My text this morning is in Philippians
chapter 2, verses 12 through 13. Paul said, it is God that worketh
in you. God that worketh in you. He said, you work out your salvation. You do that. You work it out
in your heart and in your mind. God's not going to believe for
you. You're going to believe. God's not going to repent for
you. You're going to repent. That's what Paul's talking about. He's talking about working out
in your mind and in your heart. He's not talking here about good
works. He's not talking here about serving
God or supporting the church or things like that, of that
nature. He's talking here about this
good work of faith. And he said, you work it out.
You work it out. You work out this faith and this
repentance. You work it out in your heart
and in your mind. I can't work it out for you.
Can't do it. And God's not going to believe
for you. You're going to believe. That's right. But, he said, Or for? For. Here's the foundation, the
reason why he would say that. Why would a man tell a man fallen
in Adam, dead in trespasses and sin, who has no ability to please
God, has no understanding, none that understandeth, that's what
Romans chapter 3 says, none that doeth good, none that seeketh
after God, why would a man stand and tell him to work out his
own salvation? But Paul follows that up, and
he said, for. Here's why I'm telling you that. For it is God that worketh in
you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure. That's what
I want to talk to you about this morning, the will of God. The
will of God. And I hope I can show you three
or four things this morning that maybe you've never considered.
Things that I believe will help us as we call upon our God in
prayer. You know, the Lord over in Matthew,
I think it's chapter 6, His disciples said, teach us to pray. And He
said, OK, I'm going to give you an outline. Here's the outline. Our Father, which art in heaven. If He's not your Father, there's
no need to pray. There's no need to pray. Our Father, which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Something different about God's
name. Something significant and majestic about God's name. Hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come. What you say
next? Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. That's how believers pray. Why
would they pray that way, John? Because they know his will is
going to be done. And they're okay with it. They love it. I'm glad he's in charge, ain't
you? I'm glad one of our sorry politicians
ain't up there running things. And I'd make an even worse mess
out of it than they do. Oh, I think these things will
help us as we call upon our God in prayer and remember who he
is and what he is and how he is. And we gather in His name
to worship Him. I want to worship God. I don't
want to come in here and be an idolater and worship the God
of my imagination and come in here in pretense and get up here
and play church and have a bunch of make proselytes after myself. I don't want to do that. I don't
want to believe that I've served God all my life only to find
out and hear Him say, depart from me, you work of iniquity.
I never knew you. But I preached it. Depart from
me. I never knew you. I don't want that. Oh, I found three or four things
here that helped me. And I want us to consider the
will of God as He declares it, that sets Him apart from all
the gods of men's imagination. You know what sets Him apart?
God's will. That's what He says. And then
I want us to think about the will of God in Christ. And then
I want to see if I can answer this question, how can I know
the will of God concerning me? So we're going to start out with
the wide view, the big view of this thing. We're going to start
out with the will of God and see if we can. Now, I've
read to you my text here in Philippians chapter 2. So let me begin where
all things have their beginning with God. That's how the book
of God starts out. It says, in the beginning, God.
God. Everything has its beginning
there. We want to begin in here, don't we? We want to begin in
time somewhere. We want to begin with our experience
and with our conviction of sin. And we want to begin when we
was little children or back in the church we used to go to.
We want to begin somewhere. In the beginning, God. God. That's what sets the stage for
all that God intends to say and do. In the book of God, He said,
In the beginning, God. That's where to go. Don't go
anywhere else. God. I'm going to have to know something
about God to understand everything else that follows that first
statement. He's the beginning of creation.
Scientists talk about explosions in space and volcanic enhanced
seawater and planets colliding with one another and who knows
what else. And they talk about evolution and mother nature and
luck and circumstance and everything else. The Bible just says this,
in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now you either believe God or
you don't. And if you don't, I don't guess
it really matters what you believe. Just pick you one out. Just pick
out evolution or pick out something. He said, if God be not God, then
choose you this day whom you're going to serve. It doesn't really
matter. It doesn't really matter. God created the heavens and the
earth. I want you to think with me for
just a minute. God has so displayed such a vast
undeniable witness of His eternal power and Godhead that no man
can deny He is Godhead. Huh? That's right. You might
stand up here and act a fool and talk about denying God. I don't believe there's a God.
I've met a lot of folks like that. But the Word of God said
that ain't so. That ain't so. He said, God has showed it to
them. Listen to this, Romans 1, verse 19. It says, that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them.
