Ferguson, Martin, Eareckson-Tada, and Sproul: Questions and Answers #2

are see we introduced a number of students this morning if you remember from grade school through seminary and we have so many young people with us and it stimulated a number of our questions have come from younger people as well and here's one it's very thought-out from Katherine who's 12 years old and it's to you my grandfather died five years ago and we aren't sure whether he went to heaven or hell will we be sure when we die and could we recognize him if he didn't go to heaven will we be sad will we grieve how about revelation 21:4 she's a student there too can we love someone and not be sad that that person is not a friend of Christ and that is eternally stuck and help I remember sitting in seminary with one of my professors Paul wrestling with that same question and the question was put on the table how could I possibly be happy in heaven if I get there and find out my mother's not there or my daughter or my husband my wife whatever how could I have any delight in that and the professor made a comment that I thought was so bizarre I laughed because I didn't know what else to do he said don't you know that when you once you become totally glorified and sanctified in heaven that he would be able to watch your mother burning in hell and rejoice that she is there I mean what do you say when somebody says something I just started laughing I think you gotta be nuts because I'm not anywhere near that that level of sanctification but the point that he was saying is that when we come to the place we're the total desire of our heart is to see the glorification of Christ and understand that the beauty and excellence of God's holiness and justice are glorified just as much in the punishment of the wicked as it is in the grace that's given to those who are redeemed then maybe we'll be able to deal with that but in the meantime in between time I'm still in this vale of tears I haven't experienced that level of sanctification and there are many times that I'm more concerned about the well-being of my friends than I am of the glory of God or the glory of Christ and that's not entirely bad be careful be careful you understand me correctly I think that we are supposed to have in this world a passionately concern for those who are outside the scope of the redeemed you remember Paul when he's when he takes an oath in Romans saying that he would willing himself to be a cursed for the sake of his kinsmen according to the flesh Israel you hear what he's saying he said I'd be willing to trade my own salvation for the salvation of those whom I love now maybe he was being again hyperbolic but I think that that there was a heart in what he was saying about the real concern that he had for his friends and his neighbors I don't think we should ever give up hope for our loved ones even even after they died not that they get a second chance but the one place where I want the future destiny to be located is in the hands of God there's no safer place for them to be and no more dangerous place for them to be thank you Johnny you have a verse out it's just in answering that question at a pastoral level many times when you need to speak write it all right right into it like that all right thank you I need to be tutored in these things thank you I found the the well-known text in Genesis 1825 to be a means of comfort again and again shall not the judge of the earth do right and to look into the face of a child or a young person or a distressed parent and just say do you have confidence that the God was loved you in Christ is utterly just and righteous yes then he will do what is right make sure Katherine got that that verse again which is at Genesis yes Genesis 18 and verse 25 18 25 Johnny I don't know if you ever get asked any easy questions it seems like God has given you a pulpit for a hard question so I've got kind of a tough one here for you and great my wife and I have a serial severely handicapped son I think they say angleman syndrome I think his let's go who will never speak it was profoundly mentally who has the seizure disorder who will always struggle with ambulation we love him with all that we have he is a special gift from God we know that he is a bruised Reed that will be scorned by many in his lifetime I even admit that we struggle at times to think of that lifetime of caring for him that is ahead of us can you advise me on how to love and support my wife and my son and his two brothers in a way that steams Christ so that we as a family can upset the world by the way we live for Christ in the midst of Nicholas's struggle in life hmm well I would wish that my own husband were here so that he could answer that leadership I am told is best demonstrated through service servant leadership is the sort of leadership that the Lord Jesus exemplified and certainly when my husband has to get up at 2 a.m. to turn me or when I have the flu and he has to blow my nose at 4 a.m. were pounding on the back with a good call I know that he's doing more than winning jewels in a crown he is he is demonstrating Jesus the Lord Jesus in such a tangible way which makes me love him all the more my passion for my husband is superseded only by his graciousness and service and this gives him an extraordinary testimony among the men in our little PCA Church they see that he's not simply married to a handicapped woman and given up his life to serve her he has given up his life to serve the Lord Jesus and God just so happens to have him