Listen via YouTube video if desired

Transcription (was completed by automated process.  Please ignore any speech-to-text errors)

Thank you so much for joining us for this next session of settlers calling you with Beatty Carmichael. My great friend Beatty is the CEO of Master Grabber, the creator of Agent Dominator and one of the top marketing experts in the real estate field. Beatty. I’m so excited that we’re joined again today. I know our listeners are also excited. What do you have for us today?

[00:00:31] Well, we’re going to do another radical site called Penny and what that means for those listeners who are joining in kind of new. We do two sets of two types of calls. One is marketing related as a real estate agent and the other one is living your life as a Christian. So today we’re doing the radical face version, which is how to live your life as a Christian. So that topic doesn’t hold interest. Just kind of be forewarned. That’s what this episode is. So if you have no interest in that, you can cancel this episode out and join us on the next one. But if you do have interest, I can promise you you’re going to love this call.

[00:01:13] Awesome.

[00:01:15] So, Penny, I was thinking kind of long and hard. What to do for this radical face call. And if you recall, some of the recent sessions we’ve been doing, recent topics have been kind of deep, you know, like no longer under law, but under grace. What does that really mean or when bad things happen? Is it God’s will? And then I think the most recent one that’s been coming out is do all who accept Christ go to heaven? So I thought we’d lighten it up and do something a little bit fun and a little bit easier today. So are you going to agree with that? So. So, as always, what do you think the topic is going to be today?

[00:02:05] Well, OK, well, let’s see if it’s light and fun. Clearly, it’s not going to be about how we’re all quarantined and nobody’s kids are going back to school and all the moms are frustrated. That’s right. So let’s see.

[00:02:20] I’m going to take a wild guess and I’m thinking fun, lighthearted, maybe something on creation or the return of Jesus.

[00:02:31] Well, so creation may be closer than the return of Jesus. They’re all kind of pointing in a direction. But notice a little bit different. OK, think think about what is the. Most discussed. And sometimes disgust, disgust topic in Christendom. What would you think that topic might be? Hmm. The one with the greatest controversy, the biggest question, the biggest debates, what would that topic be like?

[00:03:07] Maybe how to love your neighbor?

[00:03:10] No, even even deeper than that.

[00:03:13] Oh, you’re going to have to tell me. There’s so many.

[00:03:19] How about the topic of. Free will versus. What do you think comes what comes next?

[00:03:29] Free will versus the opposite of having your free will be having everything chosen for you and not getting the chance to choose like you’re just all predestined and predestined, right?

[00:03:41] So so I think you could probably put this fun, light, easy topic on the topic of the category of freewill versus predestination. Does that sound like fun and light enough for you?

[00:03:54] No, not at all.

[00:03:56] Ok, so the official title is Free Will or God’s Choice. OK, and trying to figure out what what really is. Now, before we get started, let me just ask you a question. You probably fit in one camp or the other. You may cross the camps a little bit, but if you were to kind of say which foot you’re in, more, are you more in the free will or the God chooses and predestiny camp?

[00:04:27] Yikes. That is such a controversial question.

[00:04:31] I have to say that I’m probably more in the free will side only because I know that Jesus had a free will and I know that I’m made in the image of God and I feel like we’re we all have free will.

[00:04:42] So, OK, perfect. Great. And I think that’s a good starting point. So here’s the question that I’m trying to answer. OK, so if you look at kind of the big question for what this dystopic series is, and this is going to be more than just one topic, I mean one episode. So this will probably stretch out several. The question is, is accepting salvation an act of man’s free will or an act of God’s choosing? In other words, do all men have equal opportunity for salvation? And it’s only those who accept it by their own free will who receive it? Or does God specifically to some people for salvation and not others, and only those whom he has previously chosen can and will accept it? Does that make sense?

[00:05:32] What I’m asking, it does. Are you OK?

[00:05:36] Well, I think you’ve already answered. But but based on that questioning, what would your answer be?

[00:05:41] My answer would absolutely be that the Lord desires for every person to be saved. So your latter statement I completely disagree with. OK, I agree with the former. Yeah.

[00:05:54] Ok. And and you’ve and so substantiate and give me the foundation on why you believe as you do.

[00:06:06] Well, like I said, the word, I believe the word of God, I believe everything in the Bible and I think it’s the only truth that we can stand on. It is the actual words of God himself. And so I believe when he says that he desires for no person to be lost, his desires for all to be saved because of that, I know that he would not choose only certain people to be saved. I know that he wants every person to be saved. He doesn’t differentiate. Yeah.

[00:06:37] All right. And then here’s a good question to ask. Why is it important to know the answer to this question? Does it really matter? What do you think?

[00:06:50] Hmm.

[00:06:53] I think it does matter, especially if you’re struggling with believing whether or not you’re worthy of salvation or if you feel like salvation is only saved for the high elite pastors that are doing all these amazing things for God on TV and worldwide and whatever. I think it’s important to know if you fall into the category of struggling with whether or not you’re worthy of it.

[00:07:22] Ok, OK. I like to suggest it’s important to know, but for a much deeper and probably even more important reason. May I give you my thoughts? Yes, absolutely. OK, I think the challenge that most of us fall into is that we believe something to be true about God because we want to believe that’s how we operate and not because we studied this word to determine how he operates. And if we form an opinion about God based on how we want him to be or maybe how others have told us that this is how he is rather than what he says about himself, then that can lead us down a false path. And the more false path you go down, you’re really in a in a bad spot. Does that make sense? Yes, absolutely. So I think the reason this is such an important topic is this is so integral because it’s such a highly debated topic. It’s not that this topic in and of itself is the linchpin to everything about God. But more importantly, if you don’t know specifically and scripturally why you believe what you believe, then you’ll start to believe lies, thinking their truths, because logically they make sense. That’s right. And so what I what I think it’s important to do is to go back and always focus on what does the scripture say.

[00:08:55] In fact, there’s I think it’s Colossians to wait that says don’t let others spoil your faith and joy with their philosophies and they’re wrong or shallow answers built on men’s thoughts and ideas instead on instead of what crisis said. And I think that’s kind of the challenge. A lot of us, we form opinions because this is what we started. This is what we’ve been told all the time. And if you actually take most of the things that I’ve been teaching on, these are things that I’ve grown up going to church. And most of these things are things that have been preached over the years. And I’ve always heard it and I’ve never questioned it. And then I said. Is that really true? So I start to say, OK, let’s start searching God’s word and see what God says on the subject, not what man says. And I’ve been surprised some of the times. So. So I think that’s what we’re going to do here. So first off, did you know so so today’s topic is understanding free will. OK, and finally get Deepend. Did you know, first off, tax free will exist anywhere in the Bible? Does it talk about free will anywhere in the Bible?

