And It Came to Pass: His Constant Victory

Posted on June 2, 2026 by RC

I was not, as a kid, a particularly gifted athlete. I enjoyed sports, however, and so my hours were determined by the seasons: football, basketball, baseball. Early on I realized that my gifts were limited, while my desire to compete was boundless. My solution- will. I determined to will myself to victory, to be the dog in the fight with the most fight in the dog. The Rocky movies resonated with me. I would take a punch, and come back for more.

That same perspective survived my childhood, and is still with me. But it has matured. I went against Goliaths on the gridiron, faced Apollyon staring me down from the pitcher’s mound, but before the hand of God I have been humbled. My will wilts before His. As one wise theologian was wont to say, “You have free will. God has free will. Whose will is more free?”

The Bible reveals for us God’s revealed will. He commands, and we are to obey. He forbids, and we are to abstain. His hidden will, however, blossoms forth through circumstance. He not only commands what He will, but brings to pass what He will. Pharaoh’s army defied God’s revealed will in chasing after God’s people. But the tumbling walls of the Red Sea defied Pharaoh’s defiance. God won.

He always wins. When the Son of Glory hung in shame upon the cross, He won, just as much as He won when the Son walked into a garden, the firstborn of the new creation. When circumstances are not going the way we wish, when providence frowns upon us, no shadow darkens Him. Not because He is disconnected, not even because the light will defeat the darkness, but because these are His ordained means.

History, whether as narrowly conceived as how my day is going, or as broadly considered as the rise and fall of nations through all time, is God ultimately moving all the pieces on the chessboard. How such relates to evil is a great mystery. We must never besmirch His character. Neither, however, may we negotiate away His ultimate absolute control over all things.

We are called to pray both as Jesus taught us, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done” which reminds us of our duty to submit to His revealed will. We likewise pray, as Jesus prayed, “Nevertheless, not My will but Thine be done.” It is here that we remember and rest in His sovereignty, remembering that nothing comes to pass that He does not ordain (Lamentations 3:37).

God brought famine in the land, and Elimelech fled to Moab. Elimelech and his sons went the way of all flesh, leaving behind three widows. Dark providences indeed. But Boaz spied the young woman as she gleaned. Boaz awoke from his slumber on the threshing room floor. But Boaz and Ruth begat a son, who begat a son who begat a son, whose “son” and Lord would be both the Son of David, and the Son of God. Do not lose heart in the dark providences. He brought us from death to life. He will do the same with our lives, and deaths in His timing.

Posted in assurance, Biblical Doctrines, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, RC Sproul JR, resurrection, sovereignty, theology, wisdom | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

What are some key idols evangelicals tend to struggle with?

Posted on June 1, 2026 by RC

In the Old Testament what sin did God’s people struggle with the most? We tend to focus on various sins of the flesh in our concerns about ourselves. And to be sure, our fathers in the faith fought those battles. But the most common problem was idolatry. We tend to think, as moderns not given to bowing before statues, that we have that sin pretty well licked. The devil, after all, is more crafty than any beasts of the field.

A closer look at Israel’s idolatry reveals that most of the time it was more subtle than what we imagine. Your typical Israelite didn’t say evening prayers to Adonai, wake up the next morning and blithely transfer allegiance to Baal. Rather the idolatry took the form of syncretism. The blended together the worship of the living God and the worship of the broader culture’s gods. That is precisely our problem.

Our propensity is to embrace the church’s confession, while also embracing the highest creed of the broader culture. It confesses there is no true truth, only true for me and true for you, epistemological relativism.

Thirty years ago a poll was taken that demonstrated that more than half of all professing evangelicals agree with this statement- “There is no such thing as objective truth.” Strange I know, given that the defining quality of an evangelical is the conviction that the evangel, the good news of Jesus Christ is objectively true. But it should not surprise us- syncretism makes for strange bedfellows.

