God COMMANDS men to seek Him and find Him. Unregenerate man doesn't. He can't. He is 100% evil and an enemy of God. Austin shared the definitive NT teaching in Romans, the NT "theology" book. "There is NONE righteous, no, not one: There is NONE that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are ALL gone out of the way, they are TOGETHER become unprofitable; there is NONE that doeth good, no, not one.
How can anyone say you DO seek God and are righteous and do good? What a lie.
BUT . . . if the holy Spirit of God changes their fallen nature that had made us all incapable of repentance (part of REAL "seeking" God) and faith (believing the Gospel), then we will.
So it might be easier to understand truth that WITHOUT GOD CHANGING THE PERSON he cannot seek God. When GOD CHANGES THE PERSON (biblical word is "regenerate" or "born again" - unseen and not even understood by people like Jesus explained to Nicodemus) only then will he seek God. And find Him.
That is salvation. God works first on man (it is GOD who seeks and saves the lost - Luke 19:10), then (and only then) is man made able to seek, repent, believe, follow God. Salvation is of the Lord (Jonah 2), NOT the Lord + man doing ANY seeking.
Quoting unrelated verses about "seeking" shows you can use a concordance but fail to grasp what it means. Understanding that most references are about believers seeking God (like we all do), or commands (like Acts 17) that unregenerate man disobey despite God telling them.
After reading through your comments I must say that you and Austin seem read into the text want you are looking for. I have pointed out to Austin and others that the verses in question Rom 3:9-18 are a Midrash. In these verses Paul wanted to teach on the universality of sin. He then went in search of the Hebrew Scriptures to prove his point, and he found some of the harshest statements concerning sin found in the Bible. However, if one reads each of those verses of Scripture in their natural contexts, he would find that it was confined and particular, not general, which is how Paul used those texts.
Paul is not saying, as calvinists would have it, that man is unable to trust in or seek God. He is saying that man is sinful and we know that most will reject Him but those that hear and believe the gospel message will be saved by God.
Man knows God through creation and thus has no excuse for not acknowledging Him as Lord. Rom 1:18-20 And we see the work of the Holy Spirit in convicting man of their sins Joh 16:8-9. Both of these verses point to the fact that God expects man to respond and make choices.
If man is unable to trust in God or be convicted then what is the point of these verses?
Who are the lost? Everyone. When Luke says that God came to seek and to save the lost he was not referring to the calvinist idea of the special elect but to humanity as we can see from 1Ti 2:3-4. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners as I am sure you would agree and you would also agree that we are all sinners in need of a savoiur. Gods’ desire was for all to be saved but only those that believe will be saved. Joh 3:16-18
The bible is replete with verses that indicate that God expects man to respond the gospel message. If as you have stated man can not do that then why verses like Rom 10:13 or Rom 10:17?
One thing that I did find odd was what you made the comment that man had to be "regenerate" or "born again" and only then “is man made able to seek, repent, believe, follow God.” I do remember you telling me that “Nobody says that.” So you have man saved before they even hear the gospel, believe the gospel, repent and follow God. But that is not what the bible says is it. Eph 2:8 “ For by grace you have been saved through faith” or Rom 10:17 “So then faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Did you actually read Act 17:27? “
so that they should seek the Lord,
in the hope that they might grope for Him
and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;”
Where in that verse do you find “that unregenerate man disobey despite God telling them.”
That is you reading in the text what you want to find. I do expect better of a minister.