The Doctrine of Free Will Explained 1

there's morning I want to talk about the doctrine of free will in fact in 2019 I'm going to be doing a lot of teaching on various doctrines and the reason I'm going to be doing that is because I've found that the majority of Christians are ignorant on what the Word of God says now when I say ignorant about the Word of God says I'm not calling you ignorant all right I'm not saying that you're stupid I don't want you to get that idea but what I'm saying is the majority of Christians have not been taught and that's not your fault that's my fault that's the fault of all the pastors and so in 2019 I'm going to be teaching a lot on theology on various doctrines so that you'll understand what the Word of God has to say because the majority of us just don't have a clue as to what God's Word actually teach us well this morning we're gonna start a two week series it's a mini-series on the doctrine of free will so turn with me if you would to the book of Genesis chapter 1 verse number 26 and follow along with me as I read this passage of Scripture and God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth now as you can see from Genesis chapter 1 verse number 26 man has set apart from animals in other words there is a deep distinct difference between man and animals and the reason there's a difference is because man is made in the image of God that means that man is a personal rational and sovereign being now when I say personal I mean that man has emotions morals and values when I say rational I mean that man has the ability to reason that's why God told the Israelites to come together and let us reason together look at first part look at the first part of Isaiah chapter 1 verse number 18 notice what it says come and let us reason together saith the Lord so man has the ability to reason he has the ability to accumulate facts put those facts together in a logical manner and come up to or come to a logical conclusion now when I say that man is sovereign I mean that man has the ability to make choices and decisions independent of others that's why Joshua told the Israel it's to choose who they would serve look at Joshua chapter 24 verse number 15 and I'll show you what I'm talking about it says and if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord and notice that the word Lord is in all caps so it's referring to who it's referring to Yahweh the covenant-keeping god so it says if it seems evil unto you to serve Yahweh choose you or we wouldn't say it that way we would say then you choose this day whom you will serve whether the gods which your father's served that we're on the other side of the flood of the gods of the amorite and whose land you dwell but as for me in my house we will serve the Lord now the reason Joshua told them to choose is because they have the ability or had the ability to make their own choices and decisions now because man possesses these three characteristics personality rationality and sovereignty man has what theologians refer to as a free will now let me give you a definition for the term free will if you don't know what free will is like this down put it in the back of your Bible here's a definition free will means that man is responsible for his own actions because he has the freedom and ability to make his own choices and decisions so when we talking about talk about man being made in the image of God what we're saying is that man is a personal rational sovereign being therefore he has a free will now most people don't understand what it means to be made in the image and likeness of God when they hear that man is maidenly meant in the image and likeness of God they think that man looks like God because man has a head God must have a head because God is or man has a torso God must have a torso because man has two arms and two hands God must have two arms and two hands and that is not what it means when it says man is made in the image of God God is spirit he doesn't have a physical body and as a result of that when it says that we are made in His image and in his likeness it's not referring to the to the point that we look like God we might look like God we don't really know but that's not what is referring to when it says that man is made in the image and likeness of God what it means is man has personality rationality and sovereignty therefore man has a free will now look back at Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 and I want you to notice that man was designed to rule over all of God's creation since then God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth you see only man has the ability to rule over all of God's creation and it's these three characteristics that give man that ability personality rationality and sovereignty animals on the other hand don't have this ability in fact animals are described as natural brute beasts in the book of Jude chapter 1 verse 10 now if you want to get technical I don't have to say chapter one I can just say June 10 but I would have people coming up to me after the service and say what chapter was that well Jude only has one chapter all right so we're talking about Jude chapter 1 verse number 10 now animals are described by Jude in his book verse 10 as natural brute beasts now I want you to notice the three words that Juju's to describe animals the first is the word naturally naturally is translated from the Greek word feu Seacoast's and it literally means instinctively you see animals possess instincts not personality now if you're a pet person I know what you're thinking you're thinking well my dog has personality how many of you are pet people and you have a dog and you think your dog has personality all right well that's not what I'm talking about alright when I say they don't have personality I mean they don't respond according to a set of morals or set of values