by R.C. Sproul The irony of the theology of meritorious suffering is that it tends to produce the very opposite effect from its original intention. What began as a call to humble willingness to suffer became an insidious tool for self-righteousness. Perhaps the most difficult task for us to perform...

Continue Reading Relying on God's Grace ...

Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith As seen in other articles this month, the word hypocrisy derives from the Greek term for "playing a part." The ordinary word for an actor on the stage in Greek drama was hypocrite. In the tragedies of Sophocles or the comedies of Aristophanes,...

Continue Reading Playing Your Part...

Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. The world is full of hypocrites, and the solution to this problem is twofold: If you are more modern, you deal with the gap between your obedience and what you pretend to be by trying harder to be good. You try to make...

Continue Reading The Coming Kingdom...

by R.C. Sproul Martin Luther's teaching of "justification by faith alone" was a battle cry for the sufficiency of the merit of Christ and for the graciousness of redemption. His slogan sola fide ("by faith alone") was merely an extension of Augustine's earlier credo, sola gratia ("by grace alone"). What...

Continue Reading Suffering for Righteousness ...

by R.C. Sproul Martin Luther's tenure in the monastery was a time of spiritual desperation. He was tormented by unrelieved guilt coupled with a gripping fear of the wrath of God. Why would an educated man retreat to a barren cell and abuse himself with self-inflicted physical punishment? Why would...

Continue Reading Avoiding a False Theology of Suffering ...

by Keith Mathison "When we think about the last things we must never allow our minds to be diverted from this principle, that the last things, like the first things, are the things of Jesus Christ." --Sinclair Ferguson, "The Last Things," Ligonier Leadership Conference Christians have long been fascinated with...

Continue Reading Eschatology Is Christology - Ligonier Leadership Conference (XI)...

by Nick Batzig When the Holy Spirit comes to us He comes primarily to mediate the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ. -- Sinclair B. Ferguson, "The Holy Spirit," Ligonier Leadership Conference In his second address, Dr. Ferguson drew attention to the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 8:1-17....

Continue Reading Indwelt by Christ - Ligonier Leadership Conference (VII)...

by Nicholas T. Batzig "Idolatry is a religious exercise." --R.C. Sproul, discussion on "Creation and Providence" at the Ligonier Leadership Conference Dr. Sproul opened the Ligonier leadership conference with the words of Acts 17:16-28, the well-known account of Paul in the Areopagus. When Paul came into this city, instead of...

Continue Reading Religious in All Things - Ligonier Leadership Conference (II)...

Generation to Generation by Alex Chediak You may have heard that retirement can kill you. Men and women die of boredom, for lack of intellectual challenge, or from the deafening silence that can accompany a spouse's death. Depressed saving accounts may represent another motivation to stay gainfully employed. Even if...

Continue Reading Don't Retire; We Need You...

by R.C. Sproul Does man have a free will? This question is one of the most frequently asked questions of theology. At times, it is not voiced as a question but as an objection to the whole idea of a sovereign God. At the heart of the problem is the...

Continue Reading Exercising Your Power of Choice ...

by R.C. Sproul Israel's reformation came via a rediscovery of the law, which created a brief awakening to the bankruptcy of a corrupt nation. As a young man, King Josiah began the process of reformation with a spiritual purge, a cleansing of pagan elements from the religious life of the...

Continue Reading Rediscovering the Law ...

Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by Michael S. Horton If you've been in Protestant circles for very long, whether conservative or liberal, you may have heard the phrase "reformed and always reforming" or sometimes just "always reforming." I hear it a lot these days, especially from friends who want our...

Continue Reading Semper Reformanda...

Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison Let's do a quick word association test. What is the first thing that comes into your mind when you see or hear the word teenager? Sadly, for many, the first words that come to mind are entirely negative. The word...

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Pastor's Perspective by Robert Barnes I'm a confessional Calvinist, but I have the nagging sense that God slipped up when he allowed me to pastor a church. A number of questions go through my mind as I consider God's decision to allow me to pastor at Dayspring Church (PCA). Is...

Continue Reading To Whom Be the Glory?...

by R.C. Sproul The Christian life is lived in the context of mystical union with Christ. This union finds its initial origin in eternity. Our salvation is from the foundation of the world, resting in the grace of God's sovereign election. Paul indicates this in Ephesians 1:3-6. It is in...

Continue Reading Entering into Mystical Union ...

by R.C. Sproul Our souls cannot climb out of the mire of sin because they are dead. Salvation comes not to those who cry out, "Show me the way to heaven," but to those who cry, "Take me there for I cannot." Lest we see the sinner's prayer as mere...

Continue Reading Climbing out of the Mire ...

Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul About thirty years ago, my close friend and colleague, Archie Parrish, who at that time led the Evangelism Explosion (EE) program in Fort Lauderdale, came to me with a request. He indicated that on the thousands of evangelistic visits the EE teams made,...

Continue Reading Is the Church Full of Hypocrites?...

by R.C. Sproul The dark night of the soul. This phenomenon describes a malady that the greatest of Christians have suffered from time to time. It was the malady that provoked David to soak his pillow with tears. It was the malady that earned for Jeremiah the sobriquet, "The Weeping...

Continue Reading The Dark Night of the Soul...

Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons I just began reading a book by a well-known pastor who, in the opening pages, referred to himself as a "professional hypocrite." Being a pastor, he is all too familiar with the hypocrite label that is so often leveled...

Continue Reading Hypocritical Hypocrisy...

by R.C. Sproul When Christ purchased His bride, He bought a bride who was "damaged merchandise." His bride was sullied by manifest impurities. She was covered by spots and marred by wrinkles. Yet what He purchased He also sanctifies: Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and...

Continue Reading Becoming Part of the Bride ...

The October edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "Hypocrisy"--what it is, how it impacts the church's mission, and how we can guard against it. Contributors include R.C. Sproul, Robert Barnes, Iain Campbell, Alex Chediak, Richard Ganz, Michael Horton and Richard Phillips. We do not post all of...

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, October 2009...

by Albert Mohler The Bible consistently affirms education as a central responsibility of God's people. In the Old Testament, the Jewish people were reminded that the education of their own children was an essential part of their responsibility as God's covenant people. In Israel, a father was to teach his...

Continue Reading Training Pastors in Church...

by John Piper The inner essence of worship is treasuring Jesus as infinitely valuable above everything. The outer forms of worship are the acts that show how much we treasure God. Therefore, all of life is meant to be worship because God said whether you eat or drink or whatever...

Continue Reading Treasures on Earth...

Last weekend marked the Ligonier Ministries 2009 West Coast conference in Seattle, Washington. Alistair Begg and Michael Horton joined R.C. Sproul in examining the significance of the resurrection of Christ for worship, preaching, apologetics, and other issues. Our friend Alex Chediak was there as well, capturing on the blog some...

Continue Reading 2009 West Coast Conference Blog Round-up...

by Terry Johnson Rich people are materialistic. We all know it. All they care about is their money and things. Or so I thought. My background consists of a blue-collar neighborhood and an inner-city high school in Southern California. My quick judgment of wealthy people, when first I encountered them,...

Continue Reading The Gain of Godliness...

by R.C. Sproul By grace, God offers the righteousness of Christ to all who put their trust in Him. For all who believe, all who have faith in Him, the merit of Christ is reckoned to their account. Does this exclude good works in the life of the believer? By...

Continue Reading Bearing Spiritual Fruit ...

by Derek Thomas "The Holy Spirit has exhorted the faithful to continue clapping their hands for joy until the advent of the promised Redeemer," wrote John Calvin in a comment on Psalm 47:1­2. Paul would heartily concur! Writing from a prison cell from which he had no certain knowledge of...

Continue Reading A Light in Dark Places...

by Tom Ascol One of the most popular sermons I have preached is entitled "How to Fire Your Pastor." I should have been suspicious when so many people requested copies of it! My purpose wasn't to advocate such action; rather, I wanted to help the church know what to do...

Continue Reading A Solemn Discharge of Duty...

Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith God is a unity of distinct persons. The one God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So says the doctrine of the Trinity. Some people believe in the unity and oneness of God, but deny that He consists in different persons. Heretics such...

Continue Reading The Heresies of Love...

by R.C. Sproul God said to Isaiah: "Go and tell this people: 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears,...

Continue Reading Opening Our Ears to Hear ...

by R.C. Sproul By grace, God offers the righteousness of Christ to all who put their trust in Him. For all who believe, all who have faith in Him, the merit of Christ is reckoned to their account. Does this exclude good works in the life of the believer? By...

Continue Reading Bearing Spiritual Fruit ...

by R.C. Sproul There is an oft-neglected principle taught in the New Testament. I call it the principle of "graduated responsibility." This principle is taught by Jesus in Luke 12:48: "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded" (NIV). This saying is part of the parable of...

Continue Reading Accepting Graduated Responsibility...

Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison The relationship between the Mosaic covenant and the new covenant remains one of the most controversial and difficult topics in theology. As the notable American theologian Jonathan Edwards said, "There is perhaps no part of divinity attended with so much...

Continue Reading Christ in the Old Testament...

Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. Unity matters. However, so does diversity. Indeed, unity and diversity unite in the very nature of God. God is three persons united in one essence. The world around us fails to see how God's creation reflects the Trinity, and it always therefore either...

Continue Reading For All the Saints...

by R.C. Sproul The key to understanding the cry of Jesus from the cross is found in Paul's letter to the Galatians: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree'"...

Continue Reading Treasuring Redemption's Price...

by R.C. Sproul The Westminster Catechism defines sin as "any want of conformity to or transgression of the law of God." We notice here that sin is defined both in negative and positive terms. The negative aspect is indicated by the words "want of conformity." It points to a lack...

Continue Reading Exploring the Boundaries of God's Law ...

Generation to Generation by Bruce K. Waltke "Better than a bronze sculpture by Cellini, or a marble one by Bernini, or even a Beethoven symphony," I was saying to my colleagues, while our waitress with tray in hand waited attentively for my climatic closure, "I enjoy a great sermon," whereupon...

Continue Reading Meditating on Scripture...

Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by Michael A.G. Haykin In the final letter that we have from the apostle Paul, written in a lonely prison cell in Rome while he was expecting death for the sake of the gospel, he reminded his closest friend Timothy of the utter necessity of...

Continue Reading No Sacrifice Too Great...

Pastor's Perspective by Gary L.W. Johnson The English Reformer Hugh Latimer once remarked, "We ought never to regard unity so much that we would or should forsake God's Word for her sake." Wise words from a man who went to the stake, rather than compromise the truth of the gospel....

Continue Reading Deeds Over Creeds...

by R.C. Sproul Let's continue the experiment we began in the previous meditation. Study the excerpts from the apostle Paul that accompany this reading. Does this sound like a man who believed the law of God has no place in the Christian life? Read Paul's writings carefully and you will...

Continue Reading Reaping the Benefits of the Law ...

by R.C. Sproul A survey by George Gallup Jr. revealed a startling trend in our culture. According to Gallup, the evidence seems to indicate that there are no clear behavioral patterns that distinguish Christians from non-Christians in our society. We all seem to be marching to the same drummer, looking...

Continue Reading Longing for God's Law...

by R.C. Sproul Albert Einstein was once asked by a student, "Dr. Einstein, how many feet are there in a mile?" To the utter astonishment of the student, Einstein replied, "I don't know." The student was sure the great professor was joking. Surely Einstein would know a simple fact that...

Continue Reading Pursuing God ...

Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul Is the Reformation over? There have been several observations rendered on this subject by those I would call "erstwhile evangelicals." One of them wrote, "Luther was right in the sixteenth century, but the question of justification is not an issue now." A second...

Continue Reading Is the Reformation Over?...

Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons We have all heard it said, and some of you have even said it: "Let's just agree to disagree." If memory serves me, I have never used that expression, primarily because I don't think it makes much sense and...

Continue Reading True Catholicism...

The September edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "What Is True Unity?" It examines biblical unity between Christians as well as the difference between true and false ecclesiastical unity. Contributors include R.C. Sproul, Michael Haykin, Gary Johnson, Albert Mohler, Mark Ross, Thomas Schreiner and Bruce Waltke. We...

