Chapter 13.22
Free Will
If
we are all predestined, then why bother with a Judgment? Did God create Evil?
Does
man have Free Will? – If there is No Free Will, then why preach the Gospel?
Did
Sovereign God wind man up to do what he has already been predestined to do?
First
Word
God is Omnipotent, He is ALL powerful; He can do whatever He wants to do EXCEPT break His promise. NOTE: If
“Free Will” does exist, it happens with the permission of God. As a truly omnipotent and good being; God created beings with
true freedom over
Himself. Furthermore, He voluntarily did so because
"The Greatest Good” which can be done for man, is to allow him to be truly
free; for God loves His creations.
Free Will gives man the ability to do the GREATEST GOOD as well as the GREATEST EVIL. Free Will is the main factor for man's accountability for his actions throughout his life.[1] His actions will be counted on the Day of Judgment, because
each man stands as his own person and is responsible for his own decisions and
choices in life.[2] Our Life is Choice Driven.
Whatever will be, will be… If we do not have FREE
WILL, then there is no
reason to preach the Gospel (which is
what we were commanded to do);[3]
and for that matter there would be no reason for the dual judgments; one for Believers[4] and another for non-believers[5] as documented in
scripture.
If Noah ever preached a
sermon; it would be entitled “Don’t miss the Boat.” - Stay Tuned –
Good
In the beginning God created the
Heavens and the Earth and everything that’s in it and God said “IT WAS GOOD”. The Light,[6]
The Land and Waters,[7]
The Grass, Herbs, Trees, Seed; [8]
Day and Night; Light and Dark,[9]
Sea Creatures;[10]
Birds of the air and Animals and Critters.[11]
IT
WAS ALL VERY GOOD.
Genesis 1:31 - God made everything and it
was very good
31 God saw all that he had made,
and IT WAS VERY GOOD.
And there was evening, and there was morning—the
sixth day.
(NIV2011)
Not Good
God made man and knew that man
would be incomplete existing solely by himself.
God said
IT
WAS NOT GOOD for man to be alone, so He made him a help mate to complete him.[12]
Let’s pause right here; understand that God
had already put into effect “the Law of Sin &
Death” and in His omnipotence knew that Eve would eat and give Adam
the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil,[13]
and Adam with his FREE WILL would eat it.[14]
So If God knew it, then why did He do it? This was really not about Adam and Eve, but
about Satan, and was part of God’s greater omnipotent plan for ALL creation – Stay Tuned.
Evil
Scripture says that God created everything…
so did God create Evil also? In the beginning God created everything and IT WAS GOOD. The first time we see Evil appear was in the person of an Angel named Lucifer also
called Satan,
the Devil
and AKA Beelzebub. Scripture says that Evil was FOUND in him, thus it was Satan that
became the Father of Sin in the first earth age.[15]
Satan was created
perfect and was beautiful to behold and was full of wisdom. He was created GOOD, but using his “FREE WILL” he desired to be as God and sit on God’s
Throne.
This “iniquity”
or sin that
was FOUND in him was the
direct result of God creating him with FREE
WILL. So in
effect, God allowed Sin to come into existence because of the gift of FREE WILL which He gave to angels and men.
So the next BIG question is; did God know that Satan would rebel or was the
omnipotent God surprised? After all,
scripture does say that evil was discovered,
detected or was FOUND in him.[16]
Before Time began
Get ready to get upset. This
is the part that most folks get their pants all in a wad over. It’s this First Earth Age of Satan that caused the (present) Second Earth Age to
come about.
TIME as we know it,
only began about 6,000 years ago… Before
that was Eternity
Past and after this little blip
in God’s plan called TIME, we will have” Eternity
Present”… Forever.
I will not spend much time talking about it here, but before the seven
day creation of the earth, there was eternity past. All
humanoid creatures including the Angels were created
immortal with FREE WILL; Satan had fallen and was ruling the
earth from “The
Garden of God”.
