I'll add my welcome to Winston.
It's good to see you out on this beautiful spring morning. Good
to be where the gospel is preached, and I trust that we'll all rejoice
in this message. You can see the title is Not
By Your Will, and you can turn if you want to to John chapter
1. That's where most of our lesson will come from today. Our subject
today is the so-called free will of men. so-called, because men
don't have a free will, and we'll find that out in the scriptures.
Is salvation determined by the will of men? Is it caused in
any way by men's will? Is man's will the determining
factor? Is it the cause of a sinner's
acceptance with God? Or is salvation entirely, exclusively
by the sovereign will of God? As you can see, my text is from
John's first chapter here, the first chapter of John's gospel,
and you might think this is an unusual place to go for a discussion
about the will of man, but I'm in the right place. You'll see
that I'm in the right place here. God is holy. God is just. God must do what's right. Any
right understanding of a sinner's acceptance with God, it has to
begin with the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
has to begin with who Christ is and what Christ has done to
reconcile to God ungodly sinners such as you and I are by nature. Is salvation by the will of man?
Not by your will, but by God's will. Look at John 1, verses
1 and 2. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. Now, the word there is Christ. Christ is the eternal word. He
was in the beginning, it says, and he was with God. In other
words, he's a distinct person from God. He was with God. Yet,
he was God. He is fully God. He is true deity. essence of deity. We worship
one God, but that one God subsists and makes himself known in three
distinct persons. We worship the Father, the Son,
who is the Word, and the Holy Spirit. One God, three distinct
persons. Christ is the Son, and He is
the Word. He was with God from the beginning,
and He was God from the beginning. Look on to John 1, chapter 1,
verses 3 and 4. It says, All things were made
by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. second
person of the triune God. The Word is the creator of all
things. He's the one who stood on nothing,
spoke to nothing, and created everything we see. He is the
creator of all things. And He is the giver and the sustainer
of all life, physical and spiritual. He is the giver and sustainer
of it. Now we're going to drop down
to verse 10, John 1 and verse 10, talking about the same person.
The Word, Christ. He was in the world, and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. This Eternal
Son, this One who was with God, and this One who was God from
the beginning, this One who created and sustains all things, this
One came into the world. He became incarnate. That's just
a big word that means the son, second person of the triune God,
infant deity, took into union with his divine person, true
humanity, body and soul. Verse 14 of John says, he dwelt
or tabernacled among men. He walked among men, and yet
men didn't know who he was. Look at John 1 11. He came unto
his own and his own received him not. Christ came into his
own, his own people. He was a Jew by birth. He was
born of the nation Israel. So he came to his own nation
Israel and his own nation received him not. The nation Israel as
a whole rejected Christ. As a whole, they didn't receive
him as the Messiah that their scriptures pointed to. As a whole,
they didn't see him as God. They didn't see him as a savior.
Look on to John 1 and verse 12. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name. As a whole, Israel rejected Christ,
but not all without exception. Some believed. Some received
him, some believed on his name, and to those who received him,
it says, to them he gave power. The word power means right or
privilege. To those who received him, to
them he gave right and privilege. And what did he give them right
and privilege to? He gave them right and privilege
to become the sons of God. Now, let's consider what it means
here for a moment to become the sons of God in this context.
What does that mean? Does this mean that before these
received him, they were not sons? But when they received him, they
became sons. In other words, their receiving
him caused them to now be sons when before they were not sons. Did their sonship begin when?
and because they received Christ as God, as the Messiah, as the
one promised in the scriptures. Now, there was a time in my religious
practice when I would have said, yeah, that's what that means.
That means that when and because they received him, they became
sons. But not now, because that's not true. Sons of God are sons
of God by divine election. They are chosen to be sons. Look at Ephesians 1, verses 3
and 4. It says, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ, according as he has chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before him. Chosen to be sons. That's how
sons become sons. They're chosen. God loves some
and he hates others without any consideration of who they are,
without any consideration of what they will do in this world.
Look at a passage we've looked at recently under Jim's study
of Romans, and we'll be looking at Romans 9 and verse 9 here.
