There are believers out there who still espouse the old lie that says that you have the power and freedom of choice to choose whether you will have faith in Christ Jesus or not.
You have no such choice, my friends.
You are spiritually dead inside and you have a heart of stone. You hate God and will never come to Him because you are not capable of doing so (John 3:19). You cannot regenerate your own heart, nor can you make yourself spiritually alive. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. So, even if you had a "free will," which you do not, how is your will going to regenerate your heart and make you spiritually alive? It cannot! The Bible states that salvation is not by the will of man (John 1:13). Your will is fallen and directed by your heart of stone. Can natural man change his own will from stone to flesh? hatred to love? No, he cannot. The Bible also says it is not by man's desire or effort (Rom. 9:16).
The believers who espouse this old lie will tell you that you cannot be convinced or persuaded of the truth, nor can you be reasoned with to believe the truth; you simply have to choose to have faith in it. That simply is not true.
Before you are able to exercise faith in Christ Jesus, you must be made alive (John 3:3, 5), you must be given a heart of flesh (Acts 16:14). You must be given faith. Once the Holy Spirit has regenerated your heart and made you alive, then you will be convinced of the truth and you can be reasoned with to believe the truth (Is. 1:18). As long as you are unregenerate and hard-hearted, you will never believe (John 10:26). For anyone to tell you that all you have to do is make the choice, they are lying to you. They are preaching a false gospel.
Scripture commands you to believe, yes, but it also declares that you cannot believe. Faith must be granted to you, which comes about the moment your heart is regenerated and you are made spiritually alive. At that moment, you will believe because you cannot not believe. If it were left up to us, every one of us would end up in hell. We cannot change our hearts or our spiritual condition. Only God can do that (Ez. 11:19).
These believers ought to preach the gospel as it is contained in God's Word and leave it at that. Those who hear the gospel will believe if God saves them. Remember, Jesus said that "All that the Father gives to me will come to me" (John 6:37). That phrase "come to me" simply means "to believe in/on me." John 6:44 states clearly, "No one can come to me (believe in/on me) unless the Father who sent me draws him; ..." John 6:65 likewise states clearly, "...no one can come to me (believe in/on me) unless it has been granted him from the Father." If people would pay closer attention to what the words of their Bible actually say—in context—there would be less errors of interpretation. Likewise, 2 Peter 3:9 informs us that God is long-suffering, patiently waiting until every last believer exercises the faith given them in their appointed time.
To claim that all one has to do is exercise faith by his own "free will" by choosing to believe in Christ Jesus is to declare that the Holy Spirit is unnecessary in the preaching of the gospel to the unsaved and to the process of salvation. In other words, we are capable of saving ourselves merely by exercising faith according to our own "free will." This is not biblical. These are opinions/feelings imposed upon the Scriptures. Look at what 1 Corinthians 12:3 says.
1 Corinthians 4:7 asks, "What do you have that you did not receive?" 1 Corinthians 15:10 answers, "But by the grace of God I am what I am." Ephesians 2:4-7 says clearly, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us (believers), even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us (believers) in Christ Jesus." God made us alive. We were saved by grace.
If these believers cannot preach the word of God accurately, they need to close their mouths because they are only creating confusion and spreading lies about what the Word of God actually says and teaches.
You have no such choice, my friends.
You are spiritually dead inside and you have a heart of stone. You hate God and will never come to Him because you are not capable of doing so (John 3:19). You cannot regenerate your own heart, nor can you make yourself spiritually alive. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. So, even if you had a "free will," which you do not, how is your will going to regenerate your heart and make you spiritually alive? It cannot! The Bible states that salvation is not by the will of man (John 1:13). Your will is fallen and directed by your heart of stone. Can natural man change his own will from stone to flesh? hatred to love? No, he cannot. The Bible also says it is not by man's desire or effort (Rom. 9:16).
The believers who espouse this old lie will tell you that you cannot be convinced or persuaded of the truth, nor can you be reasoned with to believe the truth; you simply have to choose to have faith in it. That simply is not true.
Before you are able to exercise faith in Christ Jesus, you must be made alive (John 3:3, 5), you must be given a heart of flesh (Acts 16:14). You must be given faith. Once the Holy Spirit has regenerated your heart and made you alive, then you will be convinced of the truth and you can be reasoned with to believe the truth (Is. 1:18). As long as you are unregenerate and hard-hearted, you will never believe (John 10:26). For anyone to tell you that all you have to do is make the choice, they are lying to you. They are preaching a false gospel.
Scripture commands you to believe, yes, but it also declares that you cannot believe. Faith must be granted to you, which comes about the moment your heart is regenerated and you are made spiritually alive. At that moment, you will believe because you cannot not believe. If it were left up to us, every one of us would end up in hell. We cannot change our hearts or our spiritual condition. Only God can do that (Ez. 11:19).
These believers ought to preach the gospel as it is contained in God's Word and leave it at that. Those who hear the gospel will believe if God saves them. Remember, Jesus said that "All that the Father gives to me will come to me" (John 6:37). That phrase "come to me" simply means "to believe in/on me." John 6:44 states clearly, "No one can come to me (believe in/on me) unless the Father who sent me draws him; ..." John 6:65 likewise states clearly, "...no one can come to me (believe in/on me) unless it has been granted him from the Father." If people would pay closer attention to what the words of their Bible actually say—in context—there would be less errors of interpretation. Likewise, 2 Peter 3:9 informs us that God is long-suffering, patiently waiting until every last believer exercises the faith given them in their appointed time.
To claim that all one has to do is exercise faith by his own "free will" by choosing to believe in Christ Jesus is to declare that the Holy Spirit is unnecessary in the preaching of the gospel to the unsaved and to the process of salvation. In other words, we are capable of saving ourselves merely by exercising faith according to our own "free will." This is not biblical. These are opinions/feelings imposed upon the Scriptures. Look at what 1 Corinthians 12:3 says.
1 Corinthians 4:7 asks, "What do you have that you did not receive?" 1 Corinthians 15:10 answers, "But by the grace of God I am what I am." Ephesians 2:4-7 says clearly, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us (believers), even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us (believers) in Christ Jesus." God made us alive. We were saved by grace.
If these believers cannot preach the word of God accurately, they need to close their mouths because they are only creating confusion and spreading lies about what the Word of God actually says and teaches.