second timothy chapter one as
i said probably just first one this morning because i want to
consider how profound one thought is expressed in verse one second
timothy one one paul an apostle of jesus christ by the will of
god by the will of god paul was an apostle because god wanted
him to be an apostle And that's saying a lot now because we know
what Paul was before that, don't we? Think about the will, the
powerful, the almighty, immutable, sovereign will of God. Paul was, by his own testimony
later, a blasphemer, destructive, injurious, not worthy. And yet because God wanted him
to be, he was an apostle of Jesus Christ. When God called him, it wasn't
what Paul wanted. It wasn't by the will of Paul,
was it? That was the farthest thing from
Saul of Tarsus' mind when Christ called him to be an apostle.
Paul didn't let go and let God make him an apostle. You remember
how Saul of Tarsus was on the road to Damascus when Christ
met him, going about the business of persecuting the sheep of Christ,
and the Lord Jesus called him on it. He said, you're persecuting
me when you touch them. And the Lord put him out of business. Just because he felt like it.
That's what this word means. The will of God. His desire.
It was his pleasure. He just felt like it. He felt
like putting Paul out of business and giving him a new business. This is the God we're talking
about now. The God that we worship in this morning. You see the power of God in that? How gracious he is to put us
out of business. Think about all that had to happen.
All that had to change for Saul of Tarsus to be an apostle of
Jesus Christ. What a complete reversal. What
a transformation. What creative power. What invasive
power. Had to be exerted by God. God
had to completely undo him and make him over again. This is
not a decision. This is a creative power of God. Created in Christ Jesus. I just want to remind us this
morning how everything about us is by the will of God. Why were you born who you are
and not somebody else? How were you born? Under what circumstances? Where
were you born? Why were you born to the parents
that you were born to? When, how, and why did you cross
paths with a gospel preacher? for the first time. How did you get the wife or husband
that you have? Where did you get the gifts that
you have? Indeed, what do you have that
you didn't receive? Who maketh thee to differ from
another Paul asks these questions in
1 Corinthians 4 and he asks another one there in that same verse. If you received all that you
have and all that you are from God, then why do you glory? Why do you brag? Why do you boast? Why do you talk about your free
will? By the will of God. and the grace of God we are what
we are and where we are and who we are Paul was an apostle by the will
of God he knew Christ by the will of God he was saved by the
will of God He said in Galatians 115, when it pleased God. And
this is what we're talking about when we're talking about God's
will. It's just what He's pleased to do. What He desires to do. That's what your will is too.
Everybody does what they want to do. You know that. You do
what you want to do, given the circumstances in which you find
yourself. And God does what He wants to do too. The difference
is, God is all-powerful. And God is good. And God, it's right for Him to do
what He wants to do. Not you. You don't have the authority. You don't have the power. You don't have the right. You
don't have the moral character. But God does, and He does as
He pleases. And He's not limited in that,
you see. We do what we want to do, given our nature, given our
circumstances, given our abilities. You can't just say, well, I'd
like to fly now, and so I think I'll fly. You can say that if
you want to, but you're not fixing to be flying, not without an
airplane. So we're all, our will is dictated
by our nature, and God's is too. There's some things that God
can't do, too, because of his nature. He can't lie. That's not a limitation. That's
a plus. But he said, when it pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's womb, he said to Jeremiah,
before I formed you in your mama's belly, I loved you and I made
you holy. Paul said, me too. It pleased
God to separate me, to make a difference between me and others in my mother's
womb. And called me by His grace because
it pleased Him to do it. To reveal His Son in me because
it pleased Him to do it. That I might preach Him I'm an
apostle because it pleased God to make a difference in my mother's
womb, to call me by His grace, and to turn the light on that
I might see the light of the glory of God in the face of His
Son. He revealed His Son in me that
I might be an apostle. You see what all had to happen?
You see the God with whom we have to do. It's because it pleased
him. And he said, because of all that,
immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood. I was an apostle,
not by the will of man, not by the will of the flesh, but by
the will of God. Is the Son of God revealed to
you and in you? Paul tells us unequivocally and
unambiguously how that happened. It is by the good pleasure of
God. Now these are simple. It's like I'm saying one plus
one equals two, isn't it? Except this is a lot more important
than that. It's simple, isn't it? It's clear
in the word of God. People don't hate the doctrine of God's sovereign
electing grace. They don't hate the truth of
God's distinguishing and almighty will. because they don't understand
it. They hate it because they hate
him. Just plain, isn't it? David said, your gods are wood
and stone and of the imagination of your own
heart. My god is in heaven and he does as he pleases. His will
is done in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay His hand or question Him. If you know His Son, it's because
it pleased Him for you to know His Son. That's what Paul said.
