Second Corinthians chapter 8
verse 5. Second Corinthians chapter 8
verse 5. Here are four words. Four words that are, I believe,
the most important words you will find anywhere. The last
four words of this text of scripture, the will of God. The will of God. I want that. The will of God. I want that more than anything. The will of God. I told you earlier
I'm going down to Mexico tomorrow and I'm scheduled to lecture
in the preacher school in the morning and in the afternoon
we'll have lunch together and go back to lecture. A few weeks
ago, As he normally does, Brother Cody called and asked me to address
a specific issue that has come up among the preachers. And he
asked if I would address the subject of the will of God and
our responsibility, and also the will of God and the problem
of evil. And as I was preparing to do
that, I realized that the things God gave me I hope will be beneficial
to you, I think will be beneficial to you by the blessing of his
spirit. So this morning, I'm going to
be preaching to you on the subject, the will of God and my responsibility. And tonight, the will of God
and the problem of evil. Paul admonishes us in the fifth
chapter of Ephesians, you can look at it later, to walk circumspectly,
not as fools. but as wise, redeeming the time
because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise,
but understanding what the will of the Lord is. In the 40th Psalm,
our Lord Jesus Christ, as he was coming into the world, as
he was coming into the world in the everlasting purpose of
God, as he was coming into the virgin's womb in the conception
of his humanity by God the Holy Spirit, as he was coming forth
from his mother's womb, he lifted his hands to heaven and said,
lo, I come to do thy will, O my God. That was the thing that
motivated him. That was the thing that was upon
his heart. That was the driving force of his life. Now, we know
that those words speak of our Lord Jesus Christ, the incarnate
God, because the Holy Spirit tells us in Hebrews chapter 10,
the one speaking is Christ, our Savior. And yet, as you read
the 40th Psalm, it is obvious that this was also David speaking. David is saying, Lo, I come to
do thy will, O my God." The driving force of David's life, the driving
force of that man's life who is called a man after God's own
heart, that which motivated him, that which constrained him continually
through the days of his life in his behavior, in his attitude,
in his ambitions was the will of God. What David wanted was
God's will. What David sought was God's will. What David endeavored to do was
God's will. The same is true of every heaven-born
soul. You who know my God, I know bear
this likeness to the Redeemer and this likeness to one another.
You want God's will. Your soul's cry is thy will be
done. We desire to obey and serve our
heavenly father in all things and do his will at all times,
not reluctantly, not because we're forced to come to bow to
it, but because we cheerfully desire God's will with joy With
delight, we say, thy will be done. Our heart's prayer, our
heart's prayer, our heart's prayer is exactly
what our Savior taught us to pray. Our Father, which art in
heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done. God, the Holy Spirit teaches
every believer so to pray. God, our savior, teaches every
believer so to pray. When the believing heart cries,
I delight to do thy will. Oh, my God, this is the meaning. My heavenly father, my God, in
my heart of hearts, in the depths of my soul, I delight to fulfill
purpose. I want to do your pleasure. I want to obey your precepts. We know that our Father, the
God of the Bible, he who is truly God, is God who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will. And we know him, we who
know him, delight that it's so. Now, I don't intend to even try
to answer the cavils that unbelieving men make concerning God's sovereign
purpose and grace in this world. Men want to argue about God's
sovereignty, let them argue. Men want to fuss about God being
God, let them fuss. My purpose this morning is not
to satisfy anyone's curiosity about things. I do want to be
of help to you who seek to honor God and seek His will. And I
want you who do not yet know our God to bow to Him, to worship
Him, to believe Him. I want you to trust His Son.
And in doing so, in that desire, I want to show you what this
book teaches concerning the will of God. The will of God and my
responsibility. I want to make three statements
and then try to answer two questions. Here's the first statement. It is the duty. Duty. The poorest of all reasons to
do anything is duty. But that sure beats no reason.
