The Sinner Must Decide
Excerpt from J. Preston EbyStrange as it may seem there are many
today who insist that they believe in salvation by grace,
yet they insist that man has the power to "make a
decision for Christ." They argue that "God
loves everyone, equally and alike," yet they are
sure that He is going to send some people to hell forever.
They affirm that the Bible teaches that the Creator
of all things is surely omnipotent, but they are
also quite confident that finite man is fully capable of
obstructing the will of God. In nearly every case the
problem lies in the fact that these dear people do not
know Bible truth. They have heard nothing from their
pulpits but "plan of salvation" sermons minus
the wonderful truths which make up the plan! If they were
asked to explain the meaning of such doctrines as
redemption, propitiation, reconciliation, remission, and
atonement, they would either mutter trivia or be
absolutely speechless. Why? Because they have never been
taught, nor have they had the spiritual vigor necessary
to discover for themselves, what Scripture actually
teaches about the work of Christ. There is one thing they
hold in common: the confidence that man can use his own
"positive volition" or "free will" to accept Christ and get himself "saved."
"The Bible plainly teaches that fallen man is blinded to the truth;
the soulish man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them
because they are spiritually discerned, and the soulish
man has not the Spirit. Thus the sinner does not realize
and appreciate the value of the salvation that is offered
to him. In the first place, he does not know that he is lost,
and hence feels no need of salvation. Secondly,
this sinner does not know that the salvation offered him
in Christ is worth anything. All he has to go by in
determining its worth is the lives of those who profess
to possess it, and they for the most part, are very
deficient illustrations of its merit. Furthermore the
sinner is surrounded by circumstances entirely adverse to
his acceptance of Christ. And finally, worse than all,
'the mind of the flesh,' a corrupt nature, an 'evil heart
of unbelief,' a 'body of death,' that leans toward the
bad and opposes the good continually; and mark you, all
these things are circumstances over which the individual
has no control and for which he is not to blame.
"Again, mark you, that if he overcomes these
unfavorable circumstances and in spite of
them does accept Christ, it must be by some power
OUTSIDE OF HIMSELF, for in himself he would never have
any power for his own deliverance. This is the teaching of the
seventh chapter of Romans. God must deliver him if he is
delivered at all! He must bring him to a knowledge of his
lost condition, so that he will feel his need of a Saviour,
and He must give him repentance and faith. God
must open his eyes so that he shall not only see the
need, but also the priceless value of salvation, that
like the apostle Paul, he will be willing to count all
thing but dross for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord.
Someone will ask,
"Will God save men eventually against their will?"
The answer is no! He will have to need to do that,
for all men will be one hundred percent
willing when God reveals Himself to them. Then the eyes
of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf shall
be unstopped, and the doors of the prison house shall be opened.
We have only to consider the case of Saul of Tarsus to
understand the miraculous power of the Lord to
change the leopard's spots and melt the heart of stone.
There are those who suppose that God could not convert a
soul unless that depraved and lost soul gives to almighty
God that permission. I only wish they would ask the
apostle Paul, that great despiser of Christ and hater of
His Church, that persecutor of Christians, who while on
his way to Damascus was suddenly cast to the ground and
converted. No man was ever more hateful toward Christ
than was Saul of Tarsus, yet, when his turn came to see
the light, he changed in an instant, crying out in fear
and trembling and with bitter repentance,
"Who art You, Lord?" and "What will You have me to do?"
Did God ask Saul of Tarsus whether or not he
wanted to be saved? Or did He say to Ananias,
"He is a chosen vessel unto Me to bear My name before
the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15)?
It is only God who can change the human heart,
and when God wills to change every single human heart
in earth and in hell, each will be changed in an instant.
Some suppose that God is desperately trying to
convert every human being in the world ...
ah, but He cannot do it, because mighty man,
sovereign man, will not allow it! Jehovah
does all of His pleasure. As I have purposed
so shall it come to pass," says the Lord.
Where do these man-made preachers
get the notion that man is a FREE MORAL AGENT?
Indeed, he may be free in some
minor things that concern his personal conduct, but
concerning God's eternal purpose for him HE IS NOT FREE
to do his own will, for "it is NOT OF HIM THAT WILLS
or HIM THAT RUNS, BUT GOD THAT SHOWS MERCY" (Rom. 9:16).
God in His great mercy has condescended to extend
mercy to all men, He sent His Son to die for all men, to
redeem all men, to reconcile all back to God, and in due
time He sent also His Holy Spirit to invincibly draw them
unto Himself. In the day of the power of God, men are
made willing and, having been quickened by that Spirit,
renewed in mind, having been given a heart of flesh, they
do come most willingly, having been made willing
BY HIS POWER. What an exalted view is this of our
OMNIPOTENT GOD AND SAVIOR!
Source: Man Is A Free Moral Agent: Just What Do You Mean Man is A Free Moral Agent; The Sinner Must Decide; The Shepherd Seeks The Sheep; The Will Of Man; I Will Draw All Men Unto Me; By One Man
Another challenge to the idea that those of humankind are free moral agents in reference to their salvation.
Comments and discussion welcome. Thanks.
