Bible Study Tonight- More from Romans 9

Posted on January 8, 2024 by RC

Tonight we continue our look at the monumental, towering book of Romans. All are welcome to our home at 7 est, or you may join us for dinner at 6:15. We will also stream the study at Facebook, RC-Lisa Sproul. We hope you’ll join us.

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What is “Deliverance Ministry?”

Posted on January 8, 2024 by RC

It seems, from time to time, that the evangelical church becomes aware of some strange “new” practice on the fringes of some charismatic churches. Some evangelicals experience a kind of jealous desire to join in, most react with cynicism and disdain. Whether it is angel feathers falling, fillings turning to gold, or holy laughter we feel a tension of wanting to not miss the moving of the Spirit and to not be misled by false spirits.

By the time reports of this kind of activity make their way beyond fringe charismatics there is usually already a history there. The practices may trace back to Azusa Street, Keswick quietists, nineteenth century mystics or some such. That there is a history satisfies some that it must be just fine. The trouble is, they miss that these things do not go back to the Bible, or even to the ancient church. Which, while I acknowledge is not compelling proof that the practices are false, it is evidence nonetheless.

“Deliverance ministry” fits this same pattern. While exorcism has a long history in the church, this was affirmed to be only for unbelievers. All Christians, for the first 1500 years of the church and beyond recognized that a person cannot be demon possessed and Spirit indwelt at the same time. Deliverance ministry still affirms that truth, but fashions another doctrine, that Christians can be oppressed or assaulted by demons. Once again, yea and amen. The reality of spiritual warfare is clear in the Bible as the nose on the face of someone with a very big nose. That most evangelicals pay it little heed is more a function of our worldliness and modernism than any spiritual maturity.

The trouble comes in the application. The Bible teaches we war against principalities and powers. It doesn’t teach us the demon Subglub rules over Cleveland, or how to recognize a “Jezebel spirit,” or how to uproot generational curses. In fact, these common tenets of “Deliverance Ministry,” if you look closely, are just as worldly and modernist as those theories that deny them. What they have in common with each other is they all, like much of modern psychology, fall under the heading of Flip Wilson Theology. For you youngsters, Flip Wilson was a comedian last century who made a fortune with this tag-line, “The devil made me do it.” Psychology, Flip Wilson and “Deliverance Ministry” all seek to distance our guilt from ourselves and put it on others.

“Deliverance ministry” does precious little to deliver us either from our sins or from our guilt. Repentance and resting in Christ does that. What it seems to remove is our mere feelings of guilt. Because the cause of our sins are laid at the feet of the demon oppressing us, or some childhood trauma, or some generational curse we’re suffering under, who could blame us? Sure, I may be a quick tempered, angry jerk, but my grandfather was the same. It’s his fault. Sure, I may be unfaithful to my spouse, but it’s because I was hurt by my mother when I was a child. It’s the spiritual version of Freud blaming our sins on our potty training.

We, again, surely need to be delivered from our own sinful patterns. This happens as we run to Christ in repentance. Surely we need to be delivered from the fiery darts of the devil. This happens when we put on the full armor of God. We won’t, however, ever be delivered from our sins unless we are delivered by Jesus, and delivered to a place of repentance and faith. There are no special tricks. No secret insights. There’s only the problem in the mirror, and the solution on our knees.

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What are We Supposed to Do?

Posted on January 5, 2024 by RC

Though teleology may be the most neglected of all branches of philosophy, it cannot long be ignored in our daily lives. We need to know what we are for, what the goal is. And in a harried world, it is all the more understandable that we would seek out one, clear bottom line. We want news we can use. What we can use the most is an explanation of what our calling is. We are aimless, directionless when we don’t know where we are headed. This may explain why God’s Word is so rich in bottom lines, in quick, understandable summaries of our calling. The One who made us is well equipped to tell us what we are for.