For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even His eternal power and Godhead. There was nothing, nothing, just
darkness and void and chaos and nothing, just nothing out here.
And God said, let there be light. And there was light. And God
created all things. This is such a vast, majestic,
undeniable act of God. displaying His power and His
Godhead and His being that no man can deny it. He can't deny
it. In Psalm 19, verse 1, David said,
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth
His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech,
and night unto night showeth knowledge. And there is no speech
nor language where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through
all the earth and their words to the end of the world. By this
one great act of power and authority, God establishes Himself as God,
Sovereign, Omnipotent, Creator of all things. I am God. Beside
me there is none else. David said, He spake and it was
done. He commanded and it stood fast.
Who did that? God. Is that the same God you're
talking about rejecting and resisting and choosing and all this foolishness? I'm talking about God who spoke
the universe into existence. Look at the order of it. Look
at the revolutions of the planets. Look at all these things. They're
just infinite in number. No man can number them. They're
like the stars of heaven, he said. They're innumerable. And
yet there's a perfect order to it. There's no chaos to it. Look
at this earth and all the things of all the planets. I love to
watch sometimes and watch these things on Discovery and that,
but what I enjoy the most is when they start talking about
the earth and how it's exactly where it needs to be to sustain
life. Do you know that's what he's
talking about here when he talks about the firmament? He's talking
about the atmosphere. He's talking about the ability
of this world to sustain life. Huh? The heavens declare the
glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork. It's God's
handiwork. Nowhere else in the universe
that we've ever discovered where any life could be. Just here. Just here. He's God. And as God, He does
what He will. Now, there's the argument. When
you say that to men, men say of God, they question His power, they
question His will, they question His authority. Why would you
question Him who created all things? Paul made this statement in Romans
9, 16, having set before them the purpose of God in election.
in Jacob before they had ever done any good or any evil that
the purpose of God according to election might stand and so
on. And here is the summation of all that. He said, So then
it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. And knowing the proud arrogance
of fallen man, Paul interjected this, Thou wilt say unto me. Now when I preach these things,
Here is what you are going to say. How does he know that? Because
he preached these things before and heard these things before.
Thou wilt say unto me then, why doth he yet find fault for who
hath resisted his will? If nothing can resist the will
of God, if nothing out there can resist Him, then why does
he yet find fault? Now we are going to go back to
the first thing I told you. He is the God of creation. He
said, O man, who art thou? that replies against God. Shall
the thing formed say unto him that formed it? Why hast thou
made me thus? You going to call the creator
of the universe into question? Who are you? Huh? Who are you? put question marks
on God's name. You see what I'm saying? By this
one great act of creation, you go through the Bible, Acts chapter
17 where Paul stood on Mars Hill and he's addressing this bunch
of philosophers who sent forth all their ideas of creation and
all these the gods in the heavens and all these different gods
that they had. And He declares to them the unknown
God. And He said, here's the thing
about the unknown God. He made of one blood all nations
of men for to dwell on all the faces of the earth. And He has
determined the time before appointed and set the bounds of their habitation.
And He commands you to repent. Now what are you going to do? He commands you to feel after
Him if happily you might find Him. What are you going to do?
You're going to fly up in his face and say, that ain't fair.
You don't know God. That's why you talk like that.
What sets the God of the Bible apart from all the other gods
of men is His sovereign will. God does what He will. Our God, David said, is in the
heavens. He hath done whatsoever He pleased. What He pleased, that did He
in the heavens, in the earth, in the seas, and all deep places. I read this to you a while ago
from Isaiah chapter 46, where he says, remember the former
things of old. I'm God. Beside me there is none
other. There's no God else beside me,
none like me. declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying
my counsel shall stand and I'll do all my pleasure. God dragged
this old Babylonian king, most powerful king I suppose who ever
sat on a throne in this world, King Nebuchadnezzar, drug him
off his throne, took him out into the wilderness and took
his mind away from him and made him cower down on all fours and
eat grass like an ox until God taught him this lesson. And he
said, when my mind returned unto me, when my reason returned unto
me, when I was able to think again and not be like a beast,
oh, never can Ezra begin to praise and honor and extol him whose
dominion is from everlasting to everlasting. That's what he
said now. A few minutes before, a few weeks
before, or however long it was, he was up there with his thumbs
in his suspenders looking over Babylon, saying, is not this
great Babylon that I built by the power of my might and for
the glory of my name? Ain't that what man says when
he stands up before God, telling him his rights? Telling him what
God will do and what he'll let God do and what he won't let
God do? Maybe that's what He needs to
do to us. Let us go out there and crawl around and eat grass
for a while. Be like a beast. Oh, He said His dominion is an
everlasting dominion in His kingdom from generation to generation
and all inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing 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
say unto Him, What are you doing? You can't question God. You can
read about that in Daniel chapter 4. Let this be established first
that God is God, and as God, He worketh, Paul said, all things
after the counsel of His own will. Now, having said that, let me
say this. These apostles and missionaries
and evangelists did not go out into all the world, suffer the
severe persecution and bodily harm that they suffered. Most
of them died martyrs all but once. They didn't suffer these
hardships believing only in the abstract sovereignty of God.
