Printable VersionToday, we are going to look at the issue of “free will”. Do we as human beings have the ability to make our own decisions in all matters of life? Is it left up to you and me to decide if we will believe and follow Jesus Christ or is it up to God? Is salvation in the Lord available to everyone who chooses, or is it only for those whom God chooses?
Despite what you may or may not have been taught by religion on this subject, we're going to look at the only source of truth that can answer this question, the Holy Bible. Although many on both sides of this issue can use the Bible to back up their beliefs, there can only be one truth. We cannot have two truths fighting against each other; if two scriptures do fight against each other then what you have is not truth. If your belief is that we have free will and it fights against Scriptures that says we do not have free will or vice versa, then we don’t have the truth. The Holy Bible is the Divine word of God and there is only one truth. It's only when you can fit and explain the others person’s seemingly contradictory Scripture into yours will you then have God’s truth.
Let’s start from the beginning of the Bible to discover what the truth is on what we call “free will”. (Ecclesiastes 1:9) That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. (10) Is there anything of which it may be said, “See, this is new”? It has already been in ancient times before us. The first thing we must understand when we look at Scripture is there are two building blocks to the foundation of truth in the Bible. The first one is that it’s already happened before; if you have a point you’re making from Scripture, then you should be able to find at least two or three witnesses in the Bible, “at the mouth of two witnesses or three shall every word be established (2 Cor 13:1). You should find a types, shadows and examples which happened before in the Bible. If it’s truth, it’s already happened in some type or example before. That’s why the Apostle Paul said, “for whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction" (Romans 15:4). Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:11 says, “Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition”. Yes, the Scriptures were written for our instruction and our warning; that is the first building block to understand the truth. Now the second block to the foundation of truth is understanding that God does not change. “For I the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3:6). He is the same now as He was in the beginning. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines” (Hebrews 13:8,9). Because God does not change and because He’s the same in the New Testament as He was in the Old Testament, we can make sure that we don’t get "carried about with various and strange doctrines”. If we stick to these two truths: 1. It has already happened before; 2. God is the same and doesn’t change, then we’ll have the foundation to search the Scriptures so that we can discover the real truth.
With this foundation now laid, let’s get on with the question of do we or do we not have what man calls “free will”, and more specifically do we have our own ability or "free will" to choose and obey the Lord and come to Him? We’ll try to understand from Scripture if it’s really our choice whether we believe in Jesus or if it’s God's choice. The first stop we’ll make is the Old Testament to see what examples the Lord is showing us; we’ll see if they had the “free will” to come to God back then. Remember there is nothing new that happens today which didn't happen in the past; remember that the Old Testament is full of examples for our leaning so let’s begin.
Let’s first start with Abraham to see how he was chosen by God and not the other way around. (Nehemiah 9:7) “You are the LORD God, who chose Abram, and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and gave him the name Abraham. It was not a matter of Abraham deciding to follow God by his “free will”, it was God showing mercy and calling him out of the world. You’ll notice that God did not do that for any other people. (Deuteronomy 7:6) "For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. (7) It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples” Did God set His love on all the people of the world or did God choose a people out of the world for His own possession? Were all the people on the face of the earth able to come to the Lord God or was it only little bitty Israel who were chosen by God? (Isaiah 41:8) “But you, Israel, are My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the descendants of Abraham My friend. (9) You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its farthest regions, and said to you, ‘ You are My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away. Was it Israel’s “free will” that caused God to choose them and set his love on them or was it simply by God’s grace that they were chosen out of all the peoples of the earth? (Deut 14:2) For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Israel was chosen but what about the poor people throughout the rest of the world, did God give them the choice of coming to Him for salvation? (Psalm 147:19,20) He declares his word to Jacob his statutes and rules to Israel. (20) He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules. In God’s plan, it seems that from the very beginning it was not their “free will”, but God’s will. It was God's mercy and grace that He chose Israel instead of another people. God's command to Israel was to destroy and kill all the people in the land they were to possess. (Deut 7:1) “When the LORD your God brings you into the land which you go to possess and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you, (2) and when the LORD your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. Why didn't God choose the poor Hittites or the Girgashites to save; why didn't the Amorites and the Canaanites use their "free will" to follow and obey God? They didn't because God never chose to reveal Himself to them. Instead God’s plan was to create a chosen people for Himself. (Isaiah 43: 20,21) My people, My chosen. This people I have formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise. Not only did these mighty nations NOT have the “free will” to choose God, but every single person was to be utterly destroyed and shown no mercy. Not one of them had the “free will” to save themselves. (Numbers 21:3) And the LORD listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites,and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. Time after time we see that it was God having mercy on a small number of people while He had no mercy on the majority of peoples. Never in God’s plan was it of one’s own “free will” as to whom the Lord chooses; it was always about God’s people and never about the rest of the world. (Joshua 11:20-22) For it was the LORD’S doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed… Joshua devoted them to destruction with their cities. There was none of the Anakim left in the land of the people of Israel. Can God’s sovereignty be any clearer than in this passage? God caused their hearts to be hardened and to come against God’s chosen people so that the people of Anakim would be destroyed. No “free will” for the people of Anakim only destruction. Look at what the Lord God told Saul. (1 Samuel 15:3) Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey’”. Why was Israel chosen and not the Amalekites? Because of the Lord’s mercy and grace towards a people who didn’t deserve it but whom God decided to choose; not the people of Israel choosing God by their "free will" but by God choosing them. Now if God doesn't change and there cannot be anything new that hasn't happened in the past, how can you support your belief that it’s all changed and we now have the "free will" to choose Jesus Christ as your Savior?
You may argue that all this is Old Testament Scripture and it’s all changed now that we have Jesus and now that we’re under the New Testament. To this God would say “For I the LORD do not change” and God would also say that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines”. No, God doesn’t change and Jesus is still the same as He was in the beginning. Now if God and Jesus are still the same as they used to be from the very beginning, then we should clearly see in the New Testament what we saw in the Old Testament. We would find a God in the New Testament choosing those who would follow Him and those who wouldn’t. So let’s see what the New Testament really says about our “free will” in choosing Jesus Christ and God’s plan of predestined sons and daughters of God.
Was Jesus sent to the whole world or was Jesus only sent for God’s people? (Matthew 1:20) The Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. (21) And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins”. Jesus was a Jew and was not sent to save the whole world from their sins; the Lord in this dream said that Jesus was sent to save “His people” from their sins. Who again were God’s people; who were Jesus’ people; who was He sent to offer salvation to; was it the whole world or just the twelve tribes of Israel? Yes, it was only the children of Israel who were God’s people, no other peoples in the whole world. (Matthew 2:6) ‘ But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are not the least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a Ruler who will shepherd My people Israel’”. Jesus came to shepherd God’s people and only God’s people. We see this when Jesus started His ministry; He came not to the world but to God’s chosen people. (Matthew 10:5) These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. (6) But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Did the Gentiles or the Samaritans have their own “free will” or their own choice as to whether they would come to Jesus or not? Wasn’t it God and Jesus choosing who they would reveal themselves too, in order to save His own people from their sins? Truly we are seeing the same God as we did in the Old Testament, the same God who chose who would and would not receive salvation. You may recall when the Canaanite woman came to Jesus for salvation for her daughter and this was His answer to her, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). Then after seeing her faith He saved her daughter. (Matthew 15:28) Then Jesus answered and said to her, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
The entire earthly ministry of Jesus was only given to God’s chosen people, the physical descendants of Abraham. Once Jesus gave His life on the cross, salvation was now made available to everybody. Listen as Jesus tells us about these other sheep that will come to Him. (John 10:16) And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. Since Christ’s death and resurrection, it’s no longer ONLY the Jews who have the opportunity for salvation. “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly… but he is a Jew who is one inwardly… in the spirit not in the letter” (Romans 2:28,29). We are now “spiritual Israel” and there is no distinction in God’s eye’s between Jew and Gentile because we have “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all” (Col 3:10,11). Now that salvation has been made available to all who believe in Jesus as their Savior, does it now change God’s plan or His personality? Has our God now changed; the one we read about in the Old Testament who chose some while others He didn’t? Has our God now changed who He is? Has God now left it up to us to choose salvation by our “free will”?
The fact is no; God still hasn’t changed and we can see it all the way through the New Testament that God still chooses the few and does not choose the majority. “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt 22:14). It still isn’t man’s “free will” which causes us to come to Jesus, it’s God’s will. (John 6:44) No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day. God’s plan doesn’t get any clearer than this. You can try all you want, but if the Father doesn’t draw you to Jesus, you will have no interest in following Him and you will never be saved. “No man can come to me except the Father that sent me draw him”. Later in this chapter Jesus gives us a second witness that it’s God who chooses and not us. (John 6:65) And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father". No one comes to Jesus unless the Father grants it; is this any different then what we read about in the Old Testament when the Lord said, “The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth”? Just like in the beginning with the descendants of Abraham; God didn’t reveal Himself to everybody or even most of the people on the earth; God only saved a very small number of people, His chosen people. It was no different in Jesus’ day on who could and could not come to Jesus and it’s no different today on who is chosen to come to Jesus. Instead of a physical seed of the Jews, it’s now the spiritual seed which God chooses and draws to Jesus. “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). Once again we see that God does not change and He’s the one who chooses you, to come to Him, and not you choosing Him. Jesus says that “the Son gives life to whom he will” (John 5:21). If Jesus gives life to whom He wills then it’s clear there are some that are not in His will to choose or to save, otherwise everybody in the world would be saved. If it was the will of Jesus to give eternal life to everyone, then everyone would go to heaven and there would be no need for to even have a place called hell.
Some will say that we have the ability by our “free will” to choose God because of this scripture. “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15) Taking this scripture by itself, it would certainly seem that we have the “free will” to choose to serve the Lord or to choose not to serve Him. Then when we look at all the Scriptures we see that it’s God who first chooses us, and causes us to approach Him. (Psalm 65:4) Blessed is the man You choose, And cause to approach You. We will indeed choose the Lord. If God causes us to choose Him. “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). Yes, we have a blessing and curse set before us and we are encouraged to choose life but who is it again that causes us to choose life and God? (Psalm 33:13) The LORD looks down from heaven he sees all the children of man (14) from where he sits enthroned he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, (15) he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds. If God has fashioned all of our hearts, then He has fashioned some to choose life in Him, while others God has fashioned their hearts to not choose life in Him.
(Psalm 37:23) The steps of a man are established by the LORD, and he delights in his way. Your steps and the path you take are not your own; it is not your “free will”! They are established by the Lord! (Proverbs 16:9) The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. You may think that you're planning your way but God is the one directing your steps by putting His will in you. In other words, what you believe as being your will to plan your life is really God will. The Lord putting His will into your heart to establish which way He wants you to go. What you mistake as you choosing or you having the ability to make decisions is really God causing you to choose the direction you should go. Everything in this world is orchestrated by the Father without the world really understanding it. (Daniel 4:35) all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say to him, "What have you done?" How can we read this scripture and fit it in with those who believe that we still have a free will to do as we like? God says that He does according to His will and none can hold His hand back. Who are we as mere mortals to say that we have a “free will” to make our own choices regardless of what God's plans are? Who are we to say that God is just allowing us to make those choices when Scripture clearly states that He puts His will into our hearts? (Philippians 2:13) For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Our Maker is not sitting back on His throne saying “oops, Mark just did it again I didn’t want him to do that but I guess I’ll just have to allow it this time”. Instead, Scripture says, "Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass" (Lamentations 3:37). Unless the Lord has commanded it? When people say that God allows things to happen, I would ask them where they find that in the Bible. God just "allowing" things to happen just doesn’t line up with Scripture and you cannot find it. God is the one who works in His children to do His will on earth. (Ephesians 1:11) In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined (determined in advance) according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will… God has determined in advance everything that will happen in this world, and it’s God who is working in you and I for His purpose and His will.
If it seems that we’re a little light on Scripture that says we do in fact have our own “free will” to choose, then you’re right. Out of all the Old Testament Scriptures, that’s all we can come up with. On the other hand you can see many Scriptures that say that God is indeed in control and is carrying out His will. I’ve left out many more Scriptures in fear of being repetitious, that speak of God’s chosen people being just that, chosen. For more in depth study please read the article entitled Predestination, Election and Free Will in God's Plan.
So far, we've shown you that our “free will” is very limited, and is in fact limited to what God’s will is. If it’s God choosing our destiny then why did God have the Old Testament prophets warn His people to repent and change their ways if they really couldn’t? That is, they couldn’t repent unless God put it into their hearts to do so. Why would the Lord send His prophets over and over if He already knew that He Himself put it into their hearts not to listen and to be stiff necked and rebellious? First of all it’s not up to us to question why or why not God does what He does; after all He is God and we are not. It’s our job to just believe what Scripture says and not to think that we're smarter than God. The Bible says that what happened back then was for our instruction. (Romans 15:4) “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning” They were examples for our warning of what not to do. (1Cor 10:6,11) Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved… (11) Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction… So even though God is the one that causes us to understand and follow Him, we're learning as we go through life. None of us knows what God has put into our heart, so we go from day to day making decisions that we feel we’ve, made ourselves, but in reality God is the one who has worked in us to do what we do. He has made our heart and it’s God who works His will in us. It’s God who directs our steps. “The heart of man plans his way but the LORD establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). Yes, we believe we are making the choices we make but Scripture confirms that it’s the Lord who works in us to direct our path. “The steps of a man are established by the LORD” (Psalm 37:23). It’s almost like God is uploading experiences into our lives to perfect us. God causes us to make certain decisions so that we can learn from those experiences, causing us to grow closer to God. Yet, if the Father has not chosen you to follow Him, you’ll never do so. The people who were not descendants of Abraham, were never chosen to follow Him. The Israelites who followed after other gods and who did not repent when the prophets of God warned them, they were never really chosen by God for salvation, if so God would have put it into their heart to repent. The Jews, who were supposed to be the chosen people of God in Jesus’ day, were not really chosen after all because God did not put it in their hearts to believe in Jesus. Again only the few that God had appointed to believe did. (Acts 13:48)... as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. Some are appointed for eternal life while others aren't.
You may argue that all this is Old Testament Scripture and it’s all changed now that we have Jesus and we’re under the New Testament. To this God would say “For the LORD do not change” (Malachi 3:6). The Lord would also say “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines” (Hebrews 13:8,9). No, God doesn’t change and Jesus is still the same as He was in the beginning. If He’s the same, then we should clearly see in the New Testament what saw in the Old Testament. So let’s see what the New Testament says about our “free will” in choosing Jesus Christ. We’ll start with some scripture that is s powerful so beyond argument, that we should be able to end our discussion right here on the topic of "free will".
(John 6:44) No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him and I will raise him up in the last day. It doesn’t get any more to the point than this. You can try all you want, but if the Father doesn’t draw you to Jesus, you will have no interest in following Him and you will never be saved.
(John 6:65) And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." No one comes to Jesus unless the Father grants it is this any different than what we read in the Old Testament when the Lord said, “The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth? Just like in the beginning, not everybody in the earth did God reveal Himself to God only saved a very small number of people, His chosen people. It was no different in Jesus' day and it’s no different today. But instead of a physical seed of the Jews, it’s now the spiritual seed that God chooses and draws to come to Jesus. Once again we see that God does not change and He’s the one who chooses not you choosing Him. “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). There is no one who chooses to follow Jesus without Him first choosing you! The Bible says “the Son gives life to whom he will” (John 5:21). How do you fit all these scriptures into a “free will” doctrine? How do you hold on to the belief that it’s up to you and your choice as to whether you come to Jesus when the Bible says it's the Father's choice and not yours? It has never been “free will” in the past, so how can it be now? Sure you may not understand this completely you may not comprehend why God would choose you and not the next person or why He chose you to go to heaven and the next person to hell. It’s called grace and it's unmerited, undeserved favor from God.
(Eph. 2:8-9) "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". What saves you is faith, by God’s grace He has given you the faith to believe in, and be drawn to His son Jesus Christ. This is not of your works or "free will" or anything in which you did; it’s only by the free gift that God the Father has given you. We have to realize that grace is completely opposite of “free will”. If I would have the “free will” to come to Jesus on my own then I could boast because of what I did to come to Jesus. Do you see the catch with "free will"? If I have the free will to choose Jesus, then it’s no longer by grace that I’ve been saved, it’s now by what “I did” in order to come to Christ. Do you see the problem with this and why “free will” goes completely against what Scripture says? (2 Timothy 1:9) God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace. Free will is your works and not God’s, this clearly goes against the above scripture: "not of yourselves it is the gift of God Not of works, lest any man should boast".
Think about this; can we have an all knowing God who’s in control of everything and yet not know how you will turn out? (Psalm 33:13,15) The LORD looks down from heaven; he sees all the children of man … he who fashions the hearts of them all. Even before you were ever born, doesn’t an all knowing God know whether you’ll spend eternity in heaven with Him or eternity in hell? Did He not create you and form what's in your heart? (Ephesians 1:4) Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Every person going to Heaven was chosen before the foundation of the world began! That's when your name was "written in the book of life from the foundation of the world".
Does an all powerful and all knowing God just allow people to go to hell or does He cause a person to be lost and go to hell? Didn’t He create each one of us? Either God makes mistakes or God created some people for good and others for bad. (Proverbs 16:4) The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. Before you get upset with me for saying that there are some that God created for hell, consider what the apostle Paul wrote. (Romans 11:11-23) though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works [not because of free will] but because of his call—(12) she was told, "The older will serve the younger." (13) As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." [Wow, before Esau was born God hated him!] (14) What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! (15) For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." (16) So then it depends not on human will [i.e.-free will] or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. (17) For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." [God made Pharaoh for His purpose and hardened His heart, why wouldn’t God do this with others?] (18) So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. (19) You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" (20) But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" (21) Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use? (22) What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, (23) in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared before hand for glory. You may need to read this scripture again as it should leave no doubt that God is in control. There are those whom God has hardened and prepared for destruction/hell and there were those whom God made as vessels of honor prepared before hand for glory! Do we as created humans have the right to question God? (Ezekiel 33:17) “Yet the children of your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ But it is their way which is not fair! No, Scripture says that God is fair. "What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means"! We as created beings don’t have the right to question God He has mercy on whom He wants and hardens whom He wants. But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honored use and another for dishonorable use"? This Scripture falls right in line with what God did in the Old Testament when He had mercy on a people called Israel and everyone else in the entire world He hardened and destroyed. Was it fair back then; why did God only reveal Himself and His holiness to only to a small number of people? Do we have the right to question why God does it this way or should we simply be thankful for Him choosing and drawing us to Christ? You see the Bible says that all the works of God were finished from the start, that you were either chosen for eternal life from the very foundation of the world or you were not and were destined for destruction.
(Ephesians 1:4) Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him. If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, then it's quite possible you were chosen before the foundation of the world! In the Tribulation period just before Jesus returns Scripture says that all will worship the Beast, “everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain" (Revelation 13:8). If your name has been written in the Lambs Book of Life, it’s been there since the very foundation of the world! If it hasn’t you will wonder after the beast in the end times. “The dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast” (Revelation 17:8). How does your having the “free will” to choose Jesus fit in with these scriptures? If you weren’t written in the Book of Life from the very beginning how can you now choose to follow Jesus? The truth is you cannot, if you weren’t chosen by the grace of God, then He will harden your heart and give you a “spirit of stupor”, God will give you eyes and ears that are closed. (Romans 11:5) So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. (6) But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works otherwise grace would no longer be grace. (7) What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, (8) as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day". By falsely believing that you have the control and the “free will” to choose Jesus, you’re taking credit away from the All Mighty God who has ALL the power and control over everything. Straight from the Bible you were either appointed to eternal life or eternal destruction. (Acts 13:48) And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. If you haven’t been appointed, you can’t on your own or with your “free will” decide to believe in Jesus, it just won’t happen. Remember it was Jesus who said “No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him”. That includes you and me too, if the Father doesn’t draw us we will not come, we will have no interest in the things of the Lord. Jesus goes on to tell us “no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father". Those who’ve been chosen from the very beginning will be granted the faith to come to Jesus, not of your “free will” but God’s grace; not by what you did but by God’s free gift.
Do we need more evidence which proves that God is the one in control instead of us and our supposed "free will"? There are many more Scriptures that confirm that God is the one who’s in charge of salvation and not us, but let’s stop here so we can examine the Scriptures that seems to argue against what we've just went through. These will be Scriptures some say support the view that we do have the free will to choose the Lord if we wish. Remember that if we cannot understand and fit these verses into the Scriptures we just read, then we do not have the real truth.
(Romans 10:13) "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." This is true, whoever does call upon the name of Jesus will be saved, but as we learned, it’s the Lord our God who causes you to either come to Jesus or hardens your heart so that you don’t call upon His name. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Remember that we are “saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God”. Only those whom God gives faith to, will believe in Jesus; those who have been chosen from the foundation of the world. Scripture confirms that the faith we need to be saved is given to us from God “each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Romans 12:3). If God hasn’t assigned you the faith to believe in Jesus, then you will never know Him and be saved.
Next we’ll look at the words “ALL” and “EVERY” in the Scriptures. These words are what many will say proves that we have the “free will” to choose Jesus or not, let’s look at them to see if that's true. (1 Timothy 2:6) "[Christ] who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time". Many say this is proof that Jesus came for everybody and not just who He chose, but as we saw above in many of the verses we've already went over, Jesus was not a ransom for the whole world but for ALL those God chose. (2 Corinthians 5:14,15) For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all. Did Jesus really die for ALL or for all whom the Father gave to Jesus? (Romans 5:18) "Therefore as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men... If all men get the free gift of faith then all in this world would be saved and we certainly know that is not true. (Hebrews 2:9) "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man".
These Scriptures may seem like a good foundation to build the case that everybody has an equal and fair chance to come to Jesus if they so choose. If Jesus died for all people, then everybody by their “free will” should be able to decide if they want to accept the free gift that Jesus has given us. What's wrong with this assumption? The first thing that’s wrong is that would mean that God would have to change from what we saw throughout the Old Testament. Why didn’t the whole world get the opportunity to choose God from the very beginning; why was it only the Israelites that God chose to reveal himself so they would be saved? Why has it all changed now; why is it that ALL people now have the choice to come to the Lord? As we’ve seen in the Scriptures, God hasn’t changed and it’s still God choosing and Jesus confirms this when He said. “I am not speaking of all of you I know whom I have chosen” (John 13:18). So in the above scriptures when the word “ALL” is used to justify the case that we all have “free will” and that every person can be saved who chooses to be saved is just not scripturally true. Jesus says He’s not speaking to “ALL” but only to those that HE has chosen! Let’s look at more scripture to see if “ALL” really means all.
