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- [00:02]
A
Think about the Bible like you never have before. You're listening to Christian Questions. Access more audio videos and Bible Study resources@christianquestions.com Our topic is how does our Free Will Work in God's Plan Part two? Here's Rick, Jonathan and Julie.
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B
Welcome everyone. I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co host for over 25 years, and Julie, a longtime contributor, is also with us. Jonathan, what's our theme scripture for this episode?
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A
Joshua 24:15 if it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers serve which were beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
- [00:53]
B
In our last episode, we laid out a scriptural foundation for how human free will works by considering two Old Testament accounts. First, we looked at Joshua and how he was called upon by God to lead Israel after the death of Moses. His choosing to closely follow God's direction in this task made him a great leader and this showed us the profound value of always using God's word and his will to guide us. Second, we looked at the account of Adam and Eve and their sin. Their poor choices showed us how easy it is for us to apply our free will in self destructive ways by listening to other voices that oppose Godliness. Now we get practical and examine free will in relation to our Christianity as well as free will in relation to the rest of the world.
- [01:46]
A
The basic principle we've established is that our human free will choices are made based upon the input or we look for, receive and accept. It's obvious that this process can be faulty because we ourselves are faulty. As Christians, we need to be aware of the challenges and traps of our own interpretations and be willing to stand firm in Christ as we seek to correct them and embrace Godliness.
- [02:15]
B
Let's get started with this. How do we as Christians daily stay aware of our free will, continually turn it back to towards God, and make choices that are based on freedom in Christ? How do we do that? Well, let's go back to part one. Remember those free will principles that we learned from Joshua?
- [02:37]
C
Yes, we had the human free will principle was that we are free to choose a path and to live by our choice. In part one we likened our human free will to holding the steering wheel of a car. So God provides the road. His plan. It's already laid out before us and we determine if we're going to stay on that road or veer off but
- [02:57]
A
the Apostle Paul is going to warn us what happens when we stop steering and let the world decide our direction. Ephesians 4:17, 19. So this I say and affirm together with the Lord that you walk no longer, just as the Gentiles also walk. And in the futility of their mind being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart, and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity and greediness.
- [03:36]
C
Well, that is a warning, he said, having become callous, that stands out for me. And that comes from the Greek word for hardening, you know, like a callus on your fingers. It's a thickening hard shell that forms over time. You know, bad choices rarely just appear out of nowhere. They are cumulative. And this spiritual scar tissue forms when we repeatedly ignore God's leadings.
- [03:59]
B
And that's why when we look at this free will, our ability to choose a path and live by our choice, we have to be careful because like both of you just commented that Scripture gives us a sense of this is the wrong way to go. Our natural free will is influenced by deceptive, sinful views of what fulfillment really is. And that's a big point. We can pause, consider, and reapply ourselves to a higher life because we're Christians based on freedom in Christ. So first, free will, human principle is we are free to choose a path as Christians. So we've got this sense before us now. Jonathan, let's look a bit higher.
- [04:43]
A
Yeah, God's will is perfect and his will accomplishes his plan. John 8:31. So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed him, if you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine.
- [04:58]
B
What we have, if you continue in My word and you're truly disciples of mine, that gives us the sense of, here's what it takes. You can choose, but this is the direction. These are some of the prerequisites towards that direction, that choice. As Christians, our free will choices, places have been invited to a higher standard of conscience, and that's a key. Let your conscience be your guide. Well, what guides your conscience? That's where we need to understand things here. So we've got God's will is perfect. His will accomplishes his plan. Jesus shows us how to fit into that will. Let's go on to the next piece.
- [05:38]
C
Well, the human free will principle side of that is freely doing God's will opens us up to freely receiving His Protection. Now, protection, as we talked about last week, doesn't mean we're guaranteed an easy life without challenges or trials. But as Christians, God surrounds our road with guard rails, his providence. And just like we talked about in episode 1430, how does God's providence work in our lives? These guard rails don't force our direction, but they do keep us from going over the edge when we drift. So through scripture and conscience, as you said, Rick, and correction and influence of his spirit, God lovingly nudges us back towards safety.
