R.C. Sproul's Blog, page 579

Twitter Highlights (7/10/11)

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

Reformation Trust ...the question is not how we may become righteous but how, being unrighteous & unworthy, we may be reckoned righteous. - John Calvin



Ligonier If you want to know the true perspective on the seriousness of sin, look to the cross. -Keith Mathison http://bit.ly/isEozI



Tabletalk Magazine "Those that look to be happy must first look to be holy." - Richard Sibbes



Ligonier The issue of idolatry is producing a substitute for the true God. -R.C. Sproul



Reformation Trust While other books may inform or even reform us, only [the Scriptures] can transform us & conform us to the image of Christ. -Joel Beeke



Ligonier Doctrine divides...but doctrine also unites. It binds together the hearts of God's people who celebrate the truth of God together... -Sproul



Reformation Trust All human efforts to get to know God by man-created means lead invariably to false religions or mysticisms. http://bit.ly/kHgI54

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

Does Natural Law Exist?

Does natural law exist?

No, and yes.  One of my favorite writers, CS Lewis, in one of my favorite books, The Abolition of Man makes a very bad argument for a very bad understanding of natural law. The entire last third of the book is devoted to an exposition of the Tao, which he describes as a universal moral law by which God Himself is bound.  The notion that there is a law, or anything above God, to which He must submit is heretical, broadly speaking a form or idolatry. There is no law above God. He alone is a law unto Himself.  In this sense there is no such thing as natural law.

All law is God’s law. It flows out of His own character. It is neither above Him, such that He must submit, nor below Him, such that He can act capriciously. He instead acts consistently with who He is. This is what we mean when we note that God is a law unto Himself.

The God who is, the God of the Bible, however, has revealed Himself, and at least some elements of His law not just in the Bible, but in His creation, through nature. If by natural law we mean, “That law, which the triune God of the Bible reveals in and through His creation” we are speaking of something altogether real. Romans 1 clearly teaches that God is manifest to all men everywhere, and that all men everywhere in themselves reject that revelation, and thus stand guilty before God.

It is not, however, just God that is revealed. His law is revealed as well. There are those, however, who in an admirable zeal to combat the error of CS Lewis, who with an honorable passion to protect the glory of God’s revelation of law in His Word, try to deny that God reveals law in nature. They tend to treat natural law and revealed or Biblical law as if they were competing with each other. If natural law increases, they seem to think, Biblical law decreases. And if we can sufficiently honor Biblical law, natural law will disappear.

There is a profound problem with this position, however. The problem isn’t that it pushes against natural law, but that it denies what the Bible clearly teaches. I have been known, when engaged in debate with these good folks, to offhandedly offer this instance of “natural law”- “Nature teaches that it is a shame for a man to have long hair.” Some, sadly insufficiently mindful of the Bible they seek to protect, retort, “Where? How? What is it in nature that expresses such a law?” Then I get to give one of my favorite answers- “I don’t know.”

I do know, however, that the Bible says just that. No, the Bible doesn’t teach that it is a shame for a man to have long hair. The Bible teaches that nature teaches that it is a shame for a man to have long hair- Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him? I Corinthians 11:14.

Natural law, generally speaking, is not as clear as God’s Word. It is not, generally speaking, as specific as God’s Word. But like God’s Word, it is a true revelation of God’s will for all men. To deny it is not to honor the Word, or its Author but to dishonor it and therefore Him.

Asking the Right Questions

Sometimes it is less important to have the right answers than to have the right questions. A man named Saul thought he did not need to ask any questions. He had all the answers. The most important question, according to Saul, was “How can I be good enough for God?” He thought he had that answer down cold.

The only problem was, he was wrong. American humorist Will Rogers could have told Saul, “It’s not what you don’t know that will get you in trouble, but what you know for certain that just ain’t so.” Saul’s problem lay in the question “How can I be good enough?”

The answer, of course, is that he couldn’t. But he didn’t understand the holiness of God. No one who is separated from God understands his holiness. To tell you the truth, not many Christians do either.

No one who is separated from God understands his holiness. To tell you the truth, not many Christians do either.

Saul had never asked the right questions. I think non-Christians often don’t ask religious questions because down deep inside they have a sneaking suspicion of what the answers might be, and they don’t like them. But Christians also are afraid of questions for the same reason, so they get into trouble. Or they are afraid other Christians will call them “doubters” if they are overhead asking the wrong question. They don’t want to seem unspiritual or stupid. They also may be afraid God will lose patience with them.

