If you will, open your Bibles
back to the book of John, chapter 6. My subject this morning is the
will of God. The will of God. This is something
my wife and I have talked about a lot here lately. As we were driving down to Shreveport
this past week, she asked me a specific question about it,
and it got me to thinking about the subject. And I went home,
and that's more or less how this message was born. It's something
I hear men and women talk about a lot over at the hospital, the
will of God. This is the will of God. This
is not the will of God. It's something I've heard discussed
over the years in all kinds of situations, funeral homes, hospitals,
marriages, all kinds of situations. And it's a subject I've given
a lot of thought to and listened to some of the most choice teachers
of God teach about and talk about, the subject of the will of God. I know this. That what I believe concerning
the will of God now is totally different from what I believed
about the will of God before God did a work of grace on my
heart. Totally opposite. You can take
everything that the natural man says toward the will of God and
take the opposite. And that's what I believe. Let
me give you two or three things that I've come to see concerning the will of God that's so different from what
I once believed. First of all, I know now that
the will of God is eternal. I used to believe that the will
of God was the reaction of God to a situation. Here comes a
situation. Somebody got sick. Somebody died. Somebody mourned. Somebody did
this. Somebody did that. And then God reacted. What was
God's will in this situation? What did He do? This situation
caused God to do something. That's what I believe the will
of God was, a reaction to a situation. But I've come to find out that
the will of God is the same and never has changed because it's
eternal. It's eternal. The will of God
is not His reaction to situations or circumstance. Turn with me
to Isaiah chapter 46. Now I hear preached all the time
on TV and on radio. I listen to preachers over at
the hospital talking to the sick, listening to what they say. I
listen to conversations sometimes out in the parking lot. Listen
to what men are saying. They come out there because they
don't let them smoke in the hospital anymore. They've got to come
out there and smoke. And while they're smoking out there, they're
talking. And they're talking about these things. And I hear
all the time, if we do certain things, then God will do certain
things. As though God were ignorant of
things to come. Listen to this, Isaiah 46, verse
9. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God and there is none else. I am God and there
is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning. How can He do that? How can God declare the end from
the beginning? Because He knows everything in
between. That's right. That's the only
way. I'll go a step further than that.
God has ordained everything in between. That's right. That's the only way that you
can declare the end. I remember Brother Marvin first
took over Scott Richardson's church up in Katy Baptist Church
up in Fairmont, West Virginia. Marvin had started into his first
message and Scott was sitting on the front queue. And Scott
was bad to do this. But he stopped Marvin. Marvin
was in this big statement about the will of God. And Brother
Scott stopped him and he said, yeah, but what if God changes
his mind? And Marvin had to stop and think
about what he just said. And he said, I know what I said
was right. And he said, God doesn't change His mind. He said, that's
right. And he just let him go on. God doesn't change His mind. He declares the end from the
beginning and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying, my counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasures. Listen to this, in Acts 4, verses
25-28, Peter talks about the fulfillment of one of the prophecies
of King David back in the Psalms. And he's talking in particular
about the suffering and death of Christ, and he says that when
the people fulfilled this prophecy, they did what God's hand and
God's counsel determined before to be done. God's will is eternal. And secondly, what I believe
now that I didn't believe then is that God's will is sovereign. It's sovereign. There's no one
higher to overthrow His will. He's at the top. There's no one
there to challenge Him. No one there to turn Him. After God took Nebuchadnezzar
and made him eat grass like a beast, made him to look like a beast,
and made him to be looked upon as a beast, he had this to say. Daniel chapter 4 verse 34 says,
His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom is
from generation to generation. He doesn't lose His kingdom because
David died. He don't lose His kingdom because
Solomon passed away. And He don't lose His kingdom
because an ungodly man now reigns. And He said, verse 35, And all
the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing before
Him, and He doeth according to His will in the armies of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
His hand or even question what He does. And then Paul states as clear
as words can be in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 11, that the
God of our salvation worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. His will is eternal. And His
will is sovereign. It's sovereign. And God's will,
my friend, is unchangeable. The God of glory never changes
His mind. That's right. Never changes His mind. He is
of one mind. Isn't that what the Scripture
said? Who can turn Him? Listen to what James has to say
about this over in James chapter 1 verse 17. Here he is talking
about salvation and all the free gifts of God, the gifts of God's
grace. He is talking about all these
things that we now enjoy in this world, the sending of the Holy
Spirit, the reign of Christ in glory, the preaching of the gospel,
all of those things, the new birth. Listen to what he said. Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above. and cometh down from the Father
of lights. Now listen. With whom is no variableness,
neither shadow of turning. His will is unchangeable. It's unchangeable. Of his own will, James said,
his gracious, eternal, sovereign, immutable will begat he us. with the Word of Truth. One of the men came forward one
day and gave me a hypothetical situation of a man dying in a
hunting accident. And he asked me this question.
