Man's Will

Tonight we're starting lesson six in our study of biblical anthropology, and the lesson that we're looking at tonight is the will of man. If you've ever taken a philosophy class when you were in college, you know that philosophy predominantly deals with man's will. Is he free or is he determined? Is he responsible? And how so? If you've ever taken a political class, it also deals with the will of man.

Things such as communism and Marxism deal with the subjection of man's will for the betterment of society. Things like capitalism deal with free man's will so he can pursue self-interest and make society better.

In theology, you'll find that much of theology is about man's will. How many of you have read, for example, Martin Luther has a book that he wrote 500 years ago called The Bondage of the Will? Have you ever heard of that book or read that book? See a few hands, yes. Jonathan Edwards, the great American theologian, wrote The Freedom of the Will.

And the reason why it's so essential to our understanding of theology is that Scripture talks so much about man's will. And so tonight we're going to be looking at the Scriptures and see what it has to tell us about the will of man. And we're going to begin with Bible point number one on our handout.

Will is man's power — that's the first blank — power to choose. That's the second blank. Will is man's power to choose between motives. Now, motives is a word that basically means reasons. If you've ever watched a crime show or a detective show and maybe a murder's happened, they'll say what was the murderer's motive? What was his reason for committing this heinous crime, right? The reasoning of our minds — that's the third blank — reasoning. The reasoning of our minds and the desires of our hearts present us with motives. So the third blank is reasoning and the fourth blank is desires. We never act without a motive. We never act without a reason.

We have reasons when we do anything. Oftentimes they're a rational reason. Maybe we're trying to choose what restaurant we want to go to that night and you think, well, this one may be crowded. This one's too expensive. This one's too far to drive. So you kind of reason that out, right?

Sometimes we make decisions of our will that aren't based so much on reason as they are on our desires, right? Have you ever bought something that you didn't need and you really couldn't afford, but it's because you wanted it, right? You couldn't pass that handbag or you couldn't pass that fishing pole, or maybe there's a car that you just thought you just had to have, right? So sometimes we make somewhat irrational decisions because they're based on our desires, on our heart.

Our motives often conflict, prompting the will to make a choice. Often there's a lot of things that we want and we can't decide what we want or what we want to do, right? When I was a teenager, all the boys in my neighborhood, we had a similar poster on our wall and it had three different cars on it. It had a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, and a Porsche. Maybe you remember that if you were about my age, and it said, "Decisions, decisions, decisions." It's like, which one of these do I want? Sometimes our will conflicts and we have a hard time deciding.

Will chooses between motives and directs — that's the fifth blank — directs our course. Will chooses both an end and the means to attain it.

So when we talk about man's will, we're talking about us, right? We make choices. It's our power of choosing, and we oftentimes are faced with multiple choices and we have to choose the best option among these options and we choose what we like and what we desire. We choose not only the end, but the means to attain that end.

Let me give you a perfect example of this from the very beginning in the book of Genesis, chapter three, verse six. It's on our handout here.

"So when the woman" — this is speaking of Eve — "so when the woman saw that the tree was good for food," that's somewhat of a reasoning of her mind, "and that it was pleasant to the eyes," that's the desire of her heart.

"And a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave it to her husband with her and he ate."

Was that not an exact case of humanity willing, right? They had the option there before them of this tree, this fruit that looked good to them. Supposedly it would make them wise, so they reasoned with their eyes that, "Hey, this is good for me. It looks good. It pleases my eyes and it's going to make me wise. I'm going to eat of it," right? So they exercised their will. In this case, of course, it wasn't a good decision, right? They willed wrongly.

The application is this: when you make a choice, what are some of the things that guide your decision making? When you exercise your will, what are some of the things that guide your decisions?

Consequences. Consequences, exactly right. We think, "What is the effect of this? How much is it going to cost me now? Is it going to cost me later?" Right? Another example: Pastor Casey taught on this last week, and our conscience. Our conscience is that moral judiciary of the soul, Pastor talked about last week, that either condemns or excuses us, right? It convicts or excuses us. And it tells us that we ought to do something or we ought not to do something. So can't conscience be a guide? When we're about to make a decision, shouldn't our conscience be informing our decisions, right? Shouldn't do this. This would not be pleasing to God, right? Or, do this. This does please God. This is acceptable. This is good and a good thing that you're involved in.

