Ephesians chapter 5 and verse
17. The Apostle Paul is talking to
us about walking with God, about walking in this world as children
of light, about living life in the Spirit for the glory of God.
In verse 17 he says, Wherefore be not unwise, but understanding
what the will of the Lord is. Understanding what the will of
the Lord is. That's my subject. Oh, may God
give us understanding. Understanding what the will of
the Lord is. Always, at all times, in all
circumstances, My God, teach me your will and graciously force
me to do your will. Understanding what the will of
the Lord is, were it possible to gather all the desires, ambitions,
and aspirations of all believers into one expression, into one
prayer, into one hope, It would be this, thy will be done. Thy will be done. With me and mine, with you and
yours, my Father, my God, my Savior, thy will be done. I want nothing else, and I truly
want that. Every believer delights to do
the will of God. We read in the 40th Psalm in
verse 8, this expression from David, I delight to do thy will,
O my God. Now there's no question that
expression ultimately is to be found in the mouth of our blessed
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that he is the one who
speaks in Psalm 40 because God the Holy Ghost tells us that
in the 10th chapter of the book of Hebrews. Our Savior came into
this world and said, I delight to do thy will, oh my God. I delight to come here. to fulfill
your purpose, to save your people, to honor your law, to bring in
everlasting righteousness, to establish eternal righteousness
for my people, to satisfy your justice, to redeem my people
with the sacrifice of myself, to glorify God. I delight to
do thy will, O my God. But those words, though written
prophetically concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, were truly
the expression of David's heart and the expression of every believer's
heart. I delight to do thy will, O God. All who are born of God bear
this distinct similarity to the Lord Jesus Christ who redeemed
us. We delight to do God's will. We delight to do God's will actively,
that is delight to do that which God would have us to do. And
we delight to do God's will in the day-by-day experience of
life. We wouldn't have things any other
way than according to God's will. More than that, we delight to
see God's will done in and done by others. Our heart's desire
and earnest prayer is Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done. Every sinner saved by grace,
every sinner taught of God the Holy Ghost is taught to bow to
and to seek God's will everywhere, always, and in all things. When our believing heart cries,
I delight to do thy will, O God, the meaning is this. My God,
my Father, in my heart, from the depths of my inmost soul,
I delight to fulfill your purpose. I delight to do your pleasure. I delight to obey your precepts. Understanding what the will of
the Lord is, we must understand that the will of God involves
these three things, God's will of purpose, God's will of pleasure,
and God's will of precept. I want us to look at the scriptures
in just this regard. First, understand this, it is
the duty, it is the duty, I don't much like that word duty, but
I'm getting to like it more all the time. Robert E. Lee, one
of the noblest of all in American history said, no man can do more
than his duty and no man should do less. Duty, it is the duty
and the responsibility of all men, believers and unbelievers. It is the duty, it is the responsibility
of all men, women, and children to obey God's revealed will in
His precepts. In the Word of God, as we read
Holy Scripture, the will of God is set forth in precepts. In His Word, God gives us precepts,
tells us what we must do, how we are to behave, what we must
not do. He reveals to us His precept
with authority. God's will of command, God's
precept is made known to us And it is our duty to do it. I didn't say you had the ability
to do it. I said, it's your duty to do
it. I didn't say you had the ability to do it. I said, it's
your responsibility to do it. And the scriptures make it very
clear. Listen to what the wise man said. Let us hear the conclusion
of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his commandments. for this is the whole duty of
man. Worship God and do what God says. Worship God and keep his commandments. In the day of judgment, God will
judge every man according to his works in the light of that
which God has revealed to him. No one will be held accountable
for anything he doesn't know. But everyone will be held accountable
for everything he does know, everything that he has revealed
to him by God in his providence. The moral requirements of God's
law are revealed to all men. It was given in the word in Exodus
chapter 20. It's given to us over and over
again in the book of Scripture so that it's written by our God
himself. He tells us what our moral duty
is, what our duty is before him, to love God with all our hearts
and love our neighbors as ourselves. The sum of that is walk before
me and be perfect. The sum of it is, Be ye holy,
for I am holy. But men who've never read the
Bible Men who've never had the gospel preached to them. Men
and women who've never had anyone to tell them anything about the
things of God. No things revealed in the law
by creation and by conscience. Romans chapters 1 and 2 state
this emphatically, so that all men by nature without excuse
because by nature they had the law of God stamped on their consciences
and screaming at them every day in creation. Every man by nature
knows what is right and wrong. And by nature, he does things
written in the law. He doesn't do them perfectly
by any means. But no matter where you go in
any civilization in the world, in fact, even where folks are
barbaric and uncivilized, men and women set up rules. Rules
against theft. Rules against murder. Rules against
abusing someone's property. Rules that God has stamped on
the conscience. And every man by nature knows
that God Almighty demands righteousness. And he knows that God demands
satisfaction. God demands that you do right,