We embrace that ideological idol, however, because of the more practical idol we embrace- the god of personal peace and affluence. It was Francis Schaeffer who coined this term to describe the god of our age. We evangelicals share in our love for this idol, seeing the function and purpose of our lives as its pursuit. Living in a relativistic age, we find our peace is challenged if we challenge the relativistic creed. Believing relativism will at least give us leeway to hold on to our truth, if we confess it is merely our truth, and not the truth, we go along to get along.

What we think sets us apart from the world is that they are pursuing the god of personal peace and affluence, and we are pursuing personal peace and affluence, but that we make our pursuit while at least tipping our hat at God’s law. We want, we hunger for the idol, but at least we’d never do this, or refuse to do that, to get her. We, after all, have standards. Relativistic standards, to be sure, but at least they are our standards.

Joshua enjoined us to choose this day whom we would serve, to put away the gods of our fathers. Gideon tore down the high places. Elijah told us to no longer sway between two opinions. May He give us the grace, the strength, the courage to walk the via dolorosa, to take up our cross and follow the One who alone has the words of eternal life.

Posted in 10 Commandments, apologetics, Ask RC, Biblical Doctrines, Big Eva, church, Devil's Arsenal, philosophy, post-modernism, RC Sproul JR | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How Dumb to Think Smart Is a Fruit of the Spirit

Posted on May 29, 2026 by RC

Leave it to Reformed people to miss the point. When Paul describes the body of Christ as a body, part of which includes hands, ears, and so forth, we are quick to mark our territory. We are the brain of the church. We are the ones who are so rightly careful about our theology. The great minds of the church have been Reformed. One could certainly argue that the greatest mind, theological or otherwise, ever to grace our shores was Jonathan Edwards.

There is no question the man had a towering intellect. We would be wise to sit at his feet and learn from him. Edwards on the will is unanswerable genius. On the Trinity Edwards makes your head spin. His was a titanic mind whose brilliance was overshadowed only by his earnest and passionate heart. Should we embrace the theological wisdom of Edwards? Of course, by all means. It would be better still, however, if we would just taste of his soul’s devotion.

We do not, of course, increase the fervor of our emotions by dimming the capacity of our brains. Neither will we bear the Spirit’s fruit if the seed is planted only in the rocky soil of our brains. The Word must be planted in the fertile soil of the heart. We surely must know Him to love Him. We surely must study Him to know Him. But no one has studied Him more thoroughly than the Devil, and it hasn’t done him a bit of good.

When Reformation Bible College opened its doors, the first class I taught had a rather pretentious name: ST101 Theological Prolegomena. This highbrow title translates roughly into “Introduction to Systematic Theology.” It is the study we do before we begin our study.

Historically, such a class begins with the doctrine of revelation, exploring how God reveals Himself in His Word and nature. It would consider issues of the canon and various theories of inspiration. We did, eventually, get to those important issues. In another semester we turned our attention to “theology proper,” the actual study of God’s nature and attributes. Despite the subject matter of that future class, we began this first class with a classic work, The Holiness of God.

I feared, as I looked out at that first class, that we would fall into the trap that has captured so many Reformed people. That even with the glorious truths of Scripture, we might end up tickling ears. I would be guilty of ear tickling if, in my teaching, I encouraged the students to conclude, “What a smart person I am,” rather than, “What a glorious gospel has rescued such a wretched sinner as me.” Through studying this book together, I wanted us to look to the mirror of His character and glory so that we would never lose sight of just how vile we are.

I wanted us to understand something of the scope of His transcendence lest we should ever be tempted to conclude that our studies had reached into the heavens like the Tower of Babel. I feared for my students precisely because I remembered what I was like as a student. What a clever Devil we battle with, who can turn our study of sound theology into an occasion for pride.

We will not begin to get better until we embrace this obvious truth: smart is not one of the fruits of the Spirit. Of course we are to love God with all our minds. But we are to love God with all our minds, not merely understand Him. When our knowledge cannot traverse the distance from our heads down to our hearts, we suffer from spiritual constipation. The sole, and soul cure is to embrace this obvious truth: we come into the kingdom not as scholars or students, but as children.

