July 1, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 1

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1 EFFECTUAL CALLING: RENEWING THE WILL (Acts 16:11-15) INTRODUCTION: I want to finish this morning my messages on the work of the Holy Spirit in effectually calling us to faith in Jesus. We have been using the following definition from the Westminster Shorter Catechism: A31: Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel. The Holy Spirit persuades and enables us to embrace Jesus Christ by faith as offered to us in the Gospel. Christ is freely offered to us (and to all) in the Gospel. This is the universal call. But what does it take for this universal call to become an effectual call and a person be converted? This definition states that there are three works of the Holy Spirit to bring us to the point of conversion: 1) by convincing us of our sin and misery; 2) by enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and 3) by renewing of our wills. It is the third part of this work of the Holy Spirit that I want us to focus on this morning. Before I get into the heart of message, let me suggest at least three ways you can use this understanding of God s effectual call. First, you can reflect on your own experience on how the Holy Spirit performed these actions on your heart. Second, you can use these truths in helping others to know how to express their desire to be saved: confess their lostness, sinfulness; confess their belief in who Christ is; and express their willingness to surrender their wills and lives to Christ. You can use it for evangelism. And thirdly, you can use these three works as a prayer guide for praying for the lost. We all have people in our families, acquaintances, or neighbors who need to come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. How do we pray for these? One way is to pray that God, the Holy Spirit, would bring them to the place of seeing their lostness, of convincing them that they need a Savior.. Then pray that God, the Holy Spirit, would enlighten their minds to understand the truth about Jesus Christ, His love, His sacrifice, His call to them. Then pray that God, the Holy Spirit, would renew their wills to want to come to put their trust in Christ as their Savior. This, I believe, would be a Biblical way of praying for the lost. Next Sunday, we will to have a special time of prayer as a church for your lost friends, relatives or neighbors. I ll explain it next Sunday. July 1, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 1

2 As I said, this morning I want to focus on the work of the Holy Spirit in renewing our wills so that we may embrace Christ as our Savior. There are many questions we may consider in the Holy Spirit s work in renewing our wills. What exactly is our will? Why is it stated as renewing our will? How will we know if our will is being renewed? Does this have something to do with free-will? If so, what? If God renews our will, does this mean that we have no choice in the matter of salvation? Several questions along these lines need to be addressed for us to come to understand this work of the Holy Spirit and to affirm that we have been effectually called. CLARIFYING THE MEANING OF THE WORD WILL AND FREE-WILL First I believe that there is much confusion when we talk about our will and especially our having a free-will. When we use the word will what are we saying? We are saying that we are able to make choices. We all have the power of making choices. Our will in this sense is our faculty of choosing, our chooser. We can choose a course of action without being coerced or determined for us. We can make choices about our actions and because they are freely made choices we are responsible for them. This is what we mean by have a free-will. All men have free will in this sense. Of course there are many limitations to what we can choose; like we can not choose to jump farther than we are physically able. We can not choose to be a millionaire, just by choice. But these things are usually not considered a violation of free will. Free-will is the power to originate actions and make choices based on our self-determination. We can freely choose what we are going to do. This is freedom of choice. When thinking about our power of choice we must include why we make the choices we do. What determines our choices? It is something about the choice that pleases us, that we want, that we believe will be a benefit. It includes what motivates me to make the choices that I make. What this is is our desire, our pleasures, etc. This means my will is what I want, my desire. And our desires spring from the type of person we are or our character. For example: Take two brothers who both have the desire to get money to live and for their families. One goes and gets a job and works hard to make money. And the other gets money by being a thief. What is the difference? Both made choices based on their desires, but the difference lies in their basic character. July 1, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 2

3 We exercise our free-will to choose the course of action based on what pleases us most. What pleases us is based on our basic nature. This is the fuller meaning of free will as theologians speak of it, i.e. the power of self-determination based on our thinking, feeling, and desires. THEBONDAGE OF OUR WILL So let me ask, Is having the ability to make free choices enough for a person to make the right choices. No. Why? Because as I have said our choices are determined by our natural desires and our natural desires are determined by our nature or character. What is our nature or natural disposition towards God? There is something about our nature that causes us to resist exercising our will to embrace Christ. It is we have a nature that is bound by sin. The Scriptures is filled with the description of our natural inclinations when it comes to God. Romans 3:11-12 NKJV there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. (12) They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one." That is the description of the natural man. Romans 8:7 NIV The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. So we can ask, Is our will free or in bondage? It depends on how you are using the word will. If you are using it as the simple ability to make choices from your self-determination, then yes the will of free. If you are using it to include our want to, that which determines what we choose, then it is not free, it is in bondage. It is in bondage to sin. The Bible speaks more about the bondage of the will rather than the freedom of the will. Because sin has polluted our nature we have been sold into sin as the Bible puts. We are in bondage to sin. This is why Jesus made these statements. (John 8:34-36 NKJV) Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. {35} "And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. {36} "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. (John 5:40 NKJV) "But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. July 1, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 3

