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Sunday night services. I'm skipping around a little bit here and there because of my schedule. I'd like to be in the attributes of God, but until I get there, we're just having some kind of potpourri messages.
And I thought I would talk about doctrines that when you're first a Christian, or maybe even if you're a seasoned Christian, that kind of rub you the wrong way. They might rub you the wrong way because you think man-centeredly.
They might rub you the wrong way because you've never occurred. These things have never occurred. And so I'm going to call this stomach-turning truths. And this morning someone said since I was the Southern Baptist in alliteration with the word, wisdom, wish, wait, and worship, that I should be calling tonight's sermon, instead of stomach-twisting, stomach-turning truths, that they should be tummy-turning truths.
And so for those of you that want that alliteration, that's as far as we'll go tonight. But I want us to be able to think biblically. You don't have to agree with me on all these issues tonight, but I want you to try to say to yourself, if in fact this is true from the scriptures, why don't I believe it?
Or you could say to yourself, if this is true from the scriptures and I believe it, the only reason I believe it is because God has opened my mind so I might believe it. And so these are just some things that I'm going to try to push the envelope.
So you'll have to say to yourselves, well, that does turn my stomach. I don't like that. You may think emotionally, you may think viscerally, you may think traditionally, but I want you to get mad enough that you'll study the Bible so you can prove me wrong.
Mad is a relative term. I'd actually like, if I'm correct tonight, for you to just be humble and change your mind. And a synonym for changing your mind is what? To repent. If you think anything about God that's wrong, it's idolatry.
If you think anything about the Bible that's wrong, it's sinful. And so we want to just think biblically. And so these are offensive doctrines, especially for a new Christian, because they've come out of this pagan, self-centered world, this kind of knee-works-righteousness world, this merit and tradition, and this is my religion that I came out of.
And then when you give them these truths, sometimes it shocks them. So tonight I might go for a little shock value. I never do that regularly, but tonight I may do that. And when we talk to new Christians, though, what I want you to do is I want you to gently bring them along.
And if you want to shock for provocative nature, shock them, then come alongside, as it were, with your arm around them to teach them these truths. Okay? And so I'm going to give you several truths. I have maybe 10 or 12.
I think I'll get through about 4 or 5 tonight. Who knows? But we'll just do a few tonight, and then we'll pick it up next time I'm in the pulpit on Sunday night. You know what? Let's do it this way. What would you say are some hard truths to digest for a Christian?
And then let's see if mine match up. Okay? Just go ahead and raise your hand and just tell me. All right. John? Limited atonement. That Jesus died for the elect only and not each and every person that was ever born.
That is a tough truth. Scott? Free will. Do people really have free will? What is free will? Bury. Reprobation. To what degree does God damn or does God allow people to make their own decisions and then God passes over?
Reprobation. Okay, very difficult. Bruce? Predestination, election, God's sovereign choice over nations and individuals. Very, very difficult. Yes? Mike? Affectual calling. So do people have free will to believe or does God call them in such a way that they will come?
So that's almost the flip side. If heads would be free will in salvation, effectual calling would be tails or vice versa. Okay, yes? Sanctification. And what part would be difficult regarding that, Kelly?
Okay, well, you know what? Yes, and to be fair, you can get a book called, not you, but you can get a book called Five Views of Sanctification, where some people think it's a zap and they speak in tongues and are more sanctified.
Some people think there's ways to put off sin. Some Kesicks would think that you can stop sinning completely on earth. Some Wesleyans believe that as well. And so what is sanctification? Certainly be a controversial topic.
Okay, good. Anyone else? What would be a hard truth to digest? And you think you get a phone call in the middle of the night. Hey, could we get together tomorrow, discipleship partner? And I've got a couple of questions for you.
And then they say, you say, well, what's the question? So I could prepare ahead of time. And then they say, Dave. Okay, what about babies, the eternal state of babies who die in infancy? Okay, Steve. Suffering.
How does God allow suffering? Nyada. Okay, do our spiritual... What spiritual gifts are for today and which ones have ceased as the canon was put together? Okay, Dave. Sovereignty of God versus man's responsibility and duty.
Okay, good. You've got many of those that I picked. Pat. The doctrine of hell is very, very difficult. Yes. Yes. Okay. Are you born again by God's act alone? God's act through your act? Is it monergistic?
Is it synergistic? Et cetera, et cetera. Okay, good. This is a pretty... Yeah, Luke. Pardon me? Judgment. Just judgment in general. A judgment... Pardon me? God's judgment. So how does God judge Christians on that day where he doesn't judge our sins, but judge what we have done, whether they're good or worthless?
2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. And then ultimate judgment for sinners. Yes. Savior. Yes, but is he Lord and what does that mean? Here's the Lord, the King of the universe, and what are the implications of Lordship salvation?
Very, very difficult. All right, just a few more, but this is kind of fun. This is what you do if you don't really have a sermon ready. You just kind of stall. If truth be told, I have about 100 pages and I'll probably only need 30 tonight, so I've got plenty.
Yes. Justification by faith alone. How are we declared righteous in God's eyes? Is that actually what the text teaches, or does God give us some kind of righteousness whereby we become more righteous?
