The Sovereignty of God and Man's Free Will, Part 2 (Suffering 05)
Suffering and God's Sovereignty • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 14 viewsBig Idea: Despite the truth of God’s sovereignty, man has the freedom to choose and is held responsible for those choices
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Outline
Big Idea: Despite the truth of God’s sovereignty, man has the freedom to choose and is held responsible for those choices.
Examples of Man’s Choice Vs. God’s Plan
Man and His Free Will
Man’s Choices Will be Sinful
How Do We Make Right Choices?
Introduction
Introduction
But how can man, limited by a sin nature, ever choose what is good? It is only through the grace and power of God that free will truly becomes “free” in the sense of being able to choose salvation (John 15:16). It is the Holy Spirit who works in and through a person’s will to regenerate that person (John 1:12-13) and give him/her a new nature “created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). Salvation is God’s work. At the same time, our motives, desires, and actions are voluntary, and we are rightly held responsible for them. Got Questions
We understand that God is sovereign, even over man’s sinful choices.
At the same time, man is given freedom to make choices. Choices that we are not only responsible to make in accordance with God’s commands and will, but we will be held accountable for those decisions.
The initial act of choosing God in salvation is a choice that was only made possible through the working of God giving us the ability and desire to make it.
Every decision thereafter, is also made possible by God’s work in through His Spirit.
None of our decisions, not even our evil ones thwart God’s will or control. HOWEVER, we are not puppets who can ONLY do what God tells us to. We are given the choice. Choices ENABLED by God but not DICTATED by God.
We have seen admonishments to do what is right and choose obedience to God.
As we pick up, we are going to look at both OT and NT examples where God admonishes us to do what is right.
Sermon Body
Sermon Body
Man and His Free Will
Man and His Free Will
B. Old Testament encourages us to make right choices
1. Do not turn to idols (Lev. 19:4).
4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.
What were their idols?
What are our idols?
An idol is anything that we worship MORE than God or in replace of God.
We are ALL worshippers and we ALL worship SOMETHING. If not God, then self.
BUT, scripture admonishes us to choose whom we will worship. Which means we have the choice.
2. Do not choose folly (Josh. 1:6, 7, 9).
What would folly be defined/described as?
Anything that opposes that which is right and true and leads to ruin.
THUS anything that opposes God.
6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Again, where is the responsibility of choosing put? US
THUS, even with God’s sovereign control over all things, including man’e evil acts and choices, where does the responsibility for those choices lie?
WITH US.
As is the consequence of our choice.
3. There are consequences to our choices (Gal. 5:19-21; Rom 1:26-32.)
Turn to Romans 1:26-32.
While you are turning there, let me read Galatians 5:19-21.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Those who do such things, what?
Will not inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Those who practice such things deserve what?
Death
They receive IN THEMSELVES the due penalty for their error...
What does this mean?
Sin, and in this case, homosexuality, is destructive. Sin brings upon itself, its own self destructive consequence. Sin never leads anywhere good and often as sins compound, so do the consequences.
Receiving in themselves the due penalty for their sin means that they will bear the full brunt of sin’s self destructiveness.
Sin has consequence. (As do all things in life, good or bad).
So, while we have the choice to make, we also have to recognize that the consequence of that choice IS ALSO on us. We cannot blame others. When we choose a sinful and self destructive course of action, we must also take responsibility for the consequence that comes with it.
C. New Testament encouragement to make right choices
1. We will walk in light or darkness (1 Jn. 1:5-7).
5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Again, we are admonished to walk in the light, not in darkness.
What does it mean to walk in the light?
To walk in truth.
To submit to God’s authority.
To obey his commands.
To live according to the truth and do as it says rather than what our sinful flesh says.
Read John 3:19. What does this reveal about man’s preference?
19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
Men would prefer to WALK, to LIVE, to act according to darkness because their deeds are EVIL. And yet, that is what appeals to the flesh and desires of the flesh.
Darkness, as opposed to light, signifies that which is evil, sinful, wrong.
