Now turn with me to Colossians
chapter 1. Colossians chapter 1. We're looking
again at verse 9. For this cause we also, since
the day we heard of it, do not cease to pray for you and to
desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of His will
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Last week I preached from this passage concerning
the will of God and I took a run at it. I wanted to do it. I wanted to show you the will
of God and its character, its nature, But I want to take a
run at it again. It is a vast subject. It is an
infinite subject because God's will is a reflection of His character. A reflection of His character
which is holy and eternal, just and pure. And Paul says in this
letter to these believers for this cause, because of their
faith, because of their hope and love, which came to them
by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit through preaching
of the gospel, he gives thanks to God and prays for them. Now is this not cause for joy
and thanksgiving to hear of others' faith? I know we spend a lot
of time concerned with our own faith, our own self. But when
we hear of others who believe on Christ, is that not cause
for us to give thanks to God? It should be a great cause. Most
of the time, we often, when we hear it, we first of all begin
to doubt it. We doubt it. That's just our
carnal mind. We doubt that there's anybody
else but us. I know we get the Elijah syndrome. We say, oh Lord,
there's no one else but us, but me. Why don't you just kill me
and take me home, but there's nobody else. Isaiah said, who
has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the
Lord revealed? But when we hear of these, Paul gave thanks. And even so should we. We should
give thanks when we hear of others' faith in Christ. And until they
prove otherwise, we should be thankful. We should thank God
for them. I know in our day, this church
here, this church of Colossae was what we would call a revival. There was something that happened
in this church, in this group of people that Paul had never
been. And they believed this man of
Paphris came with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And all of a
sudden a church was raised up. A group of believers. I don't know how big they were
or how small they were. But there was a church. It was
a revival. The Lord quickened the dead, and we should give
thanks for this. Now today, revivals come by the
stirring up of the flesh. That's what men call revival
today, is if they just get people crying and weeping and down the
aisle, they say that's a revival. They try to stir up the emotions,
and it becomes nothing more than a circus. These men try to stir up emotions. They tell stories of inspiring
stories. They use the Word of God, but
they are not sin of God. And how do we know this? Even
by their message. I'll tell you, you can know if
a true revival comes by this. What message are they preaching?
What message are they preaching? Are they preaching a message
of the gospel of God's grace? Well, then we can have hope that
there's a revival there. This man Epaphras, Paul knew
there was a revival because he knew the message that Epaphras
preached. He said Epaphras was a fellow
laborer in the gospel that Paul preached. And so when Epaphras
said, hey Paul, people have come and they believed on Christ,
Paul was able then to give thanks for a true revival. You know
a true revival by its message. These preachers, are the same. These false preachers who stir
up revivals are those that God mentions in Jeremiah's time.
Look at these preachers in Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 14. Jeremiah
14 and verse 13. Listen what Jeremiah said. Then
said I, O Lord God, behold the prophets say unto them. This
is what false prophets say. You shall not see the sword,
neither shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace
in this place. Then the Lord said unto me, The
prophets that prophesy lies in my name, I sent them not, neither
have I commanded them, neither spake unto them, neither prophesied
unto you in a false vision and divination, and a thing of naught
and the deceit of their heart. Jeremiah said, God, you told
me that destruction's coming. But these guys, they're saying,
no, it's not coming, don't worry, peace, peace. God said, no, I've not sent them.
Even so God has sworn in His wrath that all unrighteousness
and ungodliness of sinners shall perish. Isn't that the Word of
God? Doesn't the Word of God declare judgment is coming? It
does. God says, I will destroy the
wicked. I will come in judgment and they
shall perish. That unless you are as righteous
as God, you will otherwise perish in eternal hell. This is God's
message. Yet false prophets cry, peace,
peace, when there is no peace. They say to men, smile, God loves
you. God wants you to have the best
in this life. They prophesy that all you have
to do is your best and Jesus will make up the rest. This is
the message of lies. This is the message of false
revival. All you have to do is make your
decision for Jesus and he'll save you and you can go on in
your life in peace. These are lies. The Lord said,
these prophets speak lies in my name, and I sent them not. But listen, true revival comes
by the sovereign Spirit of God. It doesn't come by the stirring
up of men's emotions. It doesn't come by entertainment. It doesn't come by inspirational
stories and plays and music and all of these things that man
thinks revival is. Revival comes by the sovereign
Spirit of God upon a congregation of men and women under the preaching
of the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is how
revival comes. This is how men are saved. by
the grace of God through the preaching of the gospel. It comes without merit of men.
