Let My Will Be Lost in Thine Matthew 26:36-44

The Bondage of the Will Jesus’ relationship to the Father was different than ours He had a purely free will to lay before the Father He was free in a way we are not—especially before salvation

The Bondage of the Will Many people wrongly correlate the will’s ability in one area with all areas Thus we use common language of saying people have “free will” People wrongly assume that in “free will” people will give themselves to God

The Bondage of the Will This is surely not right This is the heresy of Pelagianism Our Baptist Faith and Message (statement of our beliefs), teaches that our wills have been affected—our entire nature has been affected by the Fall

“In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.”

The Bondage of the Will Volitionally we do not seek God (Rom. 3:9-12) Intellectually we do no understand God (1 Cor. 2:14) Behaviorally we do not submit to God’s will (Rom. 8:7)

The Bondage of the Will We are “free” moral agents, in that we are not compelled by God to do the wrong thing We freely choose to turn from God; we love sin; we are bound by sin We have MORAL INABILITY but not physical inability (Rom. 6:19-20; Mt. 23:37)

The Merciful Call of God From the Word of God we see the pattern of God’s calling established early on He came calling Adam and Eve in the Garden He called Abraham He called Moses He called Samuel Jesus called the disciples

The Merciful Call of God With the coming of Jesus and now the Holy Spirit, God continues to call in two key ways THE OUTWARD CALL OF THE GOSPEL—The Gospel always has an invitation to respond; it is a call to receive eternal life. “The Hour of Decision” THE INTERNAL CALL OF THE SPIRIT

The Merciful Call of God If the outward call was the only call nothing would ever happen in regards to people coming to have eternal life The Holy Spirit effectually works with our wills so that we will be enabled to freely turn from sin to Christ

The Merciful Call of God Jesus said we must be enabled (John 6:65) The Spirit is the one who calls and enables Rom. 8:30 Rom. 1:6-7 1 Peter 2:9 1 Cor. 1:26-30; 2 Corinthians 6:1-2

The Empowered, Dedicated Will Our salvation is about more than just going to heaven In salvation our wills are liberated and empowered to serve and obey God Romans 6:16-23