and God demands that you pay for doing wrong. Every man knows
that. That's the reason whenever you
visit lands where they still have various temples and so forth
to various gods, you will see altars of sacrifice. Altars of
sacrifice where men and women actually sacrifice their own
offspring. sacrifice their own sons and
daughters, hoping to make atonement for sin, because every man in
his conscience, in the depth of his soul, knows that God demands
righteousness, and he demands satisfaction for that which is
done that's wrong. And God Almighty will hold men
responsible for the light they have that they despise. And He
will hold men responsible who hear the gospel of His grace
and despise it. All men in the day of judgment
will be judged by the light that God has given them that they
have despised. Every man according to his own
works, everyone. No deviation from justice. No
deviation from law. God has revealed what he requires. Love God supremely. Love your
neighbor just like you love yourself. Be righteous. And when you break
God's law, when you fail to love God with all your heart, When
you fail to love your neighbor as yourself, when you're not
righteous in thought, in word, or in deed, God demands satisfaction. And those are things that no
man can give. God revealed His will at Sinai
in the Ten Commandments. And then God gave the ceremonial
law by which He ordered the nation of Israel to worship Him in the
Old Testament. That law actually began before
the giving of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20. It began in Exodus
chapter 12 when the Lord God commanded Moses and the children
of Israel to observe the Passover. And the law of God given at Sinai
and the law of God given in those types and shadows of the Old
Testament was all fulfilled and brought to its conclusion when
the Lord Jesus Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. So what
is God's will of precept in this day? How can it be expressed? We don't tell men and women to
keep the commandments. I don't ever do that. I would
never do that. Now we teach our children to
do right and wrong. We teach them to do right and not do wrong.
Hope we don't teach them to do wrong. We teach them to behave.
And we teach them those patterns of behavior according to what's
revealed in the commandments of God. And that's right. But
to teach folks that salvation comes by obedience to the law,
that salvation comes by observing religious ceremonies, is totally
contrary to the revelation of God in the gospel. Well, what
is God's will of precept, which all men and women are responsible
and duty-bound before God to obey? Turn to 1 John chapter
3. I'll show you. 1 John chapter
3. It is revealed in the gospel.
The whole duty of man, the whole requirement of God upon man is
set forth in the Scriptures. Look here in 1 John 3, verse
22. John, back up to verse 21. John
says, Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence
toward God. And this is confidence we have.
Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him. And this is the reason,
because we keep His commandments and do those things that are
pleasing in His sight. Now, when was the last time you
did that? When was the last time you did that? I hope you're doing
it now. Read what he says. His commandment
is, 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. This is God's commandment. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust the Son of God. God demands
all men to believe His Son. God's gonna hold you responsible
to believe the gospel. God's going to hold you responsible
for repentance toward God. God's gonna hold you responsible
for faith in Christ. But preacher, you tell us all
the time, I can't do that. No, you can't, but you must.
You must. I was talking to Brother Frank
today. He said he made some statements last week to his congregation.
He said, there's some things God's not gonna do for you. God
is not going to believe for you. You must believe. God is not
going to repent for you. You must repent. And he's exactly
right. We believe by the power of God. We repent by the grace of God. But it is faith in Christ that
you are responsible for before God. Our Lord Jesus said to that
man with the withered arm, stretch forth thy hand. He didn't reach out and pull
his arm out and straighten it out. That's what I would try
to do. I'd grab hold of his hand and
start pulling, try to straighten it out, because I don't have
any other means of doing such. But the Savior said to that man,
stretch forth thy hand. And that man stretched out his
hand. Isn't that amazing? Merle Hart,
when God puts his commandment in your heart, With the command
comes the ability to obey the command. And when God calls you
by his grace, you can't help but to believe him. This is the
whole duty of man. By faith in Jesus Christ, God's
people perform God's will of precept and do that which honors
God. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son of God shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth
on him. All right, here's the second
thing. I want you to turn back to the book of Micah. I'll get
there in just a minute. Micah chapter seven. It is the desire of every believer
to obey God's will, to obey the will of God's holy pleasure in
all things. I have said this frequently to
parents when they have a newborn child. If somehow you can instill in
that newborn baby, if somehow you can instill in that boy or
that girl A desire to please you. You've got the biggest part
of this battle lit. Amen, when God gives you that
child, if you and Eric could somehow instill in that child
a desire always to please you, oh my, that goes a long ways
toward raising a child. You see, a loving child, desires
to please his mama and dad. A loving wife desires to please
her husband. Believers have an insatiable
desire to please God, to do the will of God, that which gives
him pleasure. I'm fully aware of the fact that
we can't add to God's infinite pleasure, but we earnestly seek
to do that which pleases him. There are some things revealed
in this book that please God. Some things that please God.