[00:10:09] Oh. I feel like it’s all over the Bible.

[00:10:15] Ok, can you point to, like you mentioned, God, Jesus had free will. Does the Bible say that he had free will or is that an opinion or is that an informed opinion based on other verses about Jesus?

[00:10:32] It’s probably just more of a for me personally gathering based on what the scripture says. Like, for instance, when Jesus prayed in the garden, Father, if there’s any other way that this my crucifixion could be taken for me, if there’s any other way that this could be done, please take it away yet your will, but not mine. And for me personally, I believe at that moment he could have chosen if he wanted to, because he’s God, he could have chosen. I don’t know if I can go through with that, but he chose to.

[00:11:10] Yeah, that’s a good point. Let me ask a quick question on that, OK? Was, geez, could Jesus was Jesus restrained by God’s will?

[00:11:23] Hmm, if I believe he has free will, then I don’t think he could have been restrained because I don’t think you can have free will and be restrained at the same time.

[00:11:31] Ok, I think you’re right. Jesus says I only do the things I see my father doing, only speak the words my father speaks. Does that sound like his restraint or free?

[00:11:44] Free choice.

[00:11:46] Ok, OK, so free will is choice. Mm hmm. OK, so let’s look, let’s start digging. First off, I think we need to define free. Well, by the way, you are pretty much pretty right on. It’s your opinion, as is formed by other passages, because the term free will exists nowhere in the Bible, you will never find that term anywhere in the Bible. So here’s here’s here’s the first thing we use the term that defines something very important when that term is never in the Bible. So that’s kind of a first area to say we need to be careful what we’re saying with that term if that term is not found in the Bible. So let’s define free will. Oxford Dictionary says free will is the power of acting without the constraint of necessity or fate, the ability to act at one’s own discretion. Now, Oxford is kind of a secular dictionary. So Webster Merian Dictionary is a little bit more what I call religious focus on biblical focus. So this is what Merrion with Webster says. Free will is the ability to choose how to act, the ability to make choices that are not controlled by fate or God and controlled means to be restrained or regulated by law. So free will is all about kind of what you mentioned is the ability to act without any restraint. Does that make sense? Yes. OK, so what would be the opposite of free will?

[00:13:37] Opposite of free will the. What did I say in the beginning?

[00:13:44] Don’t worry, I just lost my head, you know, so just to define it, I’m not talking about free will versus predestiny. I’m not saying predestination is the opposite of free will. I’m talking about the act of free will. What would be the opposite of a free will?

[00:14:04] Well, being controlled are a controlled will, does that make sense? Okay, yeah, let’s use the term enslaved will, because if you think about you’re either free or you’re enslaved. OK, now do what. If you are a free person or you’re an enslaved person, do you still have the ability to make choices? Oh, yes, OK, yeah, you use the word choice in defining free will for Jesus because he had the choice of what he could do. Mm hmm. So both free and enslaved wills both include choices, the difference to the degree of what choice you have. Yeah, is that is this making sense? Yeah, it does. OK, so then let’s use this definition and let me say this definition works free will means that man has the freedom and the power to morally choose how to act without restraint and without being controlled. And as it relates to the gospel, it means that he has the full freedom to accept or reject Christ on his own. Is that a good definition, kind of working definition to use as we go?

[00:15:19] It is. It’s a little wordy, but yes, it’s good.

[00:15:23] Ok, so now let’s see what the Bible says about free will. OK, now you mentioned Jesus and Jesus is called the second. What do you remember? Second Adam, the second Adam, OK, so he came to if you were to just put it in terms of what Adam did, what did Jesus come to do?

[00:15:48] Jesus came to bring the kingdom to Earth to provide salvation to them free from sin, but wasn’t the kingdom originally here?

[00:16:00] Yes, then what happened?

[00:16:04] People chose to disobey. People chose to out of their free will to sin and rebellion to God.

[00:16:12] Ok, so I’m going to I’m going to tighten this up just a little bit. Jesus came to restore that which Adam lost. Does that make sense? Yeah, OK, so let’s look at Adam, because Jesus is the second Adam and he carries a lot of the characteristics that the second Adam carried. But let’s go back to the beginning and talk about Adam. Did Adam have a free will? OK, so let’s look at Genesis 127 and let’s kind of put some scripture behind us, OK? OK, and for practical purposes, all these will be in ESV unless I tell you otherwise.

[00:16:53] All right. Let me switch to that translation.

[00:16:58] And for those listening, the reason I like to see it is the most accurate interpretation, word for word. A lot of the other. There’s a lot of good ones, OK, but there are some that are more paraphrase that when you paraphrase a translation, it starts to really remove some of the specificity to make it a little bit easier for someone to understand. But if you want to get real specific of what the word is saying. You go start with ESV and then you can go into the Greek or Hebrew with a concordance from there. All right. So Genesis 127.

[00:17:35] All right. It says so God created man and his image in the image of God. He created him male and female. He created them.

[00:17:45] Ok, perfect, so let’s first look at a couple things of what it means to be created in God’s own image, was man sinless when God created him? Yes, yeah, OK, did he have full authority over the earth and overall that was in it? Yes, OK, was he enslaved to anything?

[00:18:15] No.

[00:18:16] Ok, so if he wasn’t enslaved, then, did he have free will without any restraints?

[00:18:23] Yes, OK, perfect. I think I think we could say that, OK, could he choose against God’s will? Absolutely. And did he choose against God’s will? Yes. What did he do? What did he do?

[00:18:40] He chose to eat out of the tree of knowledge and good and evil. That’s right. OK, the one forbidden tree that God said don’t eat out of it. And he knew that. But he chose to do it anyway.

[00:18:52] That’s right. OK, so he had no restraints. He had free will. He ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now let’s test your memory. So this goes back to the episode of No Longer Under Law, but under grace. Do you remember what law actually did? Do you remember what happened at the point that he ate of the fruit?

[00:19:13] He became, well, the consequences from his actions, so I would use the term enslaved if we’re going to be using that word in this topic.

[00:19:26] Yeah, yeah. So. So the law so the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, if you go back to the episode we talked about, that law defines good and evil. When the ate of the fruit, it wasn’t sin. But once he ingested the fruit, ingested the law, and now the law lives within him and now the law has jurisdiction over him. So now he’s regulated by the law, went before he was not regulated by the law. Is that making sense?

[00:19:57] Yeah. OK, so a key part of free will is the freedom to act without restraint or regulation. So before Adam ate, was he restrained or regulated in any way by the law or anything else?

[00:20:15] He was not OK.