Satan CHOSE to rebel against God and took about a third of
the Angels with him[17]
and caused all men (or
creatures similar to men) on earth to REBEL also. NOTE: in the first
earth age there was no LAW of sin and
death; however God wiped them all out with a flood that occurred before the Genesis
account of the “seven
day creation”; these first earth age living beings were immortal
and continued to exist without bodies in spirit form known as demons;
servants of Satan.[18] This is known as the “GAP THEORY.” Read the entire account in Book 3.8 –
SATAN’S FLOOD
The Jewish traditional roots indicate that
demons were the forces of darkness and wickedness and their leader is Satan; the
names Devil
and Satan
are virtually synonymous. Evil spirits or
demons that live today are the same spirits from the
first earth age, moving from person to person, killing, stealing and destroying
as they go. They do not consist of
matter or material body or substance… they are without physical existence in
themselves, but they belong as property or a thing to Satan. Book 3.9 DEMONS
They are invisible and operate above the laws of nature… have
supernatural intelligence and knowledge along with terrible physical strength
which they impart to those possessed. A
demon spirit needs a moist place to find rest[19]
and attempts to take over humans as well as animals.[20]
They need to possess a person’s mind and body to enable them to get around.
NOTE; an
evil spirit and the Holy Spirit cannot co-exist in the same body. – See Book 3.9
– DEMONS
Wrong Mind: When people try to kill their own children or
just for fun, do “drive by” shootings or shoot up their work place, their
school or the mall, we just casually say they were not in
their right mind; however this is the height of DEMON POSSESSION.
Before the new seven day creation
and the
beginning of time, God put into effect the “Law of Sin and Death”, as well as
the “Plan of
Salvation”. That’s why it was
in God’s plan for Adam to eat the apple. If you can just embrace the “Gap Theory”,
it will explain the dating of the earth, dinosaur’s fossils, demons and so
forth.
If you will notice; Adam as well as Eve
had FREE WILL to obey God or
not. You might say; well, God pre-ordained them to eat the “apple”;
inferring that they had no choice. My Belief System says that the omniscience God knew what they
would do if tempted and used them in His grand plan.
Puppies
When I return home, my
puppy with FREE CHOICE meets me at the
door, barking, jumping and licking me; she unconditionally loves me. When I sit in my chair, she climbs up on my
chest and licks my chin because she just wants to.
Have you ever seen a child hug someone because he was told to go and do
it (Preordained), verses a child that runs in and hugs someone just
because he wants to. (Free Choice).
That’s the whole point of God’s
creations; He wants his creations to want to be with Him because of FREE CHOICE, not because they were automated to
activate like a lawn sprinkler system coming on, PROGRAMMED by a time
clock.
ü Make no mistake, all of
creation is watching the patience and love of God which has been going on now
for over some millions of years as He allows time for Satan and his servants to
repent. This is hard to say, but the
longer that you are away from God, the harder your heart becomes until finally
your FREE WILL is callused
over; hardened by what you have put in your own spirit, your heart, and you
miss out on the Promises that God has for the Believer. God says; you would not believe who He will use in
His plan even if He told you.[21]
ü Make no mistake, God will use
His enemy; those who have rejected Him; to accomplish His plan. He called King
Nebuchadnezzar His Servant who was actually the enemy of Israel;[22]
so He can certainly use Satan too, that’s why Satan continues to exist… Nothing can frustrate the Will of God.
ü Make no mistake, Even though God uses the Evil man for His purpose; they will still be
judged GUILTY. So it plainly
makes a difference on HOW
you are used of God.
Bond
Servant
This is a good place as any
to talk about Servants and Bond Servants.
A Servant was someone who did not
have “FREE WILL”, but existed only to
serve their master as he was commanded; this was their place in life and that’s
where they were assigned; essentially they were a slave.
A Bond Servant is someone who once was
enslaved and is now FREE; and now by his own FREE WILL has made a decision to
serve his master out of love; he just wants
to.
The Apostle Paul without even knowing
it, was a servant; a slave to Satan persecuting the followers of Christ, but
was set Free and with FREE WILL chose to become a Bond Servant of Jesus Christ. Paul called himself a BOND
SERVANT;[23]
one who has chosen of his own FREE WILL to serve.
Did God know that Satan would
rebel? YES;
and created him anyway. When “Eternity Present” begins; those that
remain will be those of FREE WILL who want to be with God
as BOND SERVANTS of the most high. Did you know the
Book of Revelation was written to God’s Bond-Servants?
