Being Still: A Heart’s Embrace of His Sovereignty

Posted on December 19, 2025 by RC

The children of God are rather different from the children of men. We have been reborn by a sovereign God. They have not. His children have been redeemed by a sovereign God. They have not. We are being remade by a sovereign God. They are not. Despite these things that distinguish us, that set us apart, there are yet ways where we are very much like those outside the kingdom.

We, both inside and outside the kingdom, have drunk deeply of the modernist conceit that we are defined by what we know. Thus, we think the difference between us and them, between sheep and goats, is a matter of knowledge. We are those who have been blessed to have the truth revealed to us. Once those outside the kingdom have the truth revealed to them, we seem to think, they will become just like us.

Jesus dispelled this nonsense. He directed His harshest words at the scribes and Pharisees, the most widely read, the most in the know. What separates isn’t that we know that Jesus is the Son of God, the promised Messiah. Nor that we know He suffered the wrath of the Father in our place on the cross. Not that we know that the third day He rose again. The Devil himself believes all those things. The difference is that we not only know these truths but trust in them, cling to them, depend upon them.

Now, inside the kingdom of God, among His children, there are still differences. We who are Reformed, or Calvinists, know that we have been reborn from above. Others affirm that they were reborn from within. We know that we have been sovereignly redeemed. Others affirm that they cooperate with God in their salvation. But once again, we who are Reformed make the mistake of thinking that it is what we think that separates us from our less-than-Reformed brothers. We think it is because we know that God is sovereign and that if they will but be so informed, they will join us.

This too is nonsense. Our calling, in the end, isn’t merely to affirm that God is sovereign, but to rest in that sovereignty, to trust in it, to cling to it. Which means, in turn, that we ought not to worry. God’s wisdom literature draws for us a stark contrast between how those within and those without deal with fear. Solomon tells us that “the wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion” (Prov. 28:1). The difference is not that the wicked don’t know there’s nothing to be afraid of, but the righteous have been informed.

Nor is it that the wicked are well aware of the dangers and are afraid, but the righteous overcome those fears. The distinction runs on two difference tracks. The wicked have fear when they need not. The righteous have courage even in the face of danger. A leaf rustles, and those outside quake. Whereas the godly man finds himself in the valley of the shadow of death, and he fears no evil. What sets us apart from them is that they are craven cowards, while we are, at least we’re supposed to be, courageous heroes. The difference is found in actually believing in, trusting in, resting in the sovereignty of God.

How can we move from simply affirming the sovereignty of God to resting in it? We rest in His sovereignty when we remember not just that He is almighty, but that the Almighty loves us with an everlasting love. Because He is with us in that valley of death that we do not fear. It is because He has prepared a table in the presence of our enemies that we can be assured goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives. Our fears in the end are grounded in either a failure to believe in His strength or a failure to believe His gospel. The solution is to believe both.

If we’re seeking first His kingdom, and if we know that He’s bringing all things under subjection, what could we fear? This, in the end, is why we are more than conquerors, why we not only have the courage of a lion, but have the courage of the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Should we not be of good cheer, knowing that He has already overcome the world? And He has made us His own, just as the psalmist describes (46:8–11):

Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Posted in 10 Commandments, assurance, Biblical Doctrines, communion, Doctrines of Grace, grace, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, sovereignty, theology | Leave a comment

Defending Loose Cannons, and Trump’s Loose Tongue

Posted on December 18, 2025 by RC

The charge of hypocrisy sticks. Perhaps because we are all worse than our own standard. We rebuke the other guy, only to find that we too are guilty. The only good news I can offer is that it works both ways. Consider how we understand the relationship between fulfilling the office of President and fulfilling the role of a husband.

Thirty years ago every conservative in the world was (rightly) pointing out that the President’s infidelity toward his wife, his abuse of a White House intern reflected poorly on his presidency. Every liberal in the world insisted that what mattered was his policies and competencies, not his dalliances.

