"Whosoever
Will"
By Jim Murriner
The Word of God is very clear that
whosoever willeth to come unto Christ for salvation,
may do so.
There are even a number of
scriptures which tell us so, among them is John 3:15 " That whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."
The scriptures tell us that we were
in darkness before we were saved but, John
whosoever believeth on me should not abide in
darkness."
The salvation which we have in the
Lord Jesus Christ is spoken of in the Bible as the water of life, and in both
John
water of life freely.
We are even assured in John 6:37
that no one who comes unto Jesus will ever be turned away. "All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise
cast out."
The real problem is not that people
will want to come unto Christ for salvation and He will not let them come, or
that the wrong person might come and Christ will turn them away, but the
problem lies in the fact that man is not capable of coming unto Jesus.
Romans 3:9-11 tells us that no one
left to themselves have a will to come unto Christ, "... we have before
proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written,
There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there
is none that seeketh after God."
Romans 8:7 tells us that prior to
the Lord giving us a new birth, we were enemies of God." Because the
carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can be."
We could not seek after God, or have
a will to come unto Jesus Christ, prior to the new birth, because we were dead.
"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;"
Eph 2:1
God never turned away any who were
willing to come unto Him, but we cannot become willing on our own. God must
work in us (and on us) to cause us to be willing.
"For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Philippians 2:13
While it is indeed true that
whosoever will, may come unto Christ, those of us who are saved can not have
any pride in that we were willing to come unto Him. We must give all glory unto
God, who made us willing and in spite of our stubborn and impotent nature drew
us unto Christ.
"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."
John 6:44