Do We Have Free Will?: Ultimately with R.C. Sproul
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 มิ.ย. 2024
- We make choices every minute of the day, and we choose freely. But the choices we make do not contradict the sovereignty of God. Today, R.C. Sproul articulates the biblical concept of free will.
Hear more from Ultimately with R.C. Sproul: • Ultimately with R.C. S...
R. C. Sproul will be alive in our hearts and minds until we meet again. Always lovely and edifying listening to him. ❤️
Praise the Lord for RC and Ligonier Ministries! I wish I had the opportunity to meet him on this side of glory.
Amen
I LOVE being taught and listening to Dr Sproul... I LOVE how he preaches/teaches from GOD'S WORD.... word for word...line for line...verse for verse...chapter for chapter...book by book...Ive Never had teaching like this...I am so GRATEFUL & THANKFUL to GOD for giving us Dr Sproul...even after he's in Heaven...My Uncle.told me about Legioneres & Dr Sproul 2 years ago.and I have been listening ever since every day...😍🔥☮❤🙇🏾♂️
A man of God with a simplicity to teach with such great fervor that anybody who is hungry for expository preaching will be excited and satisfied. What will he be talking about in heaven...
R.C. Sproul still giving us great teaching even though he has departed to be with the Lord.
Amen...RC's my all time favorite theologian of the modern time.
Amen.
Set us free, oh Lord, my God! Without you we can not do anything. Anything.
Hello from NJ
I learned how to spell Christian years ago in Sunday school that without Christ I am nothing
The type of free will we have is either you listen to God and seek him or you do not . When i did not i have gotten myself into terrible situations. I learned this by 46.
Most people lives all their lives up to old age and never get themselves into that "progical son" - terrible condition where they would begin to seek and cry out to God out of their sincere heart.
Also, lots of people never get there because they suddenly die in some surprised way before they are old.
Im going to say you get yourself into terrible situations because you're dabbling in the occult and new age manifestation stuff thats all evil and demonic.
Only if God sets us free.
Yes, we have free will, a will that does whatever what the heart desires which is sin.
@@bosse641
I believe being able to behave righteously is not bondage, it is a true freedom, so God is not bound to do only righteous acts, He is free and healthy to do the righteous acts.
While when you sin, you are always in bondage to a corrupted nature and to be able to stop doing sinful things you need to be freed from that bondage and cleansed from that corruption.
In other words, the more free a person is, the less sinful he is.
@Brad Conklin why did Paul preach to gentiles then? God so loved the world,, not God so loved only Israel.
Aaaaamen. Men will freely choose that which is in line with their nature, which is opposed to God.
@Brad Conklin Abraham wasn’t a Jew, and Genesis 15:6 says that Abraham believed God and it was CREDITED to him as righteousness.
yes, we all believe we have sinned. But calvinists say we are not able to cofess thqat.
A great teacher who lives on in Ligonier ministry. Still he’s with the Lord now!
@Brad Conklin
I think you misunderstood what he was saying.
People who know who RC is, know he loved God's word and God's word guarantees believers are saved.
1John 2:25
1John 5:13
John 5:24
Colossians 1:13
Romans 5:1
Etc, etc, etc, etc ....
Thanks God who makes us free to enter in His way in Jesus Christ, leading by his Holy Spirit and not the spirit of the world.
Amen
Yes!we have free will.
God sets us free and brings us alive in Christ, just as Christ came back from the dead, when we Believe in Him
Powerful message and encouraging.
Simply amazing!
The only person who stands outside the prison house of sin & has the key to set us free is the Lord Jesus.
wonderful metaphor
Wow thank you Jesus
Excellent clarification.
Just like the love of God, man’s free will is another concept greatly misunderstood by many in American Christendom. Thank you for this.
In what ways are both of those misunderstood?
@@HearGodsWord God’s love is viewed as affirmation of everything under the sun. Free will is seen as the capacity to choose anything that is opposed to our fallen nature.