When President Trump first ran for office he had his own share of “bimbo eruptions” cropping up. Conservatives insisted that these ugly events from his past did not matter. Liberals then screeched “HYPOCRITES!!!” And they were right. As well as being hypocrites themselves. Only those who took the position, and there are precious few of these, either that sexual fidelity has nothing to do with presidential competence, whichever side of the aisle, or that sexual fidelity has everything to do with presidential competence, whichever side of the aisle, escape the charge of hypocrisy.

We are living through the same folly now. When Charlie Kirk was murdered liberals took to the internet to celebrate. These fools were doxed, harassed and cancelled, by conservatives who (rightly) saw this as beyond the pale. Few on the left joined the condemnations.

When Rob Reiner and his wife were murdered, at least one “conservative” took to the internet to celebrate. There is, however, no need to dox him. We know his name, where he works and where he lives, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in the District of Columbia. He is practically beyond cancelling.

This doesn’t keep liberals from exposing their own hypocrisy. Those who had no trouble with those dancing around Charlie’s grave are up in arms over the President’s uncouth response. Which is what we ought to expect. What I can’t wrap my mind around is those “conservatives” who defend the President on the basis of the horrible things liberals said about Charlie. Seriously? Because people foolish enough to be liberal are foolish enough to mock the dead, it’s OK for the face of “conservatism” to do the same?

It is not OK. The President’s public response to the murder of the Reiners was reprehensible, unbecoming, indefensible. So, please, don’t allow yourself to be hoisted by your own petard. Keep your feet grounded on the solid rock Who commands that we not return evil for evil, that we do unto others as we would have them do to us, that we love our enemies.

We do not take our cues from what the left does. We do not take our cues from the President. We take them from the President of Presidents, the king of kings and lord of lords. We are His ambassadors, called to speak His Words.

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Wisdom From My Bride; Folly from Trump’s Pen; Sovereign God

Posted on December 17, 2025 by RC

This week’s all new Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

Posted in 10 Commandments, beauty, Biblical Doctrines, Books, Doctrines of Grace, ethics, Lisa Sproul, Nostalgia, on writing well, politics, RC Sproul JR, Sacred Marriage, sovereignty, That 70s Kid, theology, wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Worshipping Your Own Personal “Higher” “Power”

Posted on December 16, 2025 by RC

It is not a difficult thing to discern the nature of someone else’s god. Some people carry their religion on their sleeve, advertising their spiritual commitments on bumper stickers or t-shirts. You can tell the Amish by their clothing, even as you can Hasidic Jews or even Hare Krishnas. When a man throws down a mat, faces Mecca and prays, one need not guess to whom he’s praying.

On the other hand, hypocrites abound. Self-reports about one’s religious commitments may not match reality. Sometimes we fool ourselves, and sometimes we are fooled by others. A better test than what we wear, or even what we say may well be this- who is our law-giver? The “Christian” who argues that God wants him to be happy, and therefore sanctions his adultery may say he worships God. Instead he worships himself, for he is a law unto himself.

Of course in our day the most widely held and passionately affirmed creed is this- there is no true and false, no right and wrong. Everyone decides these things for themselves. And so one could argue, rightly so, that the god of this culture is this mythical creature I call “God-to-me.” Relativism means we can each define God for ourselves. We can make up our own religion because in the end we are our own god.

As soon as we speak this strange god’s name, God-to-me, we are affirming not that we are God’s creatures, but god’s maker. It matters not what follows in our actual description. (Interesting to note, however, everyone’s personal god is rather similar to everyone else’s. The name usually is followed with these kinds of attributes- “God-to-me is gracious, kind, forgiving, wants us to be happy…” How come no one ever says, “God-to-me is a consuming fire, filled to the brim with His just wrath at every sin and sinner”?)

I’m afraid, however, that we are only beginning to scratch the surface of our culture’s sundry forms of idolatry. For when we begin to challenge the clear, obvious foolishness of relativism, especially as it applies to our theology, we find there is another god ready to step up in God-to-me’s defense.

