Author Topic: Human Freedom to Choose  (Read 8512 times)

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Richard Myers

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Human Freedom to Choose
« on: June 14, 2009, 11:12:33 AM »
Man was created with the freedom to choose whatever he wants. He is a free moral agent until he sells his soul to the devil.

To stir up rebellion in the fallen race, Satan represents God as unjust in having permitted man to transgress His law. "Why," said the artful tempter, "when God knew what would be the result, did He permit man to be placed on trial, to sin, and bring in misery and death?" ...
                                                 
There are thousands today echoing the same rebellious complaint against God. They do not see that to deprive man of the freedom of choice would be to rob him of his prerogative as an intelligent being and make him a mere automaton. It is not God's purpose to coerce the will. Man was created a free moral agent. He must be subjected to the test of obedience; but he is never brought into such a position that yielding to evil becomes a matter of necessity. No temptation or trial is permitted to come to him which he is unable to resist. God made such ample provision that man need never have been defeated in the conflict with Satan. 

Man having been given this freedom must now understand what it is that he has been given and how to use it. We will look into this subject in more detail that all may put to better use their freedom to choose.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Richard Myers

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2009, 11:26:27 AM »
Having the freedom to choose does not mean that we can find within ourselves the ability to do good. We are born into this world without any ability to do good. We have a fallen human nature and are separated from God. We are selfish. But, we are able to choose to want to change. We can choose whom we want to serve. Christ loves us and gave Himself for us. He calls to us. He is drawing all men unto Himself and we all would be saved if we ceased to resist this drawing.

Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be made in the life. By yielding up the will to Christ, we ally ourselves with divine power. We receive strength from above to hold us steadfast. A pure and noble life, a life of victory over appetite and lust, is possible to everyone who will unite his weak, wavering human will to the omnipotent, unwavering will of God.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Mimi

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2009, 11:51:52 AM »
Excellent topic, Richard - thank you! Through cooperation with Jesus, we are made complete in Him and in our human weakness we are enabled to do the deeds of Omnipotence. Did we know that? We should! It all depends upon the right action of the will.

Now - how do I surrender my will? Everything within my being is evil from the beginning. The inherited and cultivated tendencies are racing within me. How do we surrender our wills?
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Richard Myers

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2009, 07:19:41 PM »
The problem many times is that we are unwilling. But, we may go to God and pray this prayer:  Lord make me willing to be made willing. This will enable God to work in a way that He could not before.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Mimi

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #4 on: June 29, 2009, 02:20:35 PM »
"Not my will, but thine." As a new Christian this can be a difficult matter. It is a critical element in overcoming those sins that so easily beset us.  Human nature wants to be number one, submitting to few and only then when one must!

A lady met with a serious and painful accident. Her first question when the doctor came was, "Doctor, how long shall I have to lie here?" Very kindly the doctor answered, "Only one day—at a time." Isn't that true with the will when first learning to trust in God with everything?

This is the perfect place to share with you one of my favorite authors: Meade MacGuire on the Right Action of the Will. This short little chapter is from his precious book, The Life of Victory. Although it appears long, it isn't. I have broken it up in short segments. For any of you who are blest by what Elder MacGuire has written, PM me and I will send you the book in pdf form. It changed my life:

Right Action of the Will

In Romans 13:14 Paul says, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not
provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." This is the practical equivalent
of Romans 6:11. "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,
but ALIVE unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." But this reckoning must be
more than the EXERCISE of the IMAGINATION or a mere PASSIVE CONSENT to
what God SAYS. Faith is an active principle, a mighty force, and this judicial
freedom provided by God must be laid hold of BY FAITH that COMES FROM GOD
and has in it the ENERGY of God. There is no virtue whatever in saying, "I reckon
myself dead to my violent temper, but of course I expect I shall expect I shall get
angry sometimes."

To COUNT ON SINNING is a form of UNBELIEF, and that is sin. We make
provision for many things day by day, planning for our clothing, our food, and
other temporal wants. But if a man knew that he would die TODAY, he would NOT
PLAN longer for living, but would IMMEDIATELY cease preparation for living and
prepare for dying. God proposes that our union with Christ shall make death to
sin a great reality in our lives, so that we shall reckon ourselves dead to sin,
immediately cease all provision for sinning and plan only to live the new life in
Christ Jesus.

