Benefits 33

God working in you to Will and to do No. 2

January 29, 2009

Brian  J. Kocourek, Pastor Grace Fellowship

Philippians 2:13 "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure"

Last night we spoke of the will in contrast to the action of choosing itself, and we showed you that the will to choose is not left to the person who is indifferent. Therefore if God wishes for us to choose Him, He does not leave it up to us to do so, but actually becomes involved in our choosing to the point that me makes us willing.

Now, the word “will” means “A desire, a purpose, or determination.” In these three definitions, we see that to will means to exercise the desire, the purpose of the determination. Therefore mere choice can never be considered a power in itself for the will is what motivates or causes the choice or choosing.

In Matt. 4:1 we read, "Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil"; but in Mark 1:12,13 we are told, "And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan". If we do not have an understanding of our will in contrast to our ability to choose or even to make a right decision, It would be utterly impossible for us to harmonize these two statements of the will. But really there is no difficulty. That Christ was "driven", implies it was by a forcible motive or powerful impulse, such as was not to be resisted or refused; that he was "led" denotes his freedom in going. Putting the two together we learn, that the leading was very powerful in it's own right. So, there is the liberty of man's will and the victorious efficacy of God's grace united together: A sinner may be "drawn" and yet "come" to Christ — the "drawing" presents to him the irresistible motive, the "coming" signifying the response of his will — as Christ was "driven" and "led" by the Spirit into the wilderness.

Human philosophy insists that it is the will which governs the man, but the Word of God teaches that it is the heart which is the dominating center of our being.

Prov. 4:23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Mark 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders.

Matt 15:8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

Last night in our study we found that it is the heart and not the will which motivates the man. If we give an individual two alternatives which are placed before him; and they are given a chance to choose? We naturally will ask the question which one wil they choose? And the answer is the one which is most agreeable to him, which means to his "heart" — the innermost core of his being. Therefore, in real life we see the real choices given to man are to live a life of virtue and piety, or to live a life of sinful indulgence and earthly pleasure; and we ask the question, which will he follow? The answer of course is the latter. Why? Because this is his choice. But does that prove his will is sovereign? Not at all.

Why does the sinner choose a life of sinful indulgence? Because he prefers it — and why does he prefer it? Because he’s a siner with a sinners heart. Now, he may know better, and he may know the consequences of his decision and what effect it may have in his life, but he chooses it anyway. Why? Because it gratifies who he is. So why does he prefer it? Because his heart is sinful. The same alternatives, in like manner, confront the Christian, and he chooses and strives after a life of piety and virtue. Why? Because God has given him a new heart or nature. Hence we say it is not the will which makes the sinner impervious to all appeals to "forsake his way", but his corrupt and evil heart. He will not come to Christ, because he does not want to, and he does not want to because his heart hates him and loves sin: see Jer 17:9 The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?

The will is not the primary cause of any action, any more than the hand is. Just as the hand is controlled by the muscles and nerves of the arm, and the arm by the brain; so the will is the servant of the mind, and the mind, in turn, is affected by various influences and motives which are brought to bear upon it. But, it may be asked, Does not Scripture make its appeal to man's will? Is it not written, Rev. 22:17 And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely?

WHEN THEIR EYES WERE OPENED 56-0420 E-16 Now, you Bible scholars, you who have been looking for a superman to come, that does things just at random, he will go out and whatever he wants to do, he does it. That never was in the Bible. And it never will be done by mortal beings in the will of God. If Jesus Christ... No man will ever live a life above His. And no prophet at any time ever did do anything without first God telling him to do it. Search the Scriptures and see if that's right, always. It's not the will of man; it's the will of God being shown to man.

QA HEBREWS PART 1 57-0925 226-Q-55 There is nothing more powerful... Man's will could never compare with the eternal purpose of God's judgment. It couldn't be. See?

