In his sermon, Eric Bechler discusses paragraph 2 of chapter 9 from the Second London Baptist Confession, focusing on free will. He explains that while man was created with the freedom and power to choose good or evil, this ability is not sufficient to achieve redemption, which requires the Holy Spirit's work. The sermon reflects on the states of man's will throughout history: innocency, sin, grace, and glory, highlighting Augustine of Hippo's framework. Bechler uses the story of Adam and Eve to illustrate that although man was created with the capacity to choose righteousness, he was unstable and chose sin, leading to the world's corruption. He emphasizes that true freedom is found in Christ alone, not in human autonomy, and encourages believers to align their wills with God's design through prayer, scripture, and godly influences.

Our reading today from the Second London Baptist Confession comes again from chapter 9 of free will. Today is paragraph 2. Man in his state of innocency had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to God, but yet was unstable so that He might fall from it. Last week we began chapter 9 of free will. I want to take a step back and look at this chapter from a broader perspective before we move on.

Chapter 8 that we just finished is was about Christ the mediator which focused on the accomplishment of our redemption by Jesus Christ. The subsequent chapters chapter 10 through 18 will cover the application of that redemption from the effectual call to the assurance of grace and salvation. So why would they put a chapter here on free will? Seems that the natural flow would be to go from Christ's accomplishment to the application of redemption. But perhaps the discussion of free will just at this point is to emphasize that even free will, our free will, with that natural liberty God grants us, is not sufficient for us to take advantage of the redemption Christ accomplished.

Our free will is not a replacement for the Holy Spirit's work in us. When God created man, He gave them a will. From our paragraph last week, we confess that God supplied that will with natural liberty and the power to act upon choice. The will is not determined to necessarily do good or evil, it's only a faculty or ability. The will is determined by the condition of your heart.

Whatever is the strongest motive at that moment is your will. It can change with time and circumstances. And if at a particular moment we prefer to sin, we sin. Let's look at an example, prayer. We all would agree prayer is a good thing.

It's important for us to spend time with Christ. It's beneficial to create such a habit for ourselves, for our wives, for our children. What a blessing it is that our children could grow up with a consistent prayer life. What a gift. And the more we do this, the sweeter it becomes.

And the more we want to pray and be with God. On the other hand, prayer takes effort. It takes time. Sometimes we're tired, stayed up too late. Sometimes we're discouraged.

And sometimes we would just rather do something else, especially when we get out of our routine, like if we take a trip or go on vacation, we'd rather sleep in or get get started quickly on some activity. Fundamentally, you will pray if that is the strongest motive in your heart at that moment. If it's not, you won't. Sadly, it's so easy to choose not to, even when you know it's good for you. Paul felt this and expressed this in his letter to the church in Rome, for I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

Romans 7, 19. So does our free will conflict with God's sovereignty? No. Human freedom is not ultimate. God is sovereign over everything, period.

But in His sovereignty, God gives us choices. He doesn't coerce or force us to choose or act. He gives us the freedom to make a choice. And we will be held responsible for that choice. We will reap what we sow.

Paul warns us, do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption but the one who sows to the spirit from the spirit reaps eternal life Galatians 6 7 through 8 The rest of this chapter today in the next three weeks focuses on the will of man in various states in which man finds himself. The state of innocency, the state of sin, the state of grace, and the state of glory.

Augustine of Hippo has presented these states in terms of man's ability to sin or not to sin. I meant to have a whiteboard up here so maybe next week I'll try to have that prepared but if you can envision four columns in a table where we have man's innocency, this would be creation to the fall, he is able to sin and he's able not to sin. This is his state of inesancy. Yes, So because God furnished the will of man with that natural ability and power of acting upon choice, Adam could choose to obey or not to obey. In the second column we look at the state of sin where we have man is able to sin and man is not able to sin.

Basically he's only able to sin. This touches on the doctrine of total depravity or total inability. In the third column, in the state of grace, where the regenerate man is able to sin and able not to sin. This places us back almost but not quite to the state of man before the fall. The difference being that Adam was righteous up into the fall.

He had no sin. The regenerate, although having the ability not to not sin, we still have a sin nature and a corruption. And finally in the state of glory, this fourth column, man is able to not sin and not able to sin. R.C. Sproul, Dr.

Sproul notes in heaven, when we are in glory, we will be free only to obey. That is what we call royal freedom, the most wonderful freedom, where our choices will only be good. We will have no inclination whatsoever to do anything wicked or evil. Our paragraph today deals with the man in the state of innocency, which again means the state from when Adam was created until the fall. We read from Genesis that God created everything which includes Adam and it was very good, Genesis 1.31.

We also read that man was made in God's image, Genesis 1.26 in Colossians 3.10. He was sinless, he was innocent, He could do what was pleasing to God. Adam had the freedom and 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 on choice Adam could choose to obey or not to obey Man had the moral ability to choose righteousness and yet man was unstable and changeable. He also had the ability to not choose righteousness but to sin.

Perhaps as a test God gave Adam a command, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Genesis 2, 16, and 17. And we all know what would happen, or what happened. Any parent has experienced the one thing you place off limits for your children is one thing they want over everything else. And it was no different in the garden. Genesis 3, 6 tells us, she took of the fruit thereof and did eat and gave also to her husband with her and he did eat.

From this sin entered the world and death from Romans 5 12 as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned. To summarize, God created man with a will without being forced to do good or evil, to obey or not to obey. As Augustine of Hippo stated, in creation we were both passe picare able to sin and passe non picare able not to sin. Man had the ability to choose and to do that which was good and while pleasing to God or not. Man was not created broken, rebellious or enslaved to sin.

He was created very good, righteous, capable of loving God freely and joyfully. Sin is not our design, it is our corruption. Ask yourself, has my will drifted from God's design? Don't treat sin as this is just who I am. Pursue holiness as restoration, not a restriction.

I would encourage you to conform your will to his. Adam lived most free when he lived under God's authority in harmony with the Creator, not in autonomy. But he was changeable and capable of failing. This means that our hopes can never really rest on human activity alone. If sinless Adam could fall, then the rest of us certainly cannot save ourselves.

Our hope cannot be in the strength of our own will, but only in the grace of Christ. It is in Christ alone that our hope is found. Are you trying to live independent of God? You'll find that it doesn't lead to more freedom. Rather, you'll become even more enslaved.

It is in Christ alone that we find freedom from the bondage of sin. If you're not striving to be closer to God to obey his commands, you'll be drifting away from him. Guard what shapes your desires. Be careful of what you immerse yourself in. If all you listen to is country music or pop music, your inclinations and dispositions will begin, perhaps, to conform more to the world.

If all you listen to is news and talk radio, you probably become depressed or not so hopeful for our future. Be intentional. Spend more time in prayer. Spend more time in God's Word. Even listen to sermons when you drive around.

Immerse yourself in godly things. And husbands, make sure your wives have this time to do that as well. They're very busy. Our choices matter. When you intentionally, intentionally to seek to honor God in your words and your deeds, you you Thank you.