And you remember, this is a distinction of two Israels here. We have spiritual Israel. We
have national Israel. We have the natural sons of Abraham
and the spiritual sons of Abraham. Look at Romans 9 and verse 9
with me. It says, For this is the word of promise, that at
this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son. Now God promised
Abraham and Sarah a child. I think Sarah was 90 something
years old and Abraham was near 100. Long past childbearing age,
yet God promised them a son. And Isaac was that child of promise. And Isaac, of course, was typical
of the child of promise who is Christ the Messiah. Isaac married
Rebecca and they had twin sons. Look at Romans 9, 10. It says, and not only this, but
when Rebecca had also conceived by one, even by our father, Isaac. Before her sons were born, God
told Rebekah that he loved one of her sons and hated the other. Look at Romans 9, 11 through
13. It says, for the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, Rebekah,
the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated." Before they were born, before
they had done any good or evil, before they did anything, God
loved one and hated the other. He loved Jacob and hated Esau.
That love simply means that he purposed to save Jacob. He provided
for Jacob's complete salvation all the way to final glory. He
appointed him a substitute in Christ and an assurity and sent
Christ to do all that was required to bring him to final glory.
And that hatred of Esau simply means that he didn't do that
for Esau. He didn't provide him, he didn't put him in Christ.
He didn't provide him assurity and a substitute. How do sons
become sons of God initially? They're chosen. Every son of
God's love becomes a son the same way that Jacob did. God
chose them in Christ before they did anything. God chose them
in Christ before they were born. He chose them in Christ before
the foundation of the world. That's how every sinner becomes
a son of God initially. The cause of a sinner being a
son initially is not by the will of the sinner, it's not by your
will, but it's by the sovereign will of God, in other words,
the purpose of God according to election. Now look back at
John 1 in verse 12. Christ came to his own, and his
own received him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name." Now this context is not talking about
becoming a son initially. What I just described to you
was becoming a son initially, chosen in Christ before the world
began. This context is talking about
becoming sons in a different way. It's talking about becoming
known as sons. It's talking about a sinner's
identification as a son. It's talking about a sinner who
has always been a son, according to election. It's talking about
that sinner becoming known as, becoming identified as a son. To those who received Christ,
he gave the right, he gave the privilege to become to become
known as the sons of God. Receiving him identified them
as the sons of God. Believing on the name of Christ
is not the cause, but the evidence that one is a son of God. Receiving
Christ has nothing to do with causing me to be a son, but it
has everything to do with evidencing that I am a son. And just like
the cause of a sinner being a son initially is not by the will
of the sinner but by the will of God, even so the cause of
a sinner becoming known as a son is not by the sinner's will but
by God's will. Both are by God's will. Look
on to John 1 in verse 13. As many as received him, to them
gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believed
on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God." Now
he's talking about a supernatural work here. He's talking about
spiritual birth. He's talking about a work within
a center that causes that center to be known as, to be identified
as the Son of God. He's talking about a supernatural
work that is not in any way caused by the will of man. I'm emphasizing
a word here. You hear it, caused by the will
of man. It's not caused. It's a work
in sinners, but it's not the cause of that sinner being known
as the Son of God. This work is not of blood, it
says. In other words, it's not because of your lineage. It's
not because who your parents are. It's not because of who
you were born to. In other words, being born of
Abraham naturally, we've studied this in Jim's study of Romans,
being born naturally of Abraham doesn't make you a son of God,
a spiritual son of God. They're not one and the same.
They are not all Israel, he said, who are of Israel. In other words,
those that are born naturally to Abraham are not necessarily
spiritual sons of God. And it's not of blood means also
that it's not because of where you were born. In other words,
being born in America or any other nation in this world doesn't
automatically make you a son of God. This birth is not by
blood. Neither is this work, it says,
by the will of the flesh. In other words, it's not because
of the sinner's will. It doesn't happen because the
sinner does something or the sinner is enabled to do something.
It's not by your will, not by the will of the flesh. Neither
is this work by the will of man. It doesn't happen because someone
else does something for you. It's not by the prayers or the
determination of men. Bill was preaching this morning
about getting that prayer chain going and determining things.
No, we don't determine things. We find out what God's will is.
