"If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11: 13 nkjv)
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened." (Matt. 7: 7-8 nkjv)
These texts are difficult ones for those Calvinists who believe that one is saved, born again, regenerated, before he believes and repents, and apart from calling upon the Lord to save him or asking the Lord to do so. However, the Bible teaches that a person is first led by the Spirit to see his need for salvation and the Spirit's work, and is then brought to ask the Father for it. This truth is stated in the well known Christian hymn "O Happy Day!" and in the words "O happy day, that fixed my choice on Thee, my Savior and my God!" The apostle Paul spoke of how the Galatian believers "received the Spirit by the hearing of faith." (Gal. 3: 2)
Further, people choose to believe, even when they are compelled by the power of truth and Spirit of God. (Luke 14: 23) That is, their wills are involved in believing and repenting. Believe and repent are verbs in the active voice, not in the passive voice. We see this truth in these words of Lord God himself:
"Come now, and let us reason together," Says the Lord, "Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient, You shall eat the good of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, You shall be devoured by the sword"; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." (Isa. 1: 18-20 nkjv)
These words were addressed to spiritually lost and dead sinners, described by God in this fashion: "Hear the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You people of Gomorrah." (vs. 10) To be described as being the people of Sodom and Gomorrah is to be declared to be degenerate. He tells them that they need to be washed of their sins, saying "wash yourselves, make yourselves clean." (vs. 16) Then he leaves the choice up to these degenerate souls. He says "if you are willing and obedient" you shall "eat the good of the land," and also have their sins washed white as snow. But he also says "if you refuse and rebel" you will "be devoured by the sword" of God's judgment.
I despise the question - "do you choose God or does he choose you?" It is not an either/or case. Those who God has chosen to salvation are made by God's work to choose him. Receiving Christ is the result of choosing to do so. Wrote the apostle John: "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God." (John 1: 12) Again, we say that the word "receive" is in the active voice in the Greek and the word often means to "take" what is offered. Salvation is a gift of God but it must be voluntarily received. Further, this willingness to receive the gift is the result of God working in a person "to will" or choose to do so. (Phil. 2: 12-13)
Jesus spoke of people rejecting him when they rejected his good news proclaimers. (Luke 10: 16) Peter spoke of believers as "Coming to Him as to a living stone" but who was "rejected indeed by men" and being “the stone which the builders rejected.” (I Peter 2: 4, 7 nkjv) Choosing Christ and his gift of salvation is the opposite of "rejecting" him. People accept or reject Christ by choice. Jesus also said:
"He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him— the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day." (John 12: 48 nkjv)
Again, the opposite of rejecting and not receiving Christ is accepting, taking, or choosing Christ. I hate it when the Hyper Calvinists ridicule the idea of "accepting" Christ as your Lord and Savior. They must be out of their minds to do so. The above texts tell us that Christ must be chosen and accepted and received in order to be saved. If you want the Holy Spirit, or the Father, or Christ the Son, then ask him in penitent faith to come to you and save you, and to come into your heart. So Jesus said:
"Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." (Rev. 3: 20 nkjv)
To open the door of your heart to the Lord is a choice, an act of your will. This does not mean that you can then boast that you earned salvation by simply choosing to receive the gift of salvation and the Lord's presence, for it is God who works in you to will and because the hand of faith that receives God's gifts is itself a gift of God. All that is involved in bringing a lost sinner to make the choice to ask, seek, and knock is the result of God "working in" that person (Heb. 13: 21) and is due to God's "workmanship." (Eph. 2: 10)
Joshua, the servant of the Lord, when dealing with stubborn and obstinate sinners, said:
"And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24: 15 nkjv)
When I was with the Hardshells I used to hear their Hyper Calvinistic twist on this text. They would say 1) the choice was not between serving the true God and false gods, but between which false god to serve, and 2) the choice was made by those who were already God's people (Israelites). In reply I say that Joshua is saying -- "since you have chosen not to serve Yahweh, then choose which god you will serve." Also when he says "as for me" he means "as for my choice, I choose that my house and I will serve the Lord." It is clear that the people who are called upon to make a choice have already made a choice not to serve Yahweh and this is evident by the words "if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord."
Some of my Calvinist brothers might say -- "Paul says 'it is not of him who wills'". However, that is true of election, which is what the "it" refers to. Being actually saved involves choosing to receive Christ.
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