What would happen to lost sinners if it was left up to them to make a decision for salvation? In other words, what hope would anyone of us have of salvation if it depended on us to not only to desire to be saved, but to be able to do anything of our own to be saved from our sins? To put it simply there would absolutely be no hope whatsoever of salvation if in any way we had to save ourselves as shown in our previous post, Sin Necessitates Grace. The only hope we have is for God of His sovereign will to intervene in our behalf; otherwise, we would be lost forever!
Of course, man in his pride abhors the truth that God has to save us on the basis that it simply pleases Him to do so. Man is so in love with himself and his supposed abilities that to be told that if God doesn't save him from his sins, he would rather call God a liar than to admit that his salvation has to be totally of God's free and sovereign grace. Nevertheless, no matter what man says, we can assert without no doubt whatsoever, Sin Necessitates God's Sovereign Will in our salvation.
Now, the question that might arise is why does sin necessitate God's sovereign will if we are to have any hope of salvation? I believe that to answer this question we have to first consider what sin has done to mankind and how it has affected his relationship with God. Remember that God created the first man, i.e. Adam, sinless; in other words, he did not have a sinful nature. So also is it true of Eve. But as the inerrant Word of God tells us Adam disobeyed God; and in doing so, he died spiritually and became a sinner. At that moment his sinless nature became a sinful nature; and as consequence man by natural procreation is born as a sinner. What David said in Psalm 51 is true of every human being born from Adam and Eve, our first parents: "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me" (v.5). Therefore, from conception we are sinners and we come into this world as sinners "for that all have sinned" (Romans 5:12); or as it can be translated, "in whom all have sinned", i.e. in Adam.
That being the case, sin has made us spiritually dead and totally unable to do anything of ourselves for our salvation, it now remains for God to intervene on our behalf if He so wills according to Romans 9:16-"So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy". That being the case, it remains, then, if anyone of us are to be saved, God has to be willing to save us; and simply because it pleased Him to do so. Otherwise, none of us would be saved if left to our own sinful nature.
