110+ R. C. Sproul Quotes On Prayer, Free Will And Death

R. C. Sproul is an American theologian, author, and pastor. He is the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries, an international Christian education ministry based in Sanford, Florida. Sproul is known for his teaching series, books, and articles on the subjects of Reformed theology, the sovereignty of God, and the life of faith. Following is our collection on famous quotes by R. C. Sproul on prayer, love, free will.

Top 10 R. C. Sproul Quotes

1. A god who is all love, all grace, all mercy, no sovereignty, no justice, no holiness, and no wrath is an idol.
2. Why do bad things happen to good people? That only happened once and He volunteered.
3. It is one thing to believe in God; it is quite another to believe God.
4. God is not going to negotiate His holiness... in order to accommodate us.
5. Sin is not simply making bad choices or mistakes. Sin is having the desire in our hearts to do the will of the enemy of God.
6. To know that God knows everything about me and yet loves me is indeed my ultimate consolation.
7. We have to determine our theology from the Word of God, not from what we feel.
8. We are secure, not because we hold tightly to Jesus, but because He holds tightly to us.
9. We are not sinners because we sin. We sin because we are sinners.
10. When God says something, the argument is over.

R. C. Sproul Image Quotes

At the moment I sin, I desire the sin more than I desire to please God. — R. C. Sproul

R. C. Sproul Short Quotes

• The gospel is only good news when we understand the bad news.
• God doesn't need our consent in order to govern us; He made us.
• At the moment I sin, I desire the sin more than I desire to please God.
• Though sin often brings immediate pleasure, it gives no lasting joy.
• Every sin is an act of cosmic treason, a futile attempt to dethrone God in His sovereign authority.
• As the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, so the denial of God is the height of foolishness.
• There is not one piece of cosmic dust that is outside the scope of God's sovereign providence.
• Natural man’s sin is precisely this: He wants the benefits of God without God Himself.
• We need the church as urgently as a starving baby needs his mother’s milk.
• No unborn baby has ever had the right to choose or deny its own destruction.

R. C. Sproul Quotes About Prayer

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

Prayer does change things, all kinds of things. But the most important thing it changes is us. — R. C. Sproul

In the psalms, we have a collection of 150 prayers that were inspired originally by the Holy Ghost. If you want to know how God is pleased and honored in prayer, why not immerse yourself in the prayers that he himself has inspired? — R. C. Sproul

The more sanctified a person is the more heavily weighted his prayer time is in adoration. — R. C. Sproul

Prayer is not optional for the Christian; it is required. — R. C. Sproul

Was Luther crazy? Perhaps. But if he was, our prayer is that God would send to this earth an epidemic of such insanity that we too may taste of the righteousness that is by faith alone. — R. C. Sproul

Prayer is to the Christian what breath is to life, yet no duty of the Christian is so neglected. — R. C. Sproul

R. C. Sproul Quotes About Love

Mindless Christianity is no Christianity at all. You can't love what you don't know. — R. C. Sproul

In Christian marriage, love is not an option. It is a duty. — R. C. Sproul

For a work to be considered good it must not only conform outwardly to the law of God, but it must be motivated inwardly by a sincere love for God. — R. C. Sproul

Genuine love for Jesus manifests itself in obedience to His commandments. — R. C. Sproul

Scripture does not say that God is 'love, love, love' or that He is 'wrath, wrath, wrath,' but that He is 'holy, holy, holy.' — R. C. Sproul

It is important that when we are engaged in admonition or exhortation or confrontation with a brother who is overcome in sin, we call attention to the truth in an extraordinarily compassionate and tender and loving spirit. — R. C. Sproul

In His tender mercies, God has an incredible capacity to love the unlovely. — R. C. Sproul

A loving God who has no wrath is no God. He is an idol of our own making as much as if we carved Him out of stone. — R. C. Sproul

The Christian should be able to say with the psalmist, 'Oh, how I love your law.' — R. C. Sproul

R. C. Sproul Quotes About Free Will

If there is one single molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God’s sovereignty, then we have no guarantee that a single promise of God will ever be fulfilled. — R. C. Sproul

Man’s will is free to follow his inclinations, but fallen man’s inclinations are always and invariably away from God. — R. C. Sproul

Christ is still in Christmas, and for one brief season the secular world broadcasts the message of Christ over every radio station and television channel in the land. Never does the church get as much free air time as during the Christmas season. — R. C. Sproul

Disciples of Christ abide in His Word. Those who abide in His Word know the truth and are free. — R. C. Sproul

The neutral view of free will is impossible. It involves choice without desire. — R. C. Sproul