It comes at God's appointed time and place. Remember what Jesus
said about the Holy Spirit? He said, The wind bloweth where
it listeth. Where's revival? wherever God
lists it, wherever God sends His Spirit. That's where revival
is. That's where men are saved and
come to faith and hope and love for Christ. He said, The wind
bloweth where it listeth, you can hear the sound thereof, but
you can't tell where it's coming and where it's going. Even so is everyone that is born
of the Spirit of God. It is the prayer of God's people
that the Spirit should blow here. That's my prayer. That's my desire,
is that the Spirit come and blow upon the hearts of the dead.
Whether one or one million, it matters not. I desire that the Spirit of God
come and teach you That's my heart. Every time I
preach is that the Spirit of God come and blow on your heart. And if we're allowed to hear
the sound of the Spirit of God and see its effects as Paul did
into this church, we should be thankful. You know what? I do
see its effects. I do see the Spirit of God's
effects on you, his people. And that just thrills me. That
gives me such hope and encouragement in preaching the gospel. Truly,
we don't see it on our own selves. We don't see it on our own selves,
but I know this, God's people see it in each other. God's people
see it and they give thanks. And now Paul as a pastor, go
back to your text, he says this, I've heard, because we've heard
of your faith and love, we've not ceased to pray for you, and
this is what Paul prayed, that you be filled with the knowledge
of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. So obviously,
Paul is desiring that these believers grow. in the knowledge of the
will of God, which is His revealed will. That's what Paul's talking
about. He wants you to grow in those
things of God that are revealed in His Word. Now we looked last week at the
nature of God's will. and how it is a reflection of
His attributes. The will of God is a reflection
of His attributes. In other words, God is eternal.
God is eternal. Therefore, His will is eternal. Acts 15 verse 18, Known unto
God are all His works. When? From the beginning. From
the beginning. Second of all, God's will is
immutable. In Malachi 3 and verse 6, God says, I am the Lord, I
change not. So God is immutable, therefore
His will is immutable. It's unchangeable. In Isaiah
42, it says, From the beginning, from ancient
times, God declares the things that were not yet done, saying,
My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. So God's will is immutable, it's
eternal, and God is all-powerful and all-wise. Therefore, His
will is executed in wisdom and power. How many times a day do
you will to do something? Most people, not me, most people
have a list. I'm not that organized. I kind
of fly by the seat of my pants. My wheel is pretty much up in
the air until it happens, until something. I just don't, because
I've ran into this too many times, I don't have the power to do
what I want to do. I just don't have it. I'm determined
to do something, and I want to do something, but I just don't
have the power to fulfill it. God's will is no such creature. God is omnipotent, all-powerful,
and all-wise. How many times have you determined
to do something, but you don't know the whole thing? You don't know
the whole story. God knows all things, and His
will is done in wisdom. He does it on purpose. Everything
God does is on purpose. Most of the things that we do
that would be considered good are accidental. I did something and it did somebody
good. I didn't intend on that, but
it just happened that way. God's not that way. His will
is on purpose. His will is one of purpose and
one of wisdom. Our God is in the heavens and
hath done whatsoever He pleased. Whatsoever he pleased. And because
God is all wise, his will is above reproach. Have you questioned
the will of God before? That's a rhetorical question,
because I know you have. You have. God's will is above reproach,
friends. We are not ever to take the will
of God and put it under our microscope of judgment. Who are you to reply
against God? Consider even the wicked are
under the will of God. The rebel, the hater of God and
those vessels of wrath fitted for destruction. What are they
doing? They are doing the will of God. Unknowingly, unwillingly, but
they are doing it. You consider the men that crucified
our Lord. We know this, that he was taken
by wicked hands and crucified, but he was given by the determinant
counsel and foreknowledge of God. God willed it so. Now let us look more closely
at the will of God itself as it is related to us by his word. First of all, what is God's will
concerning the redemption of man? That's what I desire to
know. That affects me most personally. What is God's will regarding
the redemption of man, above all the concerns of life? And
there are many. You have concerns this morning.
