Who Chose Who? Part 2.0

Continuing the previous thoughts... It's just everywhere in the Bible. Man is too sinful to ever choose God of his own will. I'm just going to say it, it's arrogant to think that apart from the regenerating work of God's grace you would ever choose God. I mean you can't get any clearer than Romans 3:11 "...no one seeks for God." To say the opposite is to elevate man and contradict the Word.
So what hope do we have?

Paul is very clear as to why a person would ever choose God. How can a person willfully seek God? What makes a person long for salvation?

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Philippians 2:12-13

Paul instructs the Philippians to work out their own salvation. In other words, "Do some heart searching. Examine yourselves to see if you are truly saved. Seek after the Lord Jesus and His salvation." Paul then says God is working inside your hearts to will and to work. God is the source of your desire to seek Christ. God is the one who gives you the will and strength to obey Him. All of their "choosing God" is credited to God. Paul didn't say, "God has done all He can do, now it's up to you." Paul knew that as the Philippians worked out their salvation, God was the one working behind the scenes giving them the will to work. The same is true for anyone who has believed upon Jesus Christ.

Our repentance is a gift given to us by God.

And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
2 Timothy 2:24-26

If you have repented of sin it is because God has granted that repentance to you.

Our faith is a gift given to us by God.

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, Philippians 1:29

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Romans 12:3

I say with Paul "So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy." Romans 9:16

Who Chose Who? Part 1.7

Well, I fibbed. I've cooked several dinners since my last post. Let's try again.

Referring to my previous post, we've seen that all people are born with the inability to choose God, love God, and obey God. We are enslaved to sin. We cannot free ourselves from its fetters. We are hostile to God and we cannot submit to his laws. Our hearts are deceitful and sick. Since I last posted I've thought of verses that speak of us being "dead" in our trespasses and sins.

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. " --Ephesians 2:1-3

Why did Paul say we were dead in our trespasses and sins. Well, what do dead people do? Nothing! Do they act in any way as a living person does? No. Paul was saying, while we were spiritually dead, we did nothing that a spiritually alive person does. We did not because we could not. And the fact is true in both cases, dead people cannot raise themselves to life. Christ is the only source of life, spirtual and physical. He exemplified this truth with the raising of Lazarus. Lazarus was rotting in his tomb. He didn't move a muscle until Christ spoke life into his body. Before a person can have faith (choose) and obey Christ they must be "born again," "made alive" in Christ

Paul continues in Ephesians like this

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- " --Ephesians 2:4-5

Who made us alive? God did in his mighty grace! Who can take credit for this grace and the channel through which it flows called faith?

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." --Ephesian 2:8-10

God alone can take the credit! It is all a gift. If God chose us because we first chose him, we have reason to boast of our own faith. But this is not true. We are God's "workmanship, created in Christ Jesus..." He chose to have mercy on us first. He loved us for no reason of our own (Romans 9:11-15), simply according to His good pleasure and will. We choose Him because He first chose us.

More still to come.