Eric Bechler delivers a sermon on the concept of free will, drawing from the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession, specifically focusing on paragraph 5 of chapter 9. He explains that free will is the ability to make choices influenced by the strongest motives of the heart, which do not conflict with God's sovereignty. Bechler outlines Augustine of Hippo's chart of the four states of man: pre-fall, post-fall, regenerate, and glorified. In the glorified state, humans are perfectly free, unable, and without inclination to sin, as they are conformed to Christ's image. In contrast, the state of grace involves a conflict between the flesh and spirit, where humans can choose to sin or not. Bechler emphasizes that free will is constrained by the heart's condition and that in the glorified state, freedom means being unable to do anything against God's will. He concludes by encouraging believers to strive for sanctification through Jesus and the Holy Spirit, as struggles in the present are incomparable to future glory.

Our reading today from the London Baptist Confession comes again today from chapter 9. Today is paragraph 5 of free will. This will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to good, alone in the state of glory only. Okay, this is our last week of free will. 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 of our heart at that moment. It is what you will choose, and it can change with time and circumstances, but it does not conflict with God's sovereignty. God in His sovereignty gives us choices and we are ultimately held responsible for those choices or actions. Today we focus on the last state in Augustine of Hippo's chart, the state of glory. I remember to bring the chart out.

These are the four categories here. Man before the fall, natural man after the fall, the regenerate man, and the glorified man. In the state of glory, man is able not to sin and not able to sin. Every inclination of our heart and this state of glory will be for God to obey Him, to praise Him. We will have no inclination to choose evil.

Why call it glory? Well, because it will be glorious. We shall see Christ in all his glory. We shall see him as he is. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes.

There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. The old order of things will have passed away. Revelation 21 for before the fall, Adam's will was mutable or changeable. It was unstable. Our will in the state of glory will be immutable or unchangeable.

It will be stable and we fixed to righteousness alone. We will be made perfect. We will be conformed to the image of His Son. Last week we focused on man's free will in the state of grace, where we are able to have a desire in our hearts to please God, and at the same time still have a desire for the flesh. This causes, of course, a conflict, a battle within us between the flesh and the spirit.

And Paul describes this in Galatians 5.17. For the flesh lust 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. But in the state of glory we will be freed from all remaining corruptions. The conflict will be over.

We will be completely unable to sin. There will no longer be a battle going on inside, no more warring in our members. Not only will we be free from the bondage of sin, we won't even be able to sin. The only inclination again of our heart will be to do that which is good and well-pleasing to God. The glorified man is made perfect.

He's blameless and unable to stumble or do anything detestable or false. But I want to make sure that we understand what we mean when we speak of free will. Just the name can cause us to misunderstand what it means free will. Usually when we speak of free we have the idea of no constraints, no limits. If you are free you have the ability to do whatever you want.

In our country, we have a strong focus on freedom. We are a free people. We have the right, the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. We have so many opportunities because of these freedoms. If you want to drive to the beach, you're free to get in your car and drive.

If you want to start a business, you fill out some forms and you start your business. If you want to yell fire in a crowded theater, You can stand up and yell fire in a theater. You're free to do that. There will be consequences though with that freedom. You will be held responsible.

You might weigh the pros and cons of these choices. You might be faced with choosing the lesser of two evils, but it still comes down to your choice, your free choice. Ultimately your will is going to be determined by the strongest inclination of your heart at that moment. But That inclination, that desire, that desire is constrained by the condition of your heart, by the state of nature you're in. Let's summarize where we've been on this chart to help us understand that.

Adam and Eve, they were the only ones in the state of innocency. They were righteous. There was no corruption in their heart. There was no inner conflict going on in their members. They were free to choose, to sin or to not sin.

But after the fall, and because of the fall, man was no longer righteous. He could no longer choose to do any spiritual good. He had free will, but the strongest desire of his heart was never to do what was pleasing to God. Although he was free and he could freely sin, he was totally unable not to sin. Again, his will was free, but was constrained by the corruption of his heart, of his desires.

Now in the state of grace, once again, we are given a new heart. We're regenerated. We can now choose to sin or to not sin. We're able to do either. But here in this state, we aren't righteous like Adam and Eve were before the fall.

We have a sin nature. We have a constant battle between the old man and the new, between the things of the flesh and the things of the spirit. Our will is still free, but as before, we will only choose the strongest desire of our heart at that moment. Sometimes the strongest desire is to obey God. Sometimes the strongest desire is to sin.

In either case, we're not coerced and we're not forced. We're still free to choose. And then finally in the state of glory, we will no longer sin. We'll no longer have any desire to sin. Our will is still free, but we only want to obey God.

We only want to please God. We're in a state where we are totally unable to do otherwise, yet our will is still free. We find ourselves in that state of grace where the battle rages within us, for us today. What can we do? We can strive to be more like Jesus.

We can immerse ourselves in the things of God. We can pray that God would strengthen us and help us. But don't think you can do this alone. I can't. You can't.

We can try, but it's not going to go well. We need to turn to Jesus. We need to focus on the cross. It's only through Christ and only through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can win those daily battles against the flesh and grow in our sanctification. Be encouraged.

The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed. Amen. You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you Thank you.