Evangelism & The Sovereignty Of God Part 4

Here is J.I. fourth response to "Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God"

(4) The belief that God is sovereign in grace does not affect the responsibility of the sinner for his reaction to the gospel.

Whatever we may believe about election, the fact remains that a man who rejects Christ thereby becomes the cause of his own condemnation. Unbelief in the Bible is a guilty thing, and unbelievers cannot excuse themselves on the grounds that they were not elect. The unbeliever was really offered life in the gospel, and could have had it if he would; he, and no-one but he, is responsible for the fact that he rejected it, and must now endure the consequences of rejecting it.


‘Everywhere in Scripture,’ writes Bishop J. C. Ryle, ‘it is a leading principle that man can lose his own soul, that if he is lost at last it will be his own fault, and his blood will be on his own head.
The same inspired Bible which reveals this doctrine of election is the Bible which contains the words,

19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." John 3: 19-21

J.I. goes on to say, "The Bible never says that sinners miss heaven because they are not elect, but because they “neglect the great salvation”, and because they will not repent and believe. The last judgment will abundantly prove that it is not the want of God’s election, so much as laziness, the love of sin, unbelief, and unwillingness to come to Christ, which ruins the souls that are lost.
God gives men what they choose, not the opposite of what they choose. Those who choose death, therefore, have only themselves to thank that God does not give them life. The doctrine of divine sovereignty does not affect the situation in any way."

Tell me what you think.