they respond instinctively in other word words if the dog next door is in heat and your dog is not neutered your dog does not have a moral code or a set of values that keeps him from mounting your neighbor's dog without first getting consent even if it's a Christian dog I want that little girl come up to me and said my dog is a Christian dog and I said oh really said yes my mom says we're Christian home and he's raised in our own so I have a Christian dog well I got her talking and him to find out she'd even baptized the dog and the kittens mom had to stop her cuz she almost drowned the kittens but here's what I want you to understand you can't sit down and start teaching your dog Christian values certain morals that come from the Bible and keep your dog from mounting your neighbor's dog without first getting consent no because they don't have the ability to take that reason or to come to logical conclusions it's not there there's everyone with me alright so when I talk about personality I'm not just talking about emotions or you know he's always happy or he's always this my dog has personality I'm talking about values and morals the second word that Jews used to describe animals was brute bridges translated from the Greek word and Allah Allah gasps and it means destitute of reason who are unable to reason you think man is a rational being that means that man has the ability to reason again we can listen to certain facts and if we're open-minded we can look at those facts reason with those facts and come to a logical conclusion animals on the other hand respond according to instincts or conditioning in fact Pavlov performed experiments that prove that animals respond according to instinct or conditioning not by rationality in fact most of you probably familiar with his experiments if you remember one of his experiments he would ring a bell and then he would feed these dogs and pretty soon he would ring the bell and the dogs would start salivating and they would run over to where the food was and they would expect the food to come out and they get all excited why because he had conditioned them that when the bell rung they realized it's time to eat now we can be conditioned to but we're pretty quick to know foods not coming out and we start reasoning well I guess it doesn't happen all the time but those dogs every time you would ring the bell they would do the very same thing because they had been conditioned to respond to a certain stimulus of the bell ringing now the last word that Juju's is to describe animals are used to describe animals was beast beast is translated from the Greek word so on and it's the word that the Greeks used to refer to any live creature now let me say this we are creatures God is not a creature God is a being why are we creatures and God is not a creature because the word creature means you were creating God it was not created God is eternal every once in a while I'll have a child come up and they want to play stump the pastor I'm assuming they've already stumped their parents because they'll come up with this big smile on their face say hey pastor who created God and I look at them and I said no one created God God is eternal God has always existed if God was created he wouldn't be God oh I'm gonna go tell my parents that people I want you to understand something God is not a creature God is eternal everything you see around you has been created there's only one being that has never been created and that is God and that's why you'll never find the Greek words Oh on in the Bible referring to God because God is not a creature God is a being he was never created in fact can I go off on the tangent has nothing to do with what I'm teaching on people the the term eternal life is really a misnomer it's not correct the truth is we'll never have a eternal life we'll have everlasting life eternal life means that you have no beginning and you have no end we had a beginning therefore when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we receive everlasting life we had a beginning but will never end now whether or not you receive Jesus Christ you'll still have everlasting life the problem is you'll have everlasting life eternally separated should even use that everlastingly separated from God does that make sense all right but here's the thing that I want you to understand Juju's the word so on to describe animals so the Bible describes animals as instinctive creatures that are unable to reason man on the other hand is described by God's Word as being personal rational and sovereign creatures therefore man has a free will he has the ability to choose how he will respond animals don't have a free will their responses are determined by instincts and conditioning now I'm not saying that you might not have a smart dog maybe they've learned how to get out of the cage may they learn how to open doors I'm not saying that they can't learn certain things but they don't have the ability to reason things out the way the humans have now why in the world would I spend so much time making a distinction between men and animals well I'll tell you why the reason I've done that is because science has completely ignored what the Bible has to say about man and he's grouped man into the same category as animals and that has very serious consequences and I want you to see that this morning you see liberals believe that man is no different than animals and the way he acts is largely determined by conditioning an environment in fact psychologists have a theory called determinism the theory of determinism says that you are not responsible for the way you respond to situations or circumstances because your personality and your character are predetermined the basic idea is that we are conditioned to respond in a certain way to a particular stimulus that we so that we can't help the way that we act yeah