Partnering to Remember: Philippians

Great Idea here from Timmy Brister:

Let’s face it. Memorizing Scripture can be a difficult discipline, especially memorizing long passages of Scripture.  In our fast-paced lives of multi-tasking with any number of things vying for our attention, there is a real danger for the Word of God to get squeezed out of our daily lives.  More than any other time, Christians need to partner together for the purpose of internalizing Scripture, encouraging one another to abide in the words of Christ, and remembering the weighty truths that center us in God’s work in our lives. To do this, a system for memorizing Scripture has been created called the memory moleskine.

Starting in 2011, I am beginning a project called P2R (Partnering to Remember).  The goal is to memorize the entire book of Philippians by Easter Sunday (April 24, 2011) through partnering with other believers using the memory moleskine.  Paul praised the church in Philippi for their partnership in advance of the Gospel, and in the spirit of that partnership, this project intends to bring Christians together for the deepening work of God’s Word in their lives.  Simply put, I believe we should partner to remember.

Using the Cahier moleskine, I have created a pocket-size notebook that provides a practical and accessible way to memorize Scripture.  Through collaboration with The Resurgence, a customized PDF has been created for you to download with a week-by-week outline for memorizing the book of Philippians in 16 weeks using the English Standard Version (ESV) of the Bible.  On one side of the moleskine you simply paste the week’s verses to memorize, and on the other side you write your reflections on the verses while indicating how many times you rehearsed them each day.  Included in this PDF are encouragements and helps to memorizing and retaining Scripture from Donald Whitney, Andy Davis, and John Piper.

How to Make Your Own 2011 Philippians Memory Moleskine

1.  Purchase your own Cahier Moleskine (3.5×5.5 size) - or a suitable alternative
2.  Download the PDF provided by the Resurgence
3.  Cut the weekly Scripture reading according to the border
4.  Use double-sided tape to paste the weekly section of verses
5.  Find someone who you can partner with for encouragement & accountability
6.  Jump in starting January 1, 2011!!!

I'm in!  How about you?

Love in the Truth.

Not A Calvinist Church!

Love in the Truth.

HT / Z via Crummy Church Signs

Do Whatever You Want!

John MacArthur on the will of God - "You delight in the Lord and do whatever you want".



Love in the Truth.

HT / Challies

Just for Fun

Remember the old TV shows you - or at least I - used to watch?  I still find myself humming the theme songs.  Well, check them out with a little twist!  Pretty sweet, me thinks.

Magnum P.I.:


Hawaii Five-O (this one is sweet!):


Knight Rider:



Hunter:


That's it for now.  The one this guy has for "CHiPs" is pretty sweet as well, but it wouldn't let me embed.

Love in the Truth.

How Not To Listen To Sermons

John Newton:

“As a hearer, you have a right to try all doctrines by the word of God; and it is your duty so to do. Faithful ministers will remind you of this: they will not wish to hold you in an implicit and blind obedience to what they say, upon their own authority, nor desire that you should follow them farther than they have the Scripture for their warrant. They would not be lords over your conscience, but helpers of your joy. Prize this Gospel liberty, which sets you free from the doctrines and commandments of men; but do not abuse it to the purposes of pride and self.”

Then Newton explains how not to listen to sermons:

“There are hearers who make themselves, and not the Scripture, the standard of their judgment. They attend not so much to be instructed, as to pass their sentence. To them, the pulpit is the bar at which the minister stands to take his trial before them; a bar at which few escape censure, from judges at once so severe and inconsistent.”

Excellent balance.

Love in the Truth.

HT / Sean Crowe via Tony Reinke

If you Can't Beat Em...

That one made me really laugh out loud!  I wonder if the wife will let me do this one year?

Love in the Truth.

HT / Kevin DeYoung

What Does the Word Mean To You?

How often do we - how often do I - neglect this great "weapon in {our} hands?"

"The month that you had set, the day that you had set, has come to pass today. Oh my Father, my Father, the Promise that you gave Simeon that he would see Jesus Christ and hold Him in his arms before he died. I also have been waiting under that same promise, O God. You looked at all the different languages and chose which ones will be put into Your Word. You thought that we should see Your Word in our language. Today, the day you had chosen for this to be fulfilled, has come to pass. You have placed it here in our land. And for all this, O God, I give You praise."