It is the duty. It is the duty and responsibility
of all men, women and children to obey the will of God, his
precepts revealed in this book. It is the duty, the responsibility
of every breathing son of Adam to do the will of God. I recognize
some people foolishly think that responsibility implies ability. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Responsibility is that you are responsible to perform. God commands, walk before me
and be thou perfect. And you don't have the ability
to do it, but you're responsible to. God commands, be ye holy
for I am holy. You don't have the ability to
do it, but that's your responsibility. Now, God's will is set before
us in Scripture in three ways. His precepts, His pleasure, and
His purpose. His precepts are the commandments
of Holy Scripture. His pleasure is that in which
He delights. His purpose, of course, is His
everlasting decree, His eternal predestination. We'll look at
these three things together. First, the matter of precepts.
Turn to Romans chapter 2. Romans 2. We read the 20th chapter
of Exodus earlier, and I read it for this reason. In the 20th
chapter of Exodus, we're given the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments,
that which is commonly referred to as the moral law. They are
not recommendations. They are commandments. They're
commandments. God commands us, in essence,
to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and being, and to
love our neighbor as ourselves. That's the commandment. We haven't
the ability to do so. We haven't the ability to do
so. No matter how much we as believers desire to do these
things, we haven't the ability to do so. We break his commandments
every day, every hour, in everything we do. We violate God's law. Let no one imagine that he keeps
the Ten Commandments. You do not, I do not, and those
who pretend to do not. Rather, we break the commandments. The commandments were given not
to be a rule of life to believers. The commandments were given to
no one except the children of Israel. The law was never given
to the Gentiles. It was given just to the children
of Israel to show us these two things. To show us our sin. To identify sin. and to show
us our need of Christ, one who would come and do all that God
has commanded in our room instead, fulfilling all righteousness
for us. That's the only hope any sinner has. Yet it is the
duty of man to fulfill the commandments, every precept given of God. This
is what Solomon says, Fear God and keep his commandments for
this is the whole duty of man. But what about people who've
never heard of God? What about people who've never
read the word of God? What about people who've never
been given the commandments in any way at all? What about those
people? Are they responsible as well? Indeed they are. For
the law of God that we read in Exodus 20 is inscribed upon the
hearts of all men by nature, so that their conscience either
accuses them or excuses them. Not justifies them in the sense
of making them just, but their conscience excuses them, making
them just in their own minds. Look at Romans chapter 2, verse
12. For as many as have sinned without
the law, shall also perish without the law. There are people still
in this world, in remote corners of the world, I grant, but people
still in this world who've never had anyone to open the Bible
and read it to them, who've never heard of the name of our God,
have never heard of our Savior, have never read his law or had
his law written to them. They've sinned. without the law. And as many
as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law. Look at
verse 13. For not the hearers of the law
are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. You can't be justified without
obedience to the law. Not a partial obedience, not
an effort at obedience, not the best obedience you can give.
Rex, you can't be justified except you obey the law. Got to be done. But preachers have already told
us we can't. In a substitute, in a representative man, one
with whom we are in union, and that one is Christ Jesus the
Lord. Read verse 14. For when the Gentiles, that takes
in everybody except Jews, When the Gentiles, which have not
the law, do by nature things contained in the law, these,
having not the law, are a law unto themselves, which show the
work of the law written in their hearts, for their conscience
also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing
or else excusing one another. So that no matter where you go
in history, no matter what group of people you find in history,
today or in ancient times, the most barbaric even people have
a code of conduct. They have laws. Laws by which
men are restrained from evil things that they know are wrong. How do they know they're wrong?