that's what determinism says now there are three theories of determinism taught by psychologists the first is called genetic determinism that's a very interesting one to me this theory blames all of your faults and your shortcomings on your grandparents they're responsible for the way you act and not you because it's genetic it's in your DNA your grandparents were Irish and had short tempers so you inherited it therefore you can't help but be a hothead right you have a short temper and there's nothing you can do about it its genetic in fact the majority of us blame our genetics on what we do I can't help it it's in my DNA yeah the second theory is called psychic determinism this theory blames it all on your parents in other words your upbringing in the way that you were raised determines your personality in your character so in essence you can't help the way you are because you are conditioned to act or to behave in a certain way by your parents the third theory is called environmental determinism this theory blames it on your environment in other words someone or something in your environment is responsible for the way you are and for the way you act so basically it's not your fault it's the fault of the environment that you were raised in but all three theories say the very same thing they say this you are not responsible for your actions because you can't help the way you act or respond in various situations your grandparents had a short temper and your dad beat your mom and that's the entire that's the type of environment you grew up in so you can't help but beat your wife whenever you get angry and it's not your fault you're not responsible your grandparents your parents and the environment you were raised in are responsible for you beating your wife now is that true of course not that's a bunch of crap but why is it a bunch of crap well the reason it's a bunch of crap is because you are not an animal you are a personal rational sovereign being who has a free will and so to say that you can't help the way you act is hogwash the truth is you have the ability to choose how you will respond in every situation and for that reason God holds you responsible for your actions regardless of your genetic tendency or what your parents did to you or the environment you were raised in turn to the book of sec Corinthians chapter 5 verse number 10 and I'll show you what I'm talking about this is really interesting but you need to understand the conclusion that we could draw from this verse notice what it says for we must all stand before Christ to be judged we will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body you know nowhere in the Bible can I find a judgment seat for animals you're not gonna have all the grizzly bear standing before God all of the dogs are not going to stand before dot from before God or cats but every man will they will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive what they deserve for whatever good or evil they've done in their body while they were here on this earth listen to me you are responsible for your actions and it doesn't matter what your parents did to you or what type of environment you were raised in you are not an animal you are a personal rational sovereign being with the free will therefore you have the ability to choose how you will respond in every situation now I want to emphasize this by writing down the word responsible and for you to understand what responsible means let's hope that I can spell it right but this is the word responsible now responsible is a compound word what does that mean you've been coming here long enough to know a compound word means that it's made up of more than one word in some cases a word can be made up of two words or three words or even four words but in this case this word responsible is made up of two works it's made up of the word response and the word able now when we combine that to get responsible you need to understand this is just inflicted in other words the aid drops out we put an eye there or actually we would say the e drops out and the a turns to I so we get responsible but here's what responsible means responsible means that you're able to choose the right response so if I say that you're a responsible person when I say what I'm saying is you've proven yourself to be able to choose the right response as everyone with me that's what responsible means it means able to choose the right response if you're talking about your children and you say that your children are responsible what you're saying is your children have proven that they're able to choose the right response if you're looking at one of your kids and you say you are so irresponsible what are you saying you're saying you have not proven to me that you're able to choose the right response in fact if I put you in a certain situation I know beyond - of a doubt you are not going to choose the right response think about it we don't give responsibility to a person who doesn't have the ability to choose the right response as an example you would never allow your four-year-old to babysit an infant so you can go out on the town for the night not if you're a competent parent why because no four-year-old is responsible able to choose the right response if the smoke alarm goes off are they gonna grab the baby go outside take the phone so they can go mine one one no they really don't know what to do they're freaking out something's going off they might not even know it's the smoke alarm they don't know whether they should go back to the bedroom whether they should hide in a closet what they should do so you would never allow your four-year-old to babysit an infant some of you would never allow your 16 year old Hey Dude what's that sound that's kind of cool let's go out see ya see that's what responsible means able to choose the right response the truth of