[00:20:17] I mean, he yeah, now he was on OK after he ate. Was he restrained or regulated in any way?

[00:20:26] Yes. By what?

[00:20:30] Well, I mean, the laws of nature, so, OK, prior to committing his sin. Everything was easy. There were no sort of, you know, things that song or bid or anything like that, and then he disobey God he sends and the Lord told him that the ground would be hurt.

[00:20:51] So from that point forward, he would have to toil, which in my mind means all of a sudden storms are going to grow up. We are going to grow up things that weren’t there before. He’s going to have to have consequences for his behavior, for his choices.

[00:21:05] Yes. So consequences are a result of violating law.

[00:21:11] Yes.

[00:21:12] So what’s happened is once he ate the fruit, he now becomes enslaved to the law. He is now regulated by the law and restrained by the law and controlled by the law, and the law defines good and evil. And if you break the law, you have consequences. Is this kind of making sense? Absolutely, yes. OK, so once he became restrained and regulated by law and by sin, did he maintain his free will?

[00:21:48] Yes.

[00:21:51] Ok, now, free will, by definition, is unrestrained. And unregulated choices are his choices now restrained and regulated.

[00:22:03] By law.

[00:22:07] Oh, I’m going to have to disagree with you on this one. OK, OK. Still think I still think he had free will, but the Clintons now are different.

[00:22:19] Ok, so let’s go back. And we talked about free will is being able to do anything you want. Essentially, you know, you have no restraint.

[00:22:30] Correct.

[00:22:31] Which he had prior to eating the fruit, but he also had that prior or after eating the fruit, he still has free will. He could still choose whether he wanted to.

[00:22:44] Make his bed in the morning or go to, you know what I’m saying, all the choices are choices.

[00:22:50] Ok, now let’s define is it free will? Or ability to make a choice within the regulated environment.

[00:23:02] Hmm.

[00:23:05] Well, if we’re going to get super specific, then, yes, making choices within a regulated environment, OK, we have to be super specific.

[00:23:17] If we’re trying to understand.

[00:23:21] And an issue you cannot you cannot do a broad stroke and sure and expect to be specific. So we have to be super specific. So he’s able to make choices within a regulated environment. But at some point within that regulated environment, there’s regulation that controls his choices.

[00:23:45] Yes, that’s OK. Yes.

[00:23:48] So if his choices get controlled. Then is he free or is he enslaved?

[00:24:00] He’s like.

[00:24:01] So does that mean he has free will or enslaved will? Enslaved will. OK. So if he started with a free will. And then he ended with an enslaved well. Then what happens with us? How did we become central? Do you remember what the Bible says? We became simple when Adam ate the fruit, so we inherited it from our father, Adam.

[00:24:35] Yes, if our father, Adam, was enslaved to sin. And loss free will and now has enslaved will, do we inherit free will or do we inherit enslaved will?

[00:24:52] We inherit in will.

[00:24:54] Well, OK, so we got a problem. OK.

[00:25:02] So so here’s a simple analogy to understand all this, if I’m driving down the interstate and the United States, there’s a speed limit. It says 70 miles an hour. I had the choice to go faster, but I’m regulated by that law. And if I go faster, I’m going to get a speeding ticket and I’m going to have to pay a lot of money so I don’t have free will. I only have freedom of choice within a regulated environment.

[00:25:29] Is that making sense? Yes. Yeah. If I’m over in Germany and I’m on the Autobahn, there is no speed limit and therefore I have complete free will. How fast I go because there’s no regulation. Hmm. Yeah, that’s good. So this is the presence of regulation that removes free will.

[00:25:55] Does that make sense? Yeah, and so in a spiritual context, now that we’re under law, we’re under the regulation of law, then that regulation removes free will and we no longer have free will that Adam had.

[00:26:12] Because he lost it and we inherited. What he ended up with making sense, yes. OK, so that’s one thought about free will strictly from the Adam and Jesus perspective. There is something that was there that got lost. I would actually go back to Jesus and I would say I don’t think Jesus had free will because he said not my will be done, but yours. In other words, he says, my will shall be regulated by your will. This is my desire, father, but my desire, not me, your your will, your will is the regulating will. So I would even say at that moment. I don’t want to discuss it too far because I don’t have any scripture on that, but just under the definition of regulated, he’s regulating his will by the father’s will. And therefore, I would say he does not have free will in the matter because he relinquishes that to the father.

[00:27:16] Let’s look at another point. OK, so there’s four points I want to discuss on this concept of free will. So the first one is Adam. Most people say we have free will because Adam, you know, man was created in God’s image. God has free will, man as free will. I have free will. But that doesn’t quite hold up with Adam. Let’s look at one other thing. I want to talk about man’s nature.

[00:27:40] Ok, OK. Are some people good by nature? I mean, think of Gandhi. You think of Mother Teresa. People like that. Would you say that they. Yeah, they’re good by nature. OK, yes. Are there other good people out there?

[00:27:55] Yes, absolutely.

[00:27:57] Ok, when God looks at those people, does he think that they’re good people as well?

[00:28:04] I think so.

[00:28:06] Ok, so let’s let’s look at what God says about people, about the heart of man. Do you think he is a heart of man, inherently good or inherently bad?

[00:28:22] Huh?

[00:28:24] Well, I don’t necessarily like to use the word bad, but OK, let’s don’t let’s don’t use the word bad. Is a Hardeman inherently good or inherently evil?

[00:28:36] Oh, that’s worse. It’s specific, though. Yes, it’s true. We’re definitely inherently sinners. We’re all born sinners. So I guess if we had to choose a word, bad or evil would be OK.

[00:28:51] Ok, so is there any good in man? OK, great. Can you think of any verses? That talk about the goodness of man.

[00:29:08] I’m not off the top of my head.

[00:29:13] Then what makes you. Believe that there is good in man.

[00:29:21] Well, I guess 42 years of experience that there’s people, even if they’re born sinners, they can choose to be good.

[00:29:33] Ok. All right, good. And I think that’s what most people believe. OK, let’s go to God’s word and ask God. God, what do you say about man? Because you know man better than anyone. OK, and let’s don’t form our opinions based on experience, based on what others think and based on what we want to believe. Is it OK if we form our opinion only on the word of God and what it says?

[00:30:01] Yes. OK, now I do know one verse about the good of man from Matthew 12 talked about a good man. A good man brings good things out of the good, stored up in him. But an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. That’s one verse that I’m thinking about that goes both ways. Actually talks about the good and bad.

[00:30:25] Perfect. Let’s look it up real quick. Can you find it real quick?

[00:30:30] Yes. I mean, look, I’m pretty sure it’s Matthew 12.

