Saturday, March 11, 2017

Freewill (Part 5)

If we are free, we will drink our water heartily..
If we are free, we will work heartily..

We are groaning because of the enslavement of Sin.
There is a great war that wages within us in pursuit of true freedom. 

Because of this enslavement, we need to constantly deny the flesh and abide in Christ.
For He is able to free us from this bondage of Sin. 

The flesh is always inclining to something.
The inclination of the heart is always towards evil.(Genesis 8:21)

We are a slave to what we are inclined to.

Freedom is not doing whatever we please.
Freedom is doing whatever God pleases. 

The only being that truly have freedom is God.

Freedom from the enslavement of Sin.
Freedom to do what is truly right.

The only being that can help us to break the bondage of Sin is One Who has the power to overthrow Sin. That is God Himself.

Freedom is being determine to obey God's word.

We are either slave to righteousness or slave to the bondage of Sin.

Romans 6:15-18
Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

Jeremiah 10:23
I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course. 

By persevering in obeying God's commands,  the devil cannot entice us to Sin.

Given no foothold for the devil to entice us, we are set us free to do better things instead of struggling with Sin.

It is by believing that we enter into rest (Heb. 4:3); it is in obeying God by faith and surrendering to His will that the rest enters into us. 

Freedom is to relinquish what we deem will give us freedom and embrace the yoke of Him who holds the key to true freedom.

If our standard of good is derive from the devil, then we are free indeed from the devil's point of view. 
For the inclination of our heart are all towards evil. And there will not be the slightest resistance to it.

Like a fish who does not realise it is wet. So is the natural man who is so accustomed to sinning.

~CS Lewis
There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.

Matthew 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

C.S. Lewis
A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.

Perhaps one evidence of free will is doing the will of God with joy unspeakable. 

Romans 3:23
New Living Translation (NLT)
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.

Romans 7:14-25
New Living Translation (NLT)

Bondage of the Will

14 So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power[b]within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.

Job 9:27-35
If I decided to forget my complaints, to put away my sad face and be cheerful, I would still dread all the pain, for I know you will not find me innocent, O God. Whatever happens, I will be found guilty. So what’s the use of trying? Even if I were to wash myself with soap and clean my hands with lye, you would plunge me into a muddy ditch, and my own filthy clothing would hate me. “God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial. If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together. The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment. Then I could speak to him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength.

Jeremiah 2:22
No amount of soap or lye can make you clean. I still see the stain of your guilt. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!

Jeremiah 13:23
Can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? Can a leopard take away its spots? Neither can you start doing good, for you have always done evil.

We were made free


Ephesians 2:1-10
Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.


Freedom as depict by the devil.

~John Milton
A mind not to be changed by place or time.
The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.

[…] Here at least

we shall be free; the Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
to reign is worth ambition though in Hell:

Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven.

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