The Bondage of Our Affections
One of the interesting things I am finding about stopping drunks who are 20 to 30 years younger than I am is that even though drunk they can sometimes perform the field sobriety tests better than I can. But—when they bring that fact up after the handcuffs are on them and they are on their way to jail for DWI—I simply tell them—“I’m not the standard—the tests were and since you failed the tests as well as the breath test you are going to jail regardless of how much better you can keep your balance while drunk than I can while sober!” All that to say that we are good only in comparison to each other but not when our lives are compared to God Who is the Ultimate Standard of what is good.
One of the most important truths to hold up in the world is that all human beings, even though created in God's image, are corrupted by the power of sin. We are not morally good by nature. We are morally bad by nature. In Ephesians 2:3, Paul says we are all "by nature children of wrath." The attitudes and thoughts and actions that deserve the wrath of God are part and parcel of us and belong to us by nature. In Colossians 3:6, we are called "sons of disobedience." We are so disposed to disobedience against God that it is as though "disobedience" is our father. We are chips of the old block of disobedience. We don't just do sins, we are sinful. Which is why Romans 3:9 makes the point that we are all "under sin" as verse Sin is like a master or a king, and reigns over us and in us. Not that it coerces us to do what we don't want to do, but makes us want to do what we ought not to do. We are not innocent victims of sin. We are co-conspirators with sin against God.
So—be careful of falling prey to the politically correct but biblically incorrect philosophy of child-training that says: “Don’t tell your children they are bad—just tell them they do bad or somewhat less than good things.” The Bible says that “there is no one righteous—no not one” in Romans 3:10 and that includes not only us but our children and grandchildren as well. And if you disagree—let me ask you how you will answer the question, “why do I need to be saved from the wrath of God and the flames of hell if I am not a bad person?”, that your unsaved and unbelieving teen asks you when you are desperately trying to win them to Christ out a life of sinfulness. Now I realize, this is not a popular message. But it is a biblical message.
And if this message about our sinful condition before we were saved was not enough—it gets even worse. Not only were we by nature—sinners—who were so morally evil in comparison to God and His righteousness that He considered us to be “by nature—children of wrath” who lived like the devil as the “sons of disobedience”—there was absolutely nothing we wanted to change about any of this. You see, in our sinful, unsaved, unbelieving, and unregenerate condition none of us had a desire for God that would be greater than our desire for sin. And the reason for this is because the essence of our corruption in sin as those who have fallen from our first estate an original condition as seen in Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is always best seen in our affections and our desires. In fact, when giving a description of man after the Fall and just before the flood—God says in Genesis 6:5 that “the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” The Hebrew word for “thoughts” in the phrase “thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” is used to denote a person’s plans and intentions made in accordance with what they desire to do or desire not to do. In other words, when God describes the condition of fallen man—the first and most important thing He highlights is that fallen man has been corrupted in his desires and affections.
And of course this only makes sense doesn’t it. Because—we will only pursue that which we desire to pursue. And we will only pursue with passion—whether it be sin or God—what or whom we passionately desire. And the fact of the matter is that to not pursue God and love God with all our heart, mind, and soul is sin—so that by default when a person is not pursuing God or seeking God with passion, that is, with all of his heart, mind, and soul, he is pursuing sin. But the problem we had as unbelievers and the problem unbelievers have right now is that in our corrupted and unsaved condition—we simply do not desire God and thus will not seek Him or pursue Him.
This is exactly what the Bible says. As Paul puts it in Romans 3:11B, none of us who were in that position and we all were before we were saved—even had an interest in God so as to seek Him. Look at what the verse says.
“There is none who seeks for God.”
Now again, Paul is answering his question that he asked up in verse 9. Were we who are now Christ’s followers any better than those who have not become Christ’s followers? In other words, was there something in us and intrinsic to us and about us that made us come to Christ whereas the unbeliever would not come to Christ? Now Paul has already told us that none of us who believed in Christ and thus are now saved were more righteous than those who have not believed in Christ (10). He has also told us that we who now enjoy a relationship with Christ were not more understanding or more spiritually sensitive to the Lord than those who have not trusted in Christ (11A).
And now, in the second part of verse 11, Paul raises the issue of “seeking God”. Could it be, that we who have come to know and enjoy a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ were actually “seeking” that very thing by “seeking” God whereas those who are not in this blessed condition were not and have not been “seeking” God? But before—you can even think about it for a moment—Paul emphatically states “No”. There is no one in their unsaved, unredeemed, unconverted, and unregenerated state who seeks for God--absolutely NO ONE!
You see, sin has produced in every human being a revolting repulsion toward God that resists God and rebels against God. And this repulsion toward God has resulted in a darkened mind that is "under sin" and which, does not know God, understand God, obey God, fear God, honor God, glorify God, love God, or as we will see today—even desire God.
