Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Matthew chapter 7, and reading
for our text, verse 21. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Matthew 7 and verse 21. And it is specifically, upon
my spirit, the latter part is doing the will of our Father
which is in heaven, which is so vital if we are to enter into
heaven. And I want perhaps first to speak
to the children this morning, you children. Our text is speaking
of doing a father's will. Now I'm sure that you would remember
the stories of Joseph and the story of David and Goliath. Now both of those stories begin
with Joseph in one case and David in another, doing what their
fathers asked them to do. Both of them, Joseph was asked
by his father to go and take food to his brothers, and he
obeyed and did that. And from that, Joseph came into
Egypt, and all of his brothers were saved and his father from
the famine that later was to come. And Joseph was brought
to be next to Pharaoh in Egypt. All of that happened because
Joseph obeyed his father. His father didn't say to Joseph,
go and bring food to your brothers because what shall follow that,
you will be next to Pharaoh and you will save us all alive. All
Joseph knew that he was doing what his father told him to do.
We need to remember that. The simple obedience to your
father and to all of us, to our father which is in heaven, how
much relies on that. And you think of David when Goliath
was fighting Israel, that David as well was told by his father
to go and bring things to his brothers and see how they did. His father didn't say to him,
Goliath is there, I send you to fight him and to be shown
before all Israel that you are going to be the next king. All
he did was to send him to his brothers and he obeyed and all
that followed on afterwards came from that obedience. Now, Lord
Jesus Christ is the greatest example of obeying His Father,
coming from heaven to this earth, being a man, taking a body like
ours, and to living on this earth for those 33 years, and then
suffering the death of the cross. When He was 12 years of age,
and those of you here are not yet that old, Then he was in
the temple and he was listening to the teachers there and being
taught, speaking to them the things of God. And when his parents,
Joseph and Mary, went to find him, he said, "'Wist ye not that
I must be about my father's business?' He was doing his father's will,
his father's business. And this is the message this
morning. This is so important for all
of God's children to do their Father's will, to obey Him. And it begins in the smallest
things. It begins in obedience. Obedience to our parents and
to those over us. And so that is the message here
this morning. What we are speaking is relation
to the will of the Father, but I want to confine it now to very
specific relation to his will. So it's not submission to what
God brings into our lives. With Joseph, going back to Joseph,
with him, God brought all of those things into his life that
happened. Joseph had not to decide that
he was going to go down into Egypt, decide what he was going
to do. It was taken out of his hands,
but he was able to say later on to his brothers, it was not
you that sent me hither, but God. And so I'm not talking this
morning about God's will that is done in our lives, things
that come, whether illness or things that happen, and we need
to be submissive, bow before what God has done. Like in the
book of Job, Job said after God permitted Satan to take all those
things away from him, then he said, the Lord gave and the Lord
had taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. It is not that submission to
the will of God that I want to speak about this morning. It
is not even knowing the purpose of God or what God is intending
to do because we have in John chapter 6 and verse 40 The Lord
saying, this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone that
which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life,
and I will raise Him up at the last day. So we are told what
the will of the Father is there, but it is what is being brought
about by God, by His work. in sinners' hearts, in his people's
hearts. But it is knowing the will of
God in what we are actively to do, what we are called to do
through the Word of God. The Word of God speaks to us,
not just to hear it and say, well, that is interesting, but
there's nothing that we go away and do. Our Lord is teaching
here that we are to be doers of the Word. The whole parable
of the one that built his house on the rock, or built his house
on the sand, was the difference between someone hearing the Word
of God and doing it, that's like building on the rock, or hearing
it and not doing it, and that is like one that built his house
on the sand. So it is that context, that thought,
that we speak this morning. Now I know that the context here,
what surrounds the text, is especially speaking about false prophets
or false ministers. Those that, like in verse 15,
the Lord warns, He says, beware of false prophets and He says
in verse 20, therefore by their fruits ye shall know them. What
the fruits of these false prophets are, you shall know that they
are false prophets. Also, we have it as well in verse
22, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? So these are people that are
actually saying they have spoken in the name of the Lord, they've
cast out devils in the name of the Lord, they've done many wonderful
works in the name of the Lord, but the Lord says, I never knew
you. So the immediate context is of