If we challenge this nonsense, “Well, God-to-me says your god is silly, foolish and false, and if you don’t bow down to him you will perish forever” what do we hear next? We are reminded at this point that we are in America, and in America we have freedom of religion. We have the first amendment. The truth is that here in America the first amendment trumps the first commandment.

We believe the First Amendment means not that all religions are equally legal but that all are equally valid. And that is where our deeper idolatry is made known. We think the state can not only determine what’s legal, but in doing so, what’s right or wrong. Legality is morality.

In the absence of any true transcendent source of law or revelation, we will usually find the state filling that vacuum. Because men disagree, man cannot determine right and wrong, true and false. Instead that is determined by the closest we can come to collective man- the state.

The first amendment, so understood then, creates here in America the same situation that ruled in Rome. The Roman empire, like the American empire, did not particularly care what religion those within its borders practiced. This is why they could get along with the Jewish authorities during the life of Jesus. You could worship Yahweh. You could worship Juno. You could worship your own dog for all Rome cared. They had only one ultimate requirement- that you swear absolute loyalty to Rome.

You could indeed have other gods before, in the sense of being in its presence, the god of the Roman state. You just could not have any god before, in the sense of having a higher loyalty, the god of the Roman state. The Christians who went to their deaths under the Caesars went not because they didn’t have the right theology, but because they refused to confess the one great creed of that culture, Caesar is Lord.

In our day the state is not quite so easily identified with its leader. No one, so far, is required to bow before the President. Increasingly, however, we are being told that our highest loyalty must be to the state. We may not fly any flag, including the Christian flag, higher than the federal flag. While we may not publicly pray to the Lord Jesus in the government’s schools.

The broader culture hates uncompromised Christians for this very reason. We are condemned as radicals, fundamentalists, extremists precisely because at the end of the day our loyalty is to the Lord of heaven and earth, because we will allow no gods before Him. We are a dangerous breed, not because we don’t share their convictions, but because we don’t share their loyalties.

For us the First Commandment trumps the First Amendment. For them it is just the opposite. Two competing Gods are seeking our attention, our devotion, our worship. And the Word of God, through Joshua, and through Elijah calls us to no longer waver between two opinions, to choose this day whom we will serve.

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Bible Study, Tonight: To Be As Children: God’s Children

Posted on December 15, 2025 by RC

We continue our Monday Bible study at 7:00. Dinner at 6:15.

We air the study on Facebook Live (RC-Lisa Sproul). Within a day or two we post the video of the study right here for those who would like to watch on their own schedule.

Our study considers God’s call that we be as children. Tonight- God’s Children

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What does Semper Reformanda, always reforming mean?

Posted on December 15, 2025 by RC

The Reformation was rife with slogans, pithy shorthand flags planted in the ground expressing Reformation distinctives. It argued, of course, that those distinctives were in fact not new, but a recovery of what had been lost over the course of centuries. Hence “post tenebras lux,” after darkness light. Thus the five solas.

But then there is the black sheep of the slogan family, semper reformanda, always reforming. There are disputes among scholars over whether this slogan belongs in the slogan pantheon. More important, there are disputes over what it actually means.

On the one hand, semper reformanda can be seen as an important guardrail against a prideful recalcitrance. None of us, all of us ought to acknowledge, have everything right. When it comes to reforming both our thoughts and deeds, we all have work to do. No resting on our laurels until we rest in peace. If that’s what we mean, I’m in favor.

Sadly, however, there have been many across the centuries who have rallied under the flag while firing cannon at the faith. Departing from the Bible always gets dressed up in semper reformanda. Ditching the ancient creeds is the same. Which raises the question, how do we escape Rome’s folly in insisting it has an infallible tradition, with theological liberalism’s folly in insisting nothing is settled dogma?