How about God's holy Word, right? God's holy Word informs our conscience, after all. And should not this be part of our decision making, right? To inform our decision when we exercise our will. Shouldn't we think about how does this please God? And where do we know what pleases God but the Scriptures, right? Scriptures tell us His will for us — that we shouldn't lie, that we shouldn't steal, that we should forbear with one another, that we should love one another, that we should forgive one another. So Scripture tells us what pleases God, and that should inform us when we exercise our wills.

Bible point number two: man's will is truly free. That's the first blank. It's truly free. Man's motives do not determine our will. In other words, our reasons or our desires, they don't make us do something, right? Sometimes you'll say, "I just couldn't resist. I saw that chocolate pie and it was calling out to me and it made me eat it." No, you made yourself eat it, right? Your will is subject to you, not you being subject to your motives or your reasons. Motives are not causes which compel the will. That's the second blank. Motives aren't causes. They don't make you do something.

But they are influences which persuade it, right? That chocolate pie looks a whole lot better than that can of asparagus, right? And so that's going to persuade my will to eat that chocolate pie and to throw out the rabbit food, right? Man's will is not determined, but self-determined. That's the fourth blank, self-determined.

Some people, for example, in the study of criminology, they'll say that man's will is determined by his upbringing, right? They'll say, "You know, he had a rough life, so no wonder he resorted to a life of crime," right? He was underprivileged. He didn't have a good home life, right?

Does that necessitate that you're going to turn to a life of crime?

No. Have not many people overcome their beginnings and actually thrived, right? So man's will is not determined from without, nor is it determined from within.

Modern scientists like to say that we evolved from pond scum, and we're nothing but a cosmic accident, and we can only be what we are, and there is no right or wrong. Man just does what he wants to do, and the only thing that would maybe restrict man is society or social mores or fear of retribution from others, and therefore he's not really responsible. He can't know right or wrong, because there isn't right or wrong, right? So man is actually determined by his nature, right, by this evolutionary process. Well, that's not true. Your will is self-determined. It's determined by you. You make your choices. You can't blame heredity.

You can't blame your human nature. You can't blame your lack of resources or even abundance of resources. As you've probably heard from following case law, there have been people who have claimed that they had to commit a crime because they were born rich, and they were never told no, and they had affluenza.

Therefore, they got away with crime all their life, and so now it's embedded in their life, and it's not their fault that they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, right? People come up with all kinds of excuses to justify their behavior, but in the end, you are responsible for your will. Your will does not determine your acts, but you determine your acts. It is you that does the willing.

Let's look at Genesis 4, 6 through 7.

This is speaking of Cain when he saw that Abel's sacrifice was accepted by the Lord. He was jealous of his brother, and the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it."

We're responsible for our actions, right? We're responsible for the attitudes we carry. We're responsible for the dispositions that we have and that we act upon, right? Cain couldn't say, "Jealousy overcame me, made me kill Abel." God was warning him right here: "If you kill Abel, it's because of your own sin. It's because of your own rebellion. Sin is crouching at the door. You should rule over it, but instead, you would be letting it rule over you," is what God tells him.

The application is this: where do your will and actions — the first blank for application number two is will, the second is actions — where do your will and actions originate?

Exactly, your heart. They come from you. It's your will and your actions. The devil didn't make you do it, right? No one made you do it. Sometimes we say that, "Look what you made me do. You made me lose my temper." No, you lost your temper, right?

Bible point number three. David, before you do that, would you mind giving us the application for number one? Yes, what guides you in your decision making? The first blank for number one application is guides, and the second blank is decision.

Bible point number three: denial that man's will is truly free has serious and damaging consequences.

Its denial destroys man's conviction in regard to responsibility. If your will isn't free, how are you responsible for anything you do, right? It's been determined. My course is set. This is my destiny. Therefore I'm not responsible for my actions.

In regard to responsibility, sin — that's the first blank — sin.

Sin is your own transgression against the Lord, your own failure to honor Him and to obey Him, right? Guilt, which results from sin — you can't say, "I got a raw deal.

Everything was arranged against me. I'm not really guilty of anything. I'm just guilty of living my life within the circumstances and the hand that was dealt to me." That's not true.

