Our sin nature and salvation

How shall we rightly divide the word of God on any particular topic?
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troypulk
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Nov 26, 2010 1:01 pm
Location: Washington, USA

Our sin nature and salvation

Post by troypulk »

How can someone who is controlled by his or her sin nature have a desire to be saved from it?

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Genesis 6:5”

“Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? [No one!]
Job 14:4”

“The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.
Psalm 10:4”

“But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away. And there is no one who calls on Your name, Who stirs himself up to take hold of You . . .
Isaiah 64:6-7“

“Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.
Jeremiah 13:23”

“ . . . Salvation is of the LORD
Jonah 2:9“

"But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:12-13“

"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
John 6:44, 65

“But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep,[non elect] as I said to you.
John 10:26”

“He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.
John 8:47”

“the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.
John 14:17”

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

43 For a good tree does not produce rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree produce good fruit.
44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a thorn bush.
45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
Luke 6:43-45

"As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Romans 3:10-18

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 8:5-8”

“What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
Romans 9:14-16”

“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18“

“But the natural [unsaved] 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 Corinthians 2:14“

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, [GOD] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:1-10“

“Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands— that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians 2:11-13“

“This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. Ephesians 4:17-19“

For to you it has been granted for the sake of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake,
Philippians 1:29“

For we are the true circumcision, worshipping by the Spirit of God, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and having no confidence in the flesh,
Philippians 3:3

“And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled
Colossians 1:21”

And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,
Colossians 2:13”

and that we may be delivered from evil and wicked men; for not all have faith.
2 Thessalonians 3:2“

in meekness instructing those that oppose, if God perhaps may give them repentance, to a full knowledge of the truth,
2 Timothy 2:25

“To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled.
Titus 1:15”

“We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him [true believers] who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
1 John 5:19-20“

Taking this into account it is impossible for someone who is unregenerate to see that they need a Savior.
So when the scripture says that we are by nature children of wrath, spiritually dead, cannot know the things of the spirit, are not subject to the law of GOD, our carnal minds are at enmity with GOD, slaves to sin, we cannot change our nature, separated from GOD, cannot please GOD, do not understand, and do not seek after God etc …
This means that our choices are in line with these definitions of our will. So if left to our selves we would by our nature reject GOD and never come to HIM.
So then salvation is wholly of GOD, if GOD does not open our eyes we will never see.

After giving a brief survey of these doctrines of sovereign grace, I asked for questions from the class. One lady, in particular, was quite troubled. She said, ‘This is the most awful thing I’ve ever heard! You make it sound as if God is intentionally turning away men and women who would be saved, receiving only the elect.’ I answered her in this vein: ‘You misunderstand the situation. You’re visualizing that God is standing at the door of heaven, and men are thronging to get in the door, and God is saying to various ones, ‘Yes, you may come, but not you, and you, but not you, etc.’ The situation is hardly this. Rather, God stands at the door of heaven with His arms outstretched, inviting all to come. Yet all men without exception are running in the opposite direction towards hell as hard as they can go. So God, in election, graciously reaches out and stops this one, and that one, and this one over here, and that one over there, and effectually draws them to Himself by changing their hearts, making them willing to come. Election keeps no one out of heaven who would otherwise have been there, but it keeps a whole multitude of sinners out of hell who otherwise would have been there. Were it not for election, heaven would be an empty place, and hell would be bursting at the seams. That kind of response, grounded as I believe that it is in Scriptural truth, does put a different complexion on things, doesn’t it? If you perish in hell, blame yourself, as it is entirely your fault. But if you should make it to heaven, credit God, for that is entirely His work! To Him alone belong all praise and glory, for salvation is all of grace, from start to finish. – Mark Webb
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