In this desperate situation, would God stray from His means
of preaching to use the witness of a man to convert this dying
man? That's a good question. That's
a good question. And there's a thousand applications
to that question in our everyday circumstances of life. Here was
my reply. Does God save men by accident
or on purpose? Whose will is being done in this
thing, man's or God's? That's what makes the difference
in how that question is answered. I'm pretty sure the Scripture
says that we are the called according to His purpose. I'm pretty sure
that the Scripture says that God has saved us and called us
with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to
His own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ before
the world began. His will is eternal. His will
is sovereign. His will is unchangeable and
God's will is irresistible. That's right. It's irresistible. One of these days I'm going to
straighten myself up. You might not. You might not. God might just set his mind to
give you over to strong delusion to believe a lie and be damned.
Read Proverbs chapter 1. You can call it whatever you
want to call it. Some men say you're preaching a deadline,
you're preaching a place where grace can't... No, I'm not doing
that at all. I'm just telling you that if
you're ever saved, you'll be saved by the will of God. And
your will will line up with His will or you won't ever be saved.
And just because you get willing one of these days don't mean
God's willing. His will is sovereign. His will is eternal. And His
will is irresistible. And it's unchangeable. Oh, you
say, well, if they'll cry, He'll change. No. That ain't what Proverbs
chapter 1 says. You read it. The Lord said, then
you'll call on Me, but I won't answer. You'll seek Me early,
but you won't find Me. Huh? Those who nailed the Son of God
to the tree and incited the crowd against him and pressured Pilate
into a compromise did the will of God. That's what Peter said
in his address to them at Pentecost. Scripture said, the king's heart
is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water, and he turneth
it whithersoever he will. What I'm laboring to point out
to you this morning is that no matter who you are or what you
believe, you're inseparably connected to the will of God. You see the
great potter, you can read about it there in Romans chapter 9,
and I can't give you the exact reference, but he took one of
the old prophets out to the potter's house and showed him those things.
That's where Paul got that illustration in Romans chapter 9. He's the potter. He can take
one lump and he can pluck from that lump one vessel and make
a vessel to dishonor and he can take the other one and make a
vessel of honor. And nobody can say anything because
he's God. Huh? Now you read it for yourself
and see if that's not what it says. Hath not the potter power over
the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and
another to dishonor? Paul said, Thou wilt say unto
me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
You see how this will is inseparably connected to you? Paul said,
Nay, but, O man, who art thou that replies against God? I tell
you, your whole thought, your whole concept, your whole motivation
will change if God ever opened your mind to see that His will
is sovereign, irresistible, eternal. Huh? Oh yeah, your whole thought
process is going to change then. Because this thing is no longer
dependent on you, it's dependent on Him. It's dependent on Him. We're inseparably connected to
the will of God. And it just seems to me that
it ought to be the number one priority in our lives to find
out something about His will. Huh? Now that's what prompted
me to bring this message this morning. In John chapter 6, the
Lord declares the will of God concerning both Himself and those
given to Him of the Father. The Lord told Him who He was,
didn't He? I read it to you a few moments
ago. In John 6, verse 35, He said, I am the bread of life.
He that cometh to Me shall never hunger. He that believeth on
Me shall never thirst. But I said unto you that you
have also seen Me and believed on. You saw what everybody else saw.
