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Turn with me to chapter nine 
in the Confession of Faith. Does anyone need a copy? The 
blue basket of Baptistic brevity can come around to you if you 
need it, hands up. There we go, we got one. Chapter 
nine of Free Will. I'll read the entirety of the 
chapter. Four, five rather small paragraphs. But as usual, a lot is packed 
in as the confession is summarizing the biblical witness to a particular 
doctrine, this time as it has to do with free will. So this 
is chapter nine. God hath endued the will of man 
with the natural liberty and power of acting upon choice that 
it is neither forced nor by any necessity of nature determined 
to do good or evil. Man in his state of innocency 
had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good 
and well-pleasing to God, but yet was mutable so that he might 
fall from it. Man, by his fall into a state 
of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual 
good accompanying salvation. So as a natural man, being altogether 
averse from that good and dead in sin, is not able by his own 
strength to convert himself or to prepare himself thereunto. 
When God converts a sinner and translates him into the state 
of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin, 
and by his grace alone enables him freely to will and to do 
that which is spiritually good. Yet so as that by reason of his 
remaining corruptions, he doth not perfectly nor only will that 
which is good, but doth also will that which is evil. The 
will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to good alone 
in the state of glory only. So, as I said, four simple paragraphs, 
but there's a lot going on there. Biblically speaking, with regards 
to the doctrine of man as the Bible truly presents man, under 
God, relative to covenant, and with respect to Christ, and with 
respect to man's vantage point relative to the eschaton or the 
state of glory. And so the confession is also 
here not only positively capturing what the Bible has to say regarding 
the doctrine of man, regarding the doctrine of free will specifically, 
but it's also calculated against those errors and against those 
heresies that have pervaded the church or that have been propagated 
throughout the centuries of the church, and we'll note some of 
those as we move along. At first glance, it may seem 
interesting, the positioning of this doctrine after chapter 
eight, the doctrine of Christ, and before the doctrine of salvation. I think as we think about it 
here, it makes sense. In fact, if we just consider 
the next chapter of effectual calling, The paragraphs two and 
three to a particular degree of chapter nine make immediate 
and perfect sense because man is dead in his trespasses and 
sins and needs to be made alive if he is to be translated into 
that state of grace and to be freed from the natural bondage 
that he is in under sin. And it makes sense as well if 
we consider the previous chapters as well though. What is man's 
position relative to and under God? You know, chapters, you 
know, chapters one, you know, really through five if we look 
at it. What is man's position relative 
to covenant? relative to the covenant of works, 
relative to the covenant of grace, and then of course, what is man's 
position relative to the champion of the covenant, the mediator, 
Christ Jesus the Lord, chapter eight. And so, its position is 
sensical, it makes sense where it is, because it's sort of that 
pivot point between God, covenant, and Christ, and the salvation 
that comes from God, and from the champion of the covenant 
of grace, Jesus Christ the Lord. It bridges this chapter, chapter 
nine, bridges the first eight with the subsequent 24 chapters, 
speaking of the work of God in the application of the benefits 
wrought by Christ in his mediatorial work, chapter eight, and ending 
with the fullness of joy and glory in the everlasting presence 
of God with regards to the doctrine of eschatology or last things. Now regarding the freedom of 
man's will, the topic of free will, and free will with respect 
to the framework of salvation, God, Christ, and man, there's 
obviously a rich history throughout church history with regards to 
this topic. If we go back to, for example, 
the debates, the arguments between Augustine and Pelagius regarding 
the nature of man, original sin, how man is free and how he is 
not free, what his freedom looks like, and what his freedom looks 
like with respect to particular states of man or biblical anthropology, 
the doctrine of man. We fast forward a little bit 
in time and we see, you know, Luther with regards to his reformational 
arguments in the context of the bondage of the will. Luther and 
Erasmus in the 16th century, the Protestants and the Catholics 
in the 16th century and beyond. You know, really the Catholics 
sort of doubling, not doubling down maybe, but putting all their 
theological baskets in one egg in the 16th century with the 
Council of Trent, renouncing historically, renouncing the 
historical and biblical doctrine of free will and effectual grace. And then, of course, as we get 
to the 17th century and the context of our confession of faith, we 
have the Armenians, or we could say the Reformation men, post-Reformation 
men against the Armenians. There's some calculated language, 
for example, in the Canons of Dort that are specifically calculated 
against the Armenians and their doctrine of free will and their 
doctrine of man and their doctrine of grace. We look at the English 
landscape from which our confession comes. We see Owen and other, 
you know, reform scholastics coming up against the Sassinians 
and the Anabaptists and their doctrine of free will, which 
was of course erroneous. The particular Baptist against 
