It’s hard to put into words the impact that R.C. Sproul, who died today, has had on my life. I was introduced to Dr. Sproul’s ministry more than 30 years ago when Dr. John Shively gave me one of Dr. Sproul’s teaching series on cassette tape. I believe it was titled Objections Answered, though I can’t be 100% sure. We listened to the messages on those tapes in the car on the way back from Lafayette, Indiana. I was amazed. Here was someone who took difficult theological concepts and communicated them in a way that I could understand them. From cassette tapes to CD’s to digital podcasts, that was one of R.C.’s greatest gifts.
The first of R.C.’s books that I read was his 1985 classic The Holiness of God. That book had a profound impact on me. I was hooked. Since then, the Lord has used R.C.’s ministry in a powerful way in my life. We began subscribing to TABLETALK magazine, and saw him speak many times in conferences, the first being in Wheaton, Illinois in the 1980’s. We attended Ligonier Ministries Regional conferences in St. Louis, Missouri, Lexington, Kentucky and Grand Rapids, Michigan and Detroit, Michigan. Since 1997, we rarely missed Ligonier’s National Conference in Orlando. Attending the National Conference always felt like experiencing a little taste of Heaven for me. I most enjoyed the “Question and Answer” sessions at those conferences. R.C. was gifted with an incredible mind and he used it to defend the Gospel from false teaching and the heresy of the hour. I also loved his stories, some of which I’ve heard dozens of times, as well as his laugh.
At almost every conference we attended, I would stand in line and have R.C. sign his latest book for me. A few times I mentioned how much I appreciated his ministry. It was clear that he was uncomfortable with what could be perceived as hero worship, and wanted all glory to go to God. And that’s how I will end this tribute, by giving all glory to God for equipping R.C. Sproul, and positively impacting me, my wife and hundreds of thousands of others who will miss him, his ministry and teaching deeply. We are happy that he is now in the presence of his Savior, greeted with “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).
Let’s remember Dr. Sproul by watching this two-minute video of him preaching the Gospel throughout the years.
Faith and Work News ~ Links to Interesting Articles
GRIPING VS. CONTENTMENT:
4 Major Gripes Heard Around the Office. Dr. Alan Zimmerman writes “As a speaker in hundreds of companies, I’ve kept a record of the gripes I hear people utter. After all, it’s my job as a speaker/trainer/coach to turn those things around. These are the four most commonly heard gripes these days.”
What is Biblical Contentment? Dave Kraft writes “Contentment has less to do with the amount of, or intensity, of the activity you are involved in and more to do with your mind-set. Who are you truly trusting to see things happen in your life, relationships, work and ministry–yourself or God?”
VOCATION AND CALLING:
“Job Crafting”: Cultivating Our Vocation at Work. Stevan Becker writes “Cultivating our vocation is a matter of listening to God in the particulars of our work situation and discovering the unique things we’ve been created to do. Cultivating our job may mean taking what we have to work with and recreating”
How to Glorify God at Work. John Piper writes “The point is: Whatever you do, whether you eat or drink or work, do all to make God look as great as he really is.”
Your Calling Actually Isn’t About You. Sharon Hodde Miller writes “At some point, a self-centered calling conflicts with God-centered callings, because God-centered callings always lead to a cross. God-centered callings involve suffering, sacrifice, and looking like a fool, because this is the path of the Savior we follow. If your calling is about your image or your reputation or your comfort and convenience, it will eventually diverge from the path of Christ. At some point, God will ask you to do something that isn’t about you or doesn’t feel good or requires you to suffer, and you will have to make a choice.”
Top Reasons Why a Long Commute May Be Worth It. Hugh Whelchel writes “Work is necessary for a meaningful life, but we must not make our work themeaning for our existence. As Christians, we must find our identity in Christ, not in our work. Yet, work is the major way we respond to God’s call on our lives. So, no matter the length of your commute, be encouraged that what you do today at work matters!”
REAL LIFE EXAMPLES:
God Works in Advertising, Too. Stevan Becker writes “God is intimately involved in our work. He cares about the details. He’s doing his work through the work of our hands—even in the “secular” sales and advertising space. No matter what you do for work, stop and pray through your projects, both the big ones and the small ones. Pray that he will be glorified as you serve him in all you do.”
Everybody Matters Podcast: Mark Sawyier of Bonfyre. This episode of the Everybody Matters Podcast features a discussion with Mark Sawyier of Bonfyre, a company who has created a workplace culture platform that is helping organizations engage, include and inspire their people.
Hard Cuts: Songs from the H A R D L O V E Sessions (EP) – NEEDTOBREATHE ****
NEEDTOBREATHE has stated that one of the hardest parts about finishing their chart-topping 2016 album H A R D L O V E was determining which songs had to be cut to get down to the twelve songs for the album. This new EP contains six songs, two of them alternate versions of “Hard Love”, along with four songs that were cut from the original album.
The EP contains two new versions of “Hard Love”, one featuring Serena Ryder and one featuring Andra Day. Along with the version featuring Lauren Daigle from The Shack: Music From and Inspired By, this makes three versions of the song released since the album was released last year, which seems to be a bit of an overkill.
