|
b4fc9a0
|
There is also irony here: when Christ sets us free from slavery to the flesh, he calls us to the royal liberty of slavery to him. That is why we call him Master. We acknowledge that it is from him that we get our marching orders. He is the Lord of our lives. We are not our own. We are not autonomous or independent. Unless people understand their relationship to Christ in these terms, they remain unconverted.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
f707c9d
|
During his distinguished academic career, Dr. Sproul helped train men for the ministry as a professor at several leading theological seminaries.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
1644695
|
Legalism is concerned simply with external conformity and is blind to internal motivation.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
7bf8e51
|
I think the biggest problem we have in our time is a severe ignorance of the content of Scripture. Sadly, this is true even among evangelicals, who claim to revere the Word of God and elevate the authority of Scripture. We simply don't know what's in the Bible, so it's not surprising that we don't know what the Bible teaches about prayer.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
4b65d3c
|
The more we are in the Word of God, the more the Spirit who inspired the Word and who illumines it for us will use the Word to confirm in our souls that we are truly His, that we are indeed among the children of God.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
e5eb96a
|
The Council of Chalcedon produced the following statement, known as the Chalcedonian Creed: Therefore, following the holy fathers, we all with one accord teach men to acknowledge one and the same Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, at once complete in Godhead and complete in manhood, truly God and truly man, consisting also of a reasonable soul and body; of one substance with the Father as regards his Godhead, and at the same time of one substance ..
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
09deb7b
|
Nevertheless, we can make a distinction between the three persons of the Trinity, because each member of the Godhead has unique attributes. We say the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, but we don't say that the Father is the Son, the Son is the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Spirit is the Father. There are distinctions between them, but the distinctions are not essential, not of the essence. They are real, but they do not..
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
c64b2db
|
works affects
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
fd1ab84
|
Why do some in society think that the church should not speak out on political issues? Why do some in the church think that the church should avoid political or legislative affairs?
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
fd48297
|
The Son of God The New Testament recounts few instances when God was heard speaking from heaven. When He did, it was normally to announce something startling. God was zealous to announce that Jesus Christ was His Son. At Jesus' baptism, the heavens opened and God's voice was heard, saying, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17). Elsewhere, the Father declared from heaven, "This is my beloved Son; listen to him" (..
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
2324321
|
Thus, John is saying that Jesus did His miracles not for their own sake but to point the observer and the reader beyond them to something that was significant to Himself as the One who spoke
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
ba69ef4
|
For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23)."
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
3abdbe4
|
We have already seen that our suffering is part of the total plan of God and that God can work through evil to accomplish His plan. The fact that God has a plan is indicative that He has a purpose. The fact that He is sovereign is indicative that He is fulfilling that purpose even when He allows suffering to come upon us. As in the case of Job, He may not reveal what His purpose is, but we have good reason to trust Him.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
fb47674
|
I think the attribute of the church that is most seriously under attack in our day is its Apostolicity, because there has been a wholesale rejection within the church of the authority of sacred Scripture.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
91c772c
|
Obedience unlocks the riches of the Christian experience. Prayer prompts and nurtures obedience, putting the heart into the proper "frame of mind" to desire obedience. Of"
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
6f232c7
|
We tend to remain conscious of the boundary flags for the course of this world. That slavish adherence to a course that is set out for us by the world is a mark of an unregenerate person, Paul says. Not
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
42d4e79
|
I once gave a lecture in which I publicly denied the existence of God. I said: "I want to emphatically affirm today that God does not exist. In fact, if He did exist, I would stop believing in Him." If anything ever sounded like a nonsense statement, that was it. But I simply meant that God is not in a state of becoming. He is in a state of pure being. If He were in a state of existence, He would be changing--at least according to the way t..