This reckoning of death to sin and EXPECTATION OF TRIUMPH over sin has a
profound effect upon the life. One who expects to sin WILL sin, but one who
reckons himself no longer under sin's dominion, but victorious through the
indwelling Christ, is fortified by his very attitude, and actually challenges God to
make good that deliverance upon which His child confidently relies. The fact that
he trusts humbly and implicitly in the promises, makes it certain that God will
fulfil them to the uttermost. "The secret of true and full holiness is BY FAITH and
in the power of the Holy Spirit to LIVE IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS, I am dead to
sin."

"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that he should obey in it the
lusts thereof. Neither yield ye members as instruments of unrighteousness unto
sin: but YIELD YOURSELVES UNTO GOD, as those that are alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not
have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, BUT UNDER GRACE."
Romans 6:12, 13.
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Mimi

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #5 on: June 29, 2009, 02:30:49 PM »
In the previous chapter [The Life of Victory] the emphasis is on the word "reckon."
In this it is on the word "yield." First, "yield" not your members "as instruments of
unrighteousness;" second, "yield yourselves unto God."

The great decisive factor in the life is the WILL. Sin has its roots in the will and
through the will holds the sinner in slavery. But when the will is exercised in
renouncing sin and choosing Christ as master, the same power which changes the
heart and imparts a new life also changes the will. The unbeliever willed only to
please self. Now he wills to please and obey God. But he remains a free moral
agent. True obedience to God is never compulsory, but remains forever voluntary
and prompted by love.

Hence it is still POSSIBLE for the believer to YIELD to those tendencies to sin
which have become habitual to the body.

It is clearly implied in the text that the way of victory over these temptations is
not to struggle, but to YIELD IN FAITH to the new Master. No man can have two
masters; and an active, conscious yielding to Christ leaves no room for the
dominance of the old master whom he has renounced forever. By withholding our
members from him and yielding them to God, we ENABLE God to make actual
and experimental (our experience) what He already reckons us to be as His
children.

We are at first declared justified, judicially freed from the CONDEMNATION of the
law; but now, being born into the family of God as sons, we must DEMONSTRATE
this relationship by a holy life. What a dishonor to God to have children who are
yet the slaves of sin! It would testify either that God was unable to rescue His
own children from the enemy, or that sin is more attractive to His children than
holiness. "Yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead."
Romans 6:13. Not until his death with Christ to sin and his burial have become a
great reality, can the believer appreciate and understand the new life. The only
life Jesus has now to impart is His resurrected life. It is the life the other side of
the INFLICTION OF THE DEATH PENALTY FOR SIN. [not free from the law of God,
but from the condemnation of the law. Condemnation = death penalty] If we
have died with Him, and yet live, truly the life we now life is HIS LIFE. We can
live this life only "by the faith of the Son of God," who loved us and gave Himself
for us. Gal. 2:20.

"We are not under the law, but under grace." Romans 6:15. The law places
before us a standard, and demands obedience, but it imparts no power to obey.
It says, "Do and live." It requires, but does not enable.
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Mimi

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #6 on: June 29, 2009, 02:32:26 PM »
Grace holds before us the same divine standard, and then offers POWER to meet
the requirements [of the law]. It says, "Believe and accept." The strength, the
obedience, the righteousness, are all of God through FAITH. Grace does NOT SET
ASIDE THE LAW which is God's standard of righteousness. But of one who is not
under the law but under grace Paul says, "It is God which worketh IN YOU both to
WILL and to DO of His good pleasure." Phi. 2:13.

It may be wise to discuss here more fully the immense importance of yielding the
will and making a complete and CONTINUOUS surrender to God.

"The Christian life is a battle and a march. But the victory to be gained is not won
by human power. The field of conflict is the domain of the heart. The battle which
we have to fight-the greatest battle that was ever fought by man-is the surrender
of self to the will of God, the yielding of the heart to the sovereignty of love. The
old nature, born of blood and of the will of the flesh, cannot inherit the kingdom
of God. ...

"He who determines to enter the spiritual kingdom will find that all the powers
and passions of an unregenerate nature, backed by the forces of the kingdom of
darkness, are arrayed against him." [Satan will gather all his powers to keep it
from happening!.] - The Mount of Blessing, pages 203 and 204.

