In Eric Bechler's sermon on free will, he explores the doctrine as outlined in the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession, focusing on four states of man's will: innocency, sin, grace, and glory. The sermon emphasizes that free will is governed by the strongest motive of the heart at any given time, and it operates without coercion. In the state of innocency, man could choose to sin or not sin. After the fall, in the state of sin, man is in bondage and unable not to sin. Regenerate man, in a state of grace, has the ability to sin and not sin, with a constant internal battle between flesh and spirit. In the state of glory, man is unable to sin and perfectly aligned with God's will. The sermon reconciles the paradox of Christians sinning while having a sinless nature through the work of the Holy Spirit, emphasizing the process of sanctification. Good works, though tainted by sin, are acts of faith and obedience, pleasing to God through Christ's righteousness. The ultimate transformation occurs in the state of glory, where man's will is immutable and wholly inclined to righteousness.

A reading from the Second London Baptist Confession this morning, 1689, comes again actually for the last week of chapter 9 of Free Will, paragraph 5. This will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to good alone in the state of glory only. This will be our last week to discuss of free will and how our spiritual state affects us. Once again, free will is the ability to choose one thing over another. Through freedom or natural liberty, our will is determined by the strongest motive or inclination of our heart.

Whatever is the strongest Motive at that moment is your will, is what you will choose. It can change with time and circumstances. So does our free will conflict with God's sovereignty? No, it doesn't. Rather, God in His sovereignty gives us choices.

God does not coerce or force us to act. Thus we are held responsible for our choices and for our actions. Last week I laid out a table, this is the last week I'll write that up there, showing man's ability to sin or to not sin based on the spiritual condition as described by Augustine of Hippo. I'll go through that one last time here. And in man's state of innocency, man before the fall, man is both able to sin and able to not sin.

Adam, created good and righteous, had the freedom and the power to will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to God. Yet because God furnished the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice, Adam could choose to obey or not, to sin or to not sin. In no way was he coerced or forced to choose one way or the other. In man's state of sin, man after the fall, man is able to sin and not able to not sin. In this condition we find man in complete bondage to sin, in total depravity, in total inability.

Every inclination of his heart is contrary to God. Yet despite being in this condition, it doesn't mean he is as bad as he could be, nor does it mean that he cannot do something good or kind, especially in a civic or cultural sense. In the third state, regenerate man, the state of grace, man is able to sin and able to not sin. The regenerate man is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He has been freed from the bondage of sin, yet he still has a sin nature, causing a constant battle between flesh and spirit.

We'll spend a little bit more time talking about that this morning. In the final column there, glorified man, the state of glory. This is our topic today. In this condition, man is able to not sin and not able to sin. Every inclination of his heart will be for God to obey him and to praise Him.

He will have no inclination to choose evil. Last week, we focused on man's free will in the state of grace, the regenerate man, wherein he is freed from the bondage of sin by God's grace and is able to will and to do that which is good and well pleasing to God, yet because of his flesh is sin nature which remains in him, he is also able to will and do that which is evil. We hear God's word through the prophet Ezekiel that God will give us a new heart and the Holy Spirit will reside in our hearts, and is equal 36, 26, through 27. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments and do them." Now, in the state of grace, as Christians, we are able to have a desire in our hearts to please God. At the same time, again, we still have a desire to please ourselves. There's a conflict here, a battle within us between the flesh and the spirit. And Paul describes this in Galatians 5.17. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh.

And these are contrary, the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would. Looking back to Augustine's table, man in the state of grace is both able to sin and able to not sin. The spirit against the flesh, warring, went in us." I'd like to take a few minutes to talk about this phrase, able to not sin. For the regenerate man in the state of grace, Augustine tells us that man is able to not sin. This can cause some confusion.

In my house, we had some discussions about this, and I think there were some discussions of this over lunch last week as well. It's a difficult topic, and there's a lot of opinions. And we'll see if we can go through it and come to some better understanding. Well, where else do we see this phrase, able to not sin? We also see it show up in man's state of innocency and the state of glory.