Love in the Truth.

HT / Challies

Review: What is a Healthy Church / Member

What is a Healthy Church, IX Marks, Mark Dever:

This is a smaller work based on the larger Nine Marks of a Healthy Church.  The book is very easy to read and it's size makes it an easy, essential read for every church member.  It is concise, convicting and completely biblical unpacking of the statement, "If you call yourself a Christian but you are not a member of the church you regularly attend, I worry that you might be going to hell."  Dever makes this statement right off the start in chapter one and then takes the rest of the book to explain it.  I had that quote as my facebook status for a day...the results were...well you can imagine!  It is meant to both shock and induce thought. 

In the book, Dever outlines what a healthy church is in the first four chapters or part one, the essential marks of a healthy church in part two, and the important marks of a healthy church in part three.  For those that don't want to take the time to read the larger (and better IMHO) Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, this is your solution.  This is more for the church member than the pastor - "You and all the members of your church, Christian, are finally responsible for what your church becomes, not your pastors or other leaders - you."  Do you want to know if your church is healthy - biblically healthy - read this book!

What is a Healthy Church Member, IX Marks, Thabiti Anyabwile:

This is the companion work to the above mentioned What is a Healthy Church.  In an age when sheep are hopping from church to church looking to tickle their ears, this is a much needed book.  It dove tails nicely to its companion with the focus shifting from the corporate to the individual.  These days it seems there is a lot of people doing a lot of talking about what is wrong with the Church corporately.  Finally there is a book that helps us to realize the main problem with the church is staring each of us in the face when we look in a mirror!

Indeed, the truth hurts, and not just sometimes - most of the time.  All ten chapters are a spiritual kick in the pants to help wake the sleeper in all of us.  Everywhere you look today people want to be called "a community", "missional", pretty much anything but a church.  Most, however, don't know what that is supposed to look like biblically.  This book says Don Carson, "closes the gap."  "The health of the local church (missional community) depends on the willingness of its members to inspect their hearts, correct their thinking, and apply their hands to the work of the ministry." This one is for everyone!

As a side note, this is really another must for all the men out there.  As Anyabwile states in his dedication of the book, "for the church that lives in my home."

Love in the Truth.

New Design...Help!

For those of you that stop in from time to time you'll notice the new design of "Love in the Truth."  You will also no doubt notice a few bugs here and there.  Please bear with me as I try to figure it out myself - I am technologically inept!  That said, feel free to offer any help you can.  Such as...the link to the twitter account - I don't know how to make it work.  And the "undefined" comment bubbles are a mystery to me as well.  Also, feel free to let me know what you think.

Love in the Truth.

Who's the Seeker?

Love in the Truth

HT / Eddie Eddings

The Diverse Excellencies of Christ

From John Piper's 2008 T4G Conference message.

Christ is supreme because:

He is God's final revelation
He is the heir of all things
He is the creator of the world
He is the radiance of God's glory
He is the exact imprint of God's nature
He upholds the universe by the word of His power
He made purification for sins
He sits at the right hand of the Majesty
He is God enthroned forever with the scepter of uprightness
He is worshiped by angels
His rule will have no end
His joy is above all other things in the universe
He took on human flesh
He was crowned with glory and honor because of his suffering
He was the founder of our salvation
He was made perfect in all of his obedience by his suffering
He destroyed the one who had the power of death
He delivered us from the bondage of fear
He is a merciful and faithful high priest
He made propitiation for sins
He is sympathetic because of His own trials
He never sinned
He offered up loud cries and tears with reverent fear and God heard him
He became the source of eternal salvation
He holds His priesthood by virtue of an indestructible life
He appears in the presence of God on our behalf
He will come a second time to save those who are eagerly waiting for Him
He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Love in the Truth.

HT / Jared Wilson

I Love...

Love in the Truth.

HT / Set Apart - Brain Molloy

Calvinist Pick-up Lines

Nothing says "I love you" like reformed theology!

Love in the Truth.

HT / Z

STAY Informed & PRAY Informed

These are those of whom the world is not worthy!

STAY informed and PRAY informed!

www.persecution.org

Love in the Truth.

What is the Gospel?

