I was listening to a preacher and he preached on 1Thessalonians 1:4, where the Bible says, knowing brothers, beloved by God, your election.' It was obvious that this preacher was not reformed because he gave the final decision to man in regards to his salvation.
He gave an illustration to attempt to prove his position that God provides the way for salvation, but man by his autonomous freewill chooses whether God can save them or not.
The illustration when something like this. When you go to a restaurant, you have a menu, the menu is provided, but you by your freewill decide whether to have something from that menu.
There is a serious problem with this illustration. Let us take a look at that in this post.
First of all, whether you are saved or not saved, you can look at a menu and decide whether to have something from that menu. You do not need to be regenerated to be able to choose to have something from the menu. Just go to a restaurant and you will see many unregenerate people choosing their meals from the menu without any problems.
What about salvation? Can an unregenerate man choose salvation like he is ordering a bowl of soup at a restaurant or five chicken wings with ketchup?
What does the Bible say. First let us look at what Jesus said in John 3:3 LITV, Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, if one does not receive birth from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God.
What is the Lord Jesus saying here? Look at the words, if one does not receive birth from above, he is not able to see the kingdom of God. Notice, without a spiritual birth, you cannot see the kingdom of God. This speaks of the unregenerate man who has a heart of stone, a heart that hates God. The Lord Jesus Christ says that this man cannot even see the kingdom of God. This man needs to be regenerated before he can see the kingdom of God—this man needs to be born from above before he can see spiritually. How can a person come to the Lord Jesus Christ spiritually blind with a heart of stone that opposes God? The Lord Jesus is clearly telling us they cannot.
When you go to verse 5, the Lord Jesus talks about being born from above saying, Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, if one does not receive birth out of water and Spirit, he is not able to enter the kingdom of God (LITV), which contradicts anyone who believes that faith comes before the new birth, believing that a person enters the kingdom of God and then is born from above, which is opposite to what the Lord teaches here in His Word.
So is repentance and faith like choosing from a menu? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