In all three of these states, Augustine tells us that man is able to not sin. In the state of innocency, it makes sense in that Adam was created very good, righteous. In the state of glory, it makes sense in that our corrupted bodies have died, and our soul returned to Christ to worship Him, unable to do anything wicked or evil. However, is regenerate man really able to not sin? If we turn to scripture, it tells us very clearly that we all sin.

Those who are born again sin. Those who are regenerate sin. In John's first epistle, 1 John 1, 8, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. We can go to the word Solomon used praying to God during the dedication of the temple, talking about the people of Israel in 1 Kings 8.46. If they sin against you, for there is no one who does not sin.

And from Paul's letter to the Romans, we are told there are none righteous in Romans 3 10, as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. Scripture is telling us that all sin and fall short of the glory of God. At the same time, scripture tells us something else. Again, in John's first epistle, 1 John 3, 6, whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.

And I'll reread that in the English Standard Version. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. From 1 John 3, 9, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Finally, in 1 John 5 verses 16 through 18, if any man see his brother sin, a sin, which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life.

For them that sin not unto death, there is a sin unto death. I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." So what is it? Do we sin or do we not sin?

Again, I think scripture is clear, Christians sin. So let's try to understand what the last three verses that I read are trying to say, knowing that those who are born again, born of the spirit, actually sin. One commentator, Alexander McLaren, comments on the 1 John 5 passage. So he says, in the one breath, if any man see his brother sin a sin, and in the next breath whosoever is born of God sinneth not, surely there must be a way to bring these two sayings in harmony. And it seems not that a Christian is sinless, but there is a power in him, a life principle in him, which is sinless.

And whatsoever in him is born of God, overcometh the world and sineth not. Matthew Henry comments on the first John 3 passages, and the regenerate person cannot sin as he did before he was born of God, and as others do who are not born again. There is that light in his mind which shows him the evil of sin. There is that bias upon his heart, which disposes him to loathe and hate sin. There is the spiritual principle that opposes sinful acts.

And there is repentance for sin if committed. It goes against him to sin with forethought. Furthermore, John Gill has a number of comments on the problematic phrases used in these verses. In the 1st John 3, 9 phrase, does not commit sin, he comments, a believer does not make it his trade and business. It is not the constant course of his life.

He does not live and walk in sin or give up himself to it. He is not without being of it in him or free from acts of sin in his life and conversation, but he does not so commit it as to be the servant of it, a slave unto it, or to continue in it." And in the comments on the phrase, sinneth not, in 1 John 3, 6, It's not that he has no sin in him or lives without sin, but he does not live in sin nor give up himself to a vicious course of life, for this would be inconsistent with his dwelling in Christ and enjoying communion with Him. And finally, on a little bit longer commentary here on the phrase, and he cannot sin, in 1 John 3, 9. It's not that it is impossible for such a man to do acts of sin, or that it is possible for him to live without sin. For the words are not to be understood in the sense of those who plead for perfection in this life.

For though the saints have perfection in Christ, yet not in themselves, They are not impeccable. They are not free from sin, neither from the being nor actings of it. Sin is in them, lives in them, dwells in them, hinders all the good, and does all the mischief it can, or in such sense as if the sins of believers were not sins, for though they are pardoned and expiated and they are justified from them, yet they do not cease to be sins. They are equally contrary to the nature, will, and law of God, as well as the sins of others, and are oftentimes attended with more aggravated circumstances. But rather the meaning is, he that is born of God, he which is born of God, in him the new man or new creature cannot sin, for that is pure and holy.

There is nothing sinful in it, Nor can anything that is sinful come out of it, or done by it. It is the workmanship of the Holy Spirit of God. It is a good work and well pleasing in the sight of God. Because He is born of God, for that which is born of God in him does, under the influence of the Spirit, power, and grace of God, preserve him from the temptations of Satan, the pollutions of the world, and the corruptions of his own heart." So all three commentators here acknowledge the Christian's sin. Yet they say there is a power in the Christian that is sinless.