Below are brief comments on the other four songs: Waiting – This song was produced by Dave Tozer and NEEDTOBREATHE, and written by Bear and Bo Rinehart. It is a keyboard driven song with a strong drum beat, backing vocals and a good guitar solo. He is haunted by a woman, who keeps him waiting, shaking, trembling, and chasing mistakes that he made. It’s my least favorite of the new songs. Count on Me – This song was produced by Dave Tozer and NEEDTOBREATHE, and written by Tozer, Bear and Bo Rinehart. This song features a strong drum beat, keys and some backing vocals. Thematically it is similar to “Brother” from their excellent Rivers in the Wasteland album. It features encouraging lyrics. Everybody needs a pick me up
You can count on me Walking on Water – The last two songs of the four new ones were my favorites, starting with “Walking on Water”. This song will appeal to the band’s Christian fan base as it will remind them of Peter walking on the water to Jesus in Matthew 14. It starts slowly and then builds powerfully and joyfully on the chorus with a with a strong drum beat and backing vocals. There’s no turning back. Can’t see nothing at all
But Your outstretched arms
Help me believe it
Though I falter
You got me walking on water Cages – This song was produced by Ed Cash and NEEDTOBREATHE and written by Bear and Bo Rinehart. It’s another song that the band’s Christian fan base will resonate with. It starts as a piano-driven song, with light drums. He was looking for attention, was needing redemption but all he got was cages. It then builds powerfully with drums and guitar. They reference their 2009 album The Outsiders, stating that they’re a band of outsiders. I’m in a prison for a man gone wrong
But I’ve found a future, this is not my home Continue reading →
The Legacy of Luther, edited by R. C. Sproul and Stephen J. Nichols. Reformation Trust Publishing. 303 pages. 2016 ****
This is a wonderful volume to read as we celebrate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s nailing of the Ninety-Five Theses (which are included in an appendix) to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, initiating the Protestant Reformation. This anthology of essays honoring Luther from some of the most respected Reformed theologians today looks at several aspects of the life, ministry and legacy of the great reformer.
This in-depth volume includes a Foreword by John MacArthur and chapters by respected pastors and theologians such as Sinclair Ferguson, Steven Lawson, David Calhoun (who I enjoyed two church history courses at Covenant Seminary with), Michael Horton, Robert Godfrey, Gene Veith, Derek Thomas and many others. These essays cover a wide variety of aspects of Luther’s life and ministry, including his life at home, his music, his doctrine of scripture, the doctrine of justification by faith alone, his doctrine of vocation, as a man of conflict, his later years, as a preacher, on the sacraments, and a final reflection from R.C. Sproul on Luther and the life of the pastor-theologian.
The legacy of Martin Luther is vast and varied, and this book offers an attempt to summarize that legacy. The book is written for, and can be enjoyed by, both those who have little knowledge of Luther, and also for those who know him well. The book is organized into three sections – Luther’s Life, Luther’s Thought and Luther’s Legacy.
I highly recommend this book as a way to get to know Luther – warts and all – as we celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.
Reading Romans with Luther by R.J. Grunewald. Concordia Publishing. 136 pages. 2017 ***
I was interested in reading this short book for several reasons. First, I enjoy reading books about the great Protestant Reformer Martin Luther, especially during this 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Second, Romans is my favorite book of the Bible, and it is also where I was in my reading through the Bible at the time this book was published. Third, I have enjoyed the author’s blog and looked forward to reading a book by him.
The author, a Lutheran pastor, states that the book is meant to introduce the reader to the work of Martin Luther, to explain his words in a way that removes some of the intimidation. He realizes that Luther’s works can be intimidating, and this book is meant to take some of that intimidation away and guide the reader into Luther’s works. The author wants you to look at this book as Luther for everyday life.
The book does not contain Luther’s entire commentary on Romans, but only pertinent paragraphs that go along with the themes outlined in the table of contents. Rather than providing a linear exploration of Luther’s commentary, the author has divided and rearranged it according to thematic teachings in Romans. Continue reading →
Surprised by Suffering: The Role of Pain and Death in The Christian Life (revised and expanded) by R. C. Sproul. Reformation Trust Publishing. 2010 ****
The author states that his purpose in writing this book is that the reader would not be surprised when suffering comes into their life. He wants us to see that suffering is not uncommon nor random. It is sent by our heavenly Father, who is both sovereign and loving and for our ultimate good. He also wants the reader to understand that suffering is a vocation, a calling from God, which may be a new concept for many readers.
I first read this book when it was published in 1988. This 2010 edition features a new chapter on God’s sovereignty in relation to suffering, as well as new Scripture and subject indexes.
Dr. Sproul says that contrary to what we often hear people say, the promise of God is not that He will never give us more weight than we want to carry. Rather, the promise of God is that He will never put more on us than we can bear. He states that to suffer without Christ is to risk being totally and completely crushed. He has often wondered (and me as well), how people cope with the trials of life without the strength found in Him.
He states that we must accept the fact that God sometimes says “no” when we pray for relief from suffering. Sometimes He calls us to suffer and die even if we want to claim the contrary.
A statement that could be surprising, or even shocking, is that for anyone who believes in the God of providence, ultimately there are no tragedies. He writes that those who understand God’s sovereignty have joy even in the midst of suffering for they see that their suffering is not without purpose.
He goes on to tell us that the chief concern of Scripture is how we will die. When Scripture speaks of the “how” of death, the focus is on the spiritual state of the person at the time of their death, and this is reduced to only two options. We either die in faith or we die in our sins. According to Christ, the worst possible thing that can befall us is to die in our sins.
The author states that the Bible teaches three states of human life. There is life as we know it on earth. There is the final state of our future resurrected bodies. And there is what happens to us between the moment of our deaths and the final resurrection. This period is known as the intermediate state. He goes on to describe the New Jerusalem from Revelation 21. He tells us that our divine vocation is not ultimately to suffering, but to a hope that triumphs over suffering. It is the hope of our future inheritance with Christ.
The author tells us that the hope of eternal joy in the presence of Christ, a hope that sustains us in the midst of temporary suffering, is the legacy of Jesus Christ. It is the promise of God to all who put their trust in Him.
This is a practical book about our vocation of suffering and the hope of the believer to spend eternity with God in His Heaven. The book includes a helpful appendix of questions and answers related to the topic.
15 HELPFUL QUOTES:
Suffering is one of the most significant challenges to any believer’s faith.
What is difficult to bear without Christ is made far more bearable with Christ. What is a heavy burden to carry alone becomes a far lighter burden to carry with His help.
It is when we view our suffering as meaningless-without purpose-that we are tempted to despair.
No one was ever called by God to greater suffering than God’s only begotten Son.