What is the message of the gospel?

That the greatest good (God) offers the greatest action (love) to the greatest need (wrath-owed sinners) by sending the greatest treasure (Jesus) in the greatest invitation (to everyone) into the greatest life (everlasting).

How is this not exciting?

One fear we must put aside in our quest for greater gospel-centrality is that it will not preach week to week. The enemy and our own flesh will test our commitment with the "plausible argument" (Col. 2:4) that the gospel will just sound so one-note. We are tempted to think the repetition will have the unintended effect of boring people or making the gospel appear routine and commonplace.

But the gospel is resilient. It is miraculously versatile. It proves itself every day for those awake to it. Because it is the antidote for all sin of all people, power effectual for every type of person no matter their background or circumstance, it is God's might to save every millisecond and therefore every Sunday.

When we "get" the gospel for what it really is -- the power to save, the most thrilling news there could be, the declaration that God's Son died for us and then came back to life! to be the risen Lord and supreme King of the universe, not just the entry fee for heaven but the currency for all of life -- we revel in the new creation it unleashes in its wake at every turn. We never get tired of hearing it. It's the new song that never gets old. "Play it again, play it again!" we will cry.

Gospel wakened people have been given the strength enough to exult in the beautiful monotony of the gospel.

Love in the Truth.

HT / Jared Wilson - taken from two posts

Jungle Warfare: A Review

Before coming to Christ, and for a period after, my life was in sales - Retail sales to be specific.  It was...(insert colourful adjective here)!  Ask anyone in sales, and retail sales in particular, and they will tell you their pain - in great detail!

Jungle Warfare: A Basic Field Manual for Christians in Sales can best be described as a helpful devotional  tool for Christians working in the secular world.  I chose to review this book precisely because of my past experience.  I wanted to know if this would have been a helpful resource for me "in the jungle".

First the good...

I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised at the focus of the book. The author, Christopher Cunningham, seemed to try at least to keep the gospel in the forefront of most chapters.  I like this!  Although using his grand-dad's Basic Field Manual on Jungle Warfare, may seem odd at first, it worked for the most part.  It served to reveal the very real spiritual war every Christian fights every day.  I liked this too.

The not-so-good...

For me, the book - although somewhat gospel-focused - was a little too much focused on what God can do for me as opposed to what He has done for me.  I am willing to concede that that was not necessarily the author's intent, however, ultimately the gospel is God-centred and not man-centred.  This seemed to me to be a little too much centred on me.  It had an "everything is going to be OK" flavour to it.  There were many references to scripture, but many were from substandard translations like the Message.

The conclusion...

Would this book have helped me?  As a new convert, the short answer is yes.  That said, I would be hesitant to recommend this book, simply because there are - in my opinion - better options out there for the Christian in the world.  How about as a mature believer?  The subtitle says it all, "basic".  

Love in the Truth.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com <http://BookSneeze.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. 

The God Who Is There

The Gospel Coalition is pleased to announce free audio and HD video downloads are now available for Don Carson’s 14-part overview of the Bible titled, “The God Who is There: Finding Your Place in God’s Story.” This evangelistic series was delivered at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis in February 2009. Its goal is to explain the entire storyline of the Bible. 

Please note, in order to download the HD video, you need to create/login to your Vimeo account.

Love in the Truth.

Porn Stats

Needless to say, the problem is epidemic.

Love in the Truth.

HT  / Driscoll, Challies, Z

North Korean Testimony

Nearly all who were in attendance at the Lausanne Congress last month agreed that the emotional high point of the event was the testimony of the young North Korean women.  Her story is yet another case of Christ building His Church even in the most repressive and hostile places on earth.  This is one you need to see - Soli Deo Gloria.

Watch her full 9 minute testimony here.

Love in the Truth.

HT / Z

The Watter's Story

Love in the Truth.

Why Do Most Churches Ditch Hymns?

Jared Wilson:

The argument goes like this: The hymns are outdated. Nobody talks like that any more, nobody knows what these archaic words refer to, nobody sings melodies like that any more; therefore, the solution is to ditch the hymns and sing only contemporary songs.

But I don't think the reason hymns fell out of favor is because they became old. I think it's because our preaching got new.