It pleased God. When He got good and ready, He
revealed His Son in me. Truly, indeed, salvation is of
the Lord. Now, theologians talk about the
will of God, and they speak of the secret will of God and the
revealed will of God. And that's good, that's important.
It's good that we think about it that way, because there are
things that you know are God's will, and there is the will of
God that you don't know about until it's already done. We're
going to know about all of it one day, aren't we? Because it'll
be done. But it's important to distinguish between God's revealed
will. He's revealed His will in His
law, for example, has He not? In His word, He's revealed His
will. But the will of God also that works behind the scenes,
so to speak, As he turns the hearts of kings in his hand as
the rivers of water, the scripture says. I don't see him doing that.
I don't know if he's going to do that or not. I know he's going
to do it, but which way will he turn it? I don't know yet. Let's let's just find out. Scripture says when a paradise
is rolled, God decides what comes up, what's going to come up.
I don't know yet. Let's roll them and see what
God's will is. But you see the difference. There is a revealed
will and a secret will, and that's evident in one comparison. Let's
think about it this way. God has declared in his holy
law, thou shalt not kill. That's pretty simple, isn't it? We talked about that this morning
already. God's prerogative is life and death. It's not yours,
not your business. God gives life and He takes life,
and you don't have the authority to do that. Thou shalt not kill. It is contrary to God's revealed
will for us to murder another human being. That's the prerogative
of God alone. It's not within our authority
to decide who lives or dies, including ourselves. And that's
what we do, and when we're killing somebody, we want to be God.
Whether we're just doing it in our hearts or whether we're doing
it with a gun. We want to be God. Now Job, Job begged from
the ash heap. Having lost everything, everybody
he loved and everything that was valuable. Even his own health. And he thought the favor of God.
He thought he'd even lost the favor of God. And he begged God
to kill him. But he wouldn't take his own life. Though it
would have been a relief to do. You think Job hesitated to kill
himself because he was afraid to do that? He begged God to
kill him. He said, Oh, that I would have
been carried from the womb to the grave. If I had just died
on the day I was born, it would have been better. But he dared
not take his own life because he knew he didn't have the authority
to do that. God says in Deuteronomy 32, 39,
I kill and I make alive. And he said in Exodus 20, 13,
you don't do that. And that's God's will clearly
revealed and not, but, and when we murdered
the son of God on Calvary's tree, we murdered
God's son. We are told very clearly that
we did what God's hand and counsel had determined before to be done. There's God's secret will. Not
secret now to us. We see now, but you see that's
God's will too. God's will is for you not to
murder, but it was God's will for you and I to murder his son.
It's not that, and at the same time, at the same time, it didn't
used to be God's will that we not kill, and then He suspended
that will, you know, on the day of all days. No, His revealed
will and His, at the time, secret will, worked together in perfect
harmony to accomplish His perfect, eternal will. You see why we
have to consider these different things with regard to the will
of God? God's revealed will, thou shalt not kill, because
of His revealed will, which is just an expression of His character
now. Because of that revealed will,
everyone is complicit in the death of his son and accountable
for it. for that horrible willful despicable
evil and it brought the condemnation of God down upon every sinner.
You read John 3 19 and tell me it ain't so. God's secret at
the time will that day and I keep saying at the time because nobody
that day was saying on the day that our Lord was crucified they
weren't saying well we better kill God's son today so we can
be sure God's will is done. Nobody was saying that. They
didn't know what they were doing. Believers or unbelievers, they
didn't know what they were doing. But while God's revealed will
and our natural rebellion against it is the reason for the condemnation
of all sinners. Light came into the world. This
is the condemnation. That the light of the world came
into this world and we hated him because we loved ourselves.
And our hatred resulted in his death and his murder. While that's
true, though, God's secret will and his eternal counsel and determination
that his son's soul be made an offering for sin is the way that
God forgives sinners of that very sin. You see, how unspeakable. When Paul talked about, oh, the
death, of the wisdom and power. Oh, the depth of the riches.
Oh, the depth of the wisdom and counsel of God, of His purposes.
It's too high for us, isn't it? Thou shalt not kill. And we didn't
just kill another human being. We killed the Son of God. We
killed the Prince of Life. But in God's sovereign eternal
will, by that means, God can be God and forgive us of our
sins. If you can see and understand
by God's grace something of the will of God, the marvelous, mysterious,
almighty will of God, then you can understand the God-man hanging
on a shameful cross, And seeing that the great sinfulness of
man, the great evil that we are. But you can also see there and
hear him say from that very cross, Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do. And understand. that God can
be just and justify the very ones who crucified his son. You might object that it's a
contradiction for God to order us to never commit murder and
then also to order the death of his son at our hands. All I can say to you is what
Paul said to those who similarly objected in Romans chapter 9
against the will of God. You know what he said to them?
