Hebrews chapter 10. This morning, I hope to answer
two simple questions. The first question is, what is
the will of God? That's what I've titled the message,
The Will of God. And in this verse that we're
about to read, he gives us our second question, and it is how
does one do the will of God? How does one do the will of God?
Because he says if you do the will of God here. So the questions
I have is what is the will of God and how do we do the will
of God? If we find the answer to that,
the Lord is our teacher. I should say it that way. We
don't find it if you don't reveal it. If we find ourself knowing
the answer to what the Lord's will is and how we do the Lord's
will, we'll know something of His absolute sovereignty. We'll
know something about His holiness, His righteousness, His goodness. But if we don't know the will
of God, then we can certainly not know how to do the will of
God. And therefore, we really don't
know a whole lot about God. His will is absolute. Men plan things. They try to
build things and do things and hope everything goes right. We
have somebody here that builds houses. He knows he would be
able to testify this year. And Rob and Lisa just built a
house for their daughter. I guarantee you there's things
that they were planning that didn't go the way that they wanted
it to go. Is that not right? And they had to change the plans.
God, He don't plan, He purposes. He purposes according to His
will. He doesn't compute and calculate. He doesn't try to
figure out things. He knows all. Now this is difficult
when we start talking about this to our flesh, because our flesh
can't comprehend this. But this is the truth. He knows
all things all the time. He's omnipotent. He's omnipresent.
He's everywhere all the time. If we learn today, if the Lord
would be our teacher, if the Spirit would be pleased to meet
with us today, if we find out what the will of God is and how
to do the will of God, we'll know something about our Lord.
We'll understand who He is and what He has done in saving His
elected sinners. I want to read this one verse
in Hebrews chapter 10. And I know you're probably hearing
the static from the speakers. I'm sorry, I hope you can ignore
it. I've worked on it and I can't get it to stop, so I don't know.
It'll get bad, it'll get good. So hopefully the Lord will give
us the ability just to calm our minds and enter into this. Hebrews
chapter 10 in verse 36 says, for ye have need of patience,
that after ye have done the will of God, you might receive the
promise. After you have done the will
of God, you might receive the promise. Well, what is the will
of God? Well, thankfully, the Lord didn't just say that and
not give us scripture to understand. He gave us insight to these things
in his word. Now, we can find an answer But
the teacher has to be the Lord. The revelation has to be from
the Lord. The only way we can learn anything
is of him. And thankfully the Lord said this, they all shall
be taught of me. We can find the answer to what
is the will of God in scripture. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
one. Galatians chapter one, and we're
going to read the first five verses. Paul, an apostle, not of men,
neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who
raised him from the dead, and all the brethren which are with
me into the churches of Galatia. Grace be to you and peace from
God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself
for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil world
according to the will of God and our Father to whom be glory
forever. Amen. It was God's will to send
his only begotten son to send forth His only begotten Son,
that He might bear our sin in His own body, His people, bear
their sin in His own body, that He might redeem them. If He did
not save His people from their sins, we have no hope. We have
no hope, but it was God's will. And it was announced at the birth
of Christ, Matthew chapter one tells us, verse 21, I believe
it is, it says, Call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sins. That's why you call him Jesus. That's what he's going to do.
That's his will. That's the will of God. So God
became a man, the Lord Jesus Christ. God sent forth his son
according to his will to save his people. God so loved the
world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish but have everlasting life. That's
a verse that's misconstrued a lot by men, isn't it? But who is
the Lord talking to? He was talking to a religious
Jew. And the Jews had the promise of the Messiah and therefore
the promise of salvation. They thought it was only to the
blood born Jews. The Lord says no, Nicodemus.
My people represents every nation, every tribe, out of every kindred,
every tongue. I'm no respecter of person. It's
not your bloodline that's gonna save you. You're gonna be saved
by grace. You must be born again. And if you're not saved by grace
and birthed into the family of God by his spirit, you have no
part with him. But that was his will. That was
his will to die in order for you and I to be redeemed. That
was his will. Turn with me to Ephesians one.
right after Galatians. What is God's will? To send forth
his son to save his people from their sins. Ephesians 1 verse
4 through 6 says, according, let's read verse 3, blessed be
the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ.
according as he had chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of what?