those that preach the word, and it's a real warning to us. Everyone
that speaks in the name of the Lord that we actually have the
saving faith of God in our own hearts and that it does affect
our lives. We are obedient ourselves. It's a very easy thing to mask
or cover over having a real faith in our own heart by outward works,
outward doing things. In the beginning of this chapter
it speaks about those that are judging others and not judging
themselves. It's easy to condemn other people. It's easy to see faults in other
people than to see it in our own. While we are telling other
people how they should live, we can be not living that actually
ourselves. And so this is the real warning
that is here. And it's not as if it is just
a few cases, that it's just some people will be like this. It
says in verse 22, many, many will say to me in that day, many. That's a very frightening thing. I think that there shall be many,
many people who have actually been religious people, speaking
to others, and yet when it comes to that Last Judgment Day, the
Lord will say He never knew them. And one of the secrets of it
is in verse 23, where He says, Depart from ye, me, ye that work
iniquity. They had never been turned away
from in sin and evil. And the whole
point of the Gospel is that we be saved from our sins. The name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, He shall save His people from their
sins. And if sin is still having the
mastery and complete dominion over us, then we need to be very,
very concerned regarding a verse like this. All of God's children
are plagued and troubled with sin, they have sin of their own
heart. But if we can just live a life,
a religious life, and take no notice of our own heart, how
we're living, what we're doing, then this is the character here
that is spoken against. So the word is, he that doeth
the will of my Father which is in heaven." So, the solemn reality,
not everyone that is saying with their mouth that the Lord is
God, Lord, Lord, not everyone that is saying that they are
a Christian are actually a Christian. And those that will enter heaven,
we are told here, are they that do the will of our Lord's Father
which is in heaven. So the things that we need to
look at this morning with the help of the Lord is firstly the
will of the Father that is done by those who enter or shall enter
into heaven. Then I want to look secondly
at the will of the Father in Providence. It is another aspect
of actually doing the will of the Father. And then thirdly,
the assurance we may have in doing His will. It is a sure
evidence and a sure mark of being one of His children. will of the Father done by those
who shall enter into heaven. I've already highlighted the
context here. An outward profession, which
is one thing, but then there is iniquity, there's evil that
is in the heart. So the will of the Father, it
affects the whole of that person. In effect, all their life will
answer to what they actually say. Now, the Lord applied this
word in verse 24. Our text is in verse 21, and
then after the Lord has spoken the words that follow our text,
He says in verse 24, therefore, so He's joining what has gone
before. Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine and doeth them." And so, the will of the
Father is actually what the Son is speaking, or the whole Word
of God, hearing the Word of God and doing that Word. And this
is, by our Lord, set forth right after the text. So we don't want
to lose sight of this, hearing the words of the Lord and doing
them. It is being obedient unto the
gospel. It is renouncing all other ways
of salvation than the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 6, where many
went away from the Lord because they couldn't receive his words
they said this isn't hard saying now lord had been teaching them
he'd been giving their words and they went away and the lord
said to the apostles will you also go away and peter said to
whom can we go thou has the words of eternal life and we are sure
that thou art the christ the son of the Living God. And really there was a renouncing
of every other way of salvation. There was no other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. And we need to be very,
very clear of this. Some people may be troubled and
they say, well, what about nations or perhaps tribes in the jungle
that have never heard of the Lord Jesus Christ? Is there no
hope for them? Can they not be saved? And we
need to remember that all of mankind are sinners. We have all sinned. We are all
under the sentence of death. God does not owe it to any to
save any at all. The sentence was, in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. And the fact
that He has made a way of escape, made a way to be saved, and that
through His Son and the sufferings of His Son is a great mercy and
a great grace. There is no other way of being
saved but through the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why we need to
send the Word out into all nations. That is why there needs to be
missions. That is why the Word must be
proclaimed. But it is of the Lord's sovereignty
that He has chosen those to salvation. They shall hear the word of God. They shall believe. They shall
obey the gospel. And they shall know that there
is only one name given among men whereby we must be saved. It is a fashionable thing. It
is the most solemn thing. It has even been said through
surveys in America, even of evangelicals, that they allow that others can
be saved in some other way, some other faith, some other religion.