We could start at the beginning. In the garden God gave our first parents what theologians call “the dominion mandate.” He called on them to fill the earth and subdue it, to rule over the birds of the air, the fish of the sea and every creeping thing that creeps upon the ground. Lest we should think this calling fell away when our parents fell, we should remember that it was reiterated to Noah and his family when they left the ark.

Moses, of course, gave us the great commandment, that we should love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. That sounds like a bottom-line kind of command, especially when we consider that Jesus tells us that all the Law and the Prophets hang on these (Matt. 22:40). The prophet Micah gave us what might be called an “executive summary” of what the believer is called to do. The Micah mandate says we must do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God (6:8). One could in turn argue that Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, finally settled things when He commanded us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (6:33). Or, alternately, we could look to the Great Commission.

What, though, do we do now? We started out looking for direction. The Bible was quick to give it, but which of these telē, or purposes, is highest? Which of all these bottom lines is the bedrock bottom line? Or, are we left free to pick and choose? Perhaps God calls some of us to be dominion mandate guys and others Great Commission guys. Maybe some of us were once Micah-mandate guys, but we have transitioned into seek-first-the-kingdom guys.

My spiritual forbears, the Westminster Divines, came up with a rather odd solution to this surfeit of purposes—they added one more. Man’s chief end, they tell us, is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. As counterintuitive as this solution might seem, to add one more to an already long list, it actually highlights the solution. We don’t have competing sets of direction, contrary maps. We have instead a variety of ways to say the same thing.

Jesus is the last Adam. That glorious reality certainly encompasses the equally glorious reality that just as in Adam all fell, so all those in Christ are made alive. But there is more to this connection. The first Adam, in falling, did not merely fall but failed. That is, because he ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he not only failed to obey God, but he failed to exercise dominion. Noah likewise failed, as did Moses after him. Even Micah failed.

Jesus, however, never fails. Though His test was alone in a wilderness, He faced and defeated the temptations of the devil. At Calvary, His heel was bruised, but with His first step out of the tomb He crushed the head of the serpent. At His ascension, as He proclaimed, all authority in heaven and on earth had been given unto Him. Now He is about the business of bringing all things under submission so that at the last day He will hand the kingdom back to His Father. For He must reign until all His enemies are under His feet.

It is out of this gospel confidence that we are called as a helper suitable to Jesus, the last Adam. The church is His bride, the new Eve. Our labors are to help Him fill the earth and subdue it, to lead His own in loving the Lord our God with all our being and in loving our neighbor as ourselves; in doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God; in seeking first His kingdom; and in fulfilling the Great Commission. All this we labor toward as we make His name known, His reign visible across the globe, until the earth will be filled with His knowledge as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14). We go forth with peace and certainty as we go therefore and make disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that He has commanded us. For lo, He is with us always, even unto the end of the age. This is the end of our beginning, and the beginning of our end.

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You Can’t Call Me AI

Posted on January 4, 2024 by RC

A “Man on the Street” interview asked people this question- what’s the most impressive invention of the last 150 years?” One gentleman suggested that it had to be the automobile. What else, he reasoned, had had such an impact, reshaping the very contours of the world? The second took a more modern approach, suggesting that the personal computer has had the greatest impact, putting immeasurable knowledge at our fingertips. The third man, however, was more down to earth. “What most impresses me,” he said, “is the thermos.” “The thermos?” the interviewer asked, “But why?” “Well, the gentleman explained, “some mornings my wife fills my thermos with cold iced tea, and when I drink it at lunch, it’s still cold. Other mornings she puts in hot coffee, and come lunchtime, it’s still hot. That impresses me because I’ve never been able to figure out, how does it know?”