the same anti-Trinitarians in the English landscape as well 
as Thomas Collier, who once was a particular Baptist but who 
deviated into gross error and really had the same doctrine 
as the Sassanians, a doctrine of the prevailing strength of 
man's reason and a perverted doctrine or no doctrine of original 
sin, really. And so this chapter isn't given 
to us in a vacuum. It's positively upholding the 
biblical witness regarding the doctrine of man and the doctrine 
of free will. And it's calculated against those errors that have 
pervaded the church since its outset. So let's have a look 
at all of the paragraphs here. Moving through the first paragraph, 
we see the definition of free will. the definition of free 
will, and it's stated very simply. Notice that the will of man, 
as he has it, is a gift given by God to man. God hath endued 
the will of man. So we would want to say, we should 
say at the outset that The Reformed Christians don't say there is 
no such thing as free will. We positively recognize that 
God has endued man with that natural liberty and power of 
acting upon choice, as the Reformed confession here says. But as 
we'll see, it's qualified with respect to the condition that 
man finds himself in, whether in that state of innocency or 
whether in that state post-fall, whether in the state of grace 
or whether in the state of glory. Man has free will, it's just 
conditioned with regards to his particular state, the state he 
finds himself in under God with respect to covenant and with 
respect to grace. So God hath endued man with that 
natural liberty and power of acting upon choice. And we do 
see this in the scriptures. You can turn with me to the book 
of Matthew for a moment. Matthew, and this is Christ speaking 
with regards to Elijah and the fathers doing to him what they 
wished. Notice, excuse me, notice in 
Matthew 17, Matthew 17 at verse 12. Well, we'll back up to verse 
seven. But Jesus came and touched them 
and said, arise and do not be afraid. Matthew 17, eight now, 
when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus 
only. Now as they came down from the 
mountain, Jesus commanded them saying, tell the vision to no 
one until the son of man is risen from the dead. And his disciples 
asked him, saying, Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must 
come first? Jesus answered and said to them, 
Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. 
But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did 
not know him, but, notice, did to him whatever they wished. 
Likewise, the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands. 
So when? they ill-treated Elijah when 
it really, in the context here, when they ill-treated John the 
Baptist, and when they will eat ill-treat, they have already 
ill-treated, but when they, I'll say ill-treat one more time, 
when they ill-treat the Savior they're doing it because they're 
doing it by free will, they're doing it by the acting of their 
own choice, they're doing as they wished. But as we note, 
and as we should note, this isn't somehow a free will that is autonomous 
outside of divine sovereignty and outside of the divine providential 
governance of all things. It simply has to do with man's 
God-given power and faculty and natural liberty of acting upon 
a choice. If we think about it in this 
context because the confession will qualify that it has respect 
to the doing or not doing of good and evil when we have this 
natural liberty restricted condition to certain things regarding man. But if we have the natural liberty 
of free will to walk into a coffee shop And to our ill, either choose 
a soy latte or to our goodness, choose a black coffee. I'm just 
joking. You can order a soy latte if you'd like. But we have the 
natural liberty of choosing an eat more over a Mars bar. We 
have the natural liberty to, you know, to choose, to act upon 
choice. And as the confession says here, 
it's neither forced nor by any necessity of nature determined 
to do good or evil. So God has given us free will. James 1.14 says, each one is 
tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. So with respect to temptation 
and sin, man is drawn away according to not some natural compulsion 
or a force that is compelling him to do something, but rather 
according to the faculty or the liberty and power of acting upon 
choice. Deuteronomy 30 19 I call heaven 
and earth as witnesses today against you that I have set before 
you life and death Blessing and cursing therefore choose life 
that both you and your descendants may live so the question do men 
have free will should be answered yes, but with a but. And we'll see that as we move 
along here. The Second London Confession both affirms and qualifies 
or defines free will. It's a reformed Christian document, 
so it denies the Arminian understanding of free will, but upholds a definition 
of free will that defends against those flesh robot charges of 
the Arminians and the enemies of Christianity. The Canons of Dort, I had mentioned 
that the language that you read there, and the language that 
you read in our confession, but specifically in the context being 
directly related to Arminian opposition to biblical truth, 
the language of the Canons of Dort uses the language of stalks 
and blocks, which was the charges of Arminians against the Reformed 
understanding that we're just sort of flesh robots under this 
conception of a sovereign god. But very helpfully, the Canons 
of Dort uses this language regarding this argument, the free will 
of man and what the next chapter will treat, regeneration. This 
grace of regeneration does not treat men as senseless stalks 
and blocks, nor take away their will and its properties, nor, 
