God's sovereignty - man's responsibility

How can it be possible that God is absolutely sovereign over the affairs of all of His creation and also that we are completely responsible for our every action? Puzzling? Yes. Confusing? Sometimes, sure. Contradiction (and therefore not true)? Not at all.
This past Sunday, Allen laid out the case for both these truths from Scripture. The betrayal of Jesus Christ by one of his twelve disciples, Judas, is one of those historical events that causes us to pause and contemplate God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. Matthew records Jesus' sobering words highlighting these two truths: "The Son of Man goes as it is written of him , but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed ! It would be better for that man if he had not been born." Here we clearly see the death of Christ as predetermined by a sovereign God and also the sobering reality that Judas, the betrayer, is held responsible for his actions leading to Christ's death. Several other passages point this out as well (see Luke 22:22;Acts 2:22-24, 4:27-28).
Maybe you are like several in our fellowship grappling with these doctrines. At the end of both services, I recommended a little booklet written by John Piper entitled History's Most Spectacular Sin . We ran out of the booklets (a good thing, right? except if you wanted one!) on Sunday. By clicking on the booklet title in the above sentence (if I have done the link correctly) you should be re-directed to the Desiring God Ministries website where the .pdf of the booklet is available for you to read in its entirety.
I wanted to get this information to you before Sunday, because Allen is preaching from Matthew 27 a sermon entitled, Judas: II - The Downfall of Judas Iscariot. So the topic is still before us!
As the Lord deepens our understanding of His absolute sovereignty and our responsibility, may the conviction of our sin lead us to find comfort in the completed work of His Son on our behalf.
The discovery of these wonderful truths is best accomplished in fellowship.
Looking forward to our fellowship together in His presence.
Pastor Tim