R. C. Sproul Quotes About Death

By His life, death, and resurrection, our Savior has conquered our enemies, and by His Spirit He has granted us to share in the victory. — R. C. Sproul

We may live in a culture that believes everyone will be saved, that we are 'justified by death' and all you need to do to go to heaven is die, but God’s Word certainly doesn’t give us the luxury of believing that. — R. C. Sproul

I think Arminianism is death to Christianity! — R. C. Sproul

R. C. Sproul Quotes About Holiness

If God is the Creator of the entire universe, then it must follow that He is the Lord of the whole universe. No part of the world is outside of His lordship. That means that no part of my life must be outside of His lordship. — R. C. Sproul

God not only initiated my salvation, He not only sowed the seed, but He made sure that that seed germinated in my heart by regenerating me by the power of the Holy Ghost. — R. C. Sproul

Repentance is something that is brought about in the human heart by the work of God the Holy Spirit. — R. C. Sproul

The human dilemma is this: God is Holy and we are not. God is Righteous and we are not. — R. C. Sproul

It is the Holy Spirit who inspired the Bible. It is the Holy Spirit who illumines the Bible. — R. C. Sproul

The failure of modern evangelicalism is the failure to understand the holiness of God. — R. C. Sproul

God’s grace is not infinite. God is infinite, and God is gracious. We experience the grace of an infinite God, but grace is not infinite. God sets limits to His patience and forbearance. He warns us over and over again that someday the ax will fall and His judgment will be poured out. — R. C. Sproul

God's grace is not infinite. God is infinite, and God is gracious. — R. C. Sproul

It's dangerous to assume that because a man is drawn to holiness in his study that he is thereby a holy man. I am sure that the reason that I have a deep hunger to learn of the holiness of God is precisely because I am not holy. — R. C. Sproul

In salvation we are not only saved from sin and damnation; we are saved unto holiness. The goal of redemption is holiness. — R. C. Sproul

R. C. Sproul Quotes About Salvation

What better evidence could there be of a man's salvation than that he offers to others the grace he himself has received? — R. C. Sproul

If the final decision for the salvation of fallen sinners were left in the hands of fallen sinners, we would despair all hope that anyone would be saved. — R. C. Sproul

For the Arminian, salvation is possible for all but certain for none. In the Calvinist position, salvation is sure for God's elect. — R. C. Sproul

The Arminian view makes the final decision of our salvation rest upon a human choice, not upon a divine action. — R. C. Sproul

R. C. Sproul Quotes About Theology

We talk about predestination because the Bible talks about predestination. If we desire to build our theology on the Bible, we run head on into this concept. We soon discover that John Calvin did not invent it. — R. C. Sproul

To be a Christian is to be a theologian-a student of God and his will. The contemporary disdain for theological content and emphasis on self-image and emotions were not shared by the apostolic church. — R. C. Sproul

Reformed theology so far transcends the mere five points of Calvinism that it is an entire worldview. — R. C. Sproul

No Christian can avoid theology. Every Christian has a theology. The issue, then, is not, dowe want to have a theology? That's a given. The real issue is, do we have a sound theology.? Do we embrace true or false doctrine? — R. C. Sproul

In Reformed theology, if God is not sovereign over the entire created order, then he is not sovereign at all. The term sovereignty too easily becomes a chimera. If God is not sovereign, then he is not God. — R. C. Sproul

There's probably no concept in theology more repugnant to modern America than the idea of divine wrath. — R. C. Sproul

Satan could make an "A" in my Systematic Theology course. He knows the information and knows that the information is true. — R. C. Sproul

R. C. Sproul Famous Quotes And Sayings

The most violent expression of God's wrath and justice is seen in the Cross. If ever a person had room to complain for injustice, it was Jesus. He was the only innocent man ever to be punished by God. If we stagger at the wrath of God, let us stagger at the Cross. Here is where our astonishment should be focused. — R. C. Sproul

God did not die. The God who took on Himself a human nature died in His humanity, but the deity did not perish on the cross. — R. C. Sproul

The greatest weakness in the church today is that the servants of God keep looking over their shoulder for the approval of men. — R. C. Sproul

The sin of fallen man is this: Man seeks the benefits of God while at the same time fleeing from God Himself. — R. C. Sproul

For a Christian to be a Christian, he must first be a sinner. Being a sinner is a prerequisite for being a church member. The Christian church is one of the few organizations in the world that requires a public acknowledgement of sin as a condition for membership. — R. C. Sproul

He is intangible and invisible. But His work is more powerful than the most ferocious wind. The Spirit brings order out of chaos and beauty out of ugliness. He can transform a sin-blistered man into a paragon of virtue. The Spirit changes people. The Author of life is also the Transformer of life. — R. C. Sproul

