Category: Depravity

A phrase often heard from Christians referring to sickness and tragedy…desiring to bring comfort, conclude “God’s will be done”. If they were simply wishing that…

Adam was led to sin by the spoken word of the devil. By means of lying, through incentive, inducement, and enticement, Adam was led to sin (Gen. 3:1-6; Jas. 1:13-15). The word of the devil allured this totally righteous man, this man who was dead to sins, to commit sin and die. The word of God can allure, therefore, totally depraved man, the man dead in sins, to obey God and live (John 5:25), or else the word of the devil is more powerful than the word of God (Rom. 1:16; Heb. 4:12). From this conclusion there is no escape.

God spoke of those who “will not hear the law of the Lord” (Isa. 30:9-11). He did not say they “could” not; he said they “will not.” Jesus said, “Ye will not come to me that ye might have life” (Jn. 5:40). To those who willed not to come to him, Jesus said, “These things I say, that ye might be saved” (Jn. 5:34). The problem was their “will,” but how could Jesus appeal to them with words “that (they) might be saved,” if he knew their will was impervious to his word?

Does man have a free will to choose to come to Christ, or must God perform a direct operation of the Spirit on the heart of the sinner to enable him to receive and believe on Christ?

What if God never sees fit to regenerate the unregenerate soul? If God never does his work, never regenerates the soul, never grants it repentance and faith, whose fault will it be? Imagine meeting God at the judgment, having characterized him as the God who demanded repentance and faith, but who knew all along that the sinner could not obey, and then, failing to regenerate the poor soul, sends it into everlasting fire for not doing what he knew it could not do without his aid! I tremble for those who have to face the Almighty One having so charged him!

DOES MAN HAVE A FREE WILL?
This series of articles is a response to an article by “Elder Wayne Camp, Pastor” of Pilgrims’ Hope Baptist Church, Memphis, TN. Elder Camp’s article was entitled, “THE COMMONLY BELIEVED LIE CONCERNING THE ALLEGED FREE WILL OF MAN,” and appeared in The Grace Proclamator and Promulgator, August, 1995, Pp. 1-10. While this review will not completely cover Camp’s conclusions, it will supply sufficient study material to address the question of our title.