The answer, as is often is, is balance. We who affirm sola scriptura all agree that whatever the Bible teaches, that we must believe. We all deny, however, that the work of our church fathers is worthless. We value tradition. We submit to the ancient creeds. They are fallible, however. They do not have the same level of authority as the Bible.

To even consider whether, for instance, the Apostles’ Creed is in error, we would need a mountain of evidence. Recently the interwebs was abuzz over whether Latter Day Saints are Christians. Their denial of the trinity was brought up against them. Many retorted that the ecumenical creeds are not infallible. Which is true enough. But one man translating ancient golden plates behind a curtain is not a sufficient reason to overturn the creeds.

In like manner, but on a smaller scale, full preterists deny, among other things, the Apostles’ Creed’s affirmation that “He will return to judge the quick and the dead.” When confronted with this they often resort to claiming that we are elevating the creeds to the level of Scripture. No, we’re just not willing to jettison them for the sake of someone’s untethered speculations on 70 AD.

The church does grow and mature over time. It does so, just like its members, by always reforming according to the unchanging Word of God. Always reforming, rightly understood, is never moving away from God’s Word, but moving further into it. It, and it alone, is immovable, unchangeable, absolutely trustworthy. It is the standard of all standards.

Posted in 10 Commandments, apologetics, Apostles' Creed, Ask RC, Biblical Doctrines, church, Devil's Arsenal, kingdom, RC Sproul JR, Reformation, Roman Catholicism, wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Fool Load- Cultivating the Spirit’s Fruit

Posted on December 12, 2025 by RC

Tell you a little story and it won’t take long
About a lazy farmer who wouldn’t hoe his corn.
The reason why I never could tell
For that young man was always well.

He planted his corn in the month of June
By July it was up to his eyes
Come September came a big frost
All that young man’s corn was lost.

Busy, like wealthy, is a relative term. My old friend Eddy used to marvel that I took a full load at seminary, while working a full time job. What he didn’t realize was that I had studied rather much of what was covered in seminary when I wasn’t busy, before seminary, as a teenager. Nor did he understand that once I took, “Lounge around the pool reading People magazine” out of my schedule, I had plenty of time.

We feel poor because we fail to be grateful for what we have. And we feel busy because we fail to be grateful for what we’re able to do. We lounge in our hot showers feeling cheated because we can’t eat at the nicer restaurants in town, and we lounge in that same hot shower thinking about how busy we are.

We suffer from the folly of Lot. He had received God’s richest blessing, and then got confused over what that blessing was. By living in close proximity to Abraham, Lot drank deeply from the collateral benefits that came his way. His flocks prospered. He had an increasing number of servants to tend those flocks. But those servants found themselves at odds with Abram’s servants, and Lot chose the lot next to the heathen.

He thought the wealth came from him. His shrewd business sense, his eye for fine grazing land, and his hard work brought forth his prosperity. He likely shook his head at Abraham’s failure to negotiate wisely when Abraham offered Lot the pick of the land. Proudly then he surveyed all that was before him, and chose the green place, conveniently overlooking the rainbow flag flying over the adjacent town. He noticed, no doubt, the lovely window treatments on the homes, but apparently didn’t notice that Sodom’s birthrate was 0%.

I’m not denying that God works through means. Rather while God was the source of Lot’s prosperity, the means He worked through wasn’t Lot’s hard work. Instead it was the character of his uncle. But more important still, it was the very wisdom of his uncle that was the wealth. What made Lot rich wasn’t flocks and herds, nor South Beach property, but his uncle’s wisdom and character. What made Lot a poor fool was that he failed to tend his soul.

Here too we have to see the connection between first and second causes, between means and ends. Laziness, a reluctance to hoe corn, is not the root but the fruit of the problem. It’s a noxious weed that grows in the garden of those who won’t cultivate the fruit of the Spirit. A man’s measure is found not in the size of his silos, but the yield of his heart.