- [06:20]
A
You know, this topic about God's providence as guardrails really hits home for me. Several years ago, we discovered the extent of my sister's mental illness. She moved in with our elderly parents at their home, claiming to care for them, but the situation became dangerous. She was verbally abusive and neglected their physical needs, which at times risked physical harm. My dad had advanced Alzheimer's and my mom pleaded for help. My wife and I recognized we had to intervene and relocate them to our home. You know, it wasn't easy. We had to drive several states away, fully aware that my sister would be angry and unpredictable. There were times we felt threatened, but we continued to pray and sensed God urging us, be strong and courageous, do what's right and I'll be with you. And that's really what kept us going. Well, when we got to their home, it was tense and painful, but we were able to get my parents out safely with the help of local police. Looking back, I can see God's providence all through that experience. He didn't make it easy, but he protected us through the timing and giving us the strength to keep going. Courage isn't the absence of fear. It's choosing obedience in spite of fear. God didn't force our decision, but I think this is a good example of how our free will and God's providence work together.
- [07:46]
B
That's important because it had that protectiveness involved in it. It was a very, very dramat to have to take a step into an unknown and a step into something that could have turned out very, very, very badly. But you go because that's where God's will is provoking you to go, knowing that he will protect us in his way if we are doing his will. So that helps us to see all of this kind of unfold.
- [08:14]
A
Well, Ephesians 4, 20 and 21 says, but you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard him and have been taught in him, just as truth is in Jesus.
- [08:25]
B
The point here is that we did not learn Christ the way that in the previous verses of Ephesians, people were going along their own directions. And in your story and your example, it really came down to putting things in order and making sure that they were being done appropriately in accordance with God's will. And so there's the choice. You didn't choose it that way, you chose it this way. And now God's free will principle comes into play.
- [08:54]
A
Yes, God's will is committed and his commitment accomplishes his plan. John 8:32. And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. With freedom comes responsibility.
- [09:07]
B
Absolutely does. You cannot have true freedom in anything without the responsibility that we need to stand up according to those choices that we make. So as Christians, our free will is free. But just remember, there's consequences and there's blessings and there's direction and there's providence and there's, and there's potentially difficulties depending on how we apply that free will as a Christian, as Christians, our free will can be taught to reach for true and eternal freedom. That's really where we're going. You'll know the truth and the truth sets you free again, free from all of that stuff. And those first verses, Ephesians chapter 4. Let's go further with these human free will principles that we learned from Joshua in part one.
- [09:56]
C
Well, the next one is a God driven character is required to appropriately do God's will. So we have to leave our old ways behind. Let's go back to Ephesians chapter 4.
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A
Now verse 22, that in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit.
- [10:17]
C
The words lay aside. And it's in the King James version, it's put off. This describes what you do with clothes. You remove a garment, you lay it aside, you deliberately put it away. And this change that they're talking about is daily. It's sometimes an hourly conscious choice. So it's kind of like the spiritual equivalent of take off that old outfit, it doesn't fit you anymore because we can now wear the robe of Christ's righteousness. And Jonathan, you read that that old self which is being corrupted, that's present tense. It keeps decaying, it keeps trying to cling to us. So that outfit should feel ugly and itchy and too tight and notice it's
- [10:59]
A
being corrupted in accordance with lust and deceit. These are desires that lie, desires that promise fulfillment, but are empty because they're rooted in deception. Just as we saw last week when Eve received quote unquote new information from the serpent.
- [11:16]
B
Yeah, and that's why this human free will principle is so important. We need a God driven character to appropriately do his will. Without the God driven character, the quote unquote, new information can look awfully enticing, it can look awfully logical, it can look awfully fulfilling and only ends up being awful. So we want to put it all in order and have that clarity of what we need to be moving forward with. So we've got this human free will principle. A God driven character is required to appropriately do God's will. Now let's go to the God centeredness of all of this.
- [11:55]
A
God's will is time tested. And that test of time proves his plan. John 17, 16, 17. This is Jesus talking to his followers the night before his crucifixion. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth.
- [12:16]
B
So you've got this God principle of his will being time tested. And that test of time proves his plan. And in John 17, Jesus is continuing and he's saying, these my followers are not of all of the things that we were talking about in Ephesians 4, they're not that way. They are in the truth. They are set apart. It doesn't look like it's going to work. They're too small, they're too fragile. And yet God's will is time tested. And time will prove that if they stay set apart, they can flourish. You don't know the truth like the previous scripture. Truth will set you free. As Christians, our free will can be transformed by the holiness of God's spirit that works within us. We need to allow ourselves to be in that kind of a position.