Because they're written on their consciences. They're written
on their consciences. Any heathen tribesman, any heathen
tribesman knows that it's wrong to take your wife. He knows it's
wrong. Contrary to the law, adultery
is wrong. Any barbaric heathen tribesman
knows that murder is wrong. Any heathen tribesman knows that
theft is wrong and they punish those crimes and punish them
severely because by those things they restrain the evil that's
in man by nature and live in some way among one another without
killing each other. That's it. That's it. Not only
that, every heathen, I'm not talking about folks who are well-educated,
the heathen know Educated people try not to know, though they
know as well. They know that soon you're going
to meet God in judgment, and your soul shall continue to live
or to exist forever, either in damnation or in life. And therefore,
they do everything they can to appease God. They will even sacrifice
their babies to do it. We'll probably take Cody, or
not Cody. Cody will probably take Scott,
myself, and Clay to see one of the Mayan ruins while we're down
there. Some of you have been down there. They'd go up on those
altars on their holy days, and they'd find a virgin somewhere,
and they'd sacrifice her. Larry's down there. They'd take
the girl while she's living, slit her chest open, Take her
heart out and throw her off that huge pyramid to please God. It's called heathenism. It's called the law written on
your heart. So that man knows right from
wrong and he knows he's going to meet God and meet God in judgment. Everybody knows that. Now, men
and women refuse to obey the law written on their own hearts. And thus they are condemned and
perish in their sins by that which they know is right. They shall be judged and judged
eternally. And you who have the law, who
have the word of God, shall be judged by the word. But pastor,
we can't obey God's law. We can't fulfill God's law. We
can't do right. We can't do that, which is good. We can't be righteous by what
we do. What hope is there? There is
a precept given. Look at first John, chapter three
and verse twenty three. First John, chapter three, verse
twenty three. I'm going to pass over the ceremonial
law for now that was given all of it, all of it, like the moral
law to point to Christ. And the law is now ended. The law is now ended. I meant to say it just that way.
People say, well, the law, Christ didn't come to destroy the law,
but to fulfill the law. So he didn't set it aside. He
fulfilled it. I wouldn't have any ways you
can say that. He fulfilled it. What's that
mean? That means it's done. It's done. And you're not under the law.
You're under grace. I'm corresponding right now with
a friend of mine I've known since I was 19 years old down at Elon
College, North Carolina, and he's writing to me about Fulfilling
the law how we we ought to still try to fulfill the law And I
believe the man has some sincerity about him and is seeking some
understanding and I'm dealing with it best I can but understand
this understand this Christ fulfilled the law that means he's the end
of the law. He's the terminating point of
the law We are not under the law we who believe all the law
is is a savor of death under death It is administration of
condemnation and of death. It does nothing else except condemn
us for our sins. But since Christ came, the law
is fulfilled. And since he came, he who is
our Passover and a sacrifice for us, we no longer observe
a Passover. We no longer observe circumcision.
We no longer observe a Sabbath day. And we no longer live under
the rule and yoke of the law. We no longer dread God because
we can't fulfill the law. How come? Because we do. Because
we do. This is his commandment. First
John chapter three, verse 23. This is his commandment. That we should believe on the
name of his son, Jesus Christ. Love one another as he gave us
commandment But brother Don, that's two commandments. No,
he said it one This is his commandment that we believe on the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ God's darling son and love one another as he
gave his commandment believing on the Son of God is That which
causes always causes men and women to love one another because
we're in Christ We're brothers and sisters in Christ. Now, does
that mean that you like to spend a lot of time with everybody
who's in Christ? Not necessarily. Not necessarily. Sometimes you'll
find folks in Christ with whom you have great, great affinity
and personality and taste and likes, and you enjoy the same
kind of entertainment, and you enjoy the same places, and you
enjoy going to ballgame together. Other fellas don't like to go
to ballgames. They like to go fishing. You know, that's all right. That's
perfectly all right. It's perfectly all right for
you to prefer spending your time with believers fishing and somebody
else spend their time with believers going to ballgame or somebody
else spending their time in a tea room sipping tea. That's all
right. You don't have to like everything everybody else likes.
But those who are born of God love one another. We love one
another because we're born of God and we fulfill the law. Now, look what it says in Romans
chapter eight. I want you to see this. Romans chapter eight. The law, verse two, the law of
the spirit of life in Christ hath made me free. The law of
the spirit of life in Christ, what's that? Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. The law of the spirit of life
in Christ has made me free from the law of sin and death. What? The law of sin and death,
what's he referring to? He's referring to the Decalogue,
the Ten Commandments, the moral law, that law that says do and
live or fail to do and die. The law of sin and death. The
law then of life in Christ has made me free from the law of
sin and death for what the law could not do in that it was weak
through the flesh. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the
flesh. The law could never bring in
righteousness. The law could never give life.
