For that which I do I know not: for not what I would, that do I practise; but what I hate, that I do.
But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good.
So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is not.
For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I practise.
But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.
I find then the law, that, to me who would do good, evil is present.
For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members.
O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me out of the body of this death?
I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then I of myself with the mind, indeed, serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit.
He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will the Father honor.
Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour. But for this cause came I unto this hour.
Father, glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice out of heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.
Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto His disciples, Sit ye here, while I go yonder and pray.
And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and sore troubled.
Then saith He unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: abide ye here, and watch with Me.
And He went forward a little, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt.
And He cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them sleeping, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with Me one hour?
Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Again a second time He went away, and prayed, saying, My Father, if this cannot pass away, except I drink it, Thy will be done.
And He came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
And He left them again, and went away, and prayed a third time, saying again the same words.
Then cometh He to the disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Arise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that betrayeth Me.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for gathering us together here this morning. We are thankful for Thy love, Thy grace, and Thy mercy upon us.
Even at this last hour, Lord, Thou art mindful of us. Thou wantest to speak to us; Thou wantest to bring us where Thou art.
We do bow now and worship Thee. We want to open our hearts to Thee, O Lord, and pray that Thy word will fall into good ground, that it may bear fruit unto Thy glory.
We ask this in Thy precious name. Amen.
Thank God for gathering us together again this morning. We have been considering this matter of how spiritual exercise affects our soul and our body.
We know that God’s purpose is to sanctify us wholly—not only our spirit, but also our soul and our body. We believe that He will perfect us. He is able to keep us and to save us to the uttermost.
Last week, we considered together how spiritual exercise affects the emotion of our soul. We know that emotion is the most active function of our soul. But our emotion is under the control of the old Adamic life. Instead of expressing Christ, our emotion expresses ourselves.
So our emotion needs to be purified and shaped. Thank God, it is through spiritual exercise that our emotion is being sanctified. Instead of expressing ourselves, Christ can be expressed through our emotion.
There is nothing wrong with being emotional. The problem is: who is being expressed? Whether we can love that which God loves, and hate that which God hates; or whether we just love what we love and hate what we hate. This is where the salvation of the emotion of our soul is needed.
We have also touched upon how our mind needs to be saved. We need to have the renewing of our mind. We need to have the mind of Christ. How can we arrive at that? We find in the word of God that it is also through spiritual exercise.
Now this morning, we would like to go into this matter of our will.
We know that, of all the functions and faculties of our soul, our emotion is the most active one, the mind is the most influential one, but our will is the principal, central part.
John Bunyan, in The Holy War, says that our mind is the battlefield, but our will is the citadel; it is the castle. The battle seems to be around our mind, but the object, the aim of the battle, actually is the will. Whoever has the will has won.
So this morning, by the grace of God, we would like to consider together this matter of the saving, or sanctifying, of our human will.
We thank God for giving us this gift of will. Our God is the supreme will in the universe. His will represents His dignity. His will proves His supremacy. He can do anything that He wills, and He does everything according to His good pleasure.
But thank God, when He created man, He created man in His own image. Because of that, He gave man a free will. God is a free person; He does whatever He wills. And now He gives man also a free will.
Will is a great gift of God. It represents the dignity of man. What is man if he has no will? He would be just a robot. But thank God that we were created human beings. We have a wonderful free will. That is part of the image of God. What would be if there were no choice?
After God created man, He put man in the garden of Eden. The garden of Eden is the garden of pleasure. God created all the fruit trees in the garden for the food of man.
In the midst of the garden, He put the tree of life. It represents God’s life. But beside the tree of life, He planted the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
We have already said that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil itself was not a bad tree at all. It was a far better tree than the other fruit trees. But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil—the better—is the enemy of the best.
God’s purpose was that man should take the tree of life, that he might be united with God in Christ Jesus, live by the life of Christ, and be conformed to the image of God’s beloved Son. That is the purpose of God. What a glorious purpose that is.
