The Will of Mankind

sinful character leaves man responsible.  

Now what is freedom?  Some what to say that man has a freedom to choose if he wants to be saved, or if he wants to reject. Some want to say that man kind say no to the Holy Spirit.

Much has been said about this matter of “Whosoever” and “Free-Will?

Scripture gives the idea that man is free?  A man is free just in proportion to his convictions, just in proportion to his capability of determining his action from experience, he is free to be exactly like his heart is telling him,  he is as free as his nature gives him direction.

If I as a Christian have a holy character, would you not say that my character will have the same kind of views in him heart.  Would you not say that they would be a part of my new nature and my character would mirror my affections, by judgment, my reason, and my conscience?  God gave me a new heart, and thus it goes in one direction, and that is of Christ likeness.

As a sinner, a person that has not been given a new heart, but has a hard heart, the soul is hard and cannot receive the seed of the Gospel (Luke 8, I spend six messages on this subject)    Thus a sinner he has a no-right direction heart. 

Reason would say go another way, but he can’t.  His conscience would say go another direction, but he can’t.  His affections and his dispositions say go another way, and he may know that, but he can’t. 

Yes he has a will, and his will is only free to do what his heart is going to direct him.  The very fact the impulses of his heart are in the wrong direction

Matthew 12:35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.

Romans 7:15 For I do not understand my own actions. For do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

Luke 6:45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Psalm 33:15 he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.

Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

 

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

1 John 1:8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Ephesians 2:3 Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Galatians 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

2 Peter 1:4 By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

Galatians 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Mark 7:23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Romans 5:8 But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

 

What kind of Freedom of Will Does a SINNER HAVE

“Determinism, Chance and Freedom”

by John M. Frame

_{http://frame-poythress.org/determinism-chance-and-freedom/}

 

Determinists believe t

that every event (or every event in a certain category) has a cause that makes it happen exactly as it happens.

Among the varieties of determinism are the views of

(1) Plato, who held that one’s ethical choices are determined by his view of what is good, (2) B. F. Skinner, who believed that stimuli, dispositions and motives govern all human behavior.

(3) Democritus, Hobbes, Spinoza, and many others, who have held that every event in the universe is determined by a physical cause.

Of special interest to us are

(4) theological determinists, who hold that all events occur exactly as God has foreordained them.

These would include Calvin and others in his tradition.

The classic exposition of theological determinism is Jonathan Edwards’ Freedom of the Will. Note that it is possible to be a determinist in sense

without being a determinist in sense

That seems to be the position of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which says in 3.1 that “God did… ordain whatsoever comes to pass,” but also says in 9.1 that man’s will “is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to good, or evil” (compare 5.2).

William James, in his article “The Dilemma of Determinism,” distinguished between “hard” and “soft” determinism.

On his view, soft determinists hold that all events, including human decisions, are determined, but that some kind of freedom and moral responsibility also exists.

Hard determinists hold (what James thought was the more consistent position) that the determination of human decisions requires us to reject the concept of moral responsibility.

Other writers, however, have used the hard/soft distinction differently, defining soft determinism as a view that is largely deterministic but that allows for some uncaused or self-caused human choices

Chance can refer

(1) to uncaused events, or

(2) to events of which the causes are uncertain and normally uncontrollable. When we throw dice, we often say that the result is “by chance;” but we then don’t usually mean that the result is uncaused, only that the causes are hard to ascertain or control. Laws of probability enable us to predict the results of such chance events over the long term (for example, 50% of coin flips come out tails), but not in individual cases.

Chance can also be

(3) a synonym of fate, conceived as an impersonal force that makes everything happen as it happens. In the first sense, chance is incompatible with determinism. In the second sense, it is compatible with determinism. In the third sense, it presupposes determinism.

Freedom is a more complicated notion.

Generally speaking, a person is free when

(1) he has the ability to do something,

(2) there is some obstacle or barrier that might have prevented him from exercising that ability but is not now preventing him. Someone is “set free” from prison, for example, when he can go where he likes without the barriers of prison walls, bars, guards, etc.

People have political freedom when they are able publish political opinions, organize political parties, etc., without government interference. So freedom is always “freedom to” and “freedom from:” freedom to do something, and freedom from some obstacle.

