Turn with me, if you would, now
to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. We just looked at verses 1 and
2 for our Bible study which say, I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this
world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable and perfect
will of God." For our message this morning, I want us to look
at what He said right there at the end of verse 2. He said that
you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will
of God. He said prove the will of God. Prove it. He said it's good,
it's acceptable, and it's perfect. Prove means test it. It means examine it to see if
it's so. That's what prove means. Paul said examine His will. Prove His will. And it will be
proven to you that it's good, It's acceptable and it's perfect. His will, good, acceptable, and
perfect. Now I hope this will be a real
comfort to you this morning. I hope this will be a real comfort.
I believe this is gonna be a true help to any person who has never
seen this. I believe this will be relieving. And I believe it'll be encouraging.
And I pray, I sincerely pray, that this will be proven to us. His will will be proven to us
and proven to our hearts. We're gonna look at what God
has recorded concerning His will. God's will. The will of the Father,
the will of the Son, His will concerning us? We're going to
look at His will. And we're going to begin right
here. If your Bible has a center margin,
I know not every Bible does, but if yours has one, you may
see where it says next to will of God, there's a reference to
1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Turn with me over there to 1
Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 1 says,
Furthermore, then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you
by the Lord Jesus, that as you have received of us how you ought
to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more.
For you know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. Verse 3 says, For this is the
will of God, your sanctification. The word even is in italics.
That means it was added by the translators. This is the will
of God, your sanctification, that you should abstain from
fornication. that every one of you should
know how to possess His vessel in sanctification and honor,
not in the lust of concupiscence, which is lust in a deeper form. It's a deep, wicked-y speaking
in regard to fornication. Not in the lust of concupiscence,
even as the Gentiles, which know not God, that no man go beyond
and defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord
is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and
testified. For God hath not called us to
uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth,
despiseth not man, but God. who hath also given unto us His
Holy Spirit." So that's the will of God concerning us. Alright? That's God's will concerning
us. No fornication. Only conduct yourself in honor. No lust of any kind. No uncleanness. And don't despise anybody. How have we done? How are we
doing? How pure have we kept ourselves? First thing, he said, the will
of God is that you should abstain from fornication, which includes
and is the same thing as adultery. Someone says, well, I have abstained
from that. No, you haven't. What do you mean? I haven't.
I've never physically engaged in that outside of the covenant
of marriage, and I've never stepped out on that covenant with someone
else. I've never committed that sin. Well, let's see something very
quickly about our sin. Alright, turn with me if you
would to Matthew chapter 5. Matthew 5 verse 27 says, you have heard that it was said
by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say
unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her
hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." Many
people believe, many, many people believe that sin is an outward
act, but it's not. That's not so. I hope we really
get a hold of this. Many people believe that sin
is an outward act. It's not. Sin is an inward act. It's something that starts and
happens and is performed and is finished and is wrought completely
in the heart. In the heart. And sometimes,
only sometimes, it manifests itself outwardly. Many people believe that as long
as it doesn't come out, It's not sin. And that's why they
think they can count their sins. Most people believe they can
count their sins. Well, I only sinned one time yesterday. Or
thankfully, I haven't sinned once yet today. That's not so. That's not so. The moment it
originates in the heart, it's sin. The truth is, rarely does it
come out. Rarely, hardly ever. Hardly ever. You think about this. All day
long, men and women are stifling thoughts and desires. All day
long. All day long, all night long.
Stifling thoughts and desires. If we actually lived outwardly,
like we live inwardly, we would all be in jail. You know we would. You know we would. If we lived
outwardly like we live. You know, you run conversations
in your mind with people and buddy, you have let them have
it. Or whatever the scenario may be. If we actually lived
outwardly like we live inwardly, we would all be in jail. So we need to understand two
realities regarding our sin. Number one, whether it manifests
itself outwardly or not is totally irrelevant. Sin is committed in the heart. Every now and then, evidenced
in the body, but committed in the heart. We are not sinners
Because we sin. We commit sins because we are
sinners. Sin is what we are. It's what
we are. It's what we are. It's only what
we do because it's what we are. It runs deep into every fiber
of our being. Every fiber. That's the first
reality we need to realize regarding our sin. It's a deep, deep infection
and we're never going to get away from it as long as we are
in this flesh. Why can't I get away from my
sin? It's because you are your sin. So that's the first thing. The
second one is God sees all of it. He knows all of it. You want to talk about horror
coming down on the soul? You want to talk about the fear
of the Lord setting in? God sees all of it. Turn with me to Mark chapter
2. Mark 2, verse 5, it says, when
Jesus saw their faith, where does faith come from? Where is
faith wrought? In the heart. When Jesus saw
their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, son, thy sins
be forgiven thee. Your sins are forgiven. But there
were certain of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their
hearts. These Bible people, scribes wrote
the Bible constantly, sitting there writing the Bible. I can
see them leaning up against the wall with their arms folded and
a smirk look on their face. They're not saying a word. They're
reasoning in their hearts. And they're saying inside their
own hearts, verse seven, why does this man thus speak blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
only? Amen, brother. That's right. And immediately when Jesus perceived
in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he was sitting
there watching them say that in their heart, listening to
what their heart was saying. And when he perceived it, he
said unto them, and the end of verse eight, why reason ye these
things in your hearts? He saw every bit of it. He saw
every bit of it. 1 Samuel 16 verse 7 says, For
the Lord seeth not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Right where all
of our sin originates. That's where the Lord's looking.
