Turn with me to 2 Timothy chapter
1. 2 Timothy chapter 1. I am still consumed with this
book, and for this Bible study, I'm still consumed with verse
one. Last week, for a Bible study
and a morning message, we were in 2 Timothy 1.1, and for this
Bible study this morning, we'll be in 2 Timothy 1.1. It says, Paul Paul, an apostle of Jesus
Christ, by the will of God. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God. Our subject matter this morning
is the will of God, God's will, as opposed to man's will. God's way as opposed to man's
way. God's desire as opposed to man's
desire. The point of this study being
that God's will and way and desire is the only one that's going
to be done. It's the only one that's going
to be done. Man has a will. I want to make this very clear
for just a moment, okay? Man has a will, but we're not
going to spend much time talking about it because it doesn't matter. It does not matter. It doesn't
mean anything. It can't do anything. Nothing good anyway. Because
it's not good, it's evil. And I'm talking about all of
mankind. I'm talking about all men and women by nature as we're
born into this world. I'm talking about everybody in
this room. Mankind has a will, but it's
not a good will, it's an evil will. It's not light, it's darkness. It's not free. It's bound by
sin. And man's evil, dark, sinful
will is just going to be done away with in the end. It has no ground to stand on. It means nothing. It flat does not matter. Man's
will does not matter. Man says, this is what the heart
of man says, especially after some truth is spoken out of the
scripture concerning God and concerning who Jesus Christ really
is. Man says by nature, I will not
have that man reign over me. Too bad. He reigns over us anyway. It's just too bad. Man says,
I will decide my own destiny. No, we won't. You can say that
all you want to. But the eternal destiny of every
man and woman on earth was, according to this word, predetermined,
foreordained, fitted for, chosen to, ordered by who? God Almighty. God Almighty. No matter what man's will is,
it does not matter at all. It means nothing because the
only will that will stand in the end is God's will. Everything
that is is by the will of God. Everything that is. All right.
So verse one says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will
of God. Paul, an apostle by the will
of God. Saul of Tarsus thought he was gonna have his will and
way with God, didn't he? But God revealed to him otherwise. And he said, I'm an apostle.
An apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God. That was God's
will concerning me. Now with all that being said,
what is the will of God? We're gonna look for a minute
at God's will, the will of God. Ephesians 5 verse 17 says, be
ye not unwise. Don't be unwise. Be ye not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is. I want us, I
want all of us, me included, to know what the will of the
Lord is, what God's will is. Not that we could understand
the fullness of it, but the root foundation of it. the root foundation
that he has declared in his word. I mean, you know, we talk about
getting down to brass tacks, the foundation of God's will. I want us to know what that is.
And to know the will of God, we need to realize that God,
when we're talking about God, the will of God, we need to realize
that God is three persons, who cannot be separated. To know the will of God, we need
to know the will of the Father, the will of the Son, and the
will of the Spirit. And you say, well, Gabe, I thought
you just said they couldn't be separated. They can't. It's the same will. carried out by each person or
each member of the Godhead. So let's start with this. The
will of the Father. What is the will of God the Father? What is the heart of it that
he has declared in his word? Turn with me to John chapter
six. John 6, verse 39. And this is the Father's will,
which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should
lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day. This is the will of God the Father,
that every soul that he chose to salvation, God the Father
chose a people to save. He chose sinners to save. He did that before the foundation
of this world. He did it before the world was
ever made. And the will of God the Father
is that every soul that he chose to salvation and and specifically
placed in the hands of Jesus Christ. Christ would save them. And would save all of them. Not losing one of them. but raising every soul that he
chose back up to glory on the last day. That is the will of God the Father
concerning Christ. Verse 39, this is the Father's
will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day. And this is the will of God the
Father concerning the people that He placed in the hands of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That was His will concerning
Christ. And this is His will concerning
the people that He placed in the hands of Christ. Verse 40.
And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which
seeth the Son and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life,
and I will raise Him up at the last day. What is God the Father's
will concerning His chosen people? Here it is. See the Son and believe
on Him. See the Son and believe on Him.
What do you mean, see the Son? See the Son how? See Him in His
Word. Most people naturally think that
this book is talking about us. But it's not. It's talking about
Jesus Christ. This is all about the Lord Jesus
Christ. See Him in His Word. See Him in His work. There is a work to be done in
this book. Who's going to do it? It's not
going to be me and you. It can only be Jesus Christ. To see him is to see him in his
glory. It's to see him high and lifted
up. Not lowly and helpless and the
same as you and me. which is the natural way of man
in seeing him. He is far above everything. To
see him is to see him in everything and man in nothing. It's to see
him in all things and man in no things. To see Christ is to
be blinded to man. And to see man in all this is
to be blinded to Christ. If we see man in this word, and
what that means is, this word says, if you want to go to heaven,
you have to do this. So if we say, okay, men and women,
if we want to go to heaven, we have to do this. We've missed
Christ. To see man in this, you better
love your neighbor as yourself. I tell you this, we don't. I
love me way more than I love my neighbor. I like my neighbors
on both sides of me. They are sweet people. We help
them and they help us. But I love me more. I'm sorry
to say that. Honestly. Only Christ, look at
the cross of Calvary. Though he was rich, yet he made
himself to be poor. Only Christ loved his neighbor
as himself. That's seeing Christ in these
things. Seeing him in these things. To
see man in this is to be blinded to Christ. If we see man in this
word, and man in this work, and man getting the glory and the
reward, then we haven't seen Christ. We haven't seen Christ.
