Turn back where we read in Psalm
110, and I want to read again that third verse. This is a conversation
between the Father, and the Son, the Lord said unto my Lord. And in that third verse, he says,
thy people. You see, before he ever came,
before he ever died, before anyone was ever born, he had a people. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. In the beauties of holiness from
the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth." I
think most parents find out early on in dealing with their children
that there will be what some have called a battle of the wills. And if we would do them good,
if we would protect them, if we would rightly instruct them,
then we have to resist their wills. We have to overcome their
wills. It's sad that there are some
parents who think that they are smarter than God. and they cloak
their own unwillingness to face their responsibilities in training
and disciplining their children, they cloak them with statements
of so-called belief like this. Well, we really just don't want
to break their spirit. But if you look back in the book
of Proverbs, and it's stated many ways, but you don't have
to turn there, but stated many times in ways. But in Proverbs
29, in the 15th verse, the Spirit of God directing the wise Solomon
says, "...the rod and reproof give wisdom." But a child left
to himself, left to his own will, left to his own natural desire,
left to the way he will go in the flesh, left to himself, bringeth
his mother to shame." Now, that's what God says. But on a greater,
and a much more important scale at issue since the fall of our
father Adam in the garden, has been a conflict between the will
of fallen men and women and the will of God. And this conflict
has been manifested in what is said in the gospel
on one hand, and then what is presented and taught in man-centered
religions on the other hand. You might say it is something
like a controversy between what men call free will, and what
God chose to be, free grace. What is the truth about man's
will? Well, it is a will that is bound
to and by a fallen nature. Some might have read Martin Luther's
Bondage of the Will. Well, he's not the author of
this truth. This will of man that we all
have by birth and nature is bound to our fallen nature, and it
will not and never does contrary to it. It is not free to choose
God because of what the Scripture says is a natural enmity. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. And the natural man, Paul says,
receives not the things of God. They're spiritually discerned,
and neither can he. He has no heart, he has no nature,
he has no desire for God, and therefore he has no will toward
God. And the only liberty that the
will of man by nature has is to act freely according to this
nature. I celebrated my 64th birthday
this week, and one of the things I did was I took my granddaughter,
to the pirate knight at the aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores. And I thought
as I stood there before those big tanks with glass fronts,
what a picture this is of man's will that he thinks is free,
but that is surely bound to his fallen nature. Here's a big shark
and lots of schools of all different kinds of fish, and they freely
move about whatever way they will, back and forth and up and
down, all around, but they never can get out of the tank. Though they move freely in this
environment and in the confines and bondage of this tank, they
are still bound by what they are and where they are, and they
can't get outside of that. The same thing is true with the
animals in the zoo. And I used to hear people use
an expression, a statement of this wherein they were saying
more than they really knew they were saying. They talked about
themselves being free to be me. That's exactly what we are as
sinners. We are free in that sense to
be only what we are as sinners with this fallen nature. And it is only, only by the Word
and by the Spirit of God that we can ever know and for sure
find out what is the real state, not only of our wills, but of
our own selves. Hold your place and turn over
to Matthew's Gospel, Matthew 23. Matthew chapter 23, and in
that 37th verse, listen to what Christ says. He says in verse
37, "'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets,
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I
have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings, and you would You see that? You would not. Turn over to John's Gospel in
that 5th chapter of the Gospel of John, and look down in verse
39 at what our Lord says there to the people there, most of
whom were very religious people. John 5 and verse 39. What it actually says is, you
search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal
life, and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me that
you might have life. In other words, what is said
there is, you will not will to come to me to believe on me that
you might have life. They proved that they were willing
to deny Him. They proved that they were quite
willing to take Him and slay Him. They proved they were quite
willing to defy the Word and will of God. that they were not
willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of this
is just simply the outplaying of just exactly what took place
in the garden when in that garden paradise, being deceived by Satan,
man fell and showed that we are now, by our nature, very much
like Satan. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 14. Here is free will, so called,
in its highest defiance against God. Isaiah chapter 14 and verse
12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground which did weaken the nations?" What was his crime? What was
the reason he's cast out of heaven? This glorious angelic being,
the most beautiful and most glorious, For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above
the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High."
