RC Spoul on Reformed Theology

“At the heart of Reformed Theology, at the heart of Luther and Calvin’s struggle, and in Knox and Jonathan Edwards, were men who were awakened to the greatness, to the majesty, to the holiness, and the sovereignty of God. By contemplating the holiness and sovereignty of God, they were driven to develop their doctrines of the grace of God. Because until you meet a God who is holy and is sovereign, you don’t know what grace means. I don’t think we are ever going to see a healthy evangelical church until the evangelical church is solidly Reformed, where it takes biblical Christianity seriously with a right concept of a sovereign God.

That’s because unreformed Christianity has failed in our culture. It has been pervasively antinomian (no law, no Lordship), and has been pervasively liberal in it’s trends and tendencies away from Scripture, because there’s been no real basis in the sovereignty of God.

Today’s evangelicals are never amazed by grace, because they don’t understand sovereignty. They don’t understand God. The evangelical church today is sick, more sick than it ever has been. We need a style and a variety of Christianity that is not a religion, but is a life and a worldview, where at the heart and foundational structure of it is a sound and deep biblical concept of the character of God.”
-Dr. R.C. Sproul, A Blueprint for Thinking

(HT: Reformed Voices)

Filed under: Calvinism, Church History, Doctrines of Grace, God's grace, God's holiness, Sovereignty of God, The Church

The Quickening Word of God

I have many in this city who are my people. – Acts 18:10

“This should be a great encouragement in proclaiming the Gospel, since among the people in our communities—the disinterested, the rebellious, the careless—God has an elect people who must be saved. When you take the Word to them, you do so because God has ordained you to be the messenger of life to their souls, and they must receive it, for so the decree of predestination runs. They are as much redeemed by blood as the saints before the eternal throne. They are Christ’s property, and yet perhaps they are lovers of selfish pleasures and haters of holiness; but if Jesus Christ purchased them, He will have them. God is not unfaithful to forget the price that His Son has paid. He will not suffer His substitution to be in any case an ineffectual, dead thing. Tens of thousands of redeemed ones are not regenerated yet, but regenerated they must be; and this is our comfort when we go to them with the quickening Word of God.”

CH Spurgeon

(HT: Reformed Voices)

Filed under: CH Spurgeon, Doctrine, Doctrines of Grace, Election, Evangelism, Reformed, Substitutionary Atonement, The Cross

What is a “reformed” understanding of the gospel?

(HT: Allsufficientgrace)

Filed under: Doctrine, Doctrines of Grace, Evangelical, Jesus Christ, John Piper, Reformed, The Cross, The Gospel, The word of God

Election & Evangelism – C. H. Spurgeon

A controversialist once said, “If I thought God had a chosen people, I should not preach.” That is the very reason why I do preach. What would make him inactive is the mainspring of my earnestness. If the Lord had not a people to be saved, I should have little to cheer me in the ministry.

I believe that God will save his own elect, and I also believe that, if I do not preach the gospel, the blood of men will be laid at my door.

Our Saviour has bidden us to preach the gospel to every creature; he has not said, “Preach it only to the elect;” and though that might seem to be the most logical thing for us to do, yet, since he has not been pleased to stamp the elect in their foreheads, or to put any distinctive mark upon them, it would be an impossible task for us to perform; whereas, when we preach the gospel to every creature, the gospel makes its own division, and Christ’s sheep hear his

(HT: Reformation Theology)

Filed under: CH Spurgeon, Doctrine, Doctrines of Grace, Election, Evangelical, Evangelism, Jesus Christ, Missions, Preaching, The Gospel

How does the will function in salvation? – R.C. Sproul

A necessary condition for justification is faith. Right? And faith involves an active embracing, and trusting in Christ-and in Christ alone. In that sense it involves some action of the will. It involves some step of embracing Christ. Now we’re not saying-Luther isn’t saying, Augustine isn’t saying-that the human will is not involved in salvation. When I have faith in Christ, I am the one who is trusting, I am the one who is believing, I am the one who is choosing him, and I am choosing him freely. That’s not an issue. We all agree on that.

The question is, What has to happen before that person will choose Christ, will embrace Christ? When I say I have to embrace Christ in order to be saved-I have to have faith in order to be saved, I have to ask the next question: How do I get the faith? Can I choose to believe out of my dead, sinful nature? Or must I be spiritually raised from the dead and be given eyes to see and a heart to respond positively before I ever will respond positively? What Reformed theology says, what Augustine was saying, is that we are by nature spiritually dead. God can offer us salvation until kingdom come-but he does more than offer it.