But God loves to answer questions—the “stupider” the better—because he loves for us to have the ultimate truth we need to complete the sentence “I believe …” He never loses patience with a question, and neither do people who are serving him. If you take a question to more mature Christians, those who really are men or women of God, you likely will find they don’t think it is so dumb. Maybe they used to struggle with the same thing. Maybe they still do.

But God loves to answer questions—the “stupider” the better.

God tells us in James 1:5-8 that if anyone lacks wisdom “he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault.” James adds that what God doesn’t want is for someone to ask with a waivering heart. The purpose of God’s answer is to build a faith that is strong, single-minded, and founded on truth.

Saul’s faith was strong and single-minded, but it was not founded on truth. He believed that he would please God most by persecuting the followers of that trouble-making rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth. It never occurred to him to ask a rather obvious question: “Who are you, Lord, and who is Jesus of Nazareth?”

So God had a question to ask this pompous religious leader. In order to ask Saul, God had to get the man’s attention, so he tapped him on the shoulder (see Acts 9:1-9).

What he did was strike him blind. God knows how to get a person’s undivided attention. Then he asked the question:

“Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

Saul, with all the answers, didn’t have a clue as to what God was talking about. Persecuting God? Wasn’t he doing his best to serve God by ridding the world of the followers of a crucified criminal?

But now Saul did know what question to ask. He asked the most important of all questions: “Lord, who are you?”

That is when Saul started to become Paul the apostle—when he was confronted head-on by the holy God. When it comes to evaluating a religion and choosing ultimate truth, “Who are you?” is the question God most wants to answer. Only after you see him for who he is can you have an intelligent belief.

Excerpted from Choosing My Religion.

$5 Friday: Spiritual Growth, Ethics & Wisdom

Get $5 Friday resources on ethics, wisdom, the I AM sayings of Jesus, spiritual growth & more. Sale starts Friday at 8 a.m. and ends Saturday at 8 a.m. EST.

View today's $5 Friday sale.

The Bonds of Brotherhood

This month's Tabletalk examines the need to foster fraternity and genuine friendship within the church. In his contribution to the issue R.C. Sproul ponders the word fraternity. "Fraternity … what does this word mean? It can refer to several distinct types of associations or relationships, and the church can learn valuable lessons by exploring these in more depth. The term fraternity may prompt us to recall the motto of the French Revolution: 'Liberty, Fraternity, Equality.' Fraternity, along with equality and liberty, ranked right at the top of the concerns of that revolution. The term may cause us to think of college campus groups such as those depicted in the radical fraternity film Animal House. Beyond the college level, there is a wide variety of organizations of men in this world that are 'fraternal orders,' such as the Elks, police groups, and various service clubs.

"The idea of fraternity is also manifested in the field of competitive sports, particularly with respect to team sports. The saying 'There is no ‘I’ in team' is a cliché because it is so true. For teams to function efficiently and effectively, there must be fraternity and teamwork. Again and again we witness superstar players in the realm of professional sports being traded by their clubs because they create such a destructive atmosphere in the locker room."

Looking at these clues and others like them, Dr. Sproul eventually points to the most significant fraternity of all. Read The Bonds of Brotherhood to learn what this is.

The Theatre of God's Redemption

In every generation, every culture there is a dominant prevailing spirit. The Germans coined a word for it, Zeitgeist, a term that joins two common ideas together. Zeit is the German word for "time," Geist is the German word for "spirit." So Zeitgeist means "spirit of the time" or "spirit of the age."

The contemporary Zeitgeist in which the Christian lives is one of secularism. The emphasis is on this world, on this time. Little attention is given to things that are above and beyond this world. Eternity is rarely considered, save for brief moments at a graveside. What counts is the here and now. To live for the moment, for the gusto of the present, is the spirit of this world.

The secular spirit of this world has its own modern trends and emphases, but in its essence it is not new. Every generation has its own form of secularism. We are earthbound creatures. Our focus is on this world.

The same was true in Jesus' day. He repeatedly called His disciples to look beyond the present. He lifted our gaze to the eternal. "Store up treasures in heaven," He said. He called us to weigh the matters in the balance of eternity "What is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" (Matthew 16:26).