@@J316Ministries if its that simple then I wonder why Christians over in America are misunderstanding
@@HearGodsWord scripture speaks of teachers who tickle ears. Much teaching and preaching is man centered, making man the center of all things. Coupled with the lack of desire to search the scriptures and to test all things.
@Brad Conklin you do realize He came out of the Jews, but not to save just the Jews.
I once handed an article by Sproul, whose main point was that God’s free will is unlimited while ours is therefore necessarily limited, to linguist Kenneth Pike, who looked at it with great interest, then agreement, checking off each point with a pencil. Around 30 years ago I had the privilege of interviewing Pike in his home in Dallas, just a few years before he went on to glory, for a feature article in the local suburban weekly newspaper. I had read his books, one of which touched on free will, so I brought a copy of the Tabletalk article by Sproul to give to Pike.
God's greatest DEFENSE: I GAVE YOU FREE WILL.
Well...fact you!
God gave us free will for these reasons:
1. He knows we'll fact up.
2. So that he can blame all the evil in this world upon us.
3. He remains unaccountable.
Men really loves to be in control
He is kicking it with Jesus et al right now.
@Brad Conklin Cut what out ?
@@yourkingdomcomeyourwillbedone Then why are you listening to him?
@Brad ConklinHe didn't teach that at all. You must have him mixed up with Steven Furtick or Osteen. He preached reformed theology which believes that God loves the elect.
Absolutely true ....we are prisoners in prison. Only God has the key, and his name is Jesus Christ. Salvation comes through faith in Christ. There is no other way.
Amen..
Yes, we have free will to turn from sin. Ezekiel 33, As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. For why should you die, O house of Israel?’
Ninevah is another example. God said He would destroy them IF they didn't repent. He gave them a free will choice to decide. It is all over in the Bible. Jonah 3:10, 10When God saw their actions--He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them.
All my bolded portions of scripture were deleted!
@@rocketsurgeon1746
If God wants the wicked to turn from their wicked way, that does not mean they can actually do it. It's like God does not want little children to suffer yet millions starve and die from diseases every year.
Or remember Deuteronomy, how God says many times over that if they will obey His commands they will be blessed, and if they disobey they will be cursed which creates a picture that they had a free will choice to do the right or the wrong thing yet at the end of the book God is already making a song about them saying how they will disobey Him and will be cursed. So, in reality, there was no choice, God knew that in their sinful nature they will most definitely disobey Him.
@@nikokapanen82 i disagree and so does God :) He would not tell us to repent and give us accountability for our actions, if He did not give us the power to choose. You calvanists are so blind. Read the Bible.
@@nikokapanen82 do a simple word search of "repent" in the Bible. Read the verses and see for yourself.
Rev2:21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling
Rev2:5 If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand
Acts3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out
Luke5:32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance
@@rocketsurgeon1746
Yes, God is calling all for repentance but only a fraction is repenting, why? What is the difference between a person who repents and one who does not? No difference at all? Just a random spontaneousness?
I kinda like what this guy says ....i know i make decisions and i think it is my free will to make " good or bad " decisions.....but if GOD knows when it is time for me to go out of this world....then every decision good or bad i make will lead me to that moment when i go from this age to the next age..so i would say that i really don't have a free will that over rides GOD'S will for me.....i believe his will for me is to enter into heaven someday.... not my will but his....my decision free will leads me to the the end...whether i make good or bad decisions...and the next chapter has been forever planned by GOD....I HAVE BEEN.PREDESTINATED ---have i ever really done anything on my own.....??? YES BUT MORE INPORTANTLY NO....
So if we have free will, then eternal life is something that we choose and not something that we are predestined to have.
We do choose freely, correct! We choose according to our regenerate nature. Regeneration comes before we choose Christ
According to Calvinist belief, God causally determines us, inwardly inclines us, to make whatever "choices" we perceive are ours to make... and do make... (good and bad).
