In Eric Bechler's sermon on the London Baptist Confession of 1689, Chapter 9, Paragraph 1, the concept of free will is examined in the context of God's sovereignty. The sermon discusses the God-given natural liberty and power of human will, which allows for choices that are neither coerced nor predetermined by nature to do good or evil. God's eternal decrees and divine providence ensure that all events occur according to His wisdom, yet without Him being the author of sin or violating human will. The sermon distinguishes between free agency, where humans act according to their nature, and free will, which implies an ability to choose spiritual things unimpeded by the fall. R.C. Sproul and J.I. Packard are referenced to highlight the differences between secular and biblical views of free will. The sermon asserts that the fall has profoundly affected human nature, but humans still possess the ability to make moral choices without coercion. God does not force actions but presents choices, as illustrated by biblical passages. Ultimately, the sermon emphasizes the need for God's grace to free the will from sin, allowing for righteous living.

London Baptist Confession of 1689 comes from chapter 9 of Free Will, paragraph 1. God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice that it is neither forced nor by any necessity of nature determined to do good or evil. This morning we start a new chapter in the London Baptist Confession of free will. There have been and probably always will be many discussions, disagreements, and misunderstandings about what actually is free will and how that fits with God's sovereignty. So the next five weeks, we'll look at the will of man in a general sense that it's not coerced, Then the will from the state of innocency, from the state of sin, from the state of grace, and finally looking at it from the state of glory.

Let's start by remembering what we've covered previously that affects our discussion here, God's sovereignty seen in His eternal decrees and His divine providence. Back in chapter 3 of God's decree in paragraph 1, it says, God hath decreed in himself from all eternity by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely and unchangeably, all things whatsoever come to pass. Yet so is thereby is God, neither the author of sin, nor hath fellowship with any therein, nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things and power and faithfulness in accomplishing his decree. So God has ordained all things whatsoever comes to pass. Yet he is not the author of sin, nor are we forced to do those things which God has ordained, i.e., no violence to the will of the creature.

Our liberty is not hindered nor taken away. It is because of our will and our desire that we commit sin and do evil deeds. This is reinforced in chapter 5 of Divine Providence in paragraph 4. The Almighty Power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness of God so far manifest themselves in His providence that his determinate counsel extendeth itself even to the first fall, and all other sinful actions, both of angels and men, and that not by a bare permission, which also he most wisely and powerfully boundeth, and otherwise ordereth and governeth in a manifold dispensation to his most holy ends. Yet so, as the sinfulness of their acts precedeth only from the creatures and not from God, who being most holy and righteous, neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin.

Sin comes from the creatures and not God. Our will, our natural liberty, our power to act upon choice, do not lie outside God's decree. They are within God's sovereignty. Let's look at an example to help us understand this. After Jacob died in Egypt, Joseph comforted his brothers, explaining to them God's sovereignty.

From Genesis 50, 19, and 20. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for am I in the place of God. But as for you, ye thought evil against me. But God meant it unto good, to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive. God allowed his brothers to sell Joseph into slavery.

Joseph's brothers chose freely to sell Joseph to the slave traders to get rid of Joseph. Their motivation was evil. God used this wicked act to accomplish his decree to do good. His intention was good. His intention was righteous.

R.C. Sproul explains, so God, in considering a good deed, not only examines the outward deed itself, the action, but he also considers the inner motivation, the intent behind the deed. But if there are no motivations, if there is no real intentionality, to use the philosophical term, then how could the action be of any moral significance? It just happens. So let's dig into our paragraph this morning.

We'll look at it in two different parts. First, that it is God that has given man his will, and second, that man is not forced by God to act in a particular way, nor by any necessity of nature determined to do good or evil. Our paragraph starts, God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice We'll start with going through some terms endued Endude means to furnish or to supply with to endow So we could look at it thus God has supplied or furnished the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice. Let's look at natural liberty. This term is more recently described as free agency.

What is free agency and how is this different from free will? The title of our chapter. With free agency, we do what our nature tells us, if unregenerate, enmity with God, if regenerate, spiritual. And we are not forced by God to do such things so that we are responsible to God. In contrast, free will claims no one is truly spiritually dead as a result of the fall and all people are completely able to choose spiritual things whenever they like.

We have a problem with that. J.I. Packard offers a distinction between free agency and free will that I believe could be helpful here. Free agency is a mark of human beings. All humans are free agents in the sense that they make their own decisions as to what they will do, choosing as they please in the light of their sense of right and wrong and the inclinations they feel.