If I hope in anything or anyone less than the One who has power over suffering and, ultimately, death, I am doomed to final disappointment. Suffering will drive me to hopelessness.
We say that we believe that God is sovereign, but when we wrestle with events in our lives that are troublesome, bad things that happen to us, tragedies that befall us, we begin to question either the sovereignty of God or the goodness of God.
The day of death is the greatest day that a Christian can ever experience in this world because that is the day he goes home, the day he walks across the threshold, the day he enters the Father’s house. That is the day of ultimate triumph for the Christian in this world, and yet it is a day we fear and a day that we postpone as long as we possibly can because we don’t really believe that the day of our death is better than the day of our birth.
The bottom-line assumption for anyone who believes in the God of providence is that ultimately there are no tragedies. God has promised that all things that happen-all pain, all suffering, all tragedies-are but for a moment, and that He works in and through these events for the good of those who love Him (Rom. 8:28).
Those who understand God’s sovereignty have joy even in the midst of suffering, a joy reflected on their very faces, for they see that their suffering is not without purpose.
When God issues a call to us, it is always a holy call. The vocation of dying is a sacred vocation. To understand that is one of the most important lessons a Christian can ever learn. When the summons comes, we can respond in many ways. We can become angry, bitter, or terrified. But if we see it as a call from God and not a threat from Satan, we are far more prepared to cope with its difficulties.
The goal of the vocation of death is heaven itself. But there is no route to heaven except through this valley.
If we love people, we will warn them of the consequences of dying in their sins.
The great lie is the one that declares there is no last judgment. Yet if Jesus of Nazareth taught anything, He emphatically taught that there would be a last judgment.
Paul spoke of death as gain. We tend to think of death as loss. To be sure, the death of a loved one involves a loss for those who are left behind. But for the one who passes from this world to heaven, it is a gain.
Our divine vocation is not ultimately to suffering, but to a hope that triumphs over suffering. It is the hope of our future inheritance with Christ.
Almost every year since 1997, my wife Tammy and I have left the cold of the Illinois winter to head down to the sun and warmth of Central Florida to attend the annual Ligonier Ministries National Conference. This year’s conference, held March 9-11, was their 30th National Conference. It had a theme of “The Next 500 Years” and was being held on the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Thus, many of the speakers referred to Martin Luther and his influence in their addresses. The conference was held in the wonderful facilities of the First Baptist Church in Orlando where it has been held most years, sold out months in advance, and featured an excellent lineup of speakers, including John MacArthur, Alistair Begg, Albert Mohler, Sinclair Ferguson, R.C. Sproul, Michael Horton and more.
As Ligonier President and CEO Chris Larson told the attendees at the beginning of the conference, “Pace Yourself”. The three-day conference can be exhausting. In total, there were 26 sessions you could attend, in addition to a prayer session, two mini-concerts, and a bookstore tour. I always purchase copies of the messages and listen to them multiple times in the months after the conference. Here are the daily highlight posts that Ligonier posted about the conference:
As we remember our Lord’s crucifixion and approach the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord, I wanted to share these helpful resources to prepare our hearts.
For twenty years now beginning in February 1997, we have left the cold winter of Illinois (two of the past three years leaving home in blizzard conditions), and made our way to sunny and warm Orlando, Florida, to join more than 4,000 others to attend the Ligonier Ministries National Conference. It’s the week and event I most look forward to each year. Although it has occasionally been held elsewhere, the traditional home of the conference has been First Baptist Church of Orlando. Since it was not available last year as the church was undergoing renovations, we were treated to a beautiful new sanctuary which changed from pews to theater seating. Among many other nice changes, the sanctuary also has a more intimate feeling as the use of stadium seating was added on the ground level.
This year’s conference with a theme of “The Gospel”, did not include Ligonier Teaching Fellows Sinclair Ferguson and R.C. Sproul Jr. The remainder of the Teaching Fellows were there (Robert Godfrey, Steven Lawson, Steven Nichols and newly named Teaching Fellows Albert Mohler and Derek Thomas), along with R.C. Sproul. In addition, Ian Hamilton and Michael Reeves, two wonderful speakers that I was not familiar with prior to seeing that they were going to be a part of this conference, were among the speakers. The conference also included a “Youth Seminar”, which I, many years from being a youth, greatly benefited from. In fact, I was so moved by Tim Keesee’s message, that I purchased and read his amazing book Dispatches from the Front: Stories of Gospel Advance in the World’s Difficult Places before we arrived home from Orlando. Watch for my review soon.
One of my highlights each years is the conference Book Store which contained over 800 resources and where you can get your books signed by the authors. The major releases for Ligonier this year were:
The revised and updated Reformation Study Bible (RSB) released in the New King James Version (NKJV). The RSB was released in the English Standard Version (ESV) at last year’s conference.
R.C. Sproul’s 100th book; a children’s book dedicated to three of his grandsons, two of whom joined him on the platform and got a wonderful hug from grandpa.
Supplementing the Book Store were a number of exhibitor booths. I stopped by the Covenant Seminary booth and visited briefly with John Patton, Covenant’s Director of Admissions about some of the students currently at Covenant from our church. I also stopped by the booth of John Barros, and picked up a copy of the 2011 anti-abortion film 180 movie for my sister-in-law who leads a Pregnancy Resource Center.
We were pleasantly surprised to run into long-time friends Bill and Sarah who were attending the conference with friends. Bill is a fellow elder at our church. At the same time we missed, and were praying for, fellow elder Don and his wife Angela. We had attended the conference with them the two previous years, and they had planned to attend again, but Angela is now battling a recurrence of breast cancer and leukemia, and they had to change their plans to attend so that Angela could fight the cancers. Please pray for them in this battle.
If you have not attended a Ligonier National Conference, it can be an endurance test if you try to attend every one of the 25 sessions over two and a half days, in addition to the mini-concert with Jan Mulder and a prayer session led by Ian Hamilton. You get a tremendous amount of value and excellent teaching at a very reasonable price. I always purchase a copy of the messages to take back home with me and listen to multiple times. But here’s some good news! You can watch or listen to all of the 25 sessions from the conference free here.