Guilt is the objective result of sin, right? We'll be studying that in a few weeks when we pick up the study of hamartiology, or the study of sin, and retribution, which is another way of saying the punishment that we deserve for our sin, and the need for atonement. If you're not really free in your actions, therefore you're not responsible for your actions. You're not deserving of punishment for your actions. Then what need do you have to get right with God? That needs to be at one with God. That's man's greatest need. Every single one of us are born sinners. Every single one of us commit sin. When we do, that sin brings the wrath of God towards us because it's us shaking our fists at God, trying to dethrone Him and saying, "I'm going to do it my way, not Your way." That separates us from God. It brings both spiritual death and physical death into our lives. We can't overcome that on our own. But praise God, He sent His only Son, Jesus Christ. God became flesh in His Son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect life for us, in our place, in our stead. Christ perfectly obeyed the Father. He never sinned. He perfectly obeyed the Father and He never did what was wrong, in order that He could die as a substitute for us. And that's what we witnessed here tonight with baptism just a little bit earlier, right? Baptism is testimony to the gospel that Christ died, was buried, and He rose again on the third day because He never sinned. Death cannot hold Him. He was innocent, declared to be just by God in His resurrection. And when we place our faith in Christ, His death becomes ours. His righteousness is accredited to us. And all of our sin, our shame, our guilt, and our failures is imputed to Him. And He paid that on the cross. He bore our suffering for us. So if we deny that we have guilt and we deny that we have sin, if we deny our responsibility, we deny our need for atonement, right?

Its denial destroys man's confidence in his power — this is the third blank — in his power and personhood, the fourth blank, and in God's power to save him.

By saying you don't have free will and that you're not responsible for your actions, it denies your power. God has called us all to live rightly, right? And He's called us all to turn to Him. So if we deny our responsibility, then we're denying our very power to be accountable to God, that we must live our lives, coram Deo, before the face of God. And it denies our personhood. We've talked about how God created us in His personal image. What that means is that unlike the animals, we're created differently. We're created to be a person like God, which means that we are rational. We can think and we can desire and we can relate to the world that we live in. And we're also resolute in that we are willful and we act, right, as God does.

And because of that, if we deny our responsibility, we're denying that we're persons. The tree or the rock has no responsibility to God. They can't sin, they can't conceptualize themselves, they can't relate to others, they can't act in will, but we can, right? We must not deny that. To deny our will, the responsibility for our wills, is to deny our personhood, right? It's to make us to be a brute of the field, to be a rock or a stone.

Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is" — what?

We earn that. We earn death because of our sin, because of our actions. It is us who sin.

Application: are you responsible — that's the first blank — for your sinful actions? Yes. Who would be responsible for your sinful actions if not you?

It's only you, right? I don't know if you remember, when I was a boy, we used to have the comics that would come in the Sunday papers. And there was a comic called The Family Circus. And something would break, maybe a vase in the house, and all the kids would say, "Not me. It wasn't me. Not me. Not me." Then you'd see a ghost-like figure called Not Me running around the house, right? No one wants to take responsibility. But we are responsible for our sinful actions, and we and us alone.

Bible point number four: man's will is truly free, but it is self-limited and self-conditioned. What do we mean by self-limited and self-conditioned? We're going to explain here.

Every decision of the will turns our thoughts either toward — that's the first blank — or away — that's the second blank — toward or away from an object of desire, creating a path on which future thoughts easily travel.

Think about that. Every act of the will creates a path on which future acts easily travel. The first time you shoplift from a store, you would probably be very nervous, right? I'm going to get caught.

If your conscience is screaming at you, "Don't do this. It's wrong. Thou shalt not steal," is what the Word of God says, right?

The second time you steal or shoplift from a store, your conscience begins to get hardened. That voice isn't quite as loud anymore.

And you're not quite as anxious or quite as nervous. You got away with it the first time, so I'll get away with it the second time, right? Third, fourth — you could do it the hundredth time and it's like second nature to you. It's easier to steal than it is to earn an honest living all of a sudden, right? By this time, your conscience is seared. You don't hear that voice within you telling you, "Don't do it," because it's just part of who you are, right? Every act of the will forms a path which future acts are going to easily travel. It forms a rut, if you will. That's true with anything. It's true with lying. Have you ever met someone who can't tell the truth?

They've lied so much. They live in a fantasy world. It's impossible for them to tell the truth. It's easier for them to lie. In fact, it's almost as if they're oblivious to the fact that they're lying, right?

In our society, we have other problems. Some people are given to drugs or alcohol — illicit substances — they become addicted to it, right? Then they can't live or function without it, right?