You saw what the twelve saw who didn't walk away. But you walked
away. You've seen me. You've seen the
miracles. You've seen what I've done. You've
heard what I had to say. You know the Scriptures that
I've preached to you. But you believe not. What a picture
of this generation in which we live today. They've seen Him
in the Word of God and they've heard Him set forth in the Gospel,
yet they believe not. Verse 37. All that the Father
giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out." Now, we're going to get down to the heart
of the matter. Every child chosen by the Father in eternal election
will, they will, in the fullness of God's time, come to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. They will. They shall. All that
the Father giveth me. Isn't that what he said? Shall
come to me. Now that's a point of difference
between me and religion, isn't it? Oh, don't preach about elections.
You're going to confuse the people. They're already confused. They
need somebody to tell them the truth. They're confused by the
lies. There's nothing difficult in this. God chose a people.
All that He chose, He appointed Christ to redeem. All for whom
He appointed Christ to redeem is going to come to Him. Isn't
that what He said? That's not difficult. The difficulty is
the confusion of the lies. That's the difficulty. Every
child chosen by the Father in eternal election will in the
fullness of God's time come to Him and believe on Him. They'll
hear the gospel as it is God's ordained means to call out His
elect. And they will, in this hearing,
be born of God's Holy Spirit. And they will, in this hearing,
be called to repentance. And they will repent, every one
of them. They will, in this hearing, come
to know the truth of the gospel and the lies of religion and
the darkness and ignorance of this world. and being taught
of God and drawn by His will, they will come to Christ and
they will believe on Him. How can you be so dogmatic about
that, preacher? Huh? All these whatabouts, all
these ifs, what if, what about, this, that, and the other. How
can you be so dogmatic and sure about these things? Look at the
next verse. Far! Ain't that what he says? Far! See it there in verse 38? Far! Here's the reason. Here's the basis of the coming.
Here's why some see while others see not and believe not. Far! I came down from heaven not to
do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. His appearance on this earth
as a man, His servitude under the law, His growth as a baby
to adulthood, His ministry as a preacher of the gospel, His
suffering and death as our substitute, His deity and humanity, the perfection
of His obedience. Hebrews 10, verse 7, in the volume
of the book, He said, it's written of Me, I come to do Thy will,
O God. Sometimes I think we get lost
in all the particulars and we miss the glory of His person
and His coming. His coming was to accomplish
the will of God in the redemption of a people for the glory of
His Father's name. But what is this will? What in
particular did He come into this world to do? And what does this
coming and doing have to do with my believing and being saved?
Two things. In verses 39 and 40 of John chapter
6, the Lord declares two things concerning the redemptive will
of God which brought Him into this world as a man. First of
all, He tells us in John 6 verse 39, This is the Father's will
which has sent Me, that of all which He hath given Me, I should
lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. By this
one declaration, the Lord Jesus Christ disproves and exposes
the whole of false religion and the whole of anti-Christ religion
in this world. Every religion that I've ever
known, ever read about, ever experienced personally and gone
there and heard them preach, talks about Christ losing things. Huh? Talks about men and women being
saved and then lost. Talks about men and women believing
and then believing not. Huh? Talks about His sacrifice,
maybe not being effectual. Maybe being in vain because you
didn't believe. Huh? They talk about Christ losing
things. Christ said, the one mark of
my coming into this world was to do the will of God. And His
will is that nothing be lost. Nothing be lost. Not one for
whom He died. Not one compromise of His character. Not one compromise of the Scripture. Going to raise it all up at the
last day in its perfection. He disproves and exposes the
whole of false religion. He tells us here without any
ifs, ands, and buts, that everything that the Father gave Him to accomplish,
everything that the Father gave Him to keep, and everything that
the Father trusted to His Son, He would not lose. Huh? If thou be the Christ, He said,
tell us plainly. He said, I told you. You believe
not, because you are not of My sheep. As I said unto you, My
sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And no man can pluck them out
of My hand. Why? Because the Father gave
them to Him. Now He ain't going to turn them
loose. What about if they stray? He
ain't going to turn them loose. What about all their unbelief?