He resurrects our souls from the dead. He does a divine and supernatural work in us called regeneration. He quickens us, and every mother knows that “quickening” is the sense of the presence of life in the womb. It is the Holy Spirit who changes the disposition of our souls, which prior to this work has no desire for Christ. We’re still choosing. When we’re dead in sin, we’re still alive to sin, and we’re making choices all the time. But the choices are always according to what we want. That’s what freedom is. That’s why Augustine, in a confusing way, said that man still has a liberium arbitrium; he still has a free will. But what he lacks is libertas (liberty); he’s still free to do what he wants. That’s his condemnation. We still choose sin because that’s what we want.

The freedom we lack is the ability, in and of ourselves, to change our hearts that are enslaved to these wicked desires; only God can surgically repair that captivity. In other words, we are in bondage to our own desires, which are wicked, until God changes the disposition of our hearts. Once he does that, he is releasing the will from its prison. And we’re no longer now in bondage. Now we have the desire for Christ, and we freely choose Christ, but not until God-and only God-liberates us.

(HT: Symphony Of Scripture)

Filed under: Bondage of the will, Doctrine, Doctrines of Grace, Evangelical, God's mercy, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, New Birth, RC Sproul, Regeneration, Salvation, The Gospel, The word of God

Preach it sister!

Oh! How I wish more testimonies sounded like this:

(HT: CRN)

Filed under: Conviction of Sin, Doctrines of Grace, Evangelical, Forgiveness, God's grace, God's holiness, Jesus Christ, Saving faith, Testimony, The Cross, The Gospel, The word of God

Great Salvation!

From In Christ Alone by Sinclair Ferguson:

“Before all time; prior to all worlds; when there was nothing “outside of” God Himself; when the Father, Son, and Spirit found eternal, absolute, and unimaginable blessing, pleasure, and joy in Their holy triunity — it was Their agreed purpose to create a world. That world would fall. But in unison — and at infinitely great cost — this glorious triune God planned to bring you (if you are a believer) grace and salvation.

This is deeper grace from before the dawn of time. It was pictured in the rituals, the leaders, and the experiences of the Old Testament saints, all of whom longed to see what we see. All this is now ours. Our salvation depends on God’s covenant, rooted in eternity, foreshadowed in the Mosaic liturgy, fulfilled in Christ, enduring forever. No wonder Hebrews calls it “so great a salvation” (Heb. 2:3).

Early in your Christian life, you thought salvation was “great,” didn’t you? Do you still think about it that way today?”

(HT: Ligonier blog)

Filed under: Attributes of God, Doctrine, Doctrines of Grace, Evangelical, God the Father, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Salvation, Sinclair Ferguson, Sovereignty of God, Substitutionary Atonement, The Bible, The Cross, The Gospel, The word of God

Asking the right question helps!

“Oh!” saith the Arminian, “men may be saved if they will.” We reply, “My dear sir, we all believe that; but it is just the if they will that is the difficulty. We assert that no man will come to Christ unless he be drawn; nay, we do not assert it, but Christ himself declares it–”Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life;’ and as long as that “ye will not come’ stands on record in Holy Scripture, we shall not be brought to believe in any doctrine of the freedom of the human will.” It is strange how people, when talking about free-will, talk of things which they do not at all understand. “Now,” says one, “I believe men can be saved if they will.” My dear sir, that is not the question at all. The question is, are men ever found naturally willing to submit to the humbling terms of the gospel of Christ? We declare, upon Scriptural authority, that the human will is so desperately set on mischief, so depraved, and so inclined to everything that is evil, and so disinclined to everything that is good, that without the powerful. supernatural, irresistible influence of the Holy Spirit, no human will ever be constrained towards Christ. You reply, that men sometimes are willing, without the help of the Holy Spirit. I answer–Did you ever meet with any person who was?”

—Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

(HT: The Bororean)

Filed under: Bondage of the will, CH Spurgeon, Discernment, Discipleship, Doctrine, Doctrines of Grace, Evangelical, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, New Birth, Regeneration, Salvation, Saving faith, Sovereignty of God, The Bible, The Cross, The Gospel

Finally Alive – by John Piper

I believe this could be one of John Piper’s most important books.

From Thabiti Anyabwile

To be released in January 2009, John Piper’s newest book, Finally Alive (Christian Focus Publications), is a must read. Nothing could be more important than understanding the new birth, and understanding it, being sure we’ve come into possession of it. And as a preacher of the gospel, few things could be more important than to preach in such a way as to make the necessity, urgency, and the reality of the new birth a vibrant reality for our people.

Far too many people think they possess Christ but do not possess this new birth. Far too many think of conversion as essentially a person’s decision. Too few think of conversion in the radical, life-giving and transformative way Jesus understood it and the NT teaches it.

