John 8:31-36      Free To Believe

Rev. David Holwick   C                                    Predestination #2

First Baptist Church

Ledgewood, New Jersey

January 15, 2012

John 8:31-36


FREE TO BELIEVE



  I. Does free will matter?

      A. The experiment.


         Four years ago, researchers at the University of Minnesota and

            the University of British Columbia did an experiment.

         They gave college students a math exam in which students would

            be paid for each correct answer.


         They told the students that "a computer glitch would cause the

            answers to appear on the screen" and that they should press

               a key to keep from seeing the answers.

         Students were told that failure to press the key was cheating,

            although no one would know they had cheated.


         Prior to taking the exam, some of the students were asked to

            read an article that claimed "most educated people do not

               believe in free will."

         Another group was given an article that affirmed free will,

            and a third group read an article about sugar.

         This is how you do important experiments at big universities.


         You can probably guess what happened:

         The "no free will" group was more likely to let the answer

            appear - that is, to cheat.

         Other variations of the experiment got the same results.


         The head researcher told a magazine that these findings tie

            "in with evidence that cheating is on the increase" among

               college students.

         While there "are many possible reasons for this," the erosion

            in our belief in free will and conscience is almost certainly

               one of them.


         It is very troubling that reading one article could have an

            impact like this.

         Imagine what a lifetime of this kind of indoctrination can do.

                                                                   #35145


      B. God made humans to be free.

          1) Some versions of Christian predestination are so severe

                that human freedom comes across as a figment of our

                   imagination.

              a) We think we are free, but God has it all mapped out

                    already.

          2) The Bible gives abundant evident that we are free.

              a) As Jesus himself said, we are "free indeed."

                  1> We are free to make moral choices.

                  2> We are free to make spiritual decisions.

              b) We are free - and we are responsible.

                  1> We will be held to account for the choices we make.


II. Why some Christians limit free will.

      A. God's predestination trumps everything else.

          1) We cannot believe unless we are chosen by God.


             Acts 13:48

             "...all who were appointed for eternal life believed."


          2) God chooses us when we are still dead in our sins.


             Ephesians 2:4-5

             "...because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in

                mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead

                   in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved."


          3) Salvation is not what we do, but what God did before

                creation.


             2 Timothy 1:9

             "[God] has saved us and called us to a holy life--not

                because of anything we have done but because of his own

                   purpose and grace.

              This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the

                 beginning of time."


      B. Is even our faith produced by God?

          1) The incredible statement in Ephesians 2:8 --


             "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith --

                and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God --

                   not by works, so that no one can boast."


          2) Is even our faith given to us by God?

              a) This makes sense if we are enemies of God and dead

                    in sins before we are saved.

              b) However, this verse can be interpreted that our

                    salvation, not our faith, is God's gift to us.


      C. For ultra-Calvinists, our only freedom is our ability to sin.

          1) Therefore God gets the credit for our salvation.

          2) We get the credit for our damnation.


III. There is another side to the issue.

      A. Predestination has logic and verses, but there is more.

          1) From beginning to end, the Bible calls people to choose God.

          2) Everyone is invited to believe and be saved:


             Revelation 22:17

             "Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let

                 him take the free gift of the water of life."


             John 3:16-18

             "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only

                 Son, that WHOEVER BELIEVES in him shall not perish but

                    have eternal life.

              For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the

                 world, but to save the world through him.

              Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does

                NOT BELIEVE stands condemned already because he has not

                   believed in the name of God's one and only Son."


      B. It is a key belief of Baptists.

          1) The Bible always calls for a human response to God.

              a) We must have faith, we must believe, we must repent.

              b) Even after we become Christians, we are called to

                    choose purity and holiness.

              c) Our decisions matter to God, a lot!

          2) Today we will have a baptism.

              a) Most churches do it when you are an infant.

              b) We require people to make a spiritual decision first.

                  1> And they have to tell you about it.

                  2> 1 Peter 3:21 says this is the aspect of baptism

                        that saves us - the faith proclaimed in our

                           testimony, not the wetness of the water.


      C. In the end, it is a great mystery.

          1) I came across a $25 theological word -- "compatibilism."

          2) This is the belief that predestination is absolutely true.

                And human free will is absolutely true as well.

              a) God predestines us before the creation of the world.

              b) Yet we can freely choose him and believe.

          3) Is God's almighty sovereignty at the mercy of our puny wills?

              a) Absolutely not.

              b) In his sovereignty, he works with our wills.

              c) That is what is really mysterious!


               The great evangelist D.L. Moody put it this way:


               "I come to the door of salvation and see written over

                  it 'Whosoever will may come.'

                I enter the door, and look above it, and it says,

                  'Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.'"

                                                                    #1960


IV. Since God lets you believe, so should government.

      A. Big innovation in America - religious uniformity is not forced.

          1) This was the case in Europe for centuries.

          2) Even most of early America had government-sponsored churches.

              a) People did not come to America so that everyone could

                    have religious freedom.

                  1> They came so THEY could have religious freedom.

                  2> As for YOU...

              b) Rhode Island, founded by Baptists, was the first to

                    guarantee freedom of religion for everyone.


      B. What freedom of religion should mean.

          1) We are free to believe whatever we want.

              a) You can believe in any version of God.

              b) You can believe in no god at all.

          2) To associate with others as we think best.

          3) To evangelize - try to convince others of what we believe.


      C. Separation of church and state.

          1) It cannot establish religions for special favors.

          2) It cannot unduly hinder religions from carrying out their

                work.

          3) But the government shouldn't have to do our religious work

                for us.

              a) The government shouldn't build our churches or print

                    our Bibles, or religiously educate our kids.

              b) That is for us to do, as we see fit.


  V. Freedom of religion does not mean no religion allowed.

      A. Religious people can speak their minds and follow their beliefs.

          1) Religion is not just your personal, private opinion.

              a) You are free to express yourself.

              b) And churches are free to express their doctrines.

          2) Recent Supreme Court case, where a religious school was

                allowed to fire a teacher.

              a) The Justice Department wanted to force the school to

                    hire her back.

              b) The Supreme Court unanimously said no, because a church

                    is more than a club.


      B. Dangerous trend: believe want you want, but with consequences.

          1) New Jersey teacher expressed conservative Christian view on

                homosexuality on Facebook and was threatened with firing.

          2) One lawyer: "You can believe whatever you want.  But that

                doesn't mean there won't be consequences."

              a) Perhaps.  But what should those consequences be?

              b) Stalin and Mao knew they couldn't force belief, just

                    actions.

              c) North Koreans are being jailed for being insufficiently

                    sorrowful for their leader's death!


VI. You are free to believe -- do you?

      A. Jesus says the only truly free people are his disciples.

          1) They hold to his teaching.

          2) Religious background - his opponents were descendents of

                Abraham, and therefore God's chosen people -- is no

                   guarantee of salvation.

          3) You must have a personal, committed faith.


      B. What is your faith in?



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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:


# 1960  A Door With Two Labels, Dynamic Preaching (www.sermons.com),

           January 1992


#35145  Why Be Good?: Free Will And Honesty, by Charles Colson,

           BreakPoint Commentary, February 29, 2008.


These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be

downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html

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