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, September 2009...

by R.C. Sproul Every Sunday morning we observe a strange phenomenon in our cities, towns, and villages. Millions of people leave their homes, take respite from their jobs and recreation, and gather in church buildings for services of worship. People sit quietly and listen while one person stands before them...

Continue Reading Perceiving the Power of Preaching ...

by R.C. Sproul When the disciples walked the road to Emmaus twenty centuries ago, Jesus concealed His identity so that they didn't recognize the "stranger" at their side. These men were not in a garden. There were no roses covered with dew. But they walked and talked with the risen...

Continue Reading Enjoying Communion with God ...

by R.C. Sproul We speak of God as the immortal, invisible, all-wise God. This string of attributes gives some comfort and no small amount of dismay. That God is immortal makes me glad. It means simply that He cannot and therefore will never die. I need not worry that He...

Continue Reading Longing for Fellowship ...

by R.C. Sproul Does nature reveal God? This question indicates a concern about a foundational issue to Christianity. The issue is, can God be known outside of the church or a religious environment? The secularist of today answers this question with the negative. The world of nature is frequently said...

Continue Reading Receiving the Revelation ...

by R.C. Sproul It was Bonaventure who offered the thought: "In order that we may be able to extol and glorify God, and in order that we may advance to the knowledge of God, we must transfer to the divine that which pertains to the creature . . . nearly...

Continue Reading Recognizing that the Earth Is the Lord's ...

Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith Not long ago, I learned that thirty-eight percent of my retirement account has vanished and that my house is suddenly worth less than the mortgage I am paying on it. I wasn't wasteful or reckless. I didn't vandalize my own home or spend...

Continue Reading Money, Money, Money...

by R.C. Sproul In the New Testament, the Greek word for bishop is the term episcopus. The word episcopus has a rich and fascinating history. It is made up of a prefix epi and a root scopus. We get the English word scope from this root. A scope is an...

Continue Reading Reflecting on Our Episcopus...

by R.C. Sproul We have all heard evangelists quote from Revelation: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Rev. 3:20). Usually the evangelist applies this text...

Continue Reading Finding God ...

by R.C. Sproul How many times have you heard Christians say (or heard the words from your own mouth), "So-and-so is not a Christian but he's searching"? It is a common statement among Christians. The idea is that there are people all over the place who are searching for God....

Continue Reading Seeking After God ...

Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. I'm connected to royalty. Granted, it's a rather thin point of union. In less than six degrees, though through enough marriage links that there is no legal tie, I am connected with the king of the tropical island, Yap. Yap is best known...

Continue Reading Money from Nothing...

by Keith Mathison In 1993, David Wells published a book entitled No Place For Truth: Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? This book was intended as a wake-up call to an evangelical church that had lost its way, having allowed modernity to replace Scripture as the primary shaper of its...

Continue Reading The Courage To Be Protestant...

by R.C. Sproul In a sense we are fortunate that we cannot see God. If for one second the veil were removed and we caught a brief glimpse of the face of God, we would perish instantly. His effulgence is so brilliant, His glory so dazzling, that in our present...

Continue Reading Yearning for God...

by R.C. Sproul "Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Prov. 29:18, KJV). We hear this verse quoted frequently in order that we may be inspired and challenged to move with intensity toward a future goal. We applaud the leader who is a visionary, one who can paint a...

Continue Reading Seeing God...

Generation to Generation by David and Joshua Eby The Mission of the Father My wife Darlene and I became second-career missionaries to Uganda in 2006 after I pastored in the United States for thirty-four years. God had worked in us a heart for missions, and for Uganda in particular, over...

Continue Reading Future Hope...

by R.C. Sproul Our God remains incomprehensible and retains His simplicity. He tells us in His Word that He is not a God of confusion but of order. He is not at war with Himself. He is altogether good, altogether holy, and altogether sovereign. This we must affirm to maintain...

Continue Reading Affirming Divine Sovereignty ...

by RC Sproul Jr. A month or so ago I wrote about GK Chesterton, and in particular his book Orthodoxy, in a little piece titled The Wizard of Ahhs. Like most people before I met Chesterton I met Lewis. I remember whose house I was in (it belonged to a...

Continue Reading The Great Divorce...

Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by David F. Wells I am in the middle of reading two books simultaneously, one at my office today and the other I will resume at home tonight. My day book is Julia Duin's Quitting Church: Why the Faithful Are Fleeing and What to Do...

Continue Reading Quitting and Finding Church...

by R.C. Sproul God is called holy not only because of what He does, but also because of who He is. Originally the term referred more to God's being than His action or behavior. For us to be called saints ("holy ones"), we must have a catharsis. We must be...

Continue Reading Conforming to God's Holiness...

by R.C. Sproul As a child, the first prayer I ever learned was a simple table grace. It went like this: "God is great, God is good. And we thank Him for this food." At the time, I did not realize that a single biblical word captured the twin ideas...

Continue Reading Comprehending God's Goodness...

Pastor's Perspective by James L. Harvey I love the movie Chariots of Fire. Now over twenty-five years old, the movie remains a compelling testimony of God blessing the faithful use of our gifts and talents. The film chronicles the life of Eric Liddell, a Scottish missionary who was an Olympic-caliber...

Continue Reading God Loves a Cheerful Giver...

by R.C. Sproul One of the most poignant episodes of the judgment of God occurred in the Old Testament case of Eli. Eli was a judge and priest over Israel. He was, for the most part, a godly man. But his sons were wicked and profaned the house of God....

Continue Reading Respecting God's Judgment ...

Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul In the last book of the Old Testament, God spoke through the prophet Malachi. He raised a provocative question: "Will man rob God?" This is somewhat startling because it suggests something that on the surface would appear to be impossible. How could anybody...

Continue Reading Will Man Rob God?...

by R.C. Sproul I had a football coach who had hands the size of catcher's mitts. When we got out of line, he would stand in front of us and place his hands on our shoulders. As he rebuked us, he would begin to squeeze our shoulders. When he did...

Continue Reading Experiencing God's Discipline ...

Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons Several years after my father's death in 1992 I found an old shoebox among my father's belongings. Among the various items in the shoebox, I came across a stack of letters that my father had written just prior to...

Continue Reading Is It Just a Money Issue?...

by R.C. Sproul Some people have a hard time even thinking of God as "Father" because of the horrible abuse they suffered from their earthly fathers' hands. But God is a Father who never abuses His children, although He does punish them. He chastens those whom He loves. It is...

Continue Reading Accepting Correction from the Father ...

The August edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "In Gold We Trust: The Money Issue." It explores the necessity of practicing faithful stewardship of all our resources to the glory of God's kingdom. Contributors include R.C. Sproul, David and Joshua Eby, James Harvey, Rosemary Jensen, Ken...

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, August 2009...

by R.C. Sproul I recently heard a young Christian remark, "I have no fear of dying." When I heard this comment I thought to myself, "I wish I could say that." I am not afraid of death. I believe that death for the Christian is a glorious transition to heaven....

Continue Reading Fostering Fear of God...

by R.C. Sproul I don't remember the exact words. They went something like this: "He was a thundering paradox of a man." These words served as the opening lines of William Manchester's classic biography of General Douglas MacArthur. In this work, MacArthur was shown as a multi-faceted man whose essence...

Continue Reading Covenant Prosecutors...

by R.C. Sproul I remember a stained-glass window that adorned the library of my alma mater. It was situated above the stairwell at the second-floor landing. In leaded letters, the words in the window declared, "Knowledge is power." Every time I ascended or descended that staircase I cringed at those...

Continue Reading Developing a Passion for God...

Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith One of the greatest social scientists credits John Calvin for the rise of capitalism and, by extension, modern Western culture itself. That is quite an influence and quite a tribute to Calvin. Nevertheless, though there is some truth to the claim, the specific...

Continue Reading Calvin & Culture, Reconsidered...

by R.C. Sproul The Heidelberg Catechism states, in the answer to Question 47, "Christ is true man and true God. With respect to His human nature He is no longer on earth, but with respect to His divinity, majesty, grace, and Spirit He is never absent from us." This statement...

Continue Reading The Presence of Christ...

Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. As birthdays go, it's a big one. It is fitting and appropriate that we would mark the five-hundredth anniversary of the birth of John Calvin. Trouble is, that occasion is being marked in at least two different ways. First, those who do not...

Continue Reading Where Is the Glory Found?...

Generation to Generation by Gordon Reed Many years ago I was privileged to know several great men of faith in the generation just preceding my own. I regarded these men with deep respect and even held them in awe because of their great knowledge and even greater piety. Looking back,...

Continue Reading Outlived or Lived Out?...

Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by Derek Thomas Only one book is absolutely essential to save us, to equip us to obey God's will, and to glorify Him in whatever we do. Only one book gives us undiluted truth -- the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Only one...

Continue Reading Corinthian Enthusiasm...

by R.C. Sproul What does Paul mean when he talks about filling up that which is lacking in the afflictions of Christ if there is no deficiency of merit in Christ's suffering? Christ, Who performs the perfect sacrifice once and for all, nevertheless calls His church to bear witness to...

Continue Reading Buried with Christ...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from God's Will and Your Marriage Part 2) From Whom Should I Seek Counsel? Many people resent the suggestion that they seek counsel in their selection of a marriage partner. After all, isn't such a selection an intensely personal and private matter? However personal and private...

Continue Reading God's Will and Your Marriage (pt. 3)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from God's Will and Your Marriage Part 1) Do I Want to Get Married? Paul states in 1 Corinthians 7:8-9: "To the unmarried and widows I say that it is well for them to remain single as I do. But if they cannot exercise self-control, they...

Continue Reading God's Will and Your Marriage (pt. 2)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from God's Will and Your Job) God's will. Man's will. Our work. The other topic of perennial concern is our marital status. Should we marry or remain single? Perhaps in no other area of human activity do Christians expend more decision-making energy than in the area...

Continue Reading God's Will and Your Marriage (pt. 1)...

Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison The year 2009 marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin. A number of publishers are celebrating this 'Calvin Quincentennial' by releasing new books on the life, work, and teaching of Calvin. Among these are a new book...

Continue Reading The Glory of God...

Pastor's Perspective by Philip G. Ryken As far as John Calvin was concerned, almost nothing was more urgent for the church than the reformation of pastoral ministry. For centuries, most ministers had been shockingly ignorant of the Scriptures and thus ill-equipped to preach the gospel. As Calvin said in one...

Continue Reading The Pastor Scholar...

by R.C. Sproul We speak of God as the immortal, invisible, all-wise God. This string of attributes gives some comfort and no small amount of dismay. That God is immortal makes me glad. It means simply that He cannot and therefore will never die. I need not worry that He...

Continue Reading Longing for Fellowship...

Our purpose is to help Christians know what they believe, why they believe it, how to live it, and how to share it. That is why we often recommend books and teaching resources that point you to the giants of the faith and their works -- like Augustine, Luther, Calvin,...

Continue Reading A Trusted Guide to the Great Doctrines of Christian Faith...

Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul Thinkers in the ancient world sought to plumb the depths of ultimate reality. With that quest for ultimate reality came the birth of the discipline of philosophy. Some philosophers focused on one particular aspect of philosophy called metaphysics (ultimate being). Others focused their...

Continue Reading The Theologian...

by R.C. Sproul There are church buildings that are designed to give no hint of the building's true purpose as a house of worship. They're built to look more like town meeting halls. The chancel is no longer called the chancel, it's called the stage. The pulpit is not called...

Continue Reading Recreating the Tower of Babel...

Both Peter and Paul call us to submit to governing authorities. In light of that, is revolution ever possible for a Christian, and if so, under what circumstances? It certainly is clear that the New Testament puts an emphasis on the Christian's responsibility to be a model of civil obedience....

Continue Reading Christians and Government...

Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons John Calvin was a churchman for all ages. He was a reformer par excellence. He was a godly pastor who equipped his people for ministry. He was a humble revolutionary. He was a loyal husband, father, and friend. But...

Continue Reading Good Old Calvinism...

The July edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "John Calvin" and, on the five hundredth anniversary of his birth, it focuses on the ministry and the legacy of the great reformer. Contributors include R.C. Sproul, Thabiti Anyabwile, Rick Gamble, David Hall, Keith Mathison, Iain Murray, David Powlison,...

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, July 2009...

