Spurgeon on a Mother's Agreement with God's Judgment on Her Children

Charles Spurgeon tells the story of  a mother who dreamed about the Day of God's Final Judgment of her children...

'She thought the judgment day was come. The great books were opened. They all stood before God. And Jesus Christ said, “Separate the chaff from the wheat; put the goats on the left hand, and the sheep on the right.” The mother dreamed that she and her children were standing just in the middle of the great assembly. And the angel came, and said, “I must take the mother, she is a sheep: she must go to the right hand. The children are goats: they must go on the left.”

'She thought as she went, her children clutched her, and said, “Mother, can we part? Must we be separated?” She then put her arms around them, and seemed to say, “My children, I would, if possible, take you with me.”

'But in a moment the angel touched her; her cheeks were dried, and now, overcoming natural affection, being rendered supernatural and sublime, resigned to God’s will, she said, “My children, I taught you well, I trained you up, and you forsook the ways of God; and now all I have to say is, Amen to your condemnation.”'

-- Tom Nettles, "Living by Revealed Truth"

Jesus, the King, Re-established Human Rule...

“Jesus as King…re-established human rule over the angelic and natural orders. He lived out everything that it means to be human, establishing himself as a wise ruler with dominion over his own appetites, with a will, affections, and conscience guided by the direction of his Father – and not by that of Satan. He walked through human suffering, temptation, and, ultimately, the curse of death itself – standing in the place of wrath itself – to wrest humanity from the Accuser’s fingers.”

-- Russell Moore

The Present Phase of God's Kingdom

"In its present phase, the kingdom is like its King before he was raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of the Father. It can only appear weak and foolish to the world, even though this kingdom is more extensive in its global reach and more intensive in its redemptive power than any earthly empire in history." — Michael Horton

Who/What is your Supreme Authority?

I'm more convinced than ever that the crucial question every person faces is identifying the actual, functioning supreme authority in one's life and 'world-view' (the way you look at the world) -- the supreme authority when it comes to what you think and believe, value and do. (Compare Romans 10:9; Colossian 1:16-18)

No Such Thing as Religious Neutrality

'Augustine knew there was no such thing as spiritual or religious neutrality. People are for or against the Bible’s God. All humanity, he observed, belongs to one of two societies— one city that “lifts up its head in its own glory” and “loves its own strength as displayed in its mighty men,” and another city that “says to its God, ‘Thou art my glory and the lifter up of mine head’” and “‘ I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.’”

-- Jonathan Leeman, "Political Church: The Local Assembly as Embassy of Christ's Rule (Studies in Christian Doctrine and Scripture)" InterVarsity Press

Luther on God and 'gods' (Idolatry)

'Luther’s definition of a “god” is also helpful here: “A ‘god’ is the term for that to which we are to look for all good and in which we are to find refuge in all need. Therefore, to have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in that one with your whole heart.... Anything on which your heart relies and depends, I say, that really is your God.”

'By this definition, everybody has a god— something that they worship, something that justifies them, something that claims the firstfruits of their income and that commands all their obedience.'

-- Jonathan Leeman

God's Sovereignty, Our Responsibility and Political Elections

Whatever candidate you support, you must not use the truth/reality of divine sovereignty to cancel out the truth/reality of human responsibility. Specifically, we are surely obligated to choose leaders who we have good reason to believe will govern with wisdom, integrity and justice, as those virtues are defined by God's Word and God-given reason. We are most certainly not allowed to abdicate that responsibility to choose wisely out of a mistaken notion that God's sovereignty and providence cancel out our God-given duty and responsibility.

God's Word Is a Living Seed

"God's word is a living seed, by which the spiritually dead hearts of men are made living and fruitful." - Hedinger (John Lange's Commentary).

Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility

ANTINOMY: an 'appearance' of contradiction. A key example: Divine sovereignty and human responsibilty....

"The particular antinomy which concerns us here is the apparent opposition between divine sovereignty and human responsibility, or (putting it more biblically) between what God does as King and what he does as Judge.

