But before I get there today, we will start covering several things over the next couple of lessons:
• the will of the Flesh
• the will of Man
• the will of the Devil
• the will of God
I can't imagine trying to preach this subject if I was a Calvinist since they struggle so much with believing that God has given man freewill.
The easiest most succinct reply to those who think man has no freewill is found in one verse (let alone hundreds of others). God reveals His patient nature and desire for all to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
If people die lost without Christ, then their will usurps God's ultimate will for them. This means that individuals have a freewill to reject God's offer of salvation. To claim otherwise is to contradict everything about God's character—merciful, gracious, loving, longsuffering, etc.
Rather than desiring to punish sinners, God's will is for every individual to repent and enjoy eternal fellowship with Him. His patience reveals the extent of His love and His desire for none to perish.
1. The Mission of the Son of Man—Save the Lost
Matthew 18:11 For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost. 12 How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? 13 And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. 14 Even so it is not the will of your Fa |