Shut up. Don't dare argue with God. You're
not qualified. And I'm not either. And I'll say this to you from
the word of God. If you cannot see how God's secret
and revealed will does not contradict itself. And it's just one will. We just have to divide it up
so our puny brains can grasp it a little bit. If you can't
see how his secret and revealed will does not contradict itself,
if you can't see how perfectly God's will and his law and his
will and his promise harmonize and cooperate with one another,
And you can't see how wonderful and beautiful God's will is.
It's not because God is inconsistent or unjust in any way. It's because
you and I are insignificant fools who can only see what God reveals.
And God hasn't seen fit to reveal it to us yet. Not as far as understanding it.
And that is believers and unbelievers. Just because you don't understand
the will of God doesn't mean you don't know God. We who believe don't completely
understand. But I know something. God reveals
who He is to the extent. His greatness. And He reveals
our own ignorance to the extent that we can see how it all can
work together and we not be able to grasp it. It doesn't surprise
me, does it you, that I can't grasp the will of God that I
can't fully understand. Does that surprise you? Can you show logically by the
wisdom of words how it all works together? Can you do that? Yeah, me neither. But we're not
called upon to be as wise as God. We're called upon to bow
to God. We are commended to bow. If you
can't understand God's will, that's one thing. Join the club. But if you cannot bow to God's
will, you will not be vindicated in
that simply because you can't understand it. If you cannot, will not bow to
God's will in all things, this book says you will be suddenly
destroyed and that without remedy. And that's just a clear word
of God. God said, if I don't warn you about that, he'll hold
me accountable. So I'm gonna warn you about it. There is that about the will
of God, which is revealed. This is what we get into now.
And we do by his grace understand. And this is very important now.
Paul said in Ephesians 5, 17, wherefore be ye not unwise, but
understanding what the will of the Lord is. Don't you be unwise
about this now. Understanding what God's will
is. If you understand what the will of the Lord is, and we know
this from Paul's experience that we read about. If you understand
what the will of the Lord is, it is because he willed that
you understand it. And you know that's right. Luke 24, 45. Then opened he their
understanding that they might understand the scripture. They
saw God's will in saving sinners, and it all concerned His Son,
Jesus Christ, because it pleased Him to open their understanding
that they might understand. So there is that concerning God's
will that we do understand by God's grace. To say concerning
that which God has clearly revealed, and many say this, If you say
concerning that which God has made plain as can be, if you
say, I just don't understand the will of God, you know, you
talk about God's electing grace. And people say, well, I just
can't understand God's will. That's a lie. And there's no
excuse for it. That which God has plainly revealed,
don't say that about it because you're just lying. People say
concerning God's will and election, for example, as I said, We just
can't understand God's will. So let's just ignore that part
of the Word of God, you know. We just can't understand God's
will. They turn into an agnostic, you know, just selectively, though. Just selective agnostics. Just can't understand God. Well,
sure you can. Sure you can. It's not complicated.
What you can't figure out, and I'm talking to unbelievers, people
who say that concerning what's clearly revealed, what you can't
understand, what you can't figure out is how that clear revealed
will works with your preconceived ideas of how God ought to act. That's what you can't figure
out. It ain't what God's will, what
God reveals is not hard to figure out. And the thing to do when
those two things contradict, when God's will and yours clash. The thing to do is not to say
I just don't understand God's will. The proper reaction when
God's clear word contradicts your understanding is to believe
God and abandon your understanding of things. Just believe God. That's what we do. By God's grace
I pray. Pray with me. We go through this
book word by word, don't we? With the time that we have and
You know, maybe we ought to spend more time, but I know this, we
don't have a whole lot of capacity, do we? It's already a lot for
me. I don't know about you, but God
has given us, he has ordained it and commanded it that we gather
together and we learn of him, we worship him in the preaching
of the gospel. We declare this book and we do
it, we're doing it right now in Psalms and in 2 Timothy now
and in Isaiah. And we just got through looking
through the book of Titus and all through the Word of God.
Word by word, phrase by phrase, verse by verse, chapter by chapter,
we just receive in the Word of God and by His grace believe
in it. Do you believe what this says?
The will of God. Do you believe what God's book
says concerning His will? We just believe what God said
by His grace. We don't need to interpret it.
