Man has no free will! His
will is under the subjection of Evil!
The natural man has a
heart of stone and does not seek God. [foil]
So if man doesn’t seek
God out, how then does he become a
Christian? Who causes the change in Man’s
heart?
Deut. 29:4
Deut. 30:6
Jer. 24:7
Jer 31:18
Jer. 32:37-40
Ezek 11:19-20
Ezek. 37:13
Matt. 16:15
John 3:6
John 3:21
John 6:37
John 6:44
John 6:64
Acts 16:14
1Cor. 2:9
1Cor. 12:3
Phil 2:12-13
Col 2:13
Hebr. 10:16
2 Tim 1:9-10
2 Tim 2:24-26
Deut. 29:4
But to this day the LORD has not given you a
mind that understands or eyes that see or
ears that hear.
Who give us the ability
to see and hear and thus understand the
Gospel?
Deut. 30:6 The LORD
your God will circumcise your hearts and the
hearts of your descendants, so that you may
love him with all your heart and with all
your soul, and live.
Where is the action
coming from? From God! Who has to do what to
cause us to love God?
Jer. 24:7 I will give
them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD.
They will be my people, and I will be their
God, for they will return to me with all
their heart.
What does it take for us
to know that He is our Lord? We need a heart
to know him, but who gives us that heart?
Jer. 31:18 "I have
surely heard Ephraim's moaning: `You
disciplined me like an unruly calf, and I
have been disciplined. Restore me, and I
will return, because you are the LORD my
God.
What comes first? Our
returning or God’s restoring. Restore me,
then I will return!
Jer. 32:37 I will
surely gather them from all the lands where
I banish them in my furious anger and great
wrath; I will bring them back to this place
and let them live in safety. 38 They
will be my people, and I will be their God.
39 I will give them singleness of
heart and action, so that they will always
fear me for their own good and the good of
their children after them. 40 I will make an
everlasting covenant with them: I will never
stop doing good to them, and I will inspire
them to fear me, so that they will never
turn away from me.
Again where is the heart
after God coming from? Is it coming from us?
Or is it coming from God?
Ezek. 11:19 I will
give them an undivided heart and put a new
spirit in them; I will remove from them
their heart of stone and give them a heart
of flesh. 20 Then they will follow my
decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They
will be my people, and I will be their God.
The natural
man has a heart of stone. Who removes that
heart of stone? Do we?
Or does God?
Does God do it because of anything we have
done? But what can we do while we have a
heart of stone, since we continue to reject
him until we get a heart of flesh, a living
heart?
Ezek. 37:13 Then you,
my people, will know that I am the LORD,
when I open your graves and bring you up
from them. 14 I will put my Spirit in you
and you will live, and I will settle you in
your own land. Then you will know that I the
LORD have spoken, and I have done it,
declares the LORD.'"
When will we know that it
is the Lord? After he has put his Spirit in
us. Before that we did not know He was God.
Now let us move to the
New Testament.
Matt. 16:15 "But what
about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the
Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus
replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of
Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by
man, but by my Father in heaven.
The very first
realization by Peter, was not of Peter’s own
accord. It was revealed to Peter by God.
John 3:6 Flesh gives
birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth
to spirit.
Only the Spirit can give
us eternal life! We can’t do it on our own.
John 3:21 But whoever
lives by the truth comes into the light, so
that it may be seen plainly that what he has
done has been done through God."
Anyone who lives by the
truth realizes that his living by the truth
was brought about by God.
John 6:37 All that
the Father gives me will come to me, and
whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
Who gives the people to
be saved? The Father does. He’s the one who
acts in our lives and in our minds to save
us.
John 6:44 "No one can
come to me unless the Father who sent me
draws him, and I will raise him up at the
last day.
Unless who draws us?
Unless the Father draws us! Is then the
Father drawing everybody? Are there
people who the Father has not drawn? This
next verse should clear that up.
John 6:64 Yet there
are some of you who do not believe." For
Jesus had known from the beginning which of
them did not believe and who would betray
him. 65 He went on to say, "This is why I
told you that no one can come to me unless
the Father has enabled him."
So there are some that
the Father has not enabled!
Acts 16:14
One of those listening was a woman named
Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the
city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of
God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to
Paul's message.
What had to happen here
for her to hear the Lord’s message? The Lord
had to open her heart. Does that mean that
there are people that the Lord open’s their
hearts and they still reject Him? Or does it
seem to imply that the Lord only opened her
heart because it was within His will to do
so?