[00:30:34] Let me see. Um. I mean, just really quickly.

[00:30:48] Twelve thirty five is actually under the section that’s talking about a tree and its fruit. Interesting because you and I had that talk before. Yeah. So the good person out of his good treasure brings forth the good and the evil person out of his evil.

[00:31:05] Evil treasure brings forth evil.

[00:31:07] Ok, now, so let’s let’s talk about that, because, you know, this reference is a good tree is known by its fruit in a battery. Is known by its fruit, right? Mm hmm. Yeah. So that’s a different thing.

[00:31:17] A good person and an evil person.

[00:31:19] That’s right. So this we actually talked on that under the topic to all who accept Christ go to heaven. And in that we use the parable of the so we’re in the seed. And Jesus makes the comment that only the Cedar Falls in the good soil that bears fruit is his disciple. Mm hmm. Right. Okay. And in that context, there, he’s talking about a good tree is known by good fruit. Yes. Yes. Would the good works of man be considered coming from the goodness of his fruit? Or outside of the goodness of his fruit.

[00:32:02] In other words, is this go ahead. I was going to say the goodness of this phrase, yes, this is talking about fruit. Then what was the conclusion we came to of what Jesus talked about fruit? What is fruit, do you remember?

[00:32:21] It’s well, the fruit is what is coming out from what’s already in there. Right, you’re putting in you plant the seed, but the seed is good, falls on good soil, and you’re caring for the seed and you’re going to produce the good fruit.

[00:32:41] Ok, so this this is the key. And this is why specificity is so important. The seed was planted in good soil. You are the soil, the soil is basically the heart of man, but it’s not you who produce good fruit is the seed and what the good fruit, what the fruit is, it’s the womb of the seed reproducing itself. So actually, the fruit is Christ being formed in you. It has nothing to do with you other than your soil. Stewarded the seed well, but the fruit is actually Christ. It’s not you.

[00:33:18] Do you remember that? Yes, I do. OK, and so even in this passage is talking about a good tree is known by its good fruit and from a good man comes good things. But he’s still talking about fruit. I would suggest, especially based on what we’re about to read, that that interpretation is accurate, that it’s not the heart, it’s not man’s nature that Jesus is talking about, but is the nature of Christ within that good man that’s bringing forth those good things.

[00:33:52] So hold that thought and let me go back to Genesis and let me let me see if I can if I can back this up, OK? OK, so so we’re going to go to Genesis six five and where we are just giving you a visual. Is it free will or is it something about God choosing? So the first thing we did is we had to define what free will is and free will is a will that is totally unregulated and uncontrolled is not complete freedom as opposed to an enslaved will. And now we’re looking at four different ways of understanding free will to see if it even exists. The first thing we did is we looked at Adam. Now we’re looking at the nature of man. Then we’re going to look at slavery and then we’re going to look at God’s sovereignty and we’re going to see if the doctrine, because it is a doctrine of free will, if it holds up to scripture. So now we’re on the nature of man. What does we’ve already said that Gandhi and Mother Teresa and all these other people are good people. Then when God looks at them, he declares that they have been good. But we’ve also said that is men inherently good or inherently evil. We kind of say he’s probably more inherently evil, but there’s some good in him. And now we’re going to go to God’s word himself and say, what do you say about man? OK, so that’s where we are. So Genesis six five.

[00:35:17] All right, it says the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

[00:35:31] So is there any intention of the thoughts of man’s heart that is good?

[00:35:39] And description, no.

[00:35:41] Ok, so based on this scripture, what would we have to conclude man’s nature to be?

[00:35:48] Evil, evil, once or continuously, continually. Yeah, all right, but that’s only one one infallible word of God that cannot be false.

[00:36:04] Ok, so it could be that it’s only talking about one part of man. So let’s look at another first. Isaiah, 64 six, OK?

[00:36:18] I love the book of Isaiah, I’ve been reading it a lot lately.

[00:36:22] I love it, too.

[00:36:24] Ok, 60 for six, huh? OK. All right. That says we have all become like one who was unclean. And all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf in our iniquities, like the wind take us away right to states.

[00:36:46] Had Gandhi have any righteous deeds?

[00:36:48] Did who Gandhi? Oh, yes.

[00:36:53] Do you think he didn’t Mother Teresa have righteous deeds? Yes. What does God say about righteous deeds?

[00:37:02] According to this verse, are there polluted?

[00:37:06] Well, hold on, according to this first or according to God, according to according to God, those righteous states are a polluted garment. Does that sound like they’re good?

[00:37:19] No. OK, turn real quickly to Jobe 14 for.

[00:37:25] Ok.

[00:37:29] Think 14, verse four says, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean, there is not one.

[00:37:41] So we have Isaiah that says we all we have all become like one who is unclean. All of our rights as states are like a polluted garment, and God tells us to Joe that no one can bring something clean out of unclean. So what does this tell us about man’s nature? These two verses that is evil, that so man’s nature is evil, it’s unclean, there’s no righteous deeds, and we’re unable to clean ourselves when we’re unclean. Does that make sense? Absolutely. Yeah, so we’re going to say that God has real high esteem for man, let’s keep going. Let’s look at Jeremiah 79, OK?

[00:38:36] Well, Jeremiah, 17. Verse nine says the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick, who can understand it?

[00:38:52] So what does God say about man’s nature with his heart?

[00:38:59] It’s deceitful, deceitful, and how deceitful, deceitful above everything. So that would be the most deceitful, evil and continuously only intention of the heart is evil. He is unclean. Even his right to stage are like a polluted garment and his heart is deceitful above all things.

[00:39:24] Have we found any good in man yet?

[00:39:26] Yeah, not yet.

[00:39:28] Ok, so now now these are all Old Testament, you know, that’s God in his law and he’s a rascal. God, let’s turn to the New Testament, where God is love and everything is is loving. So let’s turn to what? Jesus says, let’s go to mark seven versus 21 and 23.

[00:39:51] Ok, verse twenty one and twenty three says in March seven, four from within. Out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting. Wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these things, all these evil things come from within and they defile a person.

[00:40:19] All right, I didn’t say anything good about Mandela, did I miss anything? No. So what does this say about man’s nature? Horrible, horrible. Yes, I’m embarrassed to be human. Yeah, OK. My heart is full of evil and wickedness and defiled. But that’s, you know, these are only four or five verses. Surely there’s good stuff throughout the Bible because man is good. That’s what we hear. Man has good intentions. They try to do good, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, all these other good people. So let’s look at Romans. Romans, three verses, 10 through 12.

[00:41:03] All right, Roman, three, 10 to 12 says, as it is written, none is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one speaks for God. All have turned to side together. They have become worthless. No one does good. Not even one.

