Sovereignty Responsibility 03

The Bible's clear teaching
1. On the one hand the Bible teaches plainly God is sovereign (some of you know these texts well)
Isaiah 46:9, 10 ... I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

Daniel 4:34, 35 His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: What have you done?

Proverbs 16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.

Ephesians 1:11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we ... might be for the praise of his glory.

Romans 9:15-21 (God) says ... I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. ... God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. One of you will say to me: Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will? But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?

2. Yet on the other hand, the Bible also stresses human responsibility. It is everywhere in Scripture.

The Bible says that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

In John 1:12 it says that to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

When the Philippian Jailer asks how to be saved Paul and Silas say (Acts 16:31) Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.

Or what about 1 Corinthians 9:24-27? Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.
If we are faithful to the Bible there is no denying one or the other. That is why when asked on one occasion how he would reconcile the two, Spurgeon characteristically answered “I wouldn’t try, I never reconcile friends.” Jim Packer reflecting Spurgeon has rightly written, “In the Bible, divine sovereignty and human responsibility are not enemies. They are not uneasy neighbours. They are not in an endless state of cold war with each other. They are friends, and they work together.” But what is the meeting-point of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility? How can God assert his sovereignty and exercise the power he does and yet not interfere with man’s freedom, destroy his responsibility and reduce him to a machine?