Though opposed by forces within and without, the POWER to surrender the WILL
and open the heart to God is possessed BY EVERY HUMAN BEING. "The power of
choice God has given to men; it is their to exercise. You cannot change your
heart; you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can CHOOSE to
serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to WILL and to
DO according to Him good pleasure." - Steps to Christ, page 47.
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Mimi

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #7 on: June 29, 2009, 02:33:33 PM »
Those who fight this great battle to the point of real surrender, enter on a new
world in the Christian experience, as the following extract from a letter witnesses:

"That mottos, "Let go, and let God,' appealed to me as such a good one. I cannot
remember that I ever heard it before. It kept ringing in my ears, and then as I
left the college that last night, I determined to go home and settle the matter
before going to sleep. The folks had retired; so I sat down by the fire and thought
it over. Then I prayed something like this: ‘Dear Lord, I WILL let go-as far as lies
within my power, I will let go. Let come what may; only sustain me by Thy grace.
Dear Lord, I do let go of it all.' And I surrendered-I let go, then and there.
"That prayer the Lord heard and answered with any delay. Immediately the
burden was lifted and the light came. My soul was filled with peace and joy and a
blessed relief that I never before had experience to such an extent. I was
abundantly blessed beyond anything I had ever thought of. I have never seen the
Christian life in its beauty, simplicity, and reality as I do not. There is a fuller,
richer, deeper meaning in the promises of God.

"What an unwise thing to make the least vestige of reserve! [don't hold back!] I
have learned that God DOES NOT ACCEPT service, time, money, or anything else
as a SUBSTITUTE for a fully surrendered heart and will." - EGW
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Mimi

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #8 on: June 29, 2009, 02:35:08 PM »
This surrender should be made ONCE FOR ALL, and then REPEATED EVERY DAY
and made a continuous experience.

"Through the RIGHT exercise of the will, an ENTIRE CHANGE may be made in
your life. By yielding up your will to Christ, you ally yourself with the power
[God's power] that is above all principalities and powers [Satan's power]. You will
have strength from above to HOLD YOU STEADFAST, and thus through
CONSTANT surrender to God you will be ENABLED to live the new life, even the
LIFE OF FAITH." - Steps to Christ, page 48.

As this surrender is MAINTAINED DAY BY DAY, the way grows brighter and more
delightful because of fellowship with Christ.

"By His perfect obedience He has made it possible for every human being to obey
God's commandments. [the law still applies] When we submit ourselves to Christ,
the heart is UNITED with His heart, the WILL is merged in His will, the MIND
becomes one with His mind, the THOUGHTS are brought into captivity to Him; we
LIVE His life. This is what it means to be clothed with the garment of His
righteousness." Christ's Object Lessons - page 312.

The Closest Union
The seventh chapter of Romans opens with a new and striking illustration, which
presents a different aspects of the doctrine of our union with Christ:

"The woman which hath an husband is BOUND BY THE LAW to her husband so
long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her
husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man,
she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she IS FREE FROM
THAT LAW; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man."
Here the sinner is REPRESENTED as a woman bound to her husband by the LAW
OF MARRIAGE. The husband represents the flesh, or "old man." As the woman is
bound to her husband as long as he lives, so the sinner is bound to his natural
sinful flesh, and can be released only by death. So long as the old man of sin
lives, all his profession of religion is hypocrisy, or spiritual adultery. "But if the
husband be dead, she is loosed from the LAW OF HER HUSBAND."

"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become DEAD TO THE LAW by the body of
Christ." It is in the body of Christ crucified that our "old man" dies, and WE ARE
DELIVERED FROM THE CONDEMNATION of the law, and free to enter that closest,
most sacred relationship with Him.
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Mimi

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #9 on: June 29, 2009, 02:36:33 PM »
"When we were in the flesh, the motions of sin, which were BY THE LAW, but
work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." So long as the "old man"
lived, the motions, or passions, of sins which are CONDEMNED BY THE LAW were
constantly bringing forth fruit unto death. We are helpless in the grasp of those
evil tendencies and lusts which characterized the "old man," and which kept us
CONTINUALLY UNDER CONDEMNATION OF THE LAW. "But now we are delivered
from the law, that being dead wherein we were held." "Knowing this, that our old
man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin." Romans 6:6.

What an impressive figure is here presented! A woman is bound to a degraded
husband who subjects her to every cruel bondage and indignity. She cannot
marry another, but is bound to him so long as he lives. But when the husband
dies, he has no further claim upon her. She is free to marry another.

What blessed assurance this brings to one who recognizes the loathsome nature
of sin, and longs for deliverance from the flesh! That freedom does not come by
compromise or separation or abandonment, BUT BY DEATH, even our death with
Christ. In Christ our "old man" is crucified, dead and buried. And "now we are
delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held," "that ye should
be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead."