Sins of the heart, such as pornography, right? We have a whole legion of young people who've been addicted from an early age on their phones, right? Watching awful images. Before you know it, they become deadened to those images, and they have to go deeper and darker, and it just consumes them, right?

Our wills are both self-limited and self-conditioned by our actions. Man's repeated acts in a given moral direction form a bend — this is the third blank — a bend in his will, which directs his future acts. That's the fourth blank, future acts. Man's will — that's the fifth blank — results in man's character.

Man's will results in man's character.

What is your character but the sum of all your actions? Is it not?

Character actually means, in its original etymology — the original meaning of the word — to engrave or to inscribe.

It's a word that was used with metalworkers who would etch into metal and make marks or notations, whether it's on a sword or whether it's on a piece of jewelry. They would use an etching tool to etch and to permanently shape that metal, right? Your character results from your will.

Have you ever known someone that you would say, "Stay away from that person. That person is bad news.

That person has a bad character. I don't want my wife around that person. I don't want my kids around that person."

Because you know their previous actions, right? And the sum of their actions is not good, right?

So man's will results in man's character. Look at Romans 6:16. Paul writes to the Romans, "Do you not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey, whether you are slaves to sin leading to death or to obedience leading to righteousness."

So whatever you present yourself as a slave to obey, you're going to become that. You're going to become the sin that you worship and it's going to mark your character and change you and set you on a path. The more you sin, the easier and easier and easier it gets. And the harder it is to ever do any kind of deeds that are opposite to that path or to that course, right?

Conversely, as Christians, praise God, we've had our wills renewed in the image of God. God makes all things new. The more that you confirm yourself in righteousness, the more righteous acts that you do, guess what? The easier it is to commit future righteous acts, right? The easier it is to obey God in the future. You can become so righteous that when you sin, it's an aberration and not the norm.

Amen?

Flip over on the back.

Jesus — look at number four in our reference verses on the back. Jesus says in John 8:34, "Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.'"

So what you do becomes what you serve, becomes what you are. Your character is determined by your will. Okay?

Flip back over on the front.

Application for number four: are you a slave? That's the blank. A slave of sin or righteousness?

If you're not a Christian tonight, you're a slave to sin.

If you're a Christian, you should be a slave to righteousness, right? Your will has been renewed. You have the Holy Spirit within you. You have the Word of God to guide you. And we progressively — it's not that we're perfect, it's not that we're always going to do what's righteous — but the direction of our life, the course of our life, should be marked by righteousness, right? That should be the defining mark of our character. And if it's not, then maybe you should look at your life, right? Because what does Jesus say? A good tree puts forth good fruit, right? And an evil tree puts forth bad fruit, right?

Bible point number five: man has the power to make individual choices — that's the first blank — in a direction opposite to his current motive and course.

So the first blank is choices, to make individual choices in a direction opposite to his current motive — that's the second blank — and course. Again, we say motive is a reason for what we do, whether it's a rational reason or a desire of the heart, and course is the direction of our life.

This is the power of contrary choice. In this sense, the will of man is truly free — that's the fourth blank. We have the power of contrary choice, okay? That's part of being created in the image of God, being rational beings who are resolute, who can act and who are willful and who can relate to others.

Now not every Christian has held this. In fact, one of the most notable theologians — I already mentioned him a little bit earlier — I love him to death, Jonathan Edwards. He actually denied contrary choice, that man has the power of contrary choice. He said in his book, The Freedom of the Will, that man can only act in accordance with his will.

And as a general statement, he might be right, but broadly speaking, he's wrong there, okay? We can act contrary to our given course, to our given motives that we're currently operating in. For example, Jimmy, I'm going to pick on you, brother.

You know Jimmy for a long time, and Jimmy always has such a sweet peace about him and a smile on his face, right? If I were to characterize — characterize your character — I'd say that's something that's about Jimmy every time that I've seen him, right? Suppose Jimmy came in tonight and he's kicking things and throwing things down and he's angry and gritting his teeth. You would say that's out of character for Jimmy. He's not acting according to his usual motive or according to his usual course, right? He's acting contrary to that, right?

Perhaps you know the opposite of someone. Maybe it's a boss or someone at work who is an absolute devil, and then one day they come up to you and they're nice and they're sweet, and you're like, "What's going on here? Why is he being nice to me? She's never nice to me. She's always mean and rude to me, but now she's being nice." And you can't get your head around that. You can't wrap your head around that. We have the power to act contrary to our normal motives or normal course or character, okay? I'm going to give you two biblical examples.