We will not, in short, get better unless and until we learn to stop pursuing academic respectability and start seeking the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Jesus commands us to put behind us all our earthly worries. We are to stop seeking those things that the Gentiles seek.

The fruit of love, in the end, is the fruit of the Spirit. Love begets love, bears joy. Love bestows peace. Patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control: all these break forth like the great bunches of grapes the twelve Israelite spies found in the Promised Land. None of these, however, come forth from the barren soil of our intellectual curiosity, far less the scorched earth of intellectual pride.

Edwards was a great man of God. He was so, however, because he aspired to be a man of God rather than a great man. That his descendants were senators and governors, professors and college presidents, meant not a thing to him. Only that they would humbly follow the carpenter’s Son from Galilee — that was what he hoped, prayed, and worked for. That is the fruit of charity.

Posted in Biblical Doctrines, church, Devil's Arsenal, Education, grace, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, RC Sproul, RC Sproul JR, theology, wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Stewards of His Wealth, Not His Other Stewards

Posted on May 28, 2026 by RC

God has made of each of us a steward. He is both the maker and owner of all things. As owner it is His prerogative to place what is His under the care of whomever He wishes. His stewards, in turn, will answer to Him. Thus far I can’t think of any reason any believer could have to object to anything. Let me know if I missed something.

Despite all of us agreeing on the above I found myself disagreeing with an old friend not long ago. A gifted young man, a writer and a speaker in the homeschool circuit, a friend. He recounted an experience he had wherein he witnessed another man buying a fishing boat for close to $60,000. He pointed out the man paid cash. While acknowledging that he didn’t know if the boat buyer was a Christian, he rightly pointed out that this man would one day answer to God. For this and every other purchase he makes. No objection here. Everything thus far fits in the above paragraph.

What followed, however, was judgment by my friend against this man. My friend was practically incredulous that a man would spend $60,000 on a fishing boat. Didn’t that man know, my friend wanted to know, of all the good that $60,000 could do if funneled in a more “spiritual” direction? Lest we think my friend forgot that it is God who judges, he quoted for us his readers the tenth commandment, God forbidding coveting.

As sound as my friend is, as carefully as he typically thinks through matters of a Christian worldview, he succumbed to what we all succumb to. He mistook his rules for God’s rules. He assumed that his priorities were already in line with God’s. Not only that but he assumed that this man was bound, with the real money God placed in his care, to have the same priorities my friend has with imaginary money. I do not doubt my friend is an outstanding steward of all God has placed in his hands. But God didn’t place that $60k in his hands.

As God’s stewards we are told we must not be wasteful. We are told we must be generous. We are told we must give cheerfully. What we are not told is that we may not buy a fishing boat. Or a hand tailored suit. Or a steak and lobster dinner. In fact, we are, in a manner of speaking, told we must buy those things, if we have met our obligations and want those things. God commands:

And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household (Deut. 14:26).

God is no stingy master. Remember that He has no need of all that He’s placed under our care. He wants from us obedience to His commands, and that we would feast in His presence. He delights when we submit to His Word and respond to His faithful provision with joyful gratitude.

If two men had an equal amount of God’s wealth to steward, and both met all their God given obligations, and one man wrote a check to some ministry for $60k and the other bought a fishing boat for $60k, is one more pleasing to God than the other? What if the first did so with a grumpy disposition, and the second sang praises to God while reeling in a hefty catfish?

Two things. Don’t judge God’s stewards with your law. Do delight in all of His good gifts, without shame or fear.

Posted in 10 Commandments, Biblical Doctrines, Economics in This Lesson, ethics, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, RC Sproul JR, wisdom | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sacred Marriage, American Empire, Ministry Update & More

Posted on May 27, 2026 by RC

Lisa and I dive into the hot topic of Athalia and Josheba. That’s right. Athalia and Josheba. Plus, what we as a nation have lost in becoming empire. I give a ministry and health update and confess we all struggle with legalism. Check it out. Share with friends. Give us some feedback. Have a ball.

