Men may be saved "if they
will..."
First, it lies in the obstinacy of the human will.
"Oh!" saith the Arminian, "men
may be saved if they will." We
reply, "My dear sir, we all believe that; but
it is just the
‘if they will’ that is the difficulty. We assert that no man
will come to Christ unless he be drawn; nay, we do not
assert it, but Christ himself declares it—'Ye will not come
unto me that ye might have life;' and as long as that 'ye
will not come' stands on record in Holy Scripture, we shall
not be brought to believe in any doctrine of the freedom of
the human will." It is strange how people, when talking
about free-will, talk of things which they do not at all
understand. "Now," says one, "I believe men can be saved if
they will." My dear sir, that is not the question at all.
The question is, are men ever found naturally willing to
submit to the humbling terms of the gospel of Christ?
We
declare, upon Scriptural authority, that the human will is
so desperately set on mischief, so depraved, and so inclined
to everything that is evil, and so disinclined to everything
that is good, that without the powerful, supernatural,
irresistible influence of the Holy Spirit, no human will
ever be constrained towards Christ.
- Charles H. Spurgeon - from sermon entitled "Human
Inability"
The heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? - Jeremiah 17:9
Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God. - Joh 1:13
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh
after God. - Romans 3:11