He ain't going to turn them loose. I'll lose nothing. That's the
will of God. The eternal, immutable, sovereign
will of God. I'll lose nothing. Worldly religion
has a Christ that cannot keep anything that God gave it. He
must compromise His gospel to fill the pews. He must compromise
His wisdom to make His gospel believable. He must compromise
His character to approve of their works, but not the Christ of
God. He doesn't compromise anything. Here is the irrefutable truth
of God concerning Christ. this Christ of the Scripture,
everything God gave Him to redeem, to restore, everything He committed
to His trust, He'll raise it up at the last day without the
loss of one single thing. A little over 2,000 years ago,
a man appeared in this world, a virgin-born son, the seed of
woman, the root of Jesse, the seed of David, the son of promise. And he came down from heaven
He did not evolve up from the sons of men. He came down from
heaven. That's what He told. He didn't
rise up out of the ranks of the Pharisees and the scribes. He
didn't rise up out of Judaism. He came down from heaven. He
came down from heaven. And His coming was to accomplish
all that the Father willed for Him to do. and to keep all that
the Father committed to His trust. What did the Father give Him
to keep? Boy, I'd like to know that. Find out what my part is
in this will of God. What did the Father give Him
to keep? Well, first of all, He gave Him the honor, integrity,
and glory of His name. Religion doesn't keep it. They
don't even know who God is. Now wait a minute, we be not
born of fornication, we have one God. We have one Father,
even God. That's our Father. We know God. If God was your Father, He said,
you love Me. That's the problem, they don't
love Him. He came to this earth and He stood before these very
men who said, we love God. He said, if you love God, you
love Me because I proceeded forth and came from God. It's the honor, integrity, and
glory of His name that the Father gave Him. And all that He did,
and all that He said, and all that He was, He honored His Father
and manifested the express image of His person. He was the brightness
of the Father's glory. That's what Paul said in Hebrews
chapter 1. What else did He give Him to
keep? Well, He gave Him a people to redeem for the glory of His
name. Now, why don't you listen to
me here. You can, if you're here this morning, and you're hearing
what I'm telling you, you can, without fear or reservation,
commit your soul into His hands knowing this, the Father trusted
all to Him. All God's elect, He trusted to
Him. Now, if God can trust Christ,
Can we? I think we can. There are no
ifs, there are no maybes, there are no whatabouts, there are
no doubt concerning His work of all which He has given me.
He said, I'll lose nothing. The death of Christ. I love this. Brother Don said this years ago,
and I don't know if he got it from somebody else or what, but
I sure like it. He said, the death of Christ
shall never be discovered a miscarriage. That's right. It's effectual. It's effectual. Alright, here's
the second thing I know and rejoice in concerning the will of God
as it's stated in the text. John chapter 6 verse 40. This
is the will of Him that sent me that everyone which seeth
the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life and
I'll raise Him up at the last day. Now this is not something
else that God the Father willed, but it's still part of the first.
Still part of the first. All those redeemed by Christ,
kept by Christ, interceded for by Christ, will be brought to
faith in Christ and repentance from their sins. It's a sure
thing. It's a sure thing. Well, not everybody believes.
Not everybody is called. Isn't that right? Many are called, few are chosen.
Ain't that what it says? This believing on the Son has
to do with the seeing of the Son. To see Him as the one scent
of the Father to accomplish His everlasting will and to accomplish
the salvation of His people. To see that He is the unspeakable
gift of God's grace. To see Him as their righteousness.
To see Him as their sin-bearer. To see Him as their justifier. To see Him as their high priest
and intercessor. To see Him as the Lord of glory. See Him. He that seeth the Son. We want to clench our fists and
strain our minds and believe. I'm just going to believe. Quiver
and shake all over. That's not how faith comes. Faith
sees. It sees. It has the revelation
of God. God the Holy Spirit reveals these
things to the heart and it sees. By faith it sees. And when it
sees Him, it believes on Him. That's how faith comes. He that
seeth the Son and believeth on Him. That's how it comes. Seeing.
