Does mankind have true free will to make a conscious choice to become a born again Christian, to believe In Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior, and that Christ came to this world and suffered and died on the cross to save us from our sins and to seek salvation? Or, does God solely choose the elect via His grace to be saved?
Just as the most important word in the Old Testament was “obey”, the most important word in the New Testament is “believe”. People are promised that they will not perish if they believe (John 1:12-13, John 3:16, John 5:24, John 6:28-29, John 6:40) and that they will perish if they refuse to believe (John 3:18, 2 Thes 2:10).
God wants everyone to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim. 2:3-4), He doesn’t want for any to perish but for all to come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Therefore if it was up to Him we would all be saved. The fact that we are not all saved means God has given man the choice to believe or not.