4 We all have a natural built-in resistance to God. The problem is not with our chooser it is with our willingness, our desires, our want to, or our heart. Our willingness to choose is determined by our moral nature or our heart condition. The Holy Spirit needs to renew our will by renewing our heart. And do you know what? God promised to give us a new heart in Ezekiel: (Ezek 11:19-21 NKJV) "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, {20} "that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God. {21} "But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads," says the Lord GOD. With a new heart a person can have a new desire for God and can come freely to embrace Christ as their Savior. It is important to understand that when the Holy Spirit renews our will to embrace Christ as Savior, He is not giving us the ability to choose. We all have that. What He is doing is working on our want to choose Christ. He renews something about us that gives us the want to, the desire, the propensity to come to Christ. He makes us willing to surrender to Christ. THE RENEWING OF OUR WILLS BY THE HOLY SPIRIT Let s look at some examples from the Bible of how the Holy Spirit works in different people to give them the willingness to believe in Jesus. All of our circumstances are different but the basic work of the Holy Spirit is the same. In recording Paul s conversion in Acts 9 listen to how Acts 9:1-6 NKJV Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest (2) and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. (3) As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. (4) Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" (5) And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads." (6) So he, trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, July 1, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 4

5 what do You want me to do?" Then the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do." Note that the Holy Spirit opened Paul s mind to understand in an unusual way. Paul was familiar with the Gospel message but he had resisted it. He had heard Christians preaching it. But here the mind of his understanding about Jesus was directly opened by Jesus speaking to him. His conscience was convicted when Jesus said that it is hard for you to kick against the goads. I believe that the goads were the convicting work of the Holy Spirit. Then he asked the Lord, What would you have me to do? He was willing to believe and commit his life to Christ. Another less dramatic example is Lydia in Acts 16. Acts 16:13-14 NKJV And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. (14) Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. Here Lydia listened to the things spoken by Paul and the Lord opened her heart to heed them. This is another way of saying that the Holy Spirit convinced her of her need for Christ, enlightened her mind to understand that through Jesus work on the Cross she could be saved, and that the Holy Spirit renewed her willingness to embrace Christ. Now for my experience. I was in the Army, had been in the Canal Zone for a couple of years. A friend invited me to a Bible study and in meeting with the Bible teacher, Gordon, privately, he asked me if I was ready to put my faith in Jesus. I had been raised in the church, but had gotten far away from the faith of my childhood. I knew through these Bible studies that I needed to totally turn myself to Jesus and from my sinful ways. When Gordon asked me if I was willing to turn to Jesus I told him I didn t know if I was ready for this great decision. I had a problem with being willing to let go of my past and turn to Jesus. He said, Are you willing to be made willing? That clinched it. I was willing to be made willing. I prayed, Lord I don t know if I m truly willing to turn from my sinful life to you, but I m willing to be made willing. God took me up on it and made me willing. The circumstances around each person s conversion experience is different, but the work of the Holy Spirit is the same. When the Holy Spirit effectually calls us to Christ He renews our will, i.e. He breaks our resistance to Christ and makes us willing to surrender our all to Him. July 1, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 5

6 One more verse of Scriptures that summarizes our main point this morning: Phil 2:13 NKJV for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. God works in us BOTH to will and to do for His good pleasure. CONCLUSION What were your circumstances when you came to Christ? How did the Holy Spirit work in your life to make you willing to be made willing? It is good to think about these questions and even write down the details. This will help when sharing your story with others who need to understand what God is will to do in their lives. When the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to Christ in a true understanding of His Person and Work, when the Holy Spirit convicts us of our lostness, we can still resist the act of closing with Christ by laying our life before Him. Our willingness can still fall short. We have to exercise our wills, i. use our chooser. It takes the Holy Spirit to renew our wills, i.e. to give us the willingness to be made willing to exercise our wills. The moving of our wills is more than moral persuasion, it takes a direct work of God on our hearts. This work is available for Paul stated, It is God who works in your both to will and to doe for His good pleasure. Submit yourself to God today to give you the willingness to make a total commitment of your life to Christ. We all must use our chosers to yield to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives to embrace Christ as our Savior. The universal call is for whosoever will may come. Are you willing today to yield your life to Christ and receive all the benefits of His death and resurrection for you? Come to Jesus, just as you are and experience the Holy Spirit work in your heart!. Amen? Amen! July 1, 2018 Corntassel CP Church Page 6