late Monday night once we had
gotten settled in our room in San Diego. I set up my office
so I could begin work and checked for my emails that needed to
be answered before I went to bed. And the first one I opened
was from a man who's been listening to our messages here for a number
of years, I presume over Free Grace Radio. I don't think I've
ever heard from him before. But he wrote to ask me a question.
He said, how do you know if something is God leading or your will? Do you look for signs? How would
God speak to you about a situation? How does one know that it was
God leading, bringing this about? And when I read that, I lifted
my heart to God with thanksgiving and knew immediately what he
would have me to preach to you tonight. If you'll open your
Bibles to Romans 12, verses one and two, I'll give you the message
the Lord's given me for you. And I pray that God will write
it upon our hearts. Romans 12, verse one. 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 ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. The Lord willing, we'll come
back to this passage again, but for tonight, I want to talk to
you about the will of God as it is set before us in Holy Scripture. For believing men and women,
Few questions are of greater concern day by day as we endeavor
to honor God in our lives than this. How can I know the will
of God? How can I know the will of God? Nothing is more important to
the believing heart than knowing and walking in God's will. We dare not be presumptuous in
this matter. And yet we who believe can know
God's will and walk in God's will, not perfectly, not absolutely,
but with honesty and sincerity. If by the grace of God, I sincerely
seek the glory of God in all things and above all things. living by faith in Christ, following
the leadership and direction of his spirit and the principles
of his word to serve the interest of his kingdom in this world.
I live in the will of God. It is written, trust in the Lord
with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct thy paths. All aspects of the believer's
life are exemplified by the life and obedience of our Lord Jesus
Christ, living and doing the will of God unto death. Turn
back to the 40th Psalm. Psalm 40, I want us to read a
few verses together here. In this Psalm, our Lord Jesus
himself is speaking. And when you read these Messianic
Psalms and other portions of the Old Testament, where it's
obvious that the words spoken find their fulfillment absolutely
only in the Savior. Don't imagine that David was
writing abstractly. When David wrote this psalm,
he was also expressing his own heart's concern and desire before
God. Now we know clearly, because
the Spirit of God tells us in Hebrews 10, that this portion
of scripture, our Savior is speaking. And yet, David is speaking. Listen
to what he says. I waited patiently for the Lord,
and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up
also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set
my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a
new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see
it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man
that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud,
nor such as turn aside to lies. Many, O Lord my God, are thy
wonderful works, which thou hast done. And thy thoughts, which
are to usward, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee.
If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can
be numbered. Now watch verse six. Sacrifice
and offering thou didst not desire. But God required sacrifice and
offering. What's David saying? Sacrifices
and offerings given according to the law and the commandment
of God in the Old Testament, those men who knew God, those
women who knew God as they brought their sacrifices, understood
these sacrifices will never satisfy the wrath, the justice, the righteousness,
and the holiness of God. These things only represent him
who would fulfill and satisfy all God's righteousness, all
God's wrath, all God's fury, all God's holiness, all God's
justice, and all God's truth. David says here, our Lord Jesus
says, sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire. Mine ears
hast thou opened. I'm your voluntary free bond
slave. You've opened my ears. Burnt
offering and sin offering thou has not required. Then said I,
lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight
to do thy will, oh my God, yea, thy law is written within my
heart. The Lord Jesus Christ, while
he walked on this earth, and when he finished his life of
obedience under God, did all God's will as a man. Our Savior, the God-man, our
substitute, fulfilled the will of God in every detail perfectly
and absolutely for us. By his obedience in life, he
brought in everlasting righteousness, performing all that God required
in the law. By his obedience in death, he
put away transgression, made an end of sin, satisfied divine
justice, fulfilling all that was typified in the ceremonial
sacrifices of the Old Testament. More than that, we as believers
delight to see God's will done in him. And as we delight to
see God's will done in him, resting our souls upon him and him alone
as our substitute, we delight to see God's will done everywhere
all the time. Brother Mark just read it. Our
Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come. Thy will be done. in earth as it is in heaven. In our hearts, if we're gods, we want God's will. We want God's
will. No matter how contrary it may