Below are links to helpful recaps from Ligonier.org of each day of the conference:
Day 1 The conference started Thursday morning with a “Pre-Conference” looking at creation, the first Adam and God’s design for male and female. A highlight for me was the Book Store tour given by Derek Thomas, something that Sinclair Ferguson normally does, late Thursday evening after a long day of teaching. As hundreds enjoyed ice cream sandwiches, Thomas highlighted nine books from the Book Store that he would recommend everyone read, including Calvin’s Institutes, and Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray.
Day 2 This day began with the Ligonier Ministry Partners Annual Meeting, in which we got an update on the many worldwide initiatives the ministry is working on. Later, Stephen Nichols and R.C. Sproul introduced the Ligonier Statement on Christology , a copy of which was given to all attendees. On this evening, R.C. Sproul was being inducted into the Religious Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame. We were able to watch his filmed acceptance speech about the same time it was being played at their event in Nashville.
Day 3 The conference ended early Saturday afternoon with R.C. Sproul delivering a powerful message on the transforming power of the Gospel. Sproul, who survived two strokes since the 2015 National Conference, received a moving standing ovation as he came to deliver his message. One quote that I found of interest was his belief that less than 5% of ordained ministers in America believe Romans 1:16, which states that the Gospel is the power of God for salvation.
The conference ended with a Ligonier tradition, the singing of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” by the attendees. Throughout the conference we were led in singing some of the great hymns of the faith by Randall Van Meggelen. I can’t do justice to what it is like to hear more than 4,000 singing these hymns accompanied by a beautiful pipe organ. Tammy loves to watch the hearing impaired section ‘sing’ the hymns ~ especially their signs for ‘crown Him Lord of all’ when we sang All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.
The 2017 National Conference will be held March 9-11, 2017. It will be Ligonier’s 30th National Conference, and it will also be on the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. The theme will be “The Next 500 Years: Reformation 500 and Beyond”. In addition to R.C. Sproul and the Ligonier Teaching Fellows, the speakers will include Alistair Begg, Michael Reeves and Michael Horton. Ligonier CEO Chris Larson indicated that he expects the conference, which is open now for registration, to sell out by August. Hope you can join us next year!
J.I. Packer: An Evangelical Life by Leland Ryken. Crossway. 432 pages. 2015 ****
This is a well-written and researched portrait of the great evangelical theologian J.I. Packer, written by Leland Ryken, who teaches at Wheaton College. Throughout the book, which is divided into three major sections, Ryken calls out his personal connections to the 89 year-old Packer (teaching, writing, the Puritans), calling them kindred spirits. He writes about Packer, warts and all, with a great deal of affection, calling him a “modern day Puritan”.
Ryken approaches the significant task of writing about Packer’s life and accomplishments by dividing the book into sections looking at his life, Packer the person and life-long themes. Some, especially those who have read Alistair McGrath’s 1998 J.I. Packer: A Biography (which Ryken writes that he is indebted to and often references of which I have also read) will be familiar with the biographical details of Packer’s life. I was most interested in the controversies in Packer’s life (which Ryken details in the final section on lifelong themes), especially those which led to a breaking of fellowship with Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones and R.C. Sproul, two of my theological heroes. Both of those controversies were related to Packer’s ecumenism. Packer looks to the great preacher George Whitefield as his role model for ecumenism. Packer’s split with Lloyd-Jones came after his participation in the book Growing into Union. I didn’t know previously that the two had planned to meet in 1981, but Lloyd-Jones died before that meeting could take place. Packer’s split with Sproul, which is ongoing, was over his participation in the Evangelical and Catholics Together (ECT) effort in 1994.
Packer sees his role as the General Editor of the English Standard Version Bible Translation Team as his most significant accomplishment. He has long been a member of the Anglican Church, having faced controversy in that church in England and Canada.
Ryken writes about the providential circumstances of Packer meeting his future wife, a nurse. Surprisingly, Packer’s wife is mentioned relatively little in this 432 page book.
Although Packer has had many roles, he sees his primary calling as theological education. He is best known for his 1973 book Knowing God. He moved to Canada and Regent College in 1979. He began a role with the magazine Christianity Today in 1958. He was evicted as a minister in the Canadian Anglican Church for his stance against homosexuality.
In part two on Packer the person, Ryken talks about Packer’s generosity, being a champion for the ordinary person, a traditionalist and a latter day Puritan. I enjoyed the insights about the lesser known Packer, including his love for jazz music and murder mysteries.
In part three on lifelong themes, Ryken looks at themes such as the Bible, the Puritans, writing, Anglicanism, theology, preaching and controversies.
The book ends with an Afterword from Packer himself.
This significant book is a detailed and respectful look at the life, work and person of one of the most significant evangelical figures of our lifetime. Ryken offers helpful summaries at the end of each major section.
Can I Lose My Salvation? (Crucial Questions) by R.C. Sproul. Reformation Trust. 46 pages. 2015 ****
This is the 22nd and newest entry into the excellent Crucial Questions series from R.C. Sproul, Ligonier Ministries and Reformation Trust Publishing. These small books/booklets are available free in the Kindle version, and most are available for a small cost in paperback editions. Sproul writes that the key question in this small book is “Can I lose my salvation?” This is the doctrine of eternal security, also known as the perseverance of the saints, or the “P” in the famous Calvinist acronym TULIP. I was glad to see this book as Christians are divided on the issue of whether a true believer can lose their salvation.
Sproul writes that to fall into apostasy means to reach a position, but then to abandon it. To say that someone has become apostate, we are saying that they have fallen from the faith, or at least have fallen from their first profession of faith. Is it possible to become apostate? Sproul states that there are many texts in the New Testament that warn about this possibility.