Despite the wonders it is able to accomplish, the above funny highlights to real limits of AI. If it is artificial, it isn’t intelligence. If it is intelligence, it isn’t really artificial. Technology doesn’t truly know anything. Mercury may rise on a hot summer day or drop when the sun goes down but it neither knows what day it is, nor whether it is day or night. You can ask AI a question, but even if it gives you the right answer a million out of a million times, you can’t make it think. AI no more thinks than Rodin’s “The Thinker” thinks. Thinking requires consciousness, which is why Descartes made the philosophical Hall of Fame. “I think, therefore I am” isn’t the philosophers’ equivalent of “Live to Ride; Ride to Live” of Harley enthusiasts. Rather it is a profound affirmation that one cannot doubt one’s existence without first existing. In like manner, one cannot ponder the nature of one’s existence if one is created by mere man.

Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, Star Trek’s Mr. Data, Pinocchio may have seemed to puzzle over their own natures, but that’s because they are merely two dimensional literary creations. They didn’t ponder; their creators pondered for them. In short, they aren’t real. Neither is artificial intelligence real, if by real we mean something more than what men put in. In the same way that an animal is a higher order of being than a rock, so that which is conscious is a higher order of being than that which is unconscious. Humans will no more ever have AI overlords than God could ever have human overlords.

Such is not to say that AI might not come with some problems. (Though anyone with any economic sense should know that long term they won’t cost a single soul a single job.) Our concern, however, ought to be over actual conscious beings, those who are able to sin. Such might connect with AI, either those writing the programs, or those “speaking” through them. To put it another way, remember that we war with neither flesh and blood nor programs and algorithms but with principalities and powers.

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Resolved; Abram’s Faith; Counting Stars; Sinfully Rich?

Posted on January 3, 2024 by RC

This week’s Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

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What are some good goals for the new year?

Posted on January 1, 2024 by RC

I’ve never read a book on leadership. I’ve not hired a life coach. I haven’t ever attended a personal development event. And I’m not much one for to-do lists. That said, I can see the wisdom in this aphorism- if you fail to plan you are planning to fail. Or this heavenly insight- “My people perish for lack of vision” (Hosea 4:6).

To make use of a few buzzwords from this world I’m not a part of, I find balance by thinking outside the box and taking a bird’s eye view rather than lose the forest for the trees by taking a granular view. To put it more clearly, I think broad goals can be good things to set while also affirming that the best way to make God laugh is to tell Him your plans.

This goal of mine I’d commend to everyone of you. My goal for 2024 is that I would, each day, become more and more like Jesus. I doubt any believer could argue with that. The worst that could be said is that it seems a mite vague and difficult to measure. The truth is we have a clear measuring stick- the Word of God. If anything defines Jesus it is His zeal for obeying His Father. Love of God and love of neighbor is unpacked for us in the law. I want to become more obedient to God’s law.

One step below this, in the Russian nesting dolls that are our means and ends, are God’s ordinary means of grace. I will better know His law as I read His Word. This year, God willing, will be the sixth year in a row that Lisa and I will read through the Bible. Prayer is yet another means of grace I aspire to avail myself of. Such pleases my Father, and mirrors my elder Brother. I will gather together with the saints for corporate worship, for encouragement and to encourage others.

Pursuing these individual goals in light of pursuing the one higher goal will not increase my influence. It will not make a difference in my bottom line. But it will be good for business because, to adapt a bit of wisdom from Jacob Marley, becoming more like Jesus is my business. As it is yours. This is the business of all our days. There is nothing more important, nothing more valuable. This is not a means but the end, our very reason for being.

It is likely to be a humdinger of a year, chock full of Black Swans, October Surprises, wars and rumors of wars, nano-particles and giant asteroids. There will almost certainly be riots in our streets and increasing public persecution of believers. All of which are tools in the Potter’s hands, as He remakes us into vessels made for His glory. Praying, with confidence, for a fruitful new year. For this is not only the year that the Lord has made, but is the year that the Lord is remaking us. Let us will rejoice and be glad in it.

Posted in 10 Commandments, Ask RC, Biblical Doctrines, communion, eschatology, ethics, grace, kingdom, prayer, preaching, RC Sproul JR, repentance, wisdom | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Dream a Little Dream

Posted on December 29, 2023 by RC

It is a great thing to dream great dreams. A small vision of God and His kingdom will birth a small vision of the future. Jesus, who has already overcome the world, promised His followers that they would do greater things even than He (John 14:12). John Knox was not content merely to minister to those stray sheep who might wander into his fold. Instead his heart cried out, “Give me Scotland, or I die!” That is a big dream indeed.