LIGHT is that which is true, good, and righteous.
THUS to walk in the light means to live a lifestyle, have a heart, convictions, and desires, that are in keeping with the holy and righteous standard of that which is true and good.
THUS we are admonished to choose to walk in the light, to avoid evil, and to honor truth and righteousness.
2. Choose to walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-25).
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
But I say…WALK by the Spirit.
This is an imperative, a command. Which means, it is a decision we have to make.
Flesh and Spirit are opposed/contrary to each other.
What does it mean that they are opposed to each other?
Do they ever agree? Can they ever work in unison?
No. Which means, to choose one is to reject the other. You cannot have both. You cannot live in both worlds. You cannot straddle the fence, stay neutral, or have both. You cannot.
We are told to choose.
We are talk to walk in the Spirit.
Notice, we are not commanded to love, to have joy, to have peace, to be patient, to be kind, be good, be faithful, be gentle, to be self-controlled. (At least not here. Other places maybe....not here.)
What are we commanded to do?
Walk in the Spirit.
What is the result (hint: fruit) of that?
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
When we CHOOSE to walk in the Spirit, HE produces this fruit in us. NOT the other way around. Not BY doing these things are we walking in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit produces these in our lives AS THE FRUIT of walking in him.
BUT, they key issue is, we are given the responsibility and freedom to choose.
We must submit ourselves to the authority and work of the Spirit and strive to keep in step with him.
God will not force us. We must choose to respond to his prompting and walk in the Spirit, dying to self, and being obedient to him.
3. Paul encourages the people not to worship them as gods(Acts 14:15-17).
15 “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. 16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. 17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.”
There is a great temptation to revere, honor, admire, and placed great devotion upon man.
There is a great temptation to follow MAN more than we follow God.
In what way(s) can this be displayed in our life?
Mooning or pining after someone’s attention, affection, or admiration. Romantic or not.
Just blindly listening to, following, and obeying someone regardless of whether they are wise or right because you want their approval more than anything else.
This does NOT have to look like you acknowledging their godhood, deity, and physically bowing down to worship them. BUT when we place undue attention, emphasis, or expectation from man, we elevate them beyond what they should be and we risk falling into the trap of worshipping them.
DO NOT PUT MAN ON A pedestal.
Truth is, there is a great temptation to worship ANYTHING more than God.
We are admonished to choose NOT to worship anything besides God.
Matthew 4:10.
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“ ‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’ ”
In Jesus’ own words, in the refutation of the adversary, we have the object of our worship given to us.
GOD. And no others.
Finally....
4. We must choose to turn away from ungodliness (2 Tim. 3:5)
1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.
How would you define/understand ungodliness? How does this differ from wickedness? Is there a difference?
Jerry Bridges defines ungodliness as...
Ungodliness may be defined as living one’s everyday life with little or no thought of God, or of God’s will, or of God’s glory, or of one’s dependence on God. Jerry Bridges (Respectable Sins)
He further notes...
Ungodliness describes an attitude toward God, while unrighteousness refers to sinful actions in thought, word, or deed. Jerry Bridges
Romans 1:18 makes a distinction between ungodliness and unrighteousness.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
The word ungodliness mean “a lack of reverence for deity and hallowed institutions as displayed in sacrilegious words and deeds” BDAG
William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 141.
A godless attitude CAN lead to the wicked and unrighteous deeds listed above.
Clearly, we are to avoid such behaviors. Clearly, such behaviors arise because we are mindless of God.
The sobering reality is that 2 Timothy 3 is not speaking about the world, but about those who profess the name of Christ.
It is possible for professing believers (and even authentic believers) to live in a godless way if they live without a constant mind to God. We can go through our every day life with little or no thought to God and what pleases him. We can go through every day with little or no thought to God in the forming of our plans. This is the very definition of godlessness.
Bridges notes...
For Paul, all of life is to be lived out in the presence of God with an eye to pleasing Him.
For a Godly person, God IS THE focal point of their life. Everything is evaluated and filtered through that.