be to what we desire naturally or in the flesh, no matter how
much it may be in opposition to what is normally considered
the natural pleasure of man in this world. In our hearts, we
want God's will done. God the Holy Ghost has taught
and continually teaches every believer to use the very words
of our Savior in prayer, not my will, thy will be done. And Rex, we struggle with that
all the time. All the time. Because our flesh
wants one thing. And it may be, as far as our
calculation, our knowledge, our understanding can be, a very
good thing. but what we want is God's will. God's, thy will be done. Every believer, like the Lord
Jesus, delights in the will of God. When the believing heart
cries, I delight to do thy will, oh my God, this is our meaning. My heavenly Father, my God, in
my heart, in the depths of my inmost soul, I delight in all
things to fulfill your purpose, to satisfy your pleasure and
obey your precept. I want God, I want you with me,
in me to fulfill your purpose. I want in the totality of my
life to please you. And I want in all things to obey
every precept of your word. If the Lord will graciously speak
to us now, may his spirit teach us something about the will of
God. My purpose in bringing this message
is to comfort and encourage God's saints in seeking, knowing, doing,
and bowing to the will of God, and thereby glorifying God. We glorify God when we seek,
do, and bow to His will. We glorify God when we seek,
obey, and bow to His will. Now let me make three statements
and then try to answer a couple of questions as I finish the
message. Number one, I want to talk to
you about duty. Duty. I know a lot of fellows
get upset with the word duty. Don't think you ought to use
the term duty. Duty is the least you can do. Duty is the lowest motive of
anything, and yet in a sense, the highest motive. I dare not
relinquish duty, not in any area of life. Whatever my duty is,
God give me wisdom and grace to do my duty. and every human
being has the duty and the responsibility before God to obey God's will
as it is revealed in the precept of His Word. Whatever God reveals in this
book, it is your duty and mine to obey. It is our responsibility
to obey the Word of God, the precept of God's Word, as it
is given to us in Holy Scripture. The Bible reveals the will of
God, and it's made up of three parts. I've mentioned them already. His precept is that which he
requires and commands of his creatures. His pleasure is that
in which he delights, that of which he approves. His purpose
is that which he is determined to accomplish. These three things
never contradict each other. They're never at odds. They're
always in perfect harmony. They are together the will of
God. Let's look at them in the light
of Holy Scripture. When a person in authority expresses
his will to those under his authority, it becomes the duty of those
under him to obey. The Lord God Almighty has expressed
His will for us in the commandments given in the Old Testament, in
all the law, both the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments given on
Mount Sinai, and in the statutes, in the civil laws, in the ceremonial
laws given to the children of Israel. Turn back to Ecclesiastes
chapter 12. Ecclesiastes 12. I want you to
turn here and look at a very familiar text of scripture. Verse 13. This is the conclusion of the
wisest man who walked upon the earth in his day, Solomon. That man who was given wisdom
above all other men. He wrote the Song of Solomon. perhaps the most intimately spiritual
book to be found in Holy Scripture. He wrote the book of Proverbs.
The book of Proverbs is wondrous, wondrous. It is a book of wisdom,
not just adages, wisdom. by which Solomon was inspired
of God both to teach the gospel and to teach us every aspect
of responsibility in this world. And then he writes the book of
Ecclesiastes. And when he gets to the end,
this is what he says, verse 13. Let us hear the conclusion of
the whole matter. This is the conclusion of everything. Fear God and keep his commandments. For this is the whole duty of
man. This is the whole duty of man. In Exodus chapter 20, the Lord
God gave us what's commonly referred to as the Decalogue or the Ten
Commandments, telling us what our responsibility is in relation
to God and in relation to one another. It is the duty, the
whole duty of man to love God with all his heart, soul, mind,
and being. That's your duty. That's my duty. It is the duty of man, every
man, to love his neighbor as himself. No exceptions. These
are not recommendations, they're commandments. This is the whole
duty of man. Preacher, not everybody has the
law and has the Bible and has the Ten Commandments. Oh, yes,
they do. Every human being, according to Romans chapters 1 and 2, every
human being in this world has a God consciousness stamped upon
him from which he cannot escape. So that every man, every woman,
every child by the light of nature has a continually screaming conscience,
telling them continually what God requires. That's the reason
you find throughout history, even in the most barbaric places,
men making sacrifices to God, sometimes sacrificing their own
children, making human sacrifices. I've often visited the Mayan
ruins in Mexico. The Aztec Indians made human
sacrifices cut out the heart of a living human being and offered
it to their gods. How come? Because they knew God
somehow must be satisfied. God's anger must be appeased. His justice must be propitiated. And yet it could never be done.