We pray, thy will be done. This work, this birth is of God. It's the work of God exclusively
and it excludes the will of man entirely. Look at John 6, 28
and 29. Then said they unto him, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? And Jesus answered
and said unto them, this is the work of God that you believe
on him whom God has sent. This work is supernatural. It's
one of the greatest miracles we ever witnessed. According
to Bill's lesson this morning, it is the greatest miracle. And
for this reason, because every attribute of God's character
is honored and magnified in the regeneration, the salvation of
a sinner. This work is God taking a spiritually
dead sinner, a sinner like Lazarus in the tomb, and calling him
forth unto eternal life. It's a birth from above. A sinner
can have no more part in this work, in causing this spiritual
birth, than they had in causing their physical birth. What did
Lazarus do What did he do to cause himself to come out of
that tomb? He did nothing. When God called
him, when Christ called him, he came forth. What part did
you play in causing your physical birth? You had no part. You weren't
around. How could you have a part? Well,
that's exactly the same part we have in causing our spiritual
birth. This birth is God identifying
one as a son who was chosen to be a son from all eternity. When
a sinner receives Christ, when he believes in the name of Christ,
when he rests in Christ for all of salvation, that sinner becomes
known as, he becomes identified as a son of God. And he or she
does so because of God's work within the sinner's heart in
regeneration. Believing on Christ's name is the fruit. Receiving
Christ is the result. It's the evidence of God's work.
It's the evidence that he's worked in a sinner's heart. God's work
in regeneration is the cause. The sinner's response is the
evidence. Now Christ compared this work of God to the wind.
You remember he talked to Nicodemus. Look at John 3, verses 7 and
8. Speaking here to Nicodemus. Nicodemus marveled. He marveled
because Jesus told him, he said, marvel, you must be born again,
Nicodemus. You've got to have a birth you
don't know anything about right now. And he marveled. He said,
how can a man be born when he's old? Can he enter a second time
into his mother's womb and be born? Look at verse 7 now. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
you must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth,
blows where it will, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but
canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is everyone
that is born of the Spirit, like the wind. We can see the results
of it. You can't see the wind, you don't
know where it's coming from, you don't know where it's going,
but you can see the results of it. It blows the leaves on the
trees and you can see it that way. We're talking about the
free will of man, or the supposed free will of man. The idea of
a free will is natural to all of us. By nature, we all think
that our wills are free. We think we can do something
to cause God to save us. We think we can make a contribution
toward being in the acceptance of God, being in his favor. But
our wills are not free. Our wills are in bondage. Our
wills are slaves to a sin that we don't even recognize as sin.
By nature, we're all going about trying to make our contribution
to what we think we need to do in order for God to show us favor,
to get ourselves out of the mess we're in. We see Christ dying
for all men. I'm talking about all of us by
nature now before we come to the gospel. And we see salvation
as a sinner doing his or her part. In other words, exercising
our will to make salvation a reality for us. But our thinking stands
in stark contrast to the teaching of God's word. Look back at John
1 and verse 13 again. It says, which were born not
of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God. Salvation is not because of who
a sinner is. It's not because of who he was
born to. It's not because of anything a sinner does. Even
our best is not the cause of salvation. And it's not because
of anything others do for the sinners. Salvation is not by
your will. Our wills, one and all, are in
bondage. Our wills have to be changed. We have to be made willing. Look
at Psalm 110 and verse one. It says, the Lord said unto my
Lord. This is David the Psalmist writing
now. The Lord said to 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. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power in the beauties of holiness from the womb of
the morning thou hast to do of thy youth. Now, this is Spoken
of Christ, the Lord, the Lord of Glory, the Father himself
said to Christ, sit at my right hand till I make thine enemies
thy footstool. Who are the enemies that are
made the footstool of Christ? We are. sinners blessed of God
are, those who are born enemies in our mind and alienated by
wicked works. We who come to know Christ in
truth, we who rest in him for salvation, we who were born the
enemies of God, are reconciled to God based on Christ's work
alone. So when he says, thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power, he's talking about the
day of regeneration right there. He's talking about the day when
that one who was born an enemy and alienated in his mind by
wicked works is made to see that the only way God can declare
him righteous is based on Christ's imputed righteousness alone.
What do all sinners need to be made willing to? We need to be
made willing to bow to the sovereignty of God in choosing some and passing
by others. We need to seek Christ's obedience
unto death, fulfilling God's law and satisfying His justice
for every sinner He was given. We need to be made willing to
admit our inability to save ourselves and to keep ourselves saved.
