Two Parallel Truths

 

God is sovereign, a truth we should not deny,

God is sovereign, a fact that men defy,

He is the only wise God and our Saviour

And our salvation is impossible in any other.

Man is a free moral agent; God made him so,

Man is a free moral agent; God wants him to know,

Created by God in His image and His likeness,

He was the crowning creation before God took His rest.

Hence man is responsible for the decision he makes,

Man is accountable for the risk that he takes,

Man is indictable when he walks in unbelief

When simply to believe will bring him eternal relief.

Man boasts of intelligence and intellectual capacity

And as he achieves he denounces God’s sovereignty,

But be it known that God will hold him accountable

For to renounce the Creator is asking for trouble.

“Come unto me all ye that are laden and burdened”

In so much that Jesus promised to give such rest

But yet he says no man can come to the Son,

The Father must draw him; that is the reconciling test.

If I cannot come except the Father draws me

Tell me how I can determine my eternal destiny?

Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word

Believe on the Lord, Jesus Christ is the biblical record.

Jesus implied that there was a certain amount

That the Father had given him as salvation’s count,

None would be lost no matter Satan’s demand,

Nothing or no one can pluck any from his hand.

But look at Judas who was surnamed Iscariot,

The other disciples were restored but he was not,

Prophesied to betray our Saviour and our Lord,

Check Psalms 109 verse 8; it’s there in God’s Word.

In John chapter seventeen in his high priestly prayer

“I have kept all save one,” we hear Jesus say;

The one who betrayed him he prophesied, woe betide,

Judas, son of perdition went out and committed suicide.

  

From long ago men have been trying to understand

What they perceive to be God’s unfair demand

Concerning the clash between God’s will and ours

And how He manipulates us according to His powers.

Is it really true that men have a free choice?

Is that choice not often violated by God’s sovereignty?

It appears impossible for these two to function

Without God’s will over powering man’s at some junction.

In our finite understanding one thing we should note,

In no circumstances does God grab one by one’s throat

To force one to do anything that He, God demands

For such is not God’s nature; it’s not his purpose or His plan.

Bear with me as I cite another of this mystery,

This working of God’s sovereignty and our responsibility,

In Romans 10 the Apostle Paul asks some questions

Concerning the matter of the sinner’s salvation.

How shall they call on him they have not believed?

How shall they believe on him they have not heard?

Furthermore how shall they hear without a preacher?

How shall they preach except they are sent with a word?

It comes right down to these two parallel truths:

God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility is the proof,

The word does not set out to show how they operate

But it is clearly not God’s nature either one to violate.

  

God’s word as it was written is the historic record

Of things that are future, that are current and have passed,

Such is the authenticity and accuracy of God’s Word

That all other historic documents are totally outclassed.

God will not go back and change what has happened

And all history as God sees it is already written,

He knows the end from the beginning, no need to amend,

He knows each mind, each thought and what we intend.

So that we shouldn’t blame God when we do wrong

And make the excuse that we are weak but He is strong,

And when to Satan’s taunts we constantly bow

Say, that what God does not hinder he simply allows.

No need to fathom how God’s will and ours unfold,

He that believes in Christ will be saved we have been told,

It is God’s sovereign will to save whomever He chooses

But a man will be held accountable if salvation he refuses.

God has a work to perform and perform it He will,

He has called time and again and call He does still,

If you hear His voice you’d better harden not your heart

Lest after a while that stirring conviction from you depart.

As His sovereign will says come and as His Spirit draws,

Do extricate yourself from the lure of man’s applause,

For you have a responsibility to respond to God’s call,

As the invitation comes to you do no longer stall.

For God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy

And have compassion on whomever He will,

So then it is not of him that wills or of him that runs

But of God that shows mercy; He shows mercy still.

Stewart Russell© 2016