Revelation 1:1 –Revelation was written for God’s Bond-Servants
1 THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST, WHICH GOD GAVE
HIM
TO SHOW TO HIS BOND-SERVANTS,
THE THINGS WHICH MUST SOON TAKE PLACE;
and He sent and
communicated it by His angel
to His Bond-Servant John,
(NASB)
Free Will
– God’s
Omnipotence
Because
of Free Will, we have a choice to become predestined in God’s plan. What I read in scripture, is that we as
followers of Christ have been predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son[24] and
that He who has BEGUN this work of “conforming”
us will complete it. [25]
ü What is the Image of His Son? Christ has a heavenly calling… He is in the
presence of God He will rule and reign forever.
ü The justified Christian in a glorified
body; will be called to Heaven into the presence of God, face to face with
Jesus Christ, to rule and reign with Him. –We
have begun.
This Predestination
is the revelation of God’s hidden plan to extend the gospel to the “Dirty, Rotten, Low Down, Scumbag Sinners; the Rejected,
Revolting GENTILES”… you and me. Those that “call on His Name” by their FREE WILL are predestined to become Justified,
Glorified, Holy and Blameless.
In God’s
Omnipotence; Gentiles are
predestined to have the same “FREE WILL opportunity” as
the Jews to come into the Kingdom of God. They will be “grafted into the branch” and
will have JEWISH ROOTS.[26]
Whosoever WON’T
Predestination
never refers to the Lost; it’s about the
Believer’s destination. There are just
two kinds of people; the Whosoever Wills and
the Whosoever
Won’ts[27]…
The Lost are lost because they choose to be lost.[28]
God
does His Part to save us and we do
our part. My part was sinning and God’s
part was saving; my part was running away and the Holy Hound of Heaven’s part
was chasing me. It is by God’s grace I
am saved; and for no other reason… It is a Gift from God to me.[29]
Predestination is like the parable of the lost
sheep. When you are one of the “Whosoever Wills”
that come to the Lord, you are preordained to make it all the way home with the
Lord. Even if you stray away, God will
come after you.[30]
NOTE: God’s Omnipotence;[31]
it is God’s sole prerogative to save someone
already bound for Hell if He chooses to do so.
It’s His right as the potter to do what he chooses with His clay, but
although Omnipotent, He will not change His nature, nor break His promises, and
He cannot Lie.[32]
Whosoever will; may come
and in no way be cast out.
Right now it’s hard to understand the Sovereignty
of God
because we see
through a glass somewhat dimly,[33]
but one day when
we are face to face with Jesus Christ,
we will finally
see clearly.
Sovereignty of God
The
Queen of England enjoys the pomp and
circumstance of royalty, but Parliament
and the Prime Minister run the nation, not the Queen. She reigns, but she
does not rule; man reigns on this
earth, but it’s God that rules.
God is eternally, IMMUTABLY good: He cannot change; whereas man was made MUTABLY good, that is, he was made with the possibility of changing
in his conformity to the laws of God.
ü Does God DO evil? – NO – God’s nature make
Him absolutely incapable of performing evil, yet, He ordains everything that
comes to pass.
ü Does God ORDAIN evil? – YES - If not, there would
be no evil, because God is sovereign. He
ordained that His creatures should have the capacity for evil.
Garden of Eden: When the Serpent came to Adam
and Eve and began his treachery, God could have stopped him and there would
have been NO sin God did not sanction the evil, but He did not
stop it either. In choosing NOT to stop it, He ordained it, so in essence, God has esteemed it good that evil should be
allowed to happen in this world.
Judas could not have
betrayed Christ apart from the Devine providence of God. The actions of
Judas was part of the divine providence of the plan of redemption for the world. God ordains not only how things end, but also the
means to that end. Human choices and
human actions are a part of the overall providential scheme of God’s plan. All
things work together for good in God’s providence.
Jacob gave his son Joseph a coat of many colors making his older
brothers very jealous. This led them to sell Joseph and he wound up in Egypt as
second in command next to Pharaoh.