This week’s Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

Posted in Biblical Doctrines, grace, Health, Jesus Changes Everything, Lisa Sproul, RC Sproul JR, Sacred Marriage | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Semper Reformanda? Yes- Secundum Verbum Dei

Posted on May 26, 2026 by RC

Ought we to always be Reforming? Of course.

The Reformation was chock full of shorthand slogans. The five solas of the Reformation came to light under the banner of Post Tenebras Lux, after darkness light. The five points of Calvinism, blossomed long after Calvin’s death and in response to the five points of the Remonstrants. There is, however, one more, the runt of the litter, semper reformanda, always reforming. It’s a perfectly wonderful slogan and a valuable principle. It has, however, often been hijacked.

What we don’t mean by the call of the church to always reform is to reform away from the Reformation. Or worse still, away from the Word of God. Sadly, for centuries those who would lead the church into error have defended their novel ideas with this phrase. It’s time we took it back.

We need a new reformation. And if God should in His grace grant us one, we will, in the midst of it, need a new reformation. We should be, this side of eternity, always reforming because this side of eternity, each of us and all of us together fall short of the mark. It is a shameful reality that individually and corporately we are too easily satisfied. Many of us make a long journey to come to embrace those great slogans of the Reformation, and then make the mistake of thinking it is all we need. It is a good thing to know, embrace and defend these slogans. It is a better thing to know, embrace and rest in Jesus.

What does Reformation look like? I have for years tried to offer up my own suggestions. Like Luther before me I have presented theses as items for debate and discussion, believing that getting these ironed out will bode well for the well-being of the church. The truth is, however, that we could have all our theological ducks in a row, all our orthopraxy worked out, and still be in desperate need of Reformation. We need to have our hearts re-formed, from the inside out, such that we know more fully the depth, scope and horror of our own sin. This is a reforming that lasts a lifetime.

We must also have our hearts re-formed, from the inside out, such that we know more fully the depth, scope and beauty of our Lord’s redemption of us. This is a reforming that lasts a lifetime. We must have our hearts re-formed, from the inside out, such that we know more fully the depth, scope and immutability of the Father’s love for us, His forever children. This Reformation will go on forever. As we forever move further up and further in we will grow in our capacity to receive His immeasurable love.

We, by His grace, pray for Reformation now knowing we are being re-formed for eternity. He has gone to prepare a place for us. He sent His Spirit to prepare us for that place.

Posted in apologetics, Biblical Doctrines, church, Doctrines of Grace, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, RC Sproul JR, Reformation, theology, Theses | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ask RC: Did God create us because He was lonely?

Posted on May 25, 2026 by RC

Of all the silly notions that run rampant in our thoughtless, sentimental times, this one may well take the cake. That’s the “Boy howdy is this a silly idea” cake mind you. It is beautifully true and truly beautiful that He does indeed love us. He delights to be in relationship with us. All of which is rather a long way from He needs us lest He be lonely.

Let me suggest two reasons, one a bit ethereal and abstract, the other more obvious. First, God is all sufficient. That, of course, is not language we typically use. It’s a fancy way of saying He not only doesn’t need anything, but He can’t need anything. That is, God did not work hard to get Himself to the place where all His needs are met.

No, when there was God and nothing else He was already without any needs. It’s not as though He had some odd sense of dis-ease, pondered it for a while and then determined to make man, to see if that would scratch His itch. He had no itch, and never will have an itch. God did not create man to fill an empty place in Him but to make known His absolute fullness.

Second, not only was God not alone prior to the creation but God’s essence is “not aloneness.” That God is trinitarian is not accidental. Please don’t misunderstand. By “not accidental” I don’t mean that it happened on purpose. In fact, it didn’t happen, because it has always been.