the matter is God's holds us responsible for what we do on this earth in our body and the reason he does that is because he's created us to be personal rational sovereign beings therefore we have a free will you have the ability to choose the right response now I've taught on the doctrine of the age of accountability those children who died before they reach the age of accountability they go to heaven why God does not hold them responsible why they don't have the ability to choose the right response but once a child reaches the age of accountability if that child or adult dies without receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior God holds them responsible why does he do that because they have the ability to choose the right response they are a personal rational sovereign being therefore they have a free will now let me illustrate what I'm talking about with the true story how many of you have heard of Victor Frankl anyone you probably have heard of him if you had psychology classes he was a Jewish psychiatrist who lived during World War two well he was in prison in the death or concentration camps and Nazi Germany and all of his his parents his brother his wife died in the camps all with the exception of his sister his entire family perished Victor Frankl was tortured and he suffered innumerable indignities but one day while he was standing naked and alone in fact the clothes because it was so long in the concentration camp if your clothes wore out and they became rags they didn't even replace them so he was completely and totally naked standing alone in the yard of this concentration camp that's when he became aware of his free will now he was always a determinist until he was arrested and put in this concentration camp he always thought that man should be categorized as an animal he always believed that the reason we act the way we act is because we've been conditioned to do that and because of her instincts he believed in genetic determinism along with psychic determinism along with environmental determinism but one day as he was standing naked and alone weighing about a hundred pounds he became cognizant of his own free will Victor discovered that he had the ability to decide how this was going to affect him he discovered that he had the ability to choose how he would respond he couldn't control all the horrible things that were happening around him but he could control how he responded to all of the horrible things around him and that he and he alone was responsible for the way he responded but Victor only discovered what the Bible is always taught that man has a free will and can choose how he responds to the circumstances around him yeah in other words he has the ability to choose the right response and the Bible has many examples to illustrate that we are able to exercise our free will regardless of what's happening around us we just finished with the series on Joseph and Joseph is a great example of this Joseph was born in a polygamous family which produced sibling rivalry let me tell you polygamy was a horrible thing that God allowed it because of progressive revelation and because of this progressive revelations not until we really get to the New Testament that we realized that wasn't God's intention all alone it creates these type of problems and he was born in the polygamous family and there was all types of sibling rivalry his grandfather on his mother's side was a piece of work he was a real tool he used his daughters to further his own agenda he was sold into slavery by his brothers he was falsely accused of sexual assault and imprisoned and yet he continued to love God and to serve Him with his entire heart and as a result God caused all of the horrible things that happened to him to work together for the best but my point is this Joseph was able to exercise his free will and succeed in spite of all the horrible things that happened to him why because he was a personal rational sovereign being who chose to respond the way that God wanted him to he had the ability to do that and we all have the ability to do that now let's make some application because this doctrine is a good doctrine and we could stop right here and we could go right into the altar call but you need to understand that there's a lot of application that we can make here so let's make some application according to ezekiel chapter 18 verses 2 through 4 god does not have children responsible for the sins of their parents but neither does God hold parents responsible for the sins of their children look at verses 2 through 4 in Ezekiel chapter 18 notice what it says why do you quote this proverb concerning the land of Israel the parents have eaten sour grapes but their children's mouths pucker at the taste how many you've ever heard that proverb we don't use it but it's a good proverb in other words the parents do something and notice what how it affects the children but let's keep going as surely as I live says the sovereign Lord you will not quote this proverb any more in Israel for all people are mine to judge both parents and children alike and this is my rule God has rules and this is one of God's rules the person who sins is the one who will die in other words God judges each individual for their own actions and he doesn't hold people accountable for the actions of others so let me give you a principle if you're taking notes I want you to write this down this is a very important principle especially if you're a parent or a school teacher because as a parent you should be teaching your children this and as a school teacher you need to teach your students this here it is every person is accountable for their own actions let me repeat this every person is accountable for their own actions and then God gives us two examples to illustrate this principle here in this same chapter the first example is