures is unlocked by the death and resurrection of Jesus” (see Luke 24:27).

Keep Reading That the Scriptures Might Be Fulfilled by John Piper.

Death, Disease & the Gospel

This month's issue of Tabletalk explores the nature of death and disease from a biblical perspective and seeks to provide meaning and hope in the midst of the harsh realities of life in a sinful world. Tabletalk editor Burk Parsons begins his "Coram Deo" column in this way:

I was sixteen when my father died. It was a Sunday evening in late September of 1992 when I heard the news of his death. I had just returned from work when my mother came into my room in tears. My father was born in 1924, and his first son was killed in a hunting accident in 1969 at the age of eighteen. In 1986, my youngest sister was diagnosed with a disease that was projected to take her life by age 20. But despite these tragedies, my experiences are not altogether unique. Death and disease come to every family, and all of us have painful stories that daily weigh heavily on our hearts and minds. Our stories all have a similar theme because we are all sons of Adam, in whom we all died because we all sinned in him and fell into a state of sin and misery with him.

As a pastor, and having served now in some sort of ministerial capacity for sixteen years, I have witnessed many deaths and have held the hands of countless men and women and boys and girls who are themselves suffering from some sort of disease or dealing with the death or disease of a loved one. I dare not begin to count the number of teenagers, moms, and dads who have attempted or committed suicide, and I never seem to be able to forget the faces of those who have died as I knelt at their bedsides holding their hands.

 Continue reading "Death, Disease & the Gospel."

"Christ was at the center of every dimension of his life"

From the first page to the last of [John] Knox’s written works, the reader is brought relentlessly back to the source of Knox’s greatness: Christ was at the center of every dimension of his life. It is this, and this alone, that made Knox mighty in his weakness.

Peel back the layers and read between the lines—there is never a hint of false modesty in the man; his statements about himself, good or bad, are corroborated by those closest to him. His was an age when one did not admit weakness; devouring lions crouched in wait to crush weak men. Yet Knox unabashedly admitted his fears: “I quake, I fear, and tremble.” It was that honest admission of his frailty, and his corresponding reliance on Christ, that gave him such force against the enemies of the gospel. He was not posturing when he admitted his fears. Because he knew himself to be a man of inherent weakness, and because he was an honest, humble man, he could say without pretext, “I sought neither preeminence, glory, nor riches; my honor was that Christ Jesus should reign.”

When a man is so subdued by the grace of God in the gospel that such a self-assessment is, in fact, accurate, that man—love him or hate him—stands out in the crowd. Thus, Knox had preeminence in Scotland. Yet disproportionate to that preeminence, he had neither glory nor riches. He gained preeminence because, like so few, he did not seek it; he did not set out to rule his world for himself. There was no pretext when Knox wrote, “It has pleased His merciful providence, to make me, among others, a simple soldier, and witness-bearer, unto men.” As such, he bent every spiritual nerve of his existence “that Christ Jesus should reign.” Surrounded by men of higher birth and greater formal learning, Knox nevertheless emerged in 1559 as the undisputed leader of the Reformation in Scotland. He remarkably managed to do so without hipster apparel, video streaming, or social media. He was a mega-preacher in a world unencumbered by such a category. Yet he was a tender pastor, a simple shepherd guiding simple sheep to a profoundly great Savior. In all of this, despite his stature, about Knox there was an aura of grandeur and force that defies modern measure.

This is an excerpt from The Mighty Weakness of John Knox (Reformation Trust, 2011). Available wherever books are sold.

About the Author

Douglas Bond is the head of the English Department at Covenant High School in Tacoma, Wash., where he teaches literature, writing, and history. He also lectures on literature and church history, and leads frequent historical study tours in Europe. He has written numerous works of fiction, many of them for young people, including the Crown & Covenant trilogy (focusing on a Covenanter family in Scotland) and the Faith & Freedom trilogy (following the same family to Revolutionary America). His fictional works also include a novel about John Calvin, The Betrayal . Among his nonfiction titles are Stand Fast in the Way of Truth and Hold Fast in a Broken World . Bond and his wife, Cheryl, have four sons and two daughters. They live in Tacoma.

Great Quotes from Renewing Your Mind

I recently had the opportunity to read through almost all of the books of R.C. Sproul. Along the way I built a collection of some of the best quotes from each one of them. Here are several of the best from Renewing Your Mind.

Biblical Christianity knows nothing of blind leaps. Blindness, in biblical categories, marks the unbelieving mind. Faith in the New Testament sense begins as a thinking response to a divine summons and activity.

The Bible promises over and over that Christians will suffer many things. Suffering allows us to share in the humiliation and suffering of our Lord; pain makes us more effective witnesses and more mature lovers of God, dependent on him for strength.

In the total perspective of the covenant of creation, the Old Testament is a history, not of severity, but of God’s continual, long-suffering mercy to his covenant-violating, life-forfeiting people.

The climax of creation occurs on the seventh day, the day given over to rest and holiness. God rests on the Sabbath and consecrates this rest as more than a respite from labor. The Sabbath points to the end of restlessness. Where there is anxiety, there is no rest; where there is sin, there is anxiety. Where the vertical relationship between humanity and God is broken, there can be no Sabbath.