neither does violence thereto. but spiritually quickens, heals, 
corrects, and at the same time, and this is great language, sweetly 
and powerfully bends it, that where carnal rebellion and resistance 
formerly prevailed, a ready and sincere spiritual obedience begins 
to reign." So man has been given by God this free will whereby 
we are able to act upon choice. We're not somehow compelled by 
some force external to ourselves to choose certain things. We 
choose in accordance with ourselves and the state that we find ourselves 
in. Which brings us to the states 
of human will. The states of human will. Well, 
just before we get there, just a couple quotes here. First, 
we want to note that men are not free, as Raymond puts it, 
from God's decreed of will or providential governance. If we 
were to look at paragraph one of chapter three and paragraph 
four of chapter six, we see that the will of man, the will of 
man, of course, is under God's decreed of will and his providential 
governance. Psalm 115.3, Psalm 135.6, and 
Ephesians 1.11. In fact, let's turn to a couple of those. Go 
to Psalm 115 for a moment. Psalm 135.6 is very similar in 
language. Psalm 115.3, with respect to 
God's sovereignty and then so therefore man's will. under the 
sovereign governance of God. Psalm 115.3, but our God is in 
heaven, he does whatever he pleases. And Ephesians 1.11, which is 
sort of a, in the context of grace equivalent to Psalm 115.3 
and Psalm 135.6, but we see there the working out of things under 
God's decree and under God's sovereignty. Psalm, Ephesians 
1, 11. Notice the language that we find 
there, backing up to verse 10, that in the dispensation of the 
fullness of the times, he might gather together in one all things 
in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth 
in him. In him also we have obtained 
an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him 
who works all things according to the counsel of his will. The 
Arminian conception, the Sassanian conception, the Jesuit Molinist 
conception, the Thomas Collier conception, faulty conceptions 
of the free will of God, find man as really agents autonomous 
agents that cannot be frustrated by the divine will but are actually 
in some measure acting on their own and cannot be stymied by 
the will or the governance of God. So, back to this quote here, 
as Raymond puts it, we're not free from God's decreed or providential 
will. The Bible clearly affirms the 
contrary. Man's will is not a sovereign 
faculty or self-governing faculty. Man's will is not autonomous. 
In our context, in the biblical context, independent of God's 
rule and decree, an island unto itself. It finds its foundation 
in the sovereignty of the will of God. Proverbs 16.9, of course, 
a man's heart plans its way, but the Lord directs its steps. 
Moving on then to, so we say, we affirm that God has endued 
the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon 
choice, but we note of course that that's conditioned by the 
state that man finds himself in. And so the first paragraph 
gives us this first initial framework. What is free will as it is seen 
conditioned with regards to the states of man? And we see first 
with paragraph two, free will in the state of innocency. And 
that's the very language of paragraph two. Man in his state of innocency 
had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good 
and well-pleasing to God, but yet was mutable so that he might 
fall from it. So we see this initial state 
of man in the garden prior to the fall. You can turn back to 
chapter six for a moment because the language is very similar. In the chapter treating the doctrine 
of sin and the fall of man and the punishment due, sinners, 
we see here in paragraph one very similar language. Although 
God created man upright and perfect and gave him a righteous law 
which had been unto life had he kept it and threatened death 
upon the breach thereof. The confession here is using 
the same language of 9-2, but treating it connected to the 
covenant of works. So God created man upright. The language is essentially using 
the close to verbatim language of Ecclesiastes 7 there. God 
created man upright. And that's what paragraph two 
is affirming, and that's what paragraph one in chapter six 
is talking about. And notice as well, the, excuse 
me, the language after we read, threatened death upon the breach 
thereof, this is back in six one, yet he did not long abide 
in this honor. So if we go back to chapter 9 
in paragraph 2, we see that final clause, but yet was mutable so 
that he might fall from it. He did not long abide in that 
honor of uprightness and righteousness, the state in which he was created. And so, Man's will in the garden 
prior to the fall was such that he had freedom and power to will 
and to do that which was good and well-pleasing to God. And 
it wasn't such that he was at this place of moral neutrality. where he could choose for good 
and choose for evil. But much rather, the liberty 
and the power to will and to do that which was good and well-pleasing 
to God, he was created upright, not neutral. He was created upright. But it was not a state of immutability. And we'll see in paragraph five, 
that there's a difference here with regards to the state of 
man in glory. But man in the garden is created 
upright, having the freedom and the power to will and to do that 
which was good and well-pleasing in the sight of God. What does 
it mean when we read here, man in his state of innocency? Of 
course, prior to the fall, human freedom was such that man had 
the power both to will and to do that which was good and well-pleasing 
in the sight of God, so it's a state of innocency, unlike 
the state that we'll then read concerning in paragraph three. 