[00:41:21] Hmm. So now this is Paul writing, so is this Paul’s opinion, a man because he’s I mean, he just sees the decrepit Nissa man in all these places. He’s trying to share the gospel, or do you think this is God’s word and is truth?

[00:41:38] Both I do think it’s God’s word, yes.

[00:41:42] Ok, so God says there is no good in man, no one speaks for good, no one even speaks for God at all. So what does this say about man’s nature? Evil, evil, unrighteous doesn’t even attempt to seek anything good. All right, yeah, let’s go to first Corinthians to verse 14. Okay.

[00:42:12] All right, first Corinthians to verse 14 says the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God, for they are falling to him and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

[00:42:28] So before coming to Christ, are we a natural person? Yes. OK, so what does this say about the natural man’s nature?

[00:42:40] But naturally, we do not accept the spirit of God.

[00:42:44] Oh, we can’t even understand it, can we? Mm hmm. All right, let’s look at one more time. Three patients. Two, three.

[00:42:57] All right, effusions to three says, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were and were by nature, children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

[00:43:14] Ok, is carrying out the nature of the body and mind good or evil, evil. So what is this saying about man’s nature again? That is evil in body and mind, so that’s physically and mentally OK. No, where could I find that man was good, the passage that you brought up in Matthew 12 was the closest thing. But when you look at it in context, I really believe, and especially in context with all these, that Jesus wasn’t saying man is good or has any good. But is that the fruit coming up from within the heart that’s been changed? Because he’s talking about the fruit of the tree is now a good tree, snow by a tree, and you always have to interpret scripture by other scriptures. And all of these are very clear.

[00:44:09] I will say that on one we just read, it says, I’m not trying to bring up a whole I’m not trying to get a rabbit trail, but it does say once we once walked. So if you read it in context, going back to the first verse, once you walked in those paths, once you lived in the passions of your flesh, then it goes on to say, but God, because of his rich in mercy, blah, blah, blah, because he loved you, you were once dead and now you are in Christ.

[00:44:39] So I think I’m glad you brought that up, because that’s the key. Keep in mind, we’re trying to understand, does man have a free will?

[00:44:50] Before coming to Christ to accept Christ, so we’re not as concerned about who that man is after Christ, we’re only looking at who he is before Christ. That makes sense.

[00:45:01] Yes, absolutely.

[00:45:03] So all of these are focused on the natural man before Christ and what is the nature of that man? And it’s really important to understand the nature of man before Christ, to understand if freewill is possible. Hmm. So let’s summarize real quickly what God says about the nature of man. Okay, OK, here’s what here’s what we learn from all these scriptures. Man’s nature is inherently evil. He is evil, continuously unclean and unable to be clean on his own. His heart is deceitful. He’s full of wickedness. He has no good. He seeks no good. He does not seek after God. He is worthless and does no good. He has evil in mind and body, and his mind cannot understand or accept any of God’s truth that I somehow summarize those verses pretty well. Yes. So according to God, is there any good in man?

[00:46:10] No.

[00:46:14] Then let’s look at one more thing I want I want to show you where Jesus actually says this, Luke, 18, 18 and 19.

[00:46:23] Okay.

[00:46:25] Well, let’s say, look, 18 versus 18 and 19 says and a ruler ask him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said to him, Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.

[00:46:45] Oh, so does this now make a little bit more sense what he’s saying? Mm hmm. No one is good. By the way, if you look in the Greek under no one, it means no one. Absolutely not a single one. OK, yeah. So there’s no good in any. So now let’s have a couple of questions now we’re coming. So where does all this have to do with free will is the big question. So now let’s bring all of this man’s nature back to the understanding of free will. Is repenting of sense and accepting Christ, good or evil, good, and if no one is good, no one seeks God or even understands God’s truth. Do you see how we have a problem?

[00:47:30] Yes. How can they go free?

[00:47:33] I think I think I figured it out. OK, tell me. OK, so this is my thought, right? When you said that my spirit within me said he’s correct. No one, no person is good. Even those that are coming to Christ still not good, but it’s the spirit within them that are good and bingo.

[00:47:58] And I’m actually going to wrap up with a comment on that. So hold that thought. But the spirit you heard, you heard clearly. OK, so now let’s go through just a series of questions. Does God have a free will?

[00:48:14] Does God have a free will? Yeah, yes. All right, can God sin? No. Why not, because he’s perfect, he’s sinless the Bible.

[00:48:29] Ok. Right, right, right, right. OK, let me let me add some clarifying words and see if I’m correct. He can’t sin because it’s not his nature and he cannot act contrary to his nature. Does that make sense?

[00:48:44] Yes. And that’s absolutely correct. Yes, OK.

[00:48:49] Can man act contrary to his nature? God, that God, God cannot act contrary to his nature, but man can act contrary to his nature. I think so, yes. OK, and give me a reason why.

[00:49:12] Well, let let’s say my relationship with my husband.

[00:49:18] All right, my nature, by nature, I might be like, oh, I’m irritated with my husband, I don’t know, maybe he’s done something to just push my buttons and irritated, but I can choose to act in opposition of how I feel because I believe that feelings lie to you a lot. And so I can choose to be controlled by my spirit man instead of be controlled by my flesh or my nature.

[00:49:46] I can be kind to my husband instead and still love him and not retaliate.

[00:49:53] All right. Let me ask you, is that the spirit of Christ working through you or is that your natural nature working in you?

[00:49:59] That would be the spirit of Christ working me in opposition of my nature that was so ugly to my husband.

[00:50:07] So the question is, can men choose, contrary to his nature, not regenerate a man who is now in Christ and crisis in him and their spirits are intertwined and united. But can a man choose OK. All right, so then here’s the big question as it relates to free will. How can a man whose nature is evil continually, who never seeks good, never seeks God and cannot even understand God’s truth, how can he have free will to seek God, seek good and accept his truth and pursue righteousness when it’s contrary to his nature? So that’s something do you see the issue I’m running into if if man is nature, is evil and never seeks God, how in the world can he have free will to choose what his nature doesn’t even desire?

[00:51:11] Can I give you my thought on the answer because because every person is a train being ahead, they have a body physical nature, they have a spirit which was created by God, regardless of whether they come to know God as their savior or not, they still have his spirit. And then they have a another aspect. Your emotions, things like that. Okay, so body, soul, spirit, your soul, it compromises of your emotions. So to me. It’s the spirit, because it was created by God, that that cries out within you for salvation.

[00:51:55] I mean, I feel like you can ask anybody to give their testimony when they became saved. And all they would know is all of a sudden, I knew I needed to be saved. I knew that I needed Jesus to come into my heart.

