No you don't, and you are not capable ! And the point you did respond to shows that you lack understanding !
Maybe he just doesn't want to bother with your non-sense? Did
you ever consider that? I have!
No you don't, and you are not capable ! And the point you did respond to shows that you lack understanding !
What blasphemy it is to call God's election of Grace a cosmic lottery.
Rom 1 :16
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
I am going to get straight to the point, and that is, there is simply no gospel being preached without preaching the doctrine of election [election of grace], and the fact that the Gospel begins in God [Rom 1:1] as the Gospel of God, As it proceeds from the Eternal Counsels of God as its root and foundation, for this evident from pauls writings here 2 Tim 1:8-11
8Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God;
9Who 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,
10But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:
11Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
Also Titus 1:1-2
1Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
2In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; 3But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
This Gospel of God elucidates How that God in Eternity Past, chooses a Special Beloved People, to Be His Portion, His Inheritance, to whom He prized and Valued above all others..
Deut 32:9
9For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
Deut 7:6
6For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
Paul writes on the Saints being Gods Inheritance..Eph 1:18
The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, [not the children of the devil]
God having chosen them and gave them to the Son of His Love for their personal safe keeping and preservation..Jn 17:2
2As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. [the disciples, save judas, represented all them given to Jesus christ]
Now God the Father, decreeing to make manifest this Great Love, He has for His Son, and His chosen in Him and with Him, decree their awful fall in Adam, of which He covenanted with His Son for their redcovery, and redemption, through His blood [ Eph 1:7]..
And in line with this purpose, God also decreed for some of mankind to come into this world, also having a terrible fall in their Father the devil, but in order to Show His High Sovereignty in dispensing His salvation blessings, God purposed not to have mercy on that portion of mankind, Hence, distinctly making Manifest His Special Love for His chosen Inheritance..
Micah 7:18
Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage [inheritance]? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
This must be preached in the Gospel of Christ, cannot be ashamed of..
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
The Gospel of God !
In the Gospel of God, as Paul preached it Rom 1:1
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
Paul begins to establish the utter ruin and helplessness of men, in regards to Salvation and the things of God to make way for the Riches inHis Saving Grace through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
So we read this in Rom 3:10-20
You see by this every mouth shall be stopped, no room for the boasting of man's freewill, for there is none [by nature in the flesh] that understandeth, that destroys freewill, for we in the flesh don't even understand the things of God. This is a Huge point because one must Understand to be able to Hear and be a fruitful Hearer of the Gospel.
This we know from the very mouth of the Blessed Saviour Matt 13:23
23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Yet that very same word for understandeth is also here in Rom 3:11
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
Here where the indictment against all humanity in the flesh is that NONE UNDERSTANDETH, its the word Suniemi and means:
to set or bring together in a hostile sense, of combatants
to put (as it were) the perception with the thing perceived to set or join together in the mind i.e. to understand: the man of understanding
idiom for: a good and upright man (having the knowledge of those things which pertain to salvation)
So listen by nature in our depravity, we cannot understand the Gospel, we just cannot bring it together in the mind, cannot perceive it, which is made quite clear by Divine Inspiration, combining Matt 13:23
23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Rom 3:11
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
So there is No Gospel Salvation Hearing while in the flesh that produces Faith !
Excellent post!
Matt 13:23
23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it;
which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Yes, that "good ground" is a new / changed heart which one is given in the New Birth.
Only then does a person have the spiritual ability / capacity to understand spiritual Truth.
It's all God's action in the heart and mind of the individuals He gave His Life for: His Sheep (John 10:11).
They can hear His Words because they are of God! John 8:47
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God.
1 Cor. 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
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But it gets deeper than that, not only in our depravity by nature that we do not understand the Things of God, but neither do we ever seek after God in Faith, that is the True and Living God revealed in scripture, this again stated in Rom 3:11
11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
This information is vital because this is the seeking that accompanies Faith by which we come to God Heb 11:6
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Its the greek word ekzēteō and literally means to:
I.to seek out, search for
II.to seek out, i.e. investigate, scrutinise
III.to seek out for one's self, beg, crave
Isa 55:6
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:
Well man by nature does not do that, NONE DO and thats a Fact if we take God at His Word here in Rom 3:11, and thats the Same Salvation Seeking by Faith that Heb 11:6 refers to.
Rom 3:11 and Heb 11:6 are opposed to one another, hence if the natural man in the flesh, in natures depravity ever has that Faith described in Heb 11:6, that person has defied and proved God's Truth wrong, for he or she has done something that scripture says man in the flesh does not do, and in fact cannot do Rom 8:8
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Faith in Heb 11:6 does please God !
And so this is why in Preaching the Gospel of God's Grace, Total Depravity is a Important Truth, and why Paul in preaching the Gospel of God faithfully shows man his depraved and deplorable state by Nature Rom 3:10-20, and thats the T in TULIP, hated by all religionists, a branch in what depraved men scornfully dismiss as just calvinism ! Yet it makes no difference how much they dismiss Truth in the name of calvinism, if they don't receive the Truth that the Gospel reveals of mans depravity in Rom 3:10-20, they do not receive the Gospel of God, simple as that !
I completely agree.
It's a hated doctrine because it proves that man in the flesh is totally incapable
to perform any action whatsoever which can assist him in becoming saved.
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