Thus, they are moral agents, answerable to God and each other for their voluntary choice. So was Adam both before and after he sinned, so are we now and so are the glorified saints who are confirmed in grace in such a sense that they no longer have it in them to sin. Inability to sin will be one of the delights and glories of heaven, but it will not terminate anyone's humanness. Glorified saints will still make choices in accordance with their nature, and those choices will not be any the less the product of human free agency, just because they will always be good and right. Free will, however, has been defined by Christian teachers from the second century as the ability to choose all the moral options that a situation offers.

Augustine affirmed against Pelagius and most of the Greek fathers that original sin has robbed us of free will in this sense. We have no natural ability to discern and choose God's way, because we have no natural inclination Godward. Our hearts are in bondage to sin, and only the grace of regeneration can free us from that slavery. This for substance was what Paul taught in Romans chapter 6. In verse 16, do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience which leads to righteousness.

And in verse 18, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. Only the freed will freely and heartily choose righteousness. A permanent love of righteousness, that is, an inclination of heart to the way of living that pleases God, is one aspect of the freedom that Christ gives. We look at John 8.36. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

Galatians chapter 5, verse 1, for freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. And in verse 13, for you are called to freedom, brothers, only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. We see that we have no natural ability to discern and choose God's way. In James 1, 13 through 14, let no man say when he is tempted.

I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man, but every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. In Romans 8, 7, and 8, because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God, it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God. So God has given man a will, and he has endowed that will with natural liberty or free agency and the power to act upon the choice made. Having said all this, Confusion is generated because of the differences between the secular view of free will and the biblical view of free will.

The use of the term free agency can help us to distinguish the more biblical view of free will from the secular view. I would like to share some comments regarding this from R.C. Sproul. If there is any place where secular humanism has undermined a biblical view of human nature, it's with respect to the idea of free will. The prevailing view of free will in the secular culture is that human beings are able to make choices without being encumbered by sin.

In this view, our wills have no predisposition either toward evil or toward righteousness, but remain in a neutral state from birth. This view of human freedom is on a collision course with the biblical doctrine of the Fall, which speaks of the radical corruption of our human condition. The whole person is caught up in the fall, including the mind, the heart, the will, and the body. The ravages of sin have affected us profoundly and deeply. Nonetheless, we are still able to think.

Similarly, Although the will has been tragically marred by the fall, we have not lost our ability to make moral choices. We still have wills which are able to make choices without being coerced by God. The fact remains, however, that When the Bible speaks of our condition, it speaks of bondage or slavery to sin, which the confession addresses. In the second half of our paragraph, we find God does not coerce us either with the first or second causes. It reads that it, man's will, is neither forced nor by any necessity of nature determined to do good or evil.

Forced. No one is being forced against their will. God gives us choices. In Jeremiah 21, 8, furthermore you are to tell this people that this is what the Lord says, behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. And we read earlier, but I'll read it again, Deuteronomy 30, 19.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death blessing and curse Therefore choose life that you and your offspring may live God gives us a choice He does not force or coerce us. Our will is the expression of our own desires and inclinations. Again, R.C. Sproul comments, the problem with the center is not that the center has lost the faculty of choice in his fall. Centers still have minds.

Centers can still think. Centers still have desires. Centers still have wills. And the will is still free insofar as it is able to do what the sinner wants to do. The problem is in the root of the desires of the heart in fallen man, because he has an evil inclination.

He has a desire for sin, therefore he sins. When we read about the necessity of nature, that the will is not determined by nature. We understand this to mean that the natural world or the laws of nature do not force a man to do good or evil. Again, it is our desires or our inclinations. No one or no thing compels any human to do anything they do not will to do.

One always has a choice, even if one of the choices is unpleasant. From an article in the Table Talk from Ligonier Ministries, It says, in the freedom of the will by Jonathan Edwards, defines biblical freedom. Man is free, he says, to choose according to his disposition. Human beings always choose according to their strongest desire. And so we make free choices.

We do what we want to do. Some may object that people often choose the undesirable such as handing a wallet over to a mugger. But if I do this, my strongest inclination is prompted my choice. All things being equal, I do not desire to give my wallet away. But if my choice is my wallet or my life, I hand over my wallet and I prove that I want to live more than I want money.

Apart from Christ, we are dead in sin and wholly disposed to hate God. We only want darkness, and so we freely choose to reject Him. We freely choose to love and to serve Jesus only if the Spirit changes our hearts. Otherwise, we remain lost. Amen.