But if you do not want God’s life, and rather you want the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you want to develop your soul-life. You want to be God yourself. You declare independence from God. Then it means death.
Knowledge without life creates death. God gave our forefathers the choice. There were two ways of life before man. You may either depend upon God, live by God, and fulfil God’s purpose; or you can declare independence from God and live by your own wisdom and mind.
One way leads to eternal life, and the other will lead you to eternal death. But, unfortunately, our forefathers chose to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Because of that, their will fell into bondage.
God created man and gave him a free will. But after man fell, his will fell into the bondage of sin and death. Therefore, when we are born into this world, we do not have a free will. We have a will that has fallen—a will that is under bondage.
And you did He make alive, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins,
wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the powers of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience;
among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Brothers and sisters, we were children of wrath. Why? Because we were under the bondage of sin and death. We were under the rule of the authority of the air—that spirit, Satan. We were not free at all. We were in bondage. We had become enemies of God; we had become sinners. That was what we were.
But thank God, He came to save us. We had no way to deliver ourselves from such bondage. God alone is able to save us. So we do thank God that one day His salvation came to us.
Before that, I would like to mention another thing. You know, in Christianity there are two schools of opinion. One school says, “We have a free will. We can choose whatever we like.” Another school says, “Our will is in bondage. It is not by our will at all. Everything is according to God’s election.”
For two thousand years, among God’s people there have been these two different schools of opinion. The Arminians, the Methodists, and the Pentecostals generally believe in free will. The Baptists, the Reformed, and those in the Calvinist tradition believe in election.
The Reformer Martin Luther wrote a large book called The Bondage of the Will, because that was his experience. He tried to get saved. He wanted to be saved. He left his professorship and knocked at the door of an Augustinian monastery. He tried to ill-treat himself, almost unto death. He tried everything to get saved. Finally, he acknowledged the bondage of the will.
John Calvin believed in predestination. Everything is predestined. God has predestined everything—not your will, not your work, but by the election of God.
These two schools of opinion are opposite to one another. If you believe in free will, as the Methodists and Pentecostals do, you can will to be saved, and you can also become unsaved. The Baptists and the Reformed will say, “Once saved, forever saved.”
They have fought against each other, and they fight even until today. Now, brothers and sisters, which school do you belong to? Do you believe in free will, or do you believe in election? How are you going to reconcile these two schools?
People have tried to reconcile them, but that weakens both. Well, thank God, He works with two opposites. You do not need to weaken either one. God is able to work two opposites into one. How does He do it?
We believe that our will was in bondage. But thank God, His grace is able to penetrate that bound will and set it free.
Read Romans 9 and Romans 10. Romans 9 speaks of divine election. In Romans 9:11 it says, “that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of Him that calleth.”
We are only clay; God is the Potter. He has every right to make us whatever vessel He wants to make. That is His sovereign right. You cannot question it. It is divine election. He wants to show mercy to whom He shows mercy. It all depends upon God Himself.
But when you read Romans 10, it is all free will. In Romans 10:13, he says:
For, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Whoever you are, if you call on the name of the Lord, you are saved. That is free will.
Did Paul become absent-minded? In chapter 9 he spoke one thing, and in chapter 10 he spoke the opposite? I do not think so. Even if Paul were absent-minded, God is not absent-minded. God puts these two opposites before us. Humanly, it is impossible, but with God all things are possible, and He works these two things together.
The great evangelist D. L. Moody once had a meeting in which only atheists could come to hear him. The gathering was full of atheists and agnostics, and he preached the gospel with power.
When he finished, one atheist stood up. He was really moved, but he stood up and said, “I can’t.”
Moody said, “It is not that you say you can’t; it is that you won’t.”
He had another illustration which I think is very good. He said that when you come to the gate of salvation, you see written upon the gate, “Whosoever will.” Whoever wills may enter. You say, “Whosoever will—I am included.” So you enter in.
After you walk through the door of salvation, you turn around and see written on the back of the door, “You are the chosen of the Lord.”