1Cor. 2:9 However, as
it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has
heard, no mind has conceived what God has
prepared for those who love him" -- 10 but
God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The
Spirit searches all things, even the deep
things of God.
1Cor. 12:3 Therefore
I tell you that no one who is speaking by
the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed,"
and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except
by the Holy Spirit.
Phil. 2:12 Therefore,
my dear friends, as you have always obeyed
--not only in my presence, but now much more
in my absence --continue to work out your
salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it
is God who works in you to will and to act
according to his good purpose.
Col. 2:13 When you
were dead in your sins and in the
uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God
made you alive with Christ. He forgave us
all our sins,
When did God make us
alive? While we were still dead!
Hebr. 10:16
"This is the
covenant I will make with them after that
time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in
their hearts, and I will write them on their
minds."
Does God select to open
our hearts because of something we have
done?
2Tim. 1:7 For God did
not give us a spirit of timidity, but a
spirit of power, of love and of
self-discipline. 8 So do not be ashamed to
testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his
prisoner. But join with me in suffering for
the gospel, by the power of God, 9 who has
saved us and called us to a holy life --not
because of anything we have done but because
of his own purpose and grace. This grace was
given us in Christ Jesus before the
beginning of time,
Now supposing that we
were able to chose God on our own, what
would lead us to that decision? Something
that leads to a knowledge of the truth
right? Is this leading to a knowledge of the
truth something that everybody has?
Obviously not or else everybody would be
repenting.
2Tim. 2:24
And the
Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he
must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not
resentful. 25 Those who oppose him he must
gently instruct, in the hope that God will
grant them repentance leading them to a
knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they
will come to their senses and escape from
the trap of the devil, who has taken them
captive to do his will.
This is a good verse to
end on. We must instruct everyone, why?
Because we HOPE that who? God will grant
them what? Repentance. But wait there’s
something more here. God is also granting
them repentance that will lead them to a
knowledge of the truth. This verse says that
God grants them the repentance WHICH leads
to a knowledget of the truth. In other words
God grants them the ability to understand
that they need salvation. They don’t
understand that they need salvation and then
God grants it. God is the initiator over and
over again, God is the one who grants
certain people repentance that leads them to
the knowledge of the truth. And once they
have been granted this repentance, they will
come to their sense and escape the trap of
the devil, who has what? Taken them captive.
All unsaved men are captives of the devil,
and they can’t do anything to escape. God
has to act.
John Piper
Video Discussion
Before we
start watching the video I have one question
that you should be asking yourself:
1. How do we
pray for the lost?
[Video]
Useful for
discussion even if you have not watched the
video.
As we get further and
further into the study of the Soveregnity of
God, some people have a tendency to relegate
prayer and witnessing and the petitioning to
God for the salvation as unneccessary. This
is far from true. Because now we know...
that God is not prevented from acting. It's
upto God, not man to decide if our prayer
for someone's salvation is to be answered.
Do you see why we can now pray and expect
God to be able to answer our prayers. Other
wise what are we praying for?
Discussion
Questions
1. Does God
have a right to save unbelieving sinners?
Does God have a right to intrude upon the
soul of a human being and meddle with his
(the human’s) self determining autonomy?
2 a. Since no man seeks
God on his own (see last week's verses): Why
is it right for God to get inside a person's
mind and cause their mind to ask a question
they wouldn't have otherwise asked....
if it is wrong for God to
get inside a person's mind and cause them to
give an answer that they wouldn't have
otherwise given? Namely that Jesus Christ is
the answer?
2 b. Why is forcing the
question right, but forcing the answer not?
Is one a violation of their free will and
the other not?
2 c. Why is forcing
someone to the answer different from opening
up their hearts and telling them the answer?
3. So how
do we pray for the lost?
Are you
praying for the people around you at work?
At school?
Highly
recommend John Piper's books, available in
our Bookstore:
Desiring God
and The Pleasures of God.
John Piper calls himself
"A Christian Hedonist"
If ......
The chief
purpose of man is to bring glory to God by
enjoying God for ever....
then......
every
Christian is to gratify that purpose and
thus bring pleasure to himself in the
process.
Definition of
Hedonism:
Hedonism: 1
doctrine that pleasure and the gratification
of desire constitute the chief good; 2
self-indulgence; living for pleasure.
Are you
enjoying God?
2_green.GIF)