He writes that Scripture has many examples of true believers who truly fall away, who fall into gross sin and, on some occasions into protracted periods of impenitence. Sproul calls this a serious fall. All Christians are subject to serious falls. But is someone who commits a serious fall eternally lost? Sproul states that church discipline attempts to keep a serious fall from turning into a total fall. Sproul writes that the challenge is to distinguish between a true believer in the midst of a serious fall and a person who has made a false profession of faith.
He addresses the concept of the “unforgiveable sin”, a sin that will in fact not be forgiven by God, not because God can’t do it but because He won’t. He states that the fact that people are wrestling with the fear that they have committed this sin actually gives significant evidence to the reality that they are not in such a state.
He then takes a detailed look at the difficult passage of Hebrews 6:1–6, which many point to as textual proof that a Christian can lose their salvation. After that, he looks at the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, preferring to use the description preservation of the saints, as God preserves His own. At the same time, we are called to work hard to persevere.
Another concept he looks at is that of the carnal Christian. This is a person who is a Christian, but whose life is still dominated by carnality. He writes that there is actually no totally carnal Christians, just as there are no totally spiritual Christians.
He concludes the book by writing about the intercession of Christ, our Great High Priest. This is the foundation for our confidence when it comes to our perseverance.
He writes “We persevere because we are preserved, and we are preserved because of the intercession of our Great High Priest. This is our greatest consolation and our greatest source of confidence that we will persevere in the Christian life.” Amen!
This is an excellent treatment of this important topic, one that many struggle with. The Crucial Questions books/booklets are excellent tools to give to and discuss with unbelievers or new believers. You get the excellent Bible teaching of R.C. Sproul presented in a very easy to understand manner, one of the things I have most enjoyed about Dr. Sproul’s ministry over the years.
Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves — A Book Review. I am currently reading and very much enjoying this book by Michael Reeves, who will be speaking at the upcoming Ligonier National Conference. Here’s a review by Carson Weitnauer.
Gospel Coalition Bookshelves. I always enjoy hearing about what others are reading. Check out these bookshelves from leaders such as Bryan Chapell and Tim Keller.
Top Ten Books That Have Shaped My Faith and Leadership. Brad Lomenick writes “Leaders are readers. Pure and simple. I’ve read hundreds and hundreds of books over the years, and each of them continues to add to the fabric of who I am and how I lead.
1-on-1 with Jerry Bridges. In preparation for the release of Jerry Bridges’ new book The Blessing of Humility, NavPress publisher Don Pape sat down with Jerry to talk about his spiritual story, his books, and some of his favorite things.
Strong and Weak. Here’s the trailer for Andy Crouch’s new book Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing.
Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God by Tim Keller
Christians are taught in their churches and schools that prayer is the most powerful way to experience God. But few receive instruction or guidance in how to make prayer genuinely meaningful. In Prayer, renowned pastor Timothy Keller delves into the many facets of this everyday act. Won’t you read along with Tammy and me? This week we look at Chapter 11: As Encounter: Seeking His Face
We must not settle for an informed mind without an engaged heart.
What kind of experience should be expected and how should it be sought?
At one level, Christians have these things. At another level, they haven’t experienced them. It is one thing to know of the love of Christ and to say, “I know he did all that.” It is another thing to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.
What is common to all these moments is that you sense the power of what you have been given in Christ so that your attitudes, feelings, and behavior are altered.
You may have many specific problems and issues that need to be faced and dealt with through various specific means. Yet the root problem of them all is that you are rich in Christ but nevertheless living poor.
We may mentally assent to the idea of Jesus’ love for us, yet our hearts are committed to finding love through popular acclaim. In such a case the inner being has not been affected by what the mind believes. The Spirit must prepare it to be reshaped and formed by the truth.
He asks that the Holy Spirit will sensitize our hearts so that we taste these truths, spiritually speaking, or—as he says in Ephesians 1:18, when he prays that “the eyes of your heart may be enlightened”—that we see them, spiritually speaking.
Another aspect of communion with God is a deeper understanding and the appropriation of our family relationship with the Father.
Part of the mission of the Spirit is to tell you about God’s love for you, his delight in you, and the fact that you are his child. These things you may know in your head, but the Holy Spirit makes them a fiery reality in your life.
When the Holy Spirit comes down on you in fullness, you can sense your Father’s arms beneath you. It is an assurance of who you are. At a minimum this means joy, and a lack of fear and self-consciousness.
If Jesus Christ died on the cross so that you are saved by grace alone, then my love is infinitely wide. It is wide enough for you.”
Paul says to the Christians, everybody he is writing to at Philippi, “I am convinced…..that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Not “may.” Will. His love is infinitely long.
God put his love on you in the depths of time, and he will never remove it from you. Why? Because salvation is by grace. It is not by works. It is not given to you because of what you do. It has begun in the depths of time and will last into eternity. It is infinitely long.
The reason that the love of God in Christ is infinitely wide and infinitely long is because it is infinitely deep.
Because of the gospel, you can know that God’s love is infinitely wide and infinitely long because it was infinitely deep.
God’s love is also infinitely high.
Spiritual experience consists of luminous truth and profound assurance of God’s fatherly love.
To seek God’s face is not to find some place in space where God is located. Rather, it is to have our hearts enabled by the Holy Spirit to sense his reality and presence.
Because of his shed blood and forgiveness, we can have a nearness to God that was not possible before. Jesus’ person and work is the breakthrough for any who want to draw near and seek God’s face.
Throughout Owen’s writing, he returns continually to the subject of what has been called the beatific vision. The term describes the direct sight of the glory of God. This is what the redeemed will have in heaven fully, by sight, and what believers have now on earth partially, by faith and not yet with our literal eyes.
Meditating upon the beatific vision is a vital practice for all Christians to cultivate,” because “our Christian life and thinking should be oriented toward the hope of the beatific vision, and shaped by the foretaste we receive of it here and now.”
Owen held that, unless you learn how to behold the glory of Christ, you are not actually living a truly Christian life in this world.