So man by nature understands his responsibility. Men and women
by nature understand their responsibility to one another. It's their responsibility
to do good to their neighbor. These things are written on the
heart of men. And in the day of judgment, God
will judge every man according to the light of that which God
has given him. Either the light of Holy Scripture
you hold in your lap, or if you have nothing but the light of
creation and of conscience, God will hold you accountable for
the light against which you rebel. The moral requirements of God's
law are very clear and very plain. God revealed the law in those
Ten Commandments given at Mount Sinai, and the Lord God Almighty
in the ceremonial law Beginning with the Passover in Exodus chapter
20, or chapter 12 rather, the Lord God said, I require a sacrifice. I require punishment for sin. I require that iniquity be punished. I require that transgression
be punished. I require that sin be punished. Take a lamb. And with that lamb,
God began the whole series of ceremonial laws that were given
to Israel in the tabernacle, the priesthood, the altar, the
mercy seat, the sacrifices, the veil in the temple, all those
things involved with that, all of it was given to teach Israel
about one who's coming, who would satisfy the holiness, wrath,
and justice of God in our stead. And that ceremonial law found
its fulfillment, as did the Ten Commandments of the moral law,
found its fulfillment, its end, its conclusion, its satisfaction
in the doing and dying of the Son of God. Oh, how I delight
that God's will has been done for us. And now God gives a commandment. commandment by which all God's
requirements are fulfilled. That's it. One thing, one thing. Turn to I John chapter 3, I John
chapter 3, verse 23, and this is His commandment,
that we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ,
and love one another as He gave us commandment. That's not two
commandments, that's one. This is His commandment that
you believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the
fulfilling of all the law. This is the best thing you can
do for you and the best thing you can do for your neighbor.
Believe on the Son of God. When the Spirit of God comes
in salvation and convinces a person of sin, of righteousness, and
of judgment, you remember the very first thing? He will convince
you of sin. and make you understand the issue
between you and God is this, because you believe not on me. That's the issue, that's the
issue. All the other things are but
the outworking of this issue of rebellion and unbelief. If
you would fulfill all the will of God's precept, believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we, through faith, establish
the law. This is what you do when you
trust God's Son. You bring all God's requirements. Love God with all your heart,
soul, mind, and being. Love your neighbor as yourself. Satisfy justice. Suffer the furious wrath of God. and you bring it all. God, here
it is. I bring you what you require,
perfect obedience, perfect satisfaction. I bring you what you give, Jesus
Christ, your son. And with this sacrifice, God
is well pleased. Understand that? You obey God's
precept by believing his son. And as you walk by faith in His
Son, as you live in this world day by day trusting His Son,
you continually obey God's will of precept. Second, it's the
desire of every believer to obey the will of God's holy pleasure. I tell folks all the time, Shelby
and I just had one child, and he was a girl, so I don't qualify
for giving advice on raising children, and I don't generally
give any. But I'll tell you what I will
tell you, what I tell young people everywhere. You've got these
children God's given you. Josh, if somehow you can instill
in that darling little girl A desire to please you. You got the biggest
part of the battle licked. A desire to please you. Our daughter
Faith, since she was just a little girl, wanted all her life to
please her daddy. She's 46 now and got two grown
children of her own. She still wants to please her
daddy. That makes parenting indescribably easier than it could otherwise
be. We who are God's children have set in our hearts by the
Spirit of God an insatiable desire to please and honor God our Savior
in thought, in word, and in deed. Turn back to the book of Micah. Micah chapter 6. There are some things clearly
revealed in the scriptures that please God. Micah picks up the
very same statements that David and our Lord Jesus made in Psalm
40. In verse 6 Micah says, Wherewith shall I come before the Lord?
How can I come to God? And bow myself before the Most
High? Shall I come before him with
burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord,
will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams or 10,000 of
rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
And then the prophet answers his own question. He has showed
the old man what is good. And what does the Lord require
of thee? three things, but to do justly,
and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. Now if you
want to read a whole lot of gobbledygook, that's just words that don't
mean a frazzling thing, read what commentators say about this.
They are, almost all of them make this to be a matter of works.
and they'll tell you that God would have you to be honest in
your business and to be merciful with folks in need and to walk
in humility, and this is how you do it. You mean I can come
to God bringing Him my goodness to men? And God will accept that? Oh
no, oh no. Well, what's Micah telling us?