QA HEBREWS PART 1 57-0925226-98 How could the will of man be a mightier force than the purpose of Almighty God? And man in his carnal condition to will what he wants to, more forceful than what an eternal, perfect God would be? Certainly not, it couldn't be. See? The eternal God, Who's purpose is perfect, how could you say that a carnal man down here, no matter how just and he might be, his purposes would no wise compare with the purpose of the eternal and Almighty God.

If we are to study human will, its nature and functions, we can not do so without looking to the three examples of will from a scriptural standpoint. The Scriptures speaks of three different men; the unfallen Adam, the sinner, and the Lord Jesus Christ as three examples of will that show great contrast in the nature. In unfallen Adam his will was free, free in both directions, he was free to do good and free to do evil. Adam was created in a state of innocency, but not in a state of holiness. In Adam there was no constraining bias in him toward either good or evil, and as such, Adam differed radically from all his descendants, as well as from "the Man Christ Jesus." But with the sinner it is far otherwise. The sinner is born with a will that is not in a condition of innocence, because in him there is a heart that is "deceitful above all things and desperately wicked", and this gives him a bias in the direction of evil.

John tells us that they would not come to the light because they loved darkness rather than light.

Notice that Jesus differed radically from unfallen Adam and further from the sinner. The Lord Jesus Christ could not sin because he was "the Holy One of God." Sin was against His very nature. Before he was born into this world Mary was told, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" Luke 1:35. Therefore, the will of the Son of God was not capable of turning toward evil. The will of the Lord Jesus was biased toward that which is good because, side by side with his sinless, holy, perfect humanity, was the attributes of Godhood that were by nature innate in his character by his birth.

1 John 3 tells us that those that are born of God can not sin, because god’s Seed remaineth in them. So as we read in Genesis 1:11 that every seed must bring forth after it’s own kind, that means that every seed must brin forth after its own nature. Then if you have received the seed of God and it has been quikened to life, it is impossible for you to sin or disbelieve.

Now in contradistinction from the will of the Lord Jesus which was biased toward good, and Adam's will which, before his fall, was in a condition capable of turning toward either good or evil — the sinner's will is biased toward evil, and therefore is free in one direction only, namely, in the direction of evil. The sinner's will is enslaved because it is in bondage to and is the servant of a depraved heart.

In what does the sinner's freedom consist? This question is naturally suggested by what we have just said above. The sinner is "free" in the sense of being unforced from without. God never forces the sinner to sin. But the sinner is not "free" to do either good or evil, because an evil heart within him is ever inclining him toward sin. Let me illustrate what I have in mind.

The Bible tells us the way a tree leans that is the way it shall fall. Why? Becauae of a law we call gravity. Let me show you here. I hold in my hand now a song book. If I release it, what will happen? Yes, It falls. In which direction? Downwards of course; always downwards. Why? Because, because it must answer to the law of gravity, and therefore its own weight sinks it.

But what if I so desire that book to be in a place three feet higher; then what? I must lift it; a power outside of that book must raise it. Such is the relationship which fallen man sustains toward God. While divine power upholds him, he is preserved from plunging still deeper into sin; let that power be withdrawn, and he falls — his own weight of sin drags him down. God does not push him down, any more than I did that book. Let all divine restraint be removed, and every man is capable of becoming, would become, a Cain, a Pharaoh, a Judas. How then is the sinner to me heavennly bound? By an act of his own will? Not so. A power outside of himself must grasp hold of him and lift him every inch of the way. The sinner is free, but free in one direction only — free to fall, free to sin. As the Word expresses it:

Romans 6:20"For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness". The sinner is free to do as he pleases, always as he pleases (except as he is restrained by God), but his pleasure is to sin.

Brother Branham said WHY SOME PEOPLE CAN'T KEEP VICTORY 57-0324 E-17 If God's in me, I only want to do those things that please God. It's the nature of the person that makes him do what he does. That's the nature. Its your nature that counts, not your circumstances. Circumstances should mean nothing in how we conduct our lives, or what we will to do.