C.S. Lewis got at this point in The Screwtape Letters. There Screwtape encouraged Wormwood to encourage his charge to think in grand categories, and to fail to think in the small. Anyone drinking deep of “love for humanity” but unable to love his pew neighbor has lost the battle. Cultivating a love for humanity, however, is like growing plastic fruit. One need not worry about root rot or bugs, and one can display the “fruit” of one’s labors, but the real deal isn’t there.

But Lewis missed an even bigger point. It isn’t enough for the wise man to move his gaze from the amorphous humanity to the neighbor in the pew. If he would do better still, he must turn his gaze inward. What he should be looking to, if he would love both his pew neighbor, and the body of Christ around the globe, is his own soul. The only way to be outward looking, in other words, is to look inward.

Of course there is a deadly and deadening navel gazing. Analysis paralysis is not what I’m calling for. It wouldn’t have done the lazy farmer any good had he, instead of frequenting the parties in the surrounding culture, instead stood in the midst of his growing corn just to look at it. No, we look to ourselves that we might be at work in ourselves. We look inward because what the world needs now isn’t simply one less sinner, but one less sin. The kingdom grows as we put to death the old man, as we put on Christ.

But there is still another layer of paradox, because, paradoxically, not only does Jesus work through paradox, but so must the devil. We lose our lives when we seek to save them; we become last when we seek to be first. In like manner, the devil is about the business of lulling us to sleep, or encouraging our spiritual sloth. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands, and we are as unconscious as the foolish virgins. The rest he seduces us with, however, is nothing but slave labor. When we are not diligent about the business of bearing much fruit, we are instead busy either making excuses, or pushing rocks up Sisyphusian hills.

The devil, who is more crafty than any of the beasts of the field, seduces us into waiting for that beast in the jungle, that one glorious moment of opportunity, where we will usher in the kingdom with our devastating argument, our best-selling book, our cinematic triumph, our Christian president. Meanwhile, the beast is at work in our hearts, where the real battle is, where he turns our gardens into jungles. Changing the world is chasing after the wind. Changing ourselves, in and through the means of grace appointed, is running the race.

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The Word of His Power; The Power of His Word

Posted on December 11, 2025 by RC

I think we’ve got omniscience wrong. Yes, it certainly means all knowing. And yes, certainly God knows all things. It’s important to affirm as well that His knowledge overlaps with our knowledge. When we say 2+2=4 we are agreeing with Him, not saying something different from Him when He says 2+2=4. With all of these caveats in place we can begin to explore how we get omniscience wrong.

His thoughts are not our thoughts not because He can imagine a square circle or 2+2 equaling 5, but because the source of His knowledge and the source of ours are fundamentally different. Our knowledge, our understanding of the world flows out of our taking it in via our senses. We see, hear, taste, touch, smell what is out there and learn about what is out there. Reality is outside of us, and our minds, our knowing, is bowing before the reality that is external to us.

It would be quite a feat, worthy of our utmost praise, if God were able to take in the whole of reality. He would astound us if He knew not only what the rose in my vase smells like, but every rose, every daffodil, every cow, even every mountain goat that’s never crossed paths with a human. What if He knew the breadth and depth and height of every hair, even those on the backs of every fly? What if every sub-sub-sub atomic particle in every galaxy was pinpointed on the divine gps? That would not get at what God’s omniscience is all about.

The difference between His knowing and ours is that His knowing is right side in, ours inside out. We look at the reality outside of us and add to our minds knowledge. God knows, and reality happens. When we know, our minds match reality. When He knows reality matches His mind. Indeed it flows out of His mind. As Plato stumbled upon like a blinded squirrel tripping over the mother of all acorns, reality is the shadow, and the mind of God the reality.

I began to grasp this when I was in college. At a small Bible study my professor asked- “RC, what would happen if God were to say, ‘RC, you are a car’?” “Well,” I explained, “since the whole of the universe stands on His truth, His lie would cause the universe to collapse in on itself.” “Nice try,” he said, “but that’s not what I’m looking for.” “OK, I suppose that if God told a lie He’d stand against Himself, would instantly cease to be. The universe would freeze forever.” “RC, if God were to say, ‘RC, you are a car’ you would sprout wheels. Your nose would become a steering wheel, your chest an engine.”

