The whole purpose of the Holy Spirit working in this world is to bring all men to repentance. He desires that all repent. But the actual act of believing is NOT done by God. It is done by each person. It is accepting His offer of salvation through faith. If God does it, man is not the active agent and CANNOT be held accountable. Holding to that faith is also your responsibility, not the Holy Spirit's. A believer can reject that offer at any time. That is our huge problem living in a sinful world, with a still sinful nature. It is a constant battle to keep the faith. It is why confession of our sins is so important.
I quite agree, but it seems that Predestination, or the Perseverance of the Saints, ie "TULIP," has been injected into this? Understanding the language of the Bible with respect to redemption and atonement is one thing, but understanding Predestination is very much another thing.
God clearly designed Man to make free choices, and I agree with you--this is Man's domain. But the role God plays in this involves the connection between God's own spoken word and the affect it has upon those He predestined.
Let me put it this way, because I am a Predestinarian. But I also believe in Free Human Choice. Let's say God designed the world to hold 10 billion people, which He designed to reflect His image and likeness.
But then human choice entered into the equation, and Satan provided a nasty alternative to living in God's image and likeness. So Man, out of duress and temptation, chose to go in the wrong direction.
Due to the mixed nature of this choice, the choice to covet and lust and the duress imposed by Satan, Man continued to multiply, as God designed him, and produced a mixed bag of people, some choosing to repent, confessing they were weak to Satan's temptations, and others, hardening their hearts, and choosing to remain in their lust and covetousness.
Let's now say that the world has produced well over 10 billion people saved because God wanted to reach the 10 billion mark. But in order to do so, He had to delay things while Man produced children who refused to cooperate and delay reaching the 10 billion people mark.
Here is an example of predestination and free human choice. Man produces children, some of whom fit into the 10 billion preplanned people and others who refuse to do so.
God nevertheless uses all men to accomplish his goal of 10 billion people, some born to the rebels, until the full 10 billion saved mark is reached. By free human choice, some will choose for their own independent, autonomous existence. Others will subscribe to God's revealed word and become among those God, by His Word, pre-planned.