But Christ brought in righteousness and Christ gives life. That the
righteousness, watch it, that the righteousness of the law
might be fulfilled in us. If you If you go on the internet
and order 1,000 commentaries on Romans chapter 8, order 1,000
of them. Order 1,000 of them. 999 of them are going to tell
you that this is what this means. We who believe now must do good. Now, we're accepted by Christ,
only by Christ, but we've got to do our part. We're accepted
only by His righteousness, only by His blood. There's not anybody
in a Baptist church in Danville, Kentucky who wouldn't tell you
that. There's not anybody you know who calls himself Christian
who wouldn't tell you that. But now, that doesn't mean there's
not something for me to do. You've got to live right. You've
got to live right life. That's not what this means. Merle
Hart, God won't accept your best effort at righteousness. Not
before you say it, not after you say it. He only accepts righteousness. Well, how do we fulfill the law
of righteousness? The righteousness of the law.
How is it fulfilled in us? Read the next line. Not the next
sentence, the next line. Who walk not after the flesh. What? Walk after the flesh. What's
that talking about? Walking around in the flesh.
No, I think almost everybody I know on this earth is walking
around in the flesh. That's not what it's talking about. To walk
in the flesh. I keep the commandments. I do
good. I live righteously. I live by
the law. That's what it is to walk after
the flesh. That's what is to walk after.
That's how you lived all your life till God saved you. Trying
to make yourself righteous by what you do. And it is your trying
to make yourself righteous that keeps you from coming to Christ.
Oh, no. We fulfill the righteousness
of the law as we walk after the Spirit, believing on the Lord
Jesus. Look at Romans chapter 3, verse
31. Now, I want you to see what I'm telling you
is what the book teaches. Do we then make void the law
through faith? Well, you folks, y'all make the
law null and void. You're against the law. You're
opposed to the law. I get plum angry when I hear
folks say such. No. No, we do not make void the law
by faith. God forbid, yay, we establish
the law. Everybody else brings the law
down to your level. The gospel of the grace of God
brings us up to the law's level. Understand the difference? Everybody
else tells you what you've got to do to be righteous. The gospel
tells you what Christ has done to make you righteous. We establish
the law by faith. All right, here's the second
statement. First, it's the duty of all to obey God's precepts. That means it's your duty to
believe on the Son of God. It's your responsibility. Oh,
I don't like duty faith. Call it whatever you want to.
Either you'll believe on him or you'll go to hell for not
believing him. It's your responsibility to believe the word that God's
given you. Number two, it is the desire
of every believer to obey the will of God doing his pleasure. doing his pleasure. There are some things clearly
revealed in this book that please God. Turn to Micah chapter 6. Micah chapter 6. Almost every controversy that
men raise in religion is raised over the matter of works, righteousness. Back here in Michael chapter
six, verse six. Where with all 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? Now Mark, those are
the things the law required. calves of a year old, thousands
of rams sacrificed every year. Can I come to God with that?
You might just as well ask the next question. Or with 10,000
rivers of oil, shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? Now, until you
got to that question, you might have thought, well, maybe I ought
to come to God with calves, and oil, and rams, and God will accept
that. But anybody knows. You know. God doesn't require you to bring
your firstborn. He doesn't require you to bring
the fruit of your loins and sacrifice it like a ram on an altar No,
no a thousand times No, not all the blood of beast on Jewish
altar slave could give the guilty conscience peace or wash away
the stain but Christ the heavenly lamb takes all our sins away
a Sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they we don't
We don't. Only the blood of Christ can
put away sin. Only the blood of Christ can
make us accepted with God. Verse 8. He hath showed thee,
O man, what is good, and what doth the Lord require of thee?
Ah, now we're down to it. But to do justly, and to love
mercy, and to walk humbly with God. Now again, go on the internet
and order you a thousand commentaries. Micah chapter 6 verse 8 only
a thousand of them 999 will tell you now this is what he means
God doesn't just want you to keep his commandments and do
good in that way what God wants you to do is be just in the way
you deal with me and when you like weigh out 16 ounces to a
pound and pay your bills and that do justly and to love mercy,
that is be gracious and merciful to folks you see the homeless
and you help them and you see the sick and you help them and
you see the poor and you help them and to walk humbly with
God, to pretend to be that Gandhi fellow you know and just not
have any opinion about anything and look humble. If I wasn't so sad, I'd laugh.