Now the Greek phrase in Romans 3:11b literally is rendered: NOT is the person who is seeking God. The placing of the Greek word for “not” at the beginning of the phrase means that Paul wanted his readers to see that word in the most emphatic of positions so that the reader would not miss the point and think that there could be some people who do seek for God. In essence, Paul is emphatically stating “NOT” to that possibility. The point he is making is that there simply was no one among us who are saved today who were in and of ourselves seeking God and thus that was the reason why He saved us.
Absolutely no one who is saved and in a right relationship with God right now is in such a condition because they were in and of themselves apart from the work of God’s grace in their lives seeking God while other unbelievers were not. And in answering his question by stating that “there is none who are seeking God”, Paul is actually making the point that apart from God initiating a saving work in you—you never would have sought Him. And in fact, apart from God’s grace in salvation and left to your original sinful nature there was nothing in you that was intrinsic to your nature as a human being that desired God so as to seek Him.
Therefore, you did not get saved nor did anyone get saved because you desired God whereas those who were not saved did not desire God. The word that Paul uses for “seek” is ekzeteo It is a compound word made up of “ek”, which means “out” and “zeteo”, which means to seek and search actively, diligently, earnestly, sincerely, passionately, and with all one’s heart for. When you put the two words together, the compound word means “to seek and search God out with all your heart—actively, diligently, earnestly, sincerely, and passionately. In our vernacular, we would say that there is no one who, before they were saved, were seeking and searching to find God with all of their heart—actively, diligently, earnestly, sincerely, and passionately pursuing Him as though He were the greatest treasure and pleasure in life.
So you see—those who have been saved and redeemed by Christ were not saved and redeemed because they were pursuing God while others were not. And again, the reason why no one pursues God in their original, natural, sinful condition as human beings is because they don’t want to. They simply have no desire to. And that is exactly where you and I were in our unsaved and natural condition as unbelievers—we did not seek God because we did not want Him. There was nothing in Him and about Him that attracted us to Him because our affections and desires for that which is truly and absolutely good had been corrupted. Not only that—the unbeliever does not seek God for the simple reason that he does not want to seek God because he is hostile to God and alienated from God and in fact more desirous of seeking sin than he is God. Remember our depravity is always best seen in Who we don’t desire—God and what we do desire instead—Sin.
Now it is not that man’s will cannot seek God—because it can and it will do so when God changes the unbeliever’s desires by giving him a new heart that actually desires God rather than hates God. You see, we who believe the doctrines of grace and hold forth the doctrine of total or radical depravity of man sometimes are not as precise in our understanding of the “will” of man as we should be and could be. We often, myself included, make blanket statements claiming that the will of man is completely bound and unable to seek God or choose God. But are we correct? Is our will bound to the point that we cannot seek God as unbelievers or is the will simply pursuing the affections and desires of the unbeliever’s mind—which is the seat of his intellect and emotions—which in its fallen and unregenerate state has no desire or inclination for God?
Jonathan Edwards was probably the first theologian to define the “will” in his discourse entitled, “A Careful & Strict Inquiry Into The Prevailing Notions of the Freedom of the Will”. After examining the issue from a thoroughly biblical perspective Edwards came to the conclusion that the “will of man” is simply the means by which a person’s mind pursues a certain course of action or decision rather than the cause of pursuing that decision and subsequent action. Thus, he concluded that whereas, the will of man is never totally free in the sense that man is able to thwart God’s sovereign will—the will of man is free to pursue and seek and choose whatever it is that the mind of man desires. And since the mind of man which is often characterized biblically as the heart of man is the seat of his intellect and emotions—the will simply is neutral and always pursues whatever decision or course of action the mind has intellectually and emotionally determined is best and most satisfying. And thus, the real issue in the depravity of man is not that he cannot come to God—the real issue is that he does not want to come to God and will not come to God apart from being given a new heart that desires God.
One way of illustrating this is to consider the lion. If a lion is hungry he while certainly having the ability to eat grass and leaves will not for the simple reason that he does not want to. You see, he is a meat-eater by nature and thus his inclination will always be disposed to eating meat and passing up grass even though he has the ability to eat grass if he wanted to. Unregenerate sinners certainly have the ability to come to God and pray to Him asking Him to forgive and save them if they so desire—but the fact is they don’t. They don’t desire to come to God and be forgiven by Him and enter into a relationship with Him because they have no inclination to because their nature is opposed to God. Thus, because their minds have no desire for God they will not come to Him.
Look at Matthew 23:37.
Note the reason why the Jews would not come to Christ—it was because they “were unwilling” to do so (NASV). The KJV renders it that they “would not” come. And the NIV pus it, but they “were unwilling”.
Now the interesting thing about the word that Jesus uses here is that it is the Greek word athelasate, which simply means “no desire or inclination or disposition to choose and pursue a certain decision or course of action. Its root word is thelo, which means to desire or want to do something so as to actually do it. The root word is actually used twice in this verse. In Jesus’ remark that he had often “wanted” to gather the Jews to Himself—the word “wanted” is the same word thelo that when joined with the negative prefix “a” is translated as “unwilling” at the end of the verse.