[00:52:07] Children. Yes. So so now we’re running into the conundrum because you’re absolutely correct. But we’ve got to become very specific so we can understand what we’re actually saying is that man’s nature.

[00:52:23] That’s causing that conviction and desire for repentance or is that God influencing man to do that? The question is one of free will. Versus some outside force, free will is free from all restraint, we’ve already said, man, that God cannot sin because it’s contrary to his nature. Mm hmm. How can a man at contrary to his nature. That’s the question. Hmm. If God cannot God who is all powerful cannot act contrary to his nature and he has free will. How can you say man has free will and act contrary to his nature because his nature is evil continuously and never seeking God in the person you just described is seeking God? Oh, so that means that’s not his nature. There’s something that’s changed within that person because the nature of man never seemed evil continuously. And if he has free will, he would never violate his nature because even God can’t violate his nature. Is this making sense? Yeah, absolutely. OK, so this is the challenge. We’re constantly confusing free will versus a choice.

[00:53:50] And and does God influence choice? But the question is, does man have free will? We’re not saying does man have a choice. We’re simply saying, does man have free will? Because those are different because even in an enslaved will, you still have choice?

[00:54:06] Does that are we clear? OK, yes. Yeah. OK, so when we look at man, it’s impossible for him to have free will to accept Christ. Because it’s contrary to his nature. And that’s when we look at free will. Adam no longer had it, it was an enslaved will when we look at man’s nature. Men never had it because we inherited an enslaved will. We didn’t all just have a free will. But when we look at his nature, we see that he’s so evil and never even seeking God that even if he, quote unquote, had a free will, he still can choose God because. He’s evil continuously, in other words, he’s enslaved to evil. We’re going to talk about that in just a moment. So so here’s an observation. This is a surprise to you, OK? By the way, does any of this surprise you thus far?

[00:55:10] Always. I’m always surprised by always OK. I mean, there’s lots of it that doesn’t surprise me, but there’s a lot that always does that.

[00:55:18] Ok, so now stop me. If you do not agree with anything, I’m about to say. Okay. Left to his own. Left to his own. The nature man is only evil, continually never seeking good and never seeking God. Would you agree with that? Yes. Is there a character in the Bible, either man or spirit, that comes to mind with a description of evil, continually never seeking good and never speaking God, man? Besides, man, is there anyone else in the Bible that fits that description? No. Satan does not fit that description.

[00:55:59] Oh, yes, Satan. Yes, of course. Oh, absolutely. Yes. He’s the author of that.

[00:56:05] So here’s an interesting observation.

[00:56:08] Man’s heart without the grace of God restraint, which is what you’ve been confusing all along. Well, what about this person who, you know, they’re really their spirit is telling, OK, that’s with God’s grace. But man’s heart without the grace of God’s restraint looks like Satan. There is no difference.

[00:56:34] That’s pretty earth shattering in it, yeah, it is. So this is what following Christ is all about, when Christ was in us, his nature gets woven into our spirit because it says that his spirit unites with our spirit. I think that’s an efficiency. And the more we deny our flesh and live by the spirit, like the example you gave, when your husband does something wrong with you, you choose to act in the spirit, not in the flesh. OK, so the more we deny our flesh and live by the spirit, the more our nature is subdued and Christ nature shines through us. And it’s not us becoming like him as much as it is our flesh being done away with so that he lives through us. Does that make sense? Yes. Would you disagree with any of that?

[00:57:29] No, OK.

[00:57:32] So that’s really what’s happening now. Here’s a cool thing. I wrote a book called Heaven Awaits the Bride by and around to there’s a short story line, God brings her up to heaven a number of times in the spirit. She communicates with God, the father, son, Holy Spirit, angels and other stuff. And the Lord gives her an assignment.

[00:57:53] Okay. And she asks the father. To help her be trustworthy for the assignment and these and these are the words that she dictated supposedly directly from the father, and she said then the father spoke to me, saying in him and in my son, I trust only in him it is his life, his ministry and the work of the Holy Spirit. Through you, my dear child, you are completely untrustworthy. As a life of my son increases within you. It appears that you are more trustworthy, but actually it is only him. It always will remain only him. And that pretty cool, yeah, that’s awesome. I love that. OK, we’re going to speed up and start to wrap up, but I want to cover two more topics real quick. OK, so so we’re trying to understand, can free will even exist in man without them? No, it can’t. With man’s nature, it cannot. Now, let’s look at slavery, because this is actually another key topic. Turn with me. By the way, are you in slavery? Have you ever been in slight? Yes, part of being say, OK, well, what were you inspired to send?

[00:59:25] Who was your master? Hmm? I don’t like that question.

[00:59:31] It’s well, know, if you were enslaved, you’re enslaved to a master. Correct?

[00:59:37] Yes, that’s correct.

[00:59:39] The devil is not your master. Oh, the Lord is your master, you’re actually OK, does that make sense? Mm hmm. OK, so let’s turn real quickly to John 834. And now we’re going to 834 and we’re going to address. Does man have free will and we’re going to address it based on the topic of slavery, OK, 834, what does Jesus say?

[01:00:10] Jesus answered them truly, truly. I say to you everyone who practices sin as a slave to sin.

[01:00:18] So you practice sin before you came to Christ, right? Mm hmm. So you were a slave to send sin was your master of sin in law, basically, to some degree. Okay. All right. So Romans 620.

[01:00:34] The Romans six, verse 20, says, so when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

[01:00:46] Oh, when were we slaves to send right prior to being saved. Yeah. And put us free in regard to righteousness mean. That’s kind of a strange way of saying something, but we got what does it mean?

[01:01:03] Well, righteousness to me means right, standing with God.

[01:01:07] Ok, good, I think that’s a great way to define it.

[01:01:13] So if I’m free and right standing with God, then that means he sees me as sinless.

[01:01:20] Ok, so says you, for when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. So if you are a slave and I set you free, you are free from what? Right, you’re free from your master, you’re separated from your master, and your master no longer has any authority or control or influence over you, right?

[01:01:46] Correct.

[01:01:47] So that’s what Paul is saying when you were slaves of you were free and separated with no control of righteousness over you at all. That’s what he means, free in regard to righteousness. You are free from righteousness because there is no authority, no control of righteousness in your life. That’s another way of saying you’re entirely in sin and there is no righteousness in you at all.

[01:02:12] So so what enslaves us to send do you remember what we talked about with him, the law of the law? How did we get under the law?

[01:02:26] Choices, which is a sin, or to disobey God, and then that’s when we God under the law because it’s inherited from our father, we were born that way.