That's so-called free will. which is really nothing but a
desire to be free from the will and the rule and the government
of God Almighty. But look at that fifth verse. Yet this One who, God says, is
far greater in natural strength, far greater in natural wisdom,
far greater than any fallen son and daughter of Adam, yet thou
shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. What happened? to his imagined
will. What happened to his imagined
strength and ability to do what he would in regard to God? He is cast down by the will of
God. The Jews, they displayed this
again and again. And in Luke chapter 19, they
came to this conclusion. This is man's will, acting with
regard to God. They said, we will not have this
man to reign over us. Somebody says, well, you can
will whatever you want. That's the problem. That's the
problem. It's with our want. It's with
our natural desire. Not only that, but in Deuteronomy,
listen to this display of man's so-called free will. When the
spies came back with this true and faithful report, As to the
situation in those cities and lands there in the plains, it
says, "...they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and
brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said,
It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us." Next verse,
"...notwithstanding, you would not go up, but rebelled against
the commandment of the Lord your God." They told the truth about
what God said. They told the truth about what
they saw. And they bore back to these people
in their unbelief, they bore back the very fruit and evidence
of what was in that land. But he says, notwithstanding,
you would not go up and you rebelled against the commandment of the
Lord your God. When our Lord is speaking to
some folks in Luke 22, they ask Him this question. They say,
"'Art thou the Christ? Tell us, tell us.' And He said
unto them, If I tell you, You will not believe, and if I also
ask you, you will not answer me, nor let me go." He was not
fooled by the wills of men. He was not fooled by their thought,
willingness to do whatever God commanded them. And so men and
women who love to have this hand over God, they delight to be
told that God has done all He can, that God is trying to save
them, and the only thing that remains is their willingness
or their decision or their allowing God to save them. Christ said,
I won't tell you. If I tell you as I have already
told you and as I have already shown you, you will not believe."
Listen to what he says in John 3. He says, "...and this is the
condemnation, that light is come into the world." Light personified? in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is Himself the light. Light with regard to truth, spiritual
truth, gospel truth, light, understanding. That light has come into the
world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil. It says that He came unto His
own. and His own received Him. And when the apostle stands up
there in the book of Acts, in those early messages, he reminds
those people that he preaches to on those occasions of their
own unbelief and their constant unwillingness to believe God
and bow to his Son, and he expresses it like this. He says, you stiff-necked,
and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always resist the
Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do you."
That's the truth about man's will. It is a will that is like
a ball and chain hooked to our ankles wherever we go. It keeps us from doing this or
that or the other because it's not what we desire to do, not
what we see that we would want to do, not that we would exchange
what we have for. He said, you will not. And that's the history of man's
will. It is not free. It is bound. And somebody says, well, I'm
free to do what I will. That's the problem. You will
not come to Him that you might have life. You will not make
a decision rationally based on what God says. You will not prefer
what God has over what you have. You will not prefer what Christ
has already done over what you can do. That's why I left to
our wills. We'll always choose our way,
we'll always choose our works, and we'll always deny God and
not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But there's another thing.
If that is the truth about man's will, what is the truth about
God's will? As a matter of fact, if you just
begin in the book of Genesis, and you go all the way through
the book of Revelation, you will find that rather than talking
about what men must accept, it talks about what God or who God
accepts. Rather than talking about what
men must do, it talks about what God has done. Rather than talking
about man's will, it talks about God's will. What is the truth
about God's will? And most especially, what does
the will of God have to do with salvation? I'm amazed sometimes
at people who are thinking that they have this thing figured
out and kind of thinking, I believe, they're doing God a favor. that
they will allow that God's will determines all things in creation. They'll defend His creation power
against evolution and such as that, and then sometimes some
will go farther, and they will allow for God's will being the
determinant factor in all of providence. But what does that
matter? if it's not so in salvation,
His greatest glory. Would we be so foolish as to
imagine that the living, eternal God has in creation determined
all things, and in providence determined all things, but the
thing that requires His greatest glory He's turned it over to
the free wills of men. You see, God's will determines
all things, not only in creation and not only in providence, but
also in salvation. Now, I know that everybody here
today is much higher than me in authority and power and respect
and whatever. I'll just give it to you that
all of you are above me, but I don't believe compared to a
king who ruled over a place called Babylon, which was a world power,
and he exercised, as far as humanly speaking is possible, absolute
sovereignty over all things, a man by the name of Nebuchadnezzar. I don't think you're greater
than him. Turn over to Daniel, that fourth chapter. Daniel chapter
4. Now, the amazing thing is, this
is always one of the Bible stories. You ever notice how the Bible
stories are not always the Bible story? So much can be said about
this man, how that the Lord made him eat grass like some of the
wild beasts, and turned his hair to feathers, and caused him to
roam the land like a raving madman, all these things. But they don't
see what the conclusion of the matter was. Look down in Daniel
4 in verse 34. This is his own testimony. And at the end of the days, what
was that? The days God ordained to bring
him to this point? I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up
mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me,
and I blessed the Most High." If we ever have real understanding
out of that true understanding, we will bless and praise and
thank the Most High God. And I praised and honored Him
that liveth forever. whose dominion," what's that? Sovereignty? Authority? "...whose
dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation
to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth." If you like a
good universal statement, there it is. All. All the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing. Do you hear that? Nothing. He said if you bunched all of
humanity up in a big ball and put it on a scale, they'd be
less than nothing. Vanity. Dust in the balances. And He doeth according to His
will. in the army of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or
say unto him, What doest thou?" There's nobody can stop him.