Over the course of several months, Keith Mathison put together a list of his top 5 commentaries for each book of the Bible. With his recommendations of commentaries for Malachi and Revelation, he has now completed both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Here is a round-up of the...

Continue Reading Top Commentaries on Every Book of the Bible...

Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith Might there be a time when readers of the Bible will not understand -- without a host of reference books -- what a sower is? For most of the world's history, the majority of people made their living from the land. Today the...

Continue Reading Farmers and the Rest of Us...

by R.C. Sproul Years ago, I spoke at a service at a large church in California. After I finished preaching, the associate pastor invited everyone who would like to have prayer to come forward to the long kneeling bench across the front of the sanctuary, and seventy-five or eighty people...

Continue Reading The Sense of Touch in Worship...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from God's Will and Your Job (pt. 3)) In addition to the inner call of God, we recognize that there is such a thing as an external call to labor, a call that comes from people who request our services for their particular mission or purpose....

Continue Reading God's Will and Your Job (pt. 4)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from God's Will and Your Job (pt. 2)) Let us extend the concept of service and obedience to the analogy of human warfare. A crisis besets a nation, and people are summoned in the cause of national defense. Leaving the security and comfort of their homes...

Continue Reading God's Will and Your Job (pt. 3)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from God's Will and Your Job (pt. 1)) Finding Your Vocation The question of vocation becomes a crisis at two major points in life. The first is in late adolescence when a person is pressured into deciding what skills and knowledge he should acquire for future...

Continue Reading God's Will and Your Job (pt. 2)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from The Meaning of Man's Will (Part 3)) When we are introduced to people, the following three questions are generally asked: What is your name? Where are you from? What do you do? The third question is the one that concerns us in this chapter. What...

Continue Reading God's Will and Your Job (pt. 1)...

Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison In 2004, Alister McGrath published a book entitled The Twilight of Atheism: The Rise and Fall of Disbelief in the Modern World. Although the book did not suggest that atheism was dead, its publication may have been a bit premature....

Continue Reading Atheism Remix...

Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. The kingdom of God is at war. The promise from the beginning was that the seed of the woman, our King, would come and crush the head of the seed of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). Jesus' first step out of the tomb at...

Continue Reading Plowing in Hope...

by R.C. Sproul Just as with the issue of instrumentation, there is controversy regarding the issue of singing in worship. The controversy erupts when we ask what types of songs are appropriate for use in the context of worship. Most of us would agree that what we want in worship...

Continue Reading The Nadir of Arrogance...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from The Meaning of Man's Will, Part 2) But what about man's will with respect to the sovereignty of God? Perhaps the oldest dilemma of the Christian faith is the apparent contradiction between the sovereignty of God and the freedom of man. If we define human...

Continue Reading The Meaning of Man's Will (pt. 3)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from The Meaning of Man's Will, Part 1) The Bible teaches, some will say, that we do not always do what we want to do. The apostle Paul laments in Romans 7 that the good he would do he does not do, and the thing he...

Continue Reading The Meaning of Man's Will (pt. 2)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from The Meaning of God's Will, Part 5) The term free will as applied to man is often glibly declared with little or no understanding of its meaning. There is actually no unified theory of man's free will, but a variety of competing, and often conflicting,...

Continue Reading The Meaning of Man's Will (pt. 1)...

Generation to Generation by Scotty Smith With three decades plus change in the pastoral ministry, the gospel seems to be getting bigger and Jesus is appearing more gracious than ever. Maybe that's because I've never been more aware of my brokenness and more disrupted by longings for the day when...

Continue Reading The Genuine Life...

Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by Justin Taylor Only one book is absolutely essential to save us, to equip us to obey God's will, and to glorify Him in whatever we do. Only one book gives us undiluted truth -- the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Only one...

Continue Reading A Teachable Spirit...

by R.C. Sproul Have you ever wondered why there's a universal phenomenon of religion? You can go anywhere on the globe and you'll find evidence of cultic practices of sacrifice. Why is that? I suggest that it is because the original program and prescription for the worship of the living...

Continue Reading The Universal Phenomenon of Religion...

Pastor's Perspective by Lane Keister All people are supposed to hear the good news of Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected from the dead. Not only are all people supposed to hear that salvation has been accomplished in history, they are to hear that any who repent of their sin and...

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by R.C. Sproul If we're children of Christ and we stand before the judgment seat of God on the last day and God says to us, "You're covered by the blood of my Son, and it's a good thing, because you did this, this, this, this, and this," we won't...

Continue Reading Trusting God's Judgment...

Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul Soli Deo gloria is the motto that grew out of the Protestant Reformation and was used on every composition by Johann Sebastian Bach. He affixed the initials SDG at the bottom of each manuscript to communicate the idea that it is God and...

Continue Reading Grace Alone...

Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons Church historian Mark Noll writes, "In many ways, the defining figure in the history of American evangelicalism is the eighteenth-century revivalist George Whitefield." Prior to America's declaration of independence from England, the Calvinist preacher from England turned the colonies...

Continue Reading A Sower Went Out To Sow......

by RC Sproul Jr. I was reminded this afternoon of a liturgy within a liturgy that I practice. My two youngest daughters, Erin Claire and Maili had their first dance recital. They are a part of a small ballet group made up of homeschooled little girls in our broader community....

Continue Reading The Gnostic Ghosts That Haunt Us...

The June edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "The Parable of the Sower" and it provides an exposition of this parable of Jesus, focusing on the gracious work of God in salvation. Contributors include R.C. Sproul, Daniel Doriani, Michael Glodo, Lane Keister, Robert Rothwell, Scotty Smith and...

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, June 2009...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from The Meaning of God's Will, Part 4) Knowing the Will of God for Our Lives Pursuing knowledge of the will of God is not an abstract science designed to titillate the intellect or to convey the kind of knowledge that "puffs up" but fails to...

Continue Reading The Meaning of God's Will (pt. 5)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from The Meaning of God's Will, Part 3) God's Will of Disposition This aspect of the will of God refers to what is pleasing and agreeable to God. It expresses something of the attitude of God to his creatures. Some things are "well pleasing in his...

Continue Reading The Meaning of God's Will (pt. 4)...

Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison Without a doubt, the greatest theologian in the first thousand years of the church was Augustine of Hippo (354-430). His voluminous theological, exegetical, and devotional writings have had a lasting impact and continue to be studied to this day. One...

Continue Reading Two Kingdoms, One God...

Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. It is a strange habit, though I am often caught in its grip. Why is it, I wonder, that we find ourselves so often longing for those days of the early church? Where did we begin to confuse the descriptive with the prescriptive,...

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Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith The seven churches of Asia addressed in the book of Revelation had their problems. One of them looked quite lively but it was actually dead. Another was so lukewarm that the Lord was ready to spit it out of His mouth. And yet...

Continue Reading Doing Without the Church?...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from The Meaning of God's Will, Part 2) Biblical Righteousness Habakkuk's famous statement "the just shall live by faith" (Habakkuk 2:4, kjv) is found three times in the New Testament. It has become a slogan of evangelical Protestantism, whose emphasis has been upon the doctrine of...

Continue Reading The Meaning of God's Will (pt. 3)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from The Meaning of God's Will, Part1) The Decretive Will of God Theologians describe that will by which God decrees things to come to pass according to his supreme sovereignty as the "decretive will of God." This is also sometimes called "God's sovereign efficacious will"; by...

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by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Can I Know God's Will?) The Biblical Meaning of the Will of God We yearn for simple answers to difficult questions. We want clarity. We desire to cut through the entanglements to the heart of the question. Sometimes the answers are simple enough in themselves,...

Continue Reading The Meaning of God's Will (pt. 1)...

by R.C. Sproul Alice in Wonderland 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 guidance. Her eyes did not find God, only the Cheshire cat leering at her from his perch in the...

Continue Reading Can I Know God's Will?...

by R.C. Sproul How can we as evangelicals recover the emphasis on prayer in worship that our Reformed forebears understood? Let me mention some ways. One is to kneel when we pray. Other postures have been used by the people of God at different times and in different places to...

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Generation to Generation by Roger Nicole We are called upon by the Lord to contend earnestly for the faith (Jude 3). But that does not necessarily involve being contentious; it involves avoiding compromise, standing forth for what we believe, standing forth for the truth of God -- without welching at...

Continue Reading Dealing with Differences...

Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by John MacArthur The truth that Christ is Lord of His church may sound somewhat benign to a casual listener in our generation, but the struggle for Christ's authority in the church has come to us through the ages on a sea of blood. Thankfully,...

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Pastor's Perspective by Mark Bates The pipes in our home sprung a series of leaks. Since most of my neighbors had replaced their plumbing, I knew it was time for me to do the same. However, hiring a plumber to do this would cost thousands of dollars. My friend, Monte,...

Continue Reading The Letter to the Church in Laodicea...

Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul When we consider the predicament that the evangelical church of the twenty-first century faces in America, the first thing we need to understand is the very designation "evangelical church" is itself a redundancy. If a church is not evangelical, it is not an...

Continue Reading The Perils Facing the Evangelical Church...

by John MacArthur (Continued from Divine Immutability and the Doctrines of Grace Part 4) Divine Election and the Role of the Son In 1 Corinthians 15:25-28, we find a remarkable conclusion to this whole discussion. There Paul says, "For he [Christ] must reign until he has put all his enemies...

Continue Reading Divine Immutability and the Doctrines of Grace (pt. 5)...

by John MacArthur (Continued from Divine Immutability and the Doctrines of Grace Part 3) Divine Election and the Love of the Father Second Timothy 1:9 introduces us to the answer. Speaking of God, the verse says that He "saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of...

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by John MacArthur (Continued from Divine Immutability and the Doctrines of Grace Part 2) Why Did God Determine to Elect the Redeemed? Though the doctrine of election applies to all that God does in a general sense, it most often refers, in a specific New Testament sense, to the election...

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Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons I love to hear stories about our faithful forefathers in ages past, and while it may be mere legend, I have heard that the great nineteenth-century British pastor Charles Spurgeon posted a sign on the door of his study....

Continue Reading Complacent Repentance...

by John MacArthur (Continued from Divine Immutability and the Doctrines of Grace Part 1) What Is the Doctrine of Election? The idea that God does what He wants, and that what He does is true and right because He does it, is foundational to our understanding of everything in Scripture,...

Continue Reading Divine Immutability and the Doctrines of Grace (pt. 2)...

The May edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "The 7 Letters of Revelation" to urge readers on toward holiness. Contributors include R.C. Sproul, Mark Bates, Chris Donato, Paul Gardner, Dennis Johnson, John MacArthur, Roger Nicole, Jason Stellman, Cornelis Venema and R. Fowler White. We do not post...

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, May 2009...

by John MacArthur The Bible repeatedly and unapologetically underscores the fact that God does not change. In fact, He cannot change because He cannot improve on absolute perfection or decline in His eternally fixed nature. His person does not change: "'For I the Lord do not change'" (Mal. 3:6). His...

Continue Reading Divine Immutability and the Doctrines of Grace (pt. 1)...

Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison One of the most common ways of looking at the relationship between science and faith is the conflict thesis, which posits an inherent conflict between science and religion. The conflict thesis was popularized in the nineteenth century by John William...

Continue Reading Has Science Buried God?...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from The Christian and Art pt. 2) The Fruitful Moment Rembrandt used a fascinating technique whenever he painted his portraits, much like Michelangelo did when he created his sculptures. He used a technique later described by German philosophers (particularly Herder) as the "fruitful moment." (The German...

Continue Reading The Christian and Art (pt. 3)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from The Christian and Art pt. 1) There Was Nothing "Tacky" About the Temple If we move from the realm of creation to the realm of biblical history, again we see dimensions of God's involvement in art. In the Old Testament, God ordained and commanded the...

Continue Reading The Christian and Art (pt. 2)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from The Christian and Science pt. 3) I lived in the city of Amsterdam during the 1960s. As I walked through the city, I recognized the names on many of the street corners. There was Beethoven Straat, Vanderhelstlaan, and Rembrandt Plein. The streets and places that...

Continue Reading The Christian and Art (pt. 1)...

by R.C. SproulWithin the Christian church there are three leading options for answering your question. Some Christians believe that the Sabbath was an Old Testament ordinance and has no application to the New Testament church. No less a giant than Saint Augustine took the position that the Sabbath was not...