That is the marvellous work of God. Somehow, such a bound will can be liberated by the grace of God.
Dear brothers and sisters, we who believe in the Lord Jesus—our will is no longer under the bondage of sin and death. Our will is liberated.
There was once a story from the early days of slavery in this country. In a place where slaves were being sold, a young girl was standing on the platform to be sold. Different people were bidding, and this little girl was weeping. She secretly lifted her eyes to see who these people were that were bidding for her. They were not very welcoming people, and she was in deep sorrow.
Suddenly, a gentleman came and paid the highest price. He bought this little girl. After he bought her, he asked people to come and break the chains.
Then he said to the little girl, “I bought you to set you free. You can go your way.” Then he turned around and left.
She waited for a while. Then she lifted her hands and ran toward the gentleman, saying, “I am willing to be your servant.”
This is exactly what God has done for us. He came to set us free. We have a free will. We can choose whom to serve.
But here is the problem. After we are liberated, our will is free; but remember, our will is weak. We have been under bondage for so long that it is not easy for us really to know how to live free.
We find that we are continually being bound by habits and by all kinds of things. This is what Romans 7 is about.
In Romans 7, you have a renewed mind and a liberated, or emancipated, will, because you can will to do good. Formerly, you could not even will to do good, because you did not know what good was. But now your mind is enlightened, and your will has been set free.
So you can say, “I will to do God’s will.” According to my inward man, I love the law of God. In my soul, in my will, I will to do it. But I find a problem: the will is in me, but the doing is not in me.
Somehow, you find that the old master is still trying to reclaim you. Because you have been under his rule for so long, somehow you find that you cannot resist him. There you find within you what we call a civil war.
The will is in me, but to do is not in me. I do what I do not want to do, but I cannot do what I will to do. It is a weak will under struggle. Brothers and sisters, I believe we all have such an experience.
The question is: how can our will be strengthened? How can this liberated will of ours be sanctified, so that we may not only will it, but also have the power to do it?
Now, brothers and sisters, this is where spiritual exercise comes in. You cannot deal with the will itself. You have to deal with your will through spiritual exercise.
It is what God is working in your spirit that will strengthen and affect your weak will.
You remember Hebrews 4:12:
For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The word of God is living. It is operative. We often say that the Bible is the word of God, and that is very true. It is the Logos. It is the word of God. It is true. It is eternal.
But unless this Logos becomes Rhema—that is to say, what God has said before is being said directly to you—then it becomes living and operative.
That is why we have to read the Bible. We need to be familiar with what God has said. But you can read the Bible a hundred times and find that some of what is said there is not operative in your life.
But thank God, as we are reading the Bible, sometimes the Holy Spirit begins to illuminate the Bible. According to your need at that hour, He will suddenly make a verse jump out. It becomes living to you. When that word becomes a living word, it operates; it works.
I believe we all have experienced something like this, more or less. There is an almost classic example in the experience of Watchman Nee.
After he was saved, Watchman Nee found that he was struggling over the matter of overcoming sin. When he read Romans 6, he found that our old man was crucified with Christ. All we need is to reckon ourselves dead unto sin and alive unto God.
It seemed very easy. So he began to reckon himself: “Christ has already carried our old man to the cross. When He died, we died. Therefore, I can reckon myself dead unto sin. I reckon myself alive unto God.”
Very simple. But the more he reckoned, the more he found that his own life was very active in everything. Do you have such an experience? I believe you do.
Is the word of God not true? Is the work of Christ not finished? Of course it is. But why does it not work? Because it is the word, but not the living word. It is Logos, but it has to become Rhema to you.
The Holy Spirit will make the word living. He opens up your understanding, and suddenly you see the secret of it.
One day, while Watchman Nee was reading Romans, he knew these words well. But when he read them, suddenly a light came to him: “You were dead with Christ because you were in Christ.”
When he saw that, he rushed downstairs and found a brother there. He laid hold of the brother and said, “Do you know I am dead?” Why, that frightened the brother! He did not understand.