They were, as Paul tells us in Ephesians 1, 8 and 9, those He
abounded toward in all wisdom and prudence, having made known
unto us the mystery of His will. Huh? The mystery of His will. They discovered in the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ God's willingness to save sinners. Now, God is going to do what
He will. I can't do anything about it and you can't do anything
about it. And all the armies in the world can't do anything
about it. And all the false religion in
the world standing up denying it can't do anything about it.
He told those Jews thousands of years before they stood before
the cross exactly what they were going to say, exactly the day
they were going to do it, exactly the words that were going to
come out of their mouth, the actions, what the guards were
going to do, what the kings were going to do. And they all read
about it and studied it and knew it, memorized it, had it in their
head. You think they could prevent themselves from doing it? When
they got up, they did exactly as Paul said. where Peter said
what God's hand and God's counsel determined before to be done.
They said the very words. Huh? That's exactly right. I
can't do anything about His will, but I tell you what a joy it
is to discover something about this sovereign God and His eternal
purpose and will is to save. Huh? It's to save. He abounded toward us in all
wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of
His will. They discovered in the gospel
of Christ God's willingness to save a people for the glory of
His name. The issue before men in this
gospel age is not what they will, or if they will, or when they
will. It's will God. That's the issue. What's my God
going to do with me? What will God do? It doesn't
matter much what I do if God's not in it, does it? But oh, if
He'd be in it, huh? If He sanctifies the circumcision,
if He sanctifies the means, if He sanctifies the prayer, God's
immutable. God cannot change, yet He tells
me that the fervent The prayer of a righteous man availeth much. You know why? Because God wills
with him. That's why. It's with him. He sanctifies the prayer and
he sanctifies the meeting. He sanctifies the preaching.
He sanctifies the visits. He sanctifies the gatherings. Let me give you three things
this morning. Is God willing to save sinners? I'm not going
to leave here and go out and give myself to the ministry unless
I believe God's willing to save somebody. What's the point? My
brother told me years ago when I first mentioned these things
to him, he said, if I believe like you believe, I wouldn't
preach. I said, well, if I believe like you believe, I wouldn't
preach. He said, well, you may. I said, everything that you're
preaching and saying and believing and claiming to to have hope
in depends on the will of man. Everything that I preach and
believe and have hope in has to do with the will of God. Now, if it's all up to you, it's
all over. It's all over. So let me give you three things
here this morning. Here's the first thing. When I first heard
the Gospel preached, I discovered for the first time in my life
that salvation is the eternal purpose of God. God does that. That old Barnard, he got up there
and Henry, a young preacher, sat down here and Barnard was
up here preaching, had them glasses. He was a little skinny. He looked
like a coal miner. And he looked down there at Henry
and he said, young man, he said, can you quote Romans 8.28? And
Henry said, yes, sir. He said, I think I can. Henry
was a scholar. He'd been to seminary. And he
said, OK. He said, quote it. And Henry
stood up and he said, all things work together for good to them
that love God. And he sat back down. And Barnard
just stood there looking around. Pretty soon he looked back and
he said, do you know all of it? And Henry got to thinking. He
said, yes, sir. He said, I believe I know. He said, all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. He said, Barnard nearly blew
the back doors off the hinges. He screamed, purpose. God does
things on purpose. I discovered that. The first
time I heard the gospel, I discovered that God is the God of purpose.
He has an eternal purpose. And that purpose is to save.
It's to save. Oh, did you know salvation is the
reason for creation? Did you know that? Most people
don't. It's the reason, in Hebrews chapter 1, Paul declares to us
the eternal Christ of God appointed as heir of all things, the brightness
of the Father's glory, the express image of His person. He says, who in the fullness
of time He came into the world and by Himself purged our sins,
ascended back to the Father and sat down at God's right hand.