Yet, the possibility existed that he might fall from this 
state, so not immutable, but mutable. If you have a language 
that says unstable, I think there's some versions that say unstable 
instead of mutable. So, but yet was unstable that 
he might fall from it. Probably not the best translation 
because it seems to convey some measure of psychological issue 
or mental problems. Mutable is the proper rendering 
there. And it's set in juxtaposition to a certain degree with the 
immutability that we find in paragraph five. So man created 
upright in the garden, yet mutable so that he might fall from that 
state. And so Adam and Eve in the garden, 
unlike man post-fall, were able, they had this natural liberty, 
this created liberty and freedom and power to will that which 
is good. Unlike every other generation 
that followed by ordinary generation, they had that particular created 
reality. And we see here in the next paragraph 
that there's obviously a significant change there. But Ecclesiastes 
729 speaks to this reality, truly this only I have found, that 
God made man upright But they have sought out many schemes, 
many devices. And so that's what we see with 
respect to the creation of Adam and Eve in the garden and that 
state of free will in that state of innocency. Genesis 3.6, so 
when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was 
pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she 
took of its fruit and ate, using that natural liberty and power 
of acting upon choice. She also gave to her husband 
with her and he ate. sort of captures the redemptive 
historical narrative concerning the doctrine that is being reflected 
here in paragraph two. Adam and Eve created upright, 
but were mutable so that they might fall from it. And hopefully 
as you see here, as we read through these paragraphs, you can connect 
the dots between the states of man and the certain covenant 
realities that man finds himself in. And I think as we see and 
when we move to paragraph three, what we'll see with regards to 
the Baptistic view of the covenant of grace, and then so therefore 
our approach to what constitutes a child of God and the ordinance 
of baptism, we'll see here how important this theology is with 
regards to that as well. First and foremost in view ought 
to be the glory of God and the glory of the champion of the 
covenant Christ who brings us from out of the reality of paragraph 
three that we'll get to now and puts us into the paragraphs four 
and five realities solely by grace and the glory of his gospel. So let's look then at free will 
in the state of sin because that's the paragraph that we have next, 
paragraph three. What does man's free will look 
like with respect to the post-fall state of man then? We see the 
pre-fall state, created upright, able to do that which is good 
and well-pleasing to God. Now notice paragraph three. Man, 
by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability 
of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation. So the 
fall of Adam and Eve and our fall in them brought man into 
a particular state where his free will, notice, so as a natural 
man, being altogether averse from that good and dead in sin, 
is not able by his own strength to convert himself or to prepare 
himself thereunto. And that language is calculated, 
and we'll see it in a moment. man's fall into sin has brought 
a particular reality to his will. It is now in bondage to his fallen 
state. So he still has the faculty, 
he still has this natural liberty and power of acting upon choice. 