Godlessness leads to (at the very least) apathy and indifference and at the very worst, the outright wickedness of Romans 1. Either way, godlessness leads to sin.
Not only should we choose to reject such attitudes, desires, and actions ourselves, but we should be careful to avoid such people who profess godliness but who are actually living in unrepentant ungodliness.
Again, understand this text is NOT telling us to stay away from sinners. This text is telling us to avoid those who profess godliness but who refuse to repent and turn away DESPITE admonishment and rebuke.
So serious is this call to keep in step with the Spirit, to reject evil and walk in truth, is that we are to avoid such people who profess God’s name and yet refuse to repent after being confronted and admonished in their sin.
Our goal in the pursuit of godliness should be to grow more in our conscious awareness that every moment of our lives is lived in the presence of God; that we are responsible to Him and dependent on Him. This goal would include a growing desire to please Him and glorify Him in the most ordinary activities of life. Jerry Bridges
Not only should our goal be to pursue GODLINESS and turn away from GODLESSNESS but we are to be admonishing others to do the same. And in the extreme cases of unrepentance, we are to turn away from those who insist on living in ungodliness and have no desire to repent.
Point is, we have a choice to make. And it is a choice we must KEEP making day in and day out, moment by moment.
Practical Application: Scripture clearly teaches that we have a will to choose and we are responsible for our actions (choices).
Man’s Choices Will Be Sinful
Man’s Choices Will Be Sinful
A. Due to our sin nature our choices are all going to be sinful. Man’s mind is set to be sinful, selfish (Rom. 8:5-8).
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
The flesh is opposed to God. Period.
ANY good you see in yourself or others, any desire for good in yourself or others does not come from the flesh, but from the Spirit....for the new nature, not the old.
Man, left to his natural inclinations is evil and sinful.
Understand, evil and sin is the NATURAL, fleshly bent. Selfishness is the natural bent.
B. We are greatly influenced by a world that is saturated with temptations designed by Satan (Jn. 8:44; 1 Jn. 5:19).
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
We live in a world that caters to, coddles, and encourages the flesh in every way possible and imaginable.
This should not be a mystery to us BUT it is our apathy that causes us to let down our guard and then we are surprised that so much evil exists in the world and that we have fallen prey to it.
Of course, so entangling is our sin that....
C. We are called by Christ, ”slaves of sin” (Jn. 8:34).
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.
Listen. Sin promises freedom while delivering the opposite.
THAT WHICH WE GIVE OURSELVES TO BECOMES OUR MASTER.
This principle is ALWAYS true. That which we yield to, control us.
This is true of whether we yield to Christ or the flesh.
We will begin to live, think, and desire in accordance with that which we have chosen to yield.
When we give ourselves to the passions of the flesh, they will control us.
When we give ourselves to the Spirit, the desires of the Spirit will control us.
How then, does one free themselves from the control of the flesh once enslaved?
D. Only through Christ can our minds set free of sinful choices (Jn. 8:36).
36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
The Son sets us free from the passions of the flesh. The Son breaks the hold it possess over our lives.
God grant us the new nature, the new spirit with which we have the ability to choose to obey or not.
Now, we have the old nature and the new, coexisting and battling for control.
E. We choose to be for or against Christ (Mk. 9:38-41; Ti.1:15-16).
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 For the one who is not against us is for us. 41 For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.
15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. 16 They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.
Point is, we have a choice to make. WHOM will we serve?
F. We are born estranged (Ps. 58:3).
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb;
they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
We are born in sin, estranged from God.
The condition of sinfulness and rebellion against God IS THE MOST NATURAL condition.
Practical Application: We choose to live under the influence of Satan and since we are born sinners it is inevitable we will choose to live sinfully and thus endure suffering from our decisions.
So, the question becomes, what do we do about it? How do we make the right choices?
How Do We Make Right Choices?
How Do We Make Right Choices?
A. God draws us to Him (Jn. 6: 44, 65).
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
John 6:65
65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
FIRST, God has to draw us and make us willing.