And of this Christ, he says in Hebrews chapter 1, and thou,
Lord, in the beginning hath laid the foundations of
the earth. Who did? Christ did. Christ did. Laid the foundation
of the earth. And the heavens, he said, are
the work of thy hand. Colossians 1.16 says, for by
Him were all things created that are in heaven, that are on earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him
and for Him. And He's before all things, and
by Him all things consist. This whole business of creation
is about God's eternal purpose to save. And it's kept. It's reserved. This world is
reserved, Peter said. Reserved. Why? Why is God reserving
it? Why is He preserving it with
all the sin and the corruption and evil that goes on in our
day? Why in the world would God preserve
it? Because He's long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that
any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He's
not willing that any should perish. God's will in this thing is to
save a people for His glory, and that's what this creation
is all about. He said in Romans 8, the earnest
expectation of creation waiteth for the manifestation of the
sons of God. For the creation was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who subjected
the same in hope. Creation. Why did God create
this world? Why did He speak this world into
existence? Why did He have a garden? Why
did He make a man? Why did He take from man to woman?
Why did He do all this? Because He purposed to save a
people for the glory of His name. To make His name known. To make
Himself known. And to show that glory and majesty
that only God can show. He's God. And the will of God
is to save. All right, here's the second
thing. This sovereign God who worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will appointed in the beginning a Mediator to
accomplish His will. One Mediator between God and
man. The man, Christ Jesus. One Mediator. This one Mediator God intends
to save a people. How is He going to do it? Flip
over there to Psalm chapter 2 and I'll show you. Psalm chapter
2. How will God do this? How will
God's sovereign will of salvation be brought to pass? Man, look at this. We're talking
about eternity past now. Before anything, no angels. No anything. Just God. Just God. And God, out of eternity, appoints
a mediator. And after that, all things begin
to be made and created and time and men and the fall and everything
else. But the first thing God did was
appoint this mediator. Now watch this. Psalm chapter
2, verse 6. You can read this whole psalm
in your own leisure, but here's what I want to show you. He talks
here in the first part of this psalm about men challenging him
and kings and all these things coming against him and dying.
But he said, verse 6, yet have I set my king, my mediator king,
upon my holy hill of Zion, that is the church. I will decree
the decree. The Lord hath said unto me, Thou
art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. This is not talking about
that day when Christ became a man and was born and laid in the
manger. That was the fulfillment of this. But this is talking
about that eternal day. This is talking about God's eternal
decree. This is that everlasting day
of God's purpose and grace, not a day in time. This day is the
day of days when the Ancient of Days declared the decree and
appointed to Himself His Sovereign Mediator-King and turned all
things over into His hands. So here it is. Here it is. This is the Lamb slain in Revelation
chapter 5 who alone could take the book of God's everlasting
decrees and unloose the perfection of the sea. Sovereign, Eternal,
Mediator King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, preacher, where
does it say that in the Bible? Well, Hebrews chapter 10, verse
7 says this, in the volume of the book, ain't that what it
says? In the volume of the book, it
talks about me coming to do thy will, O God. In the volume of
the book. from Genesis to Revelation in
the volume of the law. You want to apply that word book
to the law? In the volume of the law, it
says this, He came to do Thy will, O God. Oh, John 6, verse 38. Turn over
there. John 6, verse 38. How is God going to save a people
for the glory of His name? How is He going to do this thing?
The first thing He does is appoint a sovereign mediator and trust
all things over into His hands. He is Savior. He is the Redeemer. He is the surety of the everlasting
covenant. He is the one mediator between
God and men. Look here in John 6, verse 38. He said, For I came down from
heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent
me. What is the will of God that
sent Him? Here it is. 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. Everything He
gives Him. Over in Ephesians 1, verse 8,
it says we're in, talking about God's purpose of grace in Christ,
in whom we were chosen, predestinated, accepted, and redeemed. wherein
he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having
made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his
good pleasure which he purposed in himself. Now listen, that
in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, which
are on earth, even in him in whom we have obtained an inheritance. being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will, that we should be to the praise of God's glory
who first trusted in Christ. God trusted it to him. That's
that sovereign mediator. This salvation that God purposes
to do that cannot be resisted, that cannot be thwarted, that
cannot fail. He purposed to do in a sovereign
mediator. He purposed to do in this man
Christ Jesus. And He chose us in Him and redeemed
us in Him and accepted us in Him. Predestinated us unto adoption. Predestinated us to be conformed
to the image of His Son. And He did all these things and
gave us forgiveness of sins by virtue of what He accomplished. Not mine. What He accomplished. But, and here's the third thing
I want you to see. All right, preacher, I can see
this abstract sovereignty. He's God. He can't be God and
not be sovereign. If he's sovereign, then he's
God. He controls all things. Nobody can resist his will. And
I see that will to save. I see that will in Christ. I
see that man appointed. I see him now. I see him in the
scripture. I see what you're talking about.