[01:02:37] Yeah, that’s right. That’s where I’m going. OK, so think about being a slave either in modern days or in ancient days. Doesn’t matter if you were a slave. Do you have a free will? In other words, can you choose to act without restraint? No. OK, why not? OK, do you have your master? That’s right, do you have the free will to leave your master and go to another master? No. All right. So if you were a slave. And if you were to change Masters, how does that transaction how does that change take place?

[01:03:22] Well, I mean, if I’m thinking about it, like in terms of the Israelites, someone has to come and set me free, just walk out on my own. Someone has to pay the price for whatever it is that I owe.

[01:03:35] Ok, so if you were to change Masters right to another master, then one master has to make the change. Either they buy you, hey, I’ll give you X number of dollars for that slave and your master says, OK, sold, or the other master comes in and battles your master and conquers him and then takes you as his property, right? Mm hmm. Mm hmm. So is the act of the new master. That causes your causes you to change from one master to another as a slave, do you have any choice in the matter?

[01:04:18] No.

[01:04:20] Ok, as slaves of sin, do we have any free will choice to change our master?

[01:04:31] No.

[01:04:33] Then when you accept Christ, are you free from your master of sin?

[01:04:42] Yes, because she’s a paid person.

[01:04:45] That’s right. OK, so so now we’ve got. If we look at it from a slavery standpoint, we realize that all of the actions has to occur by the by a M. not by the slave. The slave is just a goes, you know, is this a transaction in the deal? Here’s a question. Once you have been freed from Christ, from sin by accepting Christ. Do you now have a master, are you still a slave?

[01:05:17] Once you’ve accepted Christ, yes, then your new master is Christ.

[01:05:24] Oh, very good. Roman 622 says you’ve been set free from sin and have become slaves of God. Okay, so here’s the question. How do you change Masters and go from being a slave of sin to slave of Christ?

[01:05:44] You accept Jesus as your savior?

[01:05:47] Well, hold on.

[01:05:50] Backing up year or spirit tells you or prompts you of the need to be saved, of the need for someone to save you, to rescue you.

[01:06:04] Who sets you free? Does the slave free himself or does another master freed the slave? Another master and a master that frees the slave is now the new master of that slave? Mm hmm. Does that slave have any choice in the matter?

[01:06:28] Oh, oh.

[01:06:33] Well, yes and no, the the thin man, the decent nature does. The nature that controlled by God does not.

[01:06:48] Ok, so controlled by God, OK, so if it’s controlled by God, then does that mean that God is already master of that spirit?

[01:07:02] I think so.

[01:07:03] All right, so if God is already master of that spirit. Then does that person have any choice in the matter?

[01:07:14] Not if you’re operating from your spirit, D.C., then D.C. and tangled web, or even even in that scenario, is there any free will of the slave owners that will always enslaved to a master, always such a master, so can free will exist at all as a slave?

[01:07:41] Probably not. You’re not sure?

[01:07:49] I don’t know if it’s a matter of being not sure as much as it is.

[01:07:54] I need to think about that for a little bit.

[01:07:56] Ok, fair enough, fair enough. So so let’s look at John 836. I’ll read it says so with the sun sets you free talking about from sin, you will be free. Indeed. Who set you free? Your actions, Jesus or Jesus. His actions. OK, so the sun sets you free. How about this Romans nine 16. So it does not depend. In fact, Romans 916 less history that real quick.

[01:08:29] Ok, nine 16 says so then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God who has mercy.

[01:08:38] Oh so let’s rephrase this. So then it does not depend on the slaves will or exertion, but on God, the greater master who has mercy. Does that make sense? Mm hmm. Would that be an accurate kind of rephrasing of that? Yes. Then changing masters depends. On who’s choosing.

[01:09:05] Oh.

[01:09:07] But I thought man had to choose. OK, are we are we getting lost in understanding that this is blowing our mind, that this never started at this level, but when you get to this level, the specificity starts to make sense that maybe some of these things we’ve been holding on to don’t really hold as strong as we thought it did.

[01:09:30] Yes.

[01:09:32] Okay, yeah, let’s look at one other, let’s look at that slavery now, let’s look at God’s sovereignty. Let’s look at free will from a perspective of God’s sovereignty. Now, this is a logical approach, there’s no scripture to back it up, and the challenge with anything logical is only one person’s opinion against another. Well, I don’t believe I don’t agree with your opinion of that logic. I believe something different. So you get in this logical argument, the reason I want to start with all the other ones, because they’re all scripturally based. You cannot argue with the word of God. But when you compare and put our thinking of man has free will against God’s word, it just doesn’t hold water. There’s a lot of holes, there’s a lot of questions. Because you’re right, man does have to choose. Behold, I stand at the door knocking at any anyone opens the door. I’ll come in. Isn’t that an act of man’s choice? But is it really an act of his choice or something different? Is it a free will choice or an enslaved world choice? And if it’s an enslaved world and what’s really going on? So these are the questions where this is just the introduction, OK? Yes. All right. So now with that, let’s look at this concept of of God’s sovereignty. So is God sovereign in in control?

[01:10:59] Yes.

[01:11:00] When God wills a thing to happen, is man powerful enough to thwart his will?

[01:11:08] No.

[01:11:09] Ok, assuming man has free will, is it God’s will for all men to repent, be saved and come to the knowledge of God?

[01:11:19] Yes, absolutely.

[01:11:22] If that’s God’s will, then how can man choose to reject God and not be saved and thwart God’s will that all men be saved? Because of their sin, nature is still thwarting God’s will. Hmmm, this begs the question, too, is it God’s will that all men be saved?

[01:11:53] Well, yes, because it tells us that in Scripture show it to me, we’re in scripture.

[01:11:59] Ok, I gotta find it. Give me a second. Yeah.

[01:12:05] Because I mean, these are great questions in it, aren’t they?

[01:12:08] Yes.

[01:12:13] I think the actual verse is not gospel, that any should perish, but all.

[01:12:18] Ok, yeah, but define find it for me real quick thinking first, Timothy, two four, but let me see if that’s correct. I need to read it.

[01:12:34] So let’s say starting in verse three, this is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God, our savior, who desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. First, Timothy, two, three to jump, starting in verse three and four. So first, Timothy, two, three and four.

[01:12:57] Ok, first, Timothy, two, three and four. Let’s see. 72, I don’t know. So give me the specific for some lost for some reason.

[01:13:10] Ok, first Timothy two.

[01:13:14] Verse three and four.