Continue Reading How Are We to Keep the Sabbath in Today's Society?...

Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith These days it's easy to become cynical about politicians, government officials, and other national leaders. Governing a country takes hard-nosed, practical realism. Morality and religion are well and good, many of us say, but someone who follows such ideals in the political arena...

Continue Reading A 'Great' Leader...

Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. There is a tension among the people of God that reflects a delicate balance to which the Bible calls us. Paul, you will recall, argued that in his passion for the gospel, he wished to be all things to all people, that by...

Continue Reading Beauty and the Best...

Generation to Generation by Tim Challies Admiral Lord Nelson once remarked that "every sailor is a bachelor when beyond Gibraltar." This was a statement about anonymity, a rare concept even just a few short generations ago. Nelson knew that once his sailors moved beyond the bounds of the British Empire,...

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Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by Larry G. Mininger About forty people scattered on metal chairs greeted me on my first Sunday in my first (and only) pastorate in a quaint little sanctuary nestled in the woods between massive orange groves just west of Orlando, Florida. There were no pews,...

Continue Reading Measuring Success...

Don Kistler: Preachers are one of the love gifts of the ascended Christ to His body, the church. We should never let anyone denigrate the sacred calling of a pastor to stand in his pulpit and faithfully exegete the inspired Word of God to the people of God, thereby carrying...

Continue Reading Love Gifts of the Ascended Christ...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from The Christian and Science pt. 2) Christians Need Not Fear Scientific Inquiry There is a sense in which the Christian should be the most passionate scientist of all because he should be rigorously open to truth wherever it is found. He should not be afraid...

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by R.C. Sproul (Continued from The Christian and Science pt. 1) Is Aquinas to Blame? Many Protestant scholars venture earlier into church history and lay the blame for this division at the feet of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Among Protestant thinkers, there seems to be a kind of allergy to the...

Continue Reading The Christian and Science (pt. 2)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Hedonism: "Grabbing for All the Gusto!" pt. 3) What is the Christian's role in the scientific enterprise? How do we as Christians live in a culture that has been shaped and influenced by the impact of scientific accomplishments? Lest we slip into critical attitudes toward...

Continue Reading The Christian and Science (pt. 1)...

Pastor's Perspective by Kris Lundgaard "We, the Slovak People, bearing in mind the political and cultural heritage of our predecessors...mindful of the spiritual bequest of Cyril and Methodius...adopted this constitution." Slovakia, lying at the crossroads of East and West in secular Europe, after being dominated for over forty years by...

Continue Reading The Mission to Slovakia...

R.C. Sproul Here is the watershed of human history where the misery of the race is transformed into grandeur. Here the kerygma, the proclamation of the early church, was born with the cry "He is risen." We can view this event as a symbol, a lovely tale of hope. We...

Continue Reading He Is Risen!...

What is the significance of the shedding of blood in the atonement? R.C. Sproul:The idea that there's some intrinsic or inherent power in the blood of Jesus is a popular concept in the Christian world. It even crops up from time to time in various hymns and praise songs. This...

Continue Reading The Shedding of Blood...

Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul It was many years ago when my grandmother related to me games that she played as a little girl in the 1880s. One game she mentioned was one that she and her Methodist girlfriends played with their Roman Catholic friends. In a playful...

Continue Reading The Word of God in the Hands of Man...

Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons "Pray with your mouth, cry out with your heart, make petitions while you work, so that every day and night, every hour and moment, God may always assist you." These are the words of the ninth-century, Christian noblewoman, Dhouda....

Continue Reading Our Hope in Ages Past...

The April edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "The Church in the Ninth Century." Contributors include R.C. Sproul, Burk Parsons, Kris Lungaard, Larry G. Mininger and Tim Challies. We do not post all of the feature articles or the daily devotionals from the issue, so you'll have...

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, April 2009...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Hedonism: "Grabbing for All the Gusto!" pt. 2) "If It Feels Good, Is It Good?" Hedonism makes a value judgment by saying that the avoidance of pain and the pursuit of pleasure are good. At the same time, it produces a system of ethics which,...

Continue Reading Hedonism: "Grabbing for All the Gusto!" (pt. 3)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Hedonism: "Grabbing for All the Gusto!" pt. 1) Stoics: Seeking Peace of Mind In addition, the Epicureans searched for the same thing that the Stoics sought, but they approached it in a completely different manner. The goal of Epicurean philosophy was the achievement of peace...

Continue Reading Hedonism: "Grabbing for All the Gusto!" (pt. 2)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Pluralism and Relativism) Some Americans have never heard the word hedonism but few have not experienced the impact of the philosophy of hedonism on their lives. As a world view, hedonism has as its basic principle the belief that the good and the evil are...

Continue Reading Hedonism: "Grabbing for All the Gusto!" (pt. 1)...

Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. It is a rather tedious and tiresome thing to pull the legs out from under our national confession. Our creed is not just internally inconsistent, it is not just incomprehensible, it is both these things rather quickly. That is, you do not start...

Continue Reading Says Who?...

Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith Do you want to know how Christians can influence the culture? How to have a strong family? Do you want to know the meaning of your life? Do you want to know how authority works? Then attend to the Reformation doctrine of vocation....

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Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison In the early part of the twentieth century, one would have been hard pressed to find a greater theological mind than that of Benjamin B. Warfield (1851-1921). Sadly, both he and his work are virtually unknown today outside of certain...

Continue Reading The Final Word...

R. Albert Mohler: When the minister of the gospel faces the Lord God as judge, there will be many questions addressed to him. There will be many standards of accountability. There will be many criteria of judgment. But in the end, the most essential criterion of judgment for the minister...

Continue Reading Standards of Accountability...

The Ligonier Ministries National Conference is drawing to a close. We have come to the final day and began with a message from Dr. Robert Godfrey who preached on "The Holiness of God and the Cross." He began by saying that even as Christians we tend to have a trivial...

Continue Reading Ligonier National Conference - Robert Godfrey...

Late this afternoon we heard from Thabiti Anyabwile on "Cosmic Treason: Sin & the Holiness of God." He began by joking that his name is Swahili and roughly translated means "suffering for Jesus in the Cayman Islands." And then he got down to business. He read Numbers 25 and divided...

Continue Reading Ligonier National Conference - Thabiti Anyabwile...

After lunch today we enjoyed a Q&A session. R.C. Sproul moderated discussion between Sinclair Ferguson, Steven Lawson, R.C. Sproul Jr. and Alistair Begg. At first I wrote down both the questions and answers, at least as best as I was able. But as time went on, it became quite clear...

Continue Reading Ligonier National Conference - Q&A Session II...

This morning Alistair Begg preached on "The Breath of the Almighty: The Holy Spirit" and used as his text John 16:5-15. I jotted down some notes... The nature of this topic, he said, makes it virtually horizonless. Considerations of any doctrine, but particularly this one, that are not grounded within...

Continue Reading Ligonier National Conference - Alistair Begg...

The subject of God's holiness has been a theme at Ligonier Ministries since its infancy and it is good to revisit that theme this year, one year before Sproul's book The Holiness of God reaches its twenty-fifth anniversary. And who better to introduce the subject and kick of the conference...

Continue Reading Ligonier National Conference - R.C. Sproul...

After a rather tasty lunch we gathered again, this time to hear Sinclair Ferguson speak about "The Doctrines of Grace." He began by reading Ephesians 1 and said that no man has had a greater impact on his thinking than John Calvin. When we speak of the doctrines of grace,...

Continue Reading Ligonier National Conference - Sinclair Ferguson...

The 2009 Ligonier Ministries National Conference begins today. Though the conference proper does not kick off until after dinner, the Pre-Conference, "John Calvin--Celebrating a Legacy" began bright and early. This mini-conference features messages from Al Mohler, Steven Lawson, Sinclair Ferguson and Ligon Duncan. They will each speak one time and...

Continue Reading Ligonier National Conference - Al Mohler...

None of us possesses the power to convert another; yet we are called by God to share the Gospel. He is pleased to use us to bring others to faith. But what does that mean? What is true biblical evangelism? The book of John places strong emphasis on the theme...

Continue Reading What Can We Learn from Jesus About Evangelism?...

Generation to Generation by Knox Chamblin In December 2008, I turned seventy-three. Invited by Tabletalk to address younger generations "on matters pertinent to the faith," I thought of Psalm 71, the prayer of an elderly man. Says verse 18: "So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do...

Continue Reading Thanks Be to God ...

R.C. Sproul Jr.: If we would seek to preach to the mind, we also must encourage those in our hearing to receive the Word preached with their minds. The habits of their hearts will be shaped by the habits of their minds. If, strangely, they listen only to check the...

Continue Reading Our Propensity for Ego...

Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by David Mathis My dad hasn't been to seminary. He has no formal theological training. Nobody pays him and Mom for their endless hours serving the church. But they could write an article on sacrificial service to the church. They've lived it. Pop is a...

Continue Reading Served By God, Serving Man...

With The Prince's Poison Cup, Dr. R. C. Sproul continues his series of books designed to present deep biblical truths to children on their own level. In this work, he focuses on the atonement to show that Jesus had to endure the curse of sin in order to redeem His...

Continue Reading The Prince's Poison Cup - An Interview with Dr. Sproul...

Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul "You're out!" "I'm safe!" "Out!" "Safe!" "Out!" "It's my ball, and it's my bat, and I say that I'm safe." This is how we settled disputes over plays in our pickup baseball games played without the benefit of a referee or umpire. When...

Continue Reading The Divine Foundation of Authority...

Pastor's Perspective by Matt Schmucker "Matt, I don't understand how you and Steve can be a part of the same church given what you each believe and practice." This came from a young woman with whom my wife and I had been sharing the gospel. "I don't understand," I replied....

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Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons I am terribly vexed. I have just finished reading an article from the notoriously left-wing magazine Newsweek. In the cover story, "The Religious Case for Gay Marriage," author Lisa Miller argues the case for gay "marriage" using the Bible...

Continue Reading Unquestionable Authority ...

Albert Mohler: When we look at manuals, books, magazines, seminars, and conferences addressed to pastors, we notice that preaching, if included at all, is most often not the priority. When we hear people speak about how to grow a church and build a great congregation, few and far between are...

Continue Reading Slowly, Immeasurably, Invisibly...

In his latest book, Believing God: 12 Biblical Promises Christians Struggle to Accept, Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr. challenges Christians to take a second glance at the promises of God in the Bible in order to see anew the grandeur of what God has committed Himself to do for His people....

Continue Reading R.C. Sproul Jr. on Promises Christians Struggle to Accept...

In his book In Christ Alone, noted theologian, pastor, and educator Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson explores aspects of the person and work of Jesus. This collection of articles, published earlier in Tabletalk magazine and Eternity Magazine, is designed to help believers gain a better understanding of their Savior and the...

Continue Reading Interview with Sinclair Ferguson...

The March edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "Authority: Church, Family & Government" The issue explains the importance of thinking rightly about authority as Christians. Contributors include R.C. Sproul with Knox Chamblin, David Mathis, John R. Muether, Matt Schmucker, Denise Sproul and Cal Thomas. We do not...

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, March 2009...

by R.C. SproulIn his recent book, Christless Christianity, Dr. Michael Horton has analyzed the problems that assail the contemporary evangelical church community. Leaning heavily upon the research of sociologists of religion such as James Davidson Hunter, and others, Horton has been able accurately to pin the tail on the evangelical...

Continue Reading Book Review: Christless Christianity...

Sinclair Ferguson: There is a center to the Bible and its message of grace. It is found in Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected. Grace, therefore, must be preached in a way that is centered and focused on Jesus Christ Himself. We must never offer the benefits of the gospel without...

Continue Reading Failure of Epidemic Proportions...

Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison If I have heard it once, I've heard it a thousand times: "A Calvinist evangelist? Isn't that an oxymoron? Calvinism undermines evangelism." This accusation has been repeated so many times that few make the effort to argue it. Instead, it...

Continue Reading Does the Center Hold?...

Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are not enough for many denizens of the twenty-first century. In their search for a more palatable Jesus, novelists such as Dan Brown of The Da Vinci Code, feminist theologians such as Elaine Pagels, and their acolytes in...

Continue Reading The Gospel of Reality...

by R.C. Sproul I remember Mama standing in front of me, her hands poised on her hips, her eyes glaring with hot coals of fire and saying in stentorian tones, "Just what is the big idea, young man?" Instinctively I knew my mother was not asking me an abstract question...