Bro. Piper has served the church wonderfully well in writing this book, which first took the form of a series of sermons preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church. The sermonic origin makes the pastoral quality all the richer. Read this book; give copies to your family, friends, and neighbors. And pray that by it, men and women would be finally alive!

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Available at:

Pre-order from Desiring God for only $5! Details here.

Amazon.com (here)

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Endorsements

“For those curious about the Christian faith to those deeply committed to Christ and his ways, come read and behold the glory of any and every sinner’s only hope—the miracle of the new birth that brings forth new life in Christ that will never end.”
- Bruce Ware, Professor of Christian Theology, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

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“Regeneration, or new birth, meaning simply the new you through, with, in, and under Christ, is a largely neglected theme today, but this fine set of sermons, criss-crossing the New Testament data with great precision, goes far to fill the gap. Highly recommended.”
- J .I. Packer, Professor of Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, Canada

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“Theologically thorough and yet heart-warmingly pastoral and practical, this important book should help God’s people to value the remarkable status and responsibility of being ‘born again.’”
- Richard Cunningham, Director of Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF), United Kingdom

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“Nothing could be more eternally important than Christian people knowing what the Bible teaches about the new birth and knowing that they have experienced it. One wonders why it’s taken so long for a book on the new birth to be written! But now it has and I pray every reader rejoices in God for the rich beauties of Christ Jesus so compellingly shared in its pages.”
- Thabiti Anyabwile, Pastor, First Baptist Church, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

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“Expository and practical, this rich survey of New Testament teaching explores the nature of the new birth and the life which flows from it. Full of refreshment and encouragement, it reveals more deeply the glory of Christ and the gospel and motivates a renewed commitment to live out this good news and share it with others.”
- David Jackman, President of The Proclamation Trust

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“When I was a boy my grandmother asked me, ‘Have you been born again?’ Though I didn’t understand what she meant at the time, that question led to my conversion to Christ. In this wonderful book, Pastor John Piper rescues the term ‘born again’ from the abuse and overuse to which it is subject in our culture today. This is a fresh presentation of the evangelical doctrine of the new birth, a work filled with theological insight and pastoral wisdom.”
- Timothy George, Dean of Beeson Divinity School, Samford University

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“Many will be thankful that John Piper is here addressing the key need of our times. Every awakening begins with the renewed discovery of Christ’s teaching on the new birth. Here is that amazing teaching in lucid yet comprehensive form; with a relevance to readers worldwide.”
- Iain H. Murray

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“Have I been born again? is not a question to be answered hastily. In this book, Piper strips away our complacency, arguing that many people falsely believe they are Christians. By examining the Bible’s teaching on the new birth, he shows us how to be certain our faith is genuine. Because no issue could be more critical, I believe this is the most important book Piper has written.”
- Adrian Warnock, blogger

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“Classic Piper—crystal clear exposition and a must read.”
- Alistair Begg, Parkside Church

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“I cannot too strongly celebrate the publication of this book. Owing in part to several decades of dispute over justification and how a person is set right with God, we have tended to neglect another component of conversion no less important. Conversion under the terms of the new covenant is more than a matter of position and status in Christ, though never less: it includes miraculous Spirit-given transformation, something immeasurably beyond mere human resolution. It is new birth; it makes us new creatures; it demonstrates that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. All the creedal orthodoxy in the world cannot replace it. The reason why “You must be born again” is so important is that you must be born again.”
- D. A. Carson, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Filed under: Biblical exposition, Books, Conversion, Conviction of Sin, Doctrine, Doctrines of Grace, Evangelical, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, John Piper, Regeneration, Salvation, Substitutionary Atonement, The Cross, The Gospel

The mark of the wounds

From the end of a letter written by Jonathan Edwards to Deborah Hatheway (June 3, 1741):

“Don’t talk of things
of religion
and matters of experience
with an air of lightness and laughter,
which is too much the manner in many places.
In all your course,
walk with God
and follow Christ
as a little,
poor,
helpless child,
taking hold of Christ’s hand,
keeping your eye
on the mark of the wounds
on his hands
and side,
whence came the blood
that cleanses you from sin
and hides
your nakedness
under the skirt of the white shining robe
of his righteousness.”

