Page 7 - 1022

Will Not and Cannot Elder Mark Green

Mr. S. says that the reason that sinners are not saved by Jesus is because they will not
be saved, not because they cannot. We suppose that he was of the opinion that Jesus

desired or willed the salvation of such individuals, but He was not able to save them
because they would not come. Their will was more powerful than Jesus' will. Why
was not Jesus able to make them willing? It certainly appeared that He was able to do
so in the cases of Saul of Tarsus and the thief on the cross. Is the power that was exer-

cised by the Lord in their cases different than what is engaged in "run-of-the-mill"
cases like ours? If the voice of the Son of God is powerful enough to raise those dead
in the graves, is it not able also to raise the dead in sin? Our Lord said that He was able
to do that in John Chapter Five. The same voice accomplishes both things.

Mr. Srygley says that the reason sinners are not saved "is because they will not, not
because they cannot come." I beg to differ! "No man can come unto me, except the
Father which hath sent me draw him." There it is: without the drawing power of the

Spirit of God a man cannot come, despite all that Arminians might say. They might
answer that the sinner can resist the pull of the Father. We would then reply that the
text does not say "pull," but it says "draw." I can pull on a bulldozer, but I cannot draw
a bulldozer, because I am not powerful enough to do so. God, however, is indeed pow-

erful enough to draw the soul of a poor sinner out of a death in sin. Indeed, the Scrip-
tures use the word "translate" to describe that action. God takes us up, out of death in
sin, and sets us down in eternal life.

The reason Jesus does not save a man is either because He cannot save them or He will
not save them. The Bible declares that He is "mighty to save," so I am forced to
believe that God does not save some sinners because He does not choose to save them.
He does them no injustice, but leaves them right where they are — in sin — to their

own just condemnation.

Elder Mark Green pastors the Six Mile Creek
Primitive Baptist Church in Caulksville, Arkansas