Alright, reading Psalms 110,
verses 1-4. There's one verse in here that
is our text. Psalm 110, verses 1-4. The Lord
said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine
enemies thy footstool. The Lord shall send the rod of
thy strength out of Zion. Rule thou in the midst of thine
enemies. Now watch verse 3, "...thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power in the beauties of
holiness from the womb of the morning thou hast the due of
thy youth. The Lord has sworn and will not
repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek."
In the third verse, "...thy people shall be willing in the day of
thy power. I intend by God's help and grace
to slay a sacred cow of Christendom here this evening." You know,
there's an old saying that's been around as long as I can
remember. I guess most people have heard
it. Most people are aware of it. And that old saying is this,
if you tell a lie and tell it often enough and repeat it again
and again, if you keep telling that lie long enough, then many
will come to believe it and accept it as the truth. Now we find
that especially true in two areas in our life today, in politics
and again in religion. These are two areas where people
prefer a lie to the truth, yea, they demand that they be lied
to, they stop their ears at the truth, and they embrace a lie
because it is more palatable under their flesh. For example,
those two things I mentioned quickly, in politics it seems
that the biggest and the most, or the well-financed liar often
wins. It also seems that in religion,
The biggest and the best financial liar often has the biggest church,
more people. The prophet Jeremiah saw something
in his day that he called horrible. He said, an appalling thing is
done in the day and in the land. And I'm talking about Jeremiah
chapter 5 and verse 30 and 31. It says this, the prophets prophesied
falsely and the priests, Baruch, without regard to the authority
of God." Now that seems bad, does it not? But then we ask
the question, what did the people think of that? How did they react
to that? Were they offended that their
leaders were corrupt? Did they complain and demand
an accounting and the truth? Nay, the prophet of God says
this, My people love to have it so." Jeremiah 5, 30 and verse
31. It suited them well. Then again,
in Jeremiah 23 and verse 14, I've seen also in the prophets
of Jerusalem an horrible thing, margin has filth in it, They
commit adultery, they walk in lies, they strengthen also the
hands of the evildoer, that none does return from his wickedness."
In our day, right before our very eyes, even though We have
learned that the Catholic Church is rife with homosexuality, that
the priests are pedophiles, yet we do not see the people flocking
to leave that church. They stay there and are quite
content. And so we remember, the Lord
appeared incarnate among the Jews, He found them teaching
the commandments of men and the traditions of men instead of
the Word of God. We learn that most people are
content to be lied to about religion and are content to be received. And if you set before most church
folks both a lie and a truth, it is likely that they will embrace
the lie and reject the truth. But of all the lies that have
sprung up in Christendom, and there are many, there is one
lie that, like Saul of old in 1 Samuel chapter 9 and verse
2, stands head and shoulders above all of the others. One lie towers over all others. One is the most popular of all,
it would seem, One is carried about on the shoulders of all
those in Christendom. It is held in common by nearly
every branch and every denomination of Christendom. No matter what
may be their differences on other matters or on other doctrines,
yet in this one thing they march in lockstep. That great lie,
I believe, is that of free will, which is one of the most popular. And by the way, we would judge
by the criterion of our Lord, who said that which is highly
esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. He said
that in Luke 16 and verse 15. That which is the most popular
with people, however, is less likely to be the truth as it
is in Christ Jesus. That which people make an idol
of and all accept is not likely to be the truth of God's Word
and Gospel. Now, I put free will in the same
category as that golden cave that Israel built back in Exodus
chapter 32, to the shame of the people. John Brown called it,
quote, this great deity and free will, or a free will, unquote. Again, he referred to it as a
stout idol, quote, unquote. Before it must, before it all
bow, before it all bow down and acquiesce into it. They have
made it a co-savior almost. We can look at it in that light.
The idol of free will. When we think that it is dead,
that it is buried, that it is gone forever, then someone goes
out to the dung hill, dusts the dung off of it, and sets it up
again among the people of God who gladly bow down before it. Now, if we are to speak such
stout words against that most favored, darling doctrine of
Christendom, then we best behoove to be sure to show it to be the
evil that we have made it out to be. What do we mean when we
speak of free will? What is the meaning of that when
we hear it in Christendom and we hear it all the time? What
do the proponents of free will mean when they say man has a
free will, or God has given man a free will? So let's not be
dishonest in handling the matter. Let's not misrepresent their
view because the truth is better than to misquote them. When our
men speak of free will, they mean that the will of man is
as free to choose God as it is to not choose God. They mean
the will is as free to accept Christ and His salvation as it
is to reject it. As free to believe on Christ
as not to believe on Him. And it is their doctrine that
in spite of all that God has purposed and willed, and in spite
of all that Christ has done and accomplished in His death, They
say free will has the final say. Now, not to misrepresent them,
here are some statements from some early and famous Armenians. This first quotation that I'm
giving is from that old fox Arminius himself. He said, and I quote,
All unregenerate men have by virtue of their free will a power
of resisting the Holy Spirit of rejecting the offered grace
of God, of condemning the counsel of God concerning themselves,
and of refusing the gospel of grace, not opening their heart
unto Him that knocks." And another now, named Corbinus from early,
quote, "...for grant all the operations of grace which God
can use in our conversion Yet conversion remains so in our
free power that we cannot be converted if we either turn or
not turn ourselves." We can repeat with Owens, what a stout idol
is that. What an idol is that that we
have to come up again. Now to be fair, many Armenians
in recent time might consider themselves to be evangelical
as they say, would claim that the Holy Spirit draws, but not
irresistibly. Even conviction, they sometimes
use the word woo. But that free will must be exercised
nonetheless by the sinner to decide the matter. Years ago,
I heard a preacher say this, that the Spirit of God brings
one to where he is absolutely neutral so that he may choose
one way or the other. Still is it decided by the matter
of free will. Now, to illustrate the extreme
to which some free willers take it, or have taken it in the past,
I got out an old set of books that I have by a man named Watchman
Nee. To use a few quotes concerning
what he wrote about free will and man's free will in his part,
he said this, and I'm quoting, we should bear in mind that he
exercises a free will. This means that man is sovereign,
that he has a sovereign will. What he disapproves of should
not be forced on him." Free will, he said again, signifies that
man can choose what he wants. Now, he can choose the will of
God, or he can choose the will of Satan, that on one side and
the other. One more from him. God loves
him, but will he accept that love? Christ calls him, but will
he come? The Holy Spirit wants you to
give him his life, but is he willing to be born of God?" They're
even making willful regeneration by the will of man. So concerning
the will of man, it is free. Is it free as these have claimed,
and to the extent that they have claimed? Can it choose as easily
to be saved as it can to be lost? Is it by free will which sinners
come to Christ? If it is, then it must be praised
for such a noble act as accepting Christ. If it is, it is due honor,
allowed to take a bow, and such like as that, if it has the part
that they say. Now, that man has a will we freely
grant. We're not denying that man has
a will and that the will is exercise. It makes choices that also we
freely admit. Man is not a mindless robot. The will is that faculty or is
that principle in a person's makeup that makes choices, that
chooses one thing over another, that causes one to prefer this
rather than that. Or to do this rather than to
do that. But only God, only God has a
sovereign, independent, free will. His will is independently
sovereign. Man's is neither. Yet even God's
will is not able to desire, not able to will sin, owing to the
immutability of His nature and His holiness. God's will is completely
independent and is completely uninfluenced by anything outside
of Himself, so that God wills and He acts according to His
own good pleasure, never out of necessity, never out of coercion,
simply according to His good pleasure. But in the matter of
attributing free will to the man, men, women, the question
is not whether he can will to do civic good or not. Whether
he can will to help his neighbor. He can volunteer for this good
thing or for that. They can work in a homeless shelter. Even as Gill said, they can perform
the externals of religion, said John Gill. Rather, the question
is whether the will of man is free to will himself into salvation
and eternal life in Christ. Whether he has that power in
him to will, to will himself into a state of grace and out
of a state of sin. Will he not be saved until he
is willing and the will has given its consent? And also the question,
can the sinner successfully resist a direct attempt of God to save
him? Our minions say yes. Can God
not generate until the alien sinner is willing? Is the new
birth a cooperation between the Holy Spirit and the will of the
sinner? Can God only offer the new birth
so as the sinner must be willing to allow God to birth them into
the family of God. And as a general rule, Arminians
teach that the will of man is a factor even in the new birth. Decisional regeneration we call
it. That they are born again as a
result of their faith and their believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we cannot have a proper
understanding of the state of the will of man until we are
firmly established in the truth of human depravity. What is man
by nature? What is man in nature and as
he is born and as he is a son of Adam, in the family of Adam? Is it totally depraved or is
it not? Is it partially depraved, totally
depraved, or not depraved at all, as some have contended?
There is no question. Free will, as it stands among
these people, is a blatant denial of total depravity. And the way
they teach free will, it is a blatant denial of total depravity. Now, I know they might profess
to preach and believe in the depravity of man. But it is a
denial of the total depravity of man. And for what it's worth,
I believe that this is one of the reasons why it is so beloved
by so many. But is it reasonable to hold
that while all of the other faculties of men and women are corrupt,
while all of the other faculties are in bondage unto sin, that
the will of all of them is yet free, and the only one that is
free and independent? How is it that the mind is filled
with enmity against God?" Romans 8 and 7. The understanding is
darkened. Ephesians 4 and verse 18. The heart is desperately wicked
and deceitful. Jeremiah 17 and verse 9. And the conscience and the mind
is defiled. Titus 1 and verse 15. If every thought is only evil
continually, Genesis 6 and verse 5, if the affections of people
are disordered, he loves what he ought to hate and vice versa. How then say some that free will
is yet able to save the day. How will they imagine that the
will has escaped the ravages of depravity which have gone
into the other members? How would they have the will
to stand like Saul did, head and shoulders above his brethren,
so as to have or stand or tower over all of the other faculties
that the Scriptures declare to be in bondage. Yes, free will
is the big lie, for to survive it must deny the doctrine of
absolute total depravity, including total inability. Total inability
is the doctrine of the Scripture. that none can come to Christ
apart from renewing grace and irresistible calling. They cannot
even will to come until the Spirit has renewed them inwardly. Jesus very clearly declared this
inability to exist when He said in John 6 and verse 44, No man
can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me draw him. He said again in John 6 and verse
65, no man can come to Me except it be given unto him of My Father. John the Baptist once told some
hearers in John 3 and verse 27, actually, they were disciples
of John, we learn from reading the 25th verse. John said this,
a man can receive nothing except it be given to him from Heaven. The things of God are hid from
man's understanding. He cannot know them because they
are only spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2, 14, 15. In John 5, 40, Jesus told some
rulers and some teachers of Israel, quote, you will not come to me
that you might have life, unquote. There were men who searched the
Scriptures, and yet they could not find a clear testimony of
Jesus as the Messiah. Most are agreed, the words have
the meaning, you are unwilling to come unto Me. Even though
the Scriptures speak of Me, yet you are unwilling to come to
Me. Telling them, you have not the will to come to Me. Writing
on that verse, J.C. Ryle said this, quote, the right
meaning is, you do not will to come, unquote. They had neither
heart, desire, inclination, nor ability to come unto Christ. There's a great passage in John
1, 12 and verse 13, The will of man is specifically mentioned
by name and excluded as being a cause or having any bearing
on the new birth and on adoption. Listen, not of the will of man. The will of man has no part in
regeneration, has no part in the new birth. Our first text
speaks on this wise. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power." Now, from that text, let's consider four
things out of this psalm. Number one, it is definitely
Messianic. This psalm definitely has reference
unto Christ Messiah. And it presents Him as both priest
and also king combined in the one glorious person. Verse 1 and verse 4. especially
reference to Christ in the New Testament. A man named Edward
Reynolds wrote on this psalm these words, quote, This psalm
is one of the fullest and most compendious, most concise and
yet comprehensive prophecies of the person and the office
of Christ in the whole of the New Testament. Unquote. This
psalm is messianic. Christ is here. We learn that
in the New Testament. Secondly, we will see the ones
concerned. Thy people. These are the ones
mentioned by name. The thy is a reference to Messiah. And in this psalm, we have evidence
of a plurality in the Godhead. Verse, the Lord said unto my
Lord, Thy people are the elect. These are the ones given to the
Son before the foundation of the world by the Father. These
are they that are called His people in Matthew 1.21, whom
He shall save from their sin. Now the third thing that we notice,
not only is it messianic and it has to do with our people,
a special people, but we notice thirdly, these shall be willing,
which implies they were previously unwilling until God made them
willing. They shall willingly submit to
Messiah and bear His yoke. They will hear His voice. They
will come to Him because their hearts are renewed. They will
with joy embrace Jesus as Lord and as Savior. Then the fourth
thing that we notice in this psalm, this willingness is wrought
in them by the power of God. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power." In the day or in the time, in the sending
forth, in the exercise of the power of God. God makes the unwilling
willing by an exertion of divine power. In their natural estate,
they are quite unwilling. Nor do they make themselves willing. They do not change themselves
from unwilling to willing. The change from unwillingness
to willingness is not in any way owing to the acts of the
people themselves. They have not made themselves
willing, nor were they willing by nature to be under the banner
and the yoke of Christ. It is a day or a time of God's
power that is mentioned here, when the power of God goes forth
to accomplish a certain end, which is to make them willing.
Theophilus Jones wrote on this power, calling it, quote, arresting
power, unquote. I hadn't heard that before, but
I like it. He said it refers to the times
of the gospel, when the gospel is free. There is no better example
of this day of power to be found anywhere than that of the case
of Saul of Tarsus in Acts 9 on Damascus Road, who went from
being an avowed enemy of the church, of Christ, and of the
gospel, to become the most devoted, consecrated servant of God and
Christian in the New Testament. This is not to say that all will
have a corresponding conversion like that of Saul. We didn't
see a bright light shining out of heaven almost blinding our
sight, nor did we hear a thundering voice out of the heaven as Saul
did. Still, it was a work and a day
of God's power, and it renewed our will and all of our faculty. One of the great New Testament
passages to emphasize and illustrate how the power of God makes one
a believer in the biblical sense and makes them willing disciples,
I think, would be that one from Paul in Ephesians 1, verses 17-20. How long since you read that?
Especially verse 19. Paul wants them to remember the
power that made them believers. He wants them to remember and
have in mind the power of God that made them believers. Verse
19 goes this way, What is the exceeding greatness of His power
toward usward who believe according to the working of His mighty
power? Now, both ends of believing. He hymns it in with a mighty
power of God. Paul is describing nothing here
but irresistible grace. A day or a time. Mighty power. The power of God at work in one
of his elect. Notice, if you will, that Paul
uses compound terms. Not just power and not just might. But he says the exceeding greatness
of his power. Thomas Goodwin, the Puritan,
called exceeding, super, excellent, sublime, overcoming, triumphing,
greatness of His power. That's what Paul is describing. The last part of verse 19, working
of His mighty power. And the word working there is
the word inergia, and it is used at least three times by Paul
in this particular place, and it means irresistible power. It means the power of God that
overcomes any obstacle that stands in its way. It is the power of
God that operates effectually. And notice in that same passage,
to give a sense of the power that Paul has in mind in our
conversion, He equates it with the power that brought Jesus
Christ again up from the dead. That's Ephesians 1 and verse
20. He wrought in Christ that power
that He worked when He made Christ to live again. It operated in
Christ as it brought Him from the dead and out of the grave.
That power is operating in you who believe on Christ. Thus we
declare free will is a denial not only of depravity, but also
of the sovereign will and power of God, as giving the will of
man, as it were, power over the will of God. That God is bound
by man's will, that it is a wall that God cannot scale or cause
to fall down, as one said, Woe unto the one upon whom God calls
if the will is not in a good humor at that particular time. Free will would relegate God
to a beggar at the door crying out to the sinner, Oh, please,
please, let me in. Our minions have said, God will
not violate man's free will. Tell that to Saul of Tarshish
when you see him. Yet He does violate their will
all of the time. Who is willing to be sick? Who
is willing to die? Who is willing to appear before
God in judgment? Can free will spare anyone any
of these things? We go further. Free will is a
usurper of God's free grace. It would steal the glory of grace
as surely as Absalom violated his sister. And in 2 Samuel 15,
stood in the gate and sought to turn the hearts of the people
away from his father, King David. He sought to win their allegiance
away from David and to win their allegiance unto himself. Even
as that cursed usurper free will violates the fair grace of God,
and would take sinners off of grace and promise them an easy
entrance into heaven, as it would take over our salvation, and
have grace to stand at a distance and come in second after free
will has had its part. People who believe in and who
love free will are ignorant, I believe, of two things. Number
one, they are ignorant of the true extent of human depravity. that nothing about a sinner is
free from the enslaving power of sin. In fact, the shackles
are principally laid and fastened upon the will of man. A Puritan once used this example.
A big horse may be shackled by simply putting the shackles around
one leg. And by that, the whole horse
is shackled. Not just the leg, but the whole
horse. Secondly, the sovereignty of
grace is denied by the doctrine of free will. God will be gracious
to whom He will. Exodus 33 and verse 19. Quoted by Paul in Romans 9 and
verse 15. Grace is both sovereign and it
is effectual. Free will is contrary to both
sovereignty and irresistible grace. Therefore, this detestable
doctrine of free will runs contrary to the bent of the sacred and
holy Scripture. Free will cannot be maintained
without setting aside the authority of the Word of God and perverting
of the Scripture. Yea, it is even devilish, for
who said, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne? above the stars of God and such
like. Who but Lucifer. Now I close
with an allegorical expression to illustrate the great gulf
between free will and free grace. If we might imagine, and we can
only imagine this, an Arminian and a Christian standing at heaven's
gate. Says Arminian unto the Christian,
what is your hope of entering in? says Christian to the Arminian,
nothing but the grace of God in Christ. Nothing that I have
done do I deserve heaven. Just that Christ gave Himself
for me, shed His blood for my sin. If I am saved, it will be
nothing but the grace of God. Then Christian says to Arminian,
what is your hope? And Arminian answers to Christian,
oh, I use my free will. I let Jesus save me. I accepted
His offer of grace. I made a decision for Christ.
I crowned Him Lord of my life. I did wisely let the work of
God and the new birth occur in me. I chose the right way by
my free will. I asked, would any drag the rotting
corpse of free will before the judgment seat of Almighty God? to claim it apart in our salvation. Our salvation is all of God,
all of Christ. We were changed by that great
act of regeneration which God works in us. And until a man
is regenerate, he has no heart or will for Christ. Regeneration
is that great gust that is spanned that makes all the difference
and begins the great work of God. and carried it on unto completion. Yes, I believe that free will
is the big lie of Christendom. With that, I close. And let's
bow our heads together, please, for a word of final prayer.