Such is the deceit of teachers even that profess the name of
our Lord. And we must be very, very clear
that in obedience to the Father's will, that all that the Lord
testifies that if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall perish
in your sins. Those that turn away from the
Lord, there is no other way of escape, there is no other way
of entrance into heaven but through the Lord Jesus Christ. So in the very first place, that
is a vital aspect of the will of the Father which is in heaven. He hath highly exalted his Son,
he has given him a name which is above every name, that at
the name of Jesus every knee should bow. It is being obedient
to the Gospel in the aspect of justification by faith in Christ
alone. That is, the only way that we
can be accounted free from condemnation is by believing that Christ Jesus
has taken our sins and bore our sins in His body on the tree. He has paid our debt, He has
suffered in our place, and He has ascended up into heaven,
and that it is in that way that we are justified. It is the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's Son, that cleanseth from all sin. There
is no other way of sin being put away, and without the shedding
of blood there is no remission. And that again is the Father's
will, that all that come to heaven, they are brought to that true
faith and true trust, resting in Christ alone. So, not in their
own works, not in their obedience, not in anything that they have
done, but firstly in what Christ has done. Another aspect of that
vital obedience is that where A soul is justified by faith
where they are resting in Christ alone. Joined with that will
be sanctification. Set apart for a holy use. Their lives will be different. Their lives will be changed.
Come ye out from among them. Touch not the unclean thing and
I will receive you. You shall be my sons and my daughters,
saith the Lord Almighty. They are washed with the washing
of water by the word. They are made ready for heaven. We sang in our first hymn, prepare
me, gracious God, to stand before thy face. Thy spirit must the
work perform, for it is all of grace. That preparation is vital. Those that truly believe, it
shall be reflected in their lives, how they live, what they say,
what they do. They will be new creatures in
Christ Jesus, and that is the will of the Father. It is the obedience of faith. Now it's very interesting that
the Apostle Paul, in writing to the Romans, he is very clear
there is justification by faith in Christ alone, not at works,
lest any man should boast. And yet, in his epistle to the
Romans, he is very clear of the works or obedience of faith. And so we have in chapter 1 of
Romans, he says, by whom, that is through the Son of God, we
have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith, all
nations for his name. So it's our obedience to the
faith of God, to the faith of Jesus Christ. Then we have in
the 15th chapter of Romans, and in verse 18, for he says, I dare
not to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not
wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient by word and deed." The
Apostle is very clear, his object, his aim is that the Gentiles,
those that are not of the Jews, that they would be obedient by
word and deed. He uses the word of God He uses
his own example as one that is converted, with the end to make
the Gentiles obedient to the faith, and to do that which the
Father would have them to do. We have then in the last chapter,
really it's a doxology at the end of Romans, in Romans 16,
and from 25 to the end, He says, now to him that is of
power to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching
of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery
which was kept secret since the world began, but now is made
manifest and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to
the commandment of the everlasting God, have made known to all nations
for the obedience of faith. To God only wise be glory through
Jesus Christ forever. So he gives a summary, the reason
why the mystery of godliness, why the gospel is made known
to all nations, is for the obedience of faith. You and I have faith,
saving faith, Faith that trusts in the Lord, that trusts in His
Word. We would remember that faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. It is through
the Word of God we are brought to faith in Jesus, to trust in
Him, and it is through the Word of God that by faith in that
Word of God it profits us. To read the solemn Word, the
Word did not profit them, be not mixed with faith in them
that heard it. And so when we read the Word
of God, we need faith joined with it, so that it actually
profits our souls. Now, when Paul writes to the
Thessalonians, and I will be mindful that when we think of
the will of God, that we cannot give you all what is required
in the obedience to the will of God, because it contains the
whole of the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation. The one thing that is spoken
to the seven letters, the seven churches in the Revelation, he
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches. And what was said to those churches
was things that they were doing, their works. On one hand, they
were commended for what they had done right. On others, these
churches were reproved for what they were doing wrong, allowing
error or walking in a wrong way. And so the hearing ear is given,
and then there is the answering to it, a following on in that
obedience. have in the epistle of James
and some have even wondered whether the epistle of James should be
the word of God and especially Luther he struggled with it because
he felt it clashed with Romans but as we've shown Romans does
not clash with him and in James his message is very clear that
faith without works is dead. There must be a joining together
of a doing with the faith. And he says that even in a natural
way, if we have a brother or sister that's naked, and we say
to him, depart in peace, be warmed and filled, but we don't give
them what is needful for the body, What profit is there in
that? It doesn't help them at all.
