John chapter 7, the title of this message this morning
is this. Would you know the will of God? I would. I want to know God's
will. WOULD YOU KNOW THE WILL OF GOD
CONCERNING YOUR SALVATION? WOULD YOU KNOW THE WILL OF GOD
CONCERNING YOUR LIFE? LORD, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME
TO DO? Our Lord says this in verse 17
of John 7, IF ANY MAN WILL DO HIS WILL And the rendering of
that is if any man willing to do his will, that's the proper
reading, willing to do his will. Lord, make your will known to
me. Lord, make me to understand and
see that this gospel is the gospel. I had a man say to me some time
ago, why do you think you're right and everybody else is wrong?
I said, well, I don't think everybody else is wrong. I didn't say that. I do think God's right and everybody
else is wrong. As far as that goes, God's right. And there's one gospel. We are
told in the scriptures, there is one gospel. and only one. There's not versions of it. There's one gospel that God has
given to us. How do I know that the gospel
that I'm preaching, that I believe and that you believe is the gospel? How do I know that? Or the Lord
says this, if any man willing to do his will, to do it, to
know it, you have to know it to do it. To know it and to do
it. Now that means my will is put
aside. Not my will, but thine be done. Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. Thy will be done in my house
You see, it's alright. Most people, it's alright if
God's will is done in your house, but now in my house, you know,
I want to exercise my free will. But it's thy will be done. Throw
away all tradition, throw away all custom, throw away all that
I think, Because God said in Psalm, I believe it's Psalm 50,
but he said in the Psalm, you thought I was altogether like
yourself. You think I'm like you. Well,
now that's a problem because God's not like me. Scripture
says God's spirit, I'm flesh. By nature, I'm flesh. God is
spirit. God is holy. I'm unrighteous.
God is light, I'm darkness. So if I think God's like me,
I've got a wrong conception of God. the light in me if i think
god is like me the light in me is darkness and he said how great
is that darkness if the light in you is darkness and it's evident
if i think god's like me i don't know god i don't know him and the lord said if any man
is willing to do his will he shall know of the doctrine he shall know the truth He shall
know the gospel, the gospel that's of God, He shall know it. I am convinced the gospel of
the sovereign mercy of God, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
as the Redeemer, as the Christ, as God manifests in the flesh
as the effectual Redeemer. When He redeemed, He redeemed.
It was not an attempt. He actually redeemed those for
whom He died. That's the Gospel. I believe
that. That's the Gospel. If that's not the Gospel, there's
not one. But I can go to the Scripture, and this is so clear
here. I can take the Scriptures from
Genesis to Revelation, and I can see the Gospel. I can give you
the Gospel. Not a version of it. I can give
you the gospel from the seed of the woman to the lamb on the
throne. Christ is the gospel. And he
said, if any man willing to know that anybody here willing to
know that you Lord, I will. I will to know your will. To
bow to your will. I will to be saved, Lord, I want
to be saved, you want to be saved. I want to be saved from my sins.
You know, it went, when I heard the gospel, it went, it went,
because I'd made a confession when I was 20 years old. It went
from being saved from going to hell to being saved from my sins
and being made one with God. Salvation is being made one with
God. Salvation is being in fellowship with God. It's being in union
with God. It has, it's nothing to do with
the place. It has everything to do with
the person. It's my union to Christ. That's what salvation
is. That's what it is. Christ saving
me from my sins and making me holy and righteous in God's sight. And I can now have fellowship
with the Father. That's what John says in 1 John
1. Our fellowship is with the Father, with His Son, Jesus Christ. And I'm writing these things
to you that you might have fellowship with us. With us. If any man will do his will or
willing to do his will, bow to it, bow to it. He'll know of
the doctrine, he'll know the truth, whether it be of God,
whether this is of God, whether I speak of myself or from myself. I'm just speaking from myself,
which is a lot of that going on this morning. Preachers speaking
from themselves and not from the word of God, not from the
gospel. If you would know the will of
God, he said this, if you really will, if you really want to be
saved, if you really desire to be saved, if you really desire
to know God's will, he said he'll make it known. He said you'll
know it. There won't be no ifs, ands, or buts. You'll know it.
Now in verse 14, about four days into this feast, this Feast of
Tabernacles, the Lord went up into the temple to teach. as
he always wanted to do. He was always found there teaching.