His will. His will. To the praise of the
glory of his grace wherein he made us accepted in the beloved. What is His will? According to
His purpose, according to His will, He elected a people, predestinated
them into eternal life by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ,
when, I like what it says right here, chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world. That means you and I, before
we were even born, were chosen in Christ. for the foundation
of the world. That was his will, to elect a
people. It's his will. His will was to
elect them, and the Son was purposed to die for them, and the Spirit
purposed to regenerate them. This is his will. This is his
will. His election was not based upon
our ability. not dependent upon humans in
any way, not based upon our merits, not based upon our works, not
based upon our law keeping. It's not based upon our good
deeds. It's not based upon our lifestyle. It's not based upon
what we do or what we don't do. It's based upon his merits. It's
based upon his works. It's based upon his law keeping.
It's based upon his life. And if our life be hid, it's
hid with Christ in God. If he doesn't choose to come
to where I am, If he doesn't choose to come to where I am
and save me by grace alone, no man can be saved. The Lord ever
makes us a sinner, we'll realize that there's nothing we can do
to contribute to the beauty of God's salvation. All that we
could do is taint it if we try to put hands to it. We see if
we're a sinner, if we're a God-made sinner, it's one thing to see
your sin. The law can show you that you have sinned. But to
be made a sinner, the chief sinner, then you're made to have a need
that you're saved by the will of God, not your own will. You're
saved by His choice through grace, not your choice. You're saved
by grace through faith in that not of yourself. If He doesn't
save me that way, I can't be saved. No one can be saved unless
they're saved that way. If He doesn't choose me, I cannot
Now that's something you won't hear a lot of, but that's the
word I want to use is cannot choose him. I cannot in the flesh
choose God. It's a physical impossibility.
I cannot choose him. My flesh is contrary to him in
every way. So what does he do? Well, he
births us into the family of God by his spirit and gives us
a new nature, one that looks to Christ, one that's begotten
by the spirit, his spirit. That's what he's talking about,
the adoption of children right here by Jesus Christ. He makes
us heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, having one
need, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why did he do this? It was according
to his will, his own will and his good purpose. If he doesn't choose to become
the eternal God-man in the flesh, redeem me by his will, I won't
be redeemed. If he doesn't choose to live
a perfect life in my room instead, I won't be redeemed. If he doesn't choose to go to
the cross of Calvary and drink the cup of damnation dry, bearing
our sin in his own body on the tree, and putting away that sin
by the sacrifice himself, I won't be redeemed, I will not be saved.
But you know that's exactly what he did according to his will,
according to his will. We are saved because it was God's
will to do so, period. God's will to redeem his people. Not by our works, not by our
merits, not by our good deeds. You know, the very best deed
that we can do is still utterly sinful. Utterly sinful. Because we're the ones doing
it. But everything that he did, he was working righteousness.
He was working perfectly. And the glorious news of the
gospel is, is he's our substitute. He took our place. He gave us
his righteousness. He took our sin and gave us his
righteousness. He took our iniquity and he made us justified. He
took our infinite wickedness and he made us sanctified before
the Lord. The word sanctified means holy,
made us holy before the Lord. It's not because we're good people
that the Lord saved us. To the contrary, God saves the
dead, dog-wretched sinners. That's who he saves. He said,
I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He
said, they that are whole need not a position, but they that
are sick. Those are the ones that need Christ, the sick ones.
You sick? I got a good news for you. There's a remedy. There's a remedy.
His name is the Lord Jesus Christ. He sent his son in the likeness
of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh so that you
and I would be made the very righteousness of God in Christ.
That's what he did for his people. God spared not his own son when
he laid the iniquity of us all upon him, he spared not his own
son. It pleased the Lord to bruise him, made his soul an offering
for sin. His soul was poured out unto death. That's the only
way that God would have been satisfied, to look at him and
pardon me. to look at Him and pardon you.
Otherwise, we won't be pardoned. We won't be saved. It was God's will that His elected
people would be saved. What is God's will? That everyone
He loves will be saved. And they were on the cross of
Calvary, past tense. Eternity past, and in time, saved. Come with me to 2 Timothy chapter
one. Or if you have your bullets and
you can look at the front of the bulletin, that's our one of our verses
on our. Bullets in their. Second, Timothy chapter one. Look at verse nine. First of
all, look at the last word in verse eight, God, who saved us,
who hath, that's past tense, isn't it? God who hath saved
us, not gonna save us. God who hath saved us and called
us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. What's God's will? God's will
was to save us And then in time, it's His will to call us, His
people to call us. God who has saved us and called
us. What came first, the saving or the calling? A lot of people
believe that Whenever you do something, you have to, you ever
heard the saying, give your heart to Jesus. Jesus doesn't want
your heart. He doesn't want my heart. Our hearts deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. No, we have to pray unto the
Lord, uh, created me a clean heart. Oh God, renewing me a
right spirit. I don't, I can't offer anything. You're going
to have to give me what you require. And that's exactly what he does
when he saved us. But then when he calls us, he
lets us know about it. This is what I've done for you.