And those things that please God are all in Christ. Only in Christ. And all together
in Christ. The only way sinners can please
God is by faith in Christ. The only way sinners can please
God is by faith in Christ. Now, you and I need to learn
this. We need to learn this. Our Bible
reading won't please God. Merle, our Bible reading, it
doesn't even please us. How's it gonna please Him? Our
praying won't please God. Were you ever pleased with a
prayer? Ever? Our most sacrificial acts of
devotion won't please God. Mark, they don't please you.
How are they going to please God? Oh no, what we do cannot please
God. All that pleases God is in His
Son. And the only way you and I can
please God is in His Son. Now look at Micah chapter 6,
verse 6. Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before
him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the
Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand
rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
Will God accept those things? Of course not. Of course not.
He has showed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord
require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God. Now, sadly, and I have spent
a good bit of time today and over the last few weeks looking
at this, particularly this portion of scripture in Micah 6. Sadly,
most every commentator I've read on verse eight and every sermon
I've been able to find yet interpret the passage to mean this. God
requires men and women in every department of life to behave
justly, honestly, and uprightly. God requires us to be merciful
and charitable and to live in humiliation before him. They
tell us this is the sum and substance of all true religion and all
true godliness. But you have not so learned Christ. Thank God I have not so learned
Christ. There's not a word in this sixth
chapter of Micah about how we are to live before men, about
what we're to do to and with men. God requires us to do justly
and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God. What does this mean, to do justly? Now, please don't misunderstand
me. This is not talking about treating
men justly, but we certainly ought to do that. I don't in
any way give any leniency in this regard to how you behave
with men. Pay your bills, be honest, deal with folks in honesty,
treat folks right, just treat people right. But God's prophets
talking about doing justly with God. To do justly with God is
to justify God. To do justly with God is to justly
confess my sin to Him. To justly take sides with God
against myself. To do justly is to exercise that
repentance toward God that only God Himself gives and only God
Himself can produce. It is to believe on the Son of
God. To love mercy. is what God requires. Well, who doesn't love mercy,
especially when he needs it? Who doesn't love to see people
behave mercifully? I saw one of my nephews and his
wife, haven't seen her in a long time, and I just found out from
my daughter yesterday, I didn't know it until then, I saw they
had a new baby with them, and they act as foster parents, and
it's not because they need the money, they act as foster parents
and take care of children, they had a little baby with them that
they were planning to adopt, they got her from the hospital
as a newborn baby, and she was terribly abused, her mother was
an addict, this child had more the drugs in her than any child
they'd ever seen at the hospital. And that's, oh, that's just good. That's just good. I love to see
mercy. Love to see mercy. But that's
not what this is talking about. That's not what this is talking
about. Let us love to show mercy and exercise it. Let us love
to see others exercise mercy. But you're a fool if you imagine
that you can win God's favor by being merciful. Luke chapter
1 verse 72 tells us what this is talking about. Zacharias is
speaking concerning John the Baptist who'd come as the forerunner
of our Lord Jesus Christ and he describes our Redeemer as
that one who came to perform the mercy God promised to our
fathers. Jesus Christ is the mercy of
God. And if we would honor God, if
we would please God, if we would come to God, we must come to
God by faith in Jesus Christ who performed mercy. He performed redemption. He performed
salvation. He performed righteousness. And
next we're told that we must walk humbly with God. Walk humbly
with thy God. That is to walk before God with
a conscious awareness of my sin, trusting Christ alone as my Savior,
being taught to do so by God the Holy Ghost who reveals Christ
in me. Walk humbly with God. walk humbly
with God. We pray, and we come to worship,
and we bow our heads, and we give thanks at our tables, and
we bring our offerings, and we repeat these words in Christ's
name, in Christ's name, in Christ's name, in Christ's name. You probably
have observed I deliberately Very frequently in public prayer,
I deliberately do not use the words. Because I want to dispel
any notion that there's some kind of a magical formula in
prayer or something magical about saying in Jesus' name. But you
don't dare take a breath except in his name. Walk humbly with
God. It's called living by faith.
