Embrace the paradox of God's sovereignty and man’s responsibility. The sad thing is that some embrace the sovereignty of God over the human will and say: “It is wrong to portray God with His arms stretched out, inviting and calling.” And others embrace the responsibility of man and say, “If God invites and calls and beckons, then he can’t really be sovereign over man’s will, and man really is ultimately self-determining and God is not really in control of all things.” Both of these are sad mistakes. It is sad, because one group rejects something deep and precious that God has revealed about Himself for our strength and hope and joy and love – namely, his absolute sovereignty. Oh, how sweet it is when all around our soul gives way, and we need a reliable and firm rock in a world that sometimes seems utterly out of control and meaningless and cruel. Oh, how sweet at these times to know that God is not good and helpless, but good and sovereign. And the other group (who embrace the sovereignty of God) sometimes rejects something utterly crucial for understanding the justice of God in dealing with people, and they fail to see how we should plead with people and persuade people and invite people and woo people with tears, to Christ, and on behalf of Christ.
John Piper

Spurgeon PS047

Spurgeon PS047 EXPOSITION. "It is better," said one, "to feel God's favour one hour in our repenting souls, than to sit whole ages under the warmest sunshine that this world…

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Spurgeon PS046

Spurgeon PS046 EXPOSITION. We have now entered upon the third division of the Psalm, in which the faith of the afflicted one finds utterance in sweet expressions of contentment and…

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Spurgeon PS045

Spurgeon PS045 EXPOSITION. Provided that the rebels had obeyed the voice of the last verse, they would now be crying,--"What shall we do to be saved?" And in the present…

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Spurgeon PS044

Spurgeon PS044 EXPOSITION. "_Tremble and sin not_." How many reverse this counsel and sin but tremble not. O that men would take the advice of this verse and _commune with…

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Spurgeon PS043

Spurgeon PS043 EXPOSITION. "_But know_." Fools will not learn, and therefore they must again and again be told the same thing, especially when it is such a bitter truth which…

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Spurgeon PS042

Spurgeon PS042 EXPOSITION. In this second division of the Psalm, we are led from the closet of prayer into the field of conflict. Remark the undaunted courage of the man…

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Spurgeon PS041

Spurgeon PS041 TITLE.--This Psalm is apparently intended to accompany the third, and make a pair with it. If the last may be entitled _THE MORNING PSALM_, this from its matter…

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Spurgeon PS038

Spurgeon PS038 EXPOSITION. This verse contains the sum and substance of Calvinistic doctrine. Search Scripture through, and you must, if you read it with a candid mind, be persuaded that…

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Spurgeon PS037

Spurgeon PS037 EXPOSITION. His only hope is in his God, but that is so strong a confidence, that he feels the Lord hath but to _arise_ and he is saved.…

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Spurgeon PS035

Spurgeon PS035 EXPOSITION. David's faith enabled him to _lie down_; anxiety would certainly have kept him on tiptoe, watching for an enemy. Yea, he was able to sleep, _to sleep_…

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