God’s word is to reality what Midas’ touch was to gold. Whatever God speaks comes to pass unstoppably and immediately. When God called Adam to name the animals He called him to take something concrete, a hippo, and make something abstract out of it, the word, hippo. Adam reflected his Maker’s glory, copying Him. But just as the mirror flips perspective, the difference is that our Lord took the abstract word, hippo, and made the concrete reality. Adam names, moving thing to idea; God speaks, moving from idea to thing.

Which puts some perspective on the glorious truth that our Redeemer, our Savior, God the Son is called by John, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Word,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it (John 1:1-5).

John is here more stuttering than rambling. That is, first, there is a connection between being deity and being the Word. It is because God is self-existence, eternal, not dependent, contingent or derived, that all other things are creatures, dependent, contingent and derived. It is His eternal power and Godhead, remember, that we suppress in our fallen nature (Romans 1) but God is true and every man a liar. Word-ness, in short, and God-ness, are one and the same thing.

Second, because Word communicates, we should expect a plurality of persons in the Godhead. Words exist to communicate; communication requires a speaker and a hearer. Thus the Word was not just God, but the Word was with God.

Third, it is not just because He was at the beginning that all things were made, but because He is the Word. John is here, of course, echoing the language of Moses in Genesis 1, where God spoke the universe into existence. He is not called the Word because He made the world, rather He spoke the world because He is the Word. Reality awaits His command. He speaks and it is so. Light, the earth, indeed galaxies beyond number were not built, arranged, but spoken. He made it all. If it is made, He spoke it. If He did not speak it, it is not.

In Him was life. The whole of the creation stands by the word of His power. He sustains us, and all that is around us. It is because He is the Word that in Him we live and move and have our being. The Beatles, having claimed to be bigger than Jesus, told us to let it be. But Jesus, who is bigger than the Beatles, keeps us, and the Beatles, but telling reality to let there be. Let there be light, and there was light. Let there be paper and puppies and popsicles, and there was paper and puppies and popsicles, all because He is the Word.

Jesus is the Logos. He is the creator of all reality. He is all power. He is the ordering principle, the logic that drives out the chaos. He is the one who spoke us first into life, and then again into life anew by His Spirit, the very breathe of His Word. He is the Alpha and the Omega, not just the beginning and end of history, but the beginning and end of all speech. He spoke the light, and it was, and in the end, we will all bow. The Lord will be in His Holy Temple, and all the earth will be silent before Him (Habakkuk 2:20).

We are called to be a people of the Word. We not only do not heed the clamor of the world, but we will not buy the lie that we can separate the Word from His Word. We know all of God’s Word is the Word, that the verbum Dei is the vox Dei, the Word of God is the voice of God. We are students of the Word, believers of the Word, rejoicers in the Word, defenders of the Word, defined by the Word.

The world sees the world as the product of the world, a self-governing, self-sustaining machine. It’s good that we would stand against the claims of Darwin that the universe made itself, to affirm it as the handiwork of the Word. But it is better to remember that He also sustains it, moment-by-moment, one miracle after another. His mercies are not just fresh each day, but each moment, as He continues to sing, “Let there be.” May we, with the stars of heaven answer back, “Amen and amen.”

Our King has no need to muster His forces to go into battle. He need not place this regiment here and that battalion over there. We do not fight to secure the victory, but to display the glory. He speaks and it is so. He has spoken already this glorious truth, that He has already overcome the world. Let us therefore be of good cheer. His kingdom is forever. The grass withers. The flower fades. But the Word of our Lord endures forever.

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Yes Gremlins, No Podcast, Apologies, See You Next Week Redux

Posted on December 10, 2025 by RC

The gremlins got us again. Technical difficulties keep us from posting a new Jesus Changes Everything Podcast today. We hope to have everything up and running next week if not sooner. As with last week, we offer instead this week’s Bible study on Being As Children, in which we explore how Jesus shows the way in His zeal to please our Father. “>Here.

