The Power and Restoration of the Human Will

1. "Will is man's power to choose between motives. Now, motives is a word that basically means reasons. If you've ever watched a crime show or a detective show and maybe a murder has happened, they'll say, what was the murderer's motive? What was his reason for committing this heinous crime, right? The reasoning of our minds. And the desires of our hearts present us with motives. We never act without a motive. We never act without a reason. We have reasons when we do anything." [01:13] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "When you make a choice, what are some of the things that guides your decision-making? When you exercise your will, what are some of the things that guides your decisions? Consequence is exactly right. We think, what is the effect of this? How much is it going to cost me now? Is it going to cost me later, right? Another example Pastor Casey taught on this last week, and our conscience. Our conscience is that moral judiciary of the soul Pastor talked about last week. That even if you don't have a conscience, you don't have a will." [05:15] (34 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "How about God's holy word, right? God's holy word informs our conscience after all. And should not this be part of our decision making, right? To inform our decision when we exercise our will, shouldn't we think about how does this please God? And where do we know what pleases God but the scriptures, right? Scriptures tell us his will for us, that we shouldn't lie, that we shouldn't steal, that we should forbear with one another, that we should love one another, that we should forgive one another, so scripture tells us what pleases God, and that should inform us when we exercise our wills." [06:35] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "Man's will is not determined, but self-determined. Some people, for example, in the study of criminology, they'll say that man's will is determined by his upbringing, right? They'll say, you know, he had a rough life, so no wonder he resorted to a life, a life of crime, right? He was underprivileged. He didn't have a good home life, right? Does that necessitate that you're going to turn to a life of crime? No. Have not many people overcome their beginnings and actually thrived, right?" [07:59] (35 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "Your will is self-determined. It's determined by you. You make your choices. You can't blame heredity. You can't blame your human nature. You can't blame your lack of resources or even abundance of resources. How you probably know from following K-Sol, there have been people who have claimed that they had to commit a crime because they were born rich, and they were never told no, and they had affluenza, you know? Therefore, they got away with crime all their life, and so now it's embedded in their life, and it's not their fault that they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, right?" [09:35] (40 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


6. "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is encroaching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it. We're responsible for our actions, right? We're responsible for the attitudes we carry. We're responsible for the dispositions that we have and that we act upon, right? Cain couldn't say, Jealousy overcame me, made me kill Abel. God was warning him right here. If you kill Abel, it's because of your own sin. It's because of your own rebellion. Sin's crouching at the door." [10:55] (39 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


7. "Man's will results in man's character. What is your character but the sum of all of your actions? Is it not? Character actually means, in its original etymology, the original meaning of the word, to engrave or to inscribe. It's a word that was used with metal workers who would etch into metal and make ornitations, whether it's on a sword or whether it's on a piece of a jewelry. They would use an etching tool to etch and to permanently shape that metal. Right? Your character results from your will." [22:19] (46 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


8. "Conversely, as Christians who praise God, we've had our wills renewed in the image of God. God makes all things new. The more that you confirm yourself in righteousness, the more righteous acts that you do, guess what? The easier it is to commit future righteous acts, right? The easier it is to obey God in the future. You can become so righteous that when you sin, it's an aberration and not the norm. Amen?" [24:15] (33 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


9. "Man's will has become corrupted by sin. We're speaking of fallen man here. Fallen man's will has become corrupted by sin. His will is set against God. So his normal course of action is rebellion, right? Sinful humanity is against God. The bend to the sinful will is so constant and settled that man cannot reverse his moral state by a single act of the will. In other words, man can't make himself love God when he is hatred towards God. Remember? Man's will makes his character, right? And a person that's been willing rebellion against God, guess what that's going to make his character? A rebel, right?" [33:56] (60 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


10. "True freedom of the will is only restored in Christ. Indeed, our wills, fallen humanity's will, is degraded. It is both self-limited. It is also damaged goods, so to speak, by sin. But as damaged as it is, it can be renewed. When God renews you as an individual, He renews all of you. He takes away your sin. He renews your mind. He renews your heart. He renews your will. He empowers you to choose rightly. When we are in Christ, our wills are restored to where now we have the freedom to not sin." [49:17] (52 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)