found in verses 5 through 13 so we just read verses 2 through 4 let's keep reading them start at verse number 5 and let's go to verse number 13 notice what it says suppose a certain man is righteous and he does what is just and right he does not feed in the mountains before Israel's idols our worship them he does not commit adultery or have intercourse with the woman during her menstrual period do what I mean you wonder what that means let me explain certain things about God's commandments especially in the Old Testament many of God's commandments were object lessons the whole purpose of the object lesson was to teach a truth and so one of his Commandments was in the Old Testament men were not to have sex with their wife if they were on their period but the reason he put that commandment in there it's because it's an object lesson the reason of woman's have an appeared is because the egg was not fertilized and as a result of that the body is discharging it in the form of blood so the blood represented death semen for a man represents want life and the object lesson is you don't mix life with death you're not of this world you've been saved from your scene you do not mix life with death okay keep going he is a merciful creditor not keeping the items given as security by poor debtors he does not rob the poor but a stag gives food to the hungry and provides clothes for the needy he grants loans without interest stays away from injustice is honest and fair when judging others and faithfully obeys my decrease in regulations wouldn't you love to be raised by a man like that oh yeah anyone who does those things as Justin will surely live says the sovereign Lord but suppose that man that same man has a son who grows up to be a robber or murderer and he refuses to do what is right and that son does all the evil things that his father would never do he worships idols on the mountains commits adultery oppresses the poor and helpless steals from debtors by refusing to let them redeem their security worships idols commits detestable sins and lends money at excessive interest that's a sin should such a sinful person live no he must die and must take full blame in other words if a righteous man has a wicked son the righteous man will live but his wicked son will die why because every person is accountable for their own actions remember the principle this is an example to illustrate the principle every person is accountable for their own actions and in this example the father is not responsible for the sins of his children it might be embarrassing to the father it might be embarrassing to the mother but they need to understand sometimes we raise children in the right way sometimes we do what we're supposed to but here's the bad thing our children our personal rational sovereign beings with a free will and that can be very irritating and frustrating because they have a free will and we can't force them to do what we want them to do but one of the things we must teach our children is every person is accountable for their own actions the second example is found in verses 14 through 20 it says but suppose that sinful son okay now we're talking about the same son not just but suppose a sinful son no no no demonstrative pronoun actually but suppose that sinful son in turn has a son who sees his father's wickedness and he decides against that kind of life the Sun refuses to worship idols on the mountains this is not commit adultery he does not exploit the poor but instead is fair to debtors and does not rob them he gets food to the hunger and provides clothes for the needy he helps the poor does not lend money and interest and obeys all my regulations and decrees such a person will not die because of his father's sins he will surely live but the father will die for his many sins for being cruel robbing people and doing what was clearly wrong among his people what you ask doesn't the child pay for the parents sins no for the if the child does what is just in writing keeps my decrees that child will surely live the person who sins here it is this is the principle the person who sins is the one who will die the child will not be punished for the parents sins and the parent will not be punished for the child since righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness do you see that every person is accountable for their own actions and they're not responsible for the actions of others but there's something else I want you to notice something else I want to point out look back at first 14 but suppose that sinful son you know the one that had a righteous father who did everything right but the son said you know on I'm not gonna follow my father's way I'm gonna do my own thing and he starts doing witness wicked says but suppose that sinful son and turn as the son who sees his father's witness wickedness and decides against that kind of life do you see that the child in this example was born to a sinful wicked man so he has the DNA of the sinful man and he was raised by that wicked man so he was not only raised in a bad home but also in a wicked environment but he decides he doesn't want to live that kind of life look at verse 14 again you see what I'm talking about but suppose that sinful son in turn as a son who sees his father's wickedness in other words he saw it firsthand because he lived it he saw his daddy beat his mama he saw his daddy steal he saw his daddy get drunk and do all types of horrible things and he decides let's keep reading against that kind of life I don't want to live like that I won't be that way that's not right now according to this passage of Scripture genetic determinism is wrong in other words his DNA didn't determine who he would ultimately be or how he would ultimately act now he decided the way he would live he decided I don't want to live like my daddy I want to live the way God tells me