When Paul spoke of beholding Christ’s glory, he could not be talking of mere belief that Jesus was glorious. Rather, “the affecting power of it upon our hearts is that which we should aim at. . . . Doth it not fill and satiate. . . with joy, rest, delight…. and ineffable satisfaction?
To behold the glory of Jesus means that we begin to find Christ beautiful for who he is in himself.
He reasoned that if the beauty and glory of Christ do not capture our imaginations, dominate our waking thought, and fill our hearts with longing and desire—then something else will. We will be “continually ruminating” on something or some things as our hope and joy.
Prayer became not just a time of going through his list of requests but also a time of adoration, confession, and simply enjoying God.
If we want to be sure to experience this vision by sight hereafter, we must know it by faith now. If we want freedom from being driven by fear, ambition, greed, lust, addictions, and inner emptiness, we must learn how to meditate on Christ until his glory breaks in upon our souls.
Owen promotes what could be called a radically biblical mysticism. It comes through meditation on Scripture, on theological truth, on the gospel—but it must break through to real experience of God.
If doctrinal soundness is not accompanied by heart experience, it will lead eventually to nominal Christianity—that is, in name only—and eventually to nonbelief.
The irony is that many conservative Christians, most concerned about conserving true and sound doctrine, neglect the importance of prayer and make no effort to experience God, and this can lead to the eventual loss of sound doctrine.
Owen believes that Christianity without real experience of God will eventually be no Christianity at all.
It is possible to use techniques of meditation and imagination to create changes in consciousness that are not tied at all to the reality of who God is.
Owen argues that wordless prayer, while sometimes occurring, is never prescribed or seen as an ideal. In Luke 11, Jesus told his disciples to use words. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul urged Christians to “pray with the mind” in words. That’s a remarkable thing for a Puritan to say. If we are going to be imbalanced, better that we be doctrinally weak and have a vital prayer life and a real sense of God on the heart than that we get all our doctrine straight and be cold and spiritually hard.
With this in mind, I think Protestants who find the biblical mysticism of a John Owen or a Jonathan Edwards appealing should read the medieval mystics with appreciation but also plenty of caution.
Nevertheless, (Carl) Trueman says of the medieval mystics, “There is a sense of God’s holiness and transcendence in these works that is significantly absent from much modern writing and thinking about God.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
This book made a significant impact on my wife Tammy when she read and discussed it with friends thirty years ago. When I picked up my diploma the day after graduation ceremonies from Covenant Seminary last year I was given a copy of this book. After enjoying Lloyd-Jones book Spiritual Depression (and the sermons the book was taken from), I couldn’t wait to read this book, which is the printed form of sermons preached for the most part on successive Sunday mornings at Westminster Chapel in London. This week we look at
Chapter 24: Christ’s Teaching on Divorce
Our Lord’s purpose was to correct the perversion, the false interpretation of the law which was being taught to the people by the Pharisees and scribes.
The first principle He emphasizes is that of the sanctity of marriage. Marriage is not a civil contract, or a sacrament; marriage is something in which these two persons become one flesh. There is an indissolubility about it, and our Lord goes right back to that great principle.
Because of the hardness of their hearts, God made a concession, as it were. He did not abrogate His original law with regard to marriage.
The first principle leads us to the second, which is that God has never anywhere commanded anybody to divorce.
The next principle is one which is of the utmost importance. There is only one legitimate cause and reason for divorce-that which is here called `fornication’.
There is only one cause for divorce. There is one; but there is only one. And that is unfaithfulness by one party.
Nothing is a cause for divorce save fornication. It does not matter how difficult it may be, it does not matter what the stress or the strain, or whatever can be said about the incompatibility of temperament.
It is this question of the `one flesh’ again; and the person who is guilty of adultery has broken the bond and has become united to another. The link has gone, the one flesh no longer obtains, and therefore divorce is legitimate.
Our Lord says that if you divorce your wife for any other reason you cause her to commit adultery.
We can say not only that a person who thus has divorced his wife because of her adultery is entitled to do so. We can go further and say that the divorce has ended the marriage, and that this man is now free and as a free man he is entitled to re-marriage. Divorce puts an end to this connection, our Lord Himself says so.
Even adultery is not the unforgivable sin. It is a terrible sin, but God forbid that there should be anyone who feels that he or she has sinned himself or herself outside the love of God or outside His kingdom because of adultery. No; if you truly repent and realize the enormity of your sin and cast yourself upon the boundless love and mercy and grace of God, you can be forgiven and I assure you of pardon.
…through the Bible, currently in Proverbs (using the Reformation Study Bible, ESV)
I first read this important book when it was published in 1990. Since that time I’ve heard Dr. Sproul mention several times that it’s one of the worst- selling of his 90-plus books. It was updated in 2010, and features an extended Foreword from George Grant, who helped to update the book due to changes over the past twenty years. In light of the recent Planned Parenthood videos, and the fact that over a million babies are killed every year in the United States alone, I decided to read the book again.
Sproul examines the ethical implications of abortion, looking at the issue from the perspectives of biblical law, natural law, and positive judicial law. He makes it clear that while he will examine arguments from both sides of the debate, he is convinced that abortion on demand is evil. He shows that abortion is against the law of God, against the laws of nature, and against reason. He states that the book is addressed primarily to those who are not sure about the ethics of abortion. He addresses the issue in a biblical and logical manner, not using inflammatory language.
Sproul writes that many if not the majority of those who oppose abortion are driven by religious convictions. He states that at the heart of the abortion issue rests one overarching question: Is abortion a form of murder? Or, to say it another way, does abortion involve the willful destruction of a living human person?
Sproul states that he is convinced that if it could be proven that the destruction of unborn babies is in fact the willful destruction of living human beings, the debate on abortion would be all but over, and the law of the land would as clearly prohibit abortion as it does all forms of homicide. He addresses the important question of when life begins and states that the answer a person chooses to that question often determines his or her position on the abortion issue.
