I, for my part, do yield, that God hath given to mankinde a Free-will, but here is the question; Whether the same Freedom bee in our power and strength, or no?. . . for it is onely God that worketh in us, and wee must suffer and subject our selvs to his pleasure. Even as a Potter out of his claie maketh a pot or vessel either for use of honor, or otherwise of dishonor. Just so is it with our Free-will, onely to suffer, and not to work, passive, non active, which standeth not in our strength; for wee are not able to do any thing that is good in divine causes.~Martin Luther, Table Talks, (translated 1652).
"You say: Who will endeavor to reform his life? I answer: Nobody! No man can! God has no time for your self-reformers, for they are all hypocrites. The elect who fear God will be reformed by the Holy Spirit. The rest will perish unreformed."
"Thus the human will is like a beast of burden. If God rides it, it wills and goes whence God wills; as the Psalm says, "I was as a beast of burden before thee" [Psalm 72:22]. If Satan rides, it wills and goes where Satan wills. Nor may it choose to which rider it will run, nor which it will seek. But the riders themselves contend who shall have and hold it."
"However, with regard to God, and in all things pertaining to salvation or damnation, man has no free will, but is a captive, servant, and bond slave, either to the will of God, or to the will of Satan."
"Christians, however, are not led by a free will, but are driven by the Spirit of God, as Romans 8:14 tells us. To be driven is not to act or do oneself. But we are so seized as a saw or an axe is handled by a carpenter ---."
"So I say that man, before he is regenerated into the new creation of the Spirit's kingdom does and endeavors nothing to prepare himself, and when he is regenerated he does and endeavors nothing toward his perseverance in that kingdom. The Spirit alone, without ourselves, works both blessings in us, regenerating us and preserving us when regenerated ---"
"But now that God has put my salvation out of the control of my own will and put it under the control of His, and has promised to save me, NOT ACCORDING TO MY OWN EFFORT OR RUNNING but --- according to HIS own grace and mercy, I rest fully assured that HE is faithful ---"
"I am certain that I please God, not by the merit of my works, but by the reason of His merciful favor promised to me. So that, if I work to little or badly, He does not impute it to me, but, like a father, pardons me and makes me better. This is the glorying which all the saints have in their GOD."
"--- As for myself, I frankly confess, that I should not want free will to be given to me, even if it could be, nor anything else be left in my own hands to enable me to strive after my salvation."
"Therefore we must go to extremes, deny free will all together and ascribe everything to God."~Martin Luther, Discourse on Free Will
how many of us still believe these things? how many of us have fallen back into what God, through His servant martin luther, brought us out of during the reformation?
how many of us believe we saved ourselves? well, if we say WE chose Jesus to be Lord of our lives, we deny what the bible says about us in our unregenerate state - slaves to sin and satan, unable to see the truth.... ergo, to say WE chose Him, we are basically saying 'i brought myself out of my sin'. can a slave free himself? no - only his Master can free Him... and that Master has to own him to do so... and that Jesus did on the cross - He bought us back from our then-masters, sin and satan.
the Glory be to God alone!
Ephesians 2:4-10
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. [NKJV]
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