Coram Deo (October 2016)

The confrontation with the chief priests and scribes illustrates the terms on which we must deal with Jesus. Either He claimed too much and should be dismissed by each generation—not as a good teacher, but with the only tenable options, provided succinctly by C.S. Lewis, as either a crazy man or a fiend from hell—or we accept Jesus on His terms, as perfect God and perfect man, looking to Him, even this day as our Savior. Take Him at His word, as who He thought Himself to be, and worship. —Joe Holland in October's Tabletalk Magazine

Coram Deo: None of us fully lives up to God’s standards, but we are not hypocrites for trying. We are hypocrites only when we pretend to be holier than we are, when we present ourselves as humble when in fact our hearts are proud and conceited. Let us repent daily for any true hypocrisy that we might find in our hearts, and may we ask God to give us the grace to be honest about ourselves with others.

For something to be reformed, there must first be the form itself—and the form the Reformers sought was the original form of the church found in the only infallible guide for faith and life, namely, Scripture, and Scripture alone. Ultimately, the Reformers were not seeking to change the nature of the church, but to call the church back to her biblical identity and to who she must be in order to be the true church. —Burk Parsons in October's Tabletalk Magazine

Coram Deo: That Jesus said false messiahs and natural disasters were only the beginning of the signs of Jerusalem’s end cautions us about drawing too many conclusions when we see such things in our own day. Natural disasters and false prophets are not necessarily signs that the final judgment is around the corner. Let us not read too much into the events around us, but let us be faithful to proclaim the gospel, for we do not know when Christ’s final return will be.

The quest for God doesn’t begin until conversion. —R.C. Sproul

Coram Deo: How strongly do we believe that heaven is far better than our lives on this side of the grave? It is easy to get distracted from the blessings of the life to come, so we must take special care that we do not forget that as good as our lives can be now, life in God’s unmediated presence is far better. The joys we experience in the here and now cannot compare to what is in store for those of us who know Jesus. Let us be conscious of that fact today and always.

God’s knowledge of us is not being filed away in some dusty cabinet or distant server that will one day be lost or wiped. No, as Judge He will one day call us to account not just for every idle word but for every idle and idol click, for every second spent in pointless time-wasting. We may silence our internal judge, our conscience; we may outsmart our earthly judges, our parents, and our accountability partners; but we will never escape the judgment of God. —David Murray in October's Tabletalk Magazine

Coram Deo: Even today, in many parts of the world, professing Christians betray believers to the governing authorities. We do not know what the future may bring, but we do know that God’s grace will sustain His people. Let us pray that we would never betray another Christian and that we would have the wisdom to rely only on divine grace.

Our prayers cannot force God to do anything, but He uses them as His own instruments to bring about His will. —R.C. Sproul

Coram Deo: Whether we are young or old, our lives on this side of the grave will not go on forever. A day is coming in which we will stand before our Creator, and He will reveal how we have remembered Him. If we have remembered His character and what He has done, repenting of our sin and trusting in Him alone, we will inherit eternal life. But if we die without having remembered the Lord, we will suffer the eternal pain and death of hell.

Those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ have nothing to fear from man, or from anything else for that matter. Those who trust Christ have nothing to fear from hurricanes, diseases, economic collapse, war, famine, or even death. All of these things are under the control of our sovereign Father in heaven. Of course, this is easy enough for us to say, but we all too easily take our eyes off of God and dwell on the dangers surrounding us. —Keith Mathison in Tabletalk Magazine

Coram Deo: The truth of a teacher’s words is determined not by the feats he can perform but by the orthodoxy of what he teaches. We are never to follow anyone who perverts the truth of God’s Word, no matter how gifted that person is, how large of an organization that person commands, or how amazing that person’s work seems to be.

Once the birth-control pill arrived, with all of its promises of reproductive control, a biological check on sexual immorality that had shaped human existence from Adam and Eve forward was almost instantly removed. The sexual revolution could not have taken place without the arrival of effective, cheap, and widely available contraceptives. —Albert Mohler in October's Tabletalk Magazine

Coram Deo: Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead, but that does not mean every passage that might seem to predict that event is actually talking about the second coming of Christ. We must be careful Bible students, seeking to build our doctrines only on those passages that actually teach them. In so doing, we will be able to defend our beliefs with the Word of God whenever someone asks us about our faith.

Regeneration is something that is accomplished by God. A dead man cannot raise himself from the dead. —R.C. Sproul

Coram Deo: Since the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, the gospel has borne most of its fruit among the Gentiles. That does not mean, however, that the Lord has abandoned the Jews. He has His elect people distributed among both Jews and Gentiles, so our missions efforts should be directed to making disciples of both the Jews and the Gentiles. Let us do what we can to support the task of taking the gospel to all peoples.

To study church history is to study God’s unbending faithfulness. Christians must regularly reflect upon this truth in a world where there is increasing persecution of the church and the future seems uncertain. Like the psalmist, we must “recount all of [God’s] wonderful deeds” to remind ourselves that He will never leave us or forsake us. —Jon Payne in October's Tabletalk Magazine

Coram Deo: How do we prepare ourselves for the second coming of Christ? The answer is relatively simple: we must make sure that we belong to Jesus as His redeemed people, as His disciples. If you are not a Christian, you will not be ready for the Lord’s return. Repent and trust Jesus alone this day. If you are a believer, seek to be a fruitful disciple that you might hear Christ’s words of commendation when He comes again.

If I hate someone who is in Christ, I’m not only sinning against that person, I’m sinning against Christ Himself. —R.C. Sproul

Coram Deo: Jesus died during Passover to show us that He is the Lamb of God who shields us from divine wrath and frees us from the dominion of sin. This is what God Himself ordained, for salvation is from Him alone, motivated by His great love for His people. Let us thank and praise Him for His grace and love that shields us in Christ from the wrath we deserve.