It's called believing on the Son of God. We come here and
take the Lord's table and we are perfectly worthy to do so
because we eat the bread and drink the wine in Christ's name,
trusting his blood and his righteousness. We come to God in prayer and
pour out our hearts to him. And we blush with shame because
we, We can't separate flesh and spirit. Just can't do it. Just can't
do it. The old man knew the two distinct people, but we can't
separate them. And our prayers are shot full of pride and selfishness. But somehow we still offer our
prayers and expect God to hear us in Christ's name because Christ
is worthy. And we have what we desire of
him because we come in Christ's name. We desire his will, his
glory, his honor, the building of his kingdom, and we bow everything
else to him, everything. to come into the house in Christ's
name. And where two or three are gathered
in my name, gathered in my name. What's that mean? Gathered here,
believing on the Son of God. Gathered here, trusting Christ
the Lord, walking humbly with your God. I'm there in the midst
of them. As we please God by trusting
His Son, only by trusting his son, only by faith in his son. There are some things plainly
revealed in the scriptures that are displeasing to God. We spent
a good bit of time in Ephesians four and five. From chapter four,
verse 17, until you get all the way down to chapter five and
verse 15, the apostle is talking about things that displease God,
grieving the spirit of God. You remember when David took
Bathsheba and had Uriah murdered. The scripture says the thing
David had done displeased the Lord. And there's much commonly
practiced among men that displeases God. Anger, wrath, malice, drunkenness,
fornication, adultery. These things, covetousness, envy,
pride, jealousy, strife, division, displease God. Displease God. I was talking about the Mike
Walker earlier and a situation we're both aware of. Folks got
upset. Packed up and took their ball
and bat and went somewhere else or left, I don't know where they're
going. I've known them for years. And it didn't surprise me much.
Men and women, somehow or another they can get along with their
neighbors, neighbors who are drunks and thieves and whoremongers. They get along fine with them.
But at church, if somebody didn't speak to them just right, I'll
go somewhere else. I don't have to go, I don't have
to take that to church. Isn't that wonderful? That's
a great attitude to have. Or, I know folks, I know people
who will allow a son or a daughter to live under their roof, shacked
up with some fella, and, well, if my son, my daughter, what
do you expect me to do? I don't expect you to do anything.
But at the church house, at the church house, if you, look at
that boy, he's got his shirt, it's not tucked in. Look at that.
Why, he oughtn't to do that. I'll go somewhere else. What stupidity. What stupidity. Children of God, don't do that
which displeases God, but rather walk by faith in Christ, which
always involves loving your brother as yourself. This is His commandment,
that we believe on His Son and that we love one another as He
gave us commandment. God, give me grace not to dishonor
Your name or to offend in thought, word, or deed. Give me grace
not to offend Your children but to help them. not to bring reproach
to your son or to the gospel of your grace in him. Give me
grace not to grieve your spirit. All of those things, Alan, I'm
constantly inclined to do. I wish it weren't so, but that's
the way it is. So I must constantly walk with
God, believing his son, trusting his son, seeking grace through
his son to honor him. And I'm fully aware of the fact
that the only way sinful men and women can please God is by
faith in Jesus Christ. Enoch had this testimony that
he believed God. He was righteous. He pleased
God. But without faith, it's impossible
to please Him. So that as we worship and serve
God and serve His people and serve His cause, as we live in
this world, Ecclesiastes 9, verse 7, I think it is, God now accepteth
thy word. He accepts us in the totality
of our lives as we seek to live for Him and honor Him. God's well-pleased with His Son,
and He's well-pleased with us in His Son as we walk before
Him, when at times we do things that
are not pleasing to Him. Oh God, thank you for that kind
of grace. Grace that doesn't depend on
and grace that can't be shattered by me, and grace that can't be
marred by me. God accepts us and smiles on
us in his son, even when we make a mess of things. I don't know
how to say this in a better way than I've said to you many times.
