Luke 13:23
Ask Not how many shall be saved?
Ask Am I one of them?
Ask not What shall become of such and such?
Ask What will I do and what will become of me?
Strive to enter the narrow gate.
This is directed to even us 2000 years later.
It's a narrow road and few find it.
But don't ask, Whom?
Ask, How am I doing on this Narrow Road.
Charles Spurgeon's Sermon #39-40 on Heaven and Hell -
http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0039.htm
What will you think if you hear the voice behind you saying Amen! to your condemnation...
and that voice is your mom, your dad?
"Separate the chaff from the wheat;
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.' Her children clutched her, as she said: '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.' Thereupon they were snatched away, and she saw them in perpetual torment while she was in heaven. ... "
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
ReplyDeleteOne way to enter the narrow Gate, banking on His Saving Name alone.
I'm filled with sadness about this passage yet I have read it many times and have not acted once to talk to someone I love about salvation after reading it. What is that about? My salvation is secure in Christ alone but I can't bear the thought of loved ones gnashing teeth in eternal damnation.
The road is narrow to Life, the road wide to destruction. Help direct our steps, Lord.
This passage too fills me with sadness. I've talked to my sister, my husband has talked to my sister and her only response has been...."I don't want to lose my friends"...and then she did say once " I asked Jesus into my heart, but I don't want to talk about it and not another word is to be spoken about it" and she has continued to live in her lifestyle that screams " I do not know Jesus, all I know to do is to keep praying that His light will penetrate her darkness and be ready to talk should she ever want to talk about Him. The gate is so narrow and way too many people want the easy way and not the Only way.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your words of encouragement that you post here on the String.....
I've hung on to this Spurgeon story since I first heard it back in February in a sermon on Heaven & Hell preached by Matt Carter at Austin Stone to 7,000---lots of young people too. When Matt hit the crescendo of the tale and the Mom said "Amen" to the condemnation of her children, you could hear a collective gasp in the church gym. It's a moment I will not forget. A timeless tale that has been passed down from a Spurgeon sermon delivered over 150 years ago in a field near Hackney. Unforgettable story. Repent or perish.
ReplyDeleteSpurgeon speaks a loud warning in that sermon, Bev. As a christian, I believe in hell. And we are given ample opportunity to escape it's torment. Oh merciful God, let Your Spirit come and convict. Repent or perish.
ReplyDeleteSober words from today's reading in Luke.