Right there. Now with all that being said,
it is the Lord's will, that all of His people should be sanctified."
We read it. That's His will. If that's what
it says, that's His will. It's His will that all of His
people should be sanctified, that all of them should be pure,
and all of them should be holy and good and acceptable and perfect. For that reason, of His own will, He did something
about it. That was His will. So of His own will, He did something
about it. The Scripture tells us what He
did. It plainly tells us what He accomplished
to accomplish His own will. He had a will and He accomplished
His own will. And we're going to read about
it in a few different scriptures, and the first one is in James
chapter 1. Turn with me over there to James
1. James 1, speaking of the Lord
our God, verse 18 says, Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth, that
we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. Now whose will was it? Was it
man's will or was it God's will? Was it man's free will or was
it God's free will? What does it say? Verse 18, it
says, of His own will. It was God's will. It was His will to beget His
people. That means born them. That's
what it means. Born them again. He told Nicodemus,
marvel not that I say unto you, you must be born again. Well, of His own will, it was
His own will, To beget His people again. To give life to His people
again. They had it in Adam. God breathed
the breath of life into Adam. He became a living soul. They
had it in Adam. They lost it in Adam. He died. And we're His children. We're
His seed. We died with Him. We died in Him. But it was His
will, it was God's will to give it to His people again. And His
will didn't stop there. He didn't just will to give His
people life again. Turn with me if you would to
Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 1 verse 5, it says,
"...having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will."
Verse 9 says, "...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." Who gets an inheritance? Children
do. being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things, after the counsel
of His own will." It was His will to give His people life
again. And with life coming back to
them, it was His will to adopt them into His family. Take them
to Himself. Ephesians 2 verse 18 says, For through Him we both have
access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore you are
no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the
chief cornerstone. Ephesians 3, verse 14 says, for
this cause, I bow my knees unto the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named." The whole family. It was His will to give
His people life again and to adopt them to be joint heir,
fellow citizens of His own family. But His will didn't stop there.
Turn with me to Galatians chapter 1. Galatians 1 verse 3 says, 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. It was His will to deliver His
people from all of that sin that plagued them. We're just so plagued
by it. So plagued by it. That deep infection
that ruined all of them. It was His will to totally set
them free from it. Totally rid them of it. He said,
I will deliver them from all that ruin. I'll save them from
their sin. How did he do that? This is how
he did it. He said, Father, thy will be
done. That's how he did it. Thy will
be done. If it pleases you to deliver
them from their sins by delivering me to their sins, thy will be
done. Thy will be done. It pleased
the Lord to make Christ to be that sin for us. And it pleased
the Lord to bruise Christ for that sin instead of us. Verse 4 says, 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. It was the Lord's
will to give His people life again. Life. It was the Lord's will to draw
them to Himself in adoption. It was the Lord's will to deliver
them from all of that sin that plagued them. And His will didn't
stop there. Turn with me to John chapter
6. John 6 verse 39 says, 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.
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." Because Christ
was willing to do this for God's people, God the Father raised
Christ up, high and lifted up. And it is the will of God that
every soul that Christ accomplished all of this for be lifted up
with Him. That's the will of God. Raised
up with Him. God the Father highly exalted
Him. And it is His will to exalt His
people with Him. Verse 40 says, It's everyone
which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him. That's the will of the
Father concerning us. Hear Him. Hear Him. Hear Christ. Bow to Him. Bow to Him. That's the command
of the Word of God. And when His Spirit accomplishes
that in a sinner, He hears and He responds. He bows. Bow to
Him. Believe on Him. That's the will
of God concerning us. Believe on Him. Look right here
at John 6, verse 28, it says, Then said they unto him, What
shall we do that we might work the works of God? We want to
work the works of God. What should we do? Verse 29,
Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God,
that you believe on Him whom He sent. That's the work. That's the will of God concerning
His people. And Paul said if we examine it,
If we dig into it and look into it, if we prove it, not only
will we find it to be so, we'll find it to be good, and we'll
find it to be acceptable, and we'll find it to be perfect.
And we do, don't we? We do. How good that is. This
was the will of God. Look at how vile and filthy they
are. This is my will that they might be sanctified, washed,
cleansed, pure. So this is my will. This is what
I'm going to do. It's good. It's acceptable. It's acceptable to God. It's
acceptable to us, isn't it? It's perfect. It's perfect. Thank God for His will. Thank
God for His will. Not ours, but His.