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Topic: Free will responds to the dictates of the heart.
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epouraniois
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posted
A bone of contention may be Romans 9:18 "Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden."
I too believe this to referr to men in the flesh, not in resurrection, for in resurrection men are led into the feast as overcomers or led to sit at God's table to be fed with truth for a thousand years...
Milk and meat
Peter 2:2 "As new born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:"
This is meant to be an insult, thus:
Hebrews 5:12 "For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat."
Hebrews 5:13 "For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe."
Hebrews 5:14 "But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil."
And this is still the case today: people are waiting for the leaders of the church, or whatever, to do it for them, so they lack knowledge. You don’t want to be in this category.
He tells us:
I Corinthians 3:1 "And I brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ."
I Corinthians 3:2 "I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able."
One cannot rely on affiliations to learn the meat of Truth, it comes from One Source:
Ephesians 6:10 "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might."
Study to make oneself approved in the Lord God:
Isaiah 28:9 "Whom shall He teach knowledge? and whom shall He make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts."
Isaiah 28:10 "For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little:"
Isaiah 28:12 "To whom He said, "This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing:" yet they would not hear."
Show yourself to be approved before God:
Romans 14:8 "For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's."
Romans 14:9 "For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that He might be Lord both of the living and the dead."
II Corinthians 10:18 "For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth."
II Corinthians 13:5 "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?"
II Corinthians 13:7 "Now I pray to God that ye do no evil; not that we should appear approved, but that ye should do that which is honest, thought we be as reprobates."
II Corinthians 13:8 "For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth."
Every knee shall bow; the Truth is sharper than any two edged sword, as it cuts both ways.
Study therefore to show yourself approved unto God:
II Timothy 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the world of truth."
Joh 4:32
But he said unto them, I have food to eat that you know not of.
Joh 4:33
Therefore said the disciples one to another, has any man brought him anything to eat?
Joh 4:34
Jesus said unto them, My food is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
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HisGrace
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posted
The Bible is full of scriptures showing God's great compassion and mercy for the lost.
Matthew 9:13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."
James 3:17 But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
Psalm 86:5 Fo thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto ALL them that call upon thee
(Not just a select few)
A bone of contention may be Romans 9:18 "Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden."
~If we put this scripture into the proper context it is referring to the hardening of Pharaoh's heart, because God had a special role for him to play in changing the course of history.
God did this in order to reveal and confirm His mighty power. Notice Verse 17 "For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth"
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epouraniois
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posted
I don't know, I think that if Father lost any who He came to redeem, then it is probably us who are misunderstanding, I think He can and will do what He set out to do in the first place and must leave large room for the rest of the plan of redemtpion to be ruled and over-ruled by the God who knows "we know not what we should pray for as we ought." But "the Spirit Himself helpeth our infirmities" (Rom. 8:26). He knoweth what we should pray for. He knoweth what we need. He maketh intercession for us and in us.
Eph 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins
Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by (grace ye are saved;)
It is only by grace that any are saved, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves, it is only by the operation of God, 'wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead'.
2Co 4:16 states that our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. This renewal day by day is now, and anticipates the quickening for those to be raised and seated with Him as He has purposed. Look at this peculiar title we have in Romans:
Rom 4:17 ”God, who quickeneth the dead”, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. This is God who can do this. Gal 2:16 agrees it is by the faith of Christ, "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ".
And again, it is by the faith of Christ:
Phi 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
I just think that every individual is raised, some to shame, some to life. That is what the time of teaching is all about, a time where one can learn to come through the door and not some other way.
I realize there are other teachings, but after much much research, I have come to the overwhelming power behind His resurrection and will that none shall be lost, as God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses against them, but instead being made sin for us, imputing them unto Himself.
There are some very strong verses about perishing, but I believe this is always in relation to the crown, or reward being lost, and the falling away from the grace principle. The grace is still there, even if the person falls away from the principle through unbelief.
Alot of people preach everlasting punishing, but I can't see it anywhere, although I am not saying anyone here said anything like that, I just wanted to take note of some of the predominate issues in Christindom.
Please don't get me wrong, I realize perfectly that it is preached, repent, believe or perish and all that, but that was preached to Israel, under the divine administration that prevailed in the Acts period a man was given only one opportunity to hear and believe the gospel (Acts 13:46). The heralds of the gospel never spoke it twice to the same people. A herald did not go over ground that had already been covered (Rom. 15:20, 21). The message was at once either a "savor of life" or a "savor of death" to all who heard it, till finally, through the longsuffering of God, all Israel had heard, and the offer withdrawn into abayence, with a new teaching set forth in this more literal rendering of Acts 28:28, "Let it then be known unto you that the salvation-bringing message of God has been authorized to the nations, and they will hear it".
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HisGrace
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quote:
Originally posted by Bloodbought:
Now we come to the heart of the matter. The heart is the hub from which every other aspect of man is energised and man has only the will to do what his heart dictates. Can we do anything to change the heart? No, The heart is beyond our control because it is the very thing that controls us.
I believe we can have the will to seek until the heart is changed.
Acts 17:27
God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
Romans 2:7
To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life.
Hebrews 11:6
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
quote:
It has often been said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Let a lady bring a man to the position where his feet are under the table and he is most likely to be hers for life.
Here's a great hint for the ladies. I wonder if Christmas cookies would work. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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Bloodbought
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posted
Would all like to be saved? Yes.
Will God save all? No.
Why? Because they are thieves and robbers, they will not come by the way of the cross and they try to climb to heaven some other way. Why is this? Because they don’t have the will or the know how to discard their baggage of self-righteousness and trust Christ so that they can have imputed righteousness and be justified, Just as if they had never sinned.
Why do they not have the will or know how to discard their baggage of self-righteousness and trust Christ? This is the question. Is it their responsibility to have this ability, or is it Gods responsibility to allow them to have the will to come by the way of the cross? Both.
Let us look at some scripture.
John 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
41 I receive not honour from men.
42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?
45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.
Note v 40 ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
This is saying they don’t have the will to come to Christ, why? Because their will is being controlled by what is in their heart and what does the scripture say about the heart?
Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
I’m sure everyone would agree, we couldn’t see or know what is in the heart of man. So the heart is something we know nothing about. Do we know anything about the will? Yes, when someone tells me what he or she is going to do, I know they have the will to do it. When they tell me they are going to do penance I know they have the will to do it, but this is a deception coming from the heart.
Now we come to the heart of the matter. The heart is the hub from which every other aspect of man is energised and man has only the will to do what his heart dictates. Can we do anything to change the heart? No, The heart is beyond our control because it is the very thing that controls us. So how can the heart be changed? It has often been said that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Let a lady bring a man to the position where his feet are under the table and he is most likely to be hers for life. In the same way, the only way to attempt to change the heart of man spiritually is to feed him on the Word and pray that the Spirit of God will apply the Word to the heart and make him willing to trust Christ. The will is free but is bound by a deceitful heart and can only chose everything except Christ until the heart is changed and they accept Christ. Man has free will, but he does not have a free heart until he is made free.
John 8:36 If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
Posts: 822 | From: Ireland | Registered: Feb 2005
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