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, warned us against worrying about the petty things of this world, the very things that tend to hold our attention— what we will eat, what we will wear. We are inveterate worriers and insatiable spenders, which together mean that we tend to fret over funds. Jesus calls us, however, not to worry over such things. Our Father in heaven knows what we need, and He provides for us. What we ought to be focused on is the kingdom of God, and His righteousness.

Scotland is, of course, a commonwealth in the kingdom of God. Knox’s desire that her citizens would be brought into that kingdom, that they would be dressed in the righteousness of the King is good and proper, even exemplary. “Give me Scotland or I die!” was not a cry Knox should have been ashamed of. As we dream big, however, we would do well to understand the nature of the kingdom and how it is brought forth. We would be wise to learn to discern the difference between the brightness of our King’s glory and the brightness of the spotlight. There is a very thin line, one I suspect we all are tempted to dance along, between wanting to do great things for the kingdom and wanting to be great in the kingdom.

When we read of the legacy of men like Knox, the influence first of the Reformation on Scotland and from there the influence of Scotland on the rest of the world, it is all too easy to get stars in our eyes. What if, we wonder, God would be pleased to use me the way He used Knox? What if I were able to do great things for the kingdom, the kind of great things that will have believers in five hundred years commemorating my life, cataloging my accomplishments, carving my bust in marble? We may not be worrying about what we will eat and what we will drink, but we end up worrying as the disciples did, wondering what will be my place, my stature, my rank in His kingdom?

In the kingdom we are called to seek, however, the great things are the small things. Grand national reformations and great sweeping revivals are astonishing gifts from our heavenly Father. But the Son told us the kingdom is like unto a mustard seed. He told us that if we would be first, we must needs be last. Are we not susceptible to the temptation to miss on the little things while pursuing the big? How many missionary kids’ souls have been neglected on the altar of a grand vision? How many pastors’ children have come in second to their father’s ambition, masked as “kingdom seeking”? How many sheep have been left lost while their pastors sought a dance with Big Eva?

When Knox set about establishing the Kirk in Scotland, the first man that he ordained to gospel ministry was Robert Campbell Sproul, my direct ancestor. Scotland and Knox are to me not distant tributaries in the stream of church history. The history of the Scottish Reformation is my family’s history. As such, I resonate with the heart cry of Knox—”Give me Scotland or I die!” I like to believe that had I been there, I would have stood ready to march with Knox into the fray, ready later to join the Scottish Worthies who refused to bend the knee to prelacy (episcopal governance) from the Church of England, and were rewarded with martyrdom. But as I look at my own life and God’s call on it, I find myself with a very different heart cry. No one will study my legacy as they do Knox. But if they did, my prayer is that it will be said of me not that I said, “Give me America, or I die!” but that I prayed, “Give me mercy or I die!”
My calling is not to be a hero, to rescue my nation, but to point others to the Hero as He conquers the world.

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Reading Their Mail

Posted on December 28, 2023 by RC

One of the great boons God has given us in dealing with unbelievers is our ability to read their mail. That is, while unbelievers may be saying x, y or z, we know, based on Romans 1, that they are thinking a, b and c. They know there is a God. They know they stand guilty before Him. They know they don’t like it. Because we know these truths they seek to conceal from us, in our interactions we can speak to them of a, b and c rather than the x, y and z they speak to us. While there is certainly a place for answering their arguments, their arguments are not what is standing in their way.

They may say, “The God of the Bible is immoral because He ordered the utter destruction of every man, woman and child in Canaan.” What they are thinking is, “I am immoral, and God will one day bring on me utter destruction.” The answer to the first question is, “Every man, woman and child in Canaan was born under God’s death sentence because of their sin.” The answer to the second question, however, is “If you repent and turn to Christ, your moral failures will not be held against you. The God you fear will not only forgive you but adopt you and love you always.”