That itself has not been obliterated by the fall, but he only ever 
now chooses evil because he's dead in sin. That's what Luther 
was talking about with regards to the bondage of the will. Notice, 
the bondage of the will. There's still a will, but it 
is in bondage to the state that man finds himself in, in this 
case, the state of sin. If you back up again to paragraph, 
to chapter six, Notice in paragraph two, it's a connected paragraph 
to our paragraph three in chapter nine. Chapter six, two, our first 
parents by this sin fell from their original righteousness 
and communion with God, and notice, and we in them, whereby death 
came upon all, all becoming dead in sin and wholly defiled in 
all the faculties and parts of body and soul. So we still have 
the faculty of the will. We're wholly defiled in all the 
faculties of body and soul. So a faculty of the soul is the 
will, but we're now wholly defiled in it. We have the power of choosing. We still choose the soy latte 
or the coffee. But in this state of sin, we 
only ever choose that which is perverse, that which is wicked, 
that which is sin. We do not have that natural power 
or freedom that Adam and Eve had prior to the fall into sin 
because we fell in them. Some passages that speak to this 
reality in the Bible that are helpful for us to know the state 
of man, to know the state of family and friends before grace 
may come to them. and apologetically as we interface, 
as we interface, as we speak with those who are perhaps in 
opposition to our particular and proper biblical view of grace 
and of the state of man. But turn with me to the book 
of Romans first. There's more than two passages, 
but we'll note two in the book of Romans that speak to this 
reality. Notice in Romans five, Speaking in the context of the 
glory of Christ's sacrificial work, His death for us, it connects 
the power of Christ's crucifixion with the making alive of those 
who are dead in sin, who are referenced here as without strength. 
Notice in 5.6 of Romans, for when we were still without strength, 
In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. So, in a state of 
sin, we are without strength. We do not have that power, that 
freedom to will that which is good, to will anything according 
to salvation. It must be the case that Christ's 
redemptive work is applied to us by the power of the Spirit. 
Notice this connection, too, between the ungodly and those 
who are without strength. Those who are dead in sin, those 
who are the ungodly, not a class of sinners, but all sinners outside 
of grace, are those who are without strength as well. And of course, 
Romans 8 and verse 7. Romans 8, verse 7. Backing up to verse five, for 
those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the 
things of the flesh. That's a clue one or an evidence 
one with regards to what we're talking about here. Those in 
this state of sin, in their fallen state, they live according to 
the flesh and only set their minds on those things of the 
flesh. Notice the but here though, but those who live according 
to the spirit, that'll be our next paragraph, the things of 
the spirit. For to be carnally minded is 
death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because 
The carnal mind is enmity against God, and notice this language 
with regards to ability, for it is not subject to the law 
of God, nor indeed can be. So this speaks to that reality 
of total inability. that the other side of the coin, 
if you will, of total depravity or the connected reality. Man 
cannot be subject to the law of God in his fallen state because 
of the state of his will in that bondage to sin and deadness in 
it. He has wholly lost all the ability 
of the will. He still has the will, but he 
has lost the ability of the will to anything accompanying salvation. We could note, of course, Ephesians 
2, 1, and you, he made alive, who were dead in trespasses and 
sins, a couple verses later or four verses later, even when 
we were dead in trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. You can turn to the book of Titus 
for a moment as well, the book of Titus. Some language there, 
the Apostle Paul, the Apostle Paul, again, speaking with regards 
to this. in Titus chapter three. We read 
the following at verse three, for we ourselves were also once 
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, 
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when 
the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, 
not by works of righteousness which we had done, but according 
to his mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and 
renewing of the spirit. So this state of man in sin and 
his will, which he still has, but yet it is in bondage to this 
reality of folly, disobedience, deception, and the serving of 
lusts and pleasures and malice and envy. So free will in the 
state of sin, it is in bondage. There is still a will. but it 
only ever chooses those things. It only ever desires those things 
that are according to the flesh, that are according to sin. Also, 
the language of Christ to the unbelieving Jews in John's gospel 
speaks to this as well with regards to the language of ability. In John chapter five, for example, 
Jesus says, you search the scriptures, for in them is everlasting life. They know that within the scriptures, 
It speaks to the reality of everlasting life, but he says, these are 
they which speak concerning me. They're missing the point of 
what the scriptures speak and to which the scriptures speak. 
And then he says in that same chapter and in the same context, 
you were not willing to come to me that you may have life. 