Here is presented one of the most beautiful and significant figures by which the
believer's union with Christ is illustrated. In the legal union of Romans 6 his
identity with Christ is represented by his relation to the last Adam (Christ) as
head of the race. Here it is the identity of husband and wife, the closest and
holiest union of which we know.

The wife leaves father and mother, and cleaves to her husband. She give up her
family and name. Her means and her own life she surrenders to him, to become
henceforth dependent upon his loving will and care. And they "two" become "one"
flesh.
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Mimi

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #10 on: June 29, 2009, 02:38:14 PM »
More than this, the two lives thus merged into one become the source of life, and
this is used as a figure of the holy fruitfulness of the true believer. "That ye
should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we
should bring forth fruit unto God." How futile all spectacular services and
ostentatious activities, and how displeasing they must be to God when offered as
a substitute for that holy devotion of wife to husband which seeks only to please
and exalt the object of supreme affection! How little believers appreciate the
exalted blessing and privilege of their relationship with Christ!

All the boundless resources of the divine Bridegroom are for the exaltation and
satisfaction of the bride. On the other hand, some of the most solemn warnings

given in the Scripture concern the peril of treating lightly this sacred relation. To
enter this union with Christ and then give Him anything BUT THE SUPREME place
in the heart, is spiritual adultery. "Ye adulterers and adulteress, know ye not that
the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a
friend of the world is the enemy of God." James 4:4.

The believer regards himself as the bride of Christ, but he must not forget that IF
HE TRIFLES with sin and TOLERATES in his life those things that pertain to the
world, his course will as surely destroy this union as adultery will destroy the
sacred ties of marriage. It is like the daring of the wife who, while enjoying the
privileges and comforts provided by her husband's love and protection and honor
of his name, by flirting and coquetry maintains a dishonorable intimacy with other
men. What must be the real condition of the believer who seems continually
fascinated with the glamour and tinsel of the world, and inquires how far he can
go in its follies and pleasures and still be permitted to retain his name on the
church records? Such an attitude is evidence of a selfish, formal profession, which
knows LITTLE of the vital union with Christ described in Romans 6, and still less
of that loyal devotion of Christ and satisfaction in Him which the true bride feels
for the bridegroom who has won her heart.

The Power Provided
According to the figure first introduced in Romans 7, he to whom we were
formerly married-the flesh, or old man-is reckoned dead, and we are not married
to another, "even to Him who is raised from the dead."

That this relationship results in intense sensitiveness to sin, is the thought next
introduced in verses 7-24. What a vivid description is this of the experience
through which we all pass when sin grows more and more hideous and hateful
because we are drawing nearer to the One who is perfect purity, holiness, and
divine excellence of character.

"The closer you come to Jesus, the more faulty you will appear in your own eyes;
for your vision will be clearer, and your imperfections will be seen in broad and
distinct contrast to His perfect nature. ... No deep-seated love for Jesus can dwell
in the heart that does not realize its own sinfulness.

"The soul that is transformed by the grace of Christ will admire His divine
character; but if we do not see our own moral deformity, it is unmistakable
evidence that we have not had a view of the beauty and excellence of Christ." -
Steps to Christ, pages 64 and 65.
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Mimi

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #11 on: June 29, 2009, 02:40:04 PM »
As we see our own hearts, deceitful and desperately wicked, we long for complete
deliverance and victory, and with sincere resolutions and firm determination we
begin the STRUGGLE to attain it. Again and again our fight seems to end in
ignominious failure and defeat, until in despair we cry, "O wretched man that I
am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" And this seems the
opportune time for the revelation to the soul of that light which makes the way
clear for the realization of its goal.

Up to this point in Paul's argument for not continuing in sin, the agency of the
Holy Spirit has not been mentioned. In fact, no reference is made to the Spirit
thus far in the epistle, except in the fourth verse of the first chapter and the fifth
verse of the fifth chapter.

He has dealt with the awful fall and ruin wrought by sin, the working of the law,
the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and our identification with Him
in this experience by faith, bringing justification and life through His death. This is
followed by legal deliverance from the dominion of sin and the condemnation of
the law, full surrender to Christ and union with Him in spiritual wedlock, in order
that we may bring forth fruit unto God.

Through understanding these great facts and truths, the believer is conscious of
his inability to escape the awful power of habitual sin. He is confident that there is
a way by which all these precious truths may become actual experiences, but that
way of deliverance has not yet been made clear.