But, brothers and sisters, this is the living and operative word. When the word of God comes to you, it discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. It not only makes your darkened understanding into light, but it also reveals the intent—the will—of your heart, and brings you into the reality of Christ.
When the Spirit of God begins working in your life, and your weak will is struggling, He uses two things to strengthen you, to deliver you, and to sanctify you. Both are related to spiritual exercise.
We have already said that when the Holy Spirit enlightens your intuition, it is as you commune with God. The Holy Spirit enlightens your intuition, and then He brings it into life.
But at the same time, you find that He arranges your environment. We call it the discipline of the Holy Spirit. He uses your environment to fit in with His revelation.
In other words, the work of the Holy Spirit is twofold: one is inside, and one is outside. The inside is the revelation of the Holy Spirit, which breaks into your intuition. The outside is the discipline of the Holy Spirit, or what we may call the dealings of the Holy Spirit.
He uses all kinds of environments in which we live to deal with us. He uses all these things to break that self-life in our soul, and He uses this to bring us into sanctification.
You remember when Saul was on the road to Damascus. He was a person in total darkness. He was not only intellectual, but also a strong-willed person. He had a leadership character.
He was persecuting the believers in Christ. He thought he was doing God a great service. While he was on the road to Damascus, suddenly a light brighter than the noonday sun shone upon him, and he fell on his face.
The Lord said, “It is hard for thee to kick against the goads.” It was a gentle, sympathetic, sorrowful voice. The Lord was saying, “You are hurting yourself. You do not know what you are doing. You are like a wild ox kicking against a goad.”
In the old days, when a farmer ploughed, he did not have a tractor. He used a horse, mule, or ox. With one hand he held the plough, and in the other hand he held an instrument called a goad. He guided the animal as it ploughed in the field.
But these animals have their own mind; they have their own will too. When they see something around them, they tend to turn aside. The farmer uses the goad to touch the leg. He does not want to hurt the animal, but only to remind it that it has a master and that it is doing its master’s work.
The animal must be obedient, but the animal is wild, so it kicks back. When it kicks back, it hurts. After many hurts, it learns.
What does it mean? The Lord was telling Saul, “You are not free. You have a Master. You were born into this world to do God’s work. He is your Master, but you do not know it. You think you are your own master, doing your own thing, but you are really doing God a disservice.”
The Lord had reminded Saul many times with the touch of the goad, but he kicked back. When Stephen was dying, he had the face of an angel. He saw heaven opened and the Son of man standing at the throne. He prayed, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge.”
Saul, a Pharisee, must have been touched. But he increased his persecution. He went into houses, taking men, women, and children. Did not his conscience bother him? Yet he doubled his effort. He was kicking against the goads. How long would he continue? He was killing himself.
Then the Pharisee’s stubborn will was broken. He said, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? I surrender myself. I am no longer my own master. Thou art my Master. I will to do Thy will.”
Dear brothers and sisters, that is Paul’s experience.
Oftentimes, we find that the old life in our soul is like a wild animal. It has to be broken. Even in this world, a child’s will has to be broken.
How do you break a child’s will? Every child has his own will, and he insists upon doing his own thing. So parents try to discipline. In Hebrews, chastening means child-training. What does child-training mean? It means the child’s will needs to be broken, that he may will your will.
How much more necessary is this in the spiritual realm? Brothers and sisters, we all have a will, and our will may be as strong as a stubborn animal. There is nothing wrong with the will. God does not want a will-less man or woman; that would be a useless person.
But who is behind your will? Our flesh is trying to regain its control. It has to be broken. This breaking is through spiritual exercise.
Matthew 11:29 says:
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Here you find our Lord Jesus. When our Lord became flesh, He had a human body just as we have. He had a soul just as we have. He had His own mind, His own will, and His own emotion.
But when you look at our Lord Jesus, you find that His mind, His emotion, and His will were all under God the Father’s control. This was especially expressed when He came to the garden of Gethsemane.
There you find how He was sorrowful even unto death, and there you find that He had His own will. It was the greatest testing of His whole will.