No, Michael's not contradicting everything written in the book
of God to do just that. This is what pleases God is for
you to confess your sin to him. Honestly, acknowledging what
you are, trusting his son alone for acceptance with him. To love
mercy is to love him who is the mercy of God, the promised mercy,
the performer of mercy, Christ Jesus, the Lord. To walk humbly
with God. Is to know who makes you to differ
from another. And know that you have nothing
you've not received and you've got no reason to boast because
everything you are and everything you have, God's received. You've
received from God. He alone makes you to differ.
To walk humbly with God. is to walk with God just exactly
as you began walking with Him in the beginning, a center, trusting
Christ for everything. To walk with God, to walk humbly
with God is to walk with Him, believing on the Son of God. Now, understand there are some
things that displease God. David stole Bathsheba from Uriah. And the book says the thing that
David did displeased the Lord. And Bobby, God showed everybody
that it did. Let no one let no one misunderstand
anything. There are some things that displease
God, some things totally contrary to the revealed will and pleasure
of God. Read the fifth chapter or the
fourth chapter of Ephesians and go down through the fifth chapter
and understand he speaks of those things that grieve God's spirit. Bitterness and clamor and envy
and covetousness. All the filth of the flesh displeases
him, grieves his spirit. And the apostle says, you've
not so learned Christ. Don't live like the Gentiles.
Don't live like the Gentiles. Isn't that amazing that he should
write that? Now, we recognize he wrote that to Ephesians. Do
you know who the Ephesians were? Do you know who they were? They
were the Oxford graduates of the day. They were the brilliant
folks. They were the educated people. They were the elite of the elite
of the Gentile world. The Ephesians were well-learned,
well-educated heathen. Well-learned, well-educated heathen. Do you know that fornication
and adultery was part of the worship services in the Temple
of Diana in Ephesus? That's part of the worship services.
Kind of like being in America, isn't it? Everything's all right,
anything goes. The whole world's going to hell
in a handbasket. Not you! who've been taught of
God. You've not so learned Christ.
Don't live like the heathen. Don't be influenced by the heathen.
Walk with God. Some things clearly displease
Him. Well, how is it that we're to please Him then? To please
Him and do His pleasure. This is my prayer. God, give
me grace. God, give me grace. I've been
praying since I was 16 years old. and praying every day throughout
the day, God, give me grace to honor you. In thought, in word, in deed,
give me grace not to bring reproach upon your name, your gospel,
or your people. Give me grace to honor you. Yet I'm fully aware that the
only way this sinful man can please God is to walk with him
by faith. We read in Hebrews 11 verse five,
that Enoch was translated. And before he was translated,
he had this testimony that he pleased God. Don't you like to hear that from
folks? Oh, you're such a good man. You're
such a faithful man. And that's all right. I think
you ought to brag on each other. That's fine. I have a nickname
for Lindsey Campbell. Anywhere in the world, Loyal
Lindsey. Loyal Lindsey. And I admire loyalty. And he's
a little embarrassed right now, but normally that makes you feel
pretty good. It's a name you've earned with effort. Earned with
effort. You don't please God by that. Enoch didn't have a testimony
from Don that he pleased God, and he didn't have a testimony
from his neighbors. There's a man who pleases God.
He had a testimony from God in his soul that he pleased God,
because he believed on the Son of God. How do you know that's
it? because the next word reads but
without faith it's impossible to please him. We please God
as we walk with him by faith and we seek because we believe
him his honor in all things. Here's the third statement. We're
absolutely assured in this book that all things obey the secret
will of God in his eternal purpose. All things. All things. We may back up just a little
bit. Pastor, what about our lives?
How does God accept us? How does God accept us? In Christ. He accepts us for Christ's sake.
In the totality of our lives as we walk before him. The reason
I'm backing up is because I want to tell you a story. Makes me
feel good. Our daughter, Faith, she's always
wanted to please me. And when she was just a little
tyke, we were still living in an apartment in Winston-Salem.