What I mean by “not accidental” is that the tri-unity of God is essential to what He is. If I weighted forty pounds less and were three inches taller I would not have changed my essential being. If my hair were thick and the hue of a red, red rose, I’d still be me. God’s trinitarian nature isn’t like that. Make Him one being in three roles and He would be something and someone completely different from what and who He is.

Which is why there was no loneliness prior to the creation. There was no aloneness. God the Father enjoyed perfect, infinite union with the Son and the Spirit. The Son enjoyed perfect, infinite union with the Father and the Spirit. The Spirit enjoyed perfect, infinite union with the Father and the Son. No person of the Trinity could ever say of another, “I feel like I just don’t know you.” Nor could any person of the Trinity experience a moment of loneliness.

No, God has never been lonely. His motive for creating the world, and mankind is the same as His ultimate motive for all that He does, to make manifest His own glory. That is done in part in and through His genuine love for us, the sacrifice Jesus made to restore our relationship with Him. He is not in the least aloof and indifferent toward us. Neither, however, has He ever sat by His phone waiting for us to call.

Posted in 10 Commandments, Ask RC, Biblical Doctrines, RC Sproul JR, theology, wonder | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Last Things First: Jesus Is Lord Now and Forever

Posted on May 22, 2026 by RC

It was my habit — my sophomoric habit — to proudly argue from my ignorance that we ought always to consider last things last. That is, recognizing the great difficulty in grasping the meaning of the end times and the final book of God’s Word, I thought discretion the better part of valor, and I suggested formerly that we can wait to figure out what the end means until after we have mastered all the other important stuff, like the stuff I was interested in and with which I felt reasonably competent.

I was awakened from my eschatological slumbers, however, not by finally finding a crystal clear exposition of the issues but by simply seeing the title of the book. If God revealed truths about Jesus to John, and John, by the power of the Spirit, is revealing those same truths to the church, it is not humility but arrogance that suggests, “Let’s set this aside for another time.” Jesus is revealed in the book of Revelation. His kingdom is revealed in the book of Revelation. And that is something we are called to see, even as we are called to seek.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His disciples that they were called to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. How, though, would they know when they had found it? What would their eyes see when they beheld it?

When John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask Jesus whether He was the One, Jesus sent back this message: “Go and tell John the things which you hear and see: The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them” (Matt. 11:4–5). Are we to look for signs and wonders in order to recognize the kingdom?

In another instance, the disciples sought to keep children away from Jesus. They reasoned that He was far too busy for such a distraction. Jesus, however, had a surprising response: “They were bringing children to him that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, ‘Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:13–14). Should we, then, be looking for the kingdom where we find children? Do we recognize its borders by the youth of its citizens?

In a third instance, after Jesus had been crucified, after He had been raised from the dead, and just as He was about to ascend to His throne, the disciples asked whether the kingdom would now come. Jesus replied that they would not be told the day and the hour, but that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth after the Spirit came in power. Should we, then, look for the kingdom where tongues of fire descend or where the gospel has discipled the nations?

The gospel did, even in the first century, go forth as Jesus predicted in Acts 1. Many were brought into the kingdom. When the Christian faith arrived at Thessalonica, the angry crowd described our missionaries as “men who have turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6). From humble beginnings, we see in the book of Acts the gospel changing the world. Is that, then, where we find the kingdom — where believers have unbelievers shaking in their boots?

It was not long after Jesus’ ascension, however, that a counteroffensive was launched on two competing fronts. First, the Jewish authorities kicked the faithful out of the temple and out of the synagogues. Second, the Roman Empire turned on Christians, persecuting them fiercely and putting them to death.

It was in this context that John wrote what he saw. He showed the people of God the better country for which they longed. He showed them the kingdom they were seeking. Revelation reveals Jesus not in His humility, not in His tender care of the broken, not in the agony of His passion, and not in the joy of His resurrection. What the book of Revelation reveals is Jesus as our King, the Jesus who reigns. This is what is revealed — the King ruling over His kingdom.