Good. Carol? That we are totally sinful. It's a very difficult one. If I wrote the Bible, if men wrote the Bible, I don't think they would have such a strict accounting of man's sin. All right, a couple more.
Michael? Okay, pretty much the same thing. Sinfulness, total depravity. Is that utter depravity? Is that complete depravity? Is everything depraved but the will? What happened at the fall? Difficult. Yes, Kelly?
Pardon me? Submitting to your husband. I think for tonight, let's just go straight to the top there. I laugh about it, but one of my answers is going to be this whole idea of women's roles and men's role.
When you first become a Christian, Kelly, I totally agree with you that it is hard for people to say, Oh, yes, I believe the gospel. I believe I'm a sinner. I believe in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.
I believe in his perfect life. I believe in his soon return. And then now you're going to tell me that my life that I've lived at work, at school, at home, that there's a pecking order and there's functional differences and we're equal in Christ but my husband's over me.
That is a hard truth for very new Christians. And so I definitely agree, all joking aside. Anyone else? All right. How does the deity of Christ and the humanity of Christ go together? And what does it mean when Jesus learned and grew in wisdom and stature and knowledge in the Lord?
How could he really be fully man if he could not sin? Could he have sinned? All those issues. Good. I think you need to come to the IBS class. Yes. The Trinity? Okay, three in one. What do we do? Back to the Trinity where if you can understand it, you're a God and if you deny it, you're not a Christian.
It's a very difficult doctrine. All right. One last one. Yes. Okay, and anything in particular about angels and demons? Okay, good. What are the implications of the fallen angels? Did the angels sin pre-Genesis 1 .1, Genesis 1 .1 before 1 .2, after 1 .2, after Genesis 1 .31?
What does it mean? Where are they now? What about Genesis chapter 6 where you've got these sons of men and cohabitation with these people? And did it create this hybrid of this demon people race, etc., etc.?
That's an easy one. I ask for hard ones, congregation. Excellent question. All right, I said one last one, but I try to operate on mercy once in a while. So go ahead, Michael. Okay, the kingdom. Is the kingdom now manifest itself in heaven?
Does the kingdom manifest itself in the church's heart? There's a kingdom, a literal kingdom that's to come, and there's many difficult subjects to deal with. I've got a lot of those covered, but let's just go to the top of my list, number one.
The first stomach-churning truth that I have tonight, especially difficult for new Christians, or Christians that haven't been taught, is this, that God hates the sinner and the sin. We have a little slogan.
Our slogan says in Christianity that God hates the sin, but He what? Loves the sinner. Now, let's just turn to Psalm chapter 5, please. And so what I'd like to do is not just to throw these things out, but I want to walk through these things with you from Scripture, and then I want to tell you why I think it's important for us to know these truths.
This is not for Bible trivia's sake. How much do I know about the Bible, and can I beat my friends on Friday night game night kind of thing? Although I'm glad for Friday night game nights. It doesn't have to have Bible questions asked.
But this is not just for knowledge. This is for knowledge that will yield itself into shoe leather, so we can understand who God is, and then maybe do something about it as well. I don't believe you can separate the sin from the sinner.
God will not see, oh, this is the sinful person. Here's his sin over here. You will see God. Look at people, one organic whole. So much so, if you look at Psalm 5 .5, the boastful shall not stand before your eyes.
The psalmist speaking to the Lord. You hate all who do iniquity. Does anybody have a different translation than the New American Standard? You hate all who do iniquity. Yes, Louis. You hate all evildoers.
Anyone else? You all hate all workers of iniquity. Would you think it fair in a simple reading, in a blue-collar reading, in a fifth-grade reading level, that if someone says God hates the sinner and the sin, can you show me where that's found?
I go to Psalm 5 .5. God hates all who do iniquity. And it goes on to say in verse 6, you destroy those who speak falsehood. The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. Certainly, it is a holy hatred.
It is a just hatred. It is a hatred that is balanced by other attributes, yes. But what is true is true. Go to chapter 7 of Psalms as well. Psalm 7 .11. I don't want to be too cute with memory, but I always think of Psalm 5 .5 like 55 miles an hour, and then Psalm 7 .11 for all the obvious reasons, just to try to help me remember.
Psalm 7 .11, and remember, originally there weren't any numbers. God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day. If man does not repent, verse 12, he will sharpen his sword. He has bent his bow and made it ready.
He's ready to shoot his judgment, as it were, to the unrepentant. He has also prepared for himself deadly weapons. He makes his arrows fiery shafts. So, just a quick reading of Scripture, God hates not only the sin, but he doesn't somehow disconnect it, for philosophy students here, in some kind of neo-Platonic dualistic way, spirit good, body bad.
God sees us as one, and God sees this one person, body, soul, mind, strength, everything that we have for a component, the spiritual aspect, the physical aspect, and we are by nature and by deed sinful, and God has wrath towards the sinner.
Turn with me to Romans chapter 5, if you will, and I want to just try to develop this a little bit more, and I'm going to go here for a reason, because it's all going to point to how great is the Lord, who can figure out how to take a just holy hatred, and still save people like us.