married to somebody with a disability these are all metaphors for the gentleman who wrote this question there are ways that we can be the best of husbands to our wives yes when we're changing the diapers of our little infant but if that infant becomes disabled and you have to change that diaper when that child is 12 years old or when he becomes a young adult then service becomes indeed sacrificial but the leadership that you demonstrate in your home it's raised to an exponential level because you are serving as a leader plus this gentleman would have an extraordinary testimony to the men in his church my husband often teases and talks about how when he married me he never realized that that would mean such a job description but when we do marry we say things like for better or for worse in sickness and in health I think of doctormick Wilkin former president of Columbia International University and all of us in the disability community especially the men in the disability community men who are married to women with multiple sclerosis or men who are raising children alongside their wives children with trisomy 18 or muscular dystrophy they look at something like doctormick Wilkin who gave up a presidency of one of the most prestigious universities in the world who stepped down from that platform to serve his wife I get tears in my eyes thinking about that kind of service leadership and every husband has a chance to do the same I give away that book and I just give all I just gave all gave away by next to the last copy I would give anything if somebody would reprint that book fortune he's a friend of ours in California and wrote a book called not us sometimes love his wife came down with double polio I believe just weeks after they were married it's a powerful book and for those of you struggling with the question that Johnny was just responding to I would recommend that book yeah I'll create a lottery for the last book that's on my shelf I think I'm the only one that's got one copy left except for the questions we get we have officials here today from Presbyterian Reform publishing company tell them if you give anything for them to reprint that book these people listen when you tell them that that book is what my husband and I read that book before we got married and I would love if you RC said it and if RC says it got to be done any publishers out there and we would love to see that book in print Sinclair I write at the end of your talk today we covered this question briefly you talked about being perfect as your heavenly father you said this is a personal thing and not a governmental thing and things like that but a lot of people kind of didn't hear the full application of that they want to know what about what you had to say this morning about loving your enemies and military service and police work can called upon in the line of duty to use firearms and you've you know where I'm headed that a lot of questions about that can you reflect on that a little bit yeah that's that's a good question Paul and I think there are there are different dimensions and which one can answer questions like that the first thing I would say is that those questions should only be allowed from us when we are on our faces before the Lord saying lord help me to love my enemies and I just have a niggling feeling often if I may dare to say so on this side of the Atlantic more than on the other side that sometimes those questions of Christian political correctness divert us from the radical challenge of Jesus to love those who are actually our personal enemies and so I think first of all we have got to take on board the radical character of Christ's call but then second like everything in Scripture you press every exhortation of Scripture to the absolute limit you say I will go with this as far as scripture will allow me to go and that means that you do end up knocking into questions like how does this relate to for example the apparent legitimacy of being involved in civil jurisdiction involved in war and when you press these questions together I think it becomes clear that the Christian inevitably lives in two worlds he is a citizen in my case I'm a citizen of the United Kingdom but I'm primarily a citizen of the kingdom of heaven but because I'm a citizen in both of these realms I'm always going to be struggling to answer the question how do I work out what it means to be a citizen of the kingdom of heaven when I am actually and legitimately a citizen in the realm of Queen Elizabeth the second and it's when you get to placing these two responsibilities beside each other that you get some questions that I think actually are difficult to answer but in general I think it's pretty plain in Scripture that it is for exact example legitimate for a nation as a nation to defend itself against the assaults of the enemy and in in reformed theology that has always been a character characteristic position of reformed theology it is legitimate to serve on the bench to be a judge it's legitimate to argue a case in a law court because you are a citizen of this world and the kind of teaching Nepal gives in Romans 13 the kind of teaching that Peter gives plays into application there and I think the only way of living under the tension within the tension of these two kingdoms is to recognize once primary allegiance to this command of Jesus but we love one we love our enemies absolutely to the limit until we find that we are working in a sphere where we are operating not as a citizen of the world to come but