Take the Freewill Challenge

Take the Freewill Challenge!

There is no disputing that both saved and unsaved people have a Will to make choices. I don't think a single Reformed Christian would dispute that. We all make choices everyday. What clothes to wear, what food to eat, there's no doubt life is full of choices. The point of contention between some Christians usually arises when the discussion turns to just how much the sinner's Will plays in the conversion experience.

In some theological systems, the will of man is elevated to an almost idolatrous level! I have heard many good sermons go terribly wrong when the preacher interjects humanistic theology by declaring, "God always respects man's freewill to chose or reject Him" or "God has given man a Freewill to choose or reject Him". Once upon a time, statements like I just quoted, sounded like good preaching, but not anymore! There has been a radical shift in my theology. A few years ago, I learned that is only by God's effectual Grace, working in a lost sinner's heart, that a man's fallen Will is then liberated so that he can then freely chose to Repent and follow Christ!

I realize what I have just written flies in the face of popular Evangelical theology. Some will even label me a heretic for such theology, but that's okay with me. The fact is, had God not granted us the desire and faith to be saved, we would have never chosen to be saved on our own! Ephesians 2 tells us that a sinner is DEAD in trespasses and sins. This illustrates to us the dire situation of the sinner. A sinner has no power to save himself apart from the working of God in his soul. Charles Spurgeon once said, "When we shall see the dead rise from the grave by their own power, then may we expect to see ungodly sinners of their own free will turning to Christ".

In his book The Sovereignty of God, A. W. Pink wrote, "What is the Will? We answer, the will is the faculty of choice, the immediate cause of all action. Choice necessarily implies the refusal of the one thing and the acceptance of another. The positive and the negative must both be present to the mind before there can be any choice. In every act of the will there is a preference - the desiring of one thing rather than another". You see, the Will of man is not autonomous or uninfluenced by outside pressures. The will chooses that which the heart of a man truly desires. Sinners reject Christ because their Will is bound to sin.

Some will still dispute my position. Some will still contend that it's a "Freewill Choice" that makes all the difference in someone being saved, yet in Romans 9:16 (ESV) the Scripture plainly tells us that God's mercy in Salvation "depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy". In John 1:12 (ESV) the Bible tells us that those who are children of God "were born, not of the blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God". How much more plain can that be? The Word of God plainly states that man's Freewill is not the central hinge upon what Salvation hangs! Why then do preachers and theologians teach the total opposite and rob God of His rightful position as the Sovereign God of the Universe who alone changes the hearts of evil men?

Reformed Christians have often been slandered by people who teach that we believe God, "turns away sinners who want to be saved, and forces others into the Kingdom against their Will". This is totally false. I believe all Calvinists would affirm that God will save ALL who come to Him through Christ Jesus. We believe that "whosoever believes will be saved". The difference is that we understand that the "whosoevers" will never WILLINGLY believe or come to God, unless God first liberates their fallen Wills, so that they can then freely choose to believe and serve Him. Remember, God has already commanded all sinners to repent! Every man has been commanded to come to Christ, but fallen man lacks moral ability to do so!

In conclusion, the title of my Rant is "Take the Freewill Challenge" and that's exactly what I want you to do --especially if you totally disagree with my theological postion! I want Christians to see that "Freewill" is not as wonderful as some people teach. So with that in mind, I want you to exercise your Freewill and CHOOSE, for the next 12 days, to not sin in word, in deed, or in thought. I want you to use your Freewill to love God with ALL your HEART, MIND, SOUL, and MIGHT (and love thy neighbor as thyself) every second of everyday! "Will" yourself to be "perfect even as your Father in Heaven is perfect"!

In this challange I am including sins of commission as well as sins of omission! If the Will is totally free from all outside influence and is totally autonomous as some people teach, this ought to be a problem at all! You must simply exercise your Will and CHOOSE to do it!

Semper Reformada!