Because we are soft, we think we are likewise being “persecuted.” Hollywood makes fun of us. Academia mocks us. And Washington turns a deaf ear to our concerns. We tear our clothes, throw dust in the air, and weep bitterly because we cannot see the kingdom, because we are weak and despised.

The same Spirit, however, who revealed the truth to John is revealing the same truth to us. He is giving us eyes to see. Our Lord reigns. He reigns in heaven, and from there goes forth into battle with principalities and powers. He reigns also, however, on earth — not just in our hearts and not just in our churches. No, Jesus reigns wher’er the sun doth its successive journeys run. All authority in heaven and earth has been given unto Him. Wherever there is a there, there you will find the kingdom of God. Last things first — Jesus is Lord.

Posted in assurance, Biblical Doctrines, eschatology, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, RC Sproul JR, sovereignty, theology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sneaking Them Into Whose Kingdom? No Repentance Required

Posted on May 21, 2026 by RC

I’m old enough to remember when “lifestyle evangelism” was all the rage. We were encouraged to get ourselves out of the salt shaker and into the world. The thought was that if we didn’t lead our conversations with unbelievers with the reality of sin and the need for repentance, if we simply lived a clean life in front of our neighbors, they’d be clamoring to know our secret. We are, as the Bible tells us, epistles read by men. Israel corporately was given the promise that if they honored God’s covenant, the whole world would be drawn to them. Count me among fers and agin the agins.

The devil, soon enough, arrives ready to twist and distort. What we have witnessed over the last forty years is plenty of lifestyle and precious little evangelism. And along the way our lifestyles have increasingly come to reflect the lives of those we’re supposedly witnessing to. Our message to the world is “We’re not so different from you. It’s just a little step to come to Jesus.” We treat Jesus like a juicy worm hanging from a hook bereft of a barb.

We invest millions in billboards with pithy quotes that God never said. Or we go on television to tell the world not that Jesus died so our sins could be forgiven, but that He gets us. All thinking we can sneak them through the Pearly Gates. We think we are shaving off the bristly parts. To remove the offense, however, is to remove the gospel.

Consider the Pharisee and the tax collector. The former man embraced a comfortable gospel. We are not perfect in ourselves. But, if we would cooperate with God, He will help us become what we ought to be. Remember he prayed, “I thank You Lord that I am not like other men.” “I thank You” acknowledges his need for grace. “Not like other men” suggests he didn’t need that much of it.

The latter man, the tax collector, was so uncomfortable he couldn’t even lift his head. He understood, without understanding all it would cost, that his only hope was mercy. He understood, and confessed what he was, a sinner. “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.” There is the offense, without which there can be no gospel.

The irony is that in hiding what is offensive to the unbeliever about the gospel we expose what is offensive about believers to the unbeliever. Proclaiming a gospel that suggests the unbeliever is almost there communicates that the difference between the believer and the unbeliever is in the goodness of the believer. “Come to Jesus so you can be like me.”

Only when we beat our own breasts, crying out, “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner” do we invite unbelievers to do the same. The path between heaven and earth is not something we go up. It is what He came down. For all those, and only those who confess our only hope is in Him.

Posted in Biblical Doctrines, Big Eva, Books, church, Devil's Arsenal, evangelism, friends, friendship, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, preaching, RC Sproul JR, repentance, theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sacred Marriage, Bathsheba; Pandemic du Jour and More

Posted on May 20, 2026 by RC

Neither temptress nor victim, Bathsheba reminds us of God’s grace. More fear mongering from the state, introducing the prophet Joel and remembering who we are by remembering Whose we are. All wrapped up in a bow, just for you. Who could say no to such a gift?

This week’s Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

Posted in 10 Commandments, church, covid-19, Health, Jesus Changes Everything, Lisa Sproul, politics, prophets, RC Sproul JR, Sacred Marriage, scandal | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment