The Lord VS. the Theologians

To quote a gifted man of God from the 1800s, "Our divine Master called upon sinners to repent and believe the gospel. Some would have us to believe that it is a mistake to call upon persons dead in trespasses and sins to do anything. iI is argued, "How can those who are dead repent? They are incapable of any spiritual movement. They must first get the power ere they can either repent or believe."

What is our reply to all this? A very simple one indeed--our Lord knows better than all the theologians in the world what ought to be preached. He knows all about man's condition--his guilt, his misery, his spiritual death, his utter helplessness, his total inability to think a single right thought, to utter a single right word, to do a single right act; and yet He called upon men to repent. This is quite enough for us.

It is no part of our business to seek to reconcile seeming differences. It may seem to us difficult to reconcile man's utter powerlessness with his responsibility; but "God is His interpreter, and He will make it plain." It is our happy privilege, and our bounded duty, to believe what He says and do what He tells us. This is true wisdom, and it yields solid peace.

Our Lord preached repentance, and He commanded His apostles to preach it, and they did so constantly." I believe that this is the answer to the question of how someone dead in sin could do anything. The answer is that when Adam fell and all of humanity did so, God never took away the first gift that he gave mankind--the gift of the free will. God gave me the understanding and privilege to be able to preach and teach the truth about the will in Texas for a whole year.

In our fallen state, before being in Christ through receiving His Person and the work that He alone accomplished, our will was no longer free until I, with my will, operated for the first time in freedom, receiving Christ as my Savior. We will all continue in that freedom that is ours in Christ as we, in total dependence, submit our wills to Him. This is the other reason that I believe that the ONLY theologian and scholar is God the Holy Spirit. Please see 1 Cor. 2:9-16; Jhn. 6:63; 15:1-5; Ps.14:1-3; 53:1-3; Rom. 3:10-18; 6:23; 7:18; Jhn. 16:13-14.

This is what makes so necessary for the believer to continue in a constant dependence to submit our wills to Him and experience grace and truth in growth. God never has violated anyone's will with His own will by pre-determining who would be saved and who wouldn't be. God did not give anyone free will and not cause them or interrupt them by not allowing them to use it.

Gal. 5:1 "for freedom sake Christ has set you free, so be free."