Ancient Wisdom That Works Today

Man’s Will in Conversion

A Scriptural Look at Man’s Will and God’s Actions in Conversion

Dan 4:35  All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven  And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, “What have You done?”   NKJV

If we look at Lazarus from a humanistic religious point of view; we would ask “Lazarus what happened?” To which he would reply: I heard Jesus say come forth and I did.

Very man centered. But what Lazarus did not hear or experience, most honest people would eventually reflect on. And that is what came first. God had to make him alive first before he could respond to His command. When we start with a God centered study, realizing God made all of us for His pleasure and for us to glorify Him, we get different results. Jesus gave Lazarus life and Jesus called him to come forth. Then He heard Jesus and came. This is proper Biblical interpretation.

We are by nature spiritually dead. Evangelism is called the “foolishness of Preaching“ because we are speaking to dead men who can’t hear or respond. Just as Ezekiel was told to preach to the dry bones. It is no different with men today. God first gave the bones  life before they could respond. He uses the foolishness of preaching as his means. He could come down as he did to Saul to open his blind eyes to see the truth to every new Christian, but usually He works through the normal means of preaching and praying to do His work. That is how He has decided to do it. But it is He who must first give us spiritual life and faith, “the gift of God” not a natural ability of man, for us to be able to repent and believe in Him.

Jer 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, Can the leopard change his spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to do evil. And: Rom 3:12 There is none that does good. The scripture is spiritually discerned and only a spiritual person can understand it. We must be born of the Spirit before we can know the truth let alone respond to it positively and make a spiritual act of belief.

Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.  (KJV) An unconverted man can not  believe and repent, because it is something that pleases God. He must 1st be born of the Spirit and made alive. Then he can understand, believe and  repent.

Man has a free will in some sense. But since the fall it is limited.  Just as a fish has free will to go where it wants, but only in water not on land. A man on a ship has free will but he will not walk off the edge and he is being taken where the captain wants all the time, though he appears to be freely choosing where he goes. Our will is always limited to some extent; never totally free. We cannot fly or swim underwater for  days. So it is with fallen man. We are now in bondage to a sinful fleshly desires since the fall. And without a new heart put into us and new desires put in us, we are free only to do sin. Maybe moral or relative good, but not good pleasing to God or of spiritual good from pure motives to please God. Man is not free to do that until we are born from the Spirit. Gen 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

And repentance and belief  in God, are good;  we will not do this no matter how great a miracle we saw, if God does not first open our eyes to see spiritual truth. Once open, we as Adam was, are more fully free to choose to follow God or sin. See, our wills are not really free. They are either motivated by natural desires or new spiritual desires. Our will chooses what we want most. The natural man does not want to believe or submit to God as Lord of his life. So he wont ever will to. This is our problem and why we need a new birth before we will to repent and believe and do true spiritual good.

Can you imagine anyone seeing Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead and then not believe, but actually go tell His enemies? Were they worse people than we? No their will was bound in sin, unless God first opens their eyes or ours, we WILL not believe. Our will desires selfishness and that is what it always chooses, not godliness.

I encourage you to examine scriptures on this subject and pray for the Spirit’s guidance in this area of great importance. Who is our God and is it man’s work of decision or choosing to believe that applies the gracious provision of salvation, or is it God who, in unmerited grace regenerates spiritually dead people so we can know the truth and  believe truth and repent. Does our will from its natural desires and thinking choose to believe and apply Christ’s blood? Or is it all of grace to be converted by the work of the Spirit putting faith in us, that produces understanding, belief, and works through us, giving us a new desire to will to believe and repent? Ps. 110:3 Thy people shall be made willing in the day of thy power…

The fact we do not feel predestination, does not mean it is not happening!

Here are a few passages to look over.

Jer 31:18 … Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God. 19 Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh: I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth. When did he repent?  After the Lord turned him.

God does not force man against his will, but works with him in a way that makes him willing to and loving to obey Him. He gives us a new heart that loves right and hates wrong. Our fleshly will would never be willing to serve God. It is selfish and bound to a sin nature and would always choose not to submit to God. John 5:40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. Until the Spirit works in us, we cannot believe because we will not.

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. Jesus says men can not come to Him unless 1st the Father draws them. John 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

Here He says we can not even hear Him! They heard him. But not in a spiritual way because they are dead spiritually and it was not given to them to be turned or drawn so they can believe.

Matt 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Mark 4:11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: 12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them. It was not given to all others, only some and not given to some, then they could not understand or they would get converted!!!.

John 10:26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. Jesus says the reason some do not believe and get converted is because they are not His chosen ones who get to hear and believe who were given to Him by the Father.

1Cor 1:26-28 26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are:

Can’t rich and wise people be saved? Matt 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. Men can’t get converted its impossible unless God does something to them to make it possible for them.

John 12:39 Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again, 40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart,  and be converted, and I should heal them.    Here even more clear, God blinded some so they could not be converted.

Rom 9:11-23 11 (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), 12 it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.”  Don’t say he foresaw what they would do because that is the whole point He is trying to make. It was not based on their works, what they would do, but on His choosing. That is why He picks the younger which is not normal so it is clear He is not doing it because of them. 13 As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” . So if you don’t come up with the same question Paul assumes you will and answers in the next verse, you misinterpreted what he said happened. God Chose, not based on what man would do, but His own good pleasure, His Electing choice. This would seem unfair. Paul goes on to explain 14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! 15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” 16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. Its not our free will in here at all, its God’s choice who gets mercy and salvation. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”  18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. 19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” Now if it is true it is not up to man’s will or choice but God who picks who He wants, how can He blame us is the natural complaint. You now understand Paul clearly and He goes on to say there is no logical answer, just God does as He pleases because He is the one who made us and has the right to and we can not say it is not fair!! 20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?  22 What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,  23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, (NKJ)         Pretty clear. If you reply against God saying how can He do this, it would not be fair for Him to choose and not let us use our will, or to make us beforehand for mercy or destruction, then you are not submitting to the God of the Bible. He does as he pleases and is right. We are but clay, who in Adam fell and each of us deserve hell. It is mercy he chooses to save any of us and not let us all go where our will would take us.