- [13:08]
C
So our human free will principle there the next one is freely doing God's will requires our intellect to be in harmony with his word. And we'll go back to Ephesians chapter 4, verses 23 and 24, and that
- [13:21]
A
you will be renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, which is in the likeness of God and has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. You know, let God reshape the attitude behind our thinking. Paul says, to be renewed in the spirit of your mind, which is a full shift in how we process life. Then we put on the new self by choosing thoughts and actions that reflect God's righteousness.
- [13:50]
C
From a practical standpoint, it's catching our old reactions like complaining or reacting harshly and choosing the Christlike response instead. So renewal is Learning to choose the new instinct before that old one takes over. And when our first instinct isn't great, and it often isn't, we don't give up. We pause, we take a breath and we move to that second better thought or word, making immediate corrections. So I noticed that there's this overall pattern of Ephesians 4. It's put off the old self, like clothes, remove the old habits, be renewed in your mind, rewire your thinking. And then you put on the new self. You replace that behavior. So repeat this pattern over and over and over until we actually are transformed.
- [14:36]
B
So to get to the point of being that faithful Christian, we have to work on our intellect. That's exactly what you were just describing, to be in harmony with God's word. And the great thing is all of these scriptures are showing us, here's where the harmony is. Follow this. Look at this. Understand what this says. Take the hint, do what this is showing you. It's putting things in perspective. But we have to intellectually be in harmony with his will. Why? Well, the next God piece of this,
- [15:06]
A
Jonathan, is God's will is completely harmonious. John 17:18, as you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
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B
There's this harmony of what Jesus did. He showed us how to do. And it wasn't, I'm going to go do certain things and you guys can do something completely different. There's this harmony of self sacrifice that follows in his footsteps. Our intellect has to understand that so we can grab hold of it and put it in place. We need to very, very, very carefully follow through, do what Jesus did, go where Jesus went. As Christians, our free will can be energized to carry the gospel and to be its living examples.
- [15:55]
C
You know, think about that for a minute. We are sent by Jesus to carry his message. I mean, what a privilege to be a part of that work.
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B
It's overwhelming, actually.
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C
It is overwhelming.
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B
It's an overwhelming privilege to be a part of that work. You're doing what he was doing just in this small little way compared to what he did. But he gives us the tools. The whole point of this whole conversation here is what is my free will as a Christian focusing on? Is it focusing on these upward things, this godly perspective? Or am I being pulled back like all those Ephesian scriptures were saying? Am I being pulled back to what I once was? Take your choice, take your time now. Be what I once was or become Christ like. Be what I once was or become Christ like. What's my choice? That's the free will thing here as we look at this. Now let's keep going with Ephesians chapter four, because this chapter just describes what our free will as Christians. It just spills out of this chapter what it can produce when this transformation is accomplished. It's a process. We both have said that already. We need to grow toward all of these things. Now we're going to go through several verses of Ephesians chapter 4. We're going to go from verse 25 all the way to verse 32, and we're going to stop many times along the way and lay out what a transformed free will is revealed and how it's revealed in the following results. So, Jonathan, get us started.
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Truthful communication, Ephesians 4, 25. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth, each one of you with his neighbor. For we are members of one another.
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B
Our transformed free will gives us that truthful communication. If we follow Scripture, what's next?
- [17:45]
C
A spirit of forbearance. And forbearance is, you are entitled to something, perhaps, but you forego that. So we look at verses 26 and 27. Be angry and yet do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.
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B
So this Christian free will has this spirit of forbearance saying, I need to learn to hold back. What's next?
- [18:10]
A
Godly morality, verse 28. He who steals must steal no longer, but rather he must labor performing with his own hands what is good so that he will have something to share with one who has need.
- [18:24]
B
And that's an interesting scripture. It's like if you were stealing, steal no more. Why? Not just because stealing is bad, but because you can now help others if you do things honestly. That's the point. It's that sense of godly morality. This transformed free will elevates us to a godly morality. So each of these points in Ephesians 4 is showing us, here's what your transformed Christian free will can produce. But wait, there's more.
