Jonathan Edwards: "God did not choose us because He foresaw we would come to Christ. Faith is the consequence of election, not the cause of it. You contribute nothing to salvation except the sin that made it necessary."
"The greatest judgment which God himself can, in the present life, inflict upon a man is to leave him in the hand of his own boasted 'free'-will." Augustus Toplady
John MacArthur: "You and I believed the gospel, not because we were wiser or more righteous than anyone else, but because God graciously intervened, opening our hearts to heed His Word and believe."
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God must miraculously change a sinner's heart before he will choose to repent and believe in Christ. The sinner does not have a completely free will. His will is in bondage to sin. Yes, he freely chooses to do what he wants to do, but he cannot and will not do what he should do apart from God's enabling grace.
"Free will is not...
1. Free will is not what many think it is. The bible clearly teaches that unregenerate people cannot freely choose to do what they should do. Unregenerate sinners will not and cannot choose by their own willpower to repent and to be truly righteous, but, according to the Scriptures, people always choose to do what they want to do and make decisions according to their natures -- their hearts. So even though all people freely choose to do what they want to do, they cannot all choose to do what they ought to do.
2. Free will is not what saves sinners. The wills of unregenerate sinners are in bondage to sin. Unregenerate sinners have sinful, rebellious hearts and therefore cannot and will not choose to surrender to the Lord and trust in Christ unless the Lord changes their hearts. And if God grants repentance to a sinner, if God regenerates a sinner, that person will freely and immediately repent, love and trust Jesus.
3. Free will is not the ultimate determining will in the universe. Even though people are fully responsible for their choices, and even though their choices result in certain consequences, God's sovereign will is the final determining will in all instances. God's sovereign will trumps the wills of human beings. Ultimately God is the one who determines what will happen. He causes all that is good and permits those things that are evil, but is He alone is the Architect of a plan that cannot be thwarted by humans or Satan, and a foreordained plan that will most certainly happen.
No one has ever been saved by exercising his or her free will. The sinner's will is in bondage and it refuses to surrender.
Keep in mind that God is dealing with sinners who deserve hell. No one has ever deserved to be saved. No one will repent, no one will believe in Christ, unless God first changes his heart. Justice would leave sinners under the wrath of God. Mercy and grace is shown to those who were appointed for salvation.
Acts 13:48 "All who were appointed for eternal life believed."
God both saves some sinners and damns other sinners as He manifests his various attributes. He does what He does for his own glory. His justice, power and wrath are demonstrated with those who are condemned and his mercy, grace and compassion are demonstrated with those who are saved. God's supreme commitment is not to the welfare of mankind, but to his own glory." (Exodus 9:16; 14:4, 17-18) hfd
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Scriptures
Romans 3:10 "There is no one righteous, not even one. 11 There is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away; all alike have become worthless. There is no one who does what is good, not even one.
Romans 8:7 "The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God."
Genesis 8:21 "The Lord said...Every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood."
1 Corinthians 2:14 "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit."
Romans 9:16 "So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy."
2 Thessalonians 2:10 "They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 12 ...All will be condemned — those who did not believe the truth but delighted in unrighteousness."
2 Timothy 2:24 "The Lord’s servant must not quarrel, but must be gentle to everyone, able to teach, and patient, 25 instructing his opponents with gentleness. Perhaps God will grant them repentance leading them to the knowledge of the truth. 26 Then they may come to their senses and escape the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will."
Ephesians 2:1 "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!"
Ezekiel 36:26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."
John 6:37 "Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. 65 He said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father."
Romans 6:22 "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life."
Philippians 2:13 "It is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose."
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Quotes
Kevin DeYoung: "God does not turn anyone away who genuinely comes to him in faith. But if you come, it is only because God has supernaturally, unilaterally, sovereignly, and effectually enabled you to come."
J.I. Packer: "Evangelism is man's work, but the giving of faith is God's."
R.C. Sproul: "The greatest act of mercy that God performs is giving the gift of faith. Faith is the fruit of regeneration, not the cause of it."
Louis Berkhof: "Election does not in any way depend on the foreseen faith or good works of man, as the Arminians teach, but exclusively on the sovereign good pleasure of God, who is also the originator of faith and good works.
Dr. MacArthur: "...Well, the doctrine of election simply means that God, uninfluenced and before creation, predetermined certain people to be saved..."
Alistair Begg: "Faith is not ultimately a condition of salvation; faith is really an evidence of salvation. The very faith by which we believe is a gift from God Himself."
C.H. Spurgeon: “Free will has carried many souls to hell, but yet never a soul to heaven.”
C.H. Spurgeon: “I do not come into this pulpit hoping that perhaps somebody will of his own free will return to Christ. My hope lies in another quarter. I hope that my Master will lay hold of some of them and say, “You are mine, and you shall be mine. I claim you for myself.” My hope arises from the freeness of grace, and not from the freedom of the will.”