Every culture wishes to benefit from the talents, insights, and other contributions of the largest number of individuals. If we create a political climate that suppresses their gifts and contributions, then they either do not make them at all, or they make them elsewhere. —W. Robert Godfrey in Tabletalk Magazine

Coram Deo: Our great and holy God owns all of creation, so all that we have is really His anyway. But He gives us resources to steward, and one way we show our gratitude for His gifts is to give back to Him those things that we highly value. Let us be faithful to return to our Creator His good gifts, and may we be willing to give up what is valuable to us for the sake of God’s kingdom.

I said to the Ligonier staff many years ago: “The work that we do in apologetics may not be understood in all of the details by all the Christians who hear it. But if we can answer these questions and show the credibility of Christianity, the folks in the church will not be devastated by the voices of skepticism that surround them.” —R.C. Sproul in October's Tabletalk Magazine

Coram Deo: Judas is an example of how dangerous it is for us to entertain sin. When we do not mortify our evil desires but indulge them, we make our hearts hard and willing to do things that are unspeakably wicked. Let us repent of our sin and resist the devil, for as we refuse to entertain our sinful desires, we are built up in holiness and are kept, by the grace of God, from great wickedness.

The ultimate hypocrite in all the universe is Satan. —R.C. Sproul

Coram Deo: Dr. R.C. Sproul writes in His commentary Mark: “It is not as though God in His sovereignty coerced Judas to carry out the evil act of betraying Jesus. Rather, the sovereign God worked His will in and through the choices of His creatures. Judas did exactly what Judas wanted to do, but God brought good out of evil, redemption out of treachery.” We cannot blame God for our sin. We sin because we want to do what is wrong.

Cancer, perhaps unlike anything else, has a way of focusing your attention on eternal realities. And this, of course, is good. We need to be mercifully weaned from this world so that we can see something of the glory to be revealed. —Mike Pohlman in October's Tabletalk Magazine

Coram Deo: Christ was intent on following the law of God, not only because He wanted to please His Father but also because He wanted to redeem us from our sins. Jesus acted out of love for His Father in heaven and out of love for His people. That amazing truth should motivate us to worship Him today and every day.

God never does anything that is not perfectly good. —R.C. Sproul

Coram Deo: We cannot have life itself if we do not have Christ. Indeed, we need Him more than we need to eat and drink physical food for the sake of our bodies. The Lord’s Supper helps to remind us of our total dependence on the Savior, so let us be cognizant of how much we need Him this day and every day.

The world delights in bold sinners who flout God’s Word and expect no punishment whatsoever. Our culture celebrates the skillful cold-blooded assassin, bold thief, self-righteous vigilante, foul-mouthed recording artist, creative rebel, blasphemous stand-up comedian, naked actress, fornicating “glamour couple,” self-worshiping athlete, occultic mystic, and the like. —Andrew Davis in Tabletalk Magazine

Contentment is born of grace, not goods. It is the result of divine strength, not worldly stuff. It is a strength that stems from God’s love for and presence with us. As the author of Hebrews said, we can be content with whatever we have, no matter how much or how little, because God has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Contentment in this unstable, ever-changing life is found in the eternal and unchanging God who saves us. The grace of God is the only thing that can so deeply satisfy us that what we lack or desire no longer controls our hearts. —Joe Thorn in October's Tabletalk Magazine

Coram Deo: Yes, we are saved from the guilt and power of sin. More significantly, we are saved from God Himself, from His just wrath against our sin. That is what we celebrate in the Lord’s Supper, that the Judge of all creation saved us from His judgment so that we, undeserving sinners though we are, may enjoy fellowship at His table in His presence. Such grace should move us to worship and love our great Lord and Savior.

The Reformation boldly affirms that while we were dead in our trespasses and sins, the storm of our Father’s wrath was poured into Jesus for us. It is more than all the difference in the world—it is all the difference in the world to come. Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner. —R.C. Sproul Jr. in October's Tabletalk Magazine

Coram Deo: The Lord’s Supper reminds God’s people of Christ’s atonement, which gives them the right to participate in the great feast that will occur when Christ returns to consummate His kingdom. As we partake of the Lord’s Supper, let us look forward to that feast. On that day, we will be fully satisfied and enjoy the presence of our God forever.

Nothing could be more irrational than the idea that something comes from nothing. —R.C. Sproul

Coram Deo: For many reasons, transubstantiation has been rejected by Protestants as a biblical way of conceiving of Christ’s presence in the Lord’s Supper. However, that does not mean we deny Christ’s presence in the supper. Following John Calvin, we affirm the spiritual presence of Christ in the sacrament, and we commune with Him when we come to the Lord’s Table.

By faith, believers possess Christ and grow in Him. They receive from Christ by faith the “double grace” of justification and sanctification, which together offer the cleansing of imputed and actual purity. —Joel Beeke in October's Tabletalk Magazine

Coram Deo: When we come to the Lord’s Table, the human nature of Christ is not in the room with us but is in heaven. However, because Christ is spiritually present, we nevertheless also commune with His humanity. We are lifted up to heaven, as it were, to fellowship with the whole Christ. That is why the Lord’s Supper is such a solemn and joyous occasion.

Coram Deo: Christ has not instituted His sacraments for perfect people but for men and women who are sinners. But those who come to the table must be repentant sinners who do not take the sacrament lightly. Let us examine ourselves before we go to the table and repent of our sin so that we may not eat and drink judgment on ourselves.