- [18:51]
C
Well, it can also produce godly and upbuilding words. Verse 29 says, Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification, according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
- [19:05]
B
So previously it was so you can have things to give to others that are valuable. And here, in this last one, godly enough, building words so you can say things, it becomes the reality of our lives. If we allow our free will to be transformed to the Christ likeness that's being described here. There's more.
- [19:25]
A
Diligent actions, verse 30. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
- [19:33]
B
Diligent actions don't grieve God's Spirit. Give God's spirit a chance to thrive within you and drive you and the diligent actions in terms of Christ likeness. So a transformed free will is revealed in diligently following after Jesus footsteps. And yet there's more.
- [19:55]
C
What about godly emotions? Verse 31 says, Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
- [20:05]
B
All of these simple little scriptures. Godly emotions. It's not saying remove emotions. It's not saying become stoic. It's saying that have those things be removed so that you can have an opening in your lives, a transformed opening for something else. And that's the last piece, Jonathan, what is it?
- [20:24]
A
A loving heart, verse 32. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other. Just as God in Christ also has
- [20:33]
B
forgiven you, so it all brings us to the truthful communication, the spirit of forbearance, the godly morality. Godly upbuilding words, diligent actions, godly emotions bring us to a loving heart, a transformed free will that is now working at following after Christ toward godliness. So let's put our free will within the context of God's will.
- [20:59]
A
As Christians, we have a profound responsibility to focus our free will on solely accomplishing God's will in our lives. This can only be accomplished when we offer up the humanness of our will to God and ask that it be replaced with the reverent thoughts and choices of Christ likeness. Such transformation requires clarity, humility, daily diligence and prayer.
- [21:28]
C
And here's why this matters. God guides our free will because he loves us and he knows what's going to lead to our truest joy. We have to look at his boundaries as being protective, not taking us away from something that we think might be better for us. So every nudge of providence, every stir of our conscience, you know, talking to us at the back of our back of our brain, it's God drawing us back to the life that he designed us to thrive in. So our daily choices are where trust grows and where our relationship with him deepens.
- [22:02]
B
And it comes down to my free will. I can choose to be Christlike and to work towards that, or I can choose to suit myself. Take your time. Which one is going to be? Praise and honor to God. As Christians, our free will can only produce God honoring results if our freedom is voluntarily made subject to God's will, period.
- [22:27]
A
If our free will choices need to be overhauled based on godly truth, what about all of the free will choices the rest of the world makes?
- [22:37]
C
And that's a really big question. But a skeptic is going to immediately ask, well, then why does God let billions of people make terrible choices with terrible consequences? Some people grow up in loving homes with moral parents, and others grow up in trauma or spiritual darkness. So how can free will be fair when the starting points are so unequal? Bad input produces bad choices.
- [23:01]
B
You're right. You're right. And that's why it is a really big question. And so here's the short answer, and we're going to expand this answer. But the short answer is this. God's will right from the start. Now think about this. Right from the start, his will was for humanity to be in line with his plan for their eternal lives. And you look at that and say, what doesn't look that way? Hang on. Jesus redeemed Adam from his sin and thereby redeemed all who were born into Adam's sin. So, all right, what does that mean? What do you do with all of these billions of people? You raise them from the dead and teach them accountability and righteousness, all to be done within the context of their free will.
- [23:48]
A
And there's the key. This age is not the final judgment. God allows free will to operate unevenly. Now, because this is the age of learning consequences, the next age is where God evens the playing field. In our present age, our human free will carries consequences, many of which go unrecognized.
- [24:10]
C
Yeah, and this brings us to the final part of our free will metaphor. It's the destination. God didn't just give humanity a steering wheel, a road, a map, and guardrails for the journey itself. He's leading the whole world somewhere.
- [24:23]
B
That's right. So where? Where is he leading them? Well, like you said, in our present age, our human free will does carry consequences. And many of those consequences go unrecognized. Many of those consequences looks like, well, they got away with it. And you look at that and you say, well, that's the goodness of free will. Hang on, we got to see the whole picture. The resurrection that Jesus speaks of in John chapter five opens those very consequences up for being able to be dealt with. So first, let's look at that resurrection. Let's look at the how of the resurrection. So let's start with John 5, 28 and 29.