Far from being averse in favor of the Arminian scheme of man 
and salvation, that's an explicit statement that they're not willing, 
that they have a wholly defiled reality with regards to all the 
faculties of body and soul. They were not willing to come 
to him. Something must happen. to them. They must be born again before 
they can see the kingdom of God. He would later say, Christ later 
says in John 6, no one can come to me unless the Father who sent 
me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day. That 
language of ability again. No one can come to me, the language 
of holy lost, all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying 
salvation. And so man in the state of sin, 
free will in the state of sin is such that there is still a 
free will, but it only ever chooses, it's not forced externally, it's 
not forced by some necessity of nature, but rather according 
to the state of man in sin, the will chooses that which is wicked. Then though, and gloriously, 
we move to the reality of paragraphs four and five. And so the next 
state that we see here is man's state or free will in the state 
of grace. which is glorious. We see this deadness in sin, 
we see this inability, we see this wholly defiled reality in 
all the faculties of body and soul, but then blessed redemption 
comes, and what a glorious picture change that we have. And so free 
will in the state of grace. Notice what we have here. When 
God converts a sinner and translates him into the state of grace, 
he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin, and by his 
grace enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually 
good. So we have this wonderful deliverance language, we have 
this wonderful freeing language, and it connects again back to 
a wonderful phrase in paragraph 18, in paragraph 3 of chapter 
6. Notice in paragraph 3 of chapter 
6, this same language. Little different, but same meaning. 
They, being the root, speaking of Adam and Eve, and by God's 
appointment, standing in the room instead of all mankind, 
the guilt of the sin was imputed and corrupted nature conveyed 
to all their posterity, descending from them by ordinary generation. Remember, that language excludes 
Christ. Christ is a descendant of Adam 
and Eve, according to his assumed humanity, but not born of ordinary 
generation, and so did not have original sin. being now conceived 
in sin and by nature children of wrath, the servants of sin, 
the subjects of death, and all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, 
and eternal, and notice this, unless the Lord Jesus set them 
free. So we see that state of man and 
his will and the utter ruin that man finds himself in. If it wasn't bad enough that 
man is conceived in sin, that he's by nature a child of wrath, 
that he is a slave of sin, that he's a subject of death, but 
as well, the subject of all other miseries, spiritual, temporal, 
and eternal. But then we have this wonderful 
language for elect sinners, that God has predestined to be in 
Christ, chosen in him before the foundation of the world back 
to 9-4 when God converts a sinner and translates him into the state 
of grace. He freeth him from this natural 
bondage under sin. What a glorious reality that 
we have. So free will then in this state 
of grace we must note that it is only owing to the work of 
God, not to the work of man. When God converts a sinner, salvation 
is of the Lord, Jonah said, and the Bible everywhere else agrees. 
God makes man alive by his condescending grace. When God converts a sinner, 
just for note of interest, the last, the last clause of, well, 
let's say the last two clauses of paragraph three, notice, is 
not able, first, by his own strength to convert himself. So, you know, 
that Pelagian or semi-Pelagian scheme, even some Anglicans at 
the time of the writing of the Confession, there was a sort 
of a splinter group, that's probably not how they define themselves, 
of Anglicans that rejected original sin and had more of a, sort of 
Pelagian or semi-Pelagian view, which means that there is no 
original sin, that man finds himself in this upright state, 
even post-fall, where he can choose that which is good. If 
the information and if the persuading arguments are good enough, man 
in his own natural faculties can, by that natural faculty, 
choose for good. they would say that man, of course, 
into a particular measure converts himself. Or the Arminian scheme, 
which is captured in this last clause of paragraph three, or 
to prepare himself thereunto. There's a doctrine of what's 
called provenient grace, grace that comes before something. 
We know the word convenient, coming together. Prevenient is 
coming before and so there's this doctrine of a Preparational 
grace that comes from God to a man where he is now put in 
a place where he can choose either salvation or death. or not. But the Bible explicitly rejects 
that. Man does not work with God in 
the matter of salvation, but rather it is the truth of paragraph 
4, clause A, when God converts a sinner. It's God, by His amazing 
and victorious grace alone, that makes that man or woman, boy 
or girl, who is wholly defiled in all the faculties of body 
and soul, makes that one alive by grace to behold the glories 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Luther wrote, if any man doth 
ascribe of salvation, even the very least, to the free will 
of man, he knoweth nothing of grace, and he hath not learned 
Jesus Christ aright. It's a true statement, and it 
is not overstated at all. If any man doth ascribe of salvation, 
even in the very least, to the free will of man, he knoweth 
nothing of grace, and he hath not learned Jesus Christ aright. 
It's God who converts a sinner, and it's God in that act of amazing 
and victorious grace who translates that sinner from the power of 
darkness to the kingdom of the son of his love, to the state 
of grace, and frees him with regards to will from that natural 
bondage that he finds himself in his fallen state. He translates 
him from that, enabling him to freely will and to do according 
to God's good pleasure. There is a qualification here, 
though. Notice the paragraph. freely enables him or enables 
him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good. 