And you imagine, before you're saved, or if you're not a Christian tonight, God hates you. Who would ever preach like that? That's not how you get people into church, but that is supposed to be said, so you will say, I've got a problem, and my problem is that I'm mad at God.
God, how could you take my mother? How could you take my friend? How could you do this to my family member? How could you? I hate you. That is not the right question. It's to be flipped around, and to think in God's holy universe, in His beauty, in His perfection, here is this rebel, we were the rebels if we were Christians now, or if you're not a Christian, you are the rebel, shaking your fist in a thrice holy God's face, saying, how could you make me like that?
And it is God who has enmity toward that person. There's a problem, and Jesus is the solution, but if you go to Romans 5, verse 1, wonderful language that Paul gives us here, so we can understand the benefits of justification by faith alone.
We'll get into chapter 3 and 4, another question, but right now, just jumping into chapter 5, verse 1, therefore, having been justified by faith, what are the benefits of this great justification by faith alone?
We have peace in our hearts with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Is that correct? There's two different kinds of peace. The first peace in the Scripture is the kind of peace that after you pray and say, God, I know you're at hand, Philippians 4, I know you know me, and I'm anxious, and so please take away my anxiety, and I'm going to be praying, and God grants us this peace that passes all what?
Understanding, there is a subjective internal peace, but this is not the internal subjective peace. This is objective. This is Afghanistan fighting Pakistan. I don't know if they're fighting, it doesn't matter, but let's just say they are.
We have peace with God. There was war going on, the opposite of peace. Maybe some man directed towards God, but more God directed towards man as the Creator directs His anger and His enmity towards the rebellious creature, but here, because of justification, because of Christ's perfect life, credited to our account, our sins credited to Christ's account, Christ raised from the dead, now we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
It's right at the top of the list out of all the benefits of justification. Reconciliation to God. Peace is right at the top. What an amazing thing. Colossians 1 says, For it is God's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
And if you go down to verse 9, not only is there peace and many other things, but for sake of time tonight, verse 9 of Romans 5, talks about this joy we can have because Jesus has secured our final salvation.
And He uses a neat argument, a much more argument, verse 9, much more than, Having now been justified by His vicious sacrificial death, His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. That wrath is not just a general wrath, by the way.
That wrath was abiding on people because they were enemies, yes? That was that Romans 1 kind of, this wrath of God is being revealed now, where people go, there's no Creator, I don't care, men with men, women with women, all kinds of scurrilous acts going on.
We're saved from that kind of wrath through Jesus. And look at the argument. Verse 10, isn't this wonderful? If you know how bad you are, you know how great Christ's salvation is. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God.
Can you imagine, you were an enemy, and now reconciled to God, made friends. If God does that while you're an enemy, how do you think He'll treat you as a friend? That's the argument. If He does this for enemies, what will He do for His friend?
Having much more been reconciled, shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but verse 11, we also exalt in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.
Paul's argument is a greater to the lesser argument. If God has saved you when you're an enemy, He'll certainly finish the job and get you all the way to heaven. So, first of all, Psalm 5 .5. Second of all, Romans chapter 5, enmity.
And then one last verse, let's look up. Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9, let's go there. And I just want to try to prove that the Bible teaches that there is a just, holy hatred of sin that can only be dealt with by Christ reconciling work.
And if God was just a little perturbed, if God was just a little bugged, we wouldn't need Christ's death. But if He was at war with us, then we're going to need someone to come in and make a peace treaty.
So, what am I trying to prove? I'm trying to prove that God rightly hates. And so we need to realize, I think we should teach the new Christian about this so they would realize their great salvation. Romans chapter 9, verse 10.
Well, let's just look at verse 13. Just as it is written, Jacob I love, but Esau I what? You would not believe what people try to do with that. Oh, he loved less, he did this, this is a nation. Let's go back up to verse 10.
Let's go to verse 10. How can you have a God who hates turn to a God who loves? It's all because of Christ. It's the magnification of the bounties of Christ Jesus. That's why we talk this way. Romans chapter 9, verse 10.
God sovereignly chose Jacob and did not choose Esau. It pleased Him divinely. And not only this verse 10, but there was Rebekah also when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac. For though the twins were not yet born, can you imagine?
And had not done anything good or bad. Why? So that God's purpose, according to His choice, His choice would stand. Not because of works, but because of Him who calls. It is said to her, the older will serve the younger.
That's backwards. Just as it is written, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. This is pre-prenatal talk. Why? So God's purpose, verse 11, of His choice would stand. God did not elect Esau for His perfect purposes.
Why isn't all Israel saved, Paul is asking in Romans 9? Because God didn't choose all Israel to be saved. It's of God. Paul says God can do whatever He wants with His creatures. True? Whatever God wants to do with His fallen creatures, He can do it.
And God can choose some Jews for salvation and pass over others. Absolutely. And you go, well, what should we say to that? Oh, I'm glad you asked, verse 14. What should we say then? I know what you want to say because I want to say it too.
