An Act of the Will

 

There is much conflict

Between Armenians and Calvinists

And there is clearly a major point

That both of them miss.

 

That point being, of course,

God’s ways are past finding out

And that man’s enormous deficit

Is surely without doubt.

 

For every one who is saved

It was an act of the will,

Concerning what Calvinists hold

This is the bitter pill.

 

The elect chooses to be saved

By a definite act of the will,

Thus, the “whosoever will” may come

We hear the invitation still.

 

There is clearly no doubt

That choice is a factor,

Those who come will not be denied

Who don’t, is another matter.

 

 

 

God is God

And He is definitely in charge,

He was and is and always will be

Though often disparaged.

 

His sovereignty is intact

Despite giving man a choice,

That is to accept His invitation

Or ignore His voice.

 

In the acceptance of grace

Neither is compromised:

God’s sovereignty and our choice

Work side by side.

 

On this wise we ought to pray

Even when I don’t understand

Lord, let me never wander away

From your sovereign hand.

 

 

The elect is the elect

Because they’re chosen of God,

Is it any wonder, therefore,

They answered His call.

 

They were given to Christ

As is outlined in the Word

And to think Satan can snatch them

Is to be absurd.

 

Having said yes to His call

They are held by His hand

And nothing can pluck them out:

No creature or no man.

 

For by an act of their will

They show they are the elect

And seeing the footsteps of Jesus

They fell in step.

 

Prevenient grace or total depravity

Is not the critical issue

But having heard Christ call,

What will you do?

 

 

Christians argue technicalities

While sinners are lost and undone,

It is for such sinners the Saviour died

And now he bids them come.

 

A simple act of the will

Expressed in an act of faith,

God’s sovereignty and our free will

Meeting in wonderful grace.

 

Stewart Russell © March 21, 2024

 

God’s New Thing

 

 

 

“God is doing a new thing

In His church today,”

The number of times I have heard this

I cannot actually say.

 

Neither can I tell you

How long this new thing lasts,

But as soon as another comes along

The other new thing is passed.

 

Over several periods of time

We’ve had more than one new thing

Such that it is even reflected

In the very choruses we sing.

 

“These are the days of Elijah”

Was the title of one of these songs

And it still puzzles me even now

How Elijah actually belonged.

 

What really would be new

That God would do these days?

I desperately need an answer

If God has changed His ways.

 

It is actually definitely true

That God makes all things new

But that this pertains to the believer

Is my considered view.

 

 

The believer is a new creation,

After all, he is born-again

And the fact that old things are passed,

He will never be the same.

 

From death to eternal life

From sin’s darkness to the light,

From no people to be God’s people

Once blind but now having sight.

 

The result of Christ’s coming

Comprises this new thing of God,

Ever since the advent of Pentecost

The Gospel is spread abroad.

 

This is the blessed millennium

That was long ago prophesied:

The preaching of the glorious Gospel

Of the Christ that was crucified.

 

Some view a millennium to come

As in an exact thousand-year reign,

I too once took that position

But I was compelled to refrain.

 

We are in the millennium

Ever since the day of Pentecost

And the whosoever is being invited

To come by way of the cross.

 

The new thing that God is doing

Was prophesied in the Old Testament

And in the words of John, the Baptist,

Calling all people to repent.

 

No special treatment for the Jew

And surely none for the Greek,

So, be like those wise men of old

And Jesus, the Saviour seek.

 

All that seek him will find him

And they will be made anew,

This is the new thing God is doing,

I thought it was time you knew.

 

Stewart Russell © April 28, 2021

 

 

None Is Squeaky Clean

 

In every life there’s a little dirt

A little scum and grease,

And often it turns up to haunt us

And to rob us of our peace.

 

None of us is squeaky clean

There’s some dirt in every past

And to ever get the rid of it,

Is an impossible task.

 

None can rewrite his history,

What is written is written

But God is faithful to all that asked

And our sins can be forgiven.

 

Our sins He nailed to the cross

When His Son was crucified,

Our past we can put behind us

We no longer have to hide.

