When I say men naturally i mean the unregenerate man, in the flesh, never born again ? Can this person seek after the True and Living God ? The answer is NO !
Scripture makes that clear, that man naturally doesnt seek after God Rom 3:9-12
9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
The word seekth here is related to and joined with Faith here Heb 11:1,6
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Now the word seek here and the one in Rom 3:11 are the same greek word ekzeteo which means:
I seek out, seek out after, require.
to seek the favor of God, worship him
And believing Faith seeks after the True God. But because of our depravity by nature, we dont seek after God, nor have the ability to !
You are correct...
Belief is a GIFT - Phil 1:29 - "For you have been
granted [the gift] to grant as a
favor for Christ's sake not only to
believe in Him, but also to suffer in His behalf."
Faith is a GIFT - Eph 2:8-10 - "For it is by free grace (
God's unmerited favor) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ's salvation) through [ the gift of]
faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves, but it is the gift of God; Not because of works [
not the fulfillment of the Law's demands], lest any man should boast.
[It is not the result of what anyone can possibly do, so no one can pride himself in it or take glory to himself.] For we are
God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [
born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [
taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which
He prearranged and made ready for us to live].
Knowing this... you can fully understand...
NASB Act 13:48 When the Gentiles heard this, they
began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord;
and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.
CEV Act 13:48 This message made the Gentiles glad, and they praised what they had heard about the Lord.
Everyone who had been chosen for eternal life then put their faith in the Lord.
NASB Joh 6:65 And He was saying,
"For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father."
CEV Joh 6:65 Then Jesus said,
"You cannot come to me, unless the Father makes you want to come. That is why I have told these things to all of you."
These verses are about the coming Kingdom... Who will be chosen to be in the 1000 year reign of Jesus! Those who reign with Jesus will be chosen by LOT! We have no say!!!
NASB Eph 1:11 also we have obtained an inheritance,
having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will,
Net Eph 1:11 In Christ
28 we too have been claimed as God's own possession,
29(G2820) since we were predestined (G4309) according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will
29 tn Grk "we were appointed by lot." The notion of the verb κληρόω (klēroō) in the OT was to "appoint a portion by lot" (the more frequent cognate verb κληρονομέω [klēronomeō] meant "obtain a portion by lot"). In the passive, as here, the idea is that "we were appointed [as a portion] by lot" (BDAG 548 s.v. κληρόω 1). The words "God's own" have been supplied in the translation to clarify this sense of the verb. An alternative interpretation is that believers receive a portion as an inheritance: "In Christ we too have been appointed a portion of the inheritance." See H. W. Hoehner,
Ephesians, 226-27, for discussion on this interpretive issue.
Word study
G2820
κληρόω
klēróō; contracted
klērṓ, fut.
klērṓsō, from
klḗros (G2819), a lot. To cast lots, determine by lot, i.e., to determine something, choose someone. In
Eph_1:11, it means, "in whom the lot has fallen upon us also, as foreordained thereto . . . to be" (a.t.). The idea expressed here is that Christians have become heirs of God due to the fact that God predestined them according to His purpose. In a manner of speaking, the "lot" fell to believers not by chance but solely because of the gracious and sovereign decision of God- Almighty to select them to be His heirs.
Deriv.:
prosklēróō (G4345), to give or assign by lot.
Now.... That's a LOT to take in...
Paul