God's seen fit to Have it written in English for us. No need to
interpret it. If I tell you that after church
service is today, I'm gonna go get me something to eat. I think
I'll go get something to eat after church today. And you say,
what do you mean by that, Chris? You're the one not making sense,
not me. Isn't that right? And if you
hear from God's word, if you hear from God's preacher, that
God has from the beginning chosen a people to salvation. Before they were ever born, he
loved one and hated another. Paul said, I'm bound to give
thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved, loved of God. Because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation. And he used
his Holy Spirit and faith in His Word to do it. From the beginning. If somebody just plainly declares
that and you say, what do you mean by that? You're the one
not making sense, not God. You see what I'm saying? It's
just simple. If somebody just shows you from God's Word, plain,
that faith is the gift of God. It's the fruit of the Spirit. Christ is the author and finisher
of faith. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. And you say, what do you mean
by that, Chris? You're the one not making sense. If I tell you plainly from God's
word that Christ died for his sheep, and in the very moment
that he declared that, he turns to the religious user and says,
you're not my sheep. The reason you don't believe
on me is because you're not my sheep. I lay down my life for
my sheep and they know me. They hear my voice and they follow
me, all of them. I give them eternal life. And
you say, well Chris, I just don't understand that. You're not making
any sense. It couldn't be any clearer. That's
like me saying the sky is blue and you're saying explain that
to me. It's just blue. Is that enough? Does that explain it? Forget what you thought and just
believe God. That's what's to be done here.
So we mentioned God's will with regard to being revealed and
secret. God doesn't have to tell you
everything he's doing. Is that okay with you? We'll
find out one of these days. We have some concept though.
We can see that there's a secret and a revealed will of God. Think
about God's will in terms of decree. God's will of decree. Think about God's will from his
throne that he has ordained what shall take place. And listen
to this verse regarding that. He said in Isaiah 46 11, he said,
when I want to, I'll call a ravenous bird from the east. He did that.
He brought that bird with something to eat for his profit. And the
man that executed my counsel from a far country, Jairus, in
the New Testament said, I know what it means to have some
authority and to be under authority. And those under my authority,
I say to them, come and they come. And I say to them, go and
they go. Because I'm their boss. And he
said to the Lord Jesus Christ, now I know this, all you have
to do is speak the word. And life, life is given. And that's what God said about
it. The man that executed my counsel, he come from a far country. He said, I've spoken it and I
will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it and I will
also do it. He decreed it from His throne.
And He's not up there making decrees right now. He decreed
everything that ever would happen, that ever has happened, that's
happening right now, and everything that ever will happen, before
it ever happened. Before anything happened. This includes everything. We
only know of this in those specific things that God has revealed
in His Word. But we find out most of his will, much of his
will, after it happens. And I know this. Let's close
with this thought. It includes everything, doesn't
it? But think about God's will with regard to this one thing. Paul said in Ephesians 1.7, in
Christ we have redemption. And it's through his blood. Without
the shedding of blood there is no remission, there can be no
redemption from our sin. We have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of God's
grace. Wherein he hath abounded toward
us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the
mystery of his will. God showed us that it pleased
him. to bruise His Son, to crush His
Son, and for the precious blood of His Son to redeem us from
our sins. It pleased God to do that. The
will of God. Having made known unto us the
mystery of His will according to His good pleasure. He made known unto us the mystery
of His will because it was his will to do it. His good pleasure which he had
purposed in himself. He didn't counsel, he didn't need any cooperation from us.
He didn't need any input from us. He purposed it in himself. So that in the dispensation of
the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things
in Christ. both which are in heaven now
and which are still on the earth, even in him, in whom also we
have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will." His own will. Paul said, I'm an apostle of
Jesus Christ because God wanted me to be. And everything is by
that same will. And most importantly, we are
in Christ, redeemed by His precious blood, preordained to be just
like Him, to be in Him, and to be with Him, because it pleased
God to do things that way. Oh my. We're in over our heads, aren't
we? But it's a good place to be. God made known unto us this mysterious
and wonderful will of His. Thank God we do understand something
of His gracious, almighty will. That He has purposed the redemption
of a people, the salvation of a people by the redeeming power
of Christ's blood. and that He has predetermined,
predestinated us who are redeemed to be in Christ and with Christ
forever and like Christ. And this salvation is according
to the God who works everything after the counsel of His own
will, who hath been His counselor. All things are worked by Him
to that end. The salvation of His chosen ones. Who are these ones? Or verse
4 of that same chapter, Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ according as He has chosen us. So that God's purpose of electing
grace or His will in salvation might stand, might come to fruition,
might come to pass, might be executed. Said in Romans 9, God
says to one sinner, I love you, and to another, I hate you. So
that his will would be done in electing grace. He expressed
his love, his distinguishing, gracious, almighty love. And again, sinners don't object
to this gospel and despise the ones who preach it because they
don't understand it. They object to this gospel and despise the
ones who preach it because they hate God back. You see, God said, I hate Esau. Esau hated him back. And that's
why this is so offensive to them. But I'll tell you this, if you
hate God right now, he might just save you anyway. Just because you hate him, it
doesn't mean he hates you. If He does hate you, you'll hate
Him back. But if you hate Him, He might just save you anyway.
That's what He did for me. Even if you hate Him, if it be
His glorious will in Christ Jesus, He'll save you anyway. May God
make known to us all the mystery of His will and the salvation
of sinners by Christ and His precious blood. And may we by
his grace find it to be good news indeed. To his glory, let's
pray.