"Scripture teaches that, as King, he orders and controls all things, human actions among them, in accordance with his own eternal purpose (see Gen 14:8; 50:20; Prov 16:9; 21:1; Mt 10:29; Acts 9:27-28; Rom 9:20-21; Eph 1:11, etc.). Scripture also teaches that, as Judge, he holds every man responsible for the choices he makes and the courses of action he pursues (see Mt 25; Rom 2:1-16; Rev 20:11-13, etc.). [Acts 4:27-28]

"God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility are taught to us side by side in the same Bible; sometimes, indeed, in the same text. Both are thus guaranteed to us by the same divine authority; both, therefore, are true." -- J.I. Packer

Repentance (defined by J.I. Packer)

"Repentance means turning from as much as you know of your sin to give as much as you know of yourself to as much as you know of your God, and as our knowledge grows at these three points so our practice of repentance has to be enlarged."

--J.I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit: Finding Fullness in Our Walk with God, pg 87.

What will we do with our liberty?

“The effect of liberty to individuals is that they may do what they please; we ought to see what it will please them to do, before we risk congratulations.”
— Edmund Burke

Jesus Re-established Human Rule...

“Jesus as King…re-established human rule over the angelic and natural orders. He lived out everything that it means to be human, establishing himself as a wise ruler with dominion over his own appetites, with a will, affections, and conscience guided by the direction of his Father – and not by that of Satan. He walked through human suffering, temptation, and, ultimately, the curse of death itself – standing in the place of wrath itself – to wrest humanity from the Accuser’s fingers.”

-- Russell Moore

The Present Phase of the Kingdom

"In its present phase, the kingdom is like its King before he was raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of the Father. It can only appear weak and foolish to the world, even though this kingdom is more extensive in its global reach and more intensive in its redemptive power than any earthly empire in history." — Michael Horton

Jesus, the Resurrection and Trusting the Bible

"The main reason that I believe the Bible is true is precisely because I believe Jesus was resurrected from the dead. Now whether or not you agree with me about the resurrection, you can probably see why believing that would quickly and strongly lead me to trust the Bible. If Jesus really was raised from the dead, then the only possible, intellectually honest conclusion one can reach is that he really is who he claimed to be. If Jesus actually got up from the grave in the way the Bible says he did, then he really is the Son of God, the King of kings and Lord of lords, the Way, the Truth, the Life, and the Wisdom of God, just like he said. And if that’s true, then it makes sense (doesn’t it?) that he probably knows what he’s talking about, and therefore, we ought to listen to him.

"Now, one thing that is beyond any reasonable doubt is that Jesus believed the Bible. When it comes to the Old Testament, the point is very straightforward; over and over in his teaching, Jesus authenticated and endorsed it as the Word of God. And as for the New Testament, even though it was written years after his days on earth, it too rests ultimately on Jesus’s own authority, and the early Christians knew it. In fact, the two main criteria they used to recognize authoritative books were (1) that those documents had to be authorized by one of Jesus’s apostles and (2) that they had to agree in every particular with Jesus’s own teaching. We’ll talk more about all that later, but the point is pretty clear. Once you decide that Jesus really did rise from the dead, the truth and authority of the Bible follow quickly, naturally, and powerfully."

-- Greg Gilbert, "Why Trust the Bible?" (9Marks) Crossway

How to Truly Receive God's Word

"The whole Bible is for the whole church. We have good Scriptural warrant to come to God’s words expecting them to be understandable and applicable. We should make good on Puritan preacher Thomas Watson’s counsel,

"Take every word as spoken to yourselves. When the word thunders against sin, think thus: “God means my sins;” when it presseth any duty, “God intends me in this.” Many put off Scripture from themselves, as if it only concerned those who lived in the time when it was written; but if you intend to profit by the word, bring it home to yourselves: a medicine will do no good, unless it be applied."
(quoted by Donald S. Whitney in Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life)

"Yes, take every word as spoken to yourself, with this essential anchor in place: seek to understand first how God’s words fell on the original hearers, and how it relates to Jesus’s person and work, and then bring them home to yourself. Expect application to your life as God speaks to us today through the Spirit-illumined understanding of what the inspired human author said to his original readers in the biblical text...."

-- David Mathis, "Habits of Grace"