And he says, Even so, faith, if it hath not works, is dead,
being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast
faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith without thy
works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. And so it is a very vital thing. And he gives the example of Abraham
when Abraham offered up Isaac on the altar. Abraham didn't
just say, when God told him to offer up Isaac, I believe that
thou art able to raise him up from the dead, even if I offer
him up. And he stayed where he was. He
didn't do that. He actually went to offer him
up. And so James uses that example. Was not Abraham our father justified
by works, or accounted free from condemnation because his faith
was real, when he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar?
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works
was faith made perfect. So it's not just what we say,
is what we do. And when what we do answers to
what we say, then that faith is a real faith. That is what
glorifies God and what is the will of the Father. So when Paul
writes to the Thessalonians, just to use one chapter in Thessalonians,
in chapter 4 of Thessalonians chapter 1, he says to them, In
the first verse, furthermore then, we beseech you, brethren,
and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us
how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more
and more. For ye know what commandments
we gave you by the will of the Lord Jesus. So in the very introduction
to that chapter, he is telling them that there is a way that
we are to walk that pleases God and that they are the commandments
that are given by the Lord Jesus Christ. And really in this chapter
there are five things that would really mark out the walk and
obedience to the will of God. In the first eight verses, or
it goes through to verse eight, it's speaking of the will of
God to keep ourselves clean from the defiling sins of this world,
the evil desires of the mind for fornication and adultery,
having a pure love and not the imitation of the devil which
is the lust that is in this world. That is put as the very first
thing and is the thing really that plagues and is right through
the whole professing Church of God. Wherever there is a falling
away, usually it is. It comes down to the base evil
nature that we have. And that is the first thing that
all of God's people must pay attention to, is the greatest
enemy and attacker of the child of God, and where their greatest
weakness is, and where they need the greatest help and grace. And he puts that first. And then
following that, he puts the pure love of God, in verse 9, as touching
brotherly love, making it very clear this is not inordinate
love, it's not a wrong love, it's spiritual love. When David
said that the love that he had to Jonathan was a love surpassing
the love of women, that is not an inordinate, a wrong love.
It was love in the Lord, it was love as a brother, or as some
would have, in other cases, a sister in faith. completely different
than the so distorted evils of today, in a wrong love. And so, the will of the Lord,
those, and with the Thessalonians, the effect of the gospel, if
you go back to chapter one, he says, the effect, that gospel
came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as ye know what manner of men
we were among you for your saying, ye became followers of us." There
was something they did. And of the Lord, having received
the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost. And so
there was that love to the brethren. In John, we have the token. We know that we've passed from
death unto life. because we love the brethren.