I have bought you. I have redeemed you. Fear not,
O Jacob. You're mine. You're my possession.
I bought you. That's what he does by calling
us. Called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace. That purpose is his
will, isn't it? which was given us in Christ
Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the
appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death
and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. God saves us. Then He calls us,
not according to our merits, not according to our works, not
according to our good deeds, not according to our lifestyle,
not according to what we do or do not do. I'm going to say that
on every single point because the point is He calls us because
of Christ's merits. He calls us because of the Lord's
works. He calls us because of the Lord's
law keeping, the Lord's death. the Lord's burial and resurrection.
He doesn't call us because of us. He calls us because of Christ
alone by grace. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. He's God. Men foolishly preach
him too small. We can't preach him high enough.
He's God. He's absolutely sovereign, absolutely all powerful. We have
no power. We have no power, he's God. He
said, I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. Why are you not consumed? Because
the Lord doesn't change. The Lord doesn't change. It is
God's will to save his people and then let them know about
it by revealing his son. You're my beloved son, whom I
am well pleased. Two men were in the temple, and
you know this account very well. Two men were in the temple, one
was a Pharisee, and he looked around and he said, Lord, I thank
thee that I'm not like other men. I tithe and I fast and I
pray and I thank you I'm not like this publican back there.
I'm something special, is what he's saying. Look at me, look
at what I'm doing. And the publican wouldn't lift
up his eyes under the ceiling, but yet smote upon his breast
and said, Lord, have mercy on me, the sinner. And the Lord
said to him in that parable, he said, one of these men went
home justified. Which one do you think it was? We know it was
the sinner, don't we? Why was the sinner justified?
Because he had no righteousness. He said, I've got to have the
righteousness of Christ. That's what the Lord does when
he calls us out of darkness into his light. He shows us that we
have no covering. We're exposed to his wrath. We're
exposed to his judgment, and we deserve it. But then he shows
us the Lord Jesus Christ and his beauty, his splendor, and
said, here's my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And he
gives faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only
one that could have saved. He's the only one that could
have done the full work at Calvary. And he's the only one that can
birth his people by his spirit, the only one. It's not according to our works,
he tells us right here, but according to his own purpose and grace,
which was given to his people before time ever began, because
he chose to commend his love toward us, and that while we
were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Why did he do this? It
was according to his will. It was according to his will.
Turn with me to John chapter one. Look at verse one through five.
In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and
the word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by him, and without him was not
anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life
was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and
the darkness comprehended it not. Now look at verse 10. He was in the world, and the
world was by him. The world was made by him, and
the world knew him not. He came to his own, his own received
him not. But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but whose
will? God's. God's will. And the word
was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and full of truth. That's simple, isn't it? Born
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of blood, nor
of man, but of God. That's simple, isn't it? It's
his will that births his people. Yet it's an impossibility to
believe that. It's an impossibility to believe
that, unless God enables us. I quoted John 3.16 a little bit
ago. That was the conversation the Lord was having with Nicodemus.
And Nicodemus was a ruler in Israel. He'd have been a very
educated man. Came to the Lord by night, and as their conversation
unfolded, the Lord looks at Nicodemus and says, you must be born again.
And Nicodemus said, how is that possible? How can a man, when
he is old, enter the second time into his mother's womb and be
born? And the Lord said, that which is flesh is flesh, that
which is spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you,
you must be born again. And for some reason along the
way, men started telling men that you can choose to be born.
What part did we have with our first birth, honestly? I mean,
we don't even remember it, do we? No, that was between our
mother and the doctor, if you want to put it that way. And
the Lord was the one who had orchestrated the whole entire
thing, wasn't he? He purposed it. We don't have anything to
do with our second birth either. It's not a choice that we make.
