"The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men." [Titus 2:11] |
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Mankind's Free-Will and the Power of Salvation Introduction: The definitions Free-will is a conjuncted noun phrase of "Freedom of Will" which is an adjective "Free" with the noun "Will". Free is not what demonstrates a restriction, it is the noun. As our English teachers tell us in elementary school, adjectives are weak and fragile use them sparingly; it is the noun which does most of the describing. What we are seeing when people mix up the definition of free-will with the definition of freedom, is an inability, unwillingness, ignorance, or mental-short coming to understand language. Free-will is not freedom, it is a freedom of will. The will dictates how free we are. The free is an adjective describing a noun. The will is a noun which describes person, place or thing. Free (adjective): 1)The ability to do something. 2)The liberty to do something. 3) Independance to do something. Free does not mean 'absolute' free. "Absolute" is a limiting adjective to a the description adjective, "Free". Will (noun): 1)The faculty of conscious and especially of deliberate action; the power of control the mind has over its own actions. 2) The act or process of using or asserting one's choice; volition. 3) to decide, bring about, or attempt to effect or bring about by an act of the will: So free-will simply means: We have the liberty to think and decide about our actions internally, when those choices are present and acknowledged externally. It is an abstract understanding. Free-will is not a power that can change circumstances at will, it is the power to persue a course of action which (if it is availible) changes the circumstance. It is not power, it is knowledge. Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will. (Timothy 2:25-27) Point One: Salvation has nothing to with our will Salvation has nothing to do with our will. To believe that our will does, creates an argument that does not exist. To do so, only establishes that you believe that God created us with a will which has some sort of authority or power over salvation. Mankind still has a will, it can be in submission to God's will or it can still be taken captive to do the will of the devil; yet despite the fact we have a will and we can either choose to follow the will of God or the will of the devil, none of this has anything to do with God's will of Salvation since it is God's will that none shall perish. Hyper-sovereignty some call it, is a trap of the devil and a strawman who takes our eyes off the truth; we have a choice to live in futility or freedom. Since Christ set us free, we are free indeed. If you should so continue to believe that our will had some power in relation to the power of salvation to save us and therefore God must control our wills to save us, then you have the same understanding as the man who introduced the destructive heresy of that our will has determination in regards to our destination and conversely give credence to the snare of the devil, which is, the deceitful doctrine of Augustine called 'Free-Will: Self-Determination". Point Two: It is not God's will that any should perish Many are still perishing, that means that many are not in the will of God and by their own will, continue to neglect the gift that is inside of them. To the shame of all or any who believes that it is God's will that they are perishing, God holds and will hold all responsible for the truth within them and the deeds they do in the body whether good or evil. As Paul says, "Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of GodI say this to your shame." Who are those who are ignorant of God? I know it is not those who know Jesus Christ as Lord, who confess it, believe and do the will of God. So who can it be? It is those who continue to have their minds set on earthly things, set their mind as in their choice to dwell on earthly things. Satan is roaming around looking to whom he can devour, even deceiving the elect who know Jesus Christ as Lord. This is something we must be aware of, our will at work must always be willing and in submission to God in all things. This is our measure, this is our lot in life. As Paul says of those who choose not God's will, "Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things." Therefore if any are destined to destruction, then they are not doing God's will because as Peter says, "He is patient with you, it is not His will for anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." Point Three: We must choose to serve God's Will David writes to his son, "my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever." Scripture does not say God places those thoughts in our heart, or places that motive in our heart; it says He searches every heart and understands and knows everything within it. David, the man after God's own heart, said we must choose to serve God with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind to let God move us where we are to go. It does not say we have the inability in our will to seek Him, it says we can. It does not say that God rejects us forever and therefore as expected we forsake Him, but that by our volition do we forsake Him He will reject us forever. Of course, forever until we are reconciled in Christ, but this is another topic which many books are written. Paul says, "You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?" It was not God! Jonathan in 1 Samuel says, "Nothing can hinder the LORD from saving, whether by many or by few." God will not hinder any from obeying the truth, therefore if any are hindered it is because we chose by volition not to obey it and it was something outside the will of God which creates the hinderance. As Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering." Paul explains plain and simple in Romans, "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done." Again look at the order of what Paul says: The depraved mind did not come first, it was the knowledge of God which came first. It was not the darkening and futility that came first, it was the knowledge of God that came first. As a result of thinking (the faculty of our will to do what is right or wrong; thinking) it not worthwhile to retain it, the hearts of man was darkened and made futile. Since they chose (the faculty of our will to do what is right or wrong; chose) neither to glorify God, nor gave thanks to him; their thinking became futile and their hearts darkened. Not only did King David or the Apostle Paul demonstrate this, James (the brother of Christ) writes, "Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." God has already chose us, we must make a choice and then God responds to our choice. This means He does not control our will but as David says, He guides it. Now where God guides it is towards the path we chose. What we choose, either life or destruction because what ever a man sows he shall also reap! As Paul demonstrates in relation to our will "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." Summary of all points: Paul says, "God is not planting the seed, nor is God watering it but as workman of God, men are planting the seed and watering it. If a man plants a seed to please his sinful nature, he will reap a harvest of destruction. That is the consequences of our will and God cannot be mocked. He will always give you the harvest you planted according to your labor; the labour through what you manifest according to your will. I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly, mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? As the Lord has assigned to each his task we must do it. Planting the seed, and watering it, but it is neither him who plants or waters the seed that matters but God who makes it grow. Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own will manifest in works. For we are God's fellow workers." We know that we love Him because He first loved us and that He chose to reconciled all mankind to him without our concent or acknowledgment to our will. We must now chose to be walk according to that reconciliation. We are already saved in Christ Jesus and called Children of God by the Will of God already! As John says, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." Jesus says, "If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own." Joshua said, "If serving the Lord seems undesirable to your will, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Conclusion: Repent and come to the knowledge of the truth. In conclusion, discontinue believing mankind's will has or had anything to do with Salvation; our will and God's will are not comparable. There is no such power of determination in our will when it comes to Salvation, so repent from the belief that God must be controlling our will in order that we are saved. There is no inkling of power that is within our will that ever had anything to do with Salvation for it is God's will which saves us alone in Christ Jesus. As Paul writes, "This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance and for this we labor and strive, that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who choose to follow Him (believe)." |
"The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men." [Titus 2:11] |