Br. Branham said, HEBREWS CHAPTER 7 PT 1 57-0915E 307-111 Then what difference does it make here, whether we have anything or whether we don't? Whether we're young or whether we're old, what difference does it make? The main thing, are you ready to meet Him? Do you love Him? Can you serve Him? Have you sold out to the things of the world? Have you met Melchisedec since the battle was over? Bless God. About twenty-one years old I was, and one day I had a battle with this, that, and the other; I couldn't make out whether I wanted to be a fighter, or whether I wanted to be a trapper, or a hunter, what I wanted to be. But I met Melchisedec, and He give me communion, and since then it was settled forever. Hallelujah. I've went on His side. I've been rejoicing on the road. And when it comes to the end of the road, and death stares me in the face, the way I feel now, I'll never dread it. I want to know--walk into the face of it, knowing this, that I know Him Who's made the promise (That's right.), that I know Him in the power of His resurrection. When He calls from among the dead, I'll come out from among them (That's right.), knowing Him in the power of His resurrection. What difference does it make whether I'm old or whether I'm young? whether I'm little or whether I'm big? whether I'm full or whether I'm hungry? whether I got a place to lay down or whether I haven't? "The birds has the nests, and the fox have dens, but the Son of man has not a place to lay His head," but He was the King of glory.

308-114 We're kings and priests tonight. What difference does it make whether we have or whether we haven't? As long as we got God, we're more than conquerors. We are more than conquerors. We set in the Presence of God in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, taking spiritual communion from the hand of Him that testified, "I was He that was dead, and alive again, and I'm alive forevermore." Setting together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, O blessed be His holy Name. What difference does it make?

A tent or a cottage why should I care? They're building a palace for me over there; Of rubies and diamonds, and silver and gold, His coffers are full, He has riches untold.

308-115 I met Him one day when I come from the battle. I laid my trophies down. I ain't fought a battle since then. He fights them for me. I just rest upon His promise, knowing this, that I know Him in the power of His resurrection. That's all that matters. What else does matter? What can we do? "Why taking thought can add one cubit to your statue? What do you care whether your hair's curly or whether you got any or not? What difference does it make? If you're old, if you're gray, if you're stoop-shouldered, if you're not, what difference does it make? Amen. This is just for a spell, a little space, but that's forever and forever. And as aeons of time roll on, and the ages roll on, you'll never change, and you're... through His ceaseless eternal ages. What difference does it make? I'm so glad I met Him. I'm so glad He give me communion one day, that same Melchisedec that met Abraham coming from the slaughter of the kings. Certainly. The God of heaven, the Elohim, the Great I AM, not the I was, the I AM (present tense). "And He blessed him."

Then, does it lie within man's will to accept or reject the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour? Granted that the Messaage has been preached to the sinner, that the Holy Spirit convicts him of his lost condition, does it, in the final analysis, lie within the power of his own will to resist or to yield himself to God? The answer to this question will define your conception of human depravity. That man is a fallen creature all professing Christians will allow, but what many of them mean by "fallen" is often difficult to determine. The general impression seems to be that man is now mortal, that he is no longer in the condition in which he left the hands of his Creator, that he is liable to disease, that he inherits evil tendencies; but, that if he employs his powers to the best of his ability, somehow he will be happy at last. O, how far short of the sad truth! Infirmities, sickness, even corporeal death, are but trifles in comparison with the moral and spiritual effects of the Fall! It is only by consulting the Holy Scriptures that we are able to obtain some conception of the extent of that terrible calamity.

When we say that man is totally depraved, we mean that the entrance of sin into the human constitution has affected every part and faculty of man's being. Total depravity means that man is, in spirit and soul and body, the slave of sin and the captive of the Devil — Eph 2:2. walking "according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" This statement ought not to need arguing: it is a common fact of human experience. Man is unable to realize his own aspirations and materialize his own ideals. He cannot do the things that he would. There is a moral inability which paralyses him. This is proof positive that he is no free man, but instead, the slave of sin and Satan.