 

 

For all have sinned, the Bible says,

And fallen short of God’s glory

But God through Jesus made a way

To change our sin-stricken story.

 

The wages of sin is death

But someone paid that debt for us

And just in case you didn’t know,

That someone is Jesus.

 

He calls the whosoever to himself

It matters not what he has done,

He will in no wise cast him off

There’s no more need to run.

 

One cannot rewrite his past

But it need not be his blight,

Jesus can change the vilest sinner

If he would come to the light.

 

That light is Jesus!

Jesus is the light of the world,

There is life eternal in Jesus Christ

He is the living Word.

 

 

Come to him this moment

Especially if you hear his voice,

Come to him; don’t turn away,

There is no better choice.

 

Stewart Russell © August 2020

 

Such Great Salvation

A salvation that is real

A salvation that is true

I have that salvation

Tell me, do you?

A salvation that is free

It is eternal too

One can never earn it

Neither me, nor you

This salvation is a gift

It is God’s gift to man

It was given to him

Via the second Adam

The first Adam failed

But not the second Adam

And so to our account

His success is reckoned

It is imputed to us

On it we have no claim

It is so only because

Jesus was slain

Jesus died our death

So that we could live

There is nothing in exchange

That we can give

Our life was worthless

Until Jesus came in

It is only through him

We are freed from sin

Our sentence was death

Ever since Adam fell

And that meant death

In an eternal hell

But God sent forth

His only Son from above

His was an expression

Of the greatest love

  

We esteemed him not

He was stricken of men

We refused to believe

He was whom God did send

There on Golgotha’s hill

Jesus was crucified

In that “place of a skull”

Jesus suffered and died

He rose from the dead

As he said he would

And effected for us

What no other man could

It is by his spilt blood

We are saved from sin

It is for the “whosoever”

That believes in him

No shedding of blood

No remission of sin

Such great salvation

Only comes through him

He was our blood donor

Ours was not a match

This salvation is ours

With no price attached

Though invaluable it is

There is no cost to us

Such great salvation

Through the blood of Jesus

This is a fairy tale

Some may want to say

But a real hell awaits such

On that coming day

The only means of escape

Is in this great salvation

Any other way you choose

Spells eternal damnation

Stewart Russell © January 2019

The Wedding

I once attended a wedding

Though not in person

And there I met some people

The most important was God’s Son.

The guests were of all types

Many of the rich and influential,

The middle class were in attendance

And also were some poor people.

Jesus was at that wedding

Along with all his disciples

John recorded it in the Gospels

In John chapter 2 of the Bible.

It was held in Cana of Galilee

And the mother of Jesus was there,

When all the wine had run out

Before her son she would appear.

This could have been embarrassing

For they should have been enough

So the fact that the wine ran out

Presented a situation most tough.

“They have no wine,” she said to him.

“What is that to me?” He replied.

“It’s not yet my hour,” he also said

And to the servants she turned aside.

“Whatever he says you must do,”

Were her words of brief instruction

And not very long after this  

Her son went into action.

“Fill the water pots with water,” he said,

And they fill them to the brim,

“Draw out now and give the governor.”

He next instructed them.

Like on so many other occasions

It was Jesus that made the difference,

The governor spoke to the bridegroom

Of it he could make no sense.

  

Normally the best wine is served first

Then after, that which is worse,

However not so at this wedding

For the best wine was the final course.

When Jesus is in the marriage

The worst is passed away,

The wine he gives is truly great

It’s the dawning of a wonderful day.

As I read the record of this event

I thought of the ending of time

When the bride will be the church

And the groom will be Jesus, the Divine.

A wedding of weddings that will be

At the marriage supper of the Lamb,

Today the “whosoever” is invited

That is every girl, boy, woman and man.

Jesus provided the wedding garment

Made available by his precious blood,

No other attire is necessary

And our self-design garbs are no good.

A man once attended a wedding

But refused the garment provided,

Bound hand and foot he was cast out

And in outer darkness he resided.

Do not take Jesus’ invitation lightly

Respond to him today,

To be prepared for that coming wedding

Is by far the better way.

Stewart Russell © July 2017