It's Up to You!

I believe that anyone can be saved.   
My personal testimony

I've been told by several sources that it's impossible to say no to God and salvation; that man doesn't have a choice in the salvation of his own soul.   Here is what I believe and why...

My first question is:  Have you ever read I Thessalonians 5:19?  It says, Quench not the Spirit.  Why would God put an unnecessary verse in the Bible?  If man can't say no to God, then why would God put this verse in the Bible??   Some might like to argue that this verse is talking to Christians.  I agree!  But, if a dead man can't say no the Holy Spirit that he doesn't even know, then how can a saved man, who has the Holy Spirit inside him say no??

The obvious answer is:  Lost and saved men alike can say "no" to God.  God has given us a free will to do what we want.  We have choices to make.


Joshua 24:15 ~ ...Choose ye this day whom ye will serve...as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.   Joshua was telling the people that they had a decision to make.  He made his decision to serve the Lord, but not all of the people in the Bible did.

 Man was created for God and put in the Garden of Eden to walk and fellowship with God.  God gave Adam instructions not to eat the fruit of a certain tree.  Adam was given a free will to obey or not to obey.  We all know that Adam and Eve chose the latter.  They ate of the fruit and in so doing were cursed, kicked out of the garden, and doomed to death.  

Have you ever tried to get children to be friends with other children they don't particularly like?  A forced relationship rarely works.  Would you like to know that your "friend" only hung out with you because they were made to do so and not because they truly wanted to spend time with you?  Why would God force Himself on us?  He wants us to want to know him better.  He wants us to WANT to be His.  After all, forced love is really not love at all.

I gave you the illustration of Adam and Eve choosing to do wrong.  And they had been perfect...  Have you ever considered Cain?  (Genesis 4)  He was given the opportunity to offer his sacrifice.  He offered vegetables.  God wasn't pleased with the vegetables.  God gave Cain yet another chance to do right. (Genesis 4:7)  Again, Cain chose not to do it God's way, even though God had talked directly to him and told him that his offering could be accepted if he would just do it God's way. Cain refused. 

In Mark 10:17 -22, the rich young ruler came to Jesus wanting to know how he could have eternal life.  In the end he decided  he loved his riches and his possessions more than his own life.  It was his choice. 

In Acts 26:28,  King Agrippa said he was "almost persuaded" which means he was under the conviction of the Holy Spirit...and yet he chose not to believe. He chose not to repent.

In Luke 16:19-31, Jesus tells the story of the rich man.  In verse 29, Abraham tells the rich man that his brothers have "Moses and the Prophets" (or the Word of God;  "Mose"s refers to the Law of Moses, or the first 5 books of the Bible.  The "prophets" refers to the books of the prophets; or the Old Testament).  Abraham was saying they could make a decision based on the Scriptures.  All Jews knew the Scriptures.  Whether they believed it or not was up to them.

I have been told recently that my belief that salvation is a personal choice is like claiming that Christians are intellectually superior than lost people; that a man would have to be an idiot to have a choice in their own salvation and chose not to be saved.  The statement was made, "If the choice was theirs to make, they'd be stupid not to pick Heaven!"

I couldn't agree more.  The fact is, though, that people chose NOT to be saved for different reasons.  Here are several I've heard:

• Christians are hypocrites
• They are afraid of criticism
• They've been hurt, abused, or mistreated by those who claim to be Christians
• They think they can do it later
• They don't want to give up their fun/sin
• They think they have to work or earn their salvation
• They aren't ready...sometimes people think they have to stop sinning or get things figured out before they can be saved.  The truth is that they can't get anything figured out on their own.  They need the help of the Holy Spirit and the only help you get from Him before you're saved is conviction or drawing to be saved.

Sometimes, people flat don't believe it.  It's too easy...they'd like to make it harder.  Or, they've been taught they have to work their way to Heaven and they can't get their understanding wrapped around the fact that Salvation really is such an easy thing.  It is finished...Jesus paid it all..there's nothing left for us to do, but believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!