Chapter 12
The Challenge
In this book, I have quoted many verses that prove that the unsaved, spiritually dead, lost sinner is totally incapable of using his will to come to Christ. It just won’t happen until God, in His free grace to His elect, opens the will and gives spiritual sight and spiritual legs so that a person can come to faith and see and enter the kingdom of God. However, perhaps you are still unconvinced regarding what I have written in this book. If so, I have a way to prove to you beyond any doubt the truth of what I have written. I’m going to put you to the test. Let us settle this issue that has been debated for over a thousand years once and for all.
I want you to search the Scriptures and find a verse that proves that the spiritually dead, unsaved person has a free will spiritual ability to receive Jesus Christ. Let me add that this verse cannot imply such a free will, it must state it categorically. Certainly, if free will salvation is a major Christian doctrine, one should be able to find at least one verse that proves this free will spiritual ability or power and not just verses that might seem to imply it.
For instance, note the following verses:
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matt. 6:33)
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. (Matt. 7:7-8)
These verses, and others that command people to seek God, seem to imply that a person has the ability to seek Christ which would also imply a free will ability to do so. You have to first determine if the verses are written to saved or unsaved people. Saved people should be able to seek a closer relationship with God. What I am talking about in this book is unsaved people. Note the following passage regarding the ability of the unsaved person to seek God.
“There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” (Rom. 3:10-12)
So you see here that no unsaved person has a free will spiritual ability to seek Christ. The reason is they are spiritually dead. The same principle would be true of this verse.
15 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)
This verse doesn’t prove one has a spiritual free will ability. Perhaps one would say it implies it. All this verse says is that these Israelites had a choice to make. It doesn’t prove any power or ability to seek or choose God. In truth, those who choose Christ, seek Him, or come to Him only do so after God first chose them and then enabled them to choose, seek, and come to the Lord. I have provided many verses that prove this. Here is just one verse that not only applied to our Lord’s original twelve disciples but to all of His believers or disciples.
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. (John 15:16)
What follows is another example of when God commands us to do something that our wills are not free to do.
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. (Matt. 5:48)
Now can anyone obey this command to be perfect? No. So, just because God commands us to do something doesn’t mean we have a free will ability to do it.
Another verse that seems to support the free will view is James 4:8.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
Some say that this verse proves that an unsaved person can use his free will to come to God before God regenerates, draws, or drags that person to Himself. The problem with this understanding is that this verse is not referring to unsaved persons; it is talking about those already saved. Notice the first four verses of James 1.
1 James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings. 2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
James is writing to those who already have saving faith. James is encouraging them to strive to become perfect. As believers we should draw near to God, and He will draw near to us. However, it is impossible for an unsaved person to draw near to Christ until the Lord has drawn him to Himself by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit, for no unsaved person seeks the Lord.
20 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)
Again, at first glance this verse appears to imply a person has the free will spiritual power or ability to open the door. Does this verse state that we can all hear His voice and use our free wills to open the door? No, it just says “If” we do hear His voice and open the door, He will come in to our hearts. The problem is that, in our unsaved state, our wills are spiritually dead in trespasses and sins, and we can’t hear with understanding Jesus’ voice to open the door.
And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them. (Matt. 13:14-15)
The heart is one’s will. The unsaved heart or will can’t hear or see with understanding the spiritual things of Christ. (Rom. 3:11) Only by God’s grace are we, God’s elect, quickened and regenerated out of that state of spiritual death. Then we are able to hear Christ and open the door.
16But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. (Matt. 13:16)
Our eyes and ears are “blessed”, not because of any power or ability of ourselves to see, hear, seek, or understand, but only because of the special blessing and grace God gave to us when He opened our eyes and ears so that we could see, hear, seek, and understand spiritual matters.
Does Ought Imply Can?
I’ve heard it said that ought implies can. In other words, when God commands the unsaved to do something, there is an implied ability to be able to obey those commands. This view is not biblically correct. I have already addressed this issue in this chapter. Commands or statements from God do not mean we have the ability to obey those commands. God commands us to be perfect (Matt. 5:48), yet no one has the ability to be perfect, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23). God commands us to seek Him, yet no unsaved person will seek Him. (Rom. 3:10-12)
Why Would God Command Us To Do Things We Can’t Do?
The answer is simple. God expects perfect holiness in order for people to have fellowship with Him. God raises the bar to the highest notch. This is to show us our utter inability to get there. It is to prove to us that our spiritually dead wills cannot make it happen. The human will fails time after time. There is no free will in our unsaved state to help us obey these commands or to receive Christ. God must perform a miracle first, like He did with Lydia, when He opened her heart or will so that she could understand the gospel message Paul taught her. (Acts 16:14) She did not have a free will spiritual ability to do it for herself. It is all about the free grace of God. If we could obey these commands with our free wills, then we wouldn’t need the Holy Spirit to draw or drag us to Christ. We could just use our free wills to seek God and be saved.
Now, are we clear about this challenge? You must provide a verse that definitively proves that the unsaved, spiritually dead sinner has a free will spiritual ability to seek and receive Christ. It must state this clearly, and you must not use any verses that might seem to imply such ability. We have already seen that a command or statement from God does not mean we have the spiritual ability to obey the command in our unsaved state.
The Truth is in the Scriptures
After studying this issue for over 20 years, I have never found such a verse. What are you going to do if you could find such a verse? Would that one verse negate the many verses I have shown in this book that refute any possibility of a free will spiritual ability of an unsaved person to receive Christ? Does God speak with a forked tongue? God would never do that.
It is fine for a Christian to disagree with what is written in this book. However, that disagreement should come with it a responsibility to provide specific, definitive scriptural proof that the unsaved person, who is spiritually dead in trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1-5), has a free will spiritual ability to receive Jesus Christ. Without that scriptural evidence, free grace is proven to be the truth of God’s Word.
Certainly God, if He wanted us to believe in a free will salvation plan, would have at least recorded one verse out of the many thousands in the Bible that would prove that the unsaved person has a free will spiritual ability to seek and receive Christ. We must never believe in a major biblical doctrine on the basis of an implication or assumption.
I am so certain that there is no such verse in the Bible that can prove that the unsaved man has a free will spiritual ability to receive Christ that as part of this challenge I am going to provide my email address to you who have read this entire book. I want anyone who can find a verse that proves, not implies, the unsaved man does have this free will spiritual ability to email it to me. If you send a verse, please use either the King James Version or the New King James Version to keep it consistent with this book. Also, if you disagree with this book, please do not send me arguments, opinions, rationale, or commentary. Those on both sides of this issue have their verses they can quote and debate. This is the only way we can determine the truth on this issue. Therefore, please only send me the verse. My email address is: freegrace3@gmail.com
This is the very heart of the matter and issue before us. Free will salvation stands or falls upon the Holy Bible. It is false if there is no Scripture to prove that the unsaved man does have this spiritual free will ability to seek or receive Jesus Christ. I have already provided many verses that prove the unsaved man does not have this ability. Let the Word of God decide this issue debated for so long over the centuries.
If you accept this challenge, please keep the following verses in mind as you search the Scriptures. Remember, the free will view states that the unsaved man has the spiritual free will ability to respond to the gospel and receive it even though spiritually dead in trespasses and sins.
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, (Eph. 2:1)
14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Cor. 2:14)
16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. (Rom. 9:16)
“There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” (Rom. 3:10-12)