My brother Dan wrote an interesting article that while I enjoyed reading it, I found a few creepings of modern philosophy. There seems to be this strange Pelagian notion of “free will”, and it often is confused with “choice”. We must recognize that while God gives us choices, and the Scriptures repeatedly back this up, we must be careful to not use the term “free will”, since the Scriptures deny this worldly belief by saying we are slaves to sin.
If we are slaves to sin, if in our current natural condition, we exalt self above God, then how do we ever get to the point where we carry out a righteous act of repenting and turning toward the Lord our God? What causes the rebel to surrender arms and pledge allegiance to his life-long “enemy”? Is it not a changed heart? What will cause a wicked man with a wicked heart to change his ways?
Regeneration precedes faith. God’s Holy Spirit regenerates the wicked heart of the unbeliever, overriding, yes, overriding the unbeliever’s rebel will. But here’s the trick that many don’t catch. God changes the unbeliever’s heart to WANT to desire God. Many who promote “free-will” theology think it’s wrong for God to override man’s “free-will” and force him to be saved or unsaved against his will. But man has no “free” will – he is enslaved to sin. And the saved man’s heart is changed so he wants to be saved, whereas the unsaved man’s heart is left unchanged and desiring to exalt self as God. There are no “seekers” – only the undeservedly saved and deservedly damned.
No, we have no “free will”. Those who are saved have liberty and are “free”, but are also now slaves to righteousness since Christ is our master and we are slaves to whatever masters us. Yet, the unregenerate are not free nor ever free. They are slaves to sin, captives to their wicked wills. But when you and I were captives to wickedness, did we not relish it? Did we not enjoy it? Was it not the Lord who broke the chains and gave us a new heart?
The elect must keep in mind that we each shared the same wicked wills, now transformed by the grace. We preach the transforming Gospel to all nations and all peoples with assurance that the Lord is at work, regenerating those He has chosen before the creation of the world.
God is a powerful God, King of the universe and sovereign over the hearts of men.