His new heart loathes and hates sins. There is a new man, a new creature, which is born of God in him that is pure and holy, and it cannot sin. It is the workmanship of the Holy Spirit. Yet the presence of sin in the Christian has not disappeared. We read from Paul in his letter to the Romans in 612, but sin not therefore reign in your mortal bodies to make you obey its passions.

Simon Wartanian from his 1689 commentary states, our new heart wants to obey God and please him, unlike our previous sinful desires. But we do not directly obey God in everything. There are still things that we struggle with. Then comes the lifelong process of sanctification. That is the process through which the Spirit works on us to transform us into Christ's image and to destroy sin in us slowly.

Sanctification is a lifelong process of ups and downs. It is not a constant line going upward, but upward and downward. When we die, then, our sanctification is complete. We are freed from the presence of sin completely, but still await the redemption of our bodies." And when we read the phrase, able to not sin, for the regenerate man, We need to understand that it does not have the same meaning as the phrase not able to sin used with the glorified man Augustine stated therefore the first liberty of the will was to be able to not sin. The last will be greater, much greater, not to be able to sin.

The first immortality was to be able to not die. The last will be much greater, not to be able to die. Adam had the ability or capacity to not sin, but he did sin. The Christian man has the ability or capacity to not sin, but he sins. The glorified man not only has the ability to not sin, but he cannot sin.

Only in the state of glory will we be completely unable to sin. Not only will we be free from the bondage of sin, but the only inclination of our heart will be to do only that which is good and well pleasing to God. The other question that arose this week were can a Christian do good and why do good works at all since they're all still tainted by our sin? Kim Rittlebarger addresses this in a devotional for Ligonier Ministries. Good works are those things done from true faith according to God's law, done for God's glory, not so as to earn a reward.

Because we are sinful from head to toe, and since sin affects us in every aspect of our being, we are sinful, even though we are justified. Even those among us who are given much faith and who earnestly desire to live lives pleasing to God still remain sinners. Our works remain stained by our sinfulness such that apart from Christ, these works would only serve to condemn us, since such a work is corrupted by sin and not truly good. Since we are created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them, every Christian who is justified by faith alone will begin to obey the commandments of God, however hesitantly and flawed that obedience might be. Since our sanctification is every bit as much of an act of God's grace as our justification.

All those who have been justified by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ alone, will, as the catechisms say, live according to all of God's commandments. Since our obedience, like our sin, is covered by the blood and righteousness of Christ, making our imperfect works truly good, Our Heavenly Father delights in our feeble efforts to do good, and knowing this to be the case creates within us the desire to obey all the more. I hope this was helpful. It's a difficult topic. There's a lot of different positions and opinions on this.

It's difficult to understand. But let's move on to our paragraph of today, the last section for chapter 9. I'll read it again. This will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to good alone in the state of glory only. In the state of glory, man is able to not sin and not able to sin.

He cannot sin. The glorified man is made perfect. He is blameless. He is unable to stumble or do anything detestable or false. His only inclination is to do that which is good and well pleasing to God.

What does scripture tell us? In Hebrews 12, 23, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. In 1 John 3, 2, beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. In Jude 1, 24, now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy." And finally in Revelation 21, 27, "'But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

So before the fall, Adam was mutable. He was unstable. His will was mutable and unstable. Our will in the state of glory will be immutable and will be stable, will be fixed to righteousness alone. We will be made perfect.

We will be conformed to the image of his Son as it says in Romans 829. In the state of grace we were freed from our bondage of sin. In the state of glory, we will be made free from all remaining corruptions. There will no longer be a battle going on inside, no more warring of our members. We will no longer be able to sin.

We will be sinless just like Jesus. Our only desire will be to be holy, good, and righteous just like Jesus. To summarize our chapter, chapter 9 of free will, God has created man with free will. And that will is determined by the strongest inclination or motive of our heart at that moment without coercion. In each of the states of man that we covered, man's free will remains.

Man continues to choose as determined by the strongest motive of his heart in each state. In the state of sin, fallen man's heart is only inclined to be contrary to God. In the state of grace, the regenerate man's heart is inclined either to obey God or to obey his fleshly desires. In the state of glory, glorified man's only inclination is to do that which is good and well pleasing to God. Amen.