[01:13:16] Ok, so, OK, I got you there. So this is good and pleasing in the sight of our God and savior who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth. All right. Yep, very good. And the question then is. How does that relate to some of the other things that we’re going to talk about next time? So let’s hold that down because we’ve got to look at things in context and with all scripture and is the desire that all be saved? Line up with. The. For the scriptures teach. That that desire is his absolute will and it will happen. Is it something different? OK, so that’s that’s something that we need to be looking at when we when we get there. All right, so let me just wrap up a couple thoughts, OK? OK, so I think what we’re battling with is the concept of free will. Versus what I’ll use the term free choice, OK, does men have to accept Christ to be saved? Yes, OK, does man have a free will to choose to accept Christ to be saved? Yes. Oh, OK, we just made it free will in every one of those four other instances. Does he have a free will or does he have a choice?

[01:14:50] Let’s not use the word free will. Let’s just say that he has a choice. Whether or not he because I mean, think about this. You can present the gospel to someone. You can tell them Jesus Christ is the only way to go to heaven, to be saved, to be free from sin and just to be new, to be a new person in Christ. And they can reject you and say, no, I don’t want anything to do with that.

[01:15:13] The question is, why can they reject you and why does someone else not? Is it free will or is there something deeper into something deeper? What is it and why is it so important? Because as we go through this, you’ll never read the Bible the same again. I can promise you that. Let me make a suggestion, OK?

[01:15:36] If men must accept Christ, but he does not have free will, which we’ve already defined, that he cannot have it because it the definition of what free will actually is. And I’m not saying we’re twisting the definition, but what we define free will was as is actually the definition everyone uses. But it doesn’t hold up to scripture. And so we’re trying to wrestle with this idea of man chooses, but he doesn’t have the freedom to choose, but he has to have the freedom to choose, because if you don’t have the freedom, then it isn’t a choice. And so we’re wrestling with this. If he has a freedom, it must be free will. I would suggest that something different. OK, and the difference is that this a choice, not a will. OK, so if we go back to Adam, Adam had a free will before creative freedom was restrained by law, after that, he had an enslaved will. He had choices he can make, but they were controlled by sin. As a slave, your destiny is directed by your master. You have choices you can make, but only within the confines of your master as well, and your master sin would never allow you to make a choice to choose for righteousness. And your master sin will always prevent you from doing that. So it takes another master more powerful than your master to free you. Does that make sense?

[01:17:12] Yes. Yeah. OK, as we go through more scriptures, I think you’ll see that what happens as God moves us to make choices that he has willed for us to make. It’s still our choice. But it’s been restrained and enforced by his will, not since will and an easy way to understand all of this is what I call my lease theology, OK, lease theology. And we’re now wrapping it up. Do you guys have a dog? We do. OK, do you ever take the dog out and walk your dog?

[01:17:52] Yes.

[01:17:54] Does your dog have free will when you walk him?

[01:17:59] Only if it’s off the leash.

[01:18:01] Oh, only if the dog is unrestrained.

[01:18:05] So if you take the leash off the dog now, the dog can do anything he wants and run anywhere because he has free will.

[01:18:12] Once you put her, at least I was oh, I have to tell her I have to throw a wrench in the gears unless he’s restrained by something else, unless he’s restrained by the fact that he’s trained. And all I have to do is say the word and he obeys even without a leash.

[01:18:29] And that means he’s restrained by your will, which means he does not have a free will. Correct. OK, but take a normal dog. Take a normal dog. We had a dog named Gabriel, OK? He was unrestrained. If he took him off the leash, he runs anywhere and everywhere and you got to chase him down. But if I put him on the leash and I walk down the street, I come to a four way intersection because I got one of those expandable leashes, OK, go out 20 feet or bring it into three feet. I want to go left. And so I start walking laps and he wants to go. Right. Which way does my dog go? If you want to go left and he goes left. Now I give him 20 feet of of leash and as I’m going left, he can go back and forth and sniff and move back and forth within the confines of my restraints. Right. So some people say he has free will. No, he has free choice within the confines that I give him. But he will if you put a GPS on him and a GPS on me, we go the exact same path. Because I chosen the destiny that he’s going to take, and even though he has choice within that destiny, ultimately he goes where I have chosen for him to go. Does that make sense? Yeah. So that’s a difference between free will and free choice. And on our next session, we’re going to start to look at more scriptures that start to bring that really, really clear. Is this cool?

[01:20:06] Absolutely. Yeah. This is the great.

[01:20:10] Any comments before you wrap it up just again?

[01:20:15] Thank you so much for just taking the time to study the word and share the word with us. My thoughts and comments are just simply that this day and age that we live in this season, I don’t want to get on a rabbit shall this, but I just think the word is so important for believers to really just get into the word and know what God says. No, what he says. That’s how you figure out who he is and what his nature is, is by studying the words.

[01:20:44] So let me make one ask one question and make one question is at the beginning, you your foot was in the free will camp, put it solidly in the free will not put me on the spot.

[01:20:59] I am.

[01:21:02] Are you absolutely convinced of free will at this point?

[01:21:08] I’m I’m still pretty convinced about free will, but but I’m absolutely. My mind has been enlightened to other things that I had not considered.

[01:21:20] Ok, great. So if you’re convinced about free will, I have to ask you, are you convinced about free will or are you convinced that man has a choice? But you’re not as convinced as a free will choice which way?

[01:21:34] Hmmm, choice, I’ll go.

[01:21:37] Ok, yeah, before today’s call, were you convinced he had a free will, choice or simply a choice?

[01:21:48] Free will choice.

[01:21:50] Ok, all right, yeah, so that’s a question. Here’s a statement back on the challenges having. The challenges we’re having in society right now is all based on whether you have a biblical worldview. Or a secular world view, mm hmm. And the reason all of the specificity is so important is if you don’t know why you believe what you believe biblically from God’s word, you will never have a biblical worldview. You will only have a world view that’s been persuaded by the world. And that’s why this stuff is so important. All right, that’s really good.

[01:22:30] Well, thank you all so much. Don’t forget, if you have not subscribe to our podcast. Please do that. And Beatty can give the direction for that in just a second. But I would love to have you subscribe until your friends and very, very good. I enjoyed this. I’m actually looking forward to our next one. I’m always up for a good debate.

[01:22:51] Good. Well, we’re not going to be debating anything. We’re only going to look at scripture and ask a few questions. What it means. All right. Yes, far subscribing. If you listen to podcasts on your phone, just add our podcast channel. We have to get cellar’s calling you or get radical settlers. Calling you includes our real estate marketing in addition to radical faith. And the Get Radical Faith Channel is only a radical face sessions. And then you can also go to our Web site by both names as well. You all have a great day and be blessed.

[01:23:26] Awesome. Thanks, guys. We’ll be talking with you next time.

P074