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A
Do not marvel at this. For an hour is coming in which all who are in their tombs will hear his voice and will come forth those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
- [25:16]
B
So when we look at the world and we say, okay, people get away with this, that and the other thing that comes under the category of those who did the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment, which means there's something that else that's going to happen. Did they get away with it? No. Did it seem like it? Yes. How does that even out? Well, the judgment. This judgment was clearly explained by the Apostle Paul in Acts 17, 29, 31.
- [25:43]
A
The context is Paul is in Greece, speaking on Mars Hill to the Gentile thinkers of Athens, including the philosophers of the day. He is directly confronting the idols and false gods surrounding them. Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.
- [26:05]
C
So Paul's reminding them that all of humanity is God's offspring and the true God can't be represented by idols and images that their culture has created.
- [26:15]
A
Continuing. Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.
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C
God hasn't held the world fully accountable in this age, but sin still harms the sinner, and those effects have to be addressed.
- [26:32]
A
Continuing. Because he has fixed a day. Let me repeat that. He has fixed a day in which he will judge the world. How? In righteousness. Through a man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.
- [26:49]
B
Here's the how we see that the ransom gives everybody this opportunity for life. And the how is that this day of judgment is this day where the world is judged in righteousness. Now, look, a lot of Christians look at the Day of Judgment and think it's a day of horror and misery. It is not. That's not what the Scriptures say. It's a day where Jesus judges the world in righteousness. So when we look at just a couple of things. First of all, like you said, Jonathan, it's a fixed day. It's a day that was predetermined to happen. Which means that you put God's allowance of free will into play and you're saying, well, people got away with it. No, no, no, no. He had it all planned right from the start. There's a fixed day. It's going to happen.
- [27:35]
C
Is it a 24 hour day where all the billions come up and get judged.
- [27:38]
B
That would be pretty remarkable, wouldn't it? Of course it's not. It's talked about as the thousand year day of judgment. You know, you've got this thousand years and there's several scriptures that give the sense of that. So it's this fixed day. Okay, A fixed period of time. Glad you brought that up. The judgment day will be, the judgment will be from Jesus upon the world based in righteousness. So nobody gets away with anything. It's clear, it's focused, it's predetermined and pre planned.
- [28:10]
C
So the resurrection, judgment day, the kingdom to come, these are all part of the destination God designed for every human being who's ever lived. And it's where his plan has always been heading. This world restored and people taught and brought back to this relationship with God. So it's the destination where every confused will, out of harmony with him, finally has the chance to choose God with full understanding. So now is the time to learn the consequences, not receive a final judgment. And that resurrection of Jesus is God's guarantee that every person who ever lived will be able to stand before Christ with full clarity and an opportunity to choose righteousness with their free will.
- [28:53]
B
And this judgment will focus on the free will of every human being's past experience. And this is important because all of what we have experienced, if we've been dealt a bad hand in our lives, if we've had everything going for us, if we've made some bad decisions or some purposefully bad, whatever, whatever, whatever they are, those things come into play in this time where things will be, it will be a different environment. But let's look at the breadth of this judgment. Matthew 12:36 to 37 and this is
- [29:26]
A
from the Young's Literal Translation. And I say to you that every idle word that men may speak, they shall give for it a reckoning in a day of judgment. For from thy words thou shalt be declared righteous, and from thy words thou shalt be declared unrighteous. Jesus isn't saying people will all be condemned for whatever careless word they've spoken. He's saying every word we speak shapes our character and character must be addressed in the resurrection. Free will leaves a trail, and every mark it made on our character will need to be faced and worked through. But God doesn't condemn people for choices they were never equipped to make. His plan is to restore every confused or wounded will and bring it back to clarity and truth. And this is my hope for my broken Sister.
- [30:22]
C
Yeah, you said idle words. Those are careless, unproductive words. They reveal our habits and our unfiltered reactions. So judgment day is about bringing these instincts into alignment with righteousness. But, Rick, nobody's going to get away with anything, right? I mean, everyone wants there to be some sort of punishment and judgment for what has happened.