And we need to be made willing to repent of ever thinking we
had such an inability. Like Bill said this morning,
By nature, we worship a God of our imagination. We worship a
Christ that we think has saved us, but we come to know under
the gospel that's not the one we worship by nature. He's totally
different. So we need to be made willing
to rest our whole salvation from its beginning in the choosing
of God all the way to final glory. We need to be made willing to
rest our whole salvation in Christ and in his righteousness imputed
alone. Okay, in light of God's sovereignty in choosing whom
he will and passing by others, in light of God giving some eyes
to see while leaving others in spiritual darkness, what about
the passage that seemed to suggest that sinners do have a part in
determining their final destiny? What about passages that seem
to indicate that sinners can do something to cause God to
favor them or to bless them? What about the whosoever passages
in the scriptures? Let's look at a couple of those
passages. Look at John 3 and verse 12. He's still talking
to Nicodemus here. Christ is still addressing Nicodemus.
He said, if I've told you earthly things and you believe not, how
shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things? And no man
hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven,
even the son of man which is in heaven. Of course, the one that came
down from heaven is Christ. He is the word who became incarnate
and tabernacled among men in order to go to the cross and
put away sin and establish everlasting righteousness. And he's the one
who ascended back up to heaven having finished his work, having
saved his people from their sins. Look at John 3, 14. It says,
and as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the son of man be lifted up. You remember this story about
Moses lifting up the serpent. God sent fiery serpents among
the children of Israel because they rebelled against that light
bread he gave them to eat. And they rebelled, so he sent
fiery serpents among them. And then the only cure they had
for that was a brazen serpent that Moses lifted high up in
the air for them to look upon. And it said that everyone who
looks upon him was healed of their bite. So even as Moses
lifted up that serpent, the Son of Man must be lifted up. This
is speaking of the necessity of Christ being lifted up. And
it's a threefold lifting up. First, Christ had to be lifted
up on the cross. He had to go and pay the ransom
price of his people. He had to go and be punished
because of the sins of his people charged to his account. He had
to go and bring in that righteousness. So he had to be lifted up on
the cross first and foremost. Now that work's done. But he
must also be lifted up in the gospel, although Christ has already
come and done his great work, put away the sin of his people,
suffered their punishment in full, brought in the righteousness
by which God justifies them. Although that work is done, We
don't know anything about it till God brings us and sits us
down under the gospel. So he must also be lifted up
in the gospel. And the third way Christ must
be lifted up is in the sinner's heart. And that happens in regeneration
under the gospel by the spirit of God. When, when the spirit
teaches us of the Lord, our righteousness. Now here's the whosoever look
on the John 3 15. The Son of God must be lifted up that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Now,
that seems to us by nature to discount everything I've said
about God's sovereignty and what He's determined for those of
His choosing. That seems to discount it. This
speaks not just of the sinners believing here, but who He believes
in, believing in Him. And it's the result of Christ
being lifted up on the cross and in the gospel. It's what
happens because Christ is lifted up. There's no possibility that
these results can come until Christ is lifted up. He's been
lifted up on the cross. But a sinner's greatest need
is to hear him lifted up in the preaching of the gospel. That's
why Christ sent his disciples into all the world to preach
the gospel to every creature. That's why we are so adamant
to get this message out to the world and by all the means God's
providing us. And we can see that hearing the
gospel is the greatest need of a sinner. in another passage
that's familiar to us, another whosoever will passage. Look
at Romans 10 verses 11 and 12. The scripture saith, whosoever
believeth on him shall not be ashamed, for there is no difference
between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is
rich unto all that call upon him. Now the context of this
whosoever, as you can see right here, is Jew or Greek. Look at
verse 13, Romans 10, 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. Any Jew or Greek who calls
on the name of the Lord shall be saved. That's what Paul is
writing about here. But you know, in Paul's day,
there was the Jews and there was everybody else. That's how
the world was divided, the Jews and the Greeks. He's talking
here about any Jew or Greek or anyone who calls on the name
of the Lord will be saved. That's a true statement. There's
no doubt about that being true of whoever calls on the name
of the Lord. If they call on that one revealed
in the gospel, they shall be saved. But look on to Romans
10 verses 14 through 15 and we'll see the necessity of the gospel
preached. How then shall they call on him
in whom they've not believed? And how shall they believe in
him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
the preacher? How shall they preach except
they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. No doubt any sinner who calls
on Christ, the Christ of the scriptures, no doubt that sinner
shall be saved. But before a sinner can call
on Christ, before a sinner can believe in him, God has to send
them a gospel preacher. They must hear Christ declared,
who he is and what he's done to save his people from their
sins. Any sinner who receives Christ,
who believes on his name and who calls on him does so for
one reason and one reason only, because of the mercy and grace
of God. God chose them in divine election before the world began.