You have concerns about your family. You have concerns about
your friends. You have concerns about what
you're going to do today and tomorrow and the next day. You
have concerns about your health and about your well-being and
about your money and your retirement. You have plenty of concerns. But I tell you, none of them
are as valuable as the concern of the redemption of your soul.
None of them. Our Lord asked this question. What will it profit you if you
gain the whole world and lose your own soul? What a most astounding question.
Does that question not pierce through all of the crap and right
to the heart? It just does. It pierces right
to the point. What if you gain everything you
want and still lose your immortal
soul? What good is it? What will you
give in exchange for your soul? Oh, Jesus said, for the Son of Man
shall come. You hear that? The Son of Man
shall come. Now this, this doesn't strike
fear in the hearts of men, but it should. He's not going to
come as a babe in a manger The second time. He said, the Son
of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His holy angels. To do what? What is He going
to do when He comes? He is going to judge you and
me and all men. He is going to sit on His judgment
throne and He is going to judge men in strict, holy righteousness. And those who are self-righteous,
those who trust in their works to be accepted, they're comfortable
with this. Why, I don't know, but they are. They are deceived to think and
most sincerely believe that Jesus' blood plus their good works are
going to earn rewards. of God. They sincerely believe
that. But oh, how their hearts will
sink down to hell when Christ comes, whom they profess to follow,
in whose name they preach and cast out devils, in whose name
they took mission trips and built houses for the poor, fed the
starving children Those who trusted in their own
works and free will in any degree, mixed with the blood and righteousness
of Christ, when they close their eyes, fully expect to be received
of Christ, will open them in eternal hell. Jesus said, accept your righteousness,
listen, accept your righteousness, exceed. the righteousness of
the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter into the
kingdom of heaven. So if the righteousness of the
most devout men that ever lived, there was no one more devout
to the law of God than the scribes and the Pharisees, you won't
find them. Even that man in the funny hat in Rome, he's not even
close to what the Pharisees were. The Pharisees were 10 times as
self-righteous as that man was. And Jesus said, except your righteousness
is better than that, you won't ever enter the kingdom of heaven. The righteous keepers of the
law was not enough. How then will your righteousness
stand? Are you convinced Are you convinced
of your interest in this to know the will of God as to how sinners
might be just before God? I have an interest in this because
my soul is very interesting to me. I desire to know how it is
that this sinner might be accepted with God. I want to know God's
will about this. Jesus did say that when he comes,
he will give every man the reward according to his own works. He will separate the righteous
from the wicked, the sheep from the goats, the chaff from the
wheat, and he will say to those that are self-righteous, self-righteous, those who trust
in their works, depart from me, you that work iniquity, I never
knew you. But to the righteous He will
say, Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from before the foundation of the world. Therefore we know that according
to the Word of God there are some who will not taste death.
This is the will of God. This is the will of God. That
some will not taste death when He comes, but will be ushered
into eternal life. This is the will of God, that
some be accepted. But how can this be, seeing that
we are sinners? How can one be righteous who
has already sinned? In Ezekiel, God says this, The
soul that sinneth, it shall die. And he said, the righteous, you
that are righteous, listen, if you commit one sin, your righteousness
will not even be spoken of again. That's what righteousness is.
God is telling you righteousness is an all or none principle.