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
84bf17d
|
God does not vacillate on His promises.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
c6f6de7
|
wonder, then, at the disciples' joy? Once they understood where Jesus was going and why He was going there, the only appropriate response was celebration. They danced back to Jerusalem. His physical presence was gone, but His spiritual and political presence was enhanced. His words console his "absent" bride: "And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the"
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
b0e44d0
|
Paul tells us here in 2 Corinthians that the King of the universe places His indelible mark on the soul of every one of His people.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
90bd5cb
|
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (Rom. 8:14-17, NKJV)"
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
b518c18
|
Nicole, and Earl D. Radmacher labored very hard
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
a60625c
|
We need to be very careful to go to the pages of the Scripture to learn about God's will and the leading of the Spirit, and not simply to listen to the popular teachings of the Christian subculture in which we live.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
612cb0f
|
Anybody can believe in God. What it means to be a Christian is to trust him when he speaks, which does not require a leap of faith or a crucifixion of the intellect. It requires a crucifixion of pride, because no one is more trustworthy than God.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
a314262
|
No one was ever called by God to greater suffering than God's only begotten Son.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
5cb2e3f
|
We must accept the fact that God sometimes says no. Sometimes He calls us to suffer and die even if we want to claim the contrary.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
ba6c70e
|
If our decisions about how to treat others are always motivated by love for God, a singular love for God, we really do not have to worry about the law, because the law reflects what is pleasing to God. That is why Augustine said, "Love God and do what you want." If you love God, you can do as you please, because you will be doing what pleases God. It is that simple. If you really love him, you will be pleased by what pleases him, and what p..
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
c5fdce7
|
the Holy Spirit is a person, not a thing.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
bd3b47e
|
But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?"
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
aeb78b3
|
Our Savior was a suffering Savior. He went before us into the uncharted land of agony and death. He went where no man is called to go. His Father gave Him a cup to drink that will never touch our lips. God will not ask us to endure anything comparable to the distress Christ took on Himself. 'Wherever God calls us to go, whatever He summons us to endure, will fall far short of what Jesus experienced.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
57c4f17
|
without faith we are not acceptable to God, but God makes us acceptable to Him through the gift of faith, leading to our justification.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
f1c8aee
|
He leapfrogged from the status of despised Galilean
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
7b9a948
|
we are often surprised that God allows such deep affliction to befall us. The surprise stems not so much from what God leads us to believe but from what we hear from misguided teachers. The zealous person who promises us a life free from suffering has found his message from a source other than Scripture.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
7f02bde
|
My purpose in writing this book is that you would not be surprised when suffering comes into your life. I want you to see that suffering is not at all uncommon, but also that it is not random-it is sent by our heavenly Father, who is both sovereign and loving, for our ultimate good. Indeed, I want you to understand that suffering is a vocation, a calling from God.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
58aa4e5
|
The more I expose myself to the Word of God, the greater my faith will be. By the same token, if I am negligent in reading the Scriptures, I open myself to ideas pouring into my head from the secular world, which may lessen the ardor of my faith.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
ce7e28d
|
Chicago. At that time, it issued a statement on biblical inerrancy that included a Preamble,
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
5d5e90b
|
significant segments of evangelicalism and the outright denial of it by other church movements.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
0ab6abc
|
of the doctrine of biblical inerrancy as an essential element for the authority of the church.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
5b733a6
|
the summit. Furthermore, written comments were solicited and received in considerable numbers. A Draft Committee composed of Drs. Clowney,
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
1affb0b
|
dream at Bethel) or one could "ascend" to Jerusalem,"
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
8c1e08c
|
The study of religion is chiefly the study of a certain kind of human behavior, be it under the rubric of anthropology, sociology, or psychology. The study of theology, on the other hand, is the study of God. Religion is anthropocentric, theology is theocentric, the difference between religion and theology is ultimately the difference between God and man-hardly a small difference.
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
49f020c
|
Our suffering has a purpose-it helps us toward the end of our faith, which is the salvation of our souls. Suffering is a crucible. As gold is refined in the fire, purged of its dross and impurities, so our faith is tested by fire. Gold perishes. Our souls do not. We experience pain and grief for a season. It is while we are in the fire that perplexity assails us. But there is another side to the fire. As the dross burns away, the genuinenes..
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
437ac41
|
R. C. Sproul. These were discussed in a number of ways by groups of delegates from the Advisory Board and in
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |
|
c87ce31
|
Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns?" (Rom. 8:33-34a)."
|
|
|
R.C. Sproul |