He'd go there and he'd teach. It's his. That's his temple. All those types of pictures were
given of him to picture him. And I have no doubt when he went
there to teach, THAT HE PROBABLY TOOK THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES
AND SHOWED THEM AND GAVE THE SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THEM
IN RELATIONSHIP TO HIMSELF. I HAVE NO DOUBT HE PROBABLY DID
THAT. AND THEN WHEN HE OPENED HIS MOUTH, IN VERSE 15, AND WHEN
HE OPENED HIS MOUTH AND EXPOUNDED THE SCRIPTURES, THEY WERE AMAZED
AT HIS KNOWLEDGE. They were, you know, one place
they said, he doesn't speak like the scribes. He speaks with authority. He speaks with authority. He
didn't speak like a scribe, but with authority. And they were
amazed at his knowledge. And they said, they said, how,
how does this man know, know, have this learning, the letter,
how knoweth he letters, his learning, have he never learned? Having never learned, you know,
as God, He never learned. God knows all things. You know,
God has never learned one thing. God Almighty has never learned
one thing. Knowledge, He's perfect in knowledge. All knowledge resides in Him.
All wisdom resides in Him. He knows all things. Now, as
a man, He learned. But what they're asking is this,
how does he know this, having never gone to our school? That's
what they're saying. How does this Nazarene, how does
this poor carpenter's son, we know you, you're the carpenter's
son. How does He know? How does He have such knowledge?
How is He able to handle the Scriptures so elegantly and so
powerfully? How is He able to do that, having
never learned? Well, this is how. He's God. The Scriptures are His. He's
the embodiment of Scriptures. The Scriptures He's reading are
the ones that He gave, breathed, All Scripture is God-breathed.
He breathed the Scriptures He's reading. He is the embodiment
of the Scriptures. That's how He knows. That's how
He knows. And they marveled. They marveled.
You know, the Lord said this in John 5.39, Search the Scriptures. In other words, you search the
Scriptures. He knew they did. For in them,
you think you have eternal life. You think in searching the Scriptures,
the Old Testament Scriptures, the Law, you think in searching
them and keeping them, you have life. And they are they which testify
of me. I am life. Jesus Christ is life. And the Scriptures, listen, they
testify of me. They are about Me. This book,
as you have heard before, this book is a hymn book. It's a hymn
book. It's all about Him. It's all
about the Lord Jesus Christ. If you miss Christ, you've completely
missed the purpose of the Bible. If you miss Christ, this Bible
is useless. It's useless if you miss Him. It's all about Him. He's the
seed of the woman. He's the high priest. He's the
sacrifice. He's the blood of atonement.
He's the branch. He's the tabernacle. It's all
about him. It's all about him. And they're
saying, how knoweth this man letters? How does he know the
law and the interpretation of it without having gone to our
seminary? Well, they're his. And the Lord
makes it very clear, He makes it very clear in verse 16, that
what He's saying, that His message, His doctrine, He calls it His
doctrine, His teaching, His teaching was not of man. He didn't learn this from Moses.
He didn't learn this from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, the
Old Testament prophets. He didn't learn it from the prophets.
He is the prophet. A prophet shall come, Moses said,
like unto me, him shall you hear. He is the prophet of the prophets.
He's the messenger. He didn't get this from reading.
He didn't learn this from them. That's what he's saying. He makes it clear that what he's
saying, his teaching, his doctrine is not from any man. Paul sat at the feet of Gamaliel. He was known for that. But you
know, Paul didn't get his gospel from Gamaliel. He got it from
God. He got it from Jesus Christ.
That's where he got his gospel from. He got it from the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he, listen, he makes it clear
that he didn't get this from man. And as a man, he didn't
come up with it himself. I'm not speaking, it says here
of myself, but the, the, the, the correct rendering is I'm
not speaking from myself. That is, I didn't come up with
this. I'm not promoting myself. You see these, these, these,
these other gospels so-called, They are nothing more than men
promoting themselves. That's all it is. They're promoting
their ministry. Christ didn't promote His ministry.
He came to glorify the Father. He came to tell us the truth.
The truth. He's speaking here as the Mediator. He says there in verse 16, Jesus
answered them and said, My doctrine, My teaching, My message, Who
hath believed our report, to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
The report, the message, he said, my doctrine is not mine, but
his that sent me. He said in another place, as
I hear, I speak. They were hearing God speak to
them right in their presence. Standing in their presence, the
mighty God, The God of Creation is speaking to them. He's speaking
here now as a Mediator. As I hear I speak. The source
of His doctrine is Divine. It's from above. You'd think
we would get on the edge of our seat, don't you? You'd think
that here we are this morning We have God's Word open. You
think we would get up on the edge of our seat and listen? That it would arrest our attention?