Now the link which completes the chain of testimony in his emancipation is
supplied. It is the Spirit who has CONVICTED of sin and the Spirit who has
REVEALED Christ; but now there comes a revelation of the Spirit Himself as a
living, indwelling, divine Presence, entering with all the fullness of omnipotent
power to make real in Paul the divine plan; and he shouts in triumph and
gratitude, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Forty-eight times in chapter 7:7-25 occur the personal pronouns I, me, and my.
The knowledge and desires and ideals are right, but there is no power in human
resolutions to reach the standard. The office of the Holy Spirit has not been
recognized. All that the believer has learned of the blessed provisions for soul
salvation in the first seven chapters are only FACTS AND THEORIES until made
EXPERIENCE by the Holy Spirit. Through His mighty power the image of Jesus
Christ is reproduced in the believer's soul.

"We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed
into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2Cor.
3:18.
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Mimi

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #12 on: June 29, 2009, 02:41:13 PM »
It is this gracious work of the Spirit that is so fully discussed in Romans 8, there
being at least seventeen statements describing the Holy Spirit's relation to, and
operation within, the believer.

"There is therefore now NO condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who
walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law
could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but
after the Spirit." Romans 8:1-4.

Here is no longer conflict and struggle, disappointment, defeat, and
discouragement; but THROUGH THE MIGHTY POWER OF THE SPIRIT ALONE,
justification has come in place of condemnation, life in place of death, freedom in
place of bondage, strength in place of weakness, obedience in place of
transgression, success in place of failure. All this is all the result of being "in
Christ" through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

"They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are
after the Spirit are 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: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So
then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Verses 5-8.

With our natural human limitations and lack of wisdom and understanding of
divine things, we do not see how we can live up to our high standing as sons of
God. But the Spirit graciously makes up for all our ignorance and deficiencies,
prompting us to prayer, and making intercession for us with superhuman energy.
How adequate and complete is the help here attributed to the working of the Holy
Spirit in behalf of the believer. He delivers from all condemnation, frees from the
law of sin and death, imparts strength, righteousness, a renewed mind, and
Christlike spirit. He quickens the body, subdues its sinful tendencies and
appetites, lets in the light, and imparts assurance, consciousness of sonship and
heirship, help for our infirmities, and divine assistance in prayer.

It is clear that this wonderful revelation of the Spirit's ministry explains the
twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth verses of chapter 7. After the awful struggle,
characterized by deep conviction and intense longing and striving for holiness,
which ends only in disappointment, Paul cries, "O wretched man that I am! who
shall deliver me from the body of this death?" And then with the revelation of the
Spirit's mighty agency, more than adequate for all his needs, he utters the
triumphant shout, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Mimi

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #13 on: June 29, 2009, 02:42:41 PM »
The Spirit was to be given as a regenerating agent, and without this the sacrifice
of Christ would have been of no avail. ... Sin could be resisted and overcome only
through the mighty agency of the third Person of the Godhead, who would come
with no modified energy, [just as it is, as a Spirit] but in the fullness of divine
power. It is the Spirit that makes effectual what has been wrought out by the
world's Redeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure. Through the
Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of the divine nature.

"Christ has given His Spirit as a divine power to overcome all hereditary and
cultivated tendencies to evil, and to impress His own character upon His church."
- The Desire of Ages, page 671.

It is through Jesus Christ, because by virtue of His merits and ministry the Holy
Spirit came down upon the church at Pentecost as His representative and
successor. Through the death and shed blood of Christ we are JUSTIFIED [to the
Father]; through the agency of the Spirit sent forth from heaven by the ministry
of our Lord, we are SANCTIFIED [to the Father]. We could NEVER be justified
without His death and resurrection, NOR could we be sanctified without His life
and intercession resulting in the descent of the Spirit upon the church, and upon
each individual believer. Every child of God becomes a temple of the Holy Ghost.
As he [we] yields without reserve to be filled, possessed, controlled, and led by
the Spirit, every hereditary and cultivated tendency to sin is subdued, and he
receives divine life, liberty, power, and victory.
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Mimi

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #14 on: June 29, 2009, 02:47:30 PM »
The Laws of Death and Life
The climax of the experience of conscious failure and defeat in Romans 7 is
reached in the words: "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the
body of this death?"

As the eighth chapter describes a wholly opposite experience of conscious and
continuous victory, its climax is in striking contract, "Nay, in all these things we
are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." Romans 8:37.