It's not part righteousness and unrighteousness. Either you are
righteous or you're not. You're either innocent or you're
guilty. There's no middle ground. Righteousness is an all-or-none
principle. It must be perfect. It must be
absolute obedience and free from corruption. Otherwise,
it's not righteousness. So then, no man can be justified
by his works. This is what the will of God
is. The will of God is this. No man's going to be justified
by his works. Why? You and I have already sinned. We have already sinned. Therefore,
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
set, because the law is the knowledge of sin. By the law only comes
guilt, not salvation. Behold then the will of God as
to how sinners are accepted. Go to Romans 3. Behold the will
of God of how sinners are accepted. Romans chapter 3, it says in
verse 20, By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified
in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But,
now, the righteousness of God without the law is clear. It's manifested. witnessed by
the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God which
is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. The will of God is this in redemption. The will of God is that Jesus
Christ, His Son, which was testified in the Old Testament, should
come and fulfill righteousness. by his faith. You want to know
how righteousness is fulfilled? By the faith of Jesus Christ. Just as the scripture says, by
the faith of Christ. Do you realize that our faith
does not produce righteousness? Even the strongest of faith does
not produce righteousness. Faith receives the righteousness
already produced. That's what it does. It receives
it. Behold, it was by one man that
sin entered into the world. And by his sin all men died and
were made sinners. Even so, it is the will of God
that some sinners should be made righteous by the obedience of
one man, Jesus Christ. The will of God is perfect obedience
that we could not obtain. Yet Jesus, the Son of God, did
obtain it when he said this, Lo, I come to do thy will, O
God. This he did, as the scripture
reveals. The Lord is well pleased for
his righteousness. It was God's redemptive will
that Jesus should be the representative of some of Adam's race, so that
he should provide for them a perfect obedience of the law that we
could not provide for ourselves. And not only so, but remember,
it is the will of God to punish sin. Not only did God will that
you must be righteous, He also willed that sin must be punished. The wicked shall and must suffer
the justice of God. And listen, if Jesus only provided
righteousness for us but didn't satisfy justice, we would have
no hope. I always look at it like this.
If you were working in the coal mine, you got coal dust from
head to toe, and somebody were to give you a white robe, what
would that do? If you weren't washed from the
coal, it would only corrupt the robe. Christ providing a perfect
righteousness must first wash us of our sins before He robes
us in His righteousness. And this is what He did by His
death. By His death. This is the will
of God that the Son of God should give His life a ransom for sin. That's what God's will is. God's
will is that Christ should lay down his life. He said, the Father
loveth me because I lay down my life. This command have I
received of my Father. This is the will of God, that
Christ lay down his life for the sheep. Behold then the crucified
Son of God as he was lifted up from the earth. There he stood
as our high priest and sacrifice for sin, and as God imputed our
sins to him who knew no sin. For what reason? Why would God
will such a thing as to crucify his own son? That we should be made the righteousness
of God in him. This is the will of God. That
you, His people, should be made the righteousness of God in Him. This is His will for you. Behold
the mystery of the gospel. The innocent was made to bear
the guilt of the guilty. He bore our guilt. Is this not
a mystery? Can you find anything in human
experience by which you can impose or transfer guilt? You can't. You may take the punishment
for somebody else, but you can't take their guilt. This is something
only God did when He made Christ's sin for us. See, God doesn't
punish the innocent. Isn't that against His holy nature? Therefore Christ was made to
bear our guilt and this was the will of God The will of God that
he should bear our sin that we should be made righteous To whom
then will God give this righteousness now? We know it's the will of
God to judge men in strict holiness We know it is God's will to punish
sin and we know this that some are God has willed to save. God has willed that His Son provide
righteousness and atonement. This is the will of His redemption. So then, to whom will He give
it? Do you have an interest? To whom will He give it? Not to all men, we know that. But he will give it to them who
believe. Isn't that what the scripture
said? Even the righteousness of God,
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ, listen, unto all and
upon all them that what? Believe. See, it wasn't your
faith, believer, that obtained righteousness. It was His faith. But it is by our faith that is
given to us as a gift of God's grace by which we receive this
righteousness. Oh, how we gladly receive this
righteousness. How we gladly embrace this, that
Christ is my righteousness. Christ is my redemption. Christ
is my sanctification. Christ is my all. He's my salvation. We gladly receive this. And this
righteousness is upon us who believe. All faith in Christ
is not a mere act of the will, no, not a mere human decision,
but rather evidence of God's redemptive will on the soul of
man. You who believe, it is because
God raised you from the dead, you believe. is because God has
opened your eyes to see the gospel of His dear Son and to love it.
These men of Colossae, these people of Colossae, they were
unbelievers until God sent them a messenger. And by that messenger,
the Holy Spirit used it to open their eyes and give them such
faith. And now Paul desires them to
know more of this will of God's redemption. Oh, how we could
swim out into the depths of this redemption. And you know what? You can drink this into your
soul, and it would never be empty. How many times have you needed
forgiveness? Can you count it? How many times
have you asked for forgiveness? And you know what you found? Forgiveness. If we confess our sins, It is doubtful that he'll ever
forgive us. Is that what the word says? No. He is faithful and just to forgive
us all our sins. Believer, sin not! Little children,
sin not. But when you sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, our righteousness. The righteous are advocate. Faith in Christ is a gift of
God's grace, friends. It's not a mere act of the will.