Christ redeemed them by his death on the cross. God justifies them
by the righteousness Christ worked out, imputed to them. And their
calling, their calling in time under the gospel is just another
demonstration of God's mercy and grace toward them. Their
calling is not attributed to the will of the sinner. It's
not the will of the sinner who causes this, this work to take
place, but it's the mercy and grace of God. The sinner does
exercise his or her will. We have wills. We use them all
the time. We make decisions all the time.
And we exercise our will in the believing of the gospel. We do
the believing. A man said, you do the believing. That's true. We do the believing.
But we do so because God gives us power. He gives us the right,
he gives us the privilege to become known as, to become identified
as the sons of God. The exercise of the sinner's
will in believing is not the cause, it's the evidence that
that sinner has bowed to God's will. Let's look at another verse
in Romans 9. Romans 9, 14 through 15. Now, let me remind you of the
context here. He just said, Jacob have I loved,
Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Because
God chose one and loved them and hated the other before they
had done any good or evil. Is there unrighteousness with
God then? And he says, God forbid, for
he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Is there unrighteousness for God to show mercy to any center? Is it unjust for God to love
one sinner, to provide that sinner with everything needed all the
way up to and including his final glory in heaven? Is it unrighteous
for God to do that? And for another sinner? For him
to not show that mercy, to not give mercy, to not provide his
way of salvation, but to leave them to endure the eternal wrath
that their sin deserves. Is it unjust for God to love
or to hate any sinner? Not any sinner in Christ. Not
any sinner chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.
Not any sinner represented by Christ in His obedience unto
death. Not any sinner washed in Christ's blood and clothed
in His righteousness. Not any sinner who believes,
like Bill said this morning, truly believes in Him for all
of salvation. It's not unrighteous for God
to love that sinner. And it's not unjust for Him to
leave others to endure the eternal wrath that sin deserves. In fact,
in the beginning, it wouldn't have been unjust for him to leave
us all to bear the eternal wrath that we all deserve. It's his
mercy and grace that saves any, and he saves the objects of his
love. Mercy is something... I think I left out a verse. Let's
read this first. Verse 16 here in the same context. So then, He said, I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it's not
of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. Mercy is something that no one
receiving it has done one thing to earn or to deserve. Mercy, salvation. It's not by your will. It's not
by the sinner's will. It's by God's will. And it's
not just God's mercy to choose a sinner. That is a product of
his mercy. It's also his mercy and grace
to call them out of darkness. It's also his mercy and grace
to give them eyes to see and ears to hear, to give them wills
to respond to the mercy and grace that God has demonstrated in
Christ and which he continually in each generation sets forth
in the gospel. It's His mercy and grace to give
them power, to give them the right or privilege to become,
to become known as, to become identified as the sons of God. That said, Christ came to his
own, and his own received him not. Now God is still coming
to his own. Christ is still coming to his
own, even in this generation. He comes to his own every time
the gospel is preached, and he's still granting some the right
or the privilege to become the sons of God. He's still granting
some the right to be sanctified or set apart in this world, to
be identified by the gospel, by the just God and Savior revealed
in that gospel, by the successful Savior who accomplished the salvation
of every sinner he was given. Am I among them? God's still
calling some, he's still granting some that privilege, that right. Am I among them? Are you among
them? Well, if so, you know that your salvation is not by your
will. You know God had to make you
willing in the day of his power. You know that your salvation
is by the mercy and grace of God in Christ. May God enable
his people to receive this and to rejoice in Christ.