God speaking to us? Seriously? God speaking to us by His Word
and by His Spirit. It's not merely from a human
mind. What I'm teaching, he says, is
not from a human mind or from a school of learning on this
earth. It's from heaven. God sent the
gospel to us. He didn't send it to the fallen
angels. You know, they have no savior. They have no savior. God left them alone. God left them alone. You know,
it always amuses me. When we speak of the doctrine
of election, God choosing a people, it makes men mad. It makes rebels
mad that say that God chose a people. But when we talk about the fallen
angels having no savior, it doesn't bother anybody. Who cares? IT
DOESN'T BOTHER ANYBODY. IT MAKES NO ONE UPSET THAT GOD
DID NOT PROVIDE THEM A SAVIOR. BUT WHEN YOU SPEAK OF GOD PROVIDING
A SAVIOR FOR A MULTITUDE OF SINNERS GIVEN TO THE SON, IT MAKES REBELS
MAD. Our Lord said, My doctrine My
doctrine is not mine, it's His that sent me. What I'm teaching
you to reject what I'm saying is to reject Him. It's to reject
Him. He said in John 8, 28, But as
my Father has taught me, I speak these things. As a mediator,
He does. The doctrine of salvation, the
doctrine of redemption is not of man. This is not a Baptist doctrine. The doctrine of salvation is
not a Baptist doctrine or Methodist doctrine. It's the doctrine of
God. It's God's doctrine. And we're not going to tag a
denomination on it. It's God's doctrine. God sent
it. God sent it to us. He sent it
to us. The doctrine of salvation, the
doctrine of redemption is from heaven. It's from heaven. And here's his doctrine, first
of all, concerning God. I spoke a little bit of it in
the Bible class. He came and He revealed the Father.
No man knoweth the Son, save he to whom the Son will reveal
Him. No man knows the Father save
the Son. He came from that place. He came from Paradise. He came
from Heaven. He came from the Holy of Holies.
into this world, and He revealed, God is Spirit. That's what He
told the woman at the well. God is Spirit, and they that
worship Him must worship Him. How? In Spirit and in truth. God's not worshipped with men's
hands. God's worshipped with the heart.
God's not worshipped by people doing ceremonies and rituals. God's not worshipped in that.
God is worshipped in the heart. God is worshipped in spirit.
That's how God is worshipped. He's worshipped in spirit. God
is spirit. That's what he says. And then
he's given us throughout the scriptures, the character of
the father, that he's holy. We have to start with holy. Because
listen, every attribute of God is immersed in the holiness of
God. God's love is not a sentimental,
mushy, mushy love. God's love is holy. God's love
is holy love. God s love is holy. God s justice
is a holy justice. God Almighty Himself is the Sovereign. He does according to His will
in the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth, and
none can stay His hand or say unto Him, What are you doing?
What are you doing? What do you think you re doing?
He answers to no one. He answers to no one. He s omnipresent.
He s everywhere. Where whither shall I flee the
psalmist said whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I take
the wings and go to the uttermost parts of the earth, what did
he say? Thou art there. There's no place God isn't. Anywhere
you go on this earth, God is omnipresent. And he's omnipotent. He has all power. And you know
that all that power, Christ said, has been given to me. He said,
I have all power over all flesh. He said, all authority has been
committed to me. I have all power over all flesh,
that I may give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
me. And concerning God, salvation,
it says, is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. If I'm saved, God did it. If I'm saved, God saved me. Salvation
is not a cooperative effort between me and God. It's not He did His
part, I'm doing my part. Someone said I did the sinning,
God did the saving. And He saved me, listen, He saved
me on purpose. He didn't give me a chance to
get saved. God saved me on purpose. He purposed to save me and He
saved me. And that's the way He saves everyone whom He saves.
He saves them on purpose. He saves them on purpose. Salvation
is of the Lord. It's of the Lord. And then His
doctrine concerning Himself. He said in John chapter 6, He
said He's from above. He said, I'm the true bread sent
from above. He came from the throne of grace
or the throne of glory. That's where he came from. He came into this world through
the womb of a virgin. You see, the child was born. A body has now prepared me. But the son was given. The son
wasn't born. The son's eternal. The son is
God. equal with the Father. He's from above and He's the
Son of God. He is truly the Son of God. That
eunuch said, I believe. I believe that He is the Son
of God. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the Son of the Living God in human flesh. I believe that. And His commission was to save
sinners. He said he came into this world to give life to the
world. That's Gentiles like me and you, as well as Jews. That's what he came to do. And he came into this world to
die that sinners like me and you might live. He came to die
that we might live. Jesus Christ, His death is the
death of death. He put death to death on the
cross. Oh death, where is thy sting? Grave, where is your victory? Jesus Christ took it away. Jesus
Christ led captivity captive, didn't He? We were captives of
Satan. And he took the captive and set
him free. He took the captive and let him
go free. He said to the prisoner, I think
it's in Zechariah, he said to the prisoner in the pit, go free.
