John UK wrote:
1) Amazing. One minute Jesus is teaching in John 3:16 that God sent him to be the Saviour of the world, not merely Jews, and then later on in John 10 you reckon he is talking just to the Jews.
2) John 10:26 KJV
26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
Jesus did not stupidly say, "Ye believe not, because ye are not believers."
Jesus is saying here that the reason why they did NOT believe, is because they were NOT chosen as sheep.
3) listen to your pastor's prayer today? How did he pray for lost sinners?

Lurker wrote:
1) God broke to establish a better new covenant with better promises.... eternal life. Paul called it the law of faith.
2) Deut 30:1-5 is chronological and explains what God proposed to do to redeem His people.
Deut 30:6-10 is also chronological but in this thought from the mind of God He reveals the means by which He will accomplish what He proposed...
Eze 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you...
3) Love of God (faith) and obedience to His voice is the result, not the cause, of a circumcised heart.

John UK wrote:
1)Then who exactly are these sheep? -
Matthew 25:31-33 KJV
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

2) John 10:26 KJV
26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
Jesus did not stupidly say, "Ye believe not, because ye are not believers."

Unprofitable Servant wrote:
not much time, so a drive by comment, J4J, show me anywhere in this thread that anybody has said that there those in Christ who are not believers. The point you are missing is where faith originates, all of believe you must place that faith in the finished work of Christ to be saved.

John UK wrote:
John 10:16 KJV
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.
Who hears the voice of Jesus? Fore-ordained sheep.
John 10:26-29 KJV
26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Can the sheep ever be lost? No.
Can any other than sheep believe? No.
Why not? Because faith is only given to the sheep.
Surely that is unfair? No it is not unfair.
Why not? Because the whole world is guilty before God

Lurker wrote:
Of course it is, silly, unless you think God has a different plan of redemption for Gentiles than He does for the first children of promise.
Israel's hearts would be circumcised by God to turn them back to Him but Gentiles would, by their own freewill, circumcise their own hearts. Is that it?

Unprofitable Servant wrote:
He actually just reflected the voice, tense, mood that is in the original greek. Not being a greek scholar, but you can verify the accuracy of this easily in the Blue Letter Bible website, I offer the explanation we see by Paul Viggiano.
http://www.branchofhope.org/documents/firstjohn/1jn3_4_9.PDF

Helps wrote:
1)Romans 8:30
What "calling" is referred to here?
1 Thess 1.4,5
Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost..
A calling that comes with power and the Holy Ghost.
1 Thess 2.13
For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
A word which works effectually in some but not others?!
2 Tim 1.9
Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began
A holy calling? According to his own purpose and grace? Given in Christ before the world began?
2) Where is any of this in your theology?

Lurker wrote:
Deu 30:6 And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
To "love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul" is the outworking of faith. "The just shall live by faith" hence "that thou mayest live."
Pay special attention to "the LORD thy God **will** circumcise thine heart". It doesn't say "might" or "will try" or "subject to your approval". It says WILL.....
Sounds certain to me that what God sets His mind to accomplish will be accomplished. Those He regenerates are regenerated without fail.... without any chance His will could be thwarted by a negative decision by who He calls. In Calvinism speak, this is called "Irresistable Grace" but in Christian speak it's called biblical.
Reject it at your own peril.

John UK wrote:
John, good sound doctrine does not come from a proof text. That is the way to get false doctrine, and is how cults arrive at bizarre beliefs.
What I ran out of space saying, is that all my doctrines come from a serious study of the entire Bible. That is why it is impossible to pass on such effort to others in a little space like this.
I tell you what, you can answer your own questions in your own church. How?
Next prayer meeting you attend, listen very closely to what your elders pray when it comes to the evangelistic work of the fellowship. What do they ask God for, when it comes to sinners who will hear the word preached.
You see, if God is not involved in granting grace to a sinner, which affects him upon hearing the word, then there is no need to pray for the sinner.
You have said that God does nothing, as man has the capacity to believe.
So have a listen tomorrow, and report your findings.

John UK wrote:
It would be well to consider this aspect in great detail, because without a new birth, a sinner cannot see or enter the kingdom of God.
But there is no instruction in the Bible as to how to be born again. Why not? Because man is incapable of achieving such a thing.
The closest we can get to it is here:
1 Peter 1:23 KJV
23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Hebrews 4:12 KJV
12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
But not all sinners who hear the same word are quickened by it. This is why we pray that God quickens the people who hear that living word, otherwise it will have no effect on them at all.
BTW I am not a proof-texter, John. oos

John UK wrote:
1)But, lo and behold, there is no instruction or commands in the Bible as to how to "get born again".
2)There is nothing you can do to get born again, it is an act of God, and he brings to birth whomever he will.
John 1:12-13 KJV
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
3) Now once a person is born again, he cannot help but believe and turn from sin. 4) It is a new nature which does this, and the new nature must come first.

you got the order all mixed up wrote:
John for Jesus it is regeneration before faith not faith before regeneration. That is where you are having an issue.
http://carm.org/does-regeneration-precede-faith

CV wrote:
J4J
1) You belive that in conversion, man has a part. 2) But in your discussions here your arguement is that from start to finish, it is all God.
3) God indeed is gracious, and you can support that from scripture. But Gods work stops short of salvation. From start to finish, it takes two sides to complete the work.
4) You put man in the work of salvation.
5) You have to account for the all important work man brings to salvation.