(HT: Tony Reinke)

Filed under: Discipleship, Doctrine, Doctrines of Grace, Forgiveness, God's grace, Jesus Christ, Jonathan Edwards, Salvation, Substitutionary Atonement, The Christian Life, The Cross, The Gospel

The Difference Between a Legalist and an Evangelical Christian

My thanks to John Fonville for this excellent quote:

Ralph Erskine on the difference between a legalist and an evangelical (”gospel-believing”) Christian:

(1.) They differ in their complaints. The legalist will complain more for want of holiness than for want of Christ; seeing he hath taken up with self-righteousness, it is his all, it is his happiness, it is his husband, it is his God. But the language of the evangelical Christian, who is dead to the law, is, O for Christ! O for a day of power! O to be wrapt up in the covenant of grace! to get an omnipotent power, determining me to comply with the gospel-offer.

(2.) They differ as to their comforts, – the legalist finds comfort in law-works, even in all his extremities. In the prospect of trouble, who comforts him? Even this, that he hath done many good duties. He wraps himself in a garment of his own weaving. Upon challenges of conscience, what comforts him, and gives him peace? He even covers himself with the same robe. In the prospect of judgment, what comforts him, and gives him peace? Why, he hopes God will be merciful to him, because he hath had a good profession, and said many good prayers, and done many good duties; but a sorry peace-maker. The only thing that gives a believer peace and ease in these cases, is the law-abiding righteousness of Christ, under which he desires to shrowd himself. He flees to the blood of Jesus Christ, saying, O I am undone, unless my soul be wrapt up in the mantle of Christ’s perfect righteousness; upon this righteousness of Jesus, I venture my soul.

(Gospel Truth, pp. 292-293)

Filed under: Discernment, Discipleship, Doctrine, Doctrines of Grace, Evangelical, God's worthiness, Grace, Holiness, Legalism, Love for God, Sanctification, The Christian Life, The Cross, The word of God

The Essence of the Gospel

Succinct and comprehensive, from John Fonville:

God created man in a perfect place, with perfect relationships, both vertically and horizontally. He ruled His kingdom by His Word. By creation, Adam was the son of God (cf. Lk. 3:38) bearing His Father’s image (Gen. 1:26) and God was his Father. Man, then, was created to enjoy unbroken fellowship with God his Creator and Father.

Tragically, this intimate, familial relationship was destroyed by the Fall (Gen. 3). Rather than believing God’s Word, Adam believed the lies of satan, disobeyed and forfeited God’s blessings as Father for God’s cursings as Judge. As a consequence, Adam, along with Eve, was banished from the garden, where God’s presence and blessings resided.

No longer God’s obedient son, Adam was now a disobedient son (Eph. 2:2), a child of wrath (Eph. 2:3). He was a member of an alien family, estranged and cut off from his Father’s household. Now subject to death and corruption, Adam and all his posterity live as slaves in a new household with an abusive Father (Jn. 8:44). Adam’s desires were no longer bent toward submitting to His loving Father’s will, but rather toward his new murderous, lying father’s will (Jn. 8:44).

“That God the Father would desire and determine to redeem and adopt disobedient sons to Himself and welcome them into His household is the essence of the Gospel.”

And so, having been cut off from his Father by nature, God had every right to end history at this point. But, God is a gracious God (cf. Eph. 2:4, “But God…!”). Therefore, out of sheer grace, God promised to restore disobedient sons (cf. Gen. 3:15). Because God the Father is a promising God, He would one day adopt disobedient sons back to Himself, causing them to willingly and gladly submit once again to His rule and reign (cf., Ps. 36:7-9; Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:27).

Thus Paul writes these astounding words in Galatians 4:4-7:

“4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”

That God the Father would desire and determine to redeem and adopt disobedient sons to Himself and welcome them into His household is the essence of the Gospel (cf. Burke, Adopted into God’s Family, p. 196). This is not only Pauline Christianity it is the essence of the Christian message.

Adoption is the remedy for man’s alienation and estrangement from God the Father. Because of Christ (cf., Gal. 1:4; 2:16, 20; 3:13-14), we are no longer slaves (Gal. 4:7), no longer disobedient sons (Eph. 2:2), no longer children of wrath (Eph. 2:3) but rather adopted sons, enjoying all the privileges and blessings as members of God the Father’s household!

Filed under: Doctrines of Grace, Evangelical, God's justice, God's mercy, Grace, Jesus Christ, Salvation, The Bible, The Cross, The Gospel, The glory of Christ, The word of God

One Point Calvinism!

By Pastor Scott Thomas, Acts 29 Director

As a church planter, I received more arguments over our position of Reformed Theology than I did everything else combined. It angered the most faithful of Christians and confused others. Only a handful, I believed, truly understood the doctrine of salvation as described in the Bible. It was a point of contention that got people off mission–even though it was not presented in a polarizing manner.

JI Packer, above, at a hotel room in Orlando talking to us about his desire to leave a lasting legacy.