In the covenant of creation, sin is a capital offense. That God does not enact the penalty immediately is an indication of his grace.

The church is the most important organization in the world. It is the target of every demonic, hostile attack in the universe. Jesus personally guaranteed that the gates of hell will never prevail against the church. He made no guarantee that the gates of hell would not be unleashed against it, however.

To give worship to Christ if he is less than God is to engage in heinous idolatry. If Jesus was only a creature, he deserved his ghastly death. Jesus wasn’t killed because he told people to love each other, but precisely because he claimed the prerogatives of Godhood.

Twitter Highlights (10/02/11)

Here are some highlights from the various Ligonier Twitter feeds over the past week.

Reformation Trust R.C. Sproul on hypocritical worship from "A Taste of Heaven" http://instagr.am/p/OOeF_/



Tabletalk Magazine "As man can contribute nothing to his creation, neither can the sinner contribute anything to his conversion." Turretin



Reformation Trust ...shallow theology always produces shallow convictions. -Steven Lawson http://bit.ly/kofEvr



Ligonier No one can begin to understand prayer until he grasps what the gospel teaches us about prayer. -Donald Whitney http://bit.ly/qPZl3T



Ligonier The grounds of our justification...[is because God] looks at us and He sees the righteousness of Christ. - R.C. Sproul



Reformation Trust Luther came to realize that salvation was a gift for the guilty, not a reward for the righteous. -Steven Lawson http://bit.ly/kofEvr



Tabletalk Magazine "Truth is the agreement of our ideas with the ideas of God." ― Jonathan Edwards

You can also find our various ministries on Facebook:
Ligonier Ministries | Ligonier Academy | Reformation Bible College
Reformation Trust | Tabletalk Magazine

The Trinity: Resources for Study

The whole concept of the Trinity is one that is fraught with difficulties and controversy throughout church history. And yet, it has emerged as a touchstone of truth, and a non-negotiable article of Christian orthodoxy. This doctrine continues to cause controversy even today, so it is vital that we understand what Scripture says about the Trinity and how the church has confessed this truth.

We hope the following articles and resources will help give you a solid foundation for what the Trinity is and why it is so important. 

Find free resource downloads here through the month of October.

Articles

The Definition of Orthodoxy by Nick Needham
Divine Architect by Don Kistler
Established Boundaries by Robert Letham
A Simple Mystery by Burk Parsons
Trinitarian Salvation (Devotional)
Trinitarian Worship by Allen Vander Pol
The Trinity (Devotional)
The Trinity and Culture by Gene Edward Veith
Triune Monarchy by R.C. Sproul

Store Resources

The Holy Spirit (teaching series) by R.C. Sproul
The Holy Trinity: In Scripture, History, Theology And Worship (book) by Robert Letham
The Mystery of the Trinity (teaching series) by R.C. Sproul
What Is the Trinity? (booklet) by R.C. Sproul

Do the Creeds Really Matter?

Do the creeds really matter?

Of course they do. Reformed theology has always held to a balanced view of the value and importance of church history and historical theology. Unlike Rome and eastern Orthodoxy we deny that tradition is a second source of infallible information, or even that church history can give us an infallible understanding of biblical revelation. Contra the Anabaptists, however, we affirm the great import of the wisdom of our fathers. To turn aside from what the church has always taught is fraught with danger. We affirm that God purifies His church in space and time, and that especially the ecumenical creeds can provide for us guidelines for what constitutes orthodoxy. 

Consider the doctrine of the Trinity. Even the most ardent defender of the doctrine must confess that the Bible is not crystal clear on the matter. Does that mean, therefore, that we can take it or leave it, nuance it or deny it? Of course not. When the church in history affirms that God is three in person and one in essence, the key issue isn’t whether you are smart enough to come up with another perspective that has some level of plausibility. The issue is whether you are willing to humble yourself before the church, before the bar of history. Are you willing to say, “The church has always affirmed this. The church has always not only denied but condemned the contrary. The church certainly may err. What, though, is the likelihood that I have found wisdom that the church missed from the beginning? If the church has always condemned my position as heresy, how likely is it that they have always been wrong, while I alone am right? “

The creeds are the voice of our fathers. Of course our fathers were not sinless, nor inerrant. But are we more likely to find blessing by honoring them, or by spitting on their graves? Our problem in the contemporary church is that we think we are smarter, more earnest, more missional, more compassionate, more godly than our fathers before us. They got hung up on such petty little things, theological minutia. We, on the other hand, have received a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of broad-mindedness, the Spirit of inclusivity, the Spirit of tolerance. 

We have indeed received an outpouring of this spirit. I fear, however, that this spirit did not descend on us from on high, but ascended from the depths to confuse and weaken us.  Our fathers in the church gave us a precious inheritance in the creeds. They placed boundary markers around orthodoxy, to keep us from wandering off. Fools that we are, we think ourselves too clever to need such markers, and so move the ancient boundaries. We value not orthodoxy, but effectiveness. We value not honoring the dead, but seducing the living. And any man who can do that well, well, we can obviously learn a great deal from him.

The church’s very first creed was its most basic- Christ is Lord. As Lord, He commands that we honor our fathers, that it would go well for us in the land He has given us. Our fathers taught us God is one in essence and three in person.  We honor God as we honor them.