Joseph saved Egypt from the famine and saved his family from extinction
also. That spawned Moses, The Law, The Prophets and
then Christ…
NO coat of many colors; NO Nation of Israel, then
NO Messiah. God used evil for
good.[34]
Adam: Sometimes we blame
our decisions on God just as Adam did when he said; that woman that YOU gave me; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it; God it’s your
fault for giving me that woman.[35] We quickly take credit for our Good choices, but not for our Evil choices. Adam tried to blame
his bad choice on God, and that’s our tendency too.
LGB T: I am a woman
trapped in a man’s body; because GOD MADE ME THAT WAY… We say it’s God’s providence for the CHOICES that we make; they were preordained by God. The Book says, NOT TRUE we are enticed by our own evil
desires.
James
1:13-15 – God did not create you to rebel, you did it yourself
13 No one undergoing a trial should
say, “I am being
tempted by God.” For God is not tempted by evil, and He Himself doesn’t tempt
anyone.
14 BUT EACH PERSON IS TEMPTED WHEN HE IS DRAWN AWAY
AND ENTICED BY HIS OWN EVIL DESIRES.
15 Then after DESIRE
has conceived, it gives birth to SIN, and when sin is fully
grown, it gives birth to DEATH. (HCSB)
World View: We live in a period of skepticism about the existence of God…
When the talk turns to a Higher Power,
the reference is to an IT instead of a HE. The world view is that we live in a universe
that’s in a closed loop and nothing from the outside
influences it. It is said that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere; TRUTH is
insignificant.
Unbelief: Jesus said He would
bring another comforter to the world to bring men into repentance. He said the
Holy Spirit would bring conviction of “the sin of
unbelief”. [36] Repentance is
not an option with the ‘incomprehensible God’ … to be saved you must REPENT. [37]
Providence literally means “to see beforehand.” God not only creates, but sustains and divinely preserves… Saying it another way; God is “Hands on”; He did not just WIND IT ALL UP and then walk away. All creation is completely dependent on Him
for the continuity of its existence; God is the sustainer of
everything, He is omnipotent; all powerful.
Life was choice driven
from the beginning of this present earth age starting with Adam and even
before that with the angel Satan in the pre-adamic age; Eternity Past.
The choices WE make on this side of death have
eternal consequences.
The Take Away
God’s sovereignty is unlimited and although man’s FREE
WILL is real, it is limited. Man is free, but God is freer; He is sovereign.
Ø
Does God choose WHEN I will die? [38]
– NO, God’s natural laws do; God sets the maximum years for man,[39]
and it’s up to us to choose how we treat our bodies; we are the recipients of the
consequences of our choices.[40]
Regardless of that, before we die we
will complete our part of God’s omnipotent plan.[41] Whether we are Good or Evil, God will use us in His plan.[42]
Ø
Does God choose your WIFE for you? - NO you do; ALL your Free Will choices are GUIDED by what you have put in your own spirit. Our FREE WILL choices
come from the abundance of what overflows our heart. GIGO; Garbage In; Garbage Out… HIHO; Holiness In; Holiness Out.
Men have Free Will, but lack Liberty, their choices are driven by their fallen “natural desires” and will choose what is wicked. In the fall of man; the desire for the things
of God was lost, and man would never choose God;[43]
he must be drawn by the Holy Spirit. It takes the work of the Holy Spirit to
empower man to repent; none can come unless God draws them;[44]
Grace is necessary to liberate the human heart.
It’s in the
Book:
HOW then, can they call on the one they have
not believed in? And HOW can they
believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And HOW can they hear
without someone preaching to them?[45]
THAT’S
WHY WE PREACH THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST.
We should believe in God’s Omnipotence; that He is in control of
everything, but remember we are still accountable for the FREE WILL choices that we make on this side of life;
GIGO HIHO.[46] God uses Evil men as well as Good men in
His plan, but there’s surely a difference in their destination.
FREE
WILL is
a Gift from God to us and the angels making our life Choice Driven!