Think about King David in the Bible.

Early on it said that David is a man after what? God's own heart. What a wonderful way to have your character described — that you're a man after God's own heart. Meaning you love the things that God loves and you hate the things that God hates, that you are seeking Him very hard and you want to have your life aligned with God.

But did David always act according to that characterization?

No.

Remember, he committed adultery with Bathsheba. He killed her husband.

Later on, he took a census when he wasn't supposed to. There were some times in his life where he acted contrary, right? He exercised the power of contrary choice. Now, Edwards would probably have a different spin on that. He'd say, "Well, he was just reverting back to his sin nature." I would say Edwards is wrong because David was a man who was born again. By faith, David did what he did. He was filled with the Spirit of God. He was regenerate. His will was renewed. But I'll give you one that would definitely stump Edwards. In fact, he can't answer it in his work, and he admits as much. Adam.

Next week, we're going to study man's original state. And we know that God created us in His personal image, and we've talked about that. But next week, we'll talk about how God also created us in His moral image. God made Adam upright.

He made Adam free from sin. He made Adam holy.

But did not Adam act contrary to his nature as a free person? He had the power of contrary choice. Now, some of my friends who love Edwards will say, "Well, you can't explain it either." And I'll say, "Well, I can't explain why a man like Adam who was created holy and perfect would act contrary to his nature, but I can state the fact that he did." Right? That underlies the whole fall of mankind, right? So we can act contrary to our nature. And in this sense, the will of man is truly free.

Proverbs 4:14 says this: "Do not enter the path of the wicked and do not walk in the way of evil."

You can be going down one course of action. Then you can turn from that course of action.

You can change. You don't have to always be sinning if you are a Christian, right?

If you are not a Christian and you're confirmed in evil and you're always doing evil, can't you do an occasional thing that isn't harmful to somebody? Can't you act contrary to your nature? Do a random act of kindness? Sure. We see that kind of thing happen all the time.

The application is this: how do you use your freedom to choose? That's the application for number five. The blank is choose.

Because God's made you free, how are you going to use that freedom? Right?

Should we use that freedom as Christians? Well, I can act contrary to my nature, so I'm going to use that freedom to gratify my flesh. Should I do that? No. I should use that to honor God, right? Use the freedom that He's given me to look after the interest of other people, to love my neighbor as myself and to love God with all my heart.

Bible point number six: man's will has become corrupted by sin. We're speaking of fallen man here. It has become corrupted by sin. We'll be studying this in depth in about two weeks. We'll be starting the study of hamartiology.

Sin corrupts everything. It doesn't just corrupt our bodies, giving us physical death, but it corrupts our minds, right? It corrupts our will, corrupts our conscience, right? It corrupts every part of us. Fallen man's will has become corrupted by sin. His will is set against God.

So his normal course of action is rebellion, right?

Sinful humanity is against God. That's the first blank. The bend of the sinful will is so constant and settled that man cannot reverse his moral state. That's the second blank.

By a single act of the will.

In other words, man can't make himself love God when he is in hatred towards God. Remember, man's will makes his character, right? And a person who's been willing in rebellion against God — guess what? That's going to make his character a rebel, right?

So he can't reverse his moral state by a single act of the will. In this sense, man does not have the power of contrary choice.

Let me give you another analogy.

If you are a free man in Roman times, could you make yourself a slave?

You could. You could sell yourself into slavery, right?

But if you were a slave with no possessions, could you make yourself free?

No. You'd have to be redeemed. Someone else would have to buy your freedom. You couldn't do it on your own. Okay?

We live in Florida, and north and west of us — or north and east of us — is St. Augustine.

You know it's named after Augustine, who was a famous theologian. The late fourth century is when he lived. And Augustine wrote, and his books are still read and cherished today. Many argue he was the most brilliant theologian of the church. He's still just as pertinent today, 1,700 years later, as he was when he wrote. And in his time, he had a foe — if you will, a theological foe — named Pelagius.

This is what Pelagius taught. Pelagius said that Adam's sin only affected Adam, not the rest of humanity. And thereafter, every person born was not born holy nor were they born evil, but they were born neutral.

And that they have the power not to sin if they want to.

But invariably, they all choose to sin.

And his reason behind that was the world's full of bad examples. So that's why everybody is a sinner.

Now Augustine wrote against that. And what Augustine said was Adam was created both free and free from sin. He had the free will and he was also free from sin.

As far as the way that he was made to be holy at his origin, at his birth. But he could choose to sin.

And once he sinned, sin corrupted his will.

It corrupted his whole being. So now, every human being born cannot not sin.

Because it's who we are. We're sinners, right? It's our course of nature. It's who we are.

So if we are sinners, a leopard can't change its spots, right? We can't by a single act of our will undo our sin nature or reverse its course. In that respect, we do not have the power of contrary choice. We can't change our moral nature, okay? Where our character is set, so to speak. There's nothing that we can do to change our hearts, to make what is dead come alive. Look at Ephesians 2:1 through 3. We've been reading Ephesians on Sunday morning.

Speaking of these believers who have been changed by Christ, it says, "And you were" — what? — "dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. Following the course of the world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among whom we all once lived in the passion of the flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." So our wills were bound. We could only do evil. We could only walk in the course of this world.

The application is this: is unregenerate — meaning unsaved — mankind, people who have not put their trust in Christ and have been born again, is unregenerate man free to please God?

Does he have the freedom to not sin?

He doesn't.

He's bound by sin. It's who he is, right?

Bible point number seven: fallen man can change his settled character only indirectly.

He can turn — that's the first blank — his mind — the second blank is mind — and heart, the third blank. He can turn his mind and heart to considerations fitted to awaken opposite desires, and thus summon up motives to an opposite course. He can't change his heart. He can't make his dead heart alive. He can't change his crooked ways, but he can turn his mind and his heart to influences

that are fitted to awaken a change in disposition. Let me explain what I mean by that.

Sometimes a person's sin catches up to them in this life,

and they feel the weight of that sin.

They are punished in this life by that sin, right? Maybe they go to jail.

Maybe they face the consequences of years of being drunk and it wreaks a physical toll on their body, right? Sometimes it's the emptiness that sin has left them, right? And they know this is not working. I'm just injuring myself. I'm injuring the people that I love. I need help. Where can I go? I can't change myself, but where can I go?

Maybe that would lead them to the Scriptures. If you've ever heard the testimony of a Gideon at church — have you ever heard a testimony of a Gideon? Gideons are people — they're a group of men who go around and they've done this for years — and they place Bibles in hotel rooms in their nightstands and also distribute Bibles at schools. Many people have given testimony to going to a hotel room,

being down on their luck. Sin has run its course, and they're thinking about even ending their life. And they open up the nightstand and there's a Bible, and they begin to read the Bible.

And what does the Bible tell us? Look in Romans 10:17: "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

Maybe sin has injured you so much that you turn to a friend, and this friend is a believer. This friend seems to have a grasp on life and isn't harming himself and harming those that he loves. There's something different about him, right? And he or she is able to share the gospel with them, right? And they're willing to listen. Well, they're turning their heart and they're turning their affections to influences, which can then change them, right?

I love the movie — I've shared it with some of you before. It's an old movie, Gary Cooper, Sergeant York. And Sergeant York, it's a true story about a man in Tennessee. I think it was Tennessee. In World War I he's a drunkard. He's a womanizer. His life is leading him to break relationships and just to make a mess of things. So he comes wandering in, and he goes to church. And there he hears the gospel proclaimed. And he gets saved right then and there, and it changes the whole course of his life, right. Flip over on the back. Let's look at reference number seven.

Acts 8:30 says, "So Philip ran to him." Who's he running to?

Remember, it's an Ethiopian riding on a chariot who's reading a scroll from Isaiah, okay? Many of the Old Testament books were distributed far and wide, right? And he's reading it, and the Holy Spirit tells him, "Go catch up to this chariot." And so Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

Of course, what does the Ethiopian say? "No, how can I understand it unless it's explained to me?" And so what does Philip do? But share the gospel with him, right?

So the application is this: how can a lost soul be drawn toward God? That's the blank for the application — drawn towards God. How can a lost soul be drawn towards God?

Some of you — I know just this past Saturday night, Pastor was telling me — we were passing out tracts, right? People were passing by, and you were handing them gospel tracts, tracts that tell them about the hope of Jesus Christ, that have Scripture in it. Isn't that one way to be able to draw people to Christ, right?

What are other ways that may draw folks to Christ?

Reading the Bible. Reading the Bible, yes, sir.

Giving people Bibles, yes. How about holy living?