Throughout His life, He denied His own will. That was His life. You remember in John 12, when even the Greeks wanted to see Him. It seemed as if the whole world was after Him. In the sight of the world, that was His glorious time.
Our Lord said, “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.” But what did He mean? He said:
Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit.
He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
In Gethsemane, He prayed, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from Me.” But He also said, “For this cause came I unto this hour.” In other words, you find the severe struggle of His will in relation to God’s will.
No wonder that He who knew no sin was to be made sin for the world. He could not stand it. He was struggling. He had His own will.
It continued in the garden. He prayed, “If it is possible, remove it. But not My will, but Thy will be done.” His was a fully surrendered will. Then He went to the cross.
Brothers and sisters, here you find our Lord Jesus. He wants us to be yoked with Him. We are like unbroken people, and we need to be yoked with our Lord Jesus and learn from Him, that we may find rest in our soul.
It is through spiritual exercise, through what is going on in our spirit, that we experience the living and operative word of God. When the Holy Spirit arranges our circumstances, we begin to learn how to be broken, that we may surrender our will to God and take His will as our will. Then our will is sanctified.
There is a famous prayer associated with Henry Varley. He was already a well-known pastor in Edinburgh. One day, one of the Cambridge Seven, before he went to China as a missionary, visited different churches to preach.
Early in the morning, Henry Varley saw a light in the visitor’s room. He was a little worried and wondered whether something had happened to C. T. Studd. It was very early, so he waited. But the light was still there, and he could not restrain himself. He went and knocked at the door.
C. T. Studd was there reading the word of God. He said, “I love the Lord. I was searching the Scriptures for His commands.”
Henry Varley said, “We search for His promises.” C. T. Studd said, “You have something I do not have. How can I have what you have?”
He asked, “Have you gone over everything in your life and handed it over to Christ? Have you done that?”
So Henry Varley tried to do it. He began to pray, and he handed over to the Lord everything in his life. He said that the Lord was standing before him. He handed over to the Lord a bundle of keys—the keys to every room of his life.
But the Lord said, “If I am not Lord of all, I am not Lord at all.” Henry Varley argued with the Lord: “This is just a little room. I love You, and I will do whatever You want, but not this room.”
In his desperation, he cried out the famous prayer: “Make me willing to be willing.”
“I am not willing, but Thou canst make me willing.” After he prayed that prayer, the Lord turned back and took all the keys away. In time, He cleared everything.
No wonder God used Henry Varley so greatly.
Andrew Murray has a book, The Message of Andrew Murray, in which there is a story about Margaret E. Barber. Miss Barber had a very strong will. Once, when God had a will concerning her, she was struggling with God.
But while she was struggling, she prayed, “Lord, do not give up. Wait. I will turn around.” And the Lord waited.
Brothers and sisters, our will needs to be broken. By broken, it does not mean that you lose your will. It means that you are free from the bondage of the old man, and your will is fully surrendered to God.
That is a sanctified will: to be one will with God. The highest union with Christ is the union of will.
I am thinking of Psalm 131. I think that describes a sanctified will.
Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty;
neither do I exercise myself in great matters,
or in things too wonderful for me.
Surely I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with his mother,
my soul within me is like a weaned child.
Now this is a sanctified soul. What is the difference between a stubborn will and a sanctified will?
You find many of God’s saints who love the Lord so much that they may seem very stubborn. What is the difference between a stubborn will and a sanctified will?
The difference is: who is behind it? If it is yourself, it is a stubborn will, and it needs to be broken. If it is Christ, it is a sanctified will.
What kind of will do we have? God’s salvation is there. Are you willing to go through it? May the Lord help us.
Dear Lord, we do want to thank Thee because Thou wantest to lead us into the fullness of Thy will.
We pray, Lord, that Thou wouldst really break the old life in our will and sanctify our will, that we may have one will with Thee.
Even though it is impossible with men, Thy grace is sufficient for us. We cast ourselves upon Thee. We are willing.