The great hymn writers could tell the gospel story with gospel words in very solid ways. But preaching over time became moralistic stories with pop psychology words in wispy ways. We stopped giving the hymns context. We would sing "Oh how marvelous, Oh how wonderful is my Savior's love for me!" but our preacher had long stopped marveling and wondering about the cross, so the song didn't make emotional sense. And then it stopped resonating with us on a Spiritual level.

All good hymns declare the gospel and assume gospel context. I suspect the main reason hymns don't resonate with people much any more is because we don't preach the gospel.

Love in the Truth.

Can I Live?

Love in the Truth.

HT / Z

Tips for New Parents!

Here are some good do's and don'ts of parenting.  Very helpful indeed!

Love in the Truth.

HT / Shane E

Eager, Expectant, and Early

Great insights from Josh Harris here!



Love in the Truth.

HT / Challies

Random Act of Culture

Love in the Truth.

The Gospel of Grace

I am a scoundrel by nature--unworthy of life. 

Like Adam my father—I was a sinner by choice.

Like Cain my brother—I was a sinner by birth.

Like Rahab the Harlot—I was a whore.

Like David the King—I was an adulterer and a murderer.

Like Jonah the prophet—I was a runner and a rebel.

Like Peter the rock—I have denied my Lord.

Like Paul the Apostle—I am still the worst sinner I know. 

Dead in the guilt of my sin…

Bound in the shroud of my disgrace…

Buried in the grave of my choices...

Sealed in the coffin of my hopelessness…

Forgotten in the despair of my helplessness…

I was dead in my sin—unable to respond.

But God, through the deep love and mercy of His compassion, for His own glory, granted repentance and faith in the gospel of Christ. And by the payment provided by His own Son, to satisfy the wrath of God deserved for me, through the sacrificial exchange of the Savior on the cross…

I have been ransomed from my condemnation, and raised from the dead! 

And Like Jesus—I am righteous!

In Him I am transformed—from scoundrel to saint, from prostitute to bride, from adultery to faithfulness, from murderer to rescuer, from running to standing firm, from rebel to obedient follower, from rejecting Christ to heralding the gospel, from worst of sinner to best of example…undeserving of it all.

This is grace!

Love in the Truth.

HT / Greg Lucas

So SMOOTH!!

I don't care who you are, you have to respect this.  Quite simply one of the sweetest, smoothest goals ever! Someone really needs to make a video of this goal with "Smooth" (Rob Thomas / Carlos Santana) playing in the background...just a thought.

Love in the Truth.

Songs That Help Me EnJoy God

Here are a few of my currents faves...

1. At The Cross ~ Daniel Renstrom ~ Adore and Tremble
2. Sing to Jesus ~ Fernando Ortega ~ Storm
3. Our Great God ~ Fernando Ortega ~ Storm
4. The Love of God ~ Ascend The Hill ~ Hymns - Take the World, But Give Me Jesus
5. Great Reward ~ Shane & Shane ~ Everything Is Different
6. Zion and Babylon ~ Josh Garrels ~ Jacaranda
7. The Humility of Christ ~ Timothy Brindle ~ Killing Sin
8. Throne of Grace ~ Shai Linne ~ The Atonement
9. Let Your Kingdom Come ~ Sovereign Grace Music ~ The Valley of Vision
10. Unashamed  ~ Starfield ~ Beauty in The Broken

As always, I reserve the right to change my mind at any time - And I often do, SDG!

Love in the Truth.

We Praise What We Care About

I have been preaching through the Psalms for most of this year at my Church.  This week, we finish our look into Psalm 103.  It is a stunning ode to the love of God that after reading if you're not praising, you should check to ensure your heart is beating!  While doing some research (I use the term loosely as I was reading blogs!), I stopped by The Gospel-Driven Church and found this gem by Jared Wilson.

Worship of God is enjoyment of God. We have no problem laughing at something funny, smiling at something pretty, "mmmm"-ing something delicious, humming something catchy, or cheering something exciting in the stadium, but when we get into church on Sunday mornings, we have trouble worshiping because we don't know and enjoy God the same way we know and enjoy jokes, pictures, food, songs, or sports.

In Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis writes:

But the most obvious fact about praise – whether of God or anything – strangely escaped me. I thought of it in terms of compliment, approval, or the giving of honour. I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise unless . . . shyness or the fear of boring others is deliberately brought in to check it. The world rings with praise – lovers praising their mistresses [Romeo praising Juliet and vice versa], readers their favourite poet, walkers praising the countryside, players praising their favourite game – praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, motors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages, children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps, rare beetles, even sometimes politicians or scholars. . . . Except where intolerably adverse circumstances interfere, praise almost seems to be inner health made audible. . . . I had not noticed either that just as men spontaneously praise whatever they value, so they spontaneously urge us to join them in praising it: 'Isn't she lovely? Wasn't it glorious? Don't you think that magnificent?' The Psalmists in telling everyone to praise God are doing what all men do when they speak of what they care about.

We praise what we care about.

I couldn't have said it better myself, thanks Jared.

...random thought...every time I say (write) that name, I get a craving for Subway!

Love in the Truth.

Dever on Culture

Here is a great little clip of Mark Dever speaking on both the good and the bad of culture. Love this guy!

Love in the Truth

HT / Timmy Brister

Radical or Normal?

Francis Chan asks the question, "If my life was stuck in the book of Acts would people say I was radical or just normal?"




Love in the Truth.

HT / Z

The Power of a Photo

(This is a picture of a child aged 10 weeks)

Jennifer Rego

For myself, the power of the photograph is precisely that it is the reminder that I need that defending the unborn is not simply “a cause”, or an “issue”, because people are not causes or issue, they are unique, unrepeatable human beings that I have a relationship with simply because we both share our human dignity, and it is simply because of that, that I have an obligation to defend them.

Read the rest.  

Love in the Truth.

HT / Z

Misplaced Astonishment

Great post by Jared Wilson from a classic article by R.C. Sproul called "The Locus of Astonishment."

Jesus said, "But unless you repent, you will likewise perish. Or do you think those 18 people who were walking down the street, minding their own business, were more miserable sinners, and more disobedient to the laws and commandments of God than the average person in Siloam? No, no, no. But I say to you, unless you repent, you too will perish." 

How do you respond to that? As I said, this is a hard saying. This is a harsh Jesus speaking. I have to ask, what is it Jesus is trying to communicate and teach those who are asking these questions. People are saying, "How can God allow these terrible things to happen?" If I can restate Jesus' words in another way, what I hear Jesus saying here is this, "You're asking me the wrong question. You're asking me about things that you shouldn't be asking me about. In other words, you are shocked at the wrong point. You have located your astonishment at a different place from where I would locate it." 

What do I mean by that? There's a song that we sing in the Christian church. We all know the name of the song, "Amazing Grace." It's an interesting title and an interesting concept. I wonder if we really are amazed by grace? I think we express more amazement at God's wrath than at His mercy. We've come to the place, I think, in our religious thinking where we assume that God will be merciful, that God will be kind, that God will be gracious, and so we're not surprised whenever we experience His kindness. What shocks us is when we see something bad take place, when we see an expression of the wrath of God. That's what I hear Jesus saying here. "You people are asking me the wrong question. You are asking me why that temple fell on the heads of the people in Siloam. You should be asking me why that temple didn't fall on your heads."

Are you more amazed by the wrath of God or the grace of God?

Love in the Truth.

HT / Jared Wilson 

God Story

Love in the Truth.

HT / Challies

Is "Inner Peace" A Good Indicator For Being In God's Will?

Haddon Robinson, in Decision Making by the Book:

If we think about it, peace cannot be the proof that we’re in God’s will. If ever anyone was in God’s will, it was our Lord Jesus Christ. But the Bible tells us that just before His crucifixion, Jesus, sweat great drops of blood. With strong cries and tears He asked that, if possible, this cup be taken from Him (Luke 22:41-44). At that moment Jesus fulfilled the will of His Father in Heaven, but if these are the marks of a man at peace, it’s certainly a strange kind of peace. 

Look at a contrasting example. If ever anyone was out of God’s will, it was Jonah. God commanded Jonah to go to Ninevah, which was to the north and to the east. But Jonah, the reluctant prophet, immediately headed to the south and to the west, and boarded a ship sailing out into the Mediterranean. After the boat put out to sea, a tremendous storm arose, and the pagan sailors were terrified. 