- [30:44]
B
And you're right. Nobody's going to get away with anything. What will happen is everyone is going to be able to work with everything. You don't get away with anything. You get to work with everything. Meaning if you've made bad choices, if you've hurt other people, the resurrection brings you out of the faultiness of your human mind and gives you clarity. And you can look back on your life and say, wow, look at the damage I did. And you will have the capacity to embrace that, the capacity and to choose to say, I can make it right, because this is God's kingdom. So that's one of the key factors of how our human free will now, as unjust as this world is, comes into play in a very just and clear way of being. We're going to expand that in just a few minutes here. Bottom line here is all free will of the past, all human free will, all of it has to be put in order. Prophecies point to the people of Israel as the first to be given this opportunity to put those things in order. And this process is outlined in this excerpt of a prophecy, Jeremiah. This process is outlined in several prophecies. We just chose Jeremiah to look at a little piece of Jeremiah to get a sense of it. So let's look at Jeremiah 31, 27:30.
- [31:59]
A
Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, When I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of men and the seed of beasts, as I have watched over them, to pluck up, to break down, to overthrow, to destroy, and to bring disaster. These are their past actions, so I will watch over them. Future actions to build and to plant, declares the Lord. In those days they will not say again, the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. But everyone will die for his own iniquity. Each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge. Mankind will no longer be able to blame their past.
- [32:42]
C
Yeah, that sour grapes is a proverb. And so that disappears. It means no one is going to suffer for someone else's choices. So in the kingdom, it's not Adam's fault. It's not your genetics, it's not your Terrible home life, all of that which held you back. Each person will face the effects of their own free will decisions. But in a world where clarity, righteousness and healing finally prevail.
- [33:06]
B
And that's the, the absolute positive, foundational key. The environment is positive and upbuilding and godly and therefore dealing with all the mess is possible because of everything that's been lifted up higher. So as we went through the Christian focus on free will, remember we started with those human principles and then we went to God's righteousness. Now we're going to reverse it because this is the kingdom and we're going to put God's righteousness first and then look at the human principles in the context of God's righteousness in that future. So, Jonathan, let's start with the first piece.
- [33:45]
A
God's will is perfect and his will accomplishes his plan. Daniel 2:44. In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. And that kingdom will not be left for another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.
- [34:08]
C
So the human free will principle is all will be free to choose God's path and to live by their choice.
- [34:14]
B
So when we look at that Daniel scripture and it says the kingdom of this world crumble and God's kingdom replaces it. In the context of that, the human free will of every human being resurrected and brought into that world, that world is given this incredible opportunity to thrive because it's God's kingdom. And in God's kingdom, is there any unrighteousness? Nope. Is there any sin? Nope. There is clarity, there's focus. All will be free to choose God's path. And you know what? They'll all remember the experiences of what it was like to not be on God's path. And that's going to really, really help them out. Let's go to the next godly principle here, Jonathan.
- [34:55]
A
God's will is committed and his commitment accomplishes his plan. Zechariah 14:9. And the Lord will be king over all the earth. In that day, the Lord will be the only one, and his name the only one. Guys, can you imagine a world without fear?
- [35:14]
B
It's a beautiful thing.
- [35:16]
C
Yeah. And the human free will principle is freely doing God's will will give all humanity his protection. And the reason there's not the fear and there's that protection in the future because Satan will be bound and eventually completely destroyed.
- [35:30]
B
Right. And that's why in Zechariah it said and that Lord will be the only one, his name the only one. Where do you look for guidance? There's only one place. How do you get it from only one place? From only one source. And in this world you can pick and choose and it's all pretty miserable. So there, there is that protection because he's removed all of the obstacles and given the human experience. So now that you have human experience and you don't have obstacles, choosing righteousness, oh, it's so much a clearer path, a clearer decision. You get a sense of what really should be. So God's will is committed. His commitment accomplishes his plan and we get his protection in that process. Let's go to the next God principle.
- [36:20]
A
God's will is time tested. And that test of time proves his plan. Psalm 22:27, 28. All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord and all the families of the nations will worship before you. For the kingdom is the Lord's and he rules over the nations.
- [36:41]
C
And the human free will principle is God driven. Characters will thrive as God's will is made plain.
- [36:48]
B
And it's easy to see how that human free will principle comes into play when you have all the families of the nations worshiping before God. They all have the same objective, you know. Now in our world, not that I want to go down this road, but I want to mention it, Let me say one word to you.
- [37:04]
C
Politics, no blah, blah, blah, blah, right?