He discusses the issue of the sanctity of life, stating that in biblical terms the sanctity of human life is rooted and grounded in creation. He states that the Bible clearly indicates that unborn babies are considered living human beings before they are born, and that the weight of the biblical evidence is that life begins at conception. Sproul writes that the fear of divine judgment governs his actions regarding abortion. He is firmly convinced that God hates abortion and will judge it thoroughly.
He states that before we ever pick up any surgical instrument to destroy a developing human fetus, we must be certain we are acting justly, and asks the following helpful questions:
What is your conscience telling you on abortion?
Why do you hold the position you hold?
How did you arrive at your conclusions?”
He addresses the role of government, stating that the foundational obligation of all government is to protect, sustain, and maintain human life. The protection of human life is at the heart of the role of government.
He addresses many of the common objections to the elimination of legalized abortion on demand. He talks about the effective strategy of using the language of pro-choice, rather than pro-abortion. Sproul’s purpose is to convince the undecided that the pro-life view is the proper ethical option, stating that the evidence is overwhelming that an embryo or fetus is a living human being. He states that for those who are uncomfortable with the pro-life, pro-abortion, or pro-choice positions, there is another possibility: undecided.
He states that only a small number of abortions involve rape or incest, and abortions performed to save the lives of women are exceedingly rare. The real issue is abortion for convenience or because the child is simply not wanted. He discusses the obvious alternative to abortion is to put the baby up for adoption, stating that families who adopt children provide a model for pro-life activists.
Helpful summaries of the major points of each chapter and discussion questions suitable for group study are included at the end of each chapter. Two appendices are included:
Appendix A: A lengthy testimony on the beginning of human life.
Appendix B: Helpful pro-life resources.
I highly recommend that you read this well-reasoned book on a very emotional issue in our country.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones was a great preacher who was best known for his time at London’s Westminster Chapel. Although he died in 1981, more than 1,600 of his sermons are available online for free download at the MLK Recordings Trust. A few podcasts of his sermons are also available on iTunes. In addition, many of his sermons are also available in book form, including Spiritual Depression, which I recently read.
This well-made documentary about the life and ministry of Lloyd-Jones is directed by Matthew Robinson. It contains three DVD’s:
Disc 1: Feature Film, which is comprised primarily of interviews with family members, pastors and theologians shot in historic locations across Wales, England, Scotland, and the United States. The disc also includes three extras, including fascinating recollections from Iain Murray and others about the 1966 National Assembly of Evangelicals organized by the Evangelical Alliance when he called evangelical pastors to leave denominations that contained both liberal and evangelical congregations and his dispute with John Stott.
Disc 2: Six additional special features.
Disc 3: One section (on Lloyd-Jones) from Behold Your God: Thinking Biblically, a new 13 DVD series on discipleship.
Also included is a beautiful 128-page book, which includes biographic information about each of the 42 interview participants in the film, including daughters Elizabeth and Ann, Lloyd-Jones’ grandchildren, pastors and theologians such as Kevin DeYoung, Ligon Duncan, Sinclair Ferguson, Ian Hamilton, John MacArthur, R.C. Sproul, Paul Washer, and Donald S. Whitney. Iain Murray’s reflections were particularly interesting due to his close relationship with “The Doctor”, serving as his assistant.
The book also features a director’s statement from Robinson, thoughts on the music score from Gregory Wilbur (I’ve previously enjoyed his album My Cry Ascends: New Parish Psalms), and the transcript of four sermons used in the film
I particularly enjoyed the footage filmed inside of Westminster Chapel and the recollections of his daughter and grandchildren.
I thoroughly enjoyed this package, which includes a wealth of information about Lloyd-Jones, and is very well-done. This will be most appreciated by pastors who respect Lloyd-Jones. I recommend that pastors find time to watch at least the feature film, if not more, with their leadership teams.
Free Audiobook on Abortion. Christianaudio is making Compelling Interest: The Real Story Behind Roe vs. Wade by Roger Resler free.
The Biggest Story. Kevin DeYoung writes about his new (and first) children’s book The Biggest Story, due out August 31.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
This book made a significant impact on my wife Tammy when she read and discussed it with friends thirty years ago. When I picked up my diploma the day after graduation ceremonies from Covenant Seminary last year I was given a copy of this book. After enjoying Lloyd-Jones book Spiritual Depression (and the sermons the book was taken from), I couldn’t wait to read this book, which is the printed form of sermons preached for the most part on successive Sunday mornings at Westminster Chapel in London.
The obvious question with which to start is this: Why should we consider the Sermon on the Mount at all? Why should I call your attention to it and to its teaching? I suppose fundamentally, therefore, my main reason for preaching on the Sermon on the Mount was that I had felt this persuasion, this compulsion, this leading of the Spirit. I feel the particular reason for doing so is the peculiar condition of the life of the Christian Church in general at the present time.
I do not think it is a harsh judgment to say that the most obvious feature of the life of the Christian Church today is, alas, its superficiality.
I am thinking not only of modern evangelistic activities as compared and contrasted with the great evangelistic efforts of the Church in the past-the present-day tendency to boisterousness, for example, and the use of means which would have horrified and shocked our fathers; but I also have in mind the life of the Church in general where the same thing is true, even in such matters as her conception of holiness and her whole approach to the doctrine of sanctification. The important thing for us is to discover the causes of this.
I would suggest that one main cause is our attitude to the Bible, our failure to take it seriously, our failure to take it as it is and to allow it to speak to us. Coupled with that, perhaps, is our invariable tendency to go from one extreme to the other. But the main thing, I feel, is our attitude towards the Scriptures.
Our approach to the Bible is something which is of vital importance.
The commonest cause of all this is our tendency so often to approach the Bible with a theory. We go to our Bibles with this theory, and everything we read is controlled by it.
There is nothing so dangerous as to come to the Bible with a theory, with preconceived ideas, with some pet idea of our own, because the moment we do so, we shall be tempted to overemphasize one aspect and under-emphasize another.
