In the context of a Q&A during Men’s Bible Study this week, a question was asked that I may have misinterpreted. Two members approached me afterward and expressed their understanding that the gentleman had asked if it was possible to desire salvation and yet never be saved because one was not elect. In other words, does the doctrine of election imply that men, women and children who genuinely desire salvation and repentance, but who were not elect, are without hope? Can someone long for God’s mercy and grace and yet be denied?

In order to answer the question, we must first come to terms with the doctrine of universal human depravity. Behind this particular question lies the large assumption that such a person who is sincerely seeking after God actually could or does exist. However, the Scriptures are relentless in their description of the state of mankind as being mired in and enslaved to rebellion. Just a few texts should suffice to evidence this:

• Romans 3:10 …none is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.
• Romans 8:7-8 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
• Ephesians 4:17-19 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.
• Colossians 1:21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds…
• 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world 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.

The biblical picture of unregenerate man in this natural state of depravity is simply devastating. We are hostile toward God; we are evil, calloused, alienated, hard-hearted, darkened, and blind. We cannot and will not submit to God’s law and we will not seek after God. No one seeks after God. As Romans 1 says, we hate God.

The unregenerate person who desires to trust God and repent from sin does not exist according to the Scriptures. Surely people exist who hate hell, but that is different from loving God. There are people who would seek to be free from pain and torture, but that is different from being truly contrite and humble. The fact is that no one seeks after God, though we all naturally seek after God’s gifts. After all, the essence of idolatry according to Romans 1 is to exchange the Creator for His creation. We may seek after God as a means to the end of our own self-exaltation, but no one naturally seeks after God for His glory.

Sam Storms says, in his book Still Sovereign, “Do not be misled by distortions of Calvinism. It is not as though contrite and sorrowful sinners stand before God pleading that he grant them repentance, but God, locked in by his cruel decree, refuses to heed their request. No, there is ‘no one righteous,’ says Paul, there is ‘no one who seeks God’ (Rom. 3:10-11). If any should repent, he will be saved. But none will repent, because none want to repent, unless God graciously brings life to their otherwise spiritually dead hearts.”

If someone truly desires repentance and rest in the Lord, such a longing is evidence of God’s mercy already extended. As John 3:19-21 declares, And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God. We naturally love the darkness and hate the light. Therefore, we refuse to come to the light, but instead cower in the cover of our darkness. However, there are some who do come to the light. They are those who have been brought into the light by the prior works of God as verse 21 declares. We have explored this topic in the paper, “How Does an Unbeliever Believe” which I recommend if you are not familiar with the means by which God awakens the affections of His children and gives them eyes to see the glory of the gospel of His Son (2 Corinthians 4:3-6).

We affirm two truths: all those who contritely and humbly desire to be saved will be saved AND only those who have been appointed by God’s elective decree and awakened by His effectual call will have such a desire.