Every sinful human wants to say this. If you love and hate before the womb, what then shall we say? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be. Paul anticipates, like a good lawyer, this kind of questioning.
And he's going to bring to the surface, I know there's pride in you, I know there's this ire, this pride that fleshes itself out, it's prejudicial thinking. You say, well, there's no injustice with God.
God is not unjust, God is not arbitrary, God is not Republican, God is not Democrat. You can't put God's fairness on trial. God does something and it is by definition just. Hey, God, if you're righteous, you've got to choose everybody.
Hey, God, if you're righteous, you've got to choose based on who they are, what they've done, and how good they're going to be. People hate these verses so much that they've tried to say Paul didn't write them.
Can you imagine? They've gone to say, these verses in Romans 9 that I just read cannot be in the Bible because they are immoral. Is there any unrighteousness with God? The answer implied in the Greek text is no.
The judge of the universe does write. In Adam, Esau was guilty. In Adam, Jacob, guilty. No salvation except by grace. Paul doesn't even downplay the idea of divine election. He pushes it to the forefront and says in verse 15, do you see it?
For he said to Moses, or he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. I'll be concerned about some in need when I want, and not concerned about some in need when I want.
So verse 16 says, since all truth has an inference, and in the inference of this truth is, so then it does not depend on the man who wills, or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. It just follows.
If God chooses before you're born, it depends on his mercy. It also depends on verse 18, so then he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. Friends, when you have a brand new Christian, and they have the slogan, God hates the sin, but loves the sinner.
That is true, and we're going to get to this a little bit later, in the sense that there is a love that God has for sinful people, but there's also a hatred. Now I have a question for you, congregation.
Should you love the sinner and hate the sin? What about you? If God has a prerogative to both love and hate the sinner at the same time, then what about you? Are we to love and hate the sinner at the same time, or are we ought to just love the sinner and hate the sin that they do?
Anybody? Paying attention? Steve? Absolutely. So what I'm trying to say is what God can do at his own good pleasure is not necessarily what we can always do. And so God says, hate the sin, love the sinful people.
God himself not only hates the sinner, but loves the sinner so much that he sends Jesus Christ to be a sacrifice on the behalf of sinful human beings. Bruce? I'd close in prayer is what I'd do. Well, certainly there's a righteous indignation, and there's sometimes a seething hatred that is very good.
I tend to think too often our righteous indignation is in fact some kind of bitter thinking. And so I think if we say to ourselves, I've got a neighbor and they're an unbeliever and they're in sin, and I don't think our heart should be hatred.
But I think if they're leading some organization and the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses and people are saying Jesus isn't God and all these kind of things, I think we start turning towards, you know, I hate what these people are doing, and God give me a heart to go befriend them, et cetera.
So give me the verse, Bruce, 139 what? Just so I can read it out loud. Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord? Do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with the uttermost hatred. They have become my enemies.
Search me, O God, and know my heart. Isn't it interesting that he says that after verse 22? Try me and know my anxious thoughts and see if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in an everlasting way.
Maybe I could talk about it this way. When we see people who know they have a need, when they know they're not sinless, when they know they're unrighteous, our Lord and Savior was very kind and calm and would eat with them.
Remember what a big deal it was to eat with people back in that culture? And so he wasn't condoning their sin. He wasn't celebrating their sin, but he was loving the sinful people. He knew these people needed a doctor.
They knew they needed a doctor. But the Pharisees, what did Jesus do in Matthew 23? Whoa, whoa, whoa. And so when I meet people who think they're righteous, then my mode is a little bit different. So we'll see both in our lives and in God's life, there is a hatred and a love that can be manifest even at the same time, hating the enemy of Christ yet still loving them and wanting them to be saved.
And I think you're very wise to bring up Psalm 139. All right, I didn't want to take this long for one answer. Let's go really, really quick. Number two, God ordained sin. God ordained sin. Does that sound funny to you?
God ordained sin. Can I make it a little less hard for you? How about God causes sin? No, Mike, that sounds worse. All right, man, make it easy. How about God permits sin? God allows sin? Why don't we turn to Acts 2 and Acts 4 very specifically?
I don't know how you want to go and phrase this, but if you don't think the plan of God contains sin, then your God can't control the entrance of sin into the universe. God has one decree, and that decree has no flowcharts, and that decree is happening before our very eyes.
And that decree is God has ordained sin in that decree. He didn't have to do it. He would have still been gracious and merciful and long-suffering and forgiving, yet there would be no objects to receive that.
And one thing we have to remember is that even though God is totally sovereign over all history, I will accomplish all my good pleasure, Isaiah 46 .10. Yet God specifically shows us in his text, Acts 2 and Acts 4, that God's plan includes sin.
Say it however you want to. I want to make sure you say it with an eye towards protecting God's holiness, his goodness, that he wouldn't tempt people. But God himself says that he ordains it. So we have a lot of work to do with these new Christians who think, that just doesn't sound right.
Acts 2 .22, Peter's preaching, men of Israel, listen to these words. I love the way he preaches. Boy, you can just feel the Nathan-like finger stretching right out towards you. Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst.
