The Sovereignty of God
“When God by His Spirit inclines one to receive the Savior, that one, in so doing, acts only in the consciousness of his own choice. It is obvious that to present a convincing argument to a person which leads that one to make a decision, does not partake of the nature of a coercion of the will.
“In such case, every function of the will is preserved and, in relation to the Gospel, it remains true that ‘whosoever will may come’; yet back of this truth is the deeper revelation that no fallen man wills to accept the Savior until enlightened by the Holy Spirit (God has to cause believers to desire His ‘pleasure’ – Phl 2:13.” —L S Chafer
Corruption of Man’s Will
“The will, that commanding faculty, which was once faithful and ruled with God (in Adam—NC), is now traitor, and rules with and for the devil. There is, in the unrenewed will, an utter inability for what is truly good and acceptable in the sight of God. The natural man’s will is in Satan’s fetters (inescapably so - Jhn 8:44—NC); hemmed in within the circle of evil, and cannot move beyond it any more that a dead man can raise himself out of the grave (Eph 2:1). He can do nothing truly spiritually good (Jn 15:5). His very choice and desire for spiritual things is carnal and selfish (Jn 6:26). He not only refuses to come to the Savior—but he cannot come (Jn 6:44).”—Thomas Boston
Free Will and the Christian
“The question is, does the Father allow His children perfect freedom of will? If some of you who have been the Lord’s children for a long time will cast a glance over your past history, you will be able to recall occasions when He spoke and you obeyed immediately.
“But you can recall other occasions when He spoke and you resisted or failed to respond. Yet strangely, after a time you just found yourself in the way of obedience. At certain times you may have put up quite a strong resistance to the Father’s will and you may have persisted in this resistance. Then somehow, quite unaccountably, you found that the resistance was gone. Such is the work of the Holy Spirit’s government in our lives (Gal 5:17—NC).
“Even if we are totally unable to obey and cannot even exercise faith, a day comes when the resistance has vanished and we are trusting the Lord Jesus in simplicity of heart. It is the tireless energy of the indwelling Spirit that has accomplished this. ‘For it is God who works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phl 2:13).”—J B Stoney
God’s Will vs Man’s Will
“Does God force salvation on anyone? We often hear people say, ‘God never violates the human will,’ not realizing that this would make of man ‘little gods.’”
“God’s will of His election applies here. We can recall the names of many great men, such as Moses, Johan, Paul and many other whose free will was overcome to the end that God might exercise His own sovereign will. Every man would remain lost forever if God did not overcome, or supplant man’s will, because man’s will is to sin (though sin is not our desire, yet cannot break completely free of the old man’s tempting, but are free of its guilt and dominion—NC). Without the exerting of God’s will, man could not attain unto righteousness because there is no righteousness except of God (no man has his own righteousness, it’s all God’s that we walk in—NC).
“To what do we attribute the ‘force’ of God? What do we call true repentance? What do we call a contrite spirit if it is not the work of the Father within us. If anyone is a true Christian, it is well that God ‘forced’ him to receive salvation (but not through coercion—NC), because he would never have received it under his own will power. ‘It is the goodness of God that leads you to repentance’ (Ro 2:4).”—R H
True Freedom
“If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, ‘What doest Thou’ (Rom 9:20)? Man’s will is free because God is sovereign (sovereign in the sense of possessing control of the results or outcome of all things—NC). A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures (without moral freedom man would be more decadent—NC).
“Salvation is from our side a choice (moral freedom to choose what’s right—NC); from the divine side it is a seizing upon, an apprehending or conquest by the Most High God (God causes us to want to choose Him—NC). Our ‘accepting’ and ‘willing’ are reactions, rather than actions. The right of determination (choice of final results—NC) must always remain with the sovereign God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”—A W Tozer
Salvation of the Lord—or is it of Man
“Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee” (Psa 65:4).
“Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of My Father” (Jn 6:65, also 44).
“You hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins . . . But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (walk in them but not be the originator of them - Eph 2:1, 4, 5, 8-10).
“So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy” (Ro 9:16).
“According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.” (Eph 1:4-6).
“Salvation is of God” (Jonah 2:29). —Unknown
MJS daily devotional excerpt for April 17
“The difficult thing for most hungry-hearted believers is to wait in dependence upon the Lord for everything. Truth is not to be grasped, but received—received by faith, mainly through study.” –MJS
“To the believer who has been taught by the Holy Spirit something of his own utter, inbred sinfulness, it comes as a message from God full of hope and encouragement. He grasps the rescue rope flung to him by the right hand of Omnipotence, and with humble thankfulness sets out to learn how he can reckon himself dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord. When he looks at the Cross he sees there the fact that not only did the Lord Jesus die for him, but that he himself was taken down into His death, in order that the practical reality of His resurrection life might transform him into the divine likeness.” –James Campbell Moore (1863-1932).
http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/day/2023/04/17/
“When God by His Spirit inclines one to receive the Savior, that one, in so doing, acts only in the consciousness of his own choice. It is obvious that to present a convincing argument to a person which leads that one to make a decision, does not partake of the nature of a coercion of the will.