The world or the soul? Please the world or please God? This is the issue of every generation. To be conformed to this world is to risk the loss of one's eternal soul. The world places little value on the soul. A body in the hand is worth two souls in the bush, according to the Zeitgeist of our generation. The world spirit invites us to play now and pay later, though the emphasis is on the now. This is the popular way to go.

The world or the soul? Please the world or please God? This is the issue of every generation.

For the Christian to resist the seduction of this world he must risk going against the tide. He must be willing to risk the loss of pleasing men to gain pleasing God. Hence Jesus said, "Blessed are you when they shall revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven" (Matthew 5:11-12).

The key words in this beatitude are "for my sake." The nonconformity we are called to is not simply nonconformity for nonconformity's sake. Anyone can call attention to himself by being a maverick. It is the "for my sake" that separates cheap nonconformity from the genuine article. There is no virtue in being "out of it" indiscriminately. Our nonconformity must be selective. It must be at the points that matter.

It is easy to trivialize nonconformity. We can reduce this to simplistic externals as the Pharisees did. Authentic nonconformity rests upon transformation. The apostle Paul adds a positive mandate to the negative prohibition. He said, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:2).

It is the prefix that must be changed. The prefix "con-" ("with") must yield to the prefix "trans-," which means "across," "beyond," or "over." It is not enough for Christians to drop out of society. The call to transformation does not mean withdrawal from the world. We need no more monasteries. We are to go beyond the forms of this world. We are to effect changes in the world. The perspective of Jesus is beyond the forms of this world. We neither surrender to the world nor flee from the world. We are to penetrate the world with a new and different spirit.

There is a timeworn Christian saying that has become a cliché through its use: "We are to be in the world, but not of the world." To be of the world is to be worldly. It is to conform to t his world. To drop out of the world is to be a nonconformist without transformation.

The theater of God's redemption is this world. It is to this world that God came in Christ. Christ refused to allow His disciples to hide in an upper room with the doors locked by reason of fear. No booths were allowed to be built on the mountain of Transfiguration. We are called to be Christ's witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Jerusalem is in this world. Judea is in this world. Samaria is in this world. The ends of the earth are still on this earth. So we should not flee this world. But, oh, how many Christians try to do so. And in doing so, they may actually be displeasing the God who wants the world to be redeemed, not escaped.

Excerpted from Pleasing God

A Generation of Heroes

"'Satan watches for those vessels that sail without a convoy,' wrote Puritan pastor George Swinnock (1627–1673). Every individual knows he was created for community. Isolation is the Devil’s playground, and our Enemy is on the lookout for the Christian who thinks he can stand alone in independent isolation from the fellowship, accountability, and encouragement of faithful brothers and sisters."

This is how Burk Parsons begins his editorial introduction to this month's issue of Tabletalk, an issue that examines the need for fostering fraternity and real friendship within the community and the church. Burk continues, "Before the fall of man, even though the Lord God walked in close communion with Adam in the garden, our gracious and triune God knew it was not good for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18), and so God created someone who would meet Adam’s needs and relate to Adam in a way that, by design, God Himself did not."

Read the rest of "A Generation of Heroes."

Generous Gospel Obedience

By their approval of this service,they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the Gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. (2 Corinthians 9:13–14)

Are you obedient to the Gospel? At first glance, that may seem like an odd question. Typically, we don’t speak in such terms, but the Apostle Paul did. In his letters, we come across phrases similar to the one we encounter in 2 Corinthians 9:13, wherein Paul speaks of submitting to or obeying the Gospel of Christ (e.g. Rom. 10:16; 2 Thess. 1:8). In most cases, Paul speaks of those who do not obey the Gospel; however, in this instance, he praises the Corinthian church for their submission to their Gospel confession.

Paul’s relationship with the money-loving, self-loving, and world-loving Corinthians was one that abounded with admonition and rebuke. Nevertheless, throughout his letters, Paul makes every effort to lovingly encourage the Corinthians in every possible way. Having already explained why he is rejoicing in their godly grief that has led to their repentance, their earnest faith, and their genuine love, he now more fully explains the reason for his “boasting” because of their “readiness” and “zeal” in the work of the Gospel (vv. 1–3).

In obedience to their confession of the Gospel, the Corinthians, who were known throughout the world for their wealth and immorality, had given financially to support the church at Jerusalem, a people whom they had never met and with whom they had little in common except for their common confession in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What’s more, their gift didn’t simply help the struggling Jerusalem church but “fully supplied” all they needed.