According to the view of Providence held by the majority of Christians throughout the ages though, we are capable of choosing "life" (as Moses says), to direct our will according to the influence of either righteousness or wickedness without those actions being predetermined: Genuine "room" within the Sovereign God's overarching plan.
See John of Damascus for the "Greek" Fathers (and early "Latin") consensus, and see the Ante-Nicene Fathers view of free will for the East's continued stance.
Still didn't answer my question :/
Granted unregenerate man is inclined to sin, but how then do we account for apparent benevolence & altruism on the part of non-Christians? Of course they’re sinners (as we all are), but is the point that different people are inclined to different sins? Would that be consistent with total depravity?
Yes
+ 1 Corinthians 6:12 "Everything is permissible for me" - but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissile for me" - but I will not be mastered by anything.
+ John 8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
+ Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
+ Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
+ Ephesians 3:12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.
+ Psalm 119:45 I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.
@Brad Conklin Are you saying the Apostle Paul authored Galatians to Israelites? I agree that God is not schizophrenic but I can not agree that these verses are solely applicable to ethnic Jews. I believe in New Covenant Theology and that we are now in the church age. The church being Spiritual Israel. In love, Greg
Few things can be said without some qualification. Perhaps the phrase, “degrees of freedom” would be more apropos
Augustine denied free will at the last. His statement Augustinians believe in free will is wrong. He always does that
But what of the 1689 Baptist Confession, Chapter 9, Paragraph 1 that states,
"God has endued the will of man with that 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."*
It seems here to be granting what might be called "libertarian free will" to the creature. If that is what is being taught here, how do we harmonize the last part of that sentence with what is taught in Chapter 3 that God ordains whatsoever comes to pass?
Our actions are clearly bound to the condition of our nature, without any doubts. The more corrupted and sinful it is, the more you will sin, naturally, the less corrupted and selfish it is, the less you will sin.
@@nikokapanen82
But does not the confession here say that nature does not determine the will?
@@lawrencestanley8989
This confession really sounds like the arminian doctrine that we all have freedom to choose whether to do evil or good, yet the reality shows the opposite, the reality is what Sproul said in this video.
@@nikokapanen82
I've been doing some research on this, let me get your opinion...
So, regarding the 1689, Chapter 9, Paragraph 1 above, we see that the will of man is a part of what is natural, what has been created by God. Man is never forced to do that which is against his will, but he is granted the ability to do precisely what he wants to do, and there are no created influences (any necessity of nature) which compel him to act a certain way, or to act against his will. After all, man was created to rule over creation, not to be ruled by it.
Man has the freedom to do what he wants to do, but, as the will of man is a creation of God designed for His purposes, it is subject to His decree, therefore no man can will or do that which God has not ordained.
And this is in line with what was said in Chapter 3 of the confession,
"God hath decreed in himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably, all things, whatsoever comes to pass; yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin nor hath fellowship with any therein; nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established; in which appears His wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing His decree."
@@lawrencestanley8989
This is that part of reasoning which will never end because nobody has a satisfying explanation how this whole problem actually fuction.
Like if we take the beginning of all evil, the fall of Lucifer into pride, did God specifically created Lucifer in such manner that he would fall into pride and all the hell would break lose or did God have another plan for him, another position and function in Heaven, which for some unknown reasons, did not happen? So was the fall into pride and the erupting hell itself into existence, the original plan of God or did God have another plan which didnt happen?
There is a MASSIVE difference between free will and volition. Only being to ever have there will totally free is God himself. There are no outside influences directing Gods will. It is free from any outside influences. Mans will is conditional meaning he can choose between things but outside influences play a role in mans decision which is called volition. Man can choose only what his will is bound to which in this case is Sinful Nature!!!! The bible states that no man woman or child will seek after God but we only seek after God because God first seeketh after you. PERIOD
Correct,Even before Adam and Eve had a sinful nature they were not free from outside influences . The serpents deceitfulness influenced Eves decision.