It is one thing to conquer after a long and fierce conflict by merely averting
defeat. It is another thing to be more than conqueror-to know that at no moment
there is any question of ultimate and complete victory; to push the battle into the
enemy's territory, and drive him before us a defeated and impotent foe. This is
being more than conqueror, and this is ours through Him that loved us. So far as
we are concerned, it is a victory of love-love that lifts us out of the element of sin
and failure and defeat into the atmosphere of His own life. This is all a matter of
spiritual law. In the seventh chapter, the testimony is:

"I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I
delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see another law in my
members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin." Romans 7:21-23.

Now what has become of this law in the eighth chapter. Has it been removed or
destroyed, so that there is no more temptation or tendency to sin, as so many
seem to expect? No more than the natural law that prevents a man's living under
water is done away when he descends into the diving apparatus. The law or
tendency remains, but it is completely overcome or counteracted by the higher
law which provides the means of life from above.
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Mimi

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #15 on: June 29, 2009, 02:48:44 PM »
So Paul says: "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death." Romans 8:2.

It is this working of the law of the Spirit of life that continually counteracts the
law of sin and death and makes it possible for the life of Christ's disciples to be
"like His, a series of uninterrupted victories." God's child is not a slave fighting to
obtain his freedom, but a free man fighting to MAINTAIN the liberty secured to
him in Christ. Freedom is not the goal to be won as the result of the Christian
warfare, but is the necessary CONDITION of a victorious life. This is made very
plain by one of Evan Hopkins' vivid illustrations:

The natural law of a room at night is to be dark. The tendency is not destroyed by
bringing in a lighted lamp, but it is completely counteracted so long as the lighted
lamp remains. If it is removed, the tendency is again evident, for darkness
reigns.

The dark room represents our hearts, and the tendency to darkness represents
the LAW OF SIN working in our members. The lamp is Christ. On His entering our
hearts, THE TENDENCY AND POSSIBILITY TO SIN ARE NOT DESTROYED, but His
presence completely COUNTERACTS the working of the law of sin, so long as He
reigns within. Thus the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes us free from
the law of sin and death. And by this blessed ministry of the Spirit we are more
than conquerors through Him that loved us.

But many are perplexed concerning this experience, because, though they are
certain of a very real victory in Christ, their victory is not complete. It seems to
be partial or fragmentary, and they long to be "all Christ's all the time."

Our experience seems to teach that we are more than a house with many rooms,
than like one room. We may invite the Spirit to come in and make Christ real
within. We may fully surrender the best room to Him, and we may yield up
another room, and still another, to be occupied and possessed by the divine
Guest. But the fulness of His blessing can come only when the LAST ROOM is
surrendered, and He is crowned King of all, while we withdraw and leave Him in
undisputed CONTROL of the UTMOST LIMIT OF OUR BEING.
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

Richard Myers

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #16 on: June 29, 2009, 11:35:26 PM »
It took a little while to get to grace, but he did it!!  :)  This Seventh-day Adventist minister understood the gospel of grace. It would be good for us to understand what he was teaching so that we will have faith in the fact that God does have faithful ordained ministers who do understand the gospel of Jesus Christ!  Thanks for sharing, dear Sister Sybil.
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.

Mimi

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #17 on: July 02, 2009, 05:36:48 PM »
Oh, yes - he does walk the road finally arriving at grace. He knows what it is!  :)  Look at this:

To COUNT ON SINNING is a form of UNBELIEF, and that is sin. We make
provision for many things day by day, planning for our clothing, our food, and
other temporal wants. But if a man knew that he would die TODAY, he would NOT
PLAN longer for living, but would IMMEDIATELY cease preparation for living and
prepare for dying. God proposes that our union with Christ shall make death to
sin a great reality in our lives, so that we shall reckon ourselves dead to sin,
immediately cease all provision for sinning and plan only to live the new life in
Christ Jesus.


Have we convinced ourselves we will keep on sinning up until the day Jesus comes or until we die, whichever comes first? Will we? And what does that have to do with "the right action of the will" ? Are we counting on a continuance of sinning?
  For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89 

asygo

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #18 on: July 02, 2009, 08:44:21 PM »
It is a law of nature that we lose the desire for that which we are convinced we can never have. Maybe we just need to be convinced that sin is a bad thing.
By God's grace,
Arnold M. Sy Go
-end-

Richard Myers

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Re: Human Freedom to Choose
« Reply #19 on: July 02, 2009, 11:04:15 PM »
Yes, the law can do that. But, better yet, we need to be convinced that grace is the power that will enable us to cease sinning! That by abiding in Christ, we have His character, His Spirit! That it is Christ, not I!!!
Jesus receives His reward when we reflect His character, the fruits of the Spirit......We deny Jesus His reward when we do not.