IT’S
IN THE BOOK
All Scripture is God-breathed
and is useful
for teaching, rebuking, correcting
and training in
righteousness
2 Timothy 3:16 NIV2011
[1] John 3:16 – God loves His creations; whoever believes in Him shall
not perish but have eternal life
[2] Romans 14:10-12 - We will
all stand before God's judgment; each will give an account of himself to God
[3] Mark 16:15 – The Great Commission – GO into all the world and PREACH THE GOSPEL to all creation
[4] 2 Corenthians 5:10 – All Believers will appear at the Judgment Seat of Christ
[5] Revelation 20:11-13 – All
Un-believers will appear before the Great White Throne judgment
[6] Genesis 1:4 –The Light – IT WAS
GOOD
[7] Genesis 1:9-10 – The Land and Waters - IT WAS GOOD
[8] Genesis 1:12 - The Grass, Herbs, Trees, Seed; IT WAS GOOD
[9] Genesis 1:18 - Day and Night – Light and Dark – IT WAS GOOD
[10] Genesis 1:21 - Sea Creatures; Birds of the air – IT WAS GOOD
[11] Genesis 1:25 - Animals and Critters – IT WAS GOOD
[12] Genesis 2:18 – Man was not complete - IT IS NOT GOOD
[13] Genesis 3:13 - I ate the thing, but it’s not my fault; SATAN deceived
me
[14] Genesis 2:17 – Eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and
evil and you will surely die
[15] KJV
John 8:44 – Satan BECAME
the father of lies and a murderer
[16] NIV
Ezekiel 28:12-15 – Satan Given Free Will created perfect till iniquity was FOUND in him
-- MSG Ezekiel 28:15 – You were sheer
perfection until Evil was DETECTED
in you
[17] Revelation 12:9 – The
Angel Satan was hurled to the earth with his angels. -- Revelation 12:4 – One
Third of the Angles followed Satan
[18] Ephesians
[19] Matthew
[20] Mark
[21] Habakkuk 1:5-11 – God used the Chaldeans to punish Israel; He said, I am doing
something in your day YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE IF YOU WERE
TOLD.
[22] Jeremiah 25:9 - My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
[23] Romans 1:1 – Paul called himself a Bond
Servant of Christ -- Acts 16:17 -
Bond-Servants of the Most High God
[24] Romans 8:29-30 – The
Believer is predestined to be conformed to the Image of Jesus
[25] Philippians 1:6 – He who
begun the work in us will complete it
[26] Romans
[27] John 3:15-16 – Whosoever Will – Whosoever Won’t
[28] John 6:37 – Whosoever comes to Christ will not be cast out.
[29] Ephesians 2:8 – By Grace our Salvation is a
Gift from God
[30] Luke 15:4-6 - The Holy Hound of Heaven will find
you
[31] Revelation 19:6 – God is
All Powerful – OMNIPOTENT
-- Isaiah 46:10 – God Is All Knowing - OMNISICENCE -- Jeremiah 23:24 – God
Is Ever Present - OMNIPRESENT
[32] Hebrews 6:17 - It is impossible for God to lie -- James 1:17- God does not change like shifting shadows
[33] 1 Corenthians 13:12 – For
now we see dimly as through a glass, but one day we will see clearly
[34] Genesis 50:20 – What man uses for Evil, God uses for Good -- Romans 8:28
- All things works together for good for those who love Him and are
called according to His purpose.
[35] Genesis 3:11-12 - It’s that Woman that YOU gave me; it’s YOUR FAULT and her fault.
[36] John 14:16 - God gave us the Holy Spirit to help us -- John 16:8 – The
Holy Spirit will convict the world of sin
[37] John 16:9 - Unbelief in Jesus Christ is Sin -- Acts 17:30 – We ALL
are commanded to repent
[38] Hebrews 9:27 – God has
decided that ALL
will die… ONCE --
John
[39] Deuteronomy
[40] Psalm 90:10 – We can have
70 years of life, maybe 80 or even more, it’s not fixed
[41] Isaiah 55:11 – Our assignment in God’s plan will be completed before we
die
[42] 2 Samuel
[43] Romans 8:5-8 – Man born with a sinful spirit CANNOT summit to God
[44]
John 6:44 – None can come to Him unless the Father draws
him
[45] Romans 10:14-15 - How can they believe who
have not heard.
[46] Proverbs 15:28 – What’s in the heart overflows
the mouth -- Matthew
12:34 – Out of the abundance of our heart we speak
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