A Freed-Up Will

Pat Nemmers, pastor of Saylorville Baptist Church. This is a clip from his sermon entitled "The Ultimate Gift" from James 1. Look up his podcasts on iTunes.

The cause of salvation is the will of God. Did you notice that? “Of His own will…He brought us forth” Now some of your Bibles say “He chose”, or “In His goodness” but the New King James is the absolute, most literal translation in this case. That’s exactly what the original says; “Of His own will.” Why is that important?

Well when I was in my twenties, after high school and with a little bit of college, I just became very discontent. My wife and I had a child, and my life started taking on a more serious bent, and I just became very discontent with my life. As many of you know, I started dabbling into drugs, taking drugs every single day for several years and all of that just spelled discontentment to me. And so, I wanted more, and as God would have it, I worked at John Deere and many individuals would come to me and talk to me about God they would give me literature, they would give me tracts, they would talk to me personally about it. There’s a desire that started welling up in me and I really was thinking “I want that! I don’t have it, but I want that!”

Now listen to this. As far as I could tell, I was seeking God on my own. But the Bible tells us right here, and in many other places, that just doesn’t happen. You and I just don’t go about seeking God on our own, did you know that? God is the first cause. God has to come in there. God comes in there, and he may use a bevy of circumstances, but He’ll come in there and He’ll do whatever He has to do if He’s picked you out, and He’s gonna pull you toward Himself. Jesus said “No one can come to me unless the Father draws him in.” Draws him in, pulls him in. And James says it here, it’s of His own will.

Just shortly after I became a Christian, my father came over and he was very concerned about me going off the deep end, and joining some cult or something. And I said “Dad, this is something God has brought about” and I quoted to him John 1 where it says “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” And then I shared with my dad this passage. It says: “Who were born, not of blood” That is, we don’t get salvation because we were born into a Christian family. “nor of the will of the flesh” That is, we don’t get salvation because we’ve done good works, we’ve tried to please God by being good people. But then this: “not of the will of man”!

I know, many times we talk about our free wills; you have the freedom to trust Jesus as savior, and I understand what you mean by that. I really thought I was freely just moving’ along. But in reality, it’s God doing the work! Instead of saying “I have a free will”, think of it in terms of “I have a freed-up will” How’s that? God has sort of unloosened my bound will, my will which would never trust God. My will and your will would never come to God, did you know that? Never in a thousand years! But if God gets involved in it, make no mistake, you will come. You will come, if God’s involved and because the cause of salvation is of God. Just like in the book of Acts, there’s a lady whose name is Lydia the Bible says “As Paul talked to her, God opened up her heart so that she could attend to the things Paul was saying. And that’s the way it works in every one of our lives.

You may think you’re pursuing God, you may think you’re seeking after God, but it’s really God seeking after you. Isn’t that what Jesus said? The Son of Man has come to seek and to save those who are what? Those who are lost.