Continue Reading What Does "coram Deo" Mean?...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Pluralism and Relativism: "It's All Relative" pt. 2) Relativism and the Issue of Abortion One of the most controversial issues of our day is that of abortion. It is tearing this country apart politically, economically, socially, and in every other way. Legislation is pending in...

Continue Reading Pluralism and Relativism: "It's All Relative" (pt. 3)...

by R.C. Sproul (Pluralism and Relativism: "It's All Relative" pt. 1) Our Lives Have Been Changed by the Threat of Nuclear War In the twentieth century, the buzz word that replaced evolution was relativity. We are all aware of the changes in our lives that have been brought about by...

Continue Reading Pluralism and Relativism: "It's All Relative" (pt. 2)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Pessimistic Existentialism pt. 4) As missionaries attempting to understand the way of thinking in our culture, we must turn our attention to twin topics under the umbrella heading of secularism--pluralism and relativism. Let us think once more of the high wall we examined earlier, the...

Continue Reading Pluralism and Relativism: "It's All Relative" (pt. 1)...

In Sammy and His Shepherd, Susan Hunt offers families a delightful story, built around the twenty-third Psalm, that will help children grow in their understanding of what it is to live among a community of redeemed people guided by a loving Lord. She recently participated in an interview with Tabletalk...

Continue Reading Sammy and His Shepherd - An Interview with Susan Hunt...

Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. I've got great news -- I just saved a bundle on my car insurance. This pop-cultural punchline might just expose a real problem we have in our Christian sub-culture: we don't know what the good news is. The confusion, from one perspective, is...

Continue Reading The Good News...

Generation to Generation by John R. de Witt When I began to consider what I should say in these pages, I found myself pulled in two directions. My first impulse was to lament the spiritual decay that people of my generation have observed at close range and to urge the...

Continue Reading Judgment and Mercy...

Eric Alexander: Left to our selves, there are many things of which we are capable: we can persuade people intellectually; we can arouse and inspire them emotionally; and we can win them to ourselves psychologically. But the one thing we cannot do is to regenerate them spiritually. That task is...

Continue Reading Persistent, Believing Prayer...

Tabletalk magazine is issued faithfully every month in the hope that, among other things, it will encourage readers to ponder the truths of God when they lie down, when they rise up, and, yes, even when they fly. Missionary pilot Glenn Grubb recently wrote to share how he relies on...

Continue Reading Tabletalk Ministering to Those who Minister...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Pessimistic Existentialism pt. 3) "Be of Good Cheer--The World Has Overcome Us!" Here we see the vivid contrast between pessimistic existentialism and Christianity. Christianity also features a ringing call to courage. The most frequent negative prohibition found in the New Testament comes from the lips...

Continue Reading Pessimistic Existentialism (pt. 4)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Pessimistic Existentialism (pt. 2)) Theater of the Absurd European films, such as those of Ingmar Bergman, Antonini, and Fellini have communicated some of the motifs of existentialism. The "theater of the absurd," a phenomenon that began in France in the 1950s and came to Broadway...

Continue Reading Pessimistic Existentialism (pt. 3)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Pessimistic Existentialism pt. 1) Is There Anyone Who Can Help? Our dilemma is this: We are caring persons living in a world that doesn't care. We cannot look above the universe or outside the universe to find someone who cares. There is nobody out there;...

Continue Reading Pessimistic Existentialism (pt. 2)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Secularism: Ignoring the Eternal) "Man is a useless passion." These words penned by the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre provide the model of modem existentialism. In this simple statement are found the most basic elements of a modern theory of man. It is a bottom-line judgment,...

Continue Reading Pessimistic Existentialism (pt. 1)...

Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by Kevin Smith Gary Thomas, in his book Seeking the Face of God, makes this statement: "Christian health is not defined by how happy we are, how prosperous or healthy we are, or even by how many people we have led to the Lord in...

Continue Reading Total Surrender...

Pastor's Perspective by Daniel R. Hyde Quick. What are the Gospels? Time is up. Did you answer: "The Gospels are the biographies of Jesus Christ?" When we read the Gospels as biographies only, we basically look at them like trees apart from the proverbial forest. There is a better way...

Continue Reading The Gospel of the Gospels...

Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul In the history of biblical studies, we have seen in the last two centuries the rise of so-called "higher criticism." So much of higher criticism is fueled by skepticism with respect to the reliability of the biblical texts. Since orthodox Christians stand opposed...

Continue Reading The Witness of Matthew...

Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons I am a Christian, and I am a Protestant. I am a Christian because I trust Jesus Christ alone, believing that salvation is accomplished by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. I am a devout Protestant...

Continue Reading The Unchanging Gospel...

The February edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "The Gospels." The issue looks at the main point and the main purpose of each of the four gospels. Contributors include R.C. Sproul, Steve Baugh, Robert Cara, John de Witt, Daniel Hyde, Robert Rothwell and Kevin Smith. We do...

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, February 2009...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Secularism: Ignoring the Eternal pt. 3) We Are Called to Be Secular People Such a standpoint cannot be found in the New Testament. The Christ of Scripture was profoundly concerned with this world. This world was the site and purpose of the Incarnation. The God...

Continue Reading Secularism: Ignoring the Eternal (pt. 4)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Secularism: Ignoring the Eternal pt. 2) Secularism Versus Christianity This is precisely where Christianity and secularism collide. This is the point of conflict. The biblical world view has a long-term view of human life. The term is much longer than that of secularism. For secularism,...

Continue Reading Secularism: Ignoring the Eternal (pt. 3)...

by R.C. Sproul (Continued from Secularism: Ignoring the Eternal pt. 1) A Secular Priesthood Historically, the word secular is a positive word in the Christian's vocabulary. The church has always had a good view of that which was regarded as secular. In the Middle Ages, for example, men were ordained...

Continue Reading Secularism: Ignoring the Eternal (pt. 2)...

by R.C. Sproul Students of history realize that no society can survive, no civilization can function, without some unifying system of thought. All societies are made up of different people, different jobs, different values, and different classes. In a broad sense, all societies are melting pots. How do the parts...

Continue Reading Secularism: Ignoring the Eternal (pt. 1)...

John MacArthur:Preachers are men--that's all. And men are not perfect, so there is no hope of perfection in the ministry. If God could not use poor instruments and feeble voices, He couldn't make music. Abraham was guilty of duplicity, yet he became the man of faith and the friend of...

Continue Reading Are You Seeing a Pattern?...

by R.C. Sproul(Continued from The Importance of Cultural Awareness pt. 2)If it is difficult for us to understand our own culture, imagine the horrors an alien would experience in trying to sort it out. Imagine a real life extraterrestial visiting our nation and trying to understand our behavior at the...

Continue Reading The Importance of Cultural Awareness (pt. 3)...

By R.C. Sproul(Continued from The Importance of Cultural Awareness pt. 1)We Are All MissionariesIn all of life's situations we are to be His witnesses. Our job is to make the invisible reign of Jesus visible. The world is shrouded in darkness. Nothing is visible in the dark. No wonder then...

Continue Reading The Importance of Cultural Awareness (pt. 2)...

James Montgomery Boice: [New] life begins to grow within, and just as in the case of pregnancy there is a period when a woman is not even aware that she is pregnant, so there can be the same thing spiritually. The life is there, but the person does not yet...

Continue Reading The Hardest Day of the Week...

By R.C. SproulEvery Christian is a missionary. If we carefully read the book of Acts, we will see that when persecution arose in Jerusalem, all the Christians were scattered except the apostles. Those who were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Gospel (Acts 8). That was the way the Christian...

Continue Reading The Importance of Cultural Awareness (pt. 1)...

In 1986, long before culture was a Christian buzzword (as it is today), Revell published R.C. Sproul's book Lifeviews: Make a Christian Impact on Culture and Society. In the book Dr. Sproul catalogs the major philosophies that compete with Christianity in our culture. He traces the origins of lifeviews such...

Continue Reading "Lifeviews" by R.C. Sproul...

Generation to Generation by C. FitzSimons Allison I wish I had been told when I was young about the lie all of us naturally believe. This lie is explained to us by Jesus when he said to the Jews who had believed on Him: "If you continue in my word,...

Continue Reading The Lie We Believe...

Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. To suggest that wisdom is always balanced seems to me to be a bit, well, unbalanced. Whoever first uttered the words of wisdom, "moderation in all things," should, I believe, have healed himself. All things? Isn't that a bit extreme? In like manner,...

Continue Reading The Best-Laid Plans...

We recently posted a series of images from The Prince's Poison Cup, the illustrated children's book by R.C. Sproul and Justin Gerard. Today we bring you the second and final group. Each is available in various sizes and is suitable for use as a desktop background for your computer. Enjoy!...

Continue Reading The Prince's Poison Cup Desktops (II)...

Joel Beeke: After reading Scripture, we must ask God for light to scrutinize our hearts and lives, then meditate upon the Word. Disciplined meditation on Scripture helps us focus on God. Meditation helps us view worship as a discipline. It involves our mind and understanding as well as our heart...

Continue Reading The Value of Meditating Upon God's Word...

Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison In the first centuries following the death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah and the inauguration of the new covenant under which the people of God became a trans-national people crossing all borders, the church had few choices in the...

Continue Reading Christ and Culture...

Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by Simon J. Kistemaker As we saw in last month's installment of "Pro Ecclesia," privileges and duties go together. In making disciples, Jesus commanded they be baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and to teach...

Continue Reading The Prevailing Church (pt. 2)...

Pastor's Perspective by Sinclair B. Ferguson When Sereno E. Dwight included the seventy resolutions in his biography of his great-grandfather Jonathan Edwards, he added the arresting comment: "These were all written before he was twenty years of age." Doubtless the resolutions display the marks of relative youth -- references to...

Continue Reading Speed with God...

The Prince's Poison Cup is a new, beautifully illustrated collaboration between R.C. Sproul and Justin Gerard. Through the exciting story of a brave prince, Dr. Sproul focuses on the atonement, showing that Jesus had to endure the curse of sin in order to rescue his people from spiritual death. And...

Continue Reading The Prince's Poison Cup Desktops...

Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul Some years ago, I drove along the Pennsylvania Turnpike about two o'clock in the morning with a friend after having spent all day at a steel corporation in eastern Pennsylvania dealing with labor management issues. My companion was a man who had lost...

Continue Reading Principle vs. Pragmatism...

James Montgomery Boice:Many things are talked about as necessary for the health and growth of the church today. People talk about certain programs as essential. It is true that they are important. We have such a diversified culture that people have their own individual problems. The family is fragmented, and...

Continue Reading The Faithful Preaching of the Word...

As we move from the old year into the new one, we took a look back at some of the year's most popular blog posts. If you are new to the Ligonier blog, this is a good opportunity to catch up with some of what you may have missed. If...

Continue Reading Top Ten Posts of 2008...

Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons It's hard to believe that it was nearly a decade ago that we witnessed the turn of the third millennium. If you recall, on New Year's Day several network TV stations featured live coverage from around the world. It...

Continue Reading The World Upside Down...

The January edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "Resolved to Press on Toward the Goal." The issue looks at the importance of resolving in this new year to honor God in all we do and say. Contributors include R.C. Sproul, Burk Parsons, C. FitzSimons Allison, Sinclair Ferguson,...

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, January 2009...

Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith A modern reader perusing Jonathan Edwards' "Resolutions" is likely to think, what about dieting? And, didn't eighteenth-century New England have any gyms that he could resolve to join? Today, losing weight and getting more exercise are about the extent of our resolutions. We...

Continue Reading The Resolution Solution...

Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. It is a sure sign of the fall that we so egregiously miss what we lost. Jesus calls us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness precisely because our priorities are all out of line. Even that for which we...

Continue Reading Some Dance to Forget...

Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by Simon J. Kistemaker The word church is fundamentally a Christian word and belongs exclusively to Christianity. Although other religions have terms such as synagogue and mosque, only Christians legitimately call their house of worship "church." There are churches that are named after places and...

Continue Reading The Prevailing Church (pt. 1)...

by R.C. Sproul That question comes up every year at Christmastime. In the first place, there's no direct biblical commandment to celebrate the birth of Jesus on December 25. There's nothing in the Bible that would even indicate that Jesus was born on December 25. In fact, there's much in...