Again, this term “draw” depicts the idea of an unwilling dragging.
God has to literally drag us to himself. We come kicking and screaming and unwilling, at least initially.
But then God does this....
B. God cause us to walk right (Phil 2:13).
13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
God give us a new desire, a new heart, a new willingness. He draws us and causes us to walk right. He gives us not only the ability but the desire to choose him.
Our choices then, flow from this drawing and causing.
God, by his own work, draws us and causes us to come to the truth
C. God brings us to the Truth (Jas. 1:18).
18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
OF HIS OWN WILL, he brought us forth by the word of truth.
God does the work to draw us BUT THEN GIVES US THE CHOICE OF WHAT WE WILL DO WITH IT.
D. We are given a choice by God (Col. 3:5-10).
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.
If God did nothing in us, we would never have come.
God His Spirit did not continue to do that work, we would grow.
BUT WE ARE RESPONSIBLE for the coming, for the accepting, and for the growing.
God requires us to act, in obedience and submission to him. He expects us to repent. He expects us to obey. He holds us accountable for that decision.
And God uses every choice as part of his sovereign plan, for his glory.
E. Joseph’s story: “You meant it for evil but God meant it for good.” (Gen 50:20)
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
In college, my professor called this the 50/20 principle. Even when we sin and disobey, a decision WE ARE HELD accountable for, God uses it as part of his overall plan.
1. The brothers made sinful choices. They suffered guilt for all those years.
2. Yet God was using those choices to fulfill His plan.
Practical Application: God draws men, all men to Himself. Men then have a choice. The choice is always in regard to our relationship with Him or us.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Even though we may not comprehend how it all fits together, we have a choice on how we think and believe. Due to the fact we are born with a sin nature, the only choice we can make in sinful. As a result we experience suffering due to our poor sinful choices. But God desires our relationship and so He draws all men to Himself. We prove our love for Him by gladly obey Him. As we do he reduces the consequences of our sin and build our relationship with Him. IT IS OUR CHOICE.
Church, let us continue stirring one another on to love and good deeds and keep growing together to become more like Jesus for the glory of God.
Application
Application
What hope and encouragement comes from the examples of Man’s choices, God’s plan? What comfort does it give you that despite man’s choices, God’s plan is not derailed?
What challenges with man’s will and God’s sovereignty still exist in your mind?
Why is it so important that we took time to show scripture’s admonishments for us to make the right choices?
We need to understand just how responsible and accountable we are to making the right choices.
We cannot blame God, the devil, or any other person for our choices.
We cannot blame our circumstances for our decisions.
We ALONE are accountable for them.
What is the proper motivation for doing what is right?
To Please God - 2 Cor 5:9.
To glorify God - 1 Cor 10:31.
Love for God. - Mark 12:30.
How do we ensure that we keep that proper motivation when we make decisions?
Walk in Spirit. Walk in the light.
Live a lifestyle of repentance.
Constantly evaluate our heart and motives.
Stay close to the cross, close to Christ. Protect intimacy with God.
Stay accountable to the body.
Live in community with the body
Guard your heart against fleshly and temporal influences that would drag us away.
How do we walk in the light? How do we walk in the Spirit?
Spend unhurried and quality time in the word.
Prioritize and arrange your life around God AS THE CENTER, the MAIN thing, and fight hard to keep it that way.
Foster humility in your own heart.
Guard your communion with the Spirit so that you are sensitive to his leading.
Deepen your love for God and for his word, for his desires, and his will.
How do we guard against making people or things idols in our life?
Constant self evaluation and analysis.
Accountability…inviting others to assess and speak into our lives
Guarding against the entrance of things into our life that we know would be a problem to begin with.
Stay close to God. Keep satisfied with him. Reduces the temptation to be draw away by other things when we are already satisfied in him.
How does it encourage you to know that God drew you to Himself in salvation and continues to draw you now?
What encouragement does that give you as you live day by day in relationship to Him?