Although the will is involved, it's not just an act of will.
It is a miracle that you believe it all. It's a miracle. In John 1, the scripture says,
as many as received him. Have you received him? I've received him as a beggar
starving would receive bread. Not out of want, but out of necessity. I needed Therefore, I received
Him. If you don't have a need of redemption,
you'll never receive Him. But see, God, before He allows
us to receive Him, makes that need in our heart. And when we
see our need, and we see what God has supplied in Christ, we
gladly receive it. As many as received Him gave
He the right to be called the sons of God. You know this, you have a right
to be called the son of God, you who believe. It is your God-given right. Sonship is a God-given right
to those who believe. Not to everyone, to those who
believe. Which were born. Now how did
we come into this sonship? which were born, not of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, nor of kinship, not of
blood. In other words, I'm not going
to pass this to my son. I'm not going to pass salvation
to him. I've only passed sin to him. You see, not by the will
of man, not by the blood, not by the will of the flesh, but
by the what? Will of God. Believer, I desire
that you know and be filled with the knowledge of His will. It
was His will that you believe. It was His will that you were
born again. It was His will you received Christ. And it will be His will to sustain
you in faith till the end. That's his will. Now, I tell
you, you should be filled with the knowledge of that because
you need that. You need that. You still live in this old man,
don't you? You still battle with this flesh
and listen, there is no reprieve. There's no reprieve. I went to Korea when I was in
the service and there is a A parallel there, the 38th parallel, the
demilitarized zone. In other words, there's a truce
between those two countries. Now it's not really, there's
no war going on. There's a truce. Listen to me,
there is no truce with the flesh. We can have no truce with him.
Not if we believe in Christ. Therefore, it is your Father's
will that you know His will for you. Which is what? Faith in
His Son. Trusting always in the blood
and righteousness of Christ and never trusting the flesh. That's His will for you. That's
His will. It is His will. Listen believer it is his will
that you should be forever saved. I Told you God's will is eternal
God's will is unchangeable and It is his will that you who believe
should receive the kingdom of heaven Listen, when Christ comes
again and he receives us unto himself, listen to his words.
It is your father's good pleasure. It's your father's goodwill that
you should receive this kingdom. Not because of you, but because of Christ. Because He puts you in such a
union with His Son that you can never be separated from Him.
This is His will. So then, what in time shall ever
separate you from Him? What in your flesh or in the
world of principalities and powers and rulers of darkness, what
power have they to separate us from our God? They have no power
at all. Not against His will. And you
should be filled with the knowledge of this will. And listen, not
just in your head. Notice what Paul says, and I'll
close. That you be filled with the knowledge
of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. If all you get is an academic
education of the will of God, it'll only vainly puff you up.
If that's all you got, if all you can say is, I know,
yeah, I know, I got, okay, yeah, I got, I understand, sure. I'm
talking about getting it in your heart. That's what Paul desires, that
this not just go to your head, but to really affect your heart. That this would stir up our affection
toward God. That the knowledge of His will
would cause us to walk, that's what he tells them next, that
you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing. Paul said, I beseech you because
of the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, a wholehearted sacrifice, giving up everything in this
world for Christ. Not because you have to, because
you want to. It is my heart's desire that
Christ be everything. And the more I grow in the will
of God, the more I understand the will of God, the more it
moves me to serve God. Good works is not a bad word. good works as far as our salvation
is, but because of our salvation it's not. God hath foreordained
that you should walk in these good works. And what moves us
to these works? What moves us to these good things?
It is the will of God! That's what moves us, the gospel
of His redemptive will. That's what moves me. That's
what should move you. And only the Spirit of God can
put this in our hearts. Only He can touch our hearts
in such a way as this will would not puff us up, but bring us
low. Should not we be the who have
received grace? Should we not be the most gracious
people that ever lived? Should we not be the most humble
people? If knowledge of His will is only
in our head, pride will be the weed that springs
up. But I pray that the knowledge
of his will would affect our hearts and not just our heads. That this wouldn't become just
a cold letter, but a living word to us. That's my prayer for you. That's
my prayer for me. as that He fill me with the knowledge
of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. His will of redemption, which
is in Christ Jesus. I pray God bless it to you.