Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Bible Truth #263 - Hebrews 3:5-8

5  Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later;
6  but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
7  Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
8  DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,

Continuing the same passage from Bible Truth #262 I want to focus on verse 7 where the Arminian will simply skip over it and point to verse 8 and exclaim, “See! There is proof we have a choice!” Neglecting the fact that verse 7 clearly says “...IF you hear His voice,..."

Since a lost man is dead because God has NOT quickened him (Ephesians 2:1, 2:5; Colossians 2:13), he will NEVER hear God’s voice! He must be quickened FIRST! So his natural reaction is to harden his heart every time he hears with his physical ears. Remember, he does not have “ears to hear” because God has not given him ears (Deuteronomy 29:4), i.e. spiritual ears. Sure he has a “choice” but it will always be the same - reject God (which is in fact what God wants, Bible Truth #30). I may be wrong but, spiritually speaking, I don’t know of any instance in the Bible where a lost person heard God’s voice. For Example - Paul’s companions on the road to Damascus heard a noise but didn’t hear or understand it as God’s voice (Acts 9:7, Acts 22:9).

On the other hand - a Christian who hears God’s voice also has a “choice” but it will ALWAYS be what God wants him to do. I can prove that with a verse from both the Old Testament and New Testament. When a Christian hears His voice... would you say that he is hearing God’s Word? Yes. So consider Isaiah 55:11 - God’s Word will not return void but WILL, there is no exception, God’s Word WILL accomplish the matter for which He sent it.

Then out of the New Testament, let’s feast our eyes on God’s Word that Paul wrote to the believers in Philippi (Philippians 2:13). It is God Who is at work in you, BOTH to will (think) and to work for His good pleasure, [not ours]. The point is, God is working in us even to make some of us think we are making free will decisions.

Bottom line - does the Arminian want to believe what he thinks is right? Or does he want to believe God’s Word? It IS incontrovertible.

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