The will and plans of Yahweh are inscrutable, but we pretend to know. We have universities full of P.H.D.s who claim to know the plans that God has for us. (Of course, they disagree with each other which allows their students to pick the god they like.)
In effect, man proves himself to not actually like God. Like selecting the specific species of the tomato we want in the garden, we select the god that operates the way we want. (and that is not totally true, because we end up selecting the man we listen based on personality, charisma, and appearance. We select the church based on whether or not they have nice children's programs, coffee bars, furniture, or large parking lots. They hope to find something within the building that does not exist there.
No one seeks God. Instead, God calls the ones He chooses. Man seeks comfort and a social environment that makes him feel good about himself. Two thousand years later, despite the claims of man to know truth and to believe, it has not changed.
Ro 3:9–22 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
I suggest that we do not let this word "believe" deceive us. It held a very different meaning back when it was written.
Ro 9:14–28 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”
But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”
And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.”
I'm of the opinion that Yahweh has hardened a great many hearts today. So many avoid discussions of how they know that they have learned "the truth." If anyone wants the truth, go to Yahweh for it in the name of His Son - and wait. When and if He answers, you will know it is from Him.
In effect, man proves himself to not actually like God. Like selecting the specific species of the tomato we want in the garden, we select the god that operates the way we want. (and that is not totally true, because we end up selecting the man we listen based on personality, charisma, and appearance. We select the church based on whether or not they have nice children's programs, coffee bars, furniture, or large parking lots. They hope to find something within the building that does not exist there.
No one seeks God. Instead, God calls the ones He chooses. Man seeks comfort and a social environment that makes him feel good about himself. Two thousand years later, despite the claims of man to know truth and to believe, it has not changed.
Ro 3:9–22 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
I suggest that we do not let this word "believe" deceive us. It held a very different meaning back when it was written.
Ro 9:14–28 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”
But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?
As indeed he says in Hosea, “Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ”
And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.”
I'm of the opinion that Yahweh has hardened a great many hearts today. So many avoid discussions of how they know that they have learned "the truth." If anyone wants the truth, go to Yahweh for it in the name of His Son - and wait. When and if He answers, you will know it is from Him.