I was in Bible college and I wanted her to say daddy before
she said anything else, but she didn't. She didn't, she'd hear
my booming voice unless I got her eyes so she'd look at me,
she'd start to cry when I speak to her. But when she started
trying to walk, Shelby and I would compete with each other. Come
to daddy. Come to mama. You know where
she went with her first steps? She came to daddy. And I was
so happy. I was so happy. And she fell
several times. And you know, I didn't think
about scolding her for falling. I didn't think about it. What's she doing? She's smiling the whole way.
Her eyes just beaming because she wanted to come to daddy who
wanted her to come to her, come to him. That's how the Savior receives
us and God receives us in the Savior. We're walking to him. And we fall and rip our britches
often. but we're walking to him. And
it's not that he pretends we didn't fall. It's not that he
pretends we didn't mess up. It's not that he pretends we
didn't sin. It's not that we pretended it didn't hurt. My
sin is ever before me, but bless God, it's never before him. And he accepts us in his son. Now, this third thing. Everything
that God wills, Everything that God purposed from eternity, God
brings to pass in time. The secret things belong to God.
And folks refer to Deuteronomy 29, 29, and they say, now, we
won't talk about election and predestination. Those things
are secret things. They're not secret. Skip those things are
written with a pen of fire across the sky of Holy Scripture You
you can't read this book and miss them. Those aren't secret
things Thing is we don't know who's chosen and we don't know
what God's predestined until he brings it to pass Those secret
things we won't pry into we won't pry into we will wait till he
brings it to pass But he will bring it to pass He doeth according
to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth, and none can stay his head or say unto him, What
doest thou? That's a clearly revealed fact
of Holy Scripture. Our God works all things after
the counsel of his own will. Everything. The Lord hath made
all things for himself. Yea, Even the wicked for the
day of evil were told in first Corinthians 11 19 Heresies Heresies We Just got
through the election. Mr. Obama. I mean, mr. Romney
was a heretic. He's a heretic is his religious
heresy It's just utter heresy, but that's true of most everybody.
I What's everybody? And we get upset with heresy.
Oh, we get upset with heresy. Heresy. Heresies truly must come. That's what it says. Is that
what the book says? First Corinthians 11, 19. Heresies
must come. That they which are approved
may be made manifest. By these things, God separates
the sheep from the goats. And these things come according
to God's purpose. What is God's purpose? Whatever
comes to pass. God wills from eternity whatever
he does in time in providence. God does in providence whatever
he purposed in eternity. If God could will or desire or
purpose to do anything, will, desire, or purpose that something
should not be done, and His will, desire, and purpose not come
to pass, He's not God. He's just a puny figment of your
imagination. God's will or purpose includes
everything. Everything. Abimelech. took his riches and left Bethlehem,
Judah, and went down to dwell among some heathen folks. And
Abimelech is to be blamed for what he did. He is to be blamed
for what he did. Abimelech suffered for what he
did. His family, his sons died in
that heathen land for what he did. Was God's will overthrown? Oh, no, no, no. His wife, Naomi,
came back to Bethlehem, Judah, with a woman. What was her name?
Ruth. Where was it she came from? She
came from the Moabites. She was a daughter of Lot's incest. Well, what's so good about that?
She's the great-great-grandma of our Savior. And to suggest that somehow this
was out of God's will is to say that the birth of Jesus Christ
was out of God's will. What nonsense. What nonsense. Everything that comes to pass
comes to pass because God purposed it. No, no exceptions. Well, Does that make God the
author of sin? No. No. Well, how can you say that? Because God said that. That's
how I can say that. Well, how do you explain that?
I won't attempt to try because I don't know. I don't know. James says that it's not God,
not the author of sin. And Paul says, that he works
all things together after the counsel of his own will. He predestinated
all things that come to pass in time. That's the writing of
the book. What do you do with those two things? You bow your
puny little brain that you think is so big to God's revelation,
and you worship God. Now, this is hard. This is hard
for brainy folks to accept. I know that. I know that. God's
bigger than you. He's bigger than you. And he
won't fit in your box, no matter what box you make. You bow to
God and worship him. Thy will, not mine, O Lord, however
dark it be, O lead me by thine own right hand. Choose out my
path. for me. I dare not choose my lot, I would
not if I might. Choose thou for me, O Lord my
God, so shall I walk aright. Take thou my cup, and it with
joy or sorrow fill, as ever best to thee may seem. Choose thou
my good or ill, Not mine, not mine the choice in things both
great and small. Be thou my guide, my guard, my
strength, my wisdom and my all. Larry Brown. Where do you reckon you'd be
today if God had let you have your way? Answer. Any man or woman here?