You know, Jesus tells us time and time again that we are to be a light in this world, right? And wherever you go — in your workplace or in your life, or whether it's at the family gathering table come Thanksgiving and Christmas when you're around relatives you haven't seen in a while — they can tell the difference in your life, right? So if you're living a holy life, they may ask you why, or what's different about you, right? These are all various ways that can draw men to Christ.

Bible point number eight: studying the action of the sinful will alone — in other words, if you just look at the sinful will and what it leads to — one might — that's the blank — one might conclude that there is no such thing as freedom.

If you don't know Christ, and you're bound in your sins, you wish to be free, but you really don't believe that freedom is possible,

because all you've known is enslavement, right?

If all you've ever known is enslavement, how would you know what freedom is like?

How would you know what it is to be able to make choices? How would you know what it is to do good, to love others and to love God? How would you even know that, if you've never done it, because you're enslaved to sin?

One might conclude that there is no such thing as freedom, but our conscience testifies to freedom. Our conscience tells us that we can make contrary choices, and our conscience tells us that we can will. Conscience must be trusted in its testimony regarding freedom. Just as conscience is trusted — that's the second blank — trusted in its testimony regarding God. We don't doubt our consciousness, our senses to relate to the world that we live in, right?

We're not wondering, is this really a lectern in front of me? Is this really a chair that I'm sitting in? We don't wonder if you are really a person and I'm really talking to you. We just accept that. We live our life through our conscious existence. And if conscience tells us that we have freedom

and that we can choose and presents choices to us, we must believe that.

The freedom of the will is as great a mystery as the Trinity.

How we can have the freedom of contrary choice in one way,

but not have the contrary freedom of contrary choice — for to change our hearts is a mystery to us. Just as much as the Trinity is a mystery to us. When you think about how man's will can be so bound,

and yet even the bound sinner's will has complete freedom in how he sins, right? He can choose to rob the bank today or he can put that off for a few weeks and maybe just hotwire a car today. He has freedom in how he sins, right? But he can't not sin.

So indeed the will is a great mystery. Isaiah 55:8 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways," says the Lord.

The application is this: do you trust the testimony of Scripture?

You may doubt your freedom because if you've never had it, how would you even know that it's possible? And you may doubt your conscience — your consciousness testifying that you do have choice — because in one way you have choice, another way you don't.

But what does Scripture tell us? Scripture says that we are willful beings and that our will determines our character, and we are responsible for the choices that we make. You must trust Scripture's testimony above all else.

Bible point number nine: true — this is the first blank — true freedom of the will is only restored in Christ. That's the second blank. True freedom of the will is only restored in Christ. Indeed, our will — fallen humanity's will — is degraded. It is both self-limited.

It is also damaged goods, so to speak, by sin.

But as damaged as it is, it can be renewed.

When God renews you as an individual, He renews all of you.

He takes away your sin, He renews your mind, He renews your heart, He renews your will. He empowers you to choose rightly. When we are in Christ, our wills are restored to where we are now able to have the freedom to not sin.

It's possible — it's rare, but it's possible — that someone could go a year without sinning. You think, yeah, isn't the Spirit of Jesus within you and isn't His holy Word here before us? I'm not saying you're going to be perfect in this life. You've already blown that.

But you should shoot for holiness, you should strive for that, and you're able to not sin as a Christian.

God would not command you to holiness

if He could not give you that ability to do it through His Holy Spirit, right?

Look at John 8:36. Jesus says, "Therefore the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed." Flip over on the back.

John 8:31-32, this is reference number 9: "Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, 'If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.'"

Dear Christian, if you say, "Well, I'm still struggling, I have a hard time living free from sin,"

know the truth.

Know Christ Jesus.

Walk with Him.

Ask for His help.

If you know the truth, the truth will set you free.

The application for number nine is this: can Christ change — that's the first blank — your heart — the second blank — to love God?

The sinner who's not a Christian, the sinner who is enslaved in his sins, is at enmity with God. He's in rebellion against God. He hates God, so therefore he can never try to please Him or know Him. But can Christ change your heart to love God?

Yes.

That's what the new covenant is all about — that He'll give you a new heart, a heart of flesh, not a heart of stone, that His law would be written on your hearts. Because to obey Him is to love Him, right?

And that is what our will is as Christians.

We have a free will renewed by Christ, not only with the power of contrary choice, but with the power to set our hearts supremely on Christ.