This also is how we ought to pray for these wretched souls. They, in their asserting x, y, or z may be attacking us, speaking ill of us, mocking and trolling us. We, however, were once such as they. We are now, by His grace, beloved of the Father. Compassion for those still in that place from which we have been rescued should be easy. That it is not is one more reason for us to repent and believe the gospel. The Apostle Paul mourned the unbelief of his kinsmen in the flesh. Should we not mourn for our kinsman in sin?

In the coming year I pray that in this space, and on social media, I will have the courage to speak boldly against falsehood. I pray also, however, that I would have the grace to speak gracefully to those caught up in falsehood. Politically, things will get heated. The folly flowing from fools will get more fallacious. Everyone else’s rhetoric is unlikely to dial down. We, however, being defended from the fear of our enemies, should be as bold as the Lion of Judah and as gentle as the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world.

For this reason Christ came into the world, to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10.) We, the chief of sinners, know what that means. When we speak in grace of His grace we are what we are called to be, a city on a hill.

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Giving Gifts; Giving; and God in a Manger

Posted on December 27, 2023 by RC

This week’s Jesus Changes Everything Podcast

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Ex-vangelical Pharisees, or, Judging We Are Judged

Posted on December 26, 2023 by RC

There is, purportedly, a movement out there, a movement out of the church. A bevy of young, feckless and deformed men and women have weighed the evangelical church in the balance and found us wanting. They self-identify as ex-vangelicals. And boy do they love to tell their stories. As they grew up inside the church they noticed that it was full of sinners, based on the church’s own standard, the Word of God. We evangelicals are forever doing what we’re not supposed to, sinning in both ordinary and grievous ways. Shocking, I know. Because evangelicals are always droning on and on about how good and perfect we are.

As they make their way in the world they discover yet another failure on our part- we fail to measure up to the world’s standard. We’re accused of being bigoted, narrow, lacking in compassion for others because we believe boys are boys and girls girls, because we believe the sexual union is for married couples, and that marriage is one man and one woman. We’re so embarrassing that they simply have to treat us like tax collectors, lest they be sullied by us. Our calling is to be ashamed and put away our judgments and join them in their world of love and compassion. If we don’t, they’ll continue to treat us as pariahs. Because we’re not broadminded and loving like they are. We deserve their hatred and opprobrium because we’re so hateful and opprobrious.

I believe it was Tim Keller who once explained that on more than one occasion he was talking with a young man who had been a part of the church, but grew up and wanted to walk away. He would ask this simple question, “What’s her name?” The motive, Keller understood, whatever intellectual ribbons and bows the young man might have adorned it with, was moral, specifically, sexual. The move out of the church was necessary to starve the conscience so the “fun” could continue unabated.

It’s not always that that leads them out. Sometimes it’s this- they can’t stay in the church because they can’t stand the thought of people’s sins being forgiven, especially anyone who has sinned against them. You know, just like the Pharisees. The idea of grace is repugnant to the lawless, for it means there is a law, and they don’t measure up.

My hope and prayer is that ex-vangelicals will all become evangelicals once again, that they will repent and believe the gospel, the evangel, that saves sinners like evangelicals. I also pray, however, that those who haven’t left won’t be drawn away by the Siren call of the ex-vangelicals as they seek to drive us away from rather than to Jesus because of our all too real guilt. Are we a judgmental bunch? For certain. Do we have so many skeletons in our closets that they can’t follow social distancing guidelines? We do. Everyone of their accusations against the evangelical church rings true, not because we’re evangelicals, but because we’re people. The accusations ring true about everyone. The difference between those inside and those outside the church, however, is that those inside acknowledge our sin, and cry out for God’s mercy in Christ, while those outside stand on the public corner and thank themselves that they are not like other men. Which is why, by His grace, we go home justified.

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