But Jonah didn’t worry – he was asleep in the lower deck of the boat. He had peace, perfect peace, in the midst of the storm. Yet the prophet was completely out of the will of God. These accounts of Jesus and Jonah demonstrate that inner peace cannot signal whether or not we are in God’s will, Scripture simply does not hold up such a theory.

Simply some great thoughts from a great book. I know that it may step on some "traditional" toes, but Scripture must be our guide. Inner peace is a good thing; it's just not a good indicator that we are walking in the God's will.

Love in the Truth.

HT / Z

"the True North strong and..."

And I never heard a word about this on the news...hmmmm. If this had been any other group I have little doubt that it would be all over the national news. Shame on Carleton University. Shame on Canada. Sad day.




Love in the Truth.

The Mission of the Church

I have really been enjoying these round table discussions from The Gospel Coalition.  The latest features Greg Gilbert, Kevin DeYoung, and Ryan Kelly discussing the mission of the church.  For the record...I can't wait to get my hands on that book!


The Mission of the Church from Ben Peays on Vimeo.


Love in the Truth.

The God-Centered Life

Another blessing from David Platt.  Seriously, if you don't podcast this guy, you should.



Love in the Truth.

John 3:16 ~ Revisited

From Chosen by God by R.C. Sproul, pg 73-75

It is ironic that in the same chapter, indeed in the same context, in which our Lord teaches the utter necessity of rebirth to even see the kingdom, let alone choose it, non-Reformed views find one of their main proof texts to argue that fallen man retains a small island of ability to choose Christ. It is John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

What does this famous verse teach about fallen man’s ability to choose Christ? The answer, simply, is nothing.

The argument used by non-Reformed people is that the text teaches that everybody in the world has it in their power to accept or reject Christ. A careful look at the text reveals, however, that it teaches nothing of the kind. What the text teaches is that everyone who believes in Christ will be saved. Whoever does A (believes) will receive B (everlasting life). The text says nothing, absolutely nothing, about who will ever believe. It says nothing about fallen man’s natural moral ability. Reformed people and non-Reformed people both heartily agree that all who believe will be saved. They heartily disagree about who has the ability to believe.

Some may reply, “All right. The text does not explicitly teach that fallen men have the ability to choose Christ without being reborn first, but it certainly implies that.”

I am not willing to grant that the text even implies such a thing. However, even if it did it would make no difference in the debate. Why not? Our rule of interpreting Scripture is that implications drawn from the Scripture must always be subordinate to the explicit teaching of Scripture. We must never, never, never reverse this to subordinate the explicit teaching of Scripture to possible implications drawn from Scripture. This rule is shared by both Reformed and non-Reformed thinkers.

If John 3:16 implied a universal natural human ability of fallen men to choose Christ, then that implication would be wiped out by Jesus’ explicit teaching to the contrary. We have already shown that Jesus explicitly and unambiguously taught that no man has the ability to come to him without God doing something to give him that ability, namely drawing him.

Fallen man is flesh. In the flesh he can do nothing to please God. Paul declares, “The fleshly mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:7, 8).

We ask, then, “Who are those who are ‘in the flesh’?” Paul goes on to declare: “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you” (Rom. 8:9). The crucial word here is "if."

What distinguishes those who are in the flesh from those who are not is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. No one who is not reborn is indwelt by God the Holy Spirit. People who are in the flesh have not been reborn. Unless they are first reborn, born of the Holy Spirit, they cannot be subject to the law of God. They cannot please God.

God commands us to believe in Christ. He is pleased by those who choose Christ. If unregenerate people could choose Christ, then they could be subject to at least one of God’s commands and they could at least do something that is pleasing to God. If that is so, then the apostle has erred here in insisting that those who are in the flesh can neither be subject to God nor please him.

We conclude that fallen man is still free to choose what he desires, but because his desires are only wicked he lacks the moral ability to come to Christ. As long as he remains in the flesh, unregenerate, he will never choose Christ. He cannot choose Christ precisely because he cannot act against his own will. He has no desire for Christ. He cannot choose what he does not desire. His fall is great. It is so great that only the effectual grace of God working in his heart can bring him to faith.

HT / Reformation Theology

Love in the Truth.