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3ace352
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If I were the devil (please, no comment), one of my first aims would be to stop folk from digging into the Bible. Knowing that it is the Word of God, teaching people to know and love and serve the God of the Word, I should do all I could to surround it with the spiritual equivalent of pits, thorn hedges and traps, to frighten people off.
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R.C. Sproul |
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f3749df
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The worship to which we are called in our renewed state is far too important to be left to personal preferences, whims, or marketing strategies. Pleasing God is at the heart of worship. Therefore, our worship must be informed at every point by the Word of God as we seek God's own instructions for worship that is pleasing to Him.
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R.C. Sproul |
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a7d8cd8
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As the psalmist prayed so many centuries ago, "If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?" (Ps. 130:3). The answer is obvious: no one. The bad news is that the Lord does mark iniquities. The blessed person is the one to whom the Lord does not impute guilt. This is the core of the gospel."
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R.C. Sproul |
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1af1b76
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We often hear that people don't like to be in the presence of Christians because Christians manifest a smug, self-righteous attitude or a goody-two-shoes, holier-than-thou attitude. But this should not be the case. Christians have nothing to be smug about; we are not righteous people trying to correct the unrighteous. As one preacher said, "Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread."
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R.C. Sproul |
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90ca517
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Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
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R.C. Sproul |
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9962236
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If anyone says that a man once justified cannot lose grace and therefore that he who falls and sins never was truly justified, let him be accursed" (Council of Trent: 6/23)."
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R.C. Sproul |
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ec915d4
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Our preservation is a Trinitarian work. God the Father keeps and preserves us. God the Son intercedes for us. God the Holy Spirit indwells and assists us.
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R.C. Sproul |
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4cb441f
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Very early in my tenure with St. Andrew's, I determined that I should adopt the ancient Christian practice of lectio continua, "continuous expositions," in my preaching. This method of preaching verse-by-verse through books of the Bible (rather than choosing a new topic each week) has been attested throughout church history as the one approach that ensures that believers hear the full counsel of God."
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R.C. Sproul |
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da82481
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I am not satisfied to believe just anything simply for the sake of believing. If what I believe is not true--if it is superstitious or fallacious--I want to be liberated from it. But the mentality of our day seems to be that in matters of religion, truth is insignificant. We learn truth from science. We get good feelings from religion.
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R.C. Sproul |
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33fa53e
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The irony of New Testament lordship is that only in slavery to Christ can a man discover authentic freedom.
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R.C. Sproul |
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b55ad12
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Contrario a estas declaraciones esta la ensenanza clara y biblica de la Confesion de Fe de Westminster: A los que Dios llama de una manera eficaz, tambien justifica gratuitamente, no infundiendo justicia en ellos sino perdonandolos sus pecados, y contando y aceptando sus personas como justas; no por algo obrado en ellos o hecho por ellos, sino solamente por causa de Cristo; no por imputarles la fe misma, ni el acto de creer, ni alguna otra ..
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R.C. Sproul |
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059da20
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What did the Messiah need to do in order to be the Lamb of God, in order to make an atonement for the people of Israel? We know that Jesus came to die for our sins, but why did He not simply come down from heaven on Good Friday, go to the cross, arise on Easter, and go back to heaven? It was because Christ's work on the cross was only half of His mission. In order for Jesus to die for our sins, it was first necessary for Him to fulfill the ..
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R.C. Sproul |
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51527a0
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Sound theology actually teaches the central importance of love and inclines us to love the God of the Scriptures and other people as well.
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R.C. Sproul |
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642f40c
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Before the Fall Adam was endowed with two possibilities: He had the ability to sin and the ability not to sin. After the Fall Adam had the ability to sin and the inability to not sin.
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R.C. Sproul |
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22443a1
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Lo que hizo Judas fue totalmente malo, pero cuando Dios ordena todas las cosas que suceden, el no solo ordena los fines sino tambien los medios para esos fines, y el actua a traves de todas las cosas para llevar a cabo su justo proposito.
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R.C. Sproul |
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534752d
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Puesto que no tenemos el poder de ser en nosotros mismos, no durariamos ni un segundo sin su poder sustentador. Eso es parte de la providencia de Dios.
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R.C. Sproul |
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2faf980
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Since joy is a fruit of the Spirit, our sanctification is displayed not only by our love, peace, patience, kindness, and so forth, but by our joy
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R.C. Sproul |
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debf248
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When we find ourselves depressed, down, irritated, annoyed, or otherwise unhappy, we need to return to the source of our joy, and then we will see those circumstances that are sapping our joy in perspective. The circumstances of this life will pale into insignificance when compared to that which we have received from God.
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R.C. Sproul |
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aff792b
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Wonderland, Alice came to a fork in the road. Icy panic stung her as she stood frozen by indecision. She lifted her eyes toward heaven, looking for
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R.C. Sproul |
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c0d1958
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Podemos estar seguros de que ser culpables de pecado no nos descalifica del privilegio de venir a la presencia de Dios. El salmista no esta hablando de cometer pecado, sino de permitirlo. Los puritanos hablaban del concepto de permitir el pecado. No es tanto la victoria sobre el pecado lo que tenemos que mirar como la batalla misma. Estamos en una batalla constante contra el pecado, y nunca resultamos ilesos. Una de las senales del verdader..
