“It is false that the will, left to itself, can do good as well as evil, for it is not free, but in bondage.” – Martin Luther
“Likewise it is false that the will, left to itself (apart from grace), can choose to come to Christ (John 6:65), for it is not free, but in bondage … for “the devil has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:4) … and has “taken them captive to do his will.”(2 Tim 2:26) … and intrinsically “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.(1 Cor 2:14) because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. (Rom 8:7) So there is “no one understands; no one seeks for God…. no not one. (Rom 3:11) “So then salvation “depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” (Rom 9:16)”
– John Hendryx
The Shepherd chooses His sheep (its not the sheep who choose the Shepherd), he feeds them, lovingly cares for them, and leads them.
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want….
John 10: 26 “… but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
“Christ’s sheep will never be offended by Christ’s voice.” – C. H. Spurgeon