Just as you yourself know, this man, verse 23, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put him to death. Was the crucifixion planned before time began?
Was the crucifixion sinful? Did the people who crucified Jesus sin? The answer is yes. Here we have the Lamb of God that was slain before the foundation of the world. You say, I still don't believe it.
Chapter 4, verse 27. This was not some kind of caught Jesus by surprise. He was on this zealous kind of mission as a Messiah and had a complex and got caught up in the whole thing. This was planned every second, every day, every hour.
Jesus set his face towards Jerusalem. It had to happen, and it had to happen this way. He was not the one having things done to him. He was the initiator. Acts 4 .27, you know these verses well. For truly in the city there were gathered together against thy holy servant Jesus, whom thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel.
They were all involved, to do whatever thy hand and thy purpose predestined to occur. You say, is Jesus' death ordained? Absolutely, it's ordained. And you say, God can't be tempted by evil and He doesn't tempt anyone.
I realize that. That's true. You say, God is light and in Him there's no darkness at all. That is true. Here's the question that you can't answer and neither can I. How can God ordain evil and not be blamed?
The answer is found in the infinite mind of God. But if you take the opposite view, God is going to not allow these things in, then you've got a God who can't know the future. Because if He knew the future, He wouldn't let those things happen.
Or you've got a God who either doesn't know the future, or He's not powerful enough to do something about it. Choose your poison. Do you take a God who doesn't know the future, who's not powerful to control the future, or do you take a God who says, I can take the worst thing that's ever done in the history of mankind, the crucifixion of Christ Jesus, the blameless one, and turn it into good, the salvation of all those who I choose, and it would redound to my glory forever and ever and ever.
Sin is ordained by God. He will triumph over that evil. If you want to say permit, fine. But permit isn't the language used here. It's predestined. If you want to say allow, fine. But that's not the language of Acts chapter 2.
It is foreknown. It is predestined. It has to happen. And that's not looking down the corridor of time and see what would happen. That language doesn't have anything to do with that. All right. While we're hurrying up, let me give you the next one.
Number three. Number three. This is one of my favorite things to talk about. Not too fun sometimes. Cause you to have fights with your friends. But still very interesting. And I think if you understand it, you'll give more glory to God.
Truth. Number three. There's no such thing as free will. I don't know why I have this pick in my hand. There's no such thing as free will as commonly defined. You either believe in free grace or free will.
I wonder which one would work out better. You see, it's not a big deal. I love Luther because he never made an overstatement. Here's what Luther said. Those people who are not interested in this issue shall know nothing whatever of Christian matters.
And shall be far behind all the people of the earth. He that does not feel this, let him confess that he's no Christian. Now I think he's exaggerating a little bit. But he says if you're not concerned with free will or free grace, you're not even a Christian.
Here's the question. Has God made anything that he can't control? B .B. Warfield said if you make something and you can't control it, you're called a monster. A la Frankenstein. I've made something and I can't control it.
What creator makes something and can't control what he's made? It's chaos. So let's take a look quickly at what the people during the Reformation called the manifesto of the Reformation. Justification by faith alone is very important.
But so too was the issue of the will. Who could define for me free will? Because there's a free will that's true and there's a free will that's not true. But most people today have the wrong view of free will and that's what I'm after.
If you had to define free will, you would say free will is... What would you say? Michael. What do you mean by that? Okay. Good. Louis. Okay. Good. I like that. Scott. Okay. Did Adam have a kind of free will?
Alright. Was it ordained for Adam to fall? Could he have said no? Alright. Let's keep going. Dave. That's the definition of free will. Yes. The free will definition these days is that unbelievers alone...
We're not talking about if I can decide to pick this watch up or not. We're talking about unbelievers. Do they have the capacity and the ability to choose God or not to choose God? That's what people tend to think free will is.
That they have this choice. If free will is the mind choosing based on the nature, I don't have that big a problem. But we'll get to that in a second. Let's go back to what I think Louis said or someone just said.
Free from other influences. Number one. Let me just give you three quick sub points. Are unbelievers free from Satan's influences? Let's go there quickly. Just real fast. 2 Timothy chapter 2. Are unbelievers free from Satan's influences?
So what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to carve away at the roots of this idea of free. And I'm going to try to get you to think that the fall and Satan have restricted people's will. And we need someone else to come in and give us free grace.
Because otherwise, if left to ourselves, we'll never ever choose God. Because the fall was complete. Let's go to 2 Timothy chapter 2 verse 25. Once I read this verse, I no longer ever believed in free will again in my life.
And I challenge you, if you believe in free will for an unbeliever or as an unbeliever, then what do you do with this verse? This verse just totally destroys people's idea that it's free from outside influences.
With gentleness, Paul's talking to Timothy on how to be a good pastor. Correcting those in opposition. If perhaps God may grant them repentance, he may or he may not. Leading to the knowledge of the truth.
Saving knowledge of the truth. That they may come to their senses. That's what we want unbelievers to do. Come to their sins and escape from the snare of the devil. You can think of a snare and a bait and this trap.