“In such case, every function of the will is preserved and, in relation to the Gospel, it remains true that ‘whosoever will may come’; yet back of this truth is the deeper revelation that no fallen man wills to accept the Savior until enlightened by the Holy Spirit (God has to cause believers to desire His ‘pleasure’ – Phl 2:13.” —L S Chafer
Corruption of Man’s Will
“The will, that commanding faculty, which was once faithful and ruled with God (in Adam—NC), is now traitor, and rules with and for the devil. There is, in the unrenewed will, an utter inability for what is truly good and acceptable in the sight of God. The natural man’s will is in Satan’s fetters (inescapably so - Jhn 8:44—NC); hemmed in within the circle of evil, and cannot move beyond it any more that a dead man can raise himself out of the grave (Eph 2:1). He can do nothing truly spiritually good (Jn 15:5). His very choice and desire for spiritual things is carnal and selfish (Jn 6:26). He not only refuses to come to the Savior—but he cannot come (Jn 6:44).”—Thomas Boston
Free Will and the Christian
“The question is, does the Father allow His children perfect freedom of will? If some of you who have been the Lord’s children for a long time will cast a glance over your past history, you will be able to recall occasions when He spoke and you obeyed immediately.
“But you can recall other occasions when He spoke and you resisted or failed to respond. Yet strangely, after a time you just found yourself in the way of obedience. At certain times you may have put up quite a strong resistance to the Father’s will and you may have persisted in this resistance. Then somehow, quite unaccountably, you found that the resistance was gone. Such is the work of the Holy Spirit’s government in our lives (Gal 5:17—NC).
“Even if we are totally unable to obey and cannot even exercise faith, a day comes when the resistance has vanished and we are trusting the Lord Jesus in simplicity of heart. It is the tireless energy of the indwelling Spirit that has accomplished this. ‘For it is God who works in you to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phl 2:13).”—J B Stoney
God’s Will vs Man’s Will
“Does God force salvation on anyone? We often hear people say, ‘God never violates the human will,’ not realizing that this would make of man ‘little gods.’”
“God’s will of His election applies here. We can recall the names of many great men, such as Moses, Johan, Paul and many other whose free will was overcome to the end that God might exercise His own sovereign will. Every man would remain lost forever if God did not overcome, or supplant man’s will, because man’s will is to sin (though sin is not our desire, yet cannot break completely free of the old man’s tempting, but are free of its guilt and dominion—NC). Without the exerting of God’s will, man could not attain unto righteousness because there is no righteousness except of God (no man has his own righteousness, it’s all God’s that we walk in—NC).
“To what do we attribute the ‘force’ of God? What do we call true repentance? What do we call a contrite spirit if it is not the work of the Father within us. If anyone is a true Christian, it is well that God ‘forced’ him to receive salvation (but not through coercion—NC), because he would never have received it under his own will power. ‘It is the goodness of God that leads you to repentance’ (Ro 2:4).”—R H
True Freedom
“If in His absolute freedom God has willed to give man limited freedom, who is there to stay His hand or say, ‘What doest Thou’ (Rom 9:20)? Man’s will is free because God is sovereign (sovereign in the sense of possessing control of the results or outcome of all things—NC). A God less than sovereign could not bestow moral freedom upon His creatures (without moral freedom man would be more decadent—NC).
“Salvation is from our side a choice (moral freedom to choose what’s right—NC); from the divine side it is a seizing upon, an apprehending or conquest by the Most High God (God causes us to want to choose Him—NC). Our ‘accepting’ and ‘willing’ are reactions, rather than actions. The right of determination (choice of final results—NC) must always remain with the sovereign God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”—A W Tozer
Salvation of the Lord—or is it of Man
“Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee” (Psa 65:4).
“Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of My Father” (Jn 6:65, also 44).
“You hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins . . . But God, Who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God; Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (walk in them but not be the originator of them - Eph 2:1, 4, 5, 8-10).
“So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy” (Ro 9:16).
“According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved.” (Eph 1:4-6).
“Salvation is of God” (Jonah 2:29). —Unknown
MJS daily devotional excerpt for April 17
“The difficult thing for most hungry-hearted believers is to wait in dependence upon the Lord for everything. Truth is not to be grasped, but received—received by faith, mainly through study.” –MJS
“To the believer who has been taught by the Holy Spirit something of his own utter, inbred sinfulness, it comes as a message from God full of hope and encouragement. He grasps the rescue rope flung to him by the right hand of Omnipotence, and with humble thankfulness sets out to learn how he can reckon himself dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord. When he looks at the Cross he sees there the fact that not only did the Lord Jesus die for him, but that he himself was taken down into His death, in order that the practical reality of His resurrection life might transform him into the divine likeness.” –James Campbell Moore (1863-1932).
http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/day/2023/04/17/
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