This particular danger tends chiefly to manifest itself in the matter of the relationship between law and grace. That has always been true in the Church from the very beginning and it is still true today.
Is it not true to say of many of us that in actual practice our view of the doctrine of grace is such that we scarcely ever take the plain teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ seriously?
What does the Sermon on the Mount mean to us? Where does it come in our lives and what is its place in our thinking and outlook? What is our relationship to this extraordinary Sermon that has such a prominent position in these three chapters in the Gospel according to St. Matthew?
For whom is the Sermon on the Mount intended? To whom does it apply? What is really the purpose of this Sermon; what is its relevance?
There was once the so-called `social gospel’ view of the Sermon on the Mount.
But of course the real answer to this view of the Sermon on the Mount is that it has always ignored the Beatitudes,
Another view, which is perhaps a little more serious for us, is that which regards the Sermon on the Mount as nothing but an elaboration or an exposition of the Mosaic Law. I feel it is totally inadequate if for no other reason than that it, also, fails to take account of the Beatitudes.
Then the next view I want to mention is what we may call the `dispensational’ view of the Sermon on the Mount. A dispensational view of the Sermon on the Mount, saying that it has nothing whatsoever to do with modern Christians. It is meant `for the kingdom age’.
Another very important consideration is that there is no teaching to be found in the Sermon on the Mount which is not also found in the various New Testament Epistles.
The Sermon on the Mount is nothing but a great and grand and perfect elaboration of what our Lord called His `new commandment’. His new commandment was that we love one another even as He has loved us. The Sermon on the Mount is nothing but a grand elaboration of that.
The dispensational view is based on a wrong conception of the kingdom of God.
There is nothing, therefore, so dangerous as to say that the Sermon on the Mount has nothing to do with modern Christians. Indeed, I will put it like this: it is something which is meant for all Christian people. It is a perfect picture of the life of the kingdom of God.
The great purpose of this Sermon is to give an exposition of the kingdom as something which is essentially spiritual. The kingdom is primarily something `within you’. It is that which governs and controls the heart and mind and outlook.
This is how Christians ought to live; this is how Christians are meant to live.
The man who is truly forgiven and knows it, is a man who forgives. That is the meaning of the Sermon on the Mount at this point.
Why should we study it? Why should we try to live it?
He died in order that I might now live the Sermon on the Mount. He has made this possible for me.
The second reason for studying it is that nothing shows me the absolute need of the new birth, and of the Holy Spirit and His work within, so much as the Sermon on the Mount.
There is nothing that so leads to the gospel and its grace as the Sermon on the Mount.
Another reason is this. The more we live and try to practice this Sermon on the Mount, the more shall we experience blessing.
I suggest to you it is the best means of evangelism.
If you read the history of the Church you will find it has always been when men and women have taken this Sermon seriously and faced themselves in the light of it, that true revival has come.
It’s hard to put into words the impact that R.C. Sproul, who died today, has had on my life. I was introduced to Dr. Sproul’s ministry more than 30 years ago when Dr. John Shively gave me one of Dr. Sproul’s teaching series on cassette tape. I believe it was titled Objections Answered, though I can’t be 100% sure. We listened to the messages on those tapes in the car on the way back from Lafayette, Indiana. I was amazed. Here was someone who took difficult theological concepts and communicated them in a way that I could understand them. From cassette tapes to CD’s to digital podcasts, that was one of R.C.’s greatest gifts.
Hard Cuts: Songs from the H A R D L O V E Sessions (EP) – NEEDTOBREATHE
The Legacy of Luther, edited by R. C. Sproul and Stephen J. Nichols. Reformation Trust Publishing. 303 pages. 2016
Reading Romans with Luther by R.J. Grunewald. Concordia Publishing. 136 pages. 2017
BOOK REVIEW:
Almost every year since 1997, my wife Tammy and I have left the cold of the Illinois winter to head down to the sun and warmth of Central Florida to attend the annual Ligonier Ministries National Conference. 
This year’s conference, held March 9-11, was their 30th National Conference. It had a theme of “The Next 500 Years” and was being held on the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Thus, many of the speakers referred to Martin Luther and his influence in their addresses. The conference was held in the wonderful facilities of the First Baptist Church in Orlando where it has been held most years, sold out months in advance, and featured an excellent lineup of speakers, including John MacArthur, Alistair Begg, Albert Mohler, Sinclair Ferguson, R.C. Sproul, Michael Horton and more.
As we remember our Lord’s crucifixion and approach the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord, I wanted to share these helpful resources to prepare our hearts.
For twenty years now beginning in February 1997, we have left the cold winter of Illinois (two of the past three years leaving home in blizzard conditions), and made our way to sunny and warm Orlando, Florida, to join more than 4,000 others to attend the Ligonier Ministries National Conference. It’s the week and event I most look forward to each year. Although it has occasionally been held elsewhere, the traditional home of the conference has been First Baptist Church of Orlando. Since it was not available last year as the church was undergoing renovations, we were treated to a beautiful new sanctuary which changed from pews to theater seating. Among many other nice changes, the sanctuary also has a more intimate feeling as the use of stadium seating was added on the ground level.
The revised and updated Reformation Study Bible (RSB) released in the 
The conference ended with a Ligonier tradition, the singing of Handel’s “Hallelujah Chorus” by the attendees. Throughout the conference we were led in singing some of the great hymns of the faith by Randall Van Meggelen. I can’t do justice to what it is like to hear more than 4,000 singing these hymns accompanied by a beautiful pipe organ. Tammy loves to watch the hearing impaired section ‘sing’ the hymns ~ especially their signs for ‘crown Him Lord of all’ when we sang All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name.
Can I Lose My Salvation? (Crucial Questions) by R.C. Sproul. Reformation Trust. 46 pages. 2015
New Iain Murray Book on J.C. Ryle
Prayer BOOK CLUB
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount BOOK CLUB