It's not a decision that's up to you or up to me. The decision's
up to God. Because he tells Nicodemus later
on, he says, the wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou canst
tell from whether it comes or whether it goeth, so is every
one that is born of the Spirit. It's his will to birth his people. It's God's Will that we were
saved in the covenant of grace before time and in time on the
cross of Calvary. Given to Christ before time and
then in time were called out of darkness into light were born
again by his spirit according to his will. This is the will
of God. It's not our purpose, it's God's
purpose. It's not our merits, it's only
by the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not our choice,
it's his choice. according to His will. This is
the will of God. Now lastly, lastly, we're answering what
is the will of God, and then we're gonna answer how do we
do the will of God. So don't forget that. Lastly,
it is God's will to keep His chosen, saved, and called children. It's His will to save us. It's
His will to call us, and it's His will to keep us. It's His
will to keep us. Turn with me to 2 Peter chapter
3. Anytime we read scripture, it's
so important to know the audience to whom the writer is writing. And Peter gives us the answer
to that question. Who is he writing to in verse
eight? But beloved, that's the Lord's people. That's the elect
of God. That's who he's writing to. The
ones that are loved by God. Be not ignorant of this one thing,
that one day is with the Lord a thousand years, and a thousand
years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering
to us-ward, the beloved, not willing that any of the beloved
should perish, but that all should come to repentance. All should
come to repentance. God is not willing that a single
one of his children be lost. He said, all that the father
give to me shall come to me, and they that come to me I will
in no wise cast out. He's not going to lose one sheep,
not one sheep. We're kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed at the last
time. It was God's will to save his
people from their sins. He did that. It's God's will
that he calls his people in time. He does that in his time. And
it's God's will to keep his people for all time and eternity. Eternity. He does that. He does it by his power. He does
it by his purpose. He does it according to his will.
Not according to our merits, but based upon the merits of
Christ. Not according to our life, but the life of Christ.
Not according to our choice, but according to His choice.
His choice to elect and redeem. His choice to save. This, this
is God's will. Now in closing, I wanna go back
to our text in Hebrews chapter 10. Let's read this verse again. We know what God's will is now,
but how does one do the will of God? Let's read this, verse
36. For ye have need, of patience
that after ye have done the will of God, you might receive the
promise. If I am to receive the promise,
I have to do the will of God. But what does it mean to do the
will of God? We obey the command that the
Lord gives by faith. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Look to Christ as all your acceptance
before God by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Run to Christ,
don't move a muscle. Run to Christ, flee to him. If
I am to do the will of God, if he's requiring something of me,
we know because of his sovereignty, his holiness, his isness, he's
gonna have to give me what he's requiring, and that's exactly
what he does by giving faith. Faith looks to Christ. Faith
believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith does the will of God. This
is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him. We trust in the Lord's work.
We trust in his merits. This whole message I've told
us, we're not saved by our merits, our works, our lifestyle, what
we do and don't do. We're saved by what he does,
his merits, what he did, by the life that he lived. We know the only way that we
can do the will of God is based upon his merits, based upon his
life, based upon his faith given to us. Not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but it's all by mercy and it's all by
grace. We do the will of God by trusting
him, his power, his will, not my will. That's what the Lord
said in the garden, wasn't it? Not my will, thine be done. Thine be done. That's a complete
denial of self. And that's what's required. But
the only way we'll deny self is if he gives us a new nature
that would choose him. And that's what he does. We completely
deny ourself of any glory, any part of salvation. Heard somebody
ask me recently, they said, are you saying let go and let God? I said, we don't let God do anything. He's God. He's God. By definition,
I can't let him do anything. I can't let So how do we let
God be true in all men liars? We just shut up because he already
is. He's already true. That's it,
isn't it? We really didn't let him do anything.
He's already true. He has all power, all sovereignty, all wisdom. He alone is righteousness. He
alone is redemption. He alone is sanctification, justification. He alone is our righteousness
before God. He alone is salvation. Do you
want to do God's will? Yes. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's how the Lord's people does the will of God, by looking
to Christ. Don't look at the life you're
living as your justification or your sanctification. Look
to Christ, who is our justification. The good news is that he enables
every single person that he loves, every single person that he died
for, with that ability to look to Christ. It's an impossibility
in the flesh, but he gives that which he requires through faith,
and we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, all by his faith. This is the will of God. This
is the will of God. Let's pray. Father, we ask that
you would take these words and bless it to our understanding
for your glory. Thank you for your precious will. In Christ's
name, amen. Let's take a break.