There's nobody can question him. There's no one can improve on
what he does. There's no one that has a say,
neither man nor devil nor angel. He does. He is doing according
to His will, not only in the army of heaven, but among the
inhabitants of the earth. You see, I've tried to say this
to you many times. His will is a sovereign will,
and it is the only free will in the universe, or universes,
if there be such. Somebody says, well, I believe
I've got a free will. Well, will yourself healthy the
next time you get really sick? Or will yourself to have a million
dollars in the bank? or will yourself to leap over
a tall building with a single bound. Just see how far your
will in reality will accomplish anything. But there's one who
before the world ever was said, let there be light, and light
was. Who just willed this creation
into existence. Who willed the affairs of men
to be whatever he willed them to be, and who wills in this
business of salvation. In Isaiah, he says, remember
the former things of old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there is none like
me. declaring the end from the beginning
and from the ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. calling a ravenous bird from
the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country,
yea, I've spoken it, I will also bring it to pass, I have purposed
it, I will also do it." That's God. That's the God you have
to do with, that's the God I have to do with. But the glorious
thing The glorious thing about God's sovereign will is that
it is a will to save. You see, men fight against these
things without even thinking because they can't, by their
natural minds, even imagine a reason or a reason why it would be good
that God rules over everything. But His sovereign will is a will
to be merciful. I've often thought about how
men who fight against this business of God's sovereign will and grace,
it's as if when the natural man reads a verse like I'm about
to read to you, they only receive it in a negative sense. It's
a very positive statement. In Romans 9 and verse 15. which makes this a New Testament
truth as well as when we saw it in the book of Exodus when
he actually spoke it to Moses, Paul the apostle. In this 15th
verse in Romans 9, he says, "...for he said to Moses..." or he said
to Moses. Now, what are those next two
words? It's not, I won't, is it? I will. Did you hear that? I will. Rather than shutting
all grace and mercy away from sinners, this is the cause of
it. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. Yes, that leaves it all up to
him whom he'll have mercy to. But he will. He has. I will have compassion on whom
I will have compassion. So, so then, it is not of him
that willeth, not of man's will, not man's decision, nor of him
that runneth, not by his works or anything he does, but of God
that showeth mercy." I will. I can tell you this, if it wasn't
for the fact that God will and has will to, there wouldn't be
one sinner saved in this universe. Not one. And not only that, God,
His will is to make known this will, to his people. Turn over to Ephesians chapter
1. Ephesians chapter 1, look down
in verse 5 of chapter 1. You see this word predestinated? If I were to translate that with
words To maybe amplify what that means, the word predestinate
means to mark off beforehand. Pro eriso. Where do we get our
word for horizon from? Who marks off the horizon? Almighty
God. He says, having predestinated
us. Who's that us? Those He chose
in Christ and blessed with all spiritual blessings before the
world began, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. His will. The good pleasure of
His will. Look down at verse 9. having
made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his
good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself." How is the will
of God known? In Christ, in the gospel. Look down in verse 11. in whom
Christ, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being
predestinated according to the purpose of him who works all
things after the counsel of his own will." What a verse! All the imagined power and wills
of men have to go crumbling and crashing before such a statement
from God. Everything. God, His will is
to make known this saving sovereign will to a people in Christ concerning
an inheritance, concerning conformity to His Son, and calls them to
know that His will is in Christ. Turn over to John chapter 6. I'm giving you a Bible drill
today. John chapter 6. Somebody is always saying things
like this, you know, well, nobody can really know the will of God.