There's a yet here though, yet so as that by reason of his remaining 
corruptions, he doth not perfectly nor only will that which is good, 
but doth also will that which is evil. We see this in the scriptures 
that prior to the state of glory, the subject matter of paragraph 
five, that man, though he is now in this state of grace, though 
he is now made by glorious and amazing grace to will that which 
is good and well-pleasing to God, he still has this remaining 
corruption. The flesh lusts against the spirit, 
the spirit lusts against the flesh. Paul, as a converted man, 
in Romans 7 saying things like, the good that I wish to do, I 
find myself not doing. The evil that I don't want to 
do, I find myself doing. There's this, not prevailing, 
but there's this remaining reality. that man in a state of grace 
will still sin, not as the prime theme of his state, but with 
regards to remaining corruption. Due to remaining corruption, 
man doth not perfectly nor only will that which is good, but 
doth also will that which is evil. But, gloriously, he is 
freed from that bondage to sin. By God's grace, man can now freely 
will that which is spiritually good. And we, in this context, 
should sing amazing grace in reflections upon where we once 
were, where we once found ourselves, we were prior to grace coming. 
We weren't just a little, you know, a little maimed, a little 
hurt and just in need of small measures of assistance, but we 
were dead in trespasses and sins. We were wholly, we had wholly 
lost we were wholly absent of any ability of will to do any 
spiritual good accompanying salvation. That's why we can sing Amazing 
Grace, because it is of God. It is God converting. It is God 
translating. It's not man helping, or helping 
a little bit, having been prepared to help. It's all of God, and 
that's why the Apostle Paul could say, God forbid that I should 
boast. save in the cross of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Man cannot boast because it's 
all of God. And then we have free will in 
the state of glory. A very brief statement, just 
a small set of clauses, but a glorious statement nonetheless in paragraph 
five. The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free 
to good alone in the state of glory only. What a wonderful 
thing to look forward to. The Bible gives us these glimpses 
of the glory of that state where there is no sin, where there 
are no tears, where there is no sickness, hurt, there is no 
pain. What a glorious thing it is to 
be found in our own state, not by ourselves, but by God's grace 
alone. But with that remaining corruption, 
it causes us to long for this blessed state, where the will 
of man is made perfectly and immutably free to good alone 
in that state of glory. What a wonderful thing that will 
be. It's a glorious statement that we're made immutably free. That's the fullness of a liberty 
of the will. You know, in the state of innocency, That wasn't the state of man. 
Remember, he was mutable so that he might fall from it. He was 
created upright, but he also had that mutability that he might 
fall from that particular freedom and power to will, which is good. 
Man in his state of sin, it's a terrible state. Our will is 
in bondage to that state of sin in which we found ourselves. 
but in this state of glory, well, advancing to the state of grace. 
We have the glorious liberty now to do that which is good 
and well-pleasing in the sight of God, but we have this remaining 
corruption. where the will is not completely 
free, if we can say that, because the remaining corruption can 
still find its way and can still pull us aside to do those things 
that are not well-pleasing in the sight of God. But the fullness 
of the freeness of the will of man is enjoyed in the state of 
glory only. where there is no remaining corruption, 
where there is no element of connection to wickedness, to 
sin, or to a faculty that may bring us aside, but rather we're 
immutably free to get alone in the state of glory. What a thing 
to look forward to, and what a thing to praise God for. And it is all of God there, of 
course, as well. It is all of Christ. It's all 
of amazing and victorious grace. It's an interesting thing that 
the, well, I shouldn't say all the time, but the opponents of 
the reform doctrine of free will usually don't have any problem 
with this one, with this paragraph five reality that we're made 
immutably free to glory in God, to good alone in the state of 
glory. And yet it is a reality that there's an immutability 
to the will in this glorious state. And it is no tyranny of 
the divine to place man, if anybody was to oppose it, some tyranny 
of the divine to place man in a state where he can't do evil. 
What a weird, What a weird opposition to the will of God and glory 
that would be. We're made so free and we're 
made by God's grace so at a position of liberty that we're doing that 
which is well-pleasing in His sight eternally. Praising God, 
glorying in God, and singing the praises of our Savior for 
eternity. What a glorious thing it is to 
not be found in that state of fallenness but to be found in 
Christ Jesus in the state of grace now and inevitably in our 
future in the state of glory to sing His praises. And we'll 
close with some questions here. There's some things connected 
here that we could maybe talk about in that time if we have 
a little bit of time during question and answer that touch upon covenant 
theology and the doctrine of baptism. But what ought we to 
take from this is first and foremost the glory of God and the salvation 
of sinners. The stuff that starts now in 
chapter 10, when we get to effectual grace, which is the stuff of 
paragraph four in chapter nine. Praise God, praise Christ, and 
rejoice in the glory of his gospel and the power of the spirit. 
