Sovereignty of God

"You're saved by your personal faith and because of the total and absolute sovereignty of God who chose you in Him before the foundation of the world. You're saved because He designed to redeem you before the world was ever created. That's what's known in the Bible as pre‑destination, election and I believe in it absolutely and totally. But I also believe in personal faith and I believe Jesus put them both together in John 6 when He said, "No man cometh unto Me except the Father" what? "Draw him", God does that but He also said this, "Him that cometh unto Me", what? "I will no ways cast out." There you have the balance of salvation. It's total and absolute sovereignty and it's personal faith and how the two meet, I don't know and I'll never know till I see God. That's His problem not mine. I'm just glad He said, "Whosoever will‑‑may come." I'll let Him worry about how He justifies that with His absolute sovereignty. "
(Sermon; Entering into God's rest, 1972)
"This (salvation) is a work of God, solely a work of God, but you will be held responsible if you do not believe, and you are called to believe and eternal life awaits you if you will believe. Those are twin truths that run parallel. May I tell you? They will always run parallel. They will always run parallel. They will never come together. They will never intersect. They will never be diminished; legitimately, they are what they are. The fact that you don't understand how they go together only proves that you're less than you should be. It doesn't say anything about God. Your inability to harmonize those things is a reflection of your fallenness, my fallenness. People ask me all the time, "How do you harmonize those?" And my answer is, "I don't. I can't." They can't be harmonized in the human mind. But realize this, you are a puny mind and so am I, and collectively we are puny compared to the infinite, vast, limitless mind of God. All I can tell you is that in the Word of God, these truths run parallel. And the answer is to believe them both with all your heart. And the one, divine sovereignty, will inform your worship and the other, human responsibility, will motivate your evangelism."
(Sermon; Twin Truths; God's Sovereignty and Man's Responsibility, 2013)
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