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R.C. Sproul |
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1d84f39
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DIOS DISPUSO TODO PARA BIEN Hay una vieja y sencilla historia que ensena una profunda leccion: "Por falta de un clavo se perdio una herradura. Por falta de la herradura, se perdio un caballo. Por falta del caballo, se perdio el jinete. Por falta del jinete, se perdio un mensaje. Por falta del mensaje se perdio la batalla. Por falta de la batalla, se perdio el reino". ?Que habria ocurrido en la historia del mundo si Jacob no le hubiese dado ..
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R.C. Sproul |
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697d377
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In recent years, discussion has emerged on whether evangelism is even an appropriate enterprise of the church. Yet it seems unthinkable to me that a church should consider whether evangelism is an appropriate enterprise when it has the mandate of the authoritative command of the Lord and Head of the church.
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R.C. Sproul |
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8ba4fb4
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When strong unbelief is present, the church's vision, zeal, passion, and commitment for evangelism tend to decline. Who would be zealous about urging other people to believe something that they themselves do not believe?
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R.C. Sproul |
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f10d1d5
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When sin is characterized as a crime, we see that Christ is the One Who actually comes under judgment in the drama of the atonement. He functions as the Substitute, the One Who stands in the place of the true criminals-you and me. Christ, then, is the One Who made satisfaction. By His work on the cross, He satisfied the demands of God's justice with regard to our debt, our state of enmity, and our crime. In light of the facts of God's justi..
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R.C. Sproul |
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9e6f86d
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To look at the church as an organization where the labor and ministry are done only by the ministers is to miss the entire point. The ministers' primary task is to equip the saints--the rank-and-file, the people in the pews. The ministry of the church belongs to the people of God who have been gifted by the Holy Spirit to carry it out.
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R.C. Sproul |
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e207a1d
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on the hired man's face as he threw up his hands and replied, "It's the decisions in life that are difficult."
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R.C. Sproul |
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a6d960a
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Too often, however, we "honor" God by creating our own law, making ourselves more pious than Him. God says, "Don't eat," and we say, "Don't touch." God says, "Give ten percent," and we say, "Give twenty percent." Like the Pharisees before us, we add to God's law, then expect Him to pat us on the back. This problem of seeking a piety greater than God's, however, gets no uglier than when we apply it to ourselves."
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R.C. Sproul Jr. |
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9bb7446
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What does God expect of His children who are married or thinking about getting married? God expects, among other things, faithfulness to the marriage partner, provision of mutual needs, and mutual respect under the lordship of Christ. Certainly the couple should enhance each other's effectiveness as Christians. If not, something is wrong.
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R.C. Sproul |
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b459539
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The doctrine of the Trinity teaches that God is one in essence and three in person, so He is one in one sense and three in another sense, and that does not violate the categories of rational thought or the law of non-contradiction.
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R.C. Sproul |
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a1297a8
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We see that God called the nation of Israel His vine. He planted and tended it, and He expected it to bear fruit to all nations (see Ps. 80; Isa. 5; Jer. 2:2 1).
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R.C. Sproul |
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3cb8810
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road. Icy panic stung her as she stood frozen by indecision. She lifted her eyes toward heaven, looking for guidance. Her eyes did not find
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R.C. Sproul |
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625df6d
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But the Holy Spirit is not simply an abstract force. He is a person who empowers the people of God for the Christian life.
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R.C. Sproul |
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38fceed
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God calls us to work, to plow, to plant, to read, to study, to prepare. We do all of these things, but He brings the growth. What does Paul say? "I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase" (1 Cor. 3:6)." --
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R.C. Sproul |
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56493aa
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On the other hand, it is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he have previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself. . . . So long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods.
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R.C. Sproul |
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e787eee
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It is our privilege to bring the whole of our finite existence into the glory of His infinite presence.
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R.C. Sproul |
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45cbf67
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Protestants are particularly vulnerable to this distortion. We seek refuge in our precious doctrine of justification by faith alone, forgetting that the very doctrine is to be a catalyst for the pursuit of righteousness and obedience to the preceptive will of God.
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R.C. Sproul |
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4a3508f
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That's our tendency--take credit for the good, transfer blame for the evil. But Edwards understood that any good deed we do, any righteous choices that we make, are only because God is at work within us.
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R.C. Sproul |
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7942422
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who were hypocrites. The image that we have of scribes and Pharisees from the New Testament period is that of unscrupulous, ruthless practitioners of religious deceit. We must bear in mind, however, that the Pharisees as a group were men historically committed to a very lofty level of righteous
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R.C. Sproul |
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ff3dc2d
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The Apostle Paul frequently admonishes and instructs Christians not to be quarrelsome, divisive, or combative. He extols the virtues of patience, charity, and tolerance. Yet when it came to the gospel itself, this same apostle was uncompromising.
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R.C. Sproul |
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c31d0a8
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The chief difference between the believer and the unbeliever is forgiveness. The only thing that qualifies a person to be a minister in the name of Christ is that that person has experienced forgiveness and wants to tell of it to others.
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R.C. Sproul |
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8091148
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Nature is imitated by our discoveries, but she has known much more than we have yet discovered.
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R.C. Sproul |
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abba4bd
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The most obvious alternative to abortion is to put the baby up for adoption.
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R.C. Sproul |
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d660a79
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Feminists need to ask why the "sexist" establishment supports abortion. It may be that abortion enhances the male's freedom to exploit by sparing him from the worry ofpaternity. -Bill Crouse"
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R.C. Sproul |
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cd9789b
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Indeed, as others have said, the most dangerous place in the United States for a human being is inside the womb of a woman.
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R.C. Sproul |