And every time I get a chance to say it in front of her, I
say it in front of Faith. But when I was going away in meetings,
I'd been gone for several days, maybe a week or 10 days, maybe
a little more. Anyway, I was coming home. And
I'd always call home on CB radio back in those days. CB radio,
I'd call home to El Chavo when I was on top of the mountain
and I could reach her, I'd be home. And Faith, I knew I was
coming home. She's just four years old, maybe
five years old. And it was in the spring of the
year. She went out in the yard and gathered up a whole fistful
of dandelions with all the fuzz on them. and she's sittin' on
the steps behind her back. She saw me pull up in that blue
truck I was drivin'. She jumped up and ran to the
truck, holdin' out her daddy lines, just smilin'. And as she
did, all the fuzz blew off of her, all she had was those ugly
stems. And she started to cry and I did too. She was so sad
and I was so happy. I'd give $1,000 for her right
now. How come nothing pretty knows
dandelions? No, but she did it just for me. Oh God, give us grace to live
just for you and please God. To do his pleasure, living by
faith in Jesus Christ the Lord. We're assured in the book of
God that all things obey God's secret will, His eternal purpose
of grace. The secret things belong to the
Lord, but that which is revealed belongs to us and to our children. We don't know what God has predestined.
We don't know what must come to pass. But we do know what
God requires of us, and that's our duty. It's clearly revealed that God
has purposed, decreed, and predestined all things that have come to
pass, all things that now are, and all things that shall come
to pass. In this sense, everything that is, has been, or shall be
is the will of God. Our God is absolutely sovereign,
directing all the affairs of the universe, and his will of
purpose includes the good and the evil, sin and salvation,
error and truth, everything, everything. God wills whatever
is. God wills. whatever has been. God wills whatever shall be. What his soul desireth, even
that he doeth. God acts voluntarily in all that
he does. He's never compelled to do anything
because of what men do. And God does in providence only
what he willed to do from eternity. And that even includes the most
vile acts of men, which we are told plainly in Holy Scripture,
when men nailed the Son of God to the cursed tree, they did
that which God predestinated beforehand must be done. You say, well, that means that
men aren't responsible. Oh, no, it doesn't. Ask them,
they're in hell now. Just ask them. Oh no, it doesn't
mean that. Well, how do you reconcile those
things? I don't even try because they're not at odds. You see,
this book was not written to confirm our reasoning. This book
was written to correct our reasoning. And we don't come to the word
of God with our logic and demand that the scriptures bend to our
puny brains. Rather, we bring our puny brains
to the word of God and bow to the revelation of God. I repeat,
God's will of purpose includes all things. A God who wills,
desires, or purposes to do or to prevent anything. that he
fails to accomplish or fails to prevent is no God at all. Did you get that? A God who wills
to do or prevent anything which he fails to perform or fails
to prevent is no God at all. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain. God's will is universal. It is absolute. In his purpose
includes all things, and he performs all things specifically for the
salvation of his elect. And so believing hearts bow to
him and say, thy will be done. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. I told you Sunday, I think it
was, that Shelby talked to Mabel Dix and she, talking about things
she's having to go through, she said, she said, I'm in Christ
and Christ is in me, everything's all right. And that just stayed
with me. I wrote a hymn yesterday that
you'll have it in the bulletin in a week or two. I am in Christ
and Christ is in me, so everything is well. When God sees him, then
God sees me, so everything is well. The eye of my all-seeing
God pierces all nature through. but precious sin-atoning blood
takes all my sins from view. I am in Christ and Christ sent
me, so everything is well. My shame I own, my sin confess. How vile I know I am, but God
has made me righteousness in Christ my Lord the Lamb. Since
my Savior stands between, in garments red with blood, instead
of me his Son is seen, when I approach to God. I am in Christ, and Christ's
in me, so everything is well. And though a sinner, I am safe. In Christ before the throne,
his life and death for me he gave, and calls my sins his own. What wondrous love. What mysteries
in substitution shine? My breaches of the law are His,
and His obedience mine. I am in Christ, and Christ's
in me, so everything is well. Understand then what the will
of the Lord is. I know how it is that God Almighty
accepts sinners like you and me through His Son. And I know
what God requires of you and of me. Believe on his son. And I'm fully confident that
all that he's purposed to do, he has brought to pass, he is
bringing to pass, and he shall bring to pass for the glory of
his name. and for the salvation of a people
given to his son. Oh, God, give us grace to bow
to him, to trust him, to serve him. Our God.