Since man has a free will and God has a FREE WILL, whose will is more powerful? Where did this idea come from that man isn'’t depraved and can save himself? The Scripture describes the regeneration of God'’s elect as God putting dry bones together, putting flesh and skin on them and breathing into them the breath of life. (Eze. 37)
Of the wicked: "The Lord has made all for Himself, Yes, even the wicked for the day of doom." (Pro. 16:4) "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, Lest they should see with their eyes, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them." (John 12:40)
The God who created all things, sovereignly decrees all things, without sin, for the good of His elect and the glory of His Name.
Romans 9:15-25 says,"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." It does not, therefore, depend on man'’s desire or effort, but on God'’s mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory--even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
As He says in Hosea: "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one."
The scriptures say that Pharaoh hardened his heart, and says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Man's free will is in bondage to sin.
Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory--even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
As He says in Hosea: "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one."
The scriptures say that Pharaoh hardened his heart, and says that God hardened Pharaoh's heart. Man's free will is in bondage to sin.
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