In being obedient to the Gospel, they sought to extend a helping hand of mercy just as Christ had extended His to them. A self-sufficient people who  previously thought they needed nothing had come to recognize their spiritual destitution and their need for Christ who fully supplies all their needs. Perhaps taking clues from Jesus’ story of the rich young ruler, they understood that for them following Christ meant giving what they had to the poor. Although they struggled in many ways, many at Corinth understood, loved, and lived the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And although the Jerusalem believers had nothing in their hands that they could offer the Corinthians, they could offer their prayers and praises to God in their behalf.

As Martin Luther said, “God doesn’t need our good works, but our neighbors do.” So it could also be said that although God doesn’t need our money, our neighbors do—across the street and around the world. Our Lord gives us our time, talents, and treasures not simply that we would feel good about ourselves but so that we would glorify and enjoy Him by living for and serving Him and His people. Living generous lives and living with a little less is much easier said than done, even for Christians. However, what the self-centered man finds impossible, we find possible through the Holy Spirit, who is always working to transform our self-centered, self-infatuated, and self-seeking ways. As He transforms us, He transforms others by His grace. As we are obedient to the Gospel, the Spirit makes others obedient to the Gospel by His grace. Our Gospel-motivated generosity in coming to the end of ourselves brings others to the end of themselves in repentance, faith, and generous living by God's grace. These are the sorts of secondary means that God has ordained as He brings about His primary ends in His world and for His church—by His grace and for His glory through the Gospel proclamation and Gospel obedience of His people.

We are often only concerned about our own little kingdoms rather than the kingdom of God, monuments to our own names rather than glory to the name of our God, glory from men rather than glory to God. When we give, let’s never ask: What will this do for me? What returns will it bring me? Will I get a pat on the back? Will I be adoringly recognized? How little can I give to make a good impression? How much should I give in order to get the necessary deductions? Rather, let us pray that God would help us ask those questions that serve to advance His kingdom, not our own. Authentic generosity becomes the man whose heart is established in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who generously sacrificially came and lived and died and lives and prays and reigns and will come again and give us all things.

Authentic generosity becomes the man whose heart is established in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Twitter Highlights (7/3/11)

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

Reformation Bible College "As in the pattern of the Lord's Prayer, the most appropriate way to begin prayer is with adoration." -RC Sproul



Tabletalk Magazine "What if we stopped dwelling on the difficulties we face and started focusing more on the triumph that He's won?"



Ligonier To enter into the immediate presence of God is to enter into that place of holy terror where the creature...fears for his very life. -Sproul



Ligonier "If we do not understand our sin, we will not understand the kind of savior we need." -Robert Godfrey http://bit.ly/mObcbZ



Reformation Trust If my salvation depends on my consistency, I'm lost. But it doesn’t. My past, present, & future sins are covered by the blood of Jesus. -DT



Ligonier The problem with hell is not simply the absence of God...it is the presence of God. -R.C. Sproul



Reformation Trust Whenever [Jonathan] Edwards saw sin in another person, he took inventory on his own soul to search for the same iniquity. -Steven Lawson



Ligonier Academy It's very easy to be nervous about preaching --it's very hard to be nervous for the right reasons.

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

Links We Liked (7/2/11)

Here is a round-up of some of the notable blogs and articles our team read this week.

How to Survive In the Age of Distraction - Read a book with your laptop thrumming. It can feel like trying to read in the middle of a party where everyone is shouting. Are you able to survive in this, the age of distraction?

Calvin on Baptism - "No part of our salvation should be transferred to the sign."

Sally “Used to be” a Legalist… - "While *true* legalism is a real issue, these days, anyone with any sort of convictions may be accused of legalism. How can a 'legalism hunter' actually be a true legalist in disguise and how do they choose who goes on their hit list? Here’s my take..."

John MacArthur: Servant of the Word and Flock - We strongly encourage you to pick up a copy of this important book about one of Dr. Sproul’s closest friends in ministry.

Thoughts on Christian Patriotism - Rick Phillips: "On July 4, our nation celebrates its independence with waving flags, picnics, and parades.  Some churches deck their sanctuary with red, white, and blue, and devote the worship service to the honor of the state.  Other Christians virtually ignore this or any other national holiday.  This raises the question, 'How does Christianity tell us to think about patriotism?'"

Ed Stetzer - "Americans are obsessed with big things. If something is big, it must be better. It has strength. It has legitimacy. Yet, that's an American value, not a biblical one."