(Acts 2:17) "'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Peter said that what these people were seeing was a fulfillment of the prophet Joel. In the days of the Disciples was the spirit poured out on “ALL” people, every person on earth or ALL the ones whom God had chosen? Clearly “ALL” does not mean all... but “ALL” means all that God chooses. (1 Corinthians 15:22) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. We know that not everyone in this world goes to heaven, yet this says that “ALL” shall be made alive. Once again it seems that all really means “ALL” are those who are chosen by God. (John 12:32) And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself. Has Jesus drawn “ALL” people to Himself? If so that would mean that every person on earth would be saved! No, once again all does not mean all people but all that the father draws to Jesus. “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out (John 6:37). Can it be any clearer; it’s only those whom the Father gives to Jesus that will be saved and “ALL” that the Father draws are the only ones saved. (39) that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me. If we are honest with ourselves, we must acknowledge that when you piece all the Scriptures together, the word “ALL” takes on a very different meaning. (John 8:1) But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. (2) Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. (3) The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery… Once again “ALL” didn’t include everybody. The scribes and Pharisees didn’t sit down to be taught, but “ALL” of those whom the Father drew to Jesus did sit with Him.
Next we have what seems to be a very powerful argument that we do have “free will”. (2 Peter3:9) The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. God uses the wicked to perfect His saints. We see it throughout the Bible and you may even see it in your own life. With an All Mighty God, if He didn’t want any to perish then none would. Yet many do and I believe this saddens God, but it must be done in order to bring the chosen to where God wants them to be. Just like Jesus couldn’t put Himself on the cross and needed the ungodly to do it, we to as Christians need the ungodly to perfect us and take us to our cross. The “ALL” that God wants to repent are ALL His chosen, He wants them to come to repentance. Just like you, before you came to the Lord and repented, you were lost and perishing, but God is patient towards us and when He calls us and puts it in our hearts to repent and come to Him, we will. Not by our will but God putting His will in us. There are many more Scriptures we could read but I think you now know and understand who the “ALL” really are.
Next we have the “silver bullet” for those who believe in "free will". This is the one many think proves that everyone has the free will to choose. Let’s read it and then see if we can fit it into the scriptures we have already read. (1 Timothy 2:3) This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, (4) who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (5) For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, (6) who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. Wow, how do we explain this Scripture? It seems pretty convincing an if you would read this all on its own it would sound like very powerful proof that we all have our own free will to choose Jesus. Yet, if we apply it to what the other Scriptures say, then we can understand what the real truth behind it really is. In verse four it says that God desires “ALL” people to be saved. Do we need to go over this again? I think not, as we have seen that God’s desire has been and always will be for ALL of “His people” and not ALL of the people in the world. Salvation is no longer just for the physical Jews but for the spiritual Jews too. It's for all those that God chose and wrote in the Book of Life from the very foundation of this world. In verse six we see again the word “ALL” used, “who gave himself as a ransom for all”, It’s interesting because in Matthew it says the same thing but a little different. “Even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:28) Yes, Jesus did give His life as a ransom for many and indeed it’s for “ALL” that the Father has chosen!
I think today we’ve given you an excellent foundational understanding of “free will” and what the real truth is. You may be tempted to ask yourself, “If I don’t have the free will to choose Jesus, then why even try, I’ll just wait for God to draw me, and until then I will just live the way I want”? If we take that attitude then we probably aren’t being drawn by God and are proving by our actions that we really aren't one of the chosen. You must be faithful to what’s on your heart to follow and obey the voice of the Lord. Only when you’re acting on what you read in the Bible and what the Lord places on your heart are you proving that you really are chosen to be God's child. Only by seeking holiness and obeying the Lord are you assured that you’re on the narrow road that all of God's chosen take.
As we conclude this study on what man has called “free will”, it’s important to realize just how powerful and sovereign God really is. If you haven’t given God the respect and fear He deserves, we must repent and start to do that now. We must understand that God is the one that holds the keys to heaven and not you or me. God is the one whose hands our eternity lies in. We must know that it’s only by God’s grace and mercy towards us that we’re saved. God the Father has all the power and we have none! (1 Samuel 2:6)“The LORD kills and makes alive He brings down to the grave and brings up. (7) The LORD makes poor and makes rich He brings low and lifts up (8) He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the beggar from the ash heap, To set them among princes And make them inherit the throne of glory. “For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’S, and He has set the world upon them. Fear God and know that He is God!
Be blessed,
A servant in the Lord, Mark
www.heavenshelpers.org
Questions/Feedback - email me: mark@heavenshelpers.org