But what about that will toward me? What's that got to do with
me? Matters very little what you're
going to do with Israel. Matters what you're going to
do with me. Huh? Isn't that what matters to you?
I know you want other folks to be saved, but don't you want
to be saved first? Huh? I don't want to preach to others,
Paul said, and find myself to be a castaway. I'm interested
in me. How can I know? How do I know
the will of God concerning the salvation of my own soul? That's a whole other ballgame,
ain't it? If God's eternal, sovereign,
unchangeable will cannot be resisted, His hand of purpose cannot be
stayed or called into question, how can I discern the will of
God concerning the salvation of my own soul? I know that in general His purpose
is to save. I know that in general He created
the heavens and the earth to save. I know that. But how can
I, just an insignificant worm, how can I know His will toward
me? I'm going to give you several
things here. I want you to turn back with me to John chapter
6. He said, I came not to do my
own will, but the will of Him that sent me. And this is the
Father's will which has sent me, that of all which He has
given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. Look here at 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. All that the Father gave to Christ
to save and to raise up at the last day, all that He purposed
to save and gave being to in His creation and providence are
going to come to Christ. Look down at verse 41. The Jews
murmured at Him. He said He was the bread, the
heavenly bread that came down, the children's bread, the bread
that God provides. They murmured at Him. He said,
don't murmur. Don't murmur. Oh, don't murmur. Oh, they saw in him no more than
just a mere man, just a mortal like themselves. And Jesus said,
murmur not among yourselves. Verse 44, no man can come unto
me, he can't come to me, except the Father which hath sent me
draw him. And I will raise him up at the
last day. It's written in the prophets,
and they shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore,
which hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me."
What did Paul tell those folks over there? He said, work out
your own salvation in fear and trembling, didn't he? For it's
God that worketh in you. It's the Father drawing you.
It's God's hand in you, God's presence in you, God's spirit
in you, God's message in you, Christ in you, the hope of glory. Every man to whom God sends his
gospel and makes them meet to hear it
and gives them a heart to love it and wisdom to see his deity
in it, they all come to Christ. Listen to this in the book of
James. Of His own will begat He us with the Word of truth. The sovereign, unchangeable God. He said, Every good gift, every
perfect gift cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom
is no bearableness, neither shadow of turning. Of His own will begat
He us. Sovereign, immutable, unchangeable
will. It's the sovereign will of God
in salvation to send the objects of His grace, a messenger of
God to speak peace to His soul. It pleased God. What God? The God who does what He will. The unchangeable God, the living
God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. Why? I think I'm going to take
another option. There are no options. Huh? There are no options. Let me read you this, and I'll
quit. John chapter 6, verse 40. How do I know the sovereign will
of God concerning the salvation of my soul? Well, here it is.
John chapter 6 verse 40, And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up
at the last day. How can I discern the sovereign
will of God concerning my soul? I can believe on His Son. That's
the only way to know your election. Faith in Christ. That's it. That's it. Oh. There was an old stinking rotten
leper. Living out his days in living
death. Dead while you live. Full of
leprosy. His skin falling off. open running
sores and he stunk and he held a cloth and under the law of
Israel he wasn't allowed to come in the presence of them when
they went to worship and if he got near anybody he had to hold
that rag over his mouth and cry unclean, unclean. And this old
stinking leper came up where the master was and threw himself
at his feet and he said, Lord, if you will, if you will." Here's
a man who discerned what this thing's all about. It's all about
God's will. And he said, if you will, you
can make me clean. Now let me tell you what he heard
and what you're going to hear and what any man who calls on
this God in this way is going to hear. He said, I will. I will. How can I know? Cast myself at
His feet and plead the will of God. Not my will. That's how
believers pray. Not my will. Thy will be done. Why? Because that's what's behind
everything. His will.