- [37:08]
B
There will be no politics. There will be no social clamoring and frustration and not your way. Your way's wrong, Our way's right. Our way, your ways wrong, our ways right. All of that is gone because all the families of the nations will worship before him. His kingdom rules over the nations, and it's just and it's righteous and it's higher. So God driven characters will see this. And based on their experience with free will and all the mess that was made before, I truly believe they will run to righteousness. They will run because they, they know what the other stuff looked like. And this is like too good to be true. And the key is it's too good not to be true. That's what we want to see here. Let's go Jonathan, to our final God principle.
- [37:57]
A
Here God's will is harmonious and the harmony of his word and actions display the glory of his plan. Isaiah 11, 9. They will not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. What an interesting choice to Compare knowledge with water. You don't learn water, you're surrounded by it. In the kingdom, everyone will be immersed in righteous in an unrighteous environment.
- [38:26]
C
So the human free will principle is again, all human intellect will be in perfect harmony with God's own word.
- [38:34]
B
So we saw the human character because the families and nations worship together. And now we see the intellect because the earth will be full of the knowledge, the understanding of the Lord. As the waters cover the sea, it will be plentiful, it will be clear. And so we can see how the whole human framework comes into focus and all of human free will brings us to this beautiful place called the Kingdom of God. And that's where all of the lessons of the mess of today become valuable as an experience that our past that we can look at and learn from.
- [39:11]
C
And that's what Adam and Eve didn't have. They were naive, they didn't have that experience. So one of the biggest debates about free will is this. You could say that God is a benevolent dictator. It's his rules, his way. But can you really have free will if the rules are obey and live or disobey and die? You have to go along with the program or you're extinguished. But the answer is this. This God wants humanity to learn from those hard lessons of sin, of suffering and death, and to want to choose his will not because they're forced to, like robots, but because they finally see that his ways do produce the happiest, healthiest, most joyful lives, now and forever. He never takes away our steering wheel, but he removes the distractions, he removes the lies, the emotional blind spots, and everyone will see the road clearly. He really is the best kind of parent.
- [40:05]
B
He is. And all of these scriptures give us this clear sense when we look at the billions and billions and billions of people that have ever lived and say, here's how their free will and the mess that they were in can actually have a positive, eternal experience. Now let's go back to where we started way long ago, even at the beginning of part one of this two part series, Joshua. Remember Joshua, Joshua, chapter 24, verse 15. And remember Joshua is talking to the people of Israel. He's old, he's going to be dying soon, and he's basically turning their choices over to themselves and helping them understand what's important.
- [40:48]
A
If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve. Whether the gods which your fathers served, which were beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
- [41:06]
B
So he's saying, look back on your past experience. Do you want to serve those gods, or do you want to serve the one living God? As for me, in my house, we will serve the Lord. And that's exactly what this kingdom experience, this day of judgment, is saying. Look back on your lives, see what you saw. Is that what you want? Or do you want the beauty and righteousness and justice and love and wisdom and power that's right before you? You can choose. So, Jonathan, let's put this together. Our free will within the context of God's will.
- [41:38]
A
When the time for the sin and death that reigns from Adam's sin is over, the free will of every human who has ever lived will have been given two things. First, it has been given the ability to exist.
- [41:51]
B
Okay, pause there for a second. Human free will has been given the ability to exist. We can all look back at our own lives and generations that have gone before us and track human free will and track all of the mess that has come as a result of that. Now we said it was going to be given two things. Now we get to the next one.
- [42:12]
A
Second, it will be given the ability to be a tool of teaching in God's hand because of Jesus sacrifice. Every mistake, wrong conclusion and bad decision humanity has ever made can, as each person chooses, drive them towards a newly educated free will. Then they can freely, fully choose godliness and the result will be eternal life.
- [42:39]
B
Go back to what Joshua said. Choose you this day, whom you will serve. But as for me, in my house, we will serve the Lord. Think about looking at the world around us and look at mess and think about if we could learn from all of this and then live in a world where all of these temptations have been taken away and all of the faultiness of our human imperfection has been taken away and be able to say, what have I learned? Imagine where you can go, what you can do, and what life can be like. That's what's coming. That's where free will is going. And that's why Jesus said, said, pray this way. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth. Think about it, folks. We love hearing from our listeners. We welcome your feedback and questions on this episode and other episodes@christianquestions.com coming up in our next episode, should women be pastors?