Where do you suppose you would be if not in hell? Where else? If God lets you choose your way
and do what you want to do along the way. Thank God he steps in
and orders our steps by his sovereign purpose for our everlasting good. Two questions. Number one, is
it possible for a believer to miss or be out of the will of
God? Obviously, any act of sin, unbelief,
disobedience, any movement, decision contrary to the direction of
God's word and his spirit is contrary to his will. However, let it be understood
and emphatically clear that no one, no action performed by anyone
is ever out of God's will of purpose. No one, no one. Judah was a man chosen of God. Chosen of God. On one occasion,
Judah was out selling sheep, I think he was, and he and one
of his buddies, a fellow businessman in a strange town, and he saw
a harlot sitting on the wall that gave to the city, and he
said, can I hire you for a few hours? He didn't know the harlot was
his daughter-in-law, Tamar. That doesn't excuse anything.
She's still hired as a harlot. And what Judah did was a horribly
evil thing, even if she hadn't been his daughter-in-law. Well, clearly God didn't have
His way. Hold on. Hold on. You read the
first chapter of Matthew's Gospel, and you read the name Tabar. Don Renari, she's the great,
great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandma of
our Savior. And to suggest that somehow that's
not according to God's purpose is to declare that the birth
of Christ in our flesh was not according to God's purpose. No,
God's will is done even when we act contrary to that which
is revealed in his will and bring reproach upon ourselves and upon
his name in the behavior of our lives. Merle Hart, all hell can't thwart
God's will and you sure can't and I can't. Not going to happen. Number five, the second question.
How do I know God's will? How can I know the will of God? How can I know the will of God? I know that it's possible to
do something that is horribly evil, contrary to the
revelation of God, but God's will is accomplished. Well, how
can I know what God would have me to do? I started to ask, how
can I know God's will for my life? That's too big. That's
too much to consider. How do I know God's will? I've
never said this to you, I don't think. I've been asked in the
last 33 years to consider pastoring several places. say no with no hesitancy. No, I'm not interested. I'll
help you get a pastor. No, I'm not. I'm not going anywhere.
I will stay right here in Danville. I die. I'm not going anywhere. Not interested in going anywhere.
Now, there would be nothing morally, ethically, biblically wrong with
me going down to South Carolina and pastoring down there. There'd
be nothing wrong with that. But this is God's will. This
is where God had me to be. And to leave here is to act contrary
to God's will, though I'm not doing something evil in and of
itself. Making sense to you? I have a
friend right now considering pastoring a church. He's got
two choices. He can get rid of everything
he's got, go pastor, or he can keep everything he's got and
not pastor. Neither of them in themselves
are morally, ethically, spiritually, biblically wrong. Neither of
them. But one of them God's will, one of them not. One of them God's will, one of
them not. How can I know God's will? I'll tell you what I've
discovered all my life. Ron, I've never really had any
problem knowing God's will. That's not the problem. That's
not the problem. The problem we have is doing
it. That's the problem. How can I
know God's will? Proverbs chapter three. Shelby
and I hadn't been dating any time. Reading scriptures together
one night, she called my attention to these two verses of scripture. And they'd been a guide for our
lives. for nearly 44 years together. Proverbs chapter 3, this is my
counsel to you, children of God, concerning God's will and your
responsibility. Verse 5, trust in the Lord with
all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.
You can't do both. You can't do both. You will either
trust the Lord with all your heart or you'll lean to your
own understanding. You can't do both. 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 path. Let this be our prayer. Thy will
be done. Let this be our determination.
I delight to do thy will, O my God. And let this be our attitude. It is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth Him good. Amen.