That's not true. The reason they say that is because
they don't want to believe the will of God, do the will of God.
The will of God is clear. John chapter 6, when these people,
these religious people, have denied Him and attributed what
God has done to a man and rejected Him, verse 37, he says, "...all
that the Father giveth me, thou comest to me." Are you sure of
that? What about if they exercise their
free will and they don't want to come? Did you hear what he
said? all that the Father gave him to be his bride, that he
gave to him in that covenant of grace before the world began,
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out, because for I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, This is Jehovah's servant talking here.
He didn't come with a will that was contrary to the Father, but
He came as that one subject to the Father to accomplish the
redemption of His people. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And
this is the Father's will which has sent me. I'm telling you. It's not a hidden thing except
to sin-blinded eyes and minds. This is the Father's will which
has sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose
nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. 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." Oh, were they excited to
hear this? No. He had just declared the
will of the Father with regard to His purpose to save a people
in Christ, and He had just spoken about how that will will be manifested
in these people. They'll see the Son by God-given
faith and believe on Him, and He'll raise them all up. Here's
free will. The Jews then murmured at him
because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven.
There's your so-called free will of man. He's bound in darkness,
ignorance, blindness of sin, and here is the Lord of glory
talking about the Father's will and sending him to save, giving
us sure hope, promise, They said, we'll not have this man. But
that's the Father's will. And God's will is effectual,
mighty, powerful, and all the means that He uses, He uses in
order to accomplish what He will. Turn over to Hebrews chapter
8. Hebrews chapter 8, and look down at verse 10 and listen. as he recites by the Spirit of
God through the Apostle this covenant language. Verse 10,
"...for this is the covenant that I will make with the house
of Israel after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws
into their minds." and write them in their hearts, and I will
be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people." Whoa! That's a pretty one-sided statement,
don't you think? Why? Because it's God's will.
He said, I will do it. You know how you know what God's
will is? By what He does and by what He says. And they shall
not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for all shall know me from the least to the
greatest." In other words, God will convince His people Himself. Oh, He'll use some means, but
He'll convince. When the Lord first revealed
the truth to me of His sovereign will and grace in Christ, and
the truth of this book, You can take a hammer to my head. You
can't change me on this one. You may change me on the political
candidate to vote for next time, or you may change me on whatever
is good to eat, but not this. Because He's convinced me. If
everybody here disagrees, this is what He says, "'For I will
be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities,
will I remember No more. You know, every time I read a
statement like that wherein God so forcefully declares what He
will do to His people and for His people, I get more convinced
and more glad that I'm convinced of it. God, I thank You that
You are not willing to remember my sins anymore, that You were
willing To be merciful and gracious to me. I'm so thankful. And that's why He says to the
Son there in our text, Thy people shall be willing in the day of
Thy power. Oh, that's what I pray for. The
day of His power. I'm not going to fight anybody
and argue and debate and dispute and all these things. I'm going
to declare the truth of God's gospel, the gospel wherein the
righteousness of God is revealed. And if you're one of His people,
He'll convince you. He'll make you willing in the
day of His power. Paul, writing to the Philippians,
reminded them, he said, "'For it is God who works in you both
to will and to do of His good pleasure.' He came unto His own,
and His own received Him not, but as many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God who were born,
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, nothing
to do with anything they did, but of God, of God. James says
it like this, "...of his own will begat he us, or brought
us forth with the word of truth." It wasn't a decision of our will. Somebody wrote to a man one time,
was interviewing, and they asked him, they said, when did you
make your decision? He said, I didn't. I was decided
upon. 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. Just look back over
a week's time and think of some of the things you've prayed for.
