• God MUST choose me in divine election because my sinful, rebellious nature would never choose God.
• God the Son MUST come as a man to establish righteousness for me as my representative because my righteousnesses are filthy rags.
• Christ MUST die for my sins because I am so sinful, no other sacrifice could ever atone for my sin.
• Christ MUST rise again for my justification because if the death of Christ could not put my sin away, nothing else can make me just.
• God MUST irresistibly draw me to Christ because I cannot and will not come to Christ unless the Father draws me. (John 6:44)
• God the Holy Spirit MUST reveal Christ to me and in me because my dead eyes cannot see Christ unless God gives me eyes to see.
• I MUST be born again because I was born dead in sin.
• God MUST give me a new nature because my old nature cannot improve.
• God MUST keep me to the end by His power because I will wander off and fall away from Christ unless He keeps me.
• God MUST do all in the salvation of my soul because a dead man cannot work, run, obey, call, seek, believe, see, hear, or remain faithful, so God must perform all things for me. (Psalm 57:2)

Let us never diminish one aspect of our Savior’s work to make another appear more glorious. All that Christ is made to us and all that He does for us is vital. We cannot be saved without His work for us; and we cannot be saved without His work in us. Both are vital.

Pastor Don Fortner

GOD IS SOVEREIGN

IF GOD IS SOVEREIGN – HOW ARE MEN RESPONSIBLE? God is sovereign. You cannot take that too far or overstate it. Everything that happens, happens according to the sovereign will of God. “He worketh all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph 1:11).

If God’s will determines everything, how can men be responsible for their actions? Paul addressed this question in Romans 9:18-19, “Therefore hath He mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will He hardeneth. Thou wilt say unto me, why doth He yet find fault? For who hath resisted His will?” A paraphrase would be, “If God hardened my heart, how can I be responsible? I am only acting from the heart that God hardened.” I do not know how to answer that question, other than to say, that is just the way it is. God is sovereign. We are responsible. If my understanding of God’s sovereignty makes me conclude that men are not responsible for their actions, I really do not understand God’s sovereignty. But did you know that a belief of human responsibility is an essential part of spiritual life? We have never confessed our sin before God unless we believe our sin is wholly our fault. There is no confession of sin if we lay the blame on God’s sovereign will. We have never truly asked for mercy if we do not believe we are responsible for our sins. If we deny human responsibility, we must also deny salvation by grace. Grace is for the guilty, not for victims of God’s sovereignty. God is sovereign and men are responsible. It is impossible to believe the Gospel if either of these truths are rejected.

Pastor Todd Nibert

We resemble Christ the most when we freely and unconditionally forgive others. The unsoundness of a vessel is not seen when it is empty, but when it is filled with water, then we shall see whether it will leak or not. It is in our prosperity that we are tested. Men are not fully discovered of themselves till they are tried by the fullness of success. Praise finds out the crack of pride; wealth reveals the flaw of selfishness; and learning discovers the lack of belief. David’s (troublesome) sin was little seen in the tracks of the wild goats, but it became conspicuous upon the terraces of his palace. Success is the crucible of character. Hence, the prosperity which some welcome as an unmixed favor may far more rightly be regarded as an intense form of test. O, Lord, preserve us when we are full as much as when we are empty!