To do justly is to take sides with God against yourself, like
David did in Psalm 51. You will never trust the Son
of God until you recognize that you are fit for nothing but hell. You and me, your children and
mine, your parents and mine, your neighbors and mine, Sam
Wall, we're fit for nothing but hell. And nobody will believe
God until he acknowledges that. To love mercy is to love Christ,
who in Luke 1 is called that man who would perform mercy,
Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. To love mercy is to love him
who is God, our Savior. Salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ
is the performance of God's mercy and all who are born of God love
that mercy. Our righteousness we abandon
as filthy rags and love his righteousness. Our sins we confess and love
the fountain open for us for the cleansing of sin in Christ's
precious blood. Our goodness we abhor and cherish
the goodness of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. To walk humbly
with God is to trust Christ. To walk humbly with God is to
walk before God in the conscious awareness of your sin, your depravity,
your utter inability to do anything right. Oh my God. I don't have the ability
to do anything right. I don't even have the ability
to think right about anything. I must have someone who has done
right for me. Done right so meritoriously that
God himself accepts the right he's done. And that someone is
the Lord, our righteousness, Jesus Christ, the Lord. To walk
humbly with God is to walk before God trusting Christ alone as
our Savior as we're taught by the Spirit of God for the everlasting
comfort of our souls. We are the circumcision which
worship God in spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. The scriptures are perfectly
clear. The only thing that pleases God is His Son. That's the only
thing that pleases Him. And the scriptures are perfectly
clear in this as well. There are certain things that
utterly displease the Lord our God. We won't read it again tonight
for the sake of brevity, but not long ago, I spent a good
time, a bit of time preaching to you from Ephesians 4 and 5. And God tells us some things
that are wrong to avoid. Gossip, slander, malice, evil
speaking, hardness of heart. It's horrible, horrible. Please
don't misunderstand what I'm gonna say. You folks who have
Facebook and stuff, that's fine. I know folks used to communicate
and a lot of folks do a lot of good with it. But man alive,
it's horrible for a lot of things. Why is it? Why is it that we've
got to know everything about everybody? What makes folks so
bloomin' nosy? Just sin and pride. That's all. Why do you have to tell everything
you know? Just to make yourself look good? There's no other reason.
There's no other reason. Just sin and pride. Gossip is
a horrible evil. Oh God, bridle my tongue. and set a watch before my mouth
that I may not sin against you. God teach us not to do injury
to others by this little member that is set on fire of hell with
gossip. It dishonors God. It dishonors
our profession. It dishonors you. It dishonors
you. If you hear me speak evil about
another, the dishonor is mine. That's just the way it is. And
when I hear you speak evil about another, the dishonor is yours. That's just the way it is. That's
just the way it is. But rather be kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's
sake, has forgiven you. This is my constant prayer. It is my constant prayer. It
has been my constant prayer for 50 years. God, give me grace
that I may not dishonor your name or offend in thought, in
word or deed. Give me grace that I may not
offend your children. Bring reproach on the name of
your dear son. or the gospel of your free grace
in him. Give me grace, oh my God, that
I grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby I'm sealed unto
the day of redemption. I repeat myself deliberately. The only way sinful men and women
can please God is by faith in Jesus Christ. And as we walk
with God by faith, He accepts our works. Isn't that wonderful?
Isn't that wonderful? In the totality of our lives.
I remember faith's first steps. She tried to walk. Mamas and daddies know exactly
what I'm talking about. They pull up to the table and
then you get down on the floor and you come to daddy. And she
stretches out her arms and she, those weak chubby legs, tries
her best to walk over me and she'd fall down and bust her
butt and she'd cry and I'd look at her and just smile and she'd
get up and here she comes again. And so pleasing, how come? Because
she's coming to daddy, that's how come. She's just coming to
daddy. She may make a mess of it, but
she's coming to daddy. Come to God by faith in Christ. And God accepts you as he accepts
his son, because you're one with his son. In all the misery of
your own failure, God smiles on us in his son, in the perfection
of his son. And God accepts our works. Not just going to church and
reading the Bible and giving and preaching and going to mission
field. No, no, no, no. Everything in the totality of
your life. God now accepteth your work. So go eat your meat and drink
your wine with a merry heart. Here's the third thing. We're
assured in the book of God that all things obey the secret will
of God's eternal purpose. Deuteronomy 29, 29 tells us,
the secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things
which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever,
that we may do all the words of this law. God's secret will
is that which we don't know. Now, this doesn't mean that we're
not to look at and rejoice in and proclaim God's eternal purpose
of grace, election, predestination, all those things. No, no, no,
no. Those are revealed. But what's gonna happen with North
Korea in the next six months? I don't have a clue. I don't
have a clue. What's gonna happen with your
life tomorrow? I don't have any idea. I don't
have any idea. And I don't want to know. You
won't find me reading the horoscope or listening to somebody who
did. I'm not interested. Aren't you interested in this?