and be glad that the Spirit of God makes intercession for us
according to the will of God. So glad He didn't give us the
things that we in our flesh asked for. So glad that He gave us
what we hadn't even comprehended to be good. And God's will is
to save and fully accomplish the salvation of His people by
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's turn over a page or so
to Hebrews 10. Now, this is what this is all
about. I'll just say it like this. Our
salvation rests solely upon the Lord Jesus Christ coming in human
flesh and accomplishing the will of God. Alright? Look here in
Hebrews 10 and verse 5. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me." In that book of God's
decrees, in that Lamb's book of life, in the Old Testament
Scriptures. Lo, I come in the volume of the
book it is written of me to do thy will, O God. Above, when he said, Sacrifice
and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering for sin thou wouldest
not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which are offered by the law,
then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God." He taketh away
the first, that he may establish the second. I come to do thy
will, O God, by the which will. we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Once for all. And then when he goes on talking
about Christ, talking about how his body is offering, as a sacrifice
is the sanctification of his people. He says, "...and every
priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God." Uh-oh, now this sounds like Sounds like
he's saying the same thing as he says in Psalm 110. He says,
"...from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified." Paul, when he writes to the Galatians,
who were about Some of them are about to be overtaken in legalism
and this mixing of law and grace and stuff like that. He says
in his opening statement, "'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.'" to whom be
glory forever and ever. Amen." Why? Because it's His
will. And that's why He gets the glory.
And that's why we have nothing to boast of. Would you like to
hear His will in a negative sense? Well, when Peter writes in 2
Peter 3 and verse 9, he gives us a negative sense of God's
will. as it pertains to his people.
He says, the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some
men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any,
that any of these uswards, these elect ones that Peter described,
believers, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance. There's one thing God's not willing.
He's not willing that any of these people that He gave to
Christ that he loved with that everlasting love, that Christ
died for and stood in their place before his death. He's not willing
that any of them perish. And so, that's why time goes
on. That's why he's long-suffering. That's why he hasn't folded up
this whole sin-cursed world. That's why he hasn't sent the
returning King. Because obviously, he's still
got some of these that he loves and that Christ has already by
His blood redeemed. And he's not willing that any
of them should perish. If he has to bring this world
on, though it declines for a thousand more years, if there is one of
his children that will be born in 21, 56. He's not willing that
that one perish. You see, man's will keeps him
in bondage, and false religion enforces that bondage, leaving
men to think that it's all according to their free will, their decision,
their willingness to work for salvation. But Christ doing the
will of God is all the salvation of His people, His sacrifice
that He offered for their sins in our case before they willed
anything, His blood, His satisfaction of divine justice, His imputed
righteousness. The cross of Christ is Christ
doing the will of God. And I'll tell you this, God's
will wins on both hands. His will will prevail over the
wills of lost men and women when they will not will to be cast
into outer darkness. I remember reading a story one
time, and I believe it had to do with a man preaching in Wales,
and there was a rough Welsh miner that was in the congregation.
And he was talking about man's will and man's decision, and
if he didn't do that, he was going to hell. And that old miner
stood up and he said, oh, no, I'm not. He said, if God cannot
save me against my will, He certainly can't cast me into hell against
my will. How about that? That's right.
His will will prevail over the wills of lost men and women. And His will will prevail in
His people. Christ accomplishing all their
salvation and making them willing to have it so, willing to be
saved by Him alone, willing to come to Him and believe on Him
and rejoice in Him. So what did He teach us to pray?
Our Father, who art in heaven, Thy will be done. You see, that's our consolation
and our hope in all of these situations of life. If God's
will to us has been so good in saving us, His will in our lives
will be a saving will too. He's given us His only begotten
Son. Will He not with Him also freely
give us all things? Paul, writing to the Thessalonians,
says, "...in everything give thanks." But this is the will
of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. I may not know why, but
I know whatever happens to me or to you as a believer, we are
to give thanks, because it is the will of God in Christ concerning
us, and God's will to us is a saving, blessing, gracious, merciful
will. There's always a battle of the
wills. But I'm so thankful that God's
will wins every time. Father, we give you thanks this
day and praise for the Lord Jesus. May you bring this prophecy and
promise to pass even in our day the more, that as He sits the
risen victorious King, may His people by your Spirit be made
willing in the day of Thy power. All glory, all glory be to You,
and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We praise
You and we thank You in Him. Amen.