2Tim 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, (KJV)

Eph 1:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: If His will seems a bit of a mystery to you, it is, just believe it because scripture clearly teaches it, even if you can not understand it fully. Do not say I would not have a God who is like this.

Here is how people are converted according to scripture:

Acts 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Who believes? Only those ordained to!

Acts 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. The Lord opened her heart so that  she could hear and believe. All of grace, all of undeserved mercy. Not based on our works but his electing love and good pleasure of His will. If not we would have exercised our will to keep on sinning and never heard or believed the truth. Praise be to God for His mercy.  He gets all the glory in our salvation not part to our will and choosing or believing. All were going to hell due to their 1st representative head Adam’s sin. Rom 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. When we think there is some capacity for good in us and we were smart enough to decide to believe and that is what made the new birth possible, we exalt man and make salvation not totally of grace; but grace and our decision. We make faith a thing man can do on his own, not a gift from God. Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:.  To whom He chooses to give it. We deny man has fallen and is dead spiritually so he continually wills not to obey God. We deny God must 1st make us alive spiritually before we can understand, believe and do good.

People often ask; If God is Sovereign and predestinates all things, WHY PRAY?

The real truth however is, if God was not sovereign, having total control over His People and creation, we would have no reason to pray. Because if the decision to accept Christ was left up to man, then how can we ask God to save our loved one? How can we pray God to cause him to be somewhere where he can hear the gospel? This would mean God would have to overide his will. He must decide where he will go and what he will hear. We can not pray for God to send someone to him, because that would mean God would have to interfere in the other person’s life and make them go somewhere they had not decided. So it is all up to chance whether a Christian person will bump into our loved one and chance that they decide to speak to them about Christ and finally up to our loved one’s will if they decide to do what is good and believe and repent. We should not pray to God, but pray to our loved one to decide to live for Christ. God can do nothing more.

Do we believe God predestinated Christ’s death and made sure no one prevented it and that the Jews did not fall down and worship Him and make Him king. If this were possible, we all could have gone to hell with no atonement. He determined Christ’s atonement to be an accepted payment in full, in place of the punishment that the person deserves. Do you think God left this up to man to decide?

Then why believe now God can do no more. It is up to the will of men what they choose to do in salvation?

Is this really what you believe? Is this what the Bible teaches? Why pray and give thanks to God for your  food?  Was it not you who worked and earned the money to buy it? Was it not you who eats to keep the body healthy so it can work? Was it not the drunk driver who decided to quickly swerve and not kill you? So it was man’s decisions, why thank God? Or do you believe God can intervene and cause man to do what God wants regardless of what man wills or chooses? That God can make a man swerve a car to prevent an accident, or a make man decide to give you a job. Is God really making sure you get food by His unnoticed influencing of your decisions; or should you be thanking your own self will for your decisions and your food? Is it sensible that God can only change people once in a while as a miracle, but not on a daily basis and not for salvation? Are you sure what you believe is from scripture?  Let’s see; can God direct the steps of His people? The Bible tells us!  Prov 16:9 A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.  Jer 10:23 O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps

We pray for the same reason we preach and work and eat. We give thanks to God for providing our food but we must go work to earn money then buy it. This is God’s way of getting it done. He did not have to limit Himself to save people through the preaching  by men. But He ordained this would be the way He would do it. We do not  think preaching saves; God does. But He does it through preaching. If God has not ordained that anyone is preaching  now, then God has not ordained anyone to be born again now. Even Paul had heard the gospel preached before Christ appeared to Him. We pray because it is a means of grace. A way God chooses to use all His people. Not all can preach but all can pray. And He has commanded us to pray. Even as Paul did, we pray for God to convert people. If no one has been ordained to pray then God is not ordaining anyone to be saved. If no one is ordained to preach then no one is ordained to be converted. Therefore let us lift up the arms that hang down, and pray. Don’t you feel led to pray?  Then if God is ordaining things to happen, He is ordaining people to pray, give financial support and preach the gospel so He can send His Spirit to open the blinded eyes and the deaf ears and raise the spiritually dead with a new birth so they can do good and believe. By understanding predestination we are more desirous to preach and pray, knowing it may be the means God is using to do some good. The fact we do not feel predestination, does not mean it is not happening!

Note that in 1Sam 6 that the Ark of the covenant was taken to Israel by 2 cows and with no help from men. God took his Ark of grace to them himself without their seeking it. A picture of His sovereign grace coming to man.                           _{Rev. 7/97}

Can you reconcile the fact that everyone generally agrees that in heaven there will be no sin. Now does this mean that in our glory we have been deprived of “freewill”? I don’t think so.  Is man’s will free in heaven? And yet he cannot sin. So here fallen man, though his will is free it is limited so that until God changes his nature, He is selfish and unwilling to seek God.
The kind of “freedom” Arminians claim to exist just does not exist. In heaven, no one will possess the freewill to sin. If we don’t have this sort of freewill in heaven, why should anyone claim we have it now on earth? Is this “freewill” the Arminian claims we possess now somehow stripped from us in Heaven, where we have been perfected, or is it more plausible we never possessed this Arminian concept of “freewill” in the first place?