Psalms 81:11 - Homilies By R. Tuck

The sin of self-will.

Observe that the sin of which complaint is here made is not that Israel did not hearken, but that Israel would not hearken. God goes in behind the acts of disobedience, and is concerned with the spirit of wilfulness which found expression in the acts. The judgment of God upon them brings to view the special feature of their sin. "So I gave them up to the obduracy of their heart, that they should walk in their own counsels" ( Psalms 81:12 ).

I. SELF - WILL AS THE SIN INTO WHICH MEN FELL . Self-will is the perverted use of free will. Free will could be self-will if man were an independent creature. Free will must not be self-will, because man is a dependent creature. Free will became self-will, because man allowed himself to be guided by what seemed "pleasant to the eyes and good for food," rather than by what he knew to be the will of him on whom he depended. Serving himself is the essence of sin for one who has been made dependent—in every way dependent upon God. What we have to counteract is the delusion that man is an independent being, and therefore may "follow the devices and desires of his own heart." Illustrate from Daniel 5:28 .

II. SELF - WILL AS THE SIN FROM WHICH MEN ARE DELIVERED . There are penalties into which men have brought themselves by their self will, and from these they need to be delivered. But it would be no effective redemption that dealt only with penalties. Deliverance from self-willedness, in a dependent creature, can only be effected by making him on whom he depends so infinitely attractive that he wins full trust and obedience. And this is accomplished by God's manifestation of himself to men in the Person, life, and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

III. SELF - WILL AS THE SIN INTO WHICH THE REDEEMED ARE IN DANGER OF FALLING BACK . Illustrate from the Israelites, as redeemed unto the service of Jehovah, from Egypt. Bring out