I wonder how many of us can look upon that token as a blessed
token the Lord has given us. That those who we once despised
and did not want to be with, they are now our brethren and
we love the brethren. And being let go, we go to our
own company and can rejoice when we can meet with those that we
can speak on the things of God and choose to do and delight
to do. And this is one of the things
that is marked here, practical walking out. They that feared
the Lord, they spake often one to another, not just of gossip,
not just of the things of this world, but of the things of God. And that is the will of the Lord. As iron sharpeneth iron, people
of God, not forsaking the assembling of themselves together, joining
together, walking together, hearing one another, seeing one another,
strengthening one another, encouraging one another, exhorting one another
daily so much the more as you see the day approaching. And that is the will of the Father. May we have that and may it be
a comfort and help to you here that realise the Lord has given
you that brotherly love and to the people of God. Then in verse
11, that you study to be quiet, to do your own business, to work
with your own hands as we commanded you. The Thessalonians, they
were leaning to an arrow, just idleness, waiting for the Lord's
coming. But he says, no, it is very important
that God's children, they still have to live in this world. And
how they live is very important. You can't say, well, here's a
very godly man, very pious man, but you look at his life, and
he's the worst employee that there is, he's the worst neighbor
of the street, and he's the worst husband, or father, or wife,
or whatever. How we actually live our lives
is as well governed by our what we do. We mentioned, I think,
in prayer, the apostles saying, I am what I am by the grace of
God. And the grace of God should define
our character and our life and make us to be what we would be. And some of us can go back to
our conversion, and if the Lord had not called us, had not given
us grace, then our lives today would be very different. Our
husband or wife would not be a believer. We would not have
chosen them. Our children would not be brought
up under the sound of the truth. We would not be found in the
house of God. Our lives would have been very,
very different if the Lord had not intervened and come in for
us and changed our heart and given us faith. And so all of
our lives, that should make a difference. And with us, it should be a conscious
effort and desire that our lives mirror our Lord. 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. The teaching is that we
will learn how to live in our lives by following the Lord. Then we have in verse 12 how
we are to walk towards those outside. that ye may walk honestly
towards them that are without, and that ye may have lack of
nothing. One of the things that the true
Church of God, they're in the world but not of it, they're
not only walking before believers, they're walking before unbelievers. And the will of the Father is
that we should walk honestly before them, in temporal things,
in spiritual things as well. not giving the lie and saying,
well, I've got my religion, you can have yours, you can go on
your way, and by implication, giving an idea that, well, I'll
be saved my way, you can be saved your way, and we walk honestly
towards those that we are without, not just in temporal things,
but in the soul, you are saying to them that they will perish
in the way that they are going, and that there is only one way,
and I wonder, how honestly we do walk towards those that are
without, those that are yet dead in trespasses and sins. Are we
faithful to them? Are we very clear to them? Or
are we giving the impression, well, you can have your religion,
I can have mine, and we'll both get to heaven at last? Our text,
the context of it is, no, they won't. And we should be very
clear about that for ourselves and for others. And then we have,
in the end of that chapter, a looking for the Lord's coming again,
at the last trump, when the Lord shall return. One of the great
evidences and one of the great things of the will of the Father
is that the New Testament Church is looking for the Lord's coming. Those in Hebrews that declared
plainly that they sought a country and a city yet to come, They
confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth, but
they were waiting for his son from heaven. They were looking
for the second coming. They knew that their rest was
not here, it is polluted, and they were looking for that which
was awaiting in heaven. And so that has affected how
they lived and how they walked here below. And so just in one
chapter, In Thessalonians there we have a little sample of the
Father's will and how we are to walk and to please God. But
we should have this in mind all the time we read the Word of
God. Is the will of the Lord being
set before us? Is it speaking to me as something
I should be doing or not doing or turning away from? We think
of the ordinances of God's house, this doing, remembrance of me,
the Lord's Supper, baptism. They are commandments of the
Lord. They are not optional. They are evidences of true faith,
being obedient to the Lord. And anyone that is willingly
disobedient in that way, they're not doing the will of the Father. They are seeing in the Word of
God, this is what those that have received grace and receive
the faith of God should be doing, but I'm not going to do it. And
it's a solemn position to walk in that way. Our text says, those
that shall enter into heaven, not those that are just saying,
Lord, Lord, but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven. So we've just been briefly, we
can only just briefly just mention some of what it means to do the
will of our Father which is in Heaven. But now, in second place,
the will of the Father in Providence. That is, when we act or make
decisions following directions. Very interesting with the Apostle
Paul, when the Lord called him by grace on that Damascus road,
which we can read of in Acts 9. His very first inquiry was
to ask of the Lord when he was, he stood trembling and astonished
when the vision appeared to him on the Damascus road. And he
says, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? He wanted to know the
Father's will, that the Lord would tell him what to do. And
the answer was, and the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go
into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. There is a will of God for his
people that involves them, that they are to know what to do. Moses must know that he is to
go into Egypt. And though he makes many protests
as to why he shouldn't go and another should go when the Lord
appeared to him in the burning bush, he must go. He must obey
the Father's will in that matter. And so with Paul here. Then we
have in the next chapter in Acts 10, and we have Peter. Now Peter, God's will was for
him. to go and preach to the Gentiles
the first time. Cornelius had a vision from an
angel and bade to go and fetch Peter, told him where Peter was,
and the Lord worked the other way as well, and appearing to
Peter so that Peter was made willing to go. And Peter had
the vision of the sheep let down from heaven. And so we read,
while Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold,
three men seek thee. Arise therefore, get thee down,
go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them. Then Peter
went down to the men. And so there was an acting. There
is a will of the Lord for his people. Sometimes it means moving
house. Sometimes it means moving church.