legitimately operating as a citizen of this Wow Raymond I gotta say something I can't believe I heard what he just said did I hear you say something about queen elizabeth ii well i preached once in scotland and i made reference to queen elizabeth ii and they set me straight in a hurry and they said she's queen elizabeth ii in england but here in scotland she's queen was well first let me let me give you an answer to that when when you come into this country as the citizen of another country it is spelt out for you do not tell them you're a citizen of Scotland or England United Kingdom United Kingdom so as a citizen of the United Kingdom following the principles of Romans 13 I call Queen Elizabeth queen elizabeth ii as a citizen of scotland did he not say laughs let me make it plain that she is Elizabeth the first well because you're not English right that's right we've just seen a modern harmonization of a synoptic crop how one wing is we have two titles that's right very good well I'm glad you took us down that rabbit our scene was really enlightening that's a serious stuff here Alice I was saying the question comes what is the importance to the unbeliever in the world to see reconciliation and restoration of a repentant excommunicated member of the local church could you run that by a gambit amid all the stress the importance of the world witnessing reconciliation of church members who are redundant and maybe have been excommunicated is that an important thing for the world to see does that upset their their view of what life's all about well there seems to be an assumption that somehow the world has heard about the business of the church that's that was the park that was kind of sticking going down that I think the principle that is inherent in church discipline and when we see a passage such as Matthew 18 that the knowledge of the sin that the offending brother or sister should only go as far as it's necessary righteously to deal with the sin and to make a bona fide gospel endeavor to reclaim the sinning brother or sisters so that if it's a case where it's inevitable that people would know man whose children know his wife knows that he's been excommunicated or formally censured as far as that knowledge may leak out of being the family affair among God's people then certainly the news off to leak out with with greater force and extent if this person is repented and we've demonstrated the gospel in the restoration to the fellowship of the church is at the end of the day is Sinclair emphasized this morning it's the gospel that was percolate through the entire life of the church and even Church discipline must be viewed as a gospel ordinance and not as some kind of a judicial court that delights and locking people up if they don't behave themselves for those of you listening on the tape we are either having a storm that blew in or a 747 is landing on the roof of the Convention Center one of the other hurricane ball you talk about the extent unfortunately sometimes those types of things lead to church splits and it does blow up in a community and the community at large becomes aware of those types of things and with today's media gets in the media and things like that does that expand or change that well thankfully that that's a theoretical question for me I again I would say that if against our choice and our doings in the life of the church the thing has leaked out then I would think every responsible endeavor ought to be made without letting someone else set our agenda to demonstrate that the gospel does work toward reconciliation but in some cases especially in our litigious climate I think one of the areas where we will increasingly pay a price for Biblical integrity in our church life is to have litigation against the church we know how it's gone on for years in the situation with our brother McIlhenny out in the on the west coast and that may be one of the areas that we're going to have to pay a price for biblical integrity I I can envision the day when if it becomes known that with people ready to lay down their lives for the salvation of a vow unashamedly confessed homosexuals people that you're seeking to love but you're prepared to tell them that what they are doing stands under the disapproval of and you call them to repentance and faith I can envision the day when our churches may be picketed when we may lose our tax exempt status when our president issues the proclamation such as he did for the month of June and he's proud of what he's done in that area that's going to have a filtering effect in making that movement all the more bold to insist in total approbation it's not a matter of just wanting civil protection they demand total after approbation and particularly from the religious community who in their I stand as the accusing finger against the lifestyle anybody else wanna Sinclair from a thirteen year old is there a point when you've gone too far and upsetting the world I don't think they mean their parents but if so when is maybe this does relate a little bit to Al's response here but a 13 year old is asking is there a point when you've gone too far and upsetting the world if there is we haven't reached it yet to a thirteen-year-old or our or a hundred and thirteen year old keep close to Christ and there is never any danger of you going beyond the borders of upsetting the world never any danger never Johnny I'm sure you've dealt with this question and you touched on it in here in your wonderful talk you gave earlier today it stimulated them not a