‘THIS I KNOW!’
It all comes down to a choice … a choice that no human being can make unless they are first born again by the Spirit of God! Most people believe there is a “tension” between God’s sovereignty in salvation and man’s responsibility. In order to resolve this supposed dilemma people imagine that God does everything He can do and then leaves the final choice up to us. That’s “fair.” What they fail to understand is man’s total inability to make that choice! The key to understanding God’s plan of salvation is in believing what the Bible teaches concerning repentance and faith. Once the Holy Spirit produces new life in those whom God has chosen and called through the Gospel, the evidence of that new life is a new hef1art, a new mind AND a new will that now CHOOSES to repent, to turn from sin, to give up SELF-rule, and to believe … to trust in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and to acknowledge HIS rule, His Lordship. “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved!” (Romans 10:9). There is no “tension” between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. God commands all people to repent and believe, knowing none WILL until He grants His Spirit, and everyone in whom His Spirit produces new life WILL repent and believe and be saved!! Who then receives the thanks for salvation from those who believe? GOD! Who receives the glory for the lives of those who live to serve Jesus Christ? GOD! And who will be sure to complete the work in those for whom Jesus dies and in whom the Spirit is now at work? GOD!! “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To HIM be glory forever! Amen!!” (Romans 11:36).