You are the product of yoru lineage. Every seed must bring forth after its own kind or nature. John 8:44. "Ye are of your father the Devil, and the lusts (desires) of your father ye will do" Sin is more than an act or a series of acts; it is a state or condition: it is that which lies behind and produces the acts. Sin has penetrated and permeated the whole of man's make up. It has blinded the understanding, corrupted the heart, and alienated the mind from God. And the will has not escaped. The will is under the dominion of sin and Satan. Therefore, the will is not free. In short, the affections love as they do and the will chooses as it does because of the state of the heart, and because the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked "There is none that seeketh after God" Rom. 3:11.

We repeat our question; Does it lie within the power of the sinner's will to yield himself up to God? Let us attempt an answer by asking several others: Can water (of itself) rise above its own level? Can a clean thing come out of an unclean? Can the will reverse the whole tendency and strain of human nature? Can that which is under the dominion of sin originate that which is pure and holy? Manifestly not. If ever the will of a fallen and depraved creature is to me God-wards, a Divine power must be brought to bear upon it which will eradicate the influences of sin that pull in a counter direction. This is only another way of saying, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me, draw him" John 6:44.

In other words, God's people must be made willing in the day of his power Psa. 110:3. As said Mr. Darby, "If Christ came to save that which is lost, free will has no place. Not that God prevents men from receiving Christ — far from it. But even when God uses all possible inducements, all that is capable of exerting influence in the heart of man, it only serves to show that man will have none of it, that so corrupt is his heart, and so decided his will not to submit to God that nothing can induce him to receive the Lord, and to give up sin. But a seed being what it is, a carrier of life, and therefore a carrier of the nature of that life, then man cannot escape from his condition, — then he has no liberty whatever. He is not subject to the law, neither indeed can be; hence, they that are in the flesh cannot please God."

The will is not sovereign; it is a servant, influenced and controlled by the other faculties of man's being. The sinner is not a free agent because he is a slave of sin — Jesus said so in his own words. John 8:36."If the Son shall therefore make you free, ye shall be free indeed" Man is a rational being and as such responsible and accountable to God, but to say he is a free moral agent is to deny that he is totally depraved. Because man's will is governed by his mind and heart, and because these have been corrupted by sin, then it follows that if ever man is to turn in a God-ward direction, God himself must work in him Php 2:13 Both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Man's boasted freedom is in actuality the "bondage of corruption"; for he "serves divers lusts and pleasures." "Man is impotent as to his will. He has no will favorable to God. I believe in free will; but then it is a will only free to act according to what nature we have by seed. A dove has no will to eat carrion; a raven no will to eat the clean food of the dove. Put the nature of the dove into the raven and it will eat the food of the dove. Satan could have no will for holiness as God could have no will for evil. The sinner in his sinful nature could never have a will according to God. For this he must be born again".

Among the "decrees" of the Council of Trent (1563), which is the awed standard of Popery, we find the following: — "If any one shall affirm, that man's free will, moved and excited by God, does not, by consenting, cooperate with God, the mover and exciter, so as to prepare and dispose itself for the attainment of justification; if morer, anyone shall say, that the human will cannot refuse complying, if it pleases; but that it is inactive, and merely passive; let such an one be accursed"!

"If anyone shall affirm, that since the fall of Adam, man's free will is lost and extinguished; or, that it is a thing titular, yea a name, without a thing, and a fiction introduced by Satan into the Church; let such an one be accursed"! Thus, those who today insist on the free will of the natural man believe precisely what Rome teaches on the subject! That Roman Catholics and Arminians walk hand in hand may be seen from others of the decrees issued by the Council of Trent: — "If any one shall affirm that a regenerate and justified man is bound to believe that he is certainly in the number of the elect which, 1 Thess. 1:4-5 plainly teaches, let such an one be accursed"! "If any one shall affirm with positive and absolute certainty, that he shall surely have the gift of perseverance to the end (which John 10:28-30 assuredly guarantees; let him be accursed"! In order for any sinner to be saved three things are indispensable: God the Father had to purpose his salvation, God through His Son had to purchase it, and then God through His Spirit has to apply it.