Continue Reading Is the Celebration of Christmas a Pagan Ritual?...

Pastor's Perspective by Robert W. Field Hawaii has often been advertised as one of those classic dreams of paradise. When streets on the mainland clog with snow and temperatures plummet far below zero, thoughts are enticed by Hawaii's warm tropical waves lapping upon beaches saturated with sun. Clouds drift by...

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R. Albert Mohler:There is something deeply mysterious about Christian preaching, both in terms of its communication and in terms of its content. After all, what we preach is not what the world expects to hear. It is not a message they will hear anywhere else. No human wisdom, no school...

Continue Reading The Mystery of Preaching...

Generation to Generation by Iain D. Campbell I would be devastated if my Christian teenage daughter became pregnant outside of marriage. It wouldn't be the unforgivable sin, I know, but in a world of enticements we are never out of danger. Today's young Christians are more vulnerable to Satan's attacks...

Continue Reading Expectant Christians...

Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison What do commercialism, the problem of evil, Chick tracts, American Idol, and Francis Beckwith's recent conversion to Roman Catholicism have in common? Anyone? If you couldn't come up with an answer, not to worry. One would be hard-pressed to find...

Continue Reading Pop Goes the Evangelical...

Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul It has been called the Achilles' heel of the Christian faith. Of course, I'm referring to the classical problem of the existence of evil. Philosophers such as John Stuart Mill have argued that the existence of evil demonstrates that God is either not...

Continue Reading The Mystery of Iniquity...

Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons The movie Paradise Now is the 2005 Golden Globe winner for best foreign-language film. Although I have not yet seen the film, I have been intrigued by the film's title since it's release. The story follows two Palestinian childhood...

Continue Reading Paradise Now and Then...

The December edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "Paradise Lost and Regained." The issue explores basic elements of Christianity, including the loss of paradise by our first parents and how it was regained by Jesus Christ.Contributors include R.C. Sproul, Iain Campbell, Chris Donato, Robert Field, Simon Kistemaker,...

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, December 2008...

Joel Beeke:The way to godly living is surprisingly simple: we are to walk with God in His appointed way (Micah 6:8), diligently using the means of grace and the spiritual disciplines, and waiting upon the Holy Spirit for blessing. Note that godly living involves both discipline and grace. This emphasis...

Continue Reading The Way to Godly Living...

by R.C. Sproul "Bah! Humbug!" These two words are instantly associated with Charles Dickens' immortal fictional anti-hero, Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge was the prototype of the Grinch who stole Christmas, the paradigm of all men cynical. We all recognize that Ebenezer Scrooge was a mean person - stingy, insensitive, selfish, and...

Continue Reading Marley's Message to Scrooge...

R. Albert Mohler Jr.:Sometimes it happens that preaching the Word is met with antipathy and resistance. Why? Because "the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword" (Heb. 4:12a). And as the Lord spoke to His prophet Isaiah, "[My Word] will not return to Me...

Continue Reading The Priorities of Preaching...

by R.C. SproulThe simple answer to your question is that the X in Christmas is used like the R in R.C. My given name at birth was Robert Charles, although before I was even taken home from the hospital my parents called me by my initials, R.C., and nobody seems...

Continue Reading Why is X Used when it Replaces Christ in Christmas?...

by Sinclair B. Ferguson I took the hand of my toddler son (it was several decades ago now) as we made our way into the local shop on the small and remote Scottish island where earlier that year I had been installed as minister. It was Christmas week. The store...

Continue Reading Santa Christ?...

Derek Thomas: Expository preaching is a necessary corollary of the doctrine of the God-breathed nature of Scripture. The idea is not so much that God breathed into the Scriptures, but that the Scriptures are the product of His breathing out. Independent of what we may feel about the Bible as...

Continue Reading The Breath of God...

James Montgomery Boice:Three hundred years is a long time. What kept Enoch walking with God for three hundred years? He had an awareness of judgment coming. He had a sensitivity to the ungodliness of the age. And he drew closer to God as the reality of these things pressed in...

Continue Reading Enoch Kept Walking...

by John H. Gerstner De Jong in his Covenant Idea made a mountain out of Miller's relative mole hill. He found Edwards to be the chief underminer of New England covenant theology. The broad structure of his book and Jonathan Edwards' place in it can be seen in the table...

Continue Reading Jonathan Edwards On "Covenant" (pt. 2)...

by John H. Gerstner When the term "covenant" is used, the general educated reader needs to be told its religious meaning. The general reader, somewhat literate on matters religious and Christian, will likely think of the "covenant of grace", which he will likely associate generally with Protestantism, and he may...

Continue Reading Jonathan Edwards On "Covenant" (pt. 1)...

Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. Thomas Aquinas was a great gift to the church. He stands among the greatest minds the world has ever known. This doesn't mean, of course, that he did not have his flaws, one of which goes to the heart of his intellectual labors....

Continue Reading Conquering the World...

Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by Joni Eareckson Tada Bureaucracies aren't programmed to be compassionate. It's not in the nature of the thing. Take my friend, David Bowie, in his big, bulky wheelchair. After he became a quadriplegic in a car accident and his wife left him, he moved into...

Continue Reading Spontaneous Compassion...

Generation to Generation by Douglas F. Kelly As a father of five children, and now a grandfather, I have spent three and a half decades seeking to pass down the Christian faith to the next generation. Let me deal with only one area of this vast work -- one, I...

Continue Reading Bedtime Stories...

Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul Perhaps the most remarkable statement I ever heard a man utter from the pulpit was: "He has a penurious epistemology, which tends to be myopic." I was seated in the balcony of the church when that statement was made, and I could not...

Continue Reading Ecclesiastical Myopia...

Pastor's Perspective by John Piper A shared vision for world missions is crucial in the life of the church. Why should world missions be fundamental in the ministry of the church? What do we mean by it? How do we go about it? What is your place in it? Consider...

Continue Reading Holding the Rope...

Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith Missionaries from Europe and America took Christianity to the ends of the earth and evangelized Africa and Asia. Now, as Christianity declines in the West, churches from the old mission field are the ones defending historic Christianity and are evangelizing Europe and America....

Continue Reading The Old Mission Field...

Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison Robert Bruce (1551-1631) is not a household name, even among knowledgeable Reformed Christians. He was at one time, however, one of the most important leaders in the Church of Scotland. He was the successor of John Knox and James Lawson...

Continue Reading A Visible Word...

Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons It's hard to believe that it was nearly a decade ago that we witnessed the turn of the third millennium. If you recall, on New Year's Day several network TV stations featured live coverage from around the world. It...

Continue Reading The World Upside Down...

The November edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "The Church of Jesus Christ and its Impact Around the World." The issue looks at the global church, rejoicing in the worldwide witness of the Christian faith. Editor Burk Parsons says this: "when we gather together for worship on...

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, November 2008...

by R.C. Sproul The Power of the Intercessor Prayer is the priestly function of carrying a petition to God. In Old Testament times two major classes of mediators functioned between God and his people: prophets and priests. Stated simply, the prophet was ordained by God to speak his divine Word...

Continue Reading The Power of Prayer (pt. 3)...

by R.C. Sproul The simple summaries Jesus gives are designed to encourage us to pray. We have not, he said, because we ask not. The pattern seems simple. We are to ask and we will receive. Elsewhere the New Testament expands the conditions, giving us a fuller view of what...

Continue Reading The Power of Prayer (pt. 2)...

by R.C. Sproul We are moved by the litany of faith that the author of Hebrews records in chapter 11 of that book. There we have the "Roll Call of Faith," which catalogues the heroic acts of biblical men and women of faith. Their acts are partially summarized in verses...

Continue Reading The Power of Prayer (pt. 1)...

by R.C. Sproul One of the marks of a true Christian is that he never quits fighting. He doesn't always win, though he will win the ultimate battle because of Christ. If a person ever does give up the fight, then he has truly embraced the evil, legitimizing it. In...

Continue Reading The Prohibitions of Prayer (pt. 2)...

by R.C. Sproul Very few prohibitions regarding prayer are found in the Scriptures. In Psalm 66:18, the Psalmist David penned these divinely inspired words: "If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened." The Hebrew verse could also be translated, "If I had iniquity in...

Continue Reading The Prohibitions of Prayer (pt. 1)...

The following interview between John Duncan, Executive Producer of Renewing Your Mind and Dr. R.C. Sproul, appears in a recent edition of Pulpit Helps magazine. John asks R.C. about the call to ministry, about his priorities as a pastor and about the challenges that come with a life of ministry....

Continue Reading R.C. Sproul on the call to the ministry, priorities of ministry and challenges of ministry...

by R.C. Sproul Thanksgiving Thanksgiving must be an integral part of prayer. It should be inseparably related to our petitions of supplication; otherwise thanksgiving is illegitimate. The Scriptures tell us to come to God and make all of our requests known with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is an acknowledgment of God and...

Continue Reading The Practice of Prayer (pt. 4)...

by R.C. Sproul Confession After expressing adoration, we must come with hearts of confession. Remember that we have no right to come before God at all, apart from the finished work of Christ. We can make no claim, in and of ourselves, to the ear of God. We have no...

Continue Reading The Practice of Prayer (pt. 3)...

by R.C. Sproul Adoration As in the pattern of the Lord's Prayer, the most appropriate way to begin prayer is with adoration. Sadly, we are most often moved to prayer by our desires for supplication. We go to God when we want something from him. We are in such a...

Continue Reading The Practice of Prayer (pt. 2)...

by R.C. Sproul The Lord's Prayer was given to the church in response to the disciples' request that Jesus teach them to pray. In the masterful example of the Lord's Prayer we have seen the priorities of prayer. We can also detect a pattern of prayer, a fluid movement that...

Continue Reading The Practice of Prayer (pt. 1)...

Generation to Generation by David Osborne The fourth Saturday of this month is legendary for college football fans. It is the annual clash between Alabama and Tennessee (two of the Deep South's most storied football programs). Alabama fans recognize Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant's iconic status. The "General," as Robert Neyland...

Continue Reading Pastoral Wisdom...

Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. The question of canon, like the question of law, is one of authority. We who are Reformed spend a great deal of time and energy speaking about God's sovereign power. God's power is more than worthy of our attention and study. We ought...

Continue Reading Canon Law...

Pastor's Perspective by Robert W. Oliver The apostles who associated with the Lord during His earthly ministry were still dependent upon the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth. That truth has been transmitted to us in the pages of Scripture. Thus, Peter wrote: "And we have something more...

Continue Reading An Inestimable Treasure...

Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison There are a very small number of books other than the Bible that have affected the course of history. One thinks immediately of books such as Nicholas Copernicus' Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies, Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica, Charles Darwin's Origin...

Continue Reading Savoring the Institutes...

Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith When Christians talk about the "canon," they are referring to the books that comprise the Bible. But non-theological scholars too are debating the "canon." Not the canon of the Bible, but the canon of the "great books" that comprise our civilization. The question...

Continue Reading The Secular Canon...

Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul In centuries past, the church was faced with the important task of recognizing which books belong in the Bible. The Bible itself is not a single book but a collection of many individual books. What the church sought to establish was what we...

Continue Reading Tota Scriptura...

Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by Randall Van Meggelen I recently shared with my pastors that I attended a course in which the instructor encouraged the class of music directors to view ourselves not merely as musicians, but rather as "church" musicians. One of my pastors responded by suggesting that...

Continue Reading The Service of Worship...

Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons About ten years ago I had the opportunity to study under the late Dr. Harold O. J. Brown (1933-2007) at the Evangelical Preacher's Seminary in Wittenberg, Germany. Dr. Brown was known by his students for his oral examinations, wherein...

Continue Reading Higher Criticism...

by R.C. Sproul Do Not Lead Us into Temptation, But Deliver Us from Evil At first glance this section of the Lord's Prayer seems to be two separate petitions, but that is not the case. It follows the literary form of parallelism used in the Old Testament--two different ways of...

Continue Reading The Pattern of Prayer (pt. 5)...

The October edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "The Canonicity of Scripture" and examines how the church came to possess God's Word, the Holy Bible. Contributors include R.C. Sproul, Charles E. Hill, Stephen J. Nichols, Robert W. Oliver, David Osborne, Randall Van Meggelen, and Robert I. Vasholz....

