“All have turned away, they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good, not even one.” – Romans
3:12 (Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3)
- Good
here means God pleasing, not civil righteousness
- No one can do anything God pleasing due to original sin. Believing in/choosing/seeking/ God would be God pleasing. Therefore, we cannot choose God.
Man cannot seek
God.
"There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no
one who understands, no one who seeks God.” – Romans 3:10-11
- If we cannot even seek God, then we cannot go to Him.
Man cannot come to
God.
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that
come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot
understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. – 1 Corinthians 2:14
- If we cannot go to God, then we cannot choose Him.
Man cannot choose God.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his
name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of
natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. –
John 1:12-13
Man cannot earn
Grace.
“[I]f righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ
died for nothing!" – Galatians 2:21b
[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. –
Romans 3:23
- If our
salvation comes from us in any way, then Christ did not do enough.
- The
law is thought (ie choice), word, and deed. Example: 10 commandments
- If we can’t choose it and we can’t earn it, then it must not come from us at all
Grace is not from
ourselves at all.
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,
in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the
ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are
disobedient. All of us also lived among
them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following
its desires and thoughts. Like the rest,
we were by nature objects of wrath. But
because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with
Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been
saved. And God raised us up with Christ
and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in
the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed
in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not
from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can
boast. – Ephesians 2:1-9
- Dead
men cannot resurrect themselves
- It
would make salvation conditional on us.
If we… then we are saved.
- If it does not come from us, it must come from God.
God alone grants
faith, which reconciles us to God (Subjective Justification)
For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only
to believe on him, but also to suffer for him… – Philippians 1:29
[H]e saved us, not because of righteous things we had done,
but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and
renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus
Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become
heirs having the hope of eternal life. – Titus 3:5-7
The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along
with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. – 1 Timothy 1:14
- He must have a reason and a means to grant this to us.
We are reconciled through Christ’s sacrifice (Objective Justification)
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your
minds because of your evil behavior.
But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to
present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. – Colossians 1:21-22
And by that will, we have been made holy through the
sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. – Hebrews 10:10
Since we cannot choose God, He must choose us, we are, therefore, predestined
Like sheep they are destined for the grave, and death will
feed on them. The upright will rule over them in the morning; their forms will
decay in the grave, far from their princely mansions. - Psalm 49:14
And if they ask you, 'Where shall we go?' tell them, 'This
is what the LORD says: " 'Those destined for death, to death; those for
the sword, to the sword; those for starvation, to starvation; those for
captivity, to captivity.' - Jeremiah 15:2
He will come and attack Egypt
For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed
to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers. And those he predestined, he
also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also
glorified. - Romans 8:29-30
No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been
hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. - 1 Corinthians
2:7
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to
be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as
his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-- to
the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he
loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in
accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all
wisdom and understanding. - Ephesians 1:4-8
In him we were also chosen, having been predestined
according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the
purpose of his will… - Ephesians 1:11
…so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know
quite well that we were destined for them. - 1 Thessalonians 3:3
…"A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that
makes them fall." They stumble because they disobey the message – which is
also what they were destined for. But
you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging
to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness
into his wonderful light. Once you were
not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received
mercy, but now you have received mercy. – 1 Peter 2:8-10
When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the
word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed. – Acts 13:48
And the Lord added to their number daily those who were to
be saved. – Acts 2:47
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