We want them to be rescued from the snare of the devil. To what degree does the devil ensnare them and enslave them? Having been held captive by him to do his will. Is the his God? Is the his the people?
Or is the his Satan? Unbelievers do Satan's will. The bad news is they think they have free will. What a perfect pawn. What a perfect dupe. What a perfect thing. Wrongly perfect. I read this verse and say, how can some unbeliever tell me that they believe in free will?
Their will has been affected by Satan's will and unbelievers do Satan's will. Can anyone argue with that? I don't think you can. That's why Jesus said in John 8 .44, You are of the father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of yourself.
No, of your father. All right, let me ask you another question. That's external influence. I don't think the will is free from external influences after the fall. How about free from internal influences?
Is an unbeliever free from their own sinful desires? Well, let's turn there to 2 Peter 2. No, let's go to Romans 6. Let's go to Romans 6. I just have to move a little faster. How many have I done so far?
Is this number 3 or number 4? Oh, come on. We got to do at least 4. Come on. Let's just go fast. Romans 6. Free from the outside and Satan's influence and Satan's will? No. Free from their own indwelling sin?
No. Romans 6 .16. Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey? Either of sin resulting in death or of obedience resulting in righteousness.
You're a slave of sin or you're a slave of obedience. Take your point. Take your poison. If I could quote the old Bob Dylan song, Everybody's got to serve somebody. That great theologian Bob Dylan. Verse 17.
But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of what? Sin. An unbeliever has been enslaved by Satan's will and they are enslaved to their what? In what sense is an unbeliever free? From their own sin that influences their mind?
No. From Satan's controlling influence? No. So I tell you and ask you the question, How can an unbeliever be free? Can an unbeliever be free from the world's influence? Formally walked according to the course of this world?
No. By the way, I can't stop in verse 17 halfway through because it's so wonderful to show you the gospel there. The greatness of God and transformation. But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.
And having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Everybody's a slave. Free to serve God now. But the real big question is this. Unbelievers are not free from Satan's influence. Unbelievers are not free from their own sin.
And unbelievers are not free from God's will. Proverbs chapter 19. This should really force the issue. And you say, well, you know what, that makes me a robot. What do you mean that makes me a robot? I think it makes you clay in the potter's hands.
This is nothing about robots. Unbelievers make decisions. They exercise their choice as an unbeliever. And their choice is always what? Sin. They freely choose sin as much as they want because their nature is sinful.
But any kind of free choice that says, I will love God who I used to hate, and I'm going to do that on my own is impossible. God intervenes in the human will that is enslaved to sin and enslaved to Satan.
By the way, if you have a friend or a loved one who's not saved, they're a slave to Satan and a slave to their own sin, and they would never ever be saved by your ingenuity, by their own gumption. The only way they could be saved is the way that God saved you, and that is by the eternal decree of God exercised by Jesus Christ coming in and knocking down those bars of Satan, the world, and sin, and saving them.
There's hope when we look at who God is. Let me just push the issue. I know I'm going quickly, but how about this? Who here prays for their unbelieving loved ones to get saved? Then you don't believe in free will.
God, I want you to save my brother-in-law, that dirty scoundrel of a guy. And I want you to arrange things in such a way that you don't try to work on his heart or open his heart or somehow kind of negate Satan's influences, the world's influences, his own influences.
Of his own self, I want you to arrange the world that he would figure it out on his own and he would come to faith on his own. Is that how you pray? You pray what? God invade this man's heart. That's exactly how you pray.
You say, well, the heart is untouchable because otherwise God is forcing us to love Him. And what kind of love is that? That is just a wrong way to think about it. God doesn't force you to love Him. He changes your heart by His own free will and then you freely love Him.
Who's forced to love God? Nobody. He gives you a new nature and now you do what your new nature wants to do, love God. The will is not some holy of holies that God can't touch. Look at Proverbs 19 .21.
Many are the plans in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord, it will stand. How about Proverbs 16 .9? Go back a few chapters. Nowhere in the Scriptures does somehow we have this idol of free will there, this island of righteousness.
By the way, is free will in the Bible at all? There is a place where free will is found. Yes, Michael? Free will offering. Absolutely. But in terms of anything else, it's not there. Proverbs 16 .9. The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.
What does that tell you? Is this man who plans his way free from God intervening to direct his steps? The answer is no. And then lastly, and you better be glad for this come November 4th if your guy doesn't win, Proverbs 21 .1.
I don't know who your guy is. I have a feeling I might know, but I like my tax-exempt status, thank you. Why would a preacher use a pulpit to talk about politics? That is ridiculous. Make sure you're here next Sunday for my sermon on Romans 13.
It's not about politics, though. It's how to respond properly to what goes on in government and how the worst government is better than anarchy. Proverbs 21 .1. The king's heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord.
He turns it wherever he wishes as long as the king says it's okay. We're talking about the creator of the universe and the creature. He turns that heart whichever way he wishes, any way he wishes, always as he wishes.
If you remember a person's nature and a person's will, you'll get this forever and always. If a person has an unbelieving nature, they always make choices out of that unbelieving nature. So God has to come along and change that unbelieving nature so they make real choices from that nature.