Only three humans have ever had free will Adam Eve and Christ
I love R. C. but despise Calvinism. Explain to me how Calvinist believe we are dead and can not choose the GOOD who is Christ Jesus, but we are able to choose to do good? We have a moral compass, and we have a conscience that either convicts or excuses us, and we also are able to know right from wrong. We know there is a God, Romans 1, we know there is an eternity, Ecclesiastes 3:11, and yet we aren't able to choose to follow the GOOD ( Jesus Christ)? I do believe the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary in order to repent and to convict of sin, and that He must work in one's heart and mind to draw to Christ, but we also are responsible.
Those who do not believe in calvinsm do not believe that we have not sinned and fallen short of the glory of 'God. This is a constant mitake calvinists make to those who are not calvinists, and it's frustarating. We beleive we have all sinned, the difference is we believe we are able to confess that sin. Cavlinists say no we are not able to confess that sin unless God choose us to be saved. This flies right in the face of Paul when he says, if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. This is not in the bible. There is no where in the bible that says we are unable to confess our sins. That's in calvinism.
Sproul says we have free will. But according to calvinism,, we are not making choices. Everrything is according to God's soverenty, including man's thoughts, actions. No Christian bleieves that we have nost sinned, and we cannot saved ourselves.But calinvists not only say we have sinned, but we cannot confess our sins. Despite, that the bible says God commands all people to repent. One cannot repent unless he has been unillatery pickeed before they were born according to calvinsm. No, we do not have choices, Spuoul accrording to calvinism. Everything is decreed by God including mans thoughts and actions, according to the wewtminister confession. No we do not have chocies according to your system. We are robots according to calviiism. Srproul is in heaven now,, and I really respecteed this man. But I think he led people astray to thinking God's grace is not avaliable to all.
Does God owe anyone grace? Is He obligated to give saving grace to all men?
This is that part of calvinism i agree 100%.
Which part do you disagree with? If you don’t mind me asking.
@@mishkakasalapiy3222
That part which says that God, since the beginning of time, before the world was, has predestined most of people to be tortured by Him forever and ever after a tiny spark of imperfect existence and that this endless torture would glorify Him.
@@nikokapanen82 - that’s called hyper Calvinism and is heretical. Calvinists don’t believe in double predestination. The scripture is clear that ALL have fallen short, NONE are righteous. ALL have sinned therefore ALL were hell bound because of original sin.
Picture 100% of people going to hell because of their own doing and God saving whomever he chooses (his elect whom he predestined).
So the correct word for those going to hell is “ordained” by God meaning he didn’t predestine for them to go there, they’re going there by choice, as for the elect (who also deserve hell) are chosen and saved by grace through faith, not their own doing.
@@mishkakasalapiy3222
But such belief presupposes arminian position where we, human beings, have free will to do good and free will to do evil and then for some completely unknown reason, all of us choose to do evil, freely.
The way i understood, this is not calvinistic position. Calvinistic position is that it is God who predestined people to become sinful, He is Sovereign over all things and it is up to Him what we do, therefore people are going to hell because God ordained them to go there, he made them in such way so that they would sin so that he would judge them and then decides to save a portion of them.
@Groobs
I believe this is a completely fallacious understanding of Gods omnipotence. The idea that God is so powerful that He could fix everything in the right perfect order right now, in one second, so that no evil, no pain or suffering would exist anymore, makes God being evil to the core, because if you are able to keep everything in the right order without any side effects, yet you allow all this evil and suffering to thrive, then you are evil by definition.
I believe God does have everything in His control and He has the power to fix everything in the right order but even Him, yes, the all powerful God, needs time to do it.
Also, God cannot allow evil to thrive for no reasons, He would not allow evil to exist for one extra second unless evil would not be an absolute necessity.
So right now, things are going as well, as God is able to make them, because God always gives 100%, He is never too lousy or too lazy, He works constantly and in the end of all ends, all evil, all sufering will be put to the end. Not evil nor suffering exist in the beginning nor will it exist in the end.