Sometimes it means going into the ministry, sometimes it means
into the diaconate. There is that which the Lord
would have his people know is the Father's will and to obey
that will. Our Lord spoke of one time of
a situation where two men were told to go and work in my vineyard. One says, I go, but he went not. And the other one says, I go
not. But afterwards, he repented and went. And the Lord then asked
the question, which one of those twain did the will of the Father? It was not the one that said,
I go, but then he didn't. It was the one that in the end,
he actually went and made willing, made willing in the day of God's
power. So may we remember that in our
lives, we're the people of God. We are not our own. We can't
just decide we're going to do this and go into this place and
sojourn. As James says, he said, when
we make these plans, if the Lord will, we will do this or that. Sometimes we can just add that
to so many things in our lives, if the Lord will. We put a poster
up of what's going to happen in a church or a service, and
people would condemn us if we left out God willing. But when
we put that in, do we really feel that? Or if we're making
plans in our workplace, we say, well, they're unbelievers. When
we're sending out the emails, we're making those plans. And
do we ever put, if the Lord will, or is it just confined to the
people of God? Or are we giving a message to
other people? Well, actually, our lives are
subject to the will of God. We acknowledge it, so. And we
want to do the will of God. And so in Providence, he that
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, it will affect
our whole lives. And it will be things that we
actually have to decide and say, this is, I believe, what the
Lord is calling me to do. I'm going to rise. I'm going
to do it. I'm going to walk in this way. Or I'm not going to do this.
turn away from those things. Well lastly, in third place,
the assurance we may have in doing His will. Really we are told here of those
that are not doing the will of God, that shall not enter into
heaven, but we are told in the latter part But he that doeth
the will of my Father which is in heaven, they shall enter into
heaven. And that is a blessed thing.
It is something that is inseparably joined together. Those that do
the will of God here and those that shall enter into heaven. May we never separate those two. The Lord will give grace and
glory No good thing shall he withhold from them that walk
uprightly. That's not salvation by works,
but it's salvation by a faith that is walking rightly. That's Psalm 84. And it is a
way that we should pay real heed to. A walk is not an indifferent
thing. It's not a separate thing. Faith
is not just a matter of the mind. that does not then apply to our
hearts and lives. But when the Lord has made a
difference in our hearts and in our lives, and sometimes it
can be a great comfort, when the devil comes in and he says,
well, you're not a child of God, that which you thought you had,
that was just imagined, it's not real. You take him back and
say, or Paul would say, all right, if my faith was imagined, if
that was just some fanciful vision and not real, Why was I different
after than before? Why was that change made in my
life if that was not real? And so there are things that
are actually done and said. We can look back in our lives
and in a lot of way it comprises our experience. If I was to write
down some of my experience there'd be things that have actually
been happening in my life. Things I've actually had to do
or not do. Things I've had to that have
made a profound difference in my life. They're not just things
that have been in the mind, other people have been involved, and
decisions, places where I've worked, where I've gone, and
sometimes that can be a great comfort and an answer to the
adversary and to our doubts and our fears, that the Lord has
walked, worked in our hearts. He has made a change. There have
been times that we've been made so willing and that we have done
what we would not have done otherwise if it had not have been the hand
of the Lord upon us. And so there is a lot of assurance
in this. He that doeth the will of my
Father which is in heaven, they shall get to heaven. We shall
see the face of the Lord. And may it be an encouragement
and help to us here below to know and to do the will of our
Father which is in heaven. May we always remember that our
whole salvation, it depends on our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ,
who did the will of His Father, even obedient unto death, the
death of the cross, and wherefore He is at the right hand of the
Father. And His will is that they whom
thou hast given me be with me, where I am, but our desire should
be, while we are here below, that we be doers of the Word,
doers of His most perfect will, that He that doeth the will of
my Father which is in heaven. May the Lord add His blessing. Amen.