The irony of New Testament lordship is that only in slavery to Christ can a man discover authentic freedom. — R. C. Sproul

To live coram Deo is to live one’s entire life in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God. — R. C. Sproul

The Advent season is that time when we seek to, in a manner of speaking, mute our memory of what has already happened, that we might brighten our joy that it happened. We leave the already of His advent to taste the bitter of the not yet. We, in short, go back, that we might look forward to His coming. — R. C. Sproul

If you truly have it, you never lose it; and if you lose it, you never truly had it. — R. C. Sproul

God's grace is so powerful that it has the capacity to overcome our natural resistance to it. — R. C. Sproul

Here then is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God's Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy. — R. C. Sproul

Humanism was not invented by man, but by a snake who suggested that the quest for autonomy might be a good idea. — R. C. Sproul

The only works of righteousness that serve to justify a sinner are the works of Christ. — R. C. Sproul

We do not segment our lives, giving some time to God, some to our business or schooling, while keeping parts to ourselves. The idea is to live all of our lives in the presence of God, under the authority of God, and for the honor and glory of God. That is what the Christian life is all about. — R. C. Sproul

No one was ever called by God to greater suffering than God's only begotten Son. — R. C. Sproul

There are many today who believe that there are people running around this world right now who are performing greater miracles, performing miracles in greater abundance, and actually doing more incredible acts of divine healing than Jesus himself did. I can't think of any more serious delusion than that. — R. C. Sproul

The cross was a glorious outworking of the grace of God, by which the Father commissioned the Son to make full satisfaction so that sinners might be saved with no sacrifice of God’s justice. — R. C. Sproul

Sometimes we emulate the Pharisees more than we imitate Christ. — R. C. Sproul

Christ told his disciples not to be anxious about tomorrow, but he never said not to consider tomorrow. Intelligent problem solving demands careful consideration of the future effects of present solutions. — R. C. Sproul

Anyone who takes his faith seriously and speaks in behalf of Christ and His kingdom will be accused of fanaticism at some point. — R. C. Sproul

The grounds of your justification are the perfect works of Jesus Christ. We're saved by works, but they're not our own. — R. C. Sproul

What we celebrate at Christmas is not so much the birth of a baby, but the incarnation of God Himself — R. C. Sproul

We live in age of compromise, but if we stand on the bedrock of God’s truth, we will not bend with the winds of relativism and faithlessness. — R. C. Sproul

The Christian life is to live all of your life in the presence of God. — R. C. Sproul

The worst sin against stewardship is to waste your life. — R. C. Sproul

Grace, by definition, is something that God is not required to grant. He owes a fallen world no mercy. — R. C. Sproul

If God is not sovereign, God is not God. — R. C. Sproul

We've replaced the proclamation of Christ with an easy-listening legalism of do more and try harder. — R. C. Sproul

Grace and mercy are never deserved. — R. C. Sproul

Most Christians salute the sovereignty of God but believe in the sovereignty of man. — R. C. Sproul

Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God — R. C. Sproul

If you care about the slaughter of the innocent, then for God's sake, speak up. — R. C. Sproul

There are only two ways that God’s justice can be satisfied with respect to your sin. Either you satisfy it or Christ satisfies it. You can satisfy it by being banished from God’s presence forever. Or you can accept the satisfaction that Jesus Christ has made. — R. C. Sproul

Reformed theology does NOT teach that God brings the ELECT kicking and screaming, against their will, into His kingdom. It teaches that God so-works in the hearts of the Elect as to make them willing and pleased to come to Christ. They come to Christ because they want to. They want to because God has created in their hearts a desire for Christ. — R. C. Sproul

The Bible never tells us to take a blind leap of faith into the darkness and hope that there's somebody out there. The Bible calls us to jump out of the darkness and into the light. That is not a blind leap. The faith that the New Testament calls us to is a faith rooted and grounded in something that God makes clear is the truth. — R. C. Sproul

Christ exposed Himself not only to the unbridled hostility of angry men, but, more significantly, to the unmitigated wrath of God. — R. C. Sproul

The grand difference between a human being and a Supreme being is precisely this: Apart from God I cannot exist; apart from me God does exist. God does not need me in order for Him to be. I do need God in order for me to be. We are dependent. We are fragile. This is how we differ from God. — R. C. Sproul

The sweetest fragrance, the most beautiful aroma that God has ever detected emanating from this planet, was the aroma of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus that was offered once and for all on the cross. — R. C. Sproul

In the culture of pluralism...the only thing that cannot be tolerated is a claim to exclusivity. — R. C. Sproul