The Calvinist claim that human beings have no free will is silly demonic nonsense. You can't have love without freewill. Also, the Bible speaks of human freewill almost 4000 times;
>> Concerning our free will given to us by God, which Calvinists say we don't have and that free will is a "myth."...
The words “will,” “free-will,” “willing,” “freewill,” “free will,” along with related words such as “voluntary,” “choose,” etc., are found nearly 4,000 times in Scripture.
The requirement of willing obedience from the heart is a theme that runs all through the Bible: “If ye be willing and obedient…” (Isaiah 1:19), “If any man will do his [God’s] will…” (John 7:17), “If thou believest with all thine heart” (Acts 8:37), etc.
God wants our hearts, and the very concept of “heart” used throughout Scripture is meaningless without free will. That “the king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will” (Proverbs 21:1) does not say that the king has no choice as Calvinism insists. At the least, this is Solomon’s declaration of submission as Israel’s King to God; and at the most, it says that God can turn any king’s heart when He so desires. But it does not declare that everything any king thinks, speaks, and does is according to God’s will and by His pre-ordination. That proposition, again, would make God the author of evil.
The phrase, “freewill offering” is found nine times (Leviticus 22:21, 23; Numbers 15:3; Deuteronomy 16:10; 23:23; Ezra 1:4; 3:5; 7:16; 8:28), and “freewill offerings” is found seven times (Leviticus 22:18, 38; Numbers 29:39; Deuteronomy 12:6, 17; 2 Chronicles 31:14, Psalm 119:108). Those numbers, however, do not tell the full story.
There were countless freewill offerings as the following indicates: “And Kore the son of Imnah the Levite…was over the freewill offerings of God, to distribute the oblations of the LORD, and the most holy things (2 Chronicles 31:14). The phrase “willingly offered” is found five times, such as “the people willingly offered themselves” (Judges 5:2). Both phrases are even used together: “willingly offered a freewill offering unto the LORD (Ezra 3:5). Could the fact that God gave man free will-and a major reason why-be stated more clearly?
You obviously didn't watch the video
Have faith in Messiah Yahusha and keep the Commandments of our Heavenly Father. That is how we know we are in Him. Matthew 5:17-19,Matthew 7:21-27, John 13:15-17, 1 John 2:3-7.
Sounding a bit legalistic there.
Christ was the end of the Law.
Garbage. We have free will to choose, but we have a natural propensity for evil? We are predisposed to choose evil? Who gave us a sinful nature, R.C.? Could it be our "creator". What a joke.
The sinful nature came from the necessary circumstances.
@@nikokapanen82 Which circumstances? How were they necessary?
@@kylerichardson1242
This issue is way too deep and complex to explain here.
The simple basics are the following: Why is there a literal hell raging in the world? Is it because Satan rebelled against God, why did he rebel against God, it is because he fell into pride, why did he fall into pride, it was because of his extreme beauty, why then God created him so beautiful and here we can conclude it was necessary because God would never do it unless it would be absolutely necessary since God knew what would happen and yet he still created him that beautiful.
When it comes to people, we are not the origin of evil. This whole world was given to Satan way before Adam and Eve came into existence and whatever Satan gets to himself that place will become deadly and corrupted. This means that Adam and Eve already were corrupted before they tasted the fruit of knowledge they simply did not know about it. What does the knowledge give to you? It gives you awareness, and comprehension of the reality around you, so when Adam and Eve tasted knowledge, they became aware of their "nakedness" or in other words their sinfulness. You see, knowledge alone cannot make you sinful but getting knowledge can reveal to you that you are sinful and that is what happened to humans.
@@nikokapanen82 Alrighty then. Seems to me like we hace no choice but to be sinful. Do you also think God gave us free will? Because both can't be true.
@@kylerichardson1242
The Arminian/Provisionist free will where we all have spontaneous freedom to choose whether to walk left or right, go up or down, do right or wrong, choose Jesus or reject Him has never existed.
We are all slaves to our nature and follow our strongest desires and these desires are corrupted, so unless the Son sets us free, we won't be free from sins.