You see, the problem was not so much that the people could not come to Jesus—the problem was that they were unwilling to because they did not want to.
The word thelo first appears in the New Testament in Matthew 1:19 and is translated as “wanting”. In Matthew 2:18 it is translated as “refused”. Thus, the word thelo can mean to do something or not do something depending upon what you want or do not want to do.
In 1 Corinthians 4:21, Paul uses the word when he writes: “What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod or with love and a spirit of gentleness?
It is used again in 1 Corinthians 7:36 of a father allowing his daughter to marry if he so wishes. It is also used in verse 39 of a widow remarrying to whomever she wishes as long as the groom to be is a Christian.
In 1 Corinthians 12:18, Paul uses the word to sat that God has placed each of us with our various spiritual gifts in His Body the Church “just as He desired.”
In 2 Timothy 3:12, Paul uses the word when he says: “Indeed all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”
It is used again in John 5:6 when Jesus asks the man who had been ill for 38 years if he “wished” to get well.
And then in the very last chapter of the Bible, John writes in Revelation 22:17 “. . . And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.”
Now this was just a sampling of the few hundred times the word “thelo” is used in the New Testament to denote a person pursuing a course of action that he wants to pursue. And with all this in mind, now look at John 5:39-40, where Jesus makes the point that those who did not come to Him did not want to. He uses the same word thelo.
Tying this all back to Romans 3:11b, people only seek and pursue with passion and purpose what or whom they desire and want to pursue. Thus, if people do not pursue God it is because they do not have a passion for God. If unbelievers do not seek God as their greatest treasure and pleasure in life it is because He is not their greatest treasure and pleasure in life. Unbelievers don’t seek God because unbelievers don’t want God. The unbelieving sinner will not come to Christ—for the simple reason that he does not want to—and thus this is the reason why he cannot come unless the Father, as Jesus said in John 6:44, draws him.
Listen, whoever wants to come to Christ for salvation can come! It is absolutely and unequivocally true that whosoever desires to come to Christ may come. The problem is that apart from God giving a person a new heart that desires Him—no one will want to come to God because they are too in love with their pride, their sin, their independence, their self-righteousness, their self-reliance, their personal ambitions, their sense of self-autonomy, and their distaste for the God of the Bible.
You see, it is not our wills that are bound—it is our affections—what we desire—that is truly bound. Its not that we can’t choose God so we won’t—it is that we won’t choose God so we can’t!
This bondage of our affections as unbelievers is what makes our guilt before God not only worse but real. Jonathan Edwards insisted if the will of man was bound so that he had no ability to come to Christ—our guilt for not doing so would be minimal and even understandable to a degree. You see, the fact that we may come and can come to God is what makes our refusal to seek God and come to Him so unreasonable and really incomprehensible. The fact that we can choose God over sin and that we can pursue Him as our most valuable treasure rather than pursuing a life of living out of a sin-laden dumpster is what makes our guilt so great and inexcusable.
You see, the will of man is free to choose what the desires and the affections of the man deem most enjoyable and most valuable. And when the unbeliever continues to pursue sin rather than God it is because his will is simply choosing what his affections desire the most. He is simply living out Psalm 14:1-3 from which Paul took this thought that the unbeliever does not seek God. Since the unsaved person has only hostility in his heart for God, he is unable to submit himself to God’s law according to Romans 8:7. The fact that he feels only hostility toward God so as not to desire God leads his will to choose against God and God’s Law at every turn.
Now, if this is the condition of every unbeliever as a result of the Fall of man back in the Garden of Eden then how is it that anyone ever gets saved? I mean—obviously when you came to Christ for salvation—it was because you all of a sudden had a desire for God and for being in a relationship with God that you did not have before. All of a sudden, you desired to seek God whereas before you didn’t. What happened to produce such a change of affections and desire? God regenerated you and renewed you in the sense that He gave you a new heart that could and in fact would now desire Him—look at Titus 3:5. And then, He ripped the blinders off your eyes and turned the lights of your mind back on so that you could see the irresistible glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and when you finally were able to see Christ for the first time with this brand new regenerated heart—you ran to Him for salvation (2 Corinthians 4:3-6).
CONCLUSION
Paul’s point, which he continues to drive home here in Romans 3, is that as unbelievers we were desperately lost and without hope but that God in His great mercy and grace reached down to people like us who hated Him and had no desire for Him and were not seeking Him in any way, shape, or form and gave us a desire for Him and then opened our eyes that we might see Him so as to find Him irresistible and exactly what our hearts had been craving for all the time.
You and I were no better than the person who chose not to become a Christian. We were just as lost as they were and just as caught up in our love for our sin as they were. The difference—the only difference between us was and always will be the grace of God. And this morning if you are here and you know that you are lost in your sins and living life apart from God and have never ever wanted anything to do with Him before—But now all of a sudden you sense a change in your heart of hearts and you desire to seek Him and to know Him and to love Him and to embrace His Son the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior then you must simply turn to Him right now in the privacy of your own heart and give your life to Him.
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