On this account, there are many different kinds of freedom, since there are many different things we can be free to do, and many obstacles we can be free from. So we speak of economic freedom, political freedom, religious freedom, freedom from illness, and many others.

The following kinds of freedom are of particular interest to theologians and apologists:

(1) Moral freedom, or the ability to do good, despite the barrier of our sinful condition. God gives us this freedom by his grace (_{John 8:32-36, Rom. 6:7, 18-23, 8:2). When Scripture speaks of human freedom, it is almost always in this sense.}

John 8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Romans 6:7 For one who has died has been set free from sin.

Romans 6:18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

(2) The freedom to act according to our own desires.

This kind of freedom is sometimes called compatibilism, because it is compatible with determinism. Scripture doesn’t describe this capacity as “freedom,” but it does ascribe this capacity to all human beings.

Jesus teaches, for example, that the good person acts out of the desires of his good heart, the wicked person out of his wicked heart (_{Matt. 12:35). There are times, of course, when we are unable to do what we “want” to do, at some level of wanting (as Rom. 7:15). But in most of the decisions of life, we do what we want, in the face of potential obstacles.}

Matthew 12:35 The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.

Romans 7:15 For I do not understand my own actions. For do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.

(3) Freedom from natural necessity,

the freedom to act without the constraint of natural causes. This is the freedom mentioned in my earlier reference to the Westminster Confession. Its theological importance is its implication that human choice is not necessarily or always the result of natural causes. As image of God, we have dominion over the earth and in some ways transcend the world process. And we may not excuse our sins by saying that they were forced upon us by heredity or environment.

(4) Freedom from all causation, sometimes called libertarianism.

I have freedom in the libertarian sense when, no matter what I choose to do, I might equally have chosen the opposite.

So my choices are not only free from natural causes (as in (3)) but also from divine causation. Indeed, my libertarian choices are also free from myself in a way, for they are not determined by my character, dispositions, or desires.

These inner motives may influence a free decision in this sense, but they never determine it.

So a libertarian free decision is entirely indeterminate, uncaused. Thus libertarianism is sometimes called incompatibilism, since it is incompatible with determinism.

Libertarianism has been taught by a number of philosophers from ancient Greece (Epicurus) to the present (Alvin Plantinga). It was the position of some church Fathers including Justin Martyr and Tertullian, Pelagius, the opponent of Augustine, the Jesuit Luis Molina, Fausto and Lelio Socinus, Jacob Arminius, and present-day Arminians, open theists and process theologians.

Libertarians argue that we must have this kind of freedom because

(1) our intuition reveals that we have it, and

(2) it is necessary for moral responsibility, for we cannot be held responsible for anything we are determined to do.

Opponents of libertarianism, however, reply that

(1) Human intuition reveals that we choose among various alternatives, but it never reveals to us that any of our choices are absolutely uncaused. Intuition cannot prove a universal negative.

(2) Far from teaching that libertarian freedom is essential to moral responsibility, Scripture never mentions libertarian freedom.

(3) This doctrine would make it impossible for us to judge anyone’s guilt in a court of law. For to prove someone responsible for a crime and therefore guilty, the prosecution would have to take on the impossible burden of proof of showing that the decision of the accused had no cause whatsoever.

(4) Law courts, indeed, assume the opposite of libertarianism, namely that people are responsible only for actions that they are sufficiently motivated to perform. If it could be shown that an accused person committed a crime without any sufficient cause or motivation at all he would most likely be judged insane rather than guilty.

(5) Scripture contradicts libertarianism, by ascribing divine causes to human decisions

(_{Exod. 34:24, Is. 44:28, Dan. 1:9, John 19:24, Acts 13:48, 16:14), even sinful ones (Gen. 45:5-8, Ps. 105:24, Luke 22:22, Acts 2:23-24, 3:18, 4:27-28, Rom. 9:17). In none of these (or many other) cases does divine causation eliminate human responsibility. In fact, these texts often mention human responsibility in the same context.}

Exodus 34:24 For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.

Isaiah 44:28 28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is _{nmy shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’ ”}

Daniel 1:9 And God gave Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs,

John 19:24 24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things,

Acts 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.