You know that old adage, seeing is believing. That's right. That's
right. As the sure result of His accomplished
redemption, the Father sends the Holy Spirit to His redeemed,
revealing to them the glorious, victorious Christ. And all those
who see Him in His glory believe on His name. Look down here at
these verses after our text. Verse 41, the Jews then murmured
at him because he said he was the bread which came down from
heaven. And they said, we know this guy. We know him. We've known him since he was
a baby. We know him. We know his father. We know his
mother. We saw her pregnant with him. We know he was born in Bethlehem. We know all about him. He's got
brothers and sisters. We know him. Now how in the world
can this man that we know, know where he was born, know his mother,
know his father, how in the world can he say he came down from
heaven? Now watch this. Jesus answered
and said unto them, don't murmur, don't murmur. No man can come to me. except the Father which hath
sent me draw him. And I will raise him up at the
last day." He's not coming, John, until God gives him eyes to see. He'll fight, he'll kick, he'll
clinch his fist, he'll rebel, he'll find reasons and excuses
not to come and not to listen and not to hear. until God gets
a hold of him and opens his eyes and shows him the glorious, victorious
Christ. As soon as he does, he'll repent
and he'll believe. Believing has nothing to do with
being wise. It has nothing to do with being
ignorant. It's got nothing to do with being
rich or in good situations, or it has nothing to do with being
poor. It has nothing to do with nationality or skin color, black
or white, Jew or Gentile. It has to do with the Father
honoring the accomplished redemption of His Son. That's what faith
is all about. The Father honoring the promise,
the promise of faith. And He honors that redemption
by fulfilling all His promises. He draws His lost sheep to the
shepherd. He is the one who watches over
the sheepfold. He recognizes the Son when He
comes and He opens the door. And Christ calls out His sheep.
He draws all of His elect to the Son. He draws the beloved
bride to her husband. How does He draw them? By ordering
His providence and arranging for them to hear His glory preached. by sending His ministers to them
to preach, by giving them certain advantages and forbidding other
courses. You read the book of Acts and
you'll see God's hand in His providence with these early men. Forbidding some things, arranging,
changing the course, go here, go there. You remember the ship
that Paul was on that was tossed in the storm and it was just
ready to go down. And he said, don't leave the
ship. Don't leave the ship. God is going to save everybody
if they stay on the ship. He orders His providence and
arranges them to hear His glory. He sends His ministers. He gives
them certain advantages. And He sends the Holy Ghost to
enlighten them. All that the Father giveth me
shall... Boy, I don't know of a more dogmatic
word in the English language. Shall come to me. Ain't that
what He says? I'm telling you this, this is
not the heresy of free will works religion. And this is not the
false promises blinding deceit have lost me in obligating God
with their choices and decisions. This is the sovereign will and
grace of God, that's what it is, that draws helpless sinners
to the victorious Christ because He has and is accomplishing the
will of God. Let me give you this and I'll
quit. False religion promises you all
kinds of things in this world. A good job, a good marriage,
financial security. Some even promise good health.
They say we've got the cure for all your problems. The gospel
promises you nothing in this life but trouble. Is that right? These things,
he said in John 16 verse 33, these things I have spoken unto
you, that in me you might have peace. In the world ye shall
have trouble. I promise you. But be of good cheer. I have
overcome the world. This world, Peter said, is being
held in store, reserved under fire against the day of judgment
and perdition of ungodly men. All that's in the world, John
said, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the
pride of life is not of the Father. Our text has nothing to say about
this world. The will of God is not so much
concerning this world. I'm talking about the redemptive
will of God. The redemptive will of God is that all that He's
given Christ, He'll raise it up at the last day. At the last day. All that the Father hath given
me, all that believe on me is the result of that giving. I'll
raise up at the last day. I'll secure them from judgment. I'll secure them from the second
death. I'll secure them from everlasting
punishment. And I will give them a body like
unto my body. Old Job, they don't even know
how old the book of Job is. Job doesn't refer to any of the
other prophets which they believe puts him before the prophets.
Old Job said, though, after this body worms devour my flesh, eat
me up in the ground, nothing left but bones. He said, yet
in my flesh I'll see God. Huh? That's what he's talking
about. I'll raise him up at the last day. Out of their corruption
and out of their death and out of the graves, he said, I'll
raise them up. Those that are wandering around
here as we are today in our corruption and in our flesh and in our natural
state of depravity, he said, those which are alive and remain,
he said, will be caught up with them. And that corruption left
behind. And they'll meet me in the air.
And so shall they ever be with the Lord. or what promises the
gospel gives us, the will of God. My soul, how I want to know
my place in that will. Our Father, we thank You. Thank
You for this opportunity, this privilege, gathering in this
place. Be blessed by Your Spirit, taught
from Your Word, Oh, what a privilege. Teach us and we'll be taught.
Use this message this morning for thy name's honor and glory.
I ask you for Christ's sake. Amen.