God does more than "propose" to us: for were he only to "invite" us, every last one of us would be lost. Wee see this in the scriptures. In Ezra 1:1-3 we read, "Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel." Here was an "offer" made, made to a people in captivity, affording them opportunity to leave and return to Jerusalem — God's dwelling place. Did all Israel eagerly respond to this offer? No indeed. The vast majority were content to remain in the enemy's land. Only an insignificant "remnant" availed themselves of this mercy! And why did they? Hear the answer of Scripture: Ezra 1:5"Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all whose spirit God had stirred up, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem" In like manner, God "stirs up" the spirits of his elect when the effectual call comes to them, and not till then do they have any willingness to respond to the Divine proclamation.

The superficial work of many of the professional evangelists of the last fifty years is largely responsible for the erroneous views now current upon the bondage of the natural man, encouraged by the laziness of those in the pew in their failure to "prove all things" 1 Thess. 5:21. The average evangelical pulpit conveys the impression that it lies wholly in the power of the sinner whether or not he shall be saved. It is said that "God has done his part, now man must do his." But what can a lifeless man do, since man by nature is "dead in trespasses and sins" Eph 2:1! If this were really believed, there would be more dependence upon the Holy Spirit to come in with his miracle working power, and less confidence in our attempts to "win men for Christ."

When addressing the unsaved, preachers often draw an analogy between God's sending of the Gospel to the sinner, and a sick man in bed, with some healing medicine on a table by his side: all he needs to do is reach forth his hand and take it. But in order for this illustration to be in any wise true to the picture which Scripture gives us of the fallen and depraved sinner, the sick man in bed must be described as one who is blind Eph 4:18 so that he cannot see the medicine, his hand paralyzed Rom. 5:6 so that he is unable to reach forth for it, and his heart not only devoid of all confidence in the medicine but filled with hatred against the physician himself John 15:18. O what stupid reasoning men use today concerning the Gospel of christ. Christ came here not to help those who were willing to help themselves, but to do for his people what they were incapable of doing for themselves: Isa. 42:7"To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house".

Now in conclusion let us take one last look at the inevitable objection — Why preach the Gospel if man is powerless to respond? Why bid the sinner come to Christ if sin has so enslaved him that he has no power in himself to come?

Reply: — We do not preach the Gospel because we believe that men are free moral agents, and therefore capable of receiving Christ, but we preach it because we are commanded to do so Mark 16:15; and though to them that perish it is foolishness, yet, "unto us which are saved it is the power of God"

William Branham said we preach the Gospel knowing that all will not be saved, but we preach it as though they can be.

1 Cor. 1:18. "The foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men" 1 Cor. 1:25.

Again in Eph 2:1sinner is dead in trespasses and sins, and a dead man is utterly incapable of willing anything, hence it is that Rom. 8:8 they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

To fleshly wisdom it appears the height of folly to preach the Gospel to those that are dead, and therefore beyond the reach of doing anything themselves. Yes, but God's ways are different from ours.

It pleases God 1 Cor. 1:21"by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe". How foolish it must have seemed to those that hear the prohet say, to dead bones, "O, ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord" Ezek. 37:4. But what man fails to recognize is it is the word of the Lord, and the words Spoken, John 6:63"they spirit, and they are life". Wise men standing by the grave of Lazarus might pronounce it an evidence of insanity when the Lord addressed a dead man with the words, "Lazarus, Come forth." But he who those words was the Resurrection and the Life, and at his word even the dead live! We go forth to preach the Gospel, then, not because we believe that sinners have within themselves the power to receive the Savior the Message proclaims, but because the Gospel itself is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, and because we know that Acts 13:48"as many as were ordained to eternal life shall believe.

John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, [and] one shepherd.— note the shall's!) in God's appointed time, for it is written, Psa. 110:3!"Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power"