Go free. That pit of corruption we were
born in, he set us free. And then his doctrine, the doctrine
of concerning man, Man's inability to come to him
for this reason. He's dead. He's dead. He's not wounded. He's not wounded. He's not crippled. He's dead. Spiritually dead. That's the condition of the human
race. Spiritually dead. And that's the truth. THAT'S
THE TRUTH, THE DOCTRINE OF TOTAL DEPRAVITY, TOTALLY DEPRAVED BY
NATURE. HE SAID, MY DOCTRINE IS NOT MINE,
IT'S HIS THAT SENT ME. SO IF YOU TURN ON ME, IF YOU
DON'T BELIEVE WHAT I'M SAYING, YOU DON'T BELIEVE THE FATHER,
THE ONE YOU CLAIM TO BE YOUR GOD, YOU DON'T BELIEVE. NOW HE SAID THERE IN VERSE 17, If any man will do his will,
willing to do, willing to do his will, he shall know of the
doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself.
He says any man. You know, men and women exclude
themselves from salvation. Election does not exclude anyone. If it wasn't for that, nobody
be saved. Many women exclude themselves
because they will not come to Christ. Christ said, You will
not come to me. Your will is not to come, it's
not to come. He said in another place there
in John 6, You cannot come except the Father draw you, except He,
He exerts His divine power on you, gives you life and draws
you You can't come because you won't come. You won't do it. People perish by their own will. They do. You will not come. If anybody perishes here in this
congregation, it's because you will not have anything to do
with Jesus Christ. You will not come. That's what
he's saying. Revelation 22 17 and the spirit
and the bride say come and Let him that heareth They come and
let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will Let him take
of the water of life freely Really But who will Who will I? Can tell you who will? thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power in psalm 110 nobody else will unless god
almighty gives me life and a new heart that will bow to him and
will know the doctrine willing to bow at all costs to christ
willing to come to him on his terms that's the only ones willing
But we have a promise here in verse 17. If any person, any
man, that's what he says, any man, any woman, has a heart to
truly embrace the will of God. You know, God's not going to
reveal His will for me and you to just consider. You know that?
Even for us who believe. I want to know the will of God,
I do. I want to know the will of God
for my life, day by day. There has to be a real willingness
to do it, whatever it is, whatever it is. God's not going to reveal
His will for me to consider. There's a willingness to say,
Lord, Thy will be done. If it's for me to sell out and
move, then so be it. If it's for me to quit my job
and do something else, so be it. You see, most of the time,
we say we want to know the will of God, but we want to know it
and say, well, let's see how it matches up with what I want
to do. God will not reveal His will.
There is a willingness to do it, embracing the will of God,
no matter how contrary it is to what I want to do. To what
I want to do, it doesn't matter. That's not even considered. If
any man or woman will seek the truth, if you want to know the
truth, is this the gospel? Is this the gospel that's preached
here? Is this it? If you really want to know that,
you seek Him with all your heart, willing to bow to His revelation. You throw away what you believed
and say, Lord, teach me. Teach me the gospel. Make yourself
known to me. I don't want to be fooled. I
don't want to come up to the end of life and die and find
out that it was false. If any man or woman will seek
the truth of God seriously, in the fear of the Lord, laying
aside everything, God said He'll reveal it. He'll reveal the truth. You'll know the gospel. You'll
know the truth, and the truth will set you free. One writer said this, If you'll
just live up to the light that you're given, more light will
be given. If you'll just live up to what you have. Take what
you have. Listen to 1 John, I'm going to
close here. In 1 John 2, 17, And the world
passeth away in the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. Spiritual knowledge is given. Now listen to this, this is something
you need to get. Spiritual knowledge, true spiritual
knowledge is given not just to know, but to do. Not just to know, but to do it. Now listen to what the Lord says
here in John 14, 21. He that hath my commandments,
and keepeth them, He it is that loveth me, and he that loveth
me shall be loved to my Father, and I will love him and will
manifest, reveal myself to him. There's not only a willingness
to know, but the willingness to do, to bow to. Lord, teach me. Make me to know
the truth. Reveal, I mean with a sincere
heart, with a sincere heart, reveal the gospel to me. Reveal yourself to me. I want
to be saved. I want to be saved. And I want
to know your will for me day to day. I mean from day to day
and ready to bow to it. You see, Jesus Christ is Lord
and Savior in that order. All right.