No, I'm not interested. I'm not interested. I've never been inclined
to go into Sister Dora's house over there reading poems. If
you're that dumb, go ahead, but I've never been inclined to it.
It's not best to know what God has in store for tomorrow. It's
not best for you and I to know the secret things. We leave those
in God's hands. Understanding that whatever God
purposed in eternity is what God does in time. And all that
God purposed in eternity, he will accomplish in time. He says,
my purpose shall stand. I will do all my pleasure. Nothing comes to pass in time
except that which God purposed in eternity. And everything God
purposed in eternity, all of that, only that, exactly that,
comes to pass in time exactly according to God's purpose. That
includes good and evil. The Lord hath made all things
for himself. Yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil. And that's what God brings to
pass in time. We read in the scripture, there
must also be heresies among you. Must be. That's the same word
that's used when our Lord Jesus said the son of man must be lifted
up. That's an absolute necessity. There must be heresies among
you. They come, they come. Oh, but oh, what horrible evil. Yes, indeed. What a horrible
work they do. Yes, indeed. But no harm to God's
people. No injury to God's church. No
injury to God's cause. No heresy in the world has ever
destroyed one of God's elect. No heresy in the world has ever
turned aside God's church from truth, from Christ, and from
the gospel. The heresies must come for this reason, that they
which are approved may be made manifest among you. God's sheep
just won't follow that path. They just won't do it. How come? Because my sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow
me. And the voice of a stranger will
they not follow. In this sense, everything that
is, has been, and shall be hereafter is the will of God, his absolute
purpose. God Almighty so sovereignly,
graciously, wisely rules the world that everything obeys His
will of purpose perfectly. Read the book of Revelation.
Satan, after being loosed upon the nations
of the world for 4,000 years. Christ Jesus came down here and
bound him with a mighty chain and bound him for 1,000 years. After that, he's loosed for a
little season to go about deceiving the nations of the world again. Why is that written? Satan is God's devil. He's loosed
according to God's purpose and bound according to God's purpose.
One of the great wonders of the book of Revelation is illustrated
by a story I read years ago. There was a black fellow who
was a janitor in a meeting hall, I don't know if it was a church
building or something else, where a bunch of preachers were meeting
and they were discussing theological things and debating back and
forth. And he was sitting over in the corner reading his Bible,
waiting on them to get done so he could lock up and go home.
And somebody came by and asked him, said, what are you reading?
He said, I'm reading the book of Revelation. And the fellow
looked at him and said, reading the book of Revelation? He said,
do you understand it? He said, I think so. Hey, what's
it mean? Jesus wins. That's the whole
message of the book. God, according to his purpose,
is going to subdue everything under his Son and cause everything
to honor his Son and we delight in it. All right, now here's
a question. Is it possible for a believer
to miss or be out of the will of God? Now listen carefully. Without question, insofar as
God's revealed will, His precept, and His pleasure is concerned,
a believer can and often does miss and disobey and is out of
the will of God. Any act of sin, unbelief, and
disobedience is contrary to the will of God.
Any act, any movement, any decision that's contrary to the direction
of God's spirit is contrary to the will of God. There's no question
about that. It's our responsibility to obey. And this is the long and short
of that. Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Whatsoever is not
of faith said. David on one occasion, you can
read about it in I Chronicles 13, had a great desire. I mean it just, it made perfectly
good sense. David bought a place for the
Ark of God. And he was bringing the Ark of
God up out of the house of Obed-Edom where it had been kept for a
long time and he was going to bring it to Jerusalem. and set
it in Jerusalem for the worship of God. Man, that seems to make
good sense. That's what we ought to do. But
it wasn't God's will. And the ark wound up in a ditch
and Uzzah was slain because he sought the counsel of men, not
the counsel of God. yet let it be understood emphatically
and clearly. No one and no action performed
by anyone is ever in any way the slightest deviation from
God's eternal purpose who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. Let me just give you two illustrations. There
was a fellow by the name of Elimelech. He was one of the mightiest most
wealthy men in all of Bethlehem, Judah. And when famine came to
Bethlehem, Judah, by the judgment of God, rather than using his
power, his influence, and his money for the benefit of God's
people, he gathered up everything he owned, and his wife, and his
sons, and moved away from Bethlehem, Judah, and went down and lived
amongst the Moabites. There his sons married Moabite
women. Moabite women. Moabites were
one of the two cursed races. Cursed of God, because they and
the Ammonites sprang from Lot's incest with his daughters. But
God graciously, for some strange reason, if you don't understand
the scriptures, gave a specific command to the children of Israel
all their 40 years of wanderings. God subdued nation after nation
after nation after nation. God told Moses, go down and destroy
them. Go down and destroy them. Go down and destroy them. Leave
the Moabites alone. Leave the Moabites alone. The
Lord God working his will secretly. Elimelech then died and Naomi
was left with her two daughter-in-laws whose husbands had died. And
she said, I'm gonna go back to Bethlehem, Judah. I hear God
has given bread to my people. And the daughters-in-law said,
we'll go with you. And Naomi said, no, y'all going back. Said,
I've got no boys for you to marry. And Ophir went back, but Ruth
said, I won't leave you. Your people be my people. Your
God, my God. Where you live, I'll live. Where
you die, I'll die. And they went to Bethlehem, Judah.