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Growing Pains: Annihilating God’s Character

Posted on December 9, 2025 by RC

Our little corner of the interwebs is up in arms over actor Kirk Camerson’s recent admission that he is finding the doctrine of annihilation to be preferable to the doctrine of eternal conscious torment for those who die outside of Christ. The saints, including my beloved wife Lisa, have written many fine exegetical responses to this departure from orthodoxy. It’s not my intention to add to the list. Instead I’d like to address the real appeal of the doctrine to Kirk, that annihilationism seems more consistent with God’s character.

Before I do, a few words about Kirk. I have briefly met him, but would not say that I know him. I found his public work, whether with my friend Ray Comfort, and The Way of the Master, or my friends the Kendrick brothers, and Fireproof, the movie, excellent. I was delighted to hear years ago that he had left behind dispensational eschatology. Every time I’ve seen him on screen I’ve found him earnest, engaging and, well, excellent.

This recent mistake, not so much. While I don’t know that I’d claim being wrong on this issue is proof you’re outside the kingdom, neither it is some secondary matter that elicits a mere “ho-hum.” The so-called “evangelical pope,” John Stott likewise flirted with this error, which is far more troubling as he should have known better.

Here are three major issues I have with this kerfluffle.

1. While everyone is a theologian, not every theologian should have a wide audience when flirting with deviations from the faith once delivered. Speculation, if it has a place, isn’t out in public. The Federal Vision trainwreck’s destructive power was likely less the fruit of a few formerly Reformed thinkers becoming more Lutheran, more of them sharing their sloppy homework with the world. How is it that Kirk was confident enough to share his new thoughts, but not confident enough to take a hard stand? Did he first talk with a competent, orthodox theologian before making an ill-prepared pitch on a podcast? Maybe he did and we just don’t know about it. Could be. But…

2. If he had done so I can’t fathom how his reasoning could have survived. Any competent theologian would have been able to explain that we don’t make these decisions by suggesting God’s just too nice for hell. This is precisely the very form of reasoning used by sexual perverts who want to play church. “The Jesus I know loves love and would never condemn a man for loving another man” they reason. “Jesus is nice” trumps all that Jesus tells us in His Word about the righteous confines of sexual congress.

So the idea that some of the enemies of God, continuing eternally in their rebellion against the living God would forever continue to receive the just wrath of the living God doesn’t fit with…? What? God, or God’s justice, or God’s mercy? Despite the clear fact that God Himself affirms that He prepares vessels for destruction (Romans 9:22)? Despite God’s justice demanding it?

No, it’s God’s mercy, His compassion, that makes Kirk incredulous when faced with the claim the damned suffer eternally. But they, the damned, are not recipients of His mercy. His mercy is not universal, as He Himself boldly insists time and again. They receive His justice.

3. Perhaps worst of all, annihilationism destroys the justice of His mercy. If God’s character is such that any sin can be punished short of fully, then Jesus did not have to die. Or He died for the eternal life of believers, and for the ultimate non-existence of non-believers. Jesus suffered for the damned, to make their suffering finite. Or, if God can wave a magic mercy wand, then He died for nothing. Kirk wants us to take God’s mercy seriously. Amen to that. We take it seriously enough to know that, because it could not sweep away His justice, it cost His Son.

GK Chesterton wisely warns us that we should never tear down a fence until we know why it was first put up. Kirk would have been wise to keep this in mind. Embracing annihilationism isn’t a defense of God’s character, but an assault on it. May God in His mercy remind Kirk, and all those tempted to tinker with the Almighty, of Who He is.

Posted in 10 Commandments, apologetics, Apostles' Creed, Biblical Doctrines, Doctrines of Grace, eschatology, grace, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, Lisa Sproul, RC Sproul JR, repentance, scandal, sexual confusion, theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments