Thy mercy, my God, is the theme
of my song. It is impossible for a man or
a woman to choose anything which they do not desire to choose.
A mother who loves her children with the natural love which is
given to mothers cannot in that love choose to destroy them.
A man who loves a woman with all his heart cannot in that
love choose to neglect her needs. Nor can a man who loves the paths
of wickedness choose to walk in obedience to the Lord. Because
to do so is contrary to the very nature in which he is born and
takes delight in. Our nation has incarcerated in
its prisons hundreds of thousands of criminals who serve as a great
illustration of the supposed free will of man. Each of these
men makes choices every day, but every one of their choices
is limited by the restrictions of the place where they live.
They can choose to do anything they want to do as long as it
does not go beyond that limitation. Man's choices in all things are
limited by two things, his own corrupt nature and the predestinating
purpose of Almighty God. So we say that man has a free
will, but it is not a self-determining free will. Man always chooses
what he does, but the determination of what he does is dictated by
his sinful nature, unless the Lord makes him a new creature.
And all of the things that he does ultimately fulfills the
foreordained purpose of him who knows the end from the beginning.
That is he who dwells in eternal glory, and rules in the army
of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and whose hand
cannot be stopped, nor his motives questioned. The scripture describes
the bondage of man's free will by saying, they are all gone
out of the way. They are together become unprofitable.
There is none that doeth good, no not one. The Lord Jesus described
man's condition when he said, no man can come to me, except
the Father which has sent me draw him. He illustrates man's
natural desire and will when he speaks of the Pharisees saying,
and ye will not come to me that ye might have life. The Apostle
Paul declares the impotence and inability of ordinary men to
make spiritual choices when he says, but the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know them because
they are spiritually discerned. A man whose will is in bondage
to sin will not choose spiritual things because he cannot. So
we must conclude that man is in a ruined state and quite unable
to rescue himself or participate in any way in his own deliverance.
He is totally at the mercy of him who said, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. If we know that men by their
human nature will not choose to do good, then we must conclude
that if any do follow him, they were made willing by the mercy
of God, as the psalmist said, thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power and the beauties of holiness from the
womb of the morning, thou hast the due of thy youth. The scripture
indicates that the Lord is pleased with those who willingly follow
him. But who am I and what is my people that we should be able
to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of
thee, and of thine own have we given thee. Just as surely as
the multitudes in the book of the Revelation cast their crowns
at the feet of the Lord, so do all those who willingly follow
him attribute their willingness to the work of his own power
and not their own. The Lord takes delight in those
upon whom he has set his love in eternity. The scripture indicates
that willing servants do so because of love and not reward. The Lord
said, If you love me, keep my commandments. The motivation
of God's people is his love toward us and not ours towards him.
For it is God which worketh in you both the will and to do of
his good pleasure. He is able to keep you from falling
and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy. We do now rejoice and take delight
in His ways because we are kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. The scriptures
indicate that only the willing shall enter the celestial city,
and there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defile
it, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie,
but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working
in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Have you been made
willing to follow him in the day of the Lord's power? And
whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.
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