THE FALSE SAVIOUR: FREE WILL

It is commonly taught that Jesus Christ gave His life for all mankind without exception. It is said that due to this, it is now POSSIBLE for every sinner to have eternal life. But the possession of this eternal life is conditioned upon the sinner deciding for Christ or accepting Christ of his own free will. According to this system of teaching, Jesus did not actually save any one when He died and rose again. He merely made salvation POSSIBLE. Let us, however, examine this teaching. According to this system, Jesus died EQUALLY for the sinner who rejected Him as for the sinner who accepted Him. One will, however, wind up in hell and the other in heaven. But what decides that one will end up in heaven? Is it what Jesus did for him? NO! For according to this teaching, Christ did the same for the man in hell. Therefore, the unavoidable conclusion is that the one is in heaven because of WHAT HE DID, because of his free will decision to accept Christ. Hence, the decisive factor in man's having eternal life is his own free will, NOT JESUS CHRIST ! This makes free will the actual saviour. But this is a false saviour! First, no unsaved sinner is willing to accept Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul says that all men be they Jew or Gentile are "under sin" (Rom.3:9). In that condition Paul further describes them: "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is NONE that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." That certainly does not sound like a group of people yearning to accept Christ as their personal Saviour! According to this passage, all men do evil. "There is none that doeth good." Jesus Christ said: "Every one that doeth evil HATETH the light, NEITHER COMETH TO THE LIGHT, lest his deeds should be reproved" (Joh.3:20). No sinner is going to freely accept what he hates. He does NOT come to the light! But does not a sinner have a free will? Indeed he does! And the freedom of that will is identified in Rom.6:20, "For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free FROM righteousness." The sinner's will is free FROM, not TO righteousness. Hence, any choices he makes with his will are away from righteousness rather than for righteousness. With a will that is free from righteousness, a sinner will not choose Jesus Christ, "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jer.23:6). Secondly, Jesus did not come merely to make salvation and eternal life a possibility to be decided by the sinner's will. He came to save. Notice Mat.1:21, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." The verse says, "He SHALL save," not "try to save" or "possibly save." That expression "shall save" is just as sure of accomplishment as "she SHALL bring forth a son" or "thou SHALT call his name JESUS." Observe that Jesus saves "his people." Jesus further identifies "his people" as "all that the Father giveth me." Note: "For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day" (Joh.6:38-39). Mind that the Father's will is that Jesus should lose none of those given to Him. Jesus came to do that will. And He did it! In Joh.17:4 Jesus said, "I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." Speaking of His Father Jesus said, "I do ALWAYS those things that please Him" (Joh.8:29). Therefore, Jesus saved every soul God gave Him to save. He lost none of them. He did the Father's will! Jesus Christ gave His life for the sheep (Joh.10:11). These sheep are the same as "all that the Father giveth me." Speaking of the sheep Jesus said, "My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all" (Joh.10:29). The sheep do not include every human being without exception. Joh.10:26 says" "But ye believe not, because YE ARE NOT OF MY SHEEP!" Thus, Christ did not give Himself for those addressed in these words. He gave Himself for the sheep, for "his people," for all that the Father gave Him. And in so doing He saved them in fulfillment of the Father's will. The sheep are designated as "God's elect" in Rom.8:33. Because of Christ's death for them, no charge can be laid against them. "They shall never perish" (Joh.10:28)! Therefore, it is not the execution of the free will of the sinner that secures for him salvation and eternal life. It is rather the execution of the Father's will by Jesus Christ. Jesus ALONE is the Saviour. He BY HIMSELF purged sins (Heb.1:3). No wonder then that when speaking of the new birth, the Bible says that men are born "NOT of blood, nor of THE WILL of the flesh, nor of THE WILL of man, BUT OF GOD" (Joh.1:13). No wonder then that when Paul spoke of how men are God's children, he said: "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of HIS WILL," not "your free will," but "HIS WILL" (Eph.1:5)! (This meditation is from a tract authored by Pastor Ben J. Mott, Jr.)