Quote Originally Posted by dberrie2000 View Post
What is your evidence that God does not choose according to His foreknowledge of who will obey Him?

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9King James Version (KJV)
7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;




Of course we are the ones who decide--that is what all will be judged in accordance with--our choices. Christ testified that all will be judged in accordance with works--AFTER DEATH--and that for life or ****ation:

John 5:28-29King James Version (KJV)
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of ****ation.

Matthew 16:27King James Version (KJV)
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

God died for all men that they might have life:

Romans 5:18King James Version (KJV)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
What about Paul, did saving grace come to Paul before he was obedient or only after?
“But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace.” Galatians 1:15
Ponder the conversion of Paul, the sovereignty of Christ, and what Paul’s sins have to do with your salvation. Paul said that God “set me apart before I was born,” and then on the Damascus road “called me by his grace”. This means that between Paul’s birth and his call on the Damascus road he was an already-chosen but not-yet-called instrument of God. Acts 9:15; 22:14 This means that Paul was beating and imprisoning and murdering Christians as a God-chosen, soon-to-be-made-Christian missionary.
“As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Acts 22:6–7
There was no denying or escaping it. God had chosen him for this before he was born. And now he would take him. The word of Christ was sovereign. There was no negotiating. “Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.” Acts 22:10
Damascus was not Paul’s final, free will yielding to Christ after decades of futile divine effort to save him. God had a time for choosing him (before he was born) and a time for calling him (on the Damascus road). Paul yielded when God called.
Therefore, the sins that God permitted between Paul’s birth and his calling were part of the plan, since God could have done Damascus sooner. Do we have any idea what the plan for those sins might have been? Yes. They were permitted for you and me — for all who fear that they might have sinned themselves out of grace. Here’s the way Paul relates his sins to you.
“Formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy . . . for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”
1 Timothy 1:13, 16