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, October 2008...

by R.C. Sproul Forgive Us Our Debts As We Also Have Forgiven Our Debtors This is an extremely dangerous prayer to pray, but it contains a principle that the New Testament takes very seriously. The supreme warning from Jesus is that God will judge us according to how we have...

Continue Reading The Pattern of Prayer (pt. 4)...

by R.C. Sproul Thy Kingdom Come One central motif in the Scriptures is the kingdom of God. It was the main thrust of Jesus' teaching and preaching. Jesus came as the fulfillment of John the Baptist's message, which was clear, precise, and simple: "Repent, for the kingdom of God is...

Continue Reading The Pattern of Prayer (pt. 3)...

Last weekend saw Ligonier Ministries travel to Scottsdale, Arizona for the 2008 West Coast Conference. R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur and Ligon Duncan spoke to a sold-out audience at Scottsdale Bible Church on "Tough Questions Christians Face." A few photos by Lukas VanDyke are posted here: Friday and Saturday. Alex...

Continue Reading West Coast Conference Summary...

by R.C. Sproul Who Art in Heaven Another debate raging at the time Jesus delivered these words was over the precise location of God's presence. In the discussion between Jesus and the woman at the well, Jesus was quick to point out that God is spirit, and as such could...

Continue Reading The Pattern of Prayer (pt. 2)...

by R.C. Sproul Jesus performed many miracles. During the course of his ministry, he walked on water, turned water into wine, healed the sick, raised the dead. As John said, "There are also many other things that Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that...

Continue Reading The Pattern of Prayer (pt. 1)...

by R.C. Sproul But what about intercession and supplication? It's nice to talk about the religious, spiritual, and psychological benefits (and whatever else might derive from prayer), but what about the real question, Does prayer make any difference? Does it really change anything? Someone once asked me that question, only...

Continue Reading The Purpose of Prayer (pt. 2)...

by R.C. Sproul Nothing escapes God's notice; nothing oversteps the boundaries of his power. God is authoritative in all things. If I thought even for one moment that a single molecule were running loose in the universe outside the control and domain of Almighty God, I wouldn't sleep tonight. My...

Continue Reading The Purpose of Prayer (pt. 1)...

by R.C. Sproul What is the goal of the Christian life? Godliness born of obedience to Christ. Obedience unlocks the riches of the Christian experience. Prayer is what prompts and nurtures obedience, putting the heart into the proper "frame of mind" to desire obedience. Of course, knowledge is also important...

Continue Reading The Place of Prayer...

In 1999 Ligonier Ministries published Does Prayer Change Things?, a short book by R.C. Sproul that incorporated a previous work, Effective Prayer. Though small in size, this book is densely packed with biblical wisdom on both the theology and the practice of prayer. Dr. Sproul writes, "To be without prayer...

Continue Reading Does Prayer Change Things?...

At Ligonier Ministries we praise the Lord for the life and ministry of John H. Gerstner (1914-1996). He was Dr. Sproul's primary mentor and served for many years at Ligonier as a resident theology advisor. He excelled in theology, church history, and apologetics, as well as being a renowned Jonathan...

Continue Reading Theology for Everyman...

by John H. Gerstner Dante's Inferno tells of Virgil leading Dante to the entrance of Inferno. There is a sign that says, "Abandon all hope, all ye who enter here." There is a sign over the entrance to the Kingdom of God also, and it reads: "Abandon all pride, all...

Continue Reading The Way: Straight and Narrow (pt. 2)...

by John H. Gerstner The lessons are now over. Now comes the homework. This is the "lab" part of our course. Here is where you learn by doing, having learned by reading. Jesus tells us that in spite of the glorious way of divine salvation, not many will find it....

Continue Reading The Way: Straight and Narrow (pt. 1)...

by John H. Gerstner There is more Scripture to the same effect, but I think this is sufficient to indicate the thought of the Bible. Let me say a final word on this subject as to why I believe people think that there is a possibility of moving or progressing...

Continue Reading The Future: Heaven or Hell? (pt. 3)...

by John H. Gerstner It has been characteristic of the sects to deny future punishment. Unitarianism emerged in this country basically as a protest against vindictive justice. It is true that this was not always in the foreground of the controversy, but it is probable that it was always in...

Continue Reading The Future: Heaven or Hell? (pt. 2)...

by John H. Gerstner Edwyn Bevan, in his book Christianity, says that some modern Roman Catholics, speaking off the record concerning their official doctrine of the endless punishment of the wicked, "teach that the punishment involves real pain, but that it is not forever; others that the punishment is really...

Continue Reading The Future: Heaven or Hell? (pt. 1)...

Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison Have you ever found yourself so caught up and concerned with the rampant sinfulness of our culture that you forget about the subtle sins in your own heart? If so, Jerry Bridges has written a book for you. Respectable Sins:...

Continue Reading Respectable Sins...

Generation to Generation by Greg Miseyko Mr. Reagan is "a firm and unbending politician for whom words and deeds are one and the same." This assessment found in East German secret police files provides future generations with a lasting example of integrity. These files must have reached the attention of...

Continue Reading Integrity in Vocation...

Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by Phil Newton Over the past decade I've engaged a wide-range of Christians on the subject of elders. Some, in desperation, want to change dysfunctional church leadership structures. Others have grown tired of side-stepping the biblical teaching on elders. Some long to adopt elder leadership...

Continue Reading Elders for the Church...

Pastor's Perspective by John R. Hutchinson I had just moved to the Washington D.C. area when the call came from a Christian organization on Capitol Hill, asking if I would be the evangelical along with a Jewish rabbi, Roman Catholic priest, and members of Congress in a press conference intended...

Continue Reading A Different Kind of Power...

Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith America is mad for liberty. Ours is a free country. We enjoy freedom of speech and of religion, the freedom of the press, and the freedom to bear arms. And rightly so. But though Americans love freedom, many of them have forgotten what...

Continue Reading Sweet Land of Liberty...

Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul "A decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered...." In Luke 2, the well-known passage introducing the nativity story, the title accorded to the Roman emperor is Caesar Augustus. Had this census been mandated earlier under the monarchy...

Continue Reading Statism...

Coram Deo by Burk Parsons As I have traveled abroad, I have had to endure all sorts of snide remarks about the United States. I have seen graffiti depicting the American flag with bombs in place of stripes and skulls in place of stars. I have seen disfigured pictures of...

Continue Reading One Nation, Under God...

The September edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." Articles by R.C. Sproul, Michael Horton, T. David Gordon, and other authors focus on helping Christians to understand important, biblical doctrines and events while encouraging us toward holy living. Tabletalk Editor Burk...

Continue Reading Columns from Tabletalk Magazine, September 2008...

by John H. Gerstner What, then, is the church of Christ? Although the previous definition is unsatisfactory, the addition of two words will make it quite satisfactory. Thus, the church consists of all who sincerely profess faith in Christ, who are normally subordinate to His officers, and who associate with...

Continue Reading The Church: The Body of Christ (pt. 3)...

by John H. Gerstner This notion that members of some particular denomination are necessarily members of Christ's church or body I cannot grant. I will not deny that a person who sincerely and truly makes a sound profession of faith in Christ is a member of His true church, but...

Continue Reading The Church: The Body of Christ (pt. 2)...

by John H. Gerstner There are fundamentally two views of the church. There are variations of these and mixtures of them, but fundamentally only two views. This division runs through the various denominations or "churches," as we shall see. The first conception of the church is stated as follows: It...

Continue Reading The Church: The Body of Christ (pt. 1)...

by John H. Gerstner The third fruit of justification that the apostle mentions in our text is rejoicing in the hope of the glory of God. The preceding joy of fellowship with God was augmented by its promise. In a certain sense, that present joyful fellowship was partly from anticipation...

Continue Reading Assurance: How We Know That We Know Christ (pt. 3)...

by John H. Gerstner The second proof of one's salvation that the apostle mentions is a gracious state: "We have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand." The grace here mentioned signifies a condition of fellowship with God. It introduces us to a second level of Christian experience....

Continue Reading Assurance: How We Know That We Know Christ (pt. 2)...

by John H. Gerstner Up to this point our interest has been in coming to Christ. We have considered our lost condition by nature, our need of a Savior, Christ's remarkable qualifications for that role, and the way by which we are persuaded of it. But now we address ourselves...

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Castle Church is a group of Reformed Christians producing content with a view to benefiting believers around the world. Their panelists recently conversed with the Rev. Richard Phillips, senior minister at Second Presbyterian Church in Greenville, SC, and author of Jesus the Evangelist and What's So Great About the Doctrines...

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Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison One of the first Reformed authors I ever read was Sinclair Ferguson. I was a dispensationalist in transition at the time, and I ran across a little book titled The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction by Dr. Ferguson. I started...

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Pastor's Perspective by Philip G. Ryken Make no mistake: there is an aggressive new atheism in America. The new unbelievers are eager to win people to their cause. Not content simply to disbelieve in God for themselves, they want to persuade other people not to believe in Him either. Some...

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Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by Carl R. Trueman Many evangelical Christians are instinctively suspicious of the whole idea of creeds and confessions, those set forms of words that certain churches have used throughout the ages to give concise expression to the Christian faith. For such people, the very idea...

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Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith The old atheists maintained that belief in God is not true. The new atheists maintain that belief in God is not good. The atheists' problem, though, is that however much they attack belief in God, their own worldview lacks all appeal. They get...

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Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul In this postmodern culture we have witnessed a fascinating revival of ancient Gnosticism. The Gnostics of antiquity were called by that name because they asserted that they had a superior type of knowledge that surpassed the insights found even in the apostles...

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Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of Godby Burk Parsons Since hearing about the supposedly "new" atheism I have been trying to figure out what's so new about it. Its proponents are not saying anything different than their atheist ancestors have said throughout history. In truth, they are simply using...

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by John H. Gerstner But to come back to our point: We must put on holiness. It is not enough to know how it is done, it must be done. It is not enough to know that it must be done, we must do it. Though I have all knowledge...

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The August edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is The "New" Atheism. Articles by R.C. Sproul, Ravi Zacharias, John Blanchard, and other authors look at this new brand of atheism which represents just the latest attack on the Christian faith. Christians would do well to be prepared to...

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by John H. Gerstner In What Sense the Christian Is Imperfect Now The saint's imperfection is no less apparent than his perfection. It jumps right out from the Scripture. In Colossians 3:12 we are told that Christians are elect and holy; immediately after that we are exhorted to put on...

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by John H. Gerstner Christian perfection is an ideal for which we all must strive. Although there is a double standard of morality in Roman Catholic theology, Protestant Christianity knows no such distinction. The priesthood of all believers is a well-known Reformation principle. The perfection of all believers (as a...

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by R.C. Sproul Applications After discussing these five positive signs, Edwards turns his attention to the application section of his treatise, following the normal structure of his sermons. In Section III he notes the practical inferences he draws from his study. The first inference is that the recent extraordinary influences...

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by R.C. Sproul Positive Marks Next Edwards turns to the positive marks or biblical signs of true revival. The first positive mark is seen in the elevated level of people's esteem for Jesus. Edwards follows the Reformation's emphasis on the work of the Holy Spirit in the application of the...

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by R.C. Sproul Negative Marks Edwards begins by following the via negationis or "the way of negation." That is, before he proceeds to affirm positively what are the true marks of revival, he first spends time in Section I observing what are not (or at least not necessarily) signs of...

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by R.C. Sproul The Relevance of Edwards's Distinguishing Marks What do these trends signify? Are we in the midst of a major revival? Or are we seeing spurious marks of revival? Here is where the revisiting of Edwards's Distinguishing Marks can be most helpful. For us to discern the presence...

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In the eighteenth century, revival swept America as a Great Awakening woke thousands of Americans from spiritual slumber. While many were genuinely converted, discerning Christian leaders such as Jonathan Edwards became convinced of the need to determine how one could distinguish true revival from false. Edwards performed such a study...

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by John H. Gerstner Augustus Hopkins Strong used the analogy of the coupling that joins a train of railroad cars to a locomotive. The coupling has no power in itself; it cannot move a single car one inch. All the power is in the locomotive; but the coupling is the...