And Ruth went out at harvest time, as the law gave her the
privilege of doing, to gather corn, to glean in the fields. And it was her hap, isn't that
a wonderful word? It was her hap. Boy, wasn't she
a lucky girl. That's the way it looked. She
gleaned in the field of a fella by the name of Boaz. Boaz. Boaz. Boaz. She gleaned in the
field of that fella who was in the line of Jesse and David. And Boaz took her to wife. And
God gave him a son. Ruth, by a limelight's folly and evil
unbelief and disregard for God, Ruth was set in the line of the
house of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, and there would
have been no Redeemer for our souls. had Elimelech not gone
away from Bethlehem Judah. David took a woman to wife, the
wife of Uriah. He stole the man's wife, and
then he had Uriah murdered. And the thing David did displeased
the Lord. The scripture says so. The thing
David did displeased the Lord. Oh God, keep me from every inclination
to that which displeases you. But God's will, his purpose,
still accomplished. He killed the first child David
and Bathsheba had, and then they had another one, and they called
his name Solomon, and the Lord said to his prophet, go tell
David, call his name Jedediah. Beloved of the Lord, nothing's
changed. And from that union again came
forth him who is our Redeemer. And had it not been for David
stealing Bathsheba and murdering her husband, we'd have had no
Redeemer. God's purpose stands. Surely
the wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath
wilt thou restrain. Even when it is contrary to my
will, my choice, and my actions, I delight to do thy will, oh
my God. I haven't used my own examples
on purpose. But oh my God, how often life
of this man you have graciously, sovereignly, wisely overruled
evil for my good according to your purpose and your will. Now
one more question. How can I know the will of God? Turn back to Proverbs chapter
3 again. How can I determine what God's will is in any given
circumstance? Understand this, no one can determine
what God's will is for you except you, nobody. Paul said, immediately I conferred
not with flesh and blood. You come and ask my counsel about
things and I'll give you the best counsel I can, but I can't
tell you what God's will is and I'm not about to try, I don't
know. God reveals His will in His Word, by His Spirit, and
by His providence. The three things working together
to teach you who He is, His will. And God reveals His will to all
who truly seek His will in faith. I have over the years often had
men and women come to me and say, Pastor, I've got this I'm
struggling with. How do I know God's will? And
this is my response. I may say it one way or another,
but this is what I'll tell you. Bill Raleigh, your problem is
not knowing what God's will is. That's not the problem. That's
never the problem. That's never the problem. Our
problem, Lindsay, is bowing to God's will. That's always a problem. I don't think I've ever been
confronted with two choices in my life. Choice had to be made,
a decision had to be made. What do you do? Where I had to,
well, I don't know what the Lord had me to do. I knew exactly
what he had me to do. My trouble was I didn't want
to. That's my trouble, that's my trouble. Merle, if you seek
God's will, God will show you his will and you'll walk in his
will. hear me? If you seek God's will, God will
show you His will, and you'll walk in His will. Let's see if
I can make good on that. Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 3. I've told
you this many times, but it'll bear repetition. When I was 17
years old, Shelby and I had been dating for just a little while,
and we'd try to read scripture together and pray together. And
most of the time she had to do the reading because I couldn't
read. And one night we were sitting on a bench in a park in Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, and we read this portion of scripture. And we proved it, and proved
it, and proved it, and proved it again. Proverbs chapter 3, verse 5.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine
own understanding. You get in trouble every time.
Lean not unto thine own understanding. Well, it looks to me like lean
not to thine own understanding, but this would be so good. Lean
not unto thine own understanding in all thy ways. Acknowledge
Him, and He shall direct thy paths, and thereby you will prove
for yourself what is that good and acceptable and perfect will
of God. Amen.