Let's pray. God, we thank you for your truth, we thank you 
for this doctrine, we thank you that we can read of the conversion 
of sinners by the power of amazing and victorious grace, knowing 
that we once found ourselves in this state of sin, that we 
were in Adam, that we were wholly defiled in all the faculties 
of body and soul, doing only that which was wickedness, that 
now, by virtue of your grace, through the perfect work of Christ 
and the power of the Spirit, we can do that which is well-pleasing 
in your sight. We do pray that you'd help us 
to do that this day as we worship, as we gather together as the 
saints of Christ to worship Father, Son, and Spirit, and to reflect 
with great joy upon the saving work of Christ, do help us to 
be such as who are engaged in those acts of worshipful goodness, 
singing your praises and building each one another up in our most 
holy faith and help us to long with great joy for that day in 
everlasting glory when we'll be immutably free to will only 
that which is good and we look forward to that blessed sin-free 
state. We pray in Christ's name, amen. 
Any questions about the free will, amazing grace? You, yes. Yeah, well, preach the gospel 
to them. You know, I think there's one 
thing here is the confidence that we have knowing, yes, that 
doctrine, but knowing the answer to the doctrine, which is effectual 
grace, and knowing that God, in his so-called folly, has deemed 
it well that through the proclamation of the gospel, sinners are saved, 
and so we know that that Acts 13, 48 reality that those who 
believed were preordained to everlasting life. And so, you 
know, Paul preaches the gospel and preaches, believe on the 
Lord Jesus Christ with the confidence that God has preordained a multitude 
of sinners to everlasting glory. So from the preacher's vantage 
point, we have that. As far as the language that we 
communicate sort of apologetically to someone who acknowledges that, 
that says, you know, says, yeah, you know, I believe that, I'm 
dead in sin, I'm wholly unable to come to Christ. I think a 
pointed emphasis upon what Christ and the apostles say in the gospels 
and in their letters. You know, when Christ says, Christ 
can, you know, in the same span of verses, talk about the sovereignty 
of the Father and therefore the sovereignty of the Son over men 
and their salvation, the revealing to babes and the hiding to the 
wise and the prudent. and can say, come to me those 
who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. So 
yeah, I think part of it, a good measure of it is simply resting 
in the reality that God has sovereignly chosen before the foundation 
of the world to bring many to Christ and the means by which 
he does that is the external call of the proclamation of the 
gospel with confidence that rests upon the internal call of the 
power of God to bring those sinners to everlasting life. Anything else? If there is nothing else, one 
point just to make with regards, and then you're free to go, anyone's 
free to go now if you really want to, but that'd be kind of 
awkward if you did while I was still talking. The connection between covenant 
theology and baptism, if we have a look at the states of man in 
three and four, there's no other state. You're either dead in 
Adam, or you're alive in Christ. And so there is no covenantal 
connection for the physical descendants of believing parents. There's 
no other state here of man. And so to say, like John Murray 
would say, that the children of believers are just as much 
the children of God as their believing parents, is to say 
something terrible, but is to create a separate state for man 
where there's an external covenantal connection to Christ. That they're 
somehow externally under Christ, but internally in Adam. Their 
own paragraph, their own chapter nine is essentially our chapter 
nine. And so it's to work against the 
reality of biblical anthropology and biblical salvation, and so 
a proper covenant theology, to say that there's any other state 
for man, such as an external covenant for the children of 
believing parents. State of sin, state of grace, 
state of glory. And so those who are in the covenant 
of grace are only those who are in Christ savingly, who have 
been saved by Christ and in time called, justified, sanctified, 
and glorified. And so that's why then we only 
give the sacrament, the sacramental sign of new covenant inclusion, 
or covenant of grace inclusion, which is baptism, to those who 
are in that covenant. And it's only those saved by 
Christ who are Abraham's children according to the faith, not according 
to the flesh. And so therefore, God's children, 
not by virtue of connection to parents, but by virtue of their 
salvific connection to God through Christ. All right, you're dismissed.