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by John H. Gerstner The epistle to the Romans has already shown us that man is guilty before God. Their sins have incurred the wrath of God: "The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18)....

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by John H. Gerstner From Romans 1:18 to 3:20, the Apostle Paul seeks to demonstrate the universal sinfulness of men. He shows the wrath of God revealed against the heathen because they would not have God in their thinking. He shows that the nominally religious people of Israel, by their...

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by John H. Gerstner Then the Savior departed from the apostles a second time and prayed again, "O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me except I drink it, Thy will be done." The agony of the first prayer was not even over, but a new...

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by John H. Gerstner The preview of impending doom was so terrifying that the mighty Jesus Himself asked, if it were possible, to escape it. Normally His obedience was instant and without question. Only the extreme severity of the ordeal can explain the plea: "O My Father, if it be...

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by John H. Gerstner Gethsemane was the place of Christ's exquisite torment. It is here we see the Man of Sorrows being acquainted with grief. Matthew tells us that after the last supper with His apostles, He began to be sorrowful. At the supper He had been full of joy....

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Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by Howard Q. Davis In chapter two of Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands, Paul David Tripp relates a story of a church member who called the pastor to get him to help a man. Tripp's comment to the member was, "Isn't God's love amazing? God...

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Generation to Generation by Susan Hunt A friend gave me a plaque that proclaims: "Grandmothers are antique little girls." I don't know what the originator had in mind, but my spin is that the longer we live, the more we return to the simplicity of girlhood. I am convinced that...

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Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. Trouble comes to the people of God. If it is not here now, it will be here soon. Those who promise that the Christian life is a breezy walk through the meadow not only have not taken up their cross and followed Him,...

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Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison When Dutch Calvinists and Arminians squared off against one another in the early part of the seventeenth century, the Calvinists won the opening battle. The controversy, however, soon spread beyond the borders of the Netherlands. Now, four hundred years later,...

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Pastor's Perspective by Bill Haynes Martin Luther, in his Table Talk #403, makes the statement that "an upright shepherd and minister must improve his flock by edification, and also resist and defend it; otherwise, if resisting be absent, the wolf devours the sheep." Resisting and defending require that a pastor-shepherd...

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Right Now Counts Forever by R.C. Sproul During the nineteenth-century potato famine in Ireland, my great-grandfather, Charles Sproul, fled his native land to seek refuge in America. He left his thatched roof and mud floor cottage in a northern Ireland village and made his way barefoot to Dublin -- to...

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Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith On October 10, A.D. 732 , some 80,000 Muslim cavalrymen attacked 30,000 Frankish infantrymen near Tours in present-day France. Those Muslims had already conquered Northern Africa and Spain, and they were poised to sweep over the rest of Europe. Normally, foot soldiers are...

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Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons One could perhaps make the argument that the history of the church consists of one division after another. Nevertheless, while history is replete with ecclesiastical divisions, there is a unity that transcends all the worldly clamor and devilish confusion...

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The July edition of Tabletalk is out. This month's theme is The Eighth Century, the period of history that fell midway between the founding of the church and the time of the Protestant Reformation. The daily devotions continue our study of the book of Matthew.We don't post all of the...

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by John H. Gerstner What has been the influence of Christ on succeeding centuries? Shortly before His death He said, "Believe Me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works...

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By John H. Gerstner The Deity of Christ But now we find ourselves in an extraordinary situation. If we admit, as the world does, that Christ is the perfect man, we must also admit that He is God then! "Why," you ask, "if we acknowledge Christ to be the perfect...

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by John H. Gerstner When I studied at Harvard University in the 1940's, we had a very interesting professor, Dr. H. H. Cadbury, who used to attempt to introduce Christ to his classes. In attendance, he would have, in addition to the divinity school men, a number of the regular...

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by John H. Gerstner Let us now apply this doctrine to ourselves. First, let me apply it to myself. This doctrine means that, though I am a minister of the gospel, I am by nature a child of wrath. Even Paul, the greatest of ministers and apostles, included himself. "We...

Continue Reading Sin Makes No Racial Distinctions (pt. 3)...

by John H. Gerstner Reinhold Niebuhr, America's distinguished neo-orthodox theologian, lectured to the students and faculty of Harvard Divinity School in 1940. He was discussing original sin and gave this domestic illustration. He son, who was then seven, had been in a neighborhood brawl. Niebuhr was inclined to finish what...

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by John H. Gerstner Speaking of God's providence we noticed sin incidentally. We now bring it into focus. One cannot think of God's holy ways without thinking of our unholy ones. We cannot think of ourselves without thinking of our sin. Sin is the most important conviction any man can...

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Seek Ye Firstby R.C. Sproul Jr.There is no such thing as the "More Party." They do not run campaigns seeking to unseat sitting officials of the "Less Party." Both "more" and "less" need more context and less ambiguity. We need to know what we are getting more or less...

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International Outreachby Timothy A. DickOver the years, Ligonier Ministries has been blessed with many opportunities to provide biblical teaching resources for the church in various countries and languages. Yet, at this moment in time, unlike any other, we are perhaps on the horizon of a new reformation. We believe...

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Pastor's Perspectiveby Terry L. JohnsonDuring the Reformation era, debates raged over what things must be considered crucial to Christian faith and practice, and what could be considered adiaphora (Latin for "things indifferent"). All sides agreed that the doctrines of the Trinity, the atonement, and justification were central. But what...

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Right Now Counts Foreverby R.C. SproulThe nineteenth-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is famous for his declaration that "God is dead." That brief dictum does not give the whole story. According to Nietzsche, the cause of the Deity's demise was compassion. He said, "God is dead; He died of pity." But before...

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by John H. Gerstner Positive Providence When considering the definition of negative providence, we used Ed Wynn's comic parody of the poet. Now, considering positive providence, we consider the poet himself: There is a destiny which shapes our ends, Rough hew them though we may. The "rough hew" needs explanation....

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Generation to Generationby Niel NielsonRecently, an acquaintance of mine gathered these statistics on the choices available today: 200 cable channels; 255 ways to order a Big Mac; 19,000 possible combinations for coffee at Starbucks and 78,998 for ice cream and toppings at Cold Stone Creamery; and more than 500,000 mathematical...

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Truth and Consequencesby Gene Edward VeithToday's postmodernists use cultural pluralism as a pretext for relativism, as if the existence of many cultures implied the existence of many truths. Many Americans embrace multiculturalism as if they had no culture of their own. In religion, pluralism has given rise to a...

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Pro Ecclesia: For the Churchby Robert M. NorrisI am not used to being considered a heretic. Yet recently, when a colleague and I visited a friend who teaches theology at a famous British university, we found ourselves faced with this charge! In a conversation that had quickly turned to...

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Tolle Lege: Take Up and Readby Keith MathisonI face something of a dilemma here that I believe C. J. Mahaney might appreciate. He has written a wonderful book in which he seeks to share insight on the practice of true humility and the conquest of pride. However, as he...

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by Roger NicoleIn modern English the words apology and apologize indicate regret because some statement or action was offensive and wrong. This is not the case for "apologetics" in theology, for that discipline is intended to manifest "a point of view is right." It is intended for those who differ...

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by Sinclair B. FergusonNovember 22, 1963, the date of President Kennedy's assassination, was also the day C.S. Lewis died. Seven years earlier he had thus described death: "The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning." The metaphor inherent in these words is...

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For sixty years, successive generations have been helped by what C.S. Lewis wrote on the subject of pain and suffering. The sustained benefit is due in large measure to the fact that he brought to the "problem" a solid dose of Christian realism. This medicine may be more important now...

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Truth and Consequences by Gene Edward Veith Dante ranks right up there with Shakespeare and Homer as the greatest writers of our civilization. Though the Italian poet, who lived from 1265 to 1321, embodies the High Middle Ages, he is sometimes called a proto-reformer for his bold condemnation of the...

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Thabiti Anyabwile asks "Do You Know the One NT Figure Mentioned in the Book of Hebrews?" That was how Sinclair Ferguson started chapter 45 of his wonderful meditation on the Christian life, In Christ Alone. Do you know? I didn't either. But Sinclair gave 5 clues, by the third I...

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Generation to Generation by Ron Gleason Being a pastor has been the most humbling, challenging, fulfilling, and wonderful calling of my life. It was in the pastoral ministry that I learned -- and still am learning -- that true success is not measured by the size of your salary or...

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Seek Ye First by R.C. Sproul Jr. Every culture and subculture has its own taboos. Not all of them are the same, however. Given that we are all human, how can we explain the divergence of cultural standards? Why is it that one culture will find adultery to be a...

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Tolle Lege: Take Up and Read by Keith A. Mathison It should come as little surprise to learn that the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement of Christ has come under renewed criticism in recent decades. The Reformers dealt with such criticisms and attacks from the Socinians. Our more recent forefathers...

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Pastor's Perspective by Robert S. Rayburn Pride is the idolatry of the self. It is the nature of pride as competition with God -- the displacing of God by the self at the center -- that has led many Christian thinkers through the ages to regard pride (superbia) as the...

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by John H. Gerstner Negative Providence What do we mean by negative providence? Suppose we begin with the late comedian Ed Wynn's definition based on a slight alteration of some famous lines: There is a destiny that shapes our ends rough; Hew them how we may. This is negative enough,...

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by John H. Gerstner According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, "God's works of providence are His most holy, wise, powerful preserving and governing all His creatures and all their actions." This comprehensive statement says that God's providence encompasses all, and not merely some, of the acts of His creatures. Such...

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Pro Ecclesia: For the Church by George Grant The heroine of My Fair Lady, Eliza Doolittle, captured the sentiment of most of us when she complained, "Words, words, words -- I am so sick of words. I get words all day through, first from him, now from you. Is that...

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Coram Deo: Living Before the Face of God by Burk Parsons We all certainly agree that all virtues are heavenly and that all sins are deadly. Nevertheless, certain virtues are more heavenly than others, and certain sins lead to death more quickly than other sins. While some sins are private...

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The May edition of Tabletalk is now distributed to subscribers. This month's theme is "The Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Heavenly Virtues" and the issue includes articles written by R.C. Sproul, Thabiti Anyabwile, Robert W. Carver, Chris Donato, Ron Gleason, George Grant, Ken Jones, Jonathan Leeman, Robert S. Rayburn,...

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by John H. GerstnerNo One Can Be Saved Without Being a Theologian. If the above is enough to indicate that persons may have divine knowledge without being saved, then let us go on to indicate the still more pertinent truth, that no one can be saved without the knowledge...

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by John H. GerstnerEveryone May Be a Theologian Without Being Saved!"But," the layman exclaims, "do you mean to tell me that if I do not have the knowledge of God I shall perish, and that if I do have the knowledge of God I will live forever? Do you mean...

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Here are some notes I took on Dr. Sproul's session this afternoon at the Together for the Gospel Conference.Dr. Sproul discussed what it means that Jesus was cursed by God. Though he has studied the subject for over fifty years, he still feels like he is barely scratching the surface...

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Generation to Generationby Joshua Harris When I turned twenty-one, my dad gave me this simple advice: “Find men that you want to be like and then sit at their feet.” As I launched into manhood, he was reminding me that the lessons I needed most wouldn’t be found in a...

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Pastor's Perspective by Kim Riddlebarger Of all the Reformation-era catechisms, perhaps none is as well-loved as the Heidelberg Catechism. In the opening question and answer, the personal and distinctive tone of the catechism becomes evident. “What is your only comfort in life and in death?” This is not a theoretical...

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Today is April 1--a day known also as April Fool's Day. It's as good an occasion as any to ask R.C. Sproul a question about humor. Did Jesus ever laugh? What do the Scriptures tell us about his character and sense of humor? I’ve heard some people answer this question...

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At his blog "Christians in Context" Damian Romano has posted his top ten R.C. Sproul quotes. And he has rounded up some good ones. Here is a sampling:10. Every sin is an act of cosmic treason, a futile attempt to dethrone God in His sovereign authority.9. Most Christian's salute the...

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As we look back on the weekend in which we have remembered Jesus death and rejoiced in his resurrection, this portion of R.C. Sproul's book Following Christ seemed particularly poignant.For three days God was silent. Then he screamed. With cataclysmic power God rolled the stone away and unleashed a paroxysm...

Continue Reading If a Man Die, Shall He Live Again?...