That's the key. That is the key. God changes his will and the man chooses God. And you say, you know what? That's not right. That's unjust. Well, let me quote R .C. Sproul since I just said hello to him a few days ago.
What does an unsaved person desire? Does an unsaved person in and of himself have a desire for Christ? Answer? Fallen men don't have desires for Christ so we need God to regenerate, to God to give the new birth.
They're in bondage to sin. Have you ever met anybody in your life who said, I've come to Jesus Christ and recognized Him as God and Savior without the power of the Holy Spirit? Of course not. Turn to John 1 and then we've got to go to the next one and we've got to get done.
John 1. If you still believe that the will of God, free will, is what chooses God or denies God, then I turn you to James 1 where He chose to give us birth. The list could go on and on. 1 Peter 1, God has given us new birth.
Or I could just quickly go to John 1, verse 12 and 13, and here we'll quickly see that it's not someone's will who's saved. Good thing because it's tainted by the fall. We will see that God doesn't talk about robots.
God does not talk about some kind of puppet on a string. God says, your nature is enslaved and so I have to give you a new nature, sovereignly, selectively. And here we see John 1, verse 12. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe His name.
Comma, who are born not of blood nor born of the will of the flesh. Why? Because the will of the flesh is enslaved to sin, the world, and to Satan, nor of the will of man but of God's will. It is God's will to save people.
And Jesus knew it when He said, and you are unwilling to come to Me that you may have life. So do we believe in choices? Yes. But we don't believe in a will that's somehow free to choose Christ Jesus without any external influence of God.
All right, last one, quickly. Stomach turning truth number four. This is the first time I sat in a church and they did this. I didn't think it was too good. I didn't like it. I kind of thought it was a little over the top, and then now I do the same thing.
As a pastor, I do it. Stomach turning truth number four. False teachers should often be called out by name from the pulpit. You hear me talk about this all the time. There's an old principle that maybe you grew up with.
If you have nothing good to say about somebody, you shouldn't say anything. Is that true for an elder? Don't criticize anybody from the pulpit. Why don't you turn with me to, just quickly, 2 Timothy. And I'm going to show you eight people by name that Paul named.
Now Paul didn't say name people by name from the pulpit, but it's certainly inferred, and it is also something that elders ought to do is they ought to warn people when there's bad things that they're attracted to or that they might eat or that they might buy into.
If evil men and imposters are growing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived, then we ought to name names. Even the beloved John in 3 John said, Deatrophies, he wants to be in the front, he wants to be first place.
He doesn't believe what we say. But if you quickly go to 2 Timothy 1, look at some of these names that we find here, and Paul names them. I'm sure it hurt him. I'm sure he wasn't happy. I'm sure this is not what gave him his thrill in life.
But he was a good shepherd, and he was a steward, and he was under the authority of Christ Jesus. And he knew as a shepherd, when wolves come, you deal with them. You don't want to deal with them, but you have to deal with them.
So let me just show you quickly eight names in 2 Timothy as an illustration of people whose belly is their desire, whose end is their destruction, whose God is their belly rather, and whose glory is in their shame.
Verse 15, You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from Me? Can you imagine the Apostle Paul saying that? He must have been heartbroken. Among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. Chapter 2, verse 17.
Oh, these guys were bad. They talked worldly. They had empty chatter. It wasn't going to lead to any godliness at all. And it says, verse 17,. Can you imagine if God said this about an unbeliever, about a false teacher, and their talk will spread like what?
Can you imagine? You can just get that vivid picture of gangrene, and that dead flesh. I can smell the gangrene from here, for those of you that have seen that dead, necrotic, gangrenous flesh. Their talk will spread like gangrene.
Among them are two guys. You know who they are, but I won't mention them. He didn't do that, did he? Hymenaeus and Philetus. Chapter 3. You'd think he would couch it in better terms, in kinder terms. You'd think that he'd say, you know, they're really good.
They've got good motives. But he doesn't say that at all. He says, all right. You know, you'd think one by name would be good, and then now we come up here to chapter 3, verse 8, for the fifth and sixth names.
2 Timothy 3, verse 8. He talked earlier in verse 6 about those who enter households and captivate weak women, weighed down by sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
They know a lot, but it's not saving knowledge. Just as Janus and Jambres, two names. They weren't current, but these older names, these naming names opposed Moses. These men also opposed the truth. That's what unbelieving false teachers do.
They oppose the truth, and we have to stand up for the sake of the Lord as a good soldier, as a good shepherd. Men of depraved mind. Their minds were made to worship God, and they don't do it. Just as Janus and Jambres' folly was also, it says of them, down in verse 9.
They reject the faith. Everything's upside down. Two more quick names. Verse 10 of chapter 4. You know this person. For Demas, having loved the present world, has deserted me. And then the worst one maybe of all, verse 14.
Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. The Lord will repay him according to his deeds. I don't think pastors should get up every single week and say, here's the latest heretic on TV, watch out. But occasionally when the congregation is influenced by someone, I think we need to talk.