Acts 16:14 14 One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.

Genesis 45:5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

Psalm 105:24 And the Lord made his people very fruitful and made them stronger than their foes.

Luke 22:22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”

Acts 2:23 this Jesus, delivered up according to _{ithe definite plan and jforeknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.}

Romans 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

 

(6) Scripture also contradicts libertarianism by teaching that human decisions are governed by the heart (_{Luke 6:45), and by teaching that the human heart itself is under God’s control (Ps. 33:15, Prov. 21:1).}

Luke 6:45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Psalm 33:15 he who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds.

Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

(7) In Scripture, the basis of human responsibility is not libertarian freedom, but

(a) God’s sovereign right to evaluate the conduct of his creatures (_{Rom. 9:19-21), and (b) the knowledge (Luke 12:47-48, Rom. 1:18-32) and resources (Matt. 25:14-29) God has given to each person.}

Romans 9:19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”

Romans 1:18 God’s Wrath on Unrighteousness 18 For the wrath of God _{lis revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.}

(b) shows that in Scripture there is an important relation between responsibility and ability, but the abilities in view here do not include the absolute ability to choose opposite courses of action.

These considerations lead to the conclusion that the Bible teaches theistic determinism, one that is “soft” in James’s sense. Scripture renounces chance in the first and third senses above, but not in the second. And it teaches that human beings sometimes have moral freedom, usually have compatibilist freedom, never have libertarian freedom. Scripture may imply that we have freedom from natural causation as well. Certainly it doesn’t deny that, but I don’t know of any passage that clearly affirms it.

Bibliography

1. M. Frame, The Doctrine of God (Phillipsburg, NJ, 2002).

_______, No Other God (Phillipsburg, NJ, 2001).

1. Edwards, Freedom of the Will (New Haven, CT, 1973).
2. James, “The Dilemma of Determinism,” in Essays in Pragmatism (New York, 1955), 37-64, and in many other editions of James’s works.

Filed Under: _{Apologetics, Blog, Chance, Determinism, Frame Articles, Freedom}

Preaching Just Stuff

Free Will

Probably the most common definition of free will is the “ability to make choices, without any prior prejudice, inclination or dispositon.” and specifically that these “free will” choices are not ultimately predestined by God.

Most of the Fundemental Baptist preacher i have know over the last 55 years have been preachers that wanted to give the idea that they did not necessary need to study from other men about the Bible, that the Holy Spirit would give them a sermon.

The very idea that I went to serminary was to learn about the Word of God and be taught by those who knew the word of God and would help me know how to study and learn the Word of God.

They never taught me how?

In 1982 I got a book from the Shepherds Conference : “Toward and Exegetical Theology” or “Biblical Exegesis for Preaching and Teaching.” by Walteer c. Kaiser, Jr. I should have been taught the prinicples in this book in Seminary. I was not.

I was made a hell.

Listen Scripture is the foundation of the Church: the Church is the guardian of Scripture. When the Church is in strong health, the light of Scripture shines bright; when the Church is sick, Scripture is corroded by neglect; and thus it happens, that the outward form of Scripture and that of the Church, usually seem to exhibit simultaneously either health or else sick: and as a rule the way in which Scripture is being treated is in exact correspondence with the condition of the Church.

Preachers compline about the condtion of the church, when in fact the preaching of the Scritpures has been poorly presented.

The Church and Scripture stand or fall together.

Either the Church will be norished and strengthened by the bold proclamation of the Biblcial text or the health of the Church will be severely impaired.

Much of the preaching today around the world is feeding the church “junk food.” and all kinds of artificial preservatives and all sorts of unnatural substituesw have been served up to the body of Christ.

As a result, theological and Biblical malnutrition has afficted the very generation that has taken such giant steps to make sure its physical health is not damaged by using foods or products thatare carcinogentic or otherwise harmful to their physical bodies.

 

Simultaneously a worldwide spiritual famine resulting from the absence34 of any genuine publication of the Word of God (Amos 8:112) continuesto run wild and almost unabated in most quarters of the Church.

 

 

 

Brief Notes “The Power of Jesus To Calm The Storm”

The Power of Jesus Christ

Luke 8:22-25 Part one

Let me say from the outside, that in studying this message, I learned more than I have very knew about this lesson. I think I am rather learned in Scripture but after this study I think I am at about 10% if that much of knowing the Bible as I should.

In our continuing study of the Word of God, we return to the 8th chapter of Luke, this morning, Luke chapter 8. And what I think for many of you will be a recollection of a Sunday school story that you will, no doubt, remember when I read it. This is one of those favorite stories about Jesus that shows up in almost every children’s book. Almost every Sunday school teacher has told it. It is the story of Jesus calming the storm, Luke chapter 8. Let me read verses 22 through verse 25.

“Now it came about on one of those days or, Now it came to pass on a certain day

that He and His disciples : or,

into a boat. or, a ship

And He said to them, ‘Let us go over to the other side of the lake.’

And they launched out.

But as they were sailing along,

He fell asleep and

a fierce gale of wind descended upon the lake; or, and there came down a storm of wind on the lake

and they began to be swamped and to be in danger.

And they came to Him and woke Him up saying, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing.’

And being aroused,

He rebuked the wind and the surging waves and they stopped and it became calm.

And He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’

And they were fearful and amazed,

saying to one another, ‘Who then is this that He commands even the winds and the water and they obey Him?'”

Familiar story, right? Brief story. But it’s going to take us two weeks to get through this story. I don’t know why that is, it just is. And it’s not because the story is hard to understand. It’s because the reason for the story must be understood.

Sometimes we’re cheated of the depths of divine truth because we’re content with the surface. This is profound revelation and you need to understand the theological and redemptive and historical context in which this fits.

So we go back before the Fall, when God created man and made him king of a perfect earth, paradise. And then we remember that man sinned and paradise was lost and the earth was cursed and man was cursed. The earth by virtue of the curse fell immediately into the hands of the usurper Satan, who became the ruler of this world.

Man was stained by sin. The planet was stained by sin. Life then is marked by sickness and pain and suffering and sorrow and death and difficulty, war, injustice, lies, natural disasters, famines, demonic activity, and so it goes.

But God has a plan and it’s a twofold plan.

He has a plan to redeem His people and to redeem His planet.

And that plan begins to unfold early in redemptive history in the Old Testament as God promises there will come a Redeemer who will redeem His people. And He will also redeem His planet and one person will do both.

The first time He comes it will be to redeem His people.

The second time He comes it will be to redeem His planet.

And that simply defines the first and second coming of Jesus Christ. He came the first time to save His people from their sins. He came the second time to restore the planet to peace and justice and righteousness and joy.

The ultimate design then is that man is delivered from his sin and the planet is delivered as well from the effect of sin.

Jesus came the first time in humility, to offer Himself as the sacrifice for sin by which to provide redemption.

He comes the second time in glory and majesty as a conqueror to destroy all the wicked and all the ungodly and establish Himself as King of the world.

He comes then the first time to redeem His people, the second time to redeem His planet.

Note the footnote at the end of this paper “The Remarkable Re=Birth oif Planet Earth by Henry Morris

Now it’s obvious that if someone is going to do that they have to have immense power, immense power. It’s enough of a challenge to redeem people, but add to that the promise to redeem the planet. To reverse what is wrong with man and to reverse what is wrong in the universe, this is the task laid at the feet of the great Messiah, Savior. It takes power beyond anything human. It takes power beyond any human comprehension. It is inconceivable to us to understand the kind of power that it takes to reverse the Fall and the curse. And it is power that belongs only to God Himself. But that is precisely what God says He will do.

We know already in the gospel of Luke that the Messiah came to redeem His people, to save His people from their sin. We know from this story that Jesus the Messiah also has the power to control natural forces, wind and water.

In fact, if you wanted to pick an illustration of what is hard to control, wind would be the best one. Everybody talks about the weather, the old adage goes, but nobody does anything about it. And the reason nobody does anything about it is because nobody can do anything about it. With all of our ability to harness energy, with all of our ability to advance scientifically, and to draw out of the resources of this planet wealth and benefit, we can’t do anything about the weather. But Jesus could and that’s what He did in this event.

It’s more than just a…a simple story in and of itself. You’ve got to get beyond the superficial.

This is all about one demonstrating power to fulfill prophecy, prophecy that relates to paradise regained, reversing the curse, renewing the earth.

The Bible is very clear about the kingdom that is going to come.

During the kingdom, the millennial kingdom, Satan will be bound for the entire duration of a thousand years. Revelation 20 makes that clear. Whoever it is then that’s going to come and establish the kingdom has to have the power to triumph over Satan. We already know in the gospel of Luke that Jesus has that power because when Satan came against Jesus, he was totally vanquished, remember that? That’s important for us.

We also know that in the kingdom demons will not dominate. They will with their leader, Satan, be bound and the saints will dominate. This is clear in Scripture. And we already know in the gospel of Luke that Jesus had total power over demons. He spoke to them at will and they did exactly what He told them to do. He exercised complete power over that realm.

Scripture says that in the kingdom sin will be instantaneously punished. Everybody in the world will be under the judgeship of one judge, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will act both benevolently and justly instantaneously. Whoever is to be this perfect judge must demonstrate then perfect equity, perfect righteousness, perfect holiness, hatred for sin and love of what is right. So we’ve already learned that Jesus fits that perfectly.

When the kingdom comes peace will dominate the earth.

He will have to be a peacemaker the likes of which the world has never seen. Joy will abound. Isaiah 12, the prophet says, “When the kingdom comes joy will abound in the earth.” Isaiah 11:9, “Truth will pervade.”

The knowledge of God will fill the earth, Scripture says.

And nature will change. Natural enemies will become friends, according to chapter 11 of Isaiah. Lion lies down with the lamb. Children play in snake pits without ever being bitten or fearing anything. Carnivorous beasts eat straw like an ox.

Crops will flourish, according to Isaiah chapter 30. The planet’s ability to produce will be altered dramatically, so much so that Isaiah chapter 30 and Joel chapter 2 tell us the crops are going to grow all night long and the moon will have the same photosynthetic power that the sun does, different world.

Isaiah 35 says the desert is going to blossom like a rose, the barren, bleak desert is going to flourish like a garden; that the Lord Himself is going to create a river out of the backside of Jerusalem that’s going to flood the desert. It’s going to create a new valley.

That health and healing will mark the millennial kingdom. Disease will be diminished. There will be healing, wholeness, health. If someone dies at the age of 100 they die as a baby. It will be like it was before the Flood when people lived for centuries.

True worship will be restored, according to Ezekiel 40 to 48. There will be one great King and one great Ruler, the Messiah.

All of this is paradise regained. This is the coming promised kingdom of God.

His throne will be established in Jerusalem, from which He will rule the world.

The ability to change the planet, the ability to redeem sinful people and the ability to literally reverse the curse physically is only possible through God’s power. Nobody can do that. We don’t have to worry too much about preserving the planet.

Perhaps not too long from now the Lord Jesus is going to turn it into something like the Garden of Eden. And only the Creator can have that power.

Does God have that power? Of course He does.

David said in Psalm 62:11, “Power belongs to God.” That seems like a simple statement but the kind of power David was talking about is immense.

I read you Psalm 29 You can go back and look at it. It talks about God’s power over the waters, God’s power over the seas, God’s power over the land and God’s power over the animals and God’s power over man.

Job 26:14 says, “The thunder of His power, who can understand?”

Psalm 79:11 talks of the greatness of His power. Nahum wrote, “The Lord is great in power.”

Isaiah 26:4, “The Lord God is an everlasting power.”

Psalm 65:6 says, “Who by strength,” speaking of God, “establishes the mountains being girded with power?”

Psalm 63:1 and 2, “Oh God, You are my God, early will I seek You. My soul thirsts for You. My flesh longs for You, to see Your power.” David wanted to see God’s power. And He could have seen it and he did see it.

Romans 1 says, “The power of God is manifest in the creation,” so that if you don’t see the power of God and acknowledge Him for it, then you’re without excuse because the manifestation of God’s power in the creation is so obvious.

I mean, just think about how much power God has to create and sustain the entire universe.