number of people to to wonder if you could change your life would you change it knowing what you know you I'm sure you've been asked that question a million times if you could go back beyond before the dive and the Chesapeake how do you how do you deal with that question you're not asking if I were standing on that raft would I still take that dive if it hadn't been differently if you could know yeah well that's not the way to ask I'd still take that dive in the last couple of years I've had a lot of physical pain which has made my disability a disability all over again I think it was Amy Carmichael who once said that once you recognize suffering as a gift you can never call it suffering again but when I began experiencing this excruciating pain it became suffering all over again yet in it I experienced a tenderness and a sweetness of the grace of the Lord Jesus that rose me to a whole new level a new dimension of fellowship with him and it was so precious and as I began to climb out of that pain my prayer was do not let me forget these lessons Lord Jesus and so if I were to change anything I guess I am sorry for the many years I wasted my sufferings the many years where I complained about the bed sores or grumbled about having to be in bed many long months after a surgery I wish I would have capitalized I wish I would have carpe diem die wish I would have seized those moments and allowed God to reveal to me new and fresh things about himself then I'm 50 years old now and what I'm experiencing and what I'm learning of the Lord Jesus I should have learned years ago and I feel like I'm a babe all over again so I I wish I wouldn't have wasted so many of those early years but praise God he redeemed all those years the locust ate he gave me wonderful Christian friends who sat by my bedside opened up their Bibles travailed supplicated on my behalf and for that I'm very grateful no I would not do another film again no son of John II know beneath the planet of Johnny no Johnny's revenge that's it there are no guarantees and I my responses I thought about there for men was well only God and that God himself and the character of God is the only guarantee what do you think about my answer I think that it's amazing we all don't suffer more I think that's what I so enjoyed about dr. Lorraine Boehner's book the reformed doctrine of predestination and people have often asked me what's the most meaningful book you ever read and I always point to that one and I'm no preacher Michael beatty's mentioned that I'm no teacher I'm no expository I don't know any Greek or Hebrew I'm I'm I'm peanuts compared to these Giants up here but I do know in reading that book that I gained this enormous appreciation that were it not for God controlling suffering evil would come at us uncontrolled and Satan would make little jobs of us all and our heads would be hanging on his wall and this planet would have ripped apart at the seams eons ago and that so many of us enjoy health eyesight hearing mental capabilities our children bless the Lord grow up they go to college they get married they have children of their own and all this without undue hardship Hebrew says none of us has suffered to the point of shedding blood I mean we're all here we're all breathing we're all listening you know God's in his heaven all's well with the world that we don't suffer more to me is the gracious goodness of God well we want to thank all of you for participating in this time we're just reflecting in some of the questions that have come from our folks and we've really been moved and challenged by each of your presentations RC give us a little bit we have yet to hear dr. Ferguson and then your conclusion where are we headed and a heavy message and then your conclusion how is this conference going to wrap up in these next two on the blood of the martyrs and can you give us just a little preview of where we're headed in these last two sessions look at me well I thought for sure go ahead I know aren't you speaking on the blood of the martyrs I think he was looking at you well I can't wait to teach Johnny some Greek and Hebrew and see what she's like after that do you really believe so well I'm going to speak a little about the the history of martyrdom in some very small cameo portraits and then I want to turn to Scripture and try and work out some of the principles that lie behind the fruitfulness of martyrdom in the history of the challenge and in the in the final message Paul I'm going to go back to the first message where I read from 1st Corinthians where Paul cited the passage i hath not seen nor hath ear heard nor is it entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him then go to Jesus parable of the unjust judge which has this one of its central points the answer to the question will not God vindicate his elect who cry unto Him day and night and then finish with a brief look at what one I was privileged to see on the Isle of Patmos where God removed the veil for a moment and allowed John to gaze into the future to see what we will all see in the final chapter of the upsetting of the world with the new heaven and the new earth

Channel: Ligonier Ministries

Views: 20,554

Rating: 4.9106145 out of 5

Keywords: evangelism, theological liberalism, heaven, disability, loving our enemies, love your enemy, excommunication, church discipline, providence, Theology (Field Of Study), Church (Type Of Place Of Worship)

Id: NN--Banwuic

Length: 30min 22sec (1822 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 26 2013