Predestination And Free-Will

Why Would God Tell Us To Receive Christ If We Can’t?

 
Why indeed, would the Bible say over and over that in order to become saved we must believe the Gospel, we must repent of our sins, we must receive Christ, we must do all sorts of things that we cannot possibly do as spiritually dead beings? The Bible is full of commands that no one is capable of obeying. Take just this one for instance:
 

Mark 12:30 – “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.”

 
Does that mean we are not responsible for obeying? Should God lower His standards and get rid of all His commandments and give us commandments that are easy to comply with? Should our nation get rid of its laws because so many people are having trouble abiding by them? Are not the people in prisons the ones who seem least able to keep the laws? Does that make it unfair to punish them for their crimes?
Admittedly, there are many scriptures that say we must believe in Christ to be saved. So how can we believe in Christ if we don’t have a free will – or if we have a nature that is AGAINST God? Don’t fret, God has given us the answer to that puzzling question:
 

Philippians 1:29 – “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake”

 
So being able to believe in Christ requires a work of God, as further stated here:
 

John 6:29 – “Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”

John 6:65 – “And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.“

 
So we see that God is quite capable of doing what is impossible for man to do in and of himself:
 

Matthew 19:24-26 – “24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. 25 When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved? 26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.”

 
Summary: This article is a section of a much larger article on the Bible doctrines of Election and Predestination called “Who accepts Whom?“. You are urged to check out that larger article for many other thought provoking questions pertaining these “Doctrines of Grace”. — RM Kane