So what is the will of God the Father? Verse 39, this is the
Father's will which has sent me, that of all which he hath
given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. That means salvation is of the
Lord Jesus Christ. His will is that I do it, And
He did it. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life. And I will raise Him up at the
last day. God the Father's will is for
God the Son to accomplish the work He gave to Him. That's the
Father's will. Now what is the Son's will? What
is the will of God the Son? Look at John chapter 4 with me. John 4 verse 34. Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that
sent me and to finish his work. The father's will was to send
the son to accomplish a work. And the son's will was to accomplish
the work that the father sent him to do. My meat is to do the will of
him that sent me and to finish his work. The father said, my
will is for you to save the people I gave to you. And the son said,
my will is to save the people you gave to me. My will is your
will. Your will and my will are one. They're one. Look at John five,
verse 30. John chapter five, verse 30. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
can of mine own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge. And my judgment is just because
I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which
hath sent me. All that he's saying is, my will
doesn't veer one degree from my Father's will. I and my Father
are one, one heart, one desire, one will. Hold your place right
here in John and look at Psalm 40. Psalm 40. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And in verse six, he said, sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened. Burnt offering and sin offering
hast thou not required, what he's saying is, all of those
Old Testament rituals of the law, they never put away one
sin. He's saying this to his father.
The blood of bulls and goats never took away one sin. They never offered one drop of
appeasement to God. Verse seven. Then said I, lo,
I come, In the volume of the book it
is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. And then our Lord spends the
rest of the psalm describing what it take or what it took
to do the Father's will. Verse 12, he said, innumerable
evils have compassed me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head. Therefore, my heart faileth me.
This is his cry from the cross. My God, why have you forsaken
me? This is his substitution for his people. This is him bearing
the sins of his people. Verse 13, be pleased, O Lord,
to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me. That's what it took to accomplish
the Father's will, to accomplish the salvation of God's people.
It took the substitution of the cross. What is God the Son's will? To
do the will of the Father. He delights in the saving will
of the Father. Look back at John. This time
go to chapter six. John chapter six, verse 37. The Lord said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. Why not? It's because it's the will of
my Father to draw them to me. Look at verse 44. He said, No man can come to me
except the Father which hath sent me draw him. If a sinner
comes to Christ, the Father is drawing that sinner to Christ.
And if it's the will of the Father to draw that sinner to Christ,
Christ will in no wise cast that sinner out. They have the same
will. No man can come to me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, and I will raise him
up at the last day. And he did. He will and He did. He raised Him up when He was
raised from the dead and He will ultimately raise those people
up when He comes back to get them. So God the Father's will
is that the Son save every soul the Father gave to Him. And God
the Son's will is that He save every soul the Father gave to
Him. Now what is God the Spirit's will? Turn to John 16. John 16 verse 5, our Lord said,
but now I go my way to him that sent me, and none of you asketh
me, whither goest thou? But because I have said these
things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless,
I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away, for if
I go not away, the Comforter, and that's the Spirit of God,
the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will
send him unto you, and when he is come, he will reprove or convince
the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, Of sin, because
they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go
to my father and you see me no more. Of judgment, because the
prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but you cannot bear them now. How be it when he,
the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will
show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine and shall show it unto you. All things that
the Father hath are mine, Therefore said I that he shall take of
mine and shall show it unto you." It is the will of God the Spirit
to reveal the will of God the Father and God the Son. He will. His will is to take
the things of Christ and to show it to God's people. He's called
the Comforter because it is His will to comfort God's people
with the words, with the revelation of God's will concerning them. Look with me at Romans chapter
8. Romans 8 verse 14, it says, for as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received
the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the
spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit
itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children
of God. And if children then heirs, heirs
of God and joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with
him, that we may be also glorified together. The will of the Spirit
is to bear witness to God's people that they are joint heir members
of God's family. Chosen by the Father, redeemed
by the Son, adopted into the family of God. I love verse 26
right here. It says, likewise, the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought. But the Spirit itself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And
he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the
Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God. It is the will of the Spirit
to create a living union between Christ and his people, speaking
on behalf of God to our hearts and speaking on behalf of us
to God's heart. revealing more and more of this
eternal union that we have in Christ. And I'll go ahead, let's
go to Ephesians 1, I'll close with this, okay? Ephesians 1. Let's see if we can notice this.
Okay. This is the will and the work of the father. All right. Here's the will and the work
of the father. Ephesians one verse three. Blessed
be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who had blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
according as He hath 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 His will. That is the will and the work
of the Father, all right? Here is the will and the work
of the Son. Verse six. To the praise of the
glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the
Beloved, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins according to the riches of his grace. Now here is the
will and the work of the Spirit. Verse eight, wherein he hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of his will, according to His good pleasure
which He hath purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the
fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on 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. that we should be to
the praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ, in whom you
also trusted after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed you were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession
unto the praise of His glory. That is the will of God. That's
the will of God. The Father chose, the Son redeemed,
the Spirit called. That's the only will that matters. That's the only will that will
stand. And in closing, I'll repeat that
God's will concerning us is to see the Son in whom all of this
was done and believe on Him. Seek God's will in Christ and
believe on it. What must we do that we might
work the works of God? Someone asked the Lord that one
time. He said, here's the work of God. Believe on the one whom
the Father sent. Believe on him, hear him, bow
to him, see all our need in him, and be thankful. First Thessalonians
5.18 says, In everything give thanks, for this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Lord, thy kingdom come,
thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Amen. You're
dismissed.