to and according to the scripture psychic determinism is wrong in other words his upbringing and the way he was raised didn't determine who he would ultimately be or how he would ultimately know he decided the way he would live oh I like this only this way and according to scripture environmental determinism is wrong in other words his environment didn't determine who he would ultimately be or how he would ultimately act now he decided I don't live like that I'm gonna live this way now I'm not saying that his DNA his upbringing his environment didn't affect him I'm not saying that at all because those things do affect us but people they don't determine our destiny now we determine our destiny because we have a free will we can decide I'm not gonna live like that I'm not gonna keep responding that way I'm not gonna keep subjecting myself to this we have a free will and that's why God holds us responsible for our actions regardless of our DNA our upbringing or the environment we were raised in God holds us accountable because we have the ability to choose whether we're going to continue to live like that or not remember people we are made in the image of God which means that we are personal rational sovereign beings and because we're personal rational sovereign beings we have a free will we can choose we can decide independent of others now if you're taking notes I want you to write this down I'm gonna give you a principle if I was a parent I would be writing this down if I was a schoolteacher I'd be writing this down if I had grandchildren I'd be writing this down if I had unruly neighbors and I had a chance to speak into their kids live from time to time I would write this down here it is your DNA your upbringing and the environment you were raised in might explain why you have the tendency to behave the way you do but it doesn't excuse your behavior let me say that again because that's dang good your DNA your upbringing and the environment you were raised in might explain why you have the tendency to behave the way you do but it doesn't excuse your behavior why because you have the ability to choose how you'll act or react in various situations you are not an animal listen the most wonderful thing that God ever did for us is he made us in His image and in his likeness that does not mean that he made us to look like him it means that he made us with the ability to reason with the ability to be objective with the ability to look at the facts and to say wait a minute if you look at the facts this is the logical conclusion I can come to and we can choose and decide how we're gonna live some of you think airing bitterness for a long time and how's that going for you some of you have chosen not to forgive and how's that working out for you some of you just keep spending money the way you want to spend money doesn't matter what pastor aleck D just out of the Word of God and how does that working out for you what's the definition of insanity doing the same things over and over again and expecting to get different results yeah let me tell you if your life's not working for you I'll tell you why because you keep doing the same things over and over again and you're not following what's written in this work I'm here to tell you that God has given us everything that pertains unto life and godliness he's given us everything we need to succeed in this life but also in the life to come now if you hear this more you never receive Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior let me just give you the facts Jesus said I am the way the truth and life no man can come to the Father except through me in other words you can't get to heaven except through Jesus now if you've heard this before but you'd never receive Jesus you're gonna be judged basically it's gonna boil down to one or two things what did you do with Jesus did you receive him or did you reject him because Jesus has paid the sins or paid the penalty for our sins but I'm here to tell you this morning that you have a choice it's up to you but you are responsible for your actions you will be responsible for whether you receive Jesus or reject Jesus maybe you're here for the first time you've never been in church you said I've never heard anything like this I don't know anything about Jesus but I'm convicted I'm not quite ready to make a decision for Jesus but there's something in there the sisters that's right well you've got a choice you can either keep coming back to church or you can say well it convicted me but I don't like that feeling so I'm not going back you get to make that choice because God created you in His image and likeness and he made you a personal rational sovereign being with a free will so the choice is yours but let me just tell you what God's Word says you are responsible for your actions it doesn't matter what house you were right or what home you were raised in it doesn't matter the environment you were raised it doesn't matter your genetics your DNA your mom and daddy might be in prison that doesn't matter you had the ability God gave you the ability to choose whether you want to continue living that type of life or if you want to live a different life it's up to you

Channel: Cornerstone Fellowship

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Keywords: doctrine of free will, The Doctrine of Free Will Explained Part 1, free will, what does the bible say about free will, free will bible, free will sermon, free will talk, free will theology, free will bible study, sovereignty of god, sovereignty of god in the bible, calvinism free will, calvinism, calvinist, arminianism, arminian, doctrine of election, theology of the bible, pastor allen nolan, allen nolan, cornerstone fellowship, foreknowledge, God's Foreknowledge

Id: E4boV6HOA1Q

Length: 40min 12sec (2412 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 12 2018