If you are of the truth, if you have learned the truth, if you see the sanctity of the truth, then speak truth. We are not called to be deceivers or liars. God is a God of truth, and His people are called to have an enormously high standard of truth. — R. C. Sproul

When God writes our names in the 'Lamb's Book of Life' He doesn't do it with an eraser handy. He does it for eternity. — R. C. Sproul

What is the difference between the Christian God, and the gods of the other religions?" He simply, yet profoundly answered, "The main difference is this: The God of Christianity exists. — R. C. Sproul

Burning hearts are not nourished by empty heads — R. C. Sproul

We cannot change God. God is unchangeable. If changes are to be made, they must be made in us. — R. C. Sproul

The real crisis of worship today is not that the preaching is paltry or that it's too drafty in church. It is that people have no sense of the presence of God, and if they have no sense of His presence, how can they be moved to express the deepest feelings of their souls to honor, revere, worship, and glorify God? — R. C. Sproul

God is not interested in our public displays of piety. He's not interested in religion in terms of the outward show. He's interested in godliness. — R. C. Sproul

All that God had to do to harden Pharaoh's heart, or to harden your heart, is to withhold His own grace. — R. C. Sproul

If you don’t delight in the fact that your Father is holy, holy, holy, then you are spiritually dead. You may be in a church. You may go to a Christian school. But if there is no delight in your soul for the holiness of God, you don’t know God. You don’t love God. You’re out of touch with God. You’re asleep to his character. — R. C. Sproul

Without God man has no reference point to define himself. — R. C. Sproul

I get irritated when I hear preachers say, "Come to Jesus and all your problems will be over." That's just simply a lie. — R. C. Sproul

When you enter the voting booth, don't leave your Christianity in the parking lot. — R. C. Sproul

Just as the normative standard for the good and for the true is God, so the ultimate standard of beauty is God. — R. C. Sproul

When God's justice falls, we are offended because we think God owes perpetual mercy. We must not take His grace for granted. We must never lose our capacity to be amazed by grace — R. C. Sproul

When we behold the face of God, all memories of pain and suffering will vanish. Our souls shall be totally healed. — R. C. Sproul

It's not the wickedness of the pagan that breaks my heart. It's the compromise of the Christian that grieves my soul. — R. C. Sproul

Apostasy occurs when a church leaves its historic moorings, abandons its historic confessional position, and degenerates into a state where either essential Christian truths are blatantly denied or the denial of such truths is widely tolerated. — R. C. Sproul

I had actually gone to a church-related college, but I went on a football scholarship, not because of any interest in the church. — R. C. Sproul

True faith always produces real conformity to Christ. — R. C. Sproul

It is imperative that the Christian, at the beginning of his pursuit to understand what true worship is, gets it clear that the object of our worship is to be God and God alone. — R. C. Sproul

Whenever I read the psalms, I feel like I am eavesdropping on a saint having a personal conversation with God. — R. C. Sproul

The very heart of worship, as the Bible makes clear, is the business of expressing, from the depths of our spirits, the highest possible honor we can offer before God. — R. C. Sproul

Scratching people where they itch and addressing their 'felt needs' is a stratagem of the poor steward of the oracles of God. This was the recipe for success for the false prophets of the Old Testament. — R. C. Sproul

But the blessing Christ promised, the blessing of great reward, is a reward of grace. The blessing is promised even though it is not earned. Augustine said it this way: Our rewards in heaven are a result of God's crowning His own gifts. — R. C. Sproul

The great misconception in our day is this: that God isn´t concerned to protect His own integrity. He´s a kind of wishy-washy deity, who just waves a wand of forgiveness over everybody. No. For God to forgive you is a very costly matter. — R. C. Sproul

Satan can do only what the sovereign God allows him to do. — R. C. Sproul

Your personal testimony, however meaningful it is to you, is not the gospel. — R. C. Sproul

Touching His human nature, Jesus is no longer present with us. Touching his Divine nature, He is never absent from us. — R. C. Sproul

Hope is called the anchor of the soul because it gives stability to the Christian life. But hope is not simply a 'wish' I wish that such-and-such would take place rather, it is that which latches on to the certainty of the promises of the future that God has made. — R. C. Sproul

Life Lessons by R. C. Sproul

1. R. C. Sproul teaches us to approach the Bible with a spirit of humility, allowing the Scriptures to speak for themselves and to shape our understanding of the world.
2. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the Bible in its historical and cultural context, as well as its relevance to our lives today.
3. He encourages us to be diligent in our study of the Bible, and to seek out wise counsel to help us better understand its teachings.