You say, well, pastor, you know, I think you talk too much about those things. Then I'll just hide behind Luther's quote. If I must have some failing, let me rather speak the truth with too great severity than once to act the hypocrite and conceal the truth.
He said, I might go overboard, but I'm doing it to protect the life of the church. Turn with me to Deuteronomy. Last scripture we're going to look up and we're going to close. I just want to show you how big of a deal this is.
And for those who come along and say, you know, false teachers, it's not that big a deal. We're known for what we're for at this church, not what we're against. Here is a responsibility for leaders in the Old Testament to expose false teachers.
There is expository preaching and there is exposing our expository false teacher ministry. I have never read anything in the Bible quite like this passage here. Just imagine if you were in Israel. Chapter 13 of Deuteronomy.
If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or a wonder comes true concerning what he spoke to you, saying, let us go after other gods whom you have not known and let us serve them.
Hey, here's going to be a sign or a wonder, and if I do it, believe me, he does a sign or a wonder and then says, forget Yahweh, follow this other false god. Verse 3, you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
There are going to be these kind of false deceiving people. Just because somebody can heal somebody's, you know, lengthen somebody's leg or put some kind of gold filling back in your mouth, you better be careful.
You shall follow, verse 4, the Lord your God and fear Him and you shall keep His commandments. Listen to His voice, serve Him and cling to Him. It's all about this God, jealous for His glory. What should we do to these guys that come around and say, you know, God said this but didn't say it?
Tell them, you know, just cut that out. Don't say that anymore. Sit in the back. Sit up in the balcony up there. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be what? Put to death. Because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who has brought you from the land of Egypt and has redeemed you from the house of slavery.
Listen to this language, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commands you to walk so you shall purge the evil from among you. And you go, it's my relative. It's my son. It's my daughter.
It's my husband. You know, enough is enough. They won't do that anymore. I can vouch for them. Verse 6, if your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, and then listen how he has this phrase right here, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, if they entice you secretly saying, let's go and serve other gods.
Verse 8, you shall not yield to him or listen to him and your eyes shall not pity him nor shall you spare or conceal him. No harbor for this fugitive. Verse 9, and you shall surely kill your son. You shall surely kill your daughter.
You shall surely kill the wife you cherish. The text says you shall surely kill him. And then hold on to your seats. Your hand shall be the first against him to put him to death. And afterwards the hand of the people.
So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. That makes me afraid, pastor. That's the right effect.
Verse 11, then all Israel will hear and be afraid and you will never again do such a wicked thing among you. For the New Testament, as Jude would say, these men have crept in unnoticed. We are not to play games with these people.
We are to go to them. They're certainly slipping in and we are to attack with full bore, protect the honor of the bride of Christ at all costs. If it means losing the church, we'll lose it. I met a guy on the way down to Florida and I was talking to him and he was typing a bunch of e-mails to churches.
And I opened up my Bible, my computer, and I showed him my Bible program. He just looked at me like I was kind of crazy. What are you showing me this for? I thought he was going to go, hey, I'm a pastor.
That's a cool Bible work 7 -0. I got it too. I have it too. He said, oh, no, I'm not a pastor. I'm a lawyer and I give my time with these other groups of lawyers to say, you know, we're going to give our services free of charge to other Christian people.
And he said, I was Terry Shivo's parents' lawyer, and if we can serve you in West Boylston, we'd love to serve you. You have to be evangelical, Bible teaching church. I said, we are. I told him about MacArthur.
He said, you're good and you're in. I said, how about for things like naming false teachers? How about disciplining people out of the church and getting sued? He said, we'd love to serve you for free.
And so to what degree, if you're an elder, will you stand up and say, I'm not going to let that snake get in and bite my sheep? I think if it costs you the church, I think if it costs you your freedom, you go ahead and do it.
And I can vouch for Pradeep, for Lewis, for Dave, and for Steve, that as far as we're concerned, even though we might not know all the details, over our dead bodies are we going to let people come in here and teach you heresy as the Lord gives us strength to do that.
All right. On that positive note, I think we're done. Hello. Just to give you the next week's one, number five. Yeah, not week. The next time I'm back, Roman Catholics who believe the Roman Catholic church's doctrine are not Christians.
All right. Let's pray. Kind of bow down here so I don't get stoned. Lord, I pray tonight would just not be intellectual fodder for us to think, but that we do something based on what we know. I personally thank you that though I was your enemy, you sought me out.
The Holy Spirit was the hound of heaven and who would not let me go, and one day regenerated me and gave me a new heart, a heart that freely wanted to worship you. And the same is true for most of the congregation tonight.
We thank you that you're such a great God. We don't know exactly how to treat unbelievers and sin and hatred and all these kind of issues, so we'd ask that you give us wisdom. I also pray for those tonight who are visiting or maybe members who have not bowed the knee in submission to Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior, and I pray that you would grant them repentance tonight, that you would take Satan's snares away, and that they would see themselves for what they are, who they are, and then see the glory of Christ Jesus.
And then getting back to the song, how great thou art. That day we get to see Christ face to face. What a day of rejoicing that will be. Prepare our hearts and give us hearts that long towards heaven.
In Jesus' name, amen.