Recently I read The Five Points of Calvinism co-authored by David Steele, Curtis Thomas and Lance Quinn (P&R Publishing). I felt it was a shepherdly treatise on the doctrines of grace that can help the layman to understanding the centrality of God in the salvation of man. The book quotes JI Packer, whom I had the pleasure of spending the day with recently. I think his explanation of Calvinism as “one point” is brilliant.
Packer said, “The very act of setting out Calvinistic soteriology [the doctrine of salvation] in the form of five distinct points (a number due, as we saw, merely to the fact that there were five Arminian points for the Synod of Dort to answer) tends to obscure the organic character of Calvinistic thought on this subject. For the five points, though separately stated, are inseparable. They hang together; you cannot reject one without rejecting them all, at least in the sense in which the Synod meant them. For to Calvinism there is really only one point to be made in the field of soteriology: the point that God saves sinners.

“God – the Triune Jehovah, Father, Son and Spirit; three Persons working together in sovereign wisdom, power and love to achieve the salvation of a chosen people, the Father electing, the Son fulfilling the Father’s will by redeeming, the Spirit executing the purpose of Father and Son by renewing.

“Saves – does everything, first to last, that is involved in bringing man from death in sin to life in glory: plans, achieves and communicates redemption, calls and keeps, justifies, sanctifies, glorifies.

“Sinners – men as God finds them, guilty, vile, helpless, powerless, unable to lift a finger to do God’s will or better their spiritual lot. God saves sinners – and the force of this confession may not be weakened by disrupting the unity of the work of the Trinity, or by dividing the achievement of salvation between God and man and making the decisive part man’s own, or by soft-pedalling the sinner’s inability so as to allow him to share the praise of his salvation with his Saviour. This is the one point of Calvinistic soteriology which the “five points” are concerned to establish and Arminianism in all its forms to deny: namely, that sinners do not save themselves in any sense at all, but that salvation, first and last, whole and entire, past, present and future, is of the Lord, to whom be glory for ever; amen.”

J.I. Packer, “Introductory Essage,” in The Death of Death in the Death of Christ, by John Owen (London: Banner of Truth, 1959) 4-5.

Filed under: Calvinism, Doctrine, Doctrines of Grace, Election, Evangelical, JI Packer, Jesus Christ, Man in Sin, Reformed, Regeneration, Salvation, Sovereignty of God, The Cross, The Gospel, The word of God, Theology

Carson, Keller & Piper – Glory!

The following hour-long conversation among Tim Keller, John, Piper, and D.A. Carson was filmed at the 2008 leadership meeting of The Gospel Coalition and recently posted on Facebook:

• A Conversation: Tim Keller, John Piper, and D.A. Carson (1 of 6)
• A Conversation: Tim Keller, John Piper, and D.A. Carson (2 of 6)
• A Conversation: Tim Keller, John Piper, and D.A. Carson (3 of 6)
• A Conversation: Tim Keller, John Piper, and D.A. Carson (4 of 6)
• A Conversation: Tim Keller, John Piper, and D.A. Carson (5 of 6)
• A Conversation: Tim Keller, John Piper, and D.A. Carson (6 of 6)

My thanks to Justin Taylor for this.

Filed under: Attributes of God, Christian Ministry, Communion with God, DA Carson, Discernment, Discipleship, Doctrine, Doctrines of Grace, Evangelical, Evangelism, God centredness, Grace, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, John Piper, Leadership, Sanctification, Substitutionary Atonement, The Bible, The Christian Life, The Church, The Cross, The Gospel, The glory of Christ, The word of God, Tim Keller, Worship

Not under law but under grace

“Sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:14

My thanks to Ray Ortlund for this:

Martin Luther

Paul did not write, “Sin will have no dominion over you, since you are under grace.” He made it clearer than that. He deliberately excluded ambiguity at the very point where I become confused.

Apart from continual re-saturation in the gospel, I see myself as under law when I’ve been bad, because I deserve it, and I see myself as under grace when I’ve been good, because I’ve earned it. Totally wrong.

Paul makes it clear where we stand now before God: “You are not under law but under grace.” And then he looks us right in the eye and says to us, “I dare you to believe it and live by it.”

Martin Luther: “It’s the supreme art of the devil that he can make the law out of the gospel. If I can hold on to the distinction between law and gospel, I can say to him any and every time that should kiss my backside. . . . Once I debate about what I have done and left undone, I am finished. But if I reply on the basis of the gospel, ‘The forgiveness of sins covers it all,’ I have won.”

Filed under: Discipleship, Doctrine, Doctrines of Grace, Evangelical, Grace, Jesus Christ, Martin Luther, The Bible, The Christian Life, The Gospel, The word of God