You and I have been studying
through this book, and I know it's going very slow. But you
know, these passages were written not for us to hurriedly read
or even hurriedly preach through, but to think about these things.
They're amazing statements. Each verse that the Apostle wrote,
we can just meditate on it. And each verse has this message
in it. If the Lord will just open our
hearts and let us see. You and I looked last week, there
in verse 8 and verse 9, He hath abounded toward us. And He's
given us wisdom and spiritual understanding. And in verse 9,
He tells us this, Having made known unto us the mystery of
His will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed
in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of time God will
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven and which are on earth, even in him, in whom also 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 His glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom you also trusted,
after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation,
in whom also, after that you believed, you were sealed with
that Holy Spirit, I promise." I just want to relate this one
thought to us this evening, the mystery of God's will. That's
what we find there in verse 9, "...having made known unto us
the mystery of God's will. I have no idea how many articles
have been written on this subject of God's will, how many books
have been written on it, how many arguments have been set
forth. And it's because of this reason, because the will of God
is a mystery. It's a mystery. And when we say
here mystery, it doesn't mean that that's something that's
incomprehensible. We often say that, and I've often
said that, but I'm wrong when I talk about this mystery being
incomprehensible. If it was incomprehensible, we
couldn't know it. Incomprehensible means something
we can't get a hold of, lay hold of. But that's not what this
mystery is. He's made known unto us the mystery
of His will. When you read this word mystery,
it simply means it's something we can't know apart from divine
teaching. He has to make it known to us. And Paul says here, He has made
known unto us the mystery of His will. And of course, the
Spirit of God has done that. We've not received, Paul said,
the spirit that's of the world. But we have received the Spirit
which is of God, that we may know the things that are freely
given to us of God. Not in the words which man's
wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches. And we often
talk to people and they get this opinion that In some way or another,
the Lord moves upon a man and he just has this great light
that shines down from heaven without any means at all. He
just comes in His light and His understanding. It just shines
in upon him. But when we talk about the Holy
Spirit dealing with us and teaching us, what He does is take words. He takes these words and He teaches
us from the Bible. So may He do that this evening
as you and I Look at the mystery of God's will. And all we have
to go by is the Word of God. So as we take and open the Bible
and read these words, may the Lord teach us His will. And let's
consider the will of God, first of all, in general. Let's get
the big picture. You know, sometimes we get bogged
down in these things because we start looking at detailed
facts. What about this thing that happened?
How do we see the will of God in that? Or this incident that
took place? How do we see the will of God
in that? And we start asking all these hypothetical questions
concerning the will of God, and we get in trouble. But let's
first of all just look at what I call the big picture concerning
the will of God. He made known unto us the mystery
of His will. Now you think about that just
for a minute. Most of the things probably in
my life, I don't care for anybody knowing. We all have our privacy,
don't we? And I don't want everybody to
know my will and things. But here is this wonderful God,
this majesty on high, and what does He do? He condescends to
you and I to make known to us His will, what He's done and
how He's done it, and He's done it according to His will. And
first of all, let's look at this, the mystery of God's will. Is
it not a mystery that God has a will? Well, it's not to you,
but isn't it a mystery to this lost world that God has a will? When you were unsaved, did you
ever in your life think that God had a will? I bet that never
dawned upon you until he began to teach you that God actually
has a will. And one of the reasons that people
talk so much about the free will of man, and they talk so highly
of it, and they tell us how powerful it is, and what a thing full
of merit it is, is because they know nothing of God's will. And
the reason they don't know God's will is because it is a mystery.
And this world has no idea for the most part that God has a
will. But let me ask you this question.
What kind of a God would God be who did not have a will? What
would anybody be who didn't have a will? What kind of a being
would he be? He has knowledge. He has wisdom.
He has understanding. He has a heart. He has a will. He has affection. The Lord Jesus
often spake of his Father's will. Listen to this. This is the will
of Him that sent me. He has a will. The Master knows
the Father well, and He says He has a will. Even so, it is
not the will of your Father that one of these little ones should
perish. He has a will. If any man will
do my Father's will, he will know of the doctrine. And again,
he says, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall inherit
the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father
in heaven. So the master comes down from
heaven, and he says, My Father has a will. And Paul, we preached
on this not too long ago here in verse 1 of Ephesians. where
Paul declared that he was an apostle by the will of God. And James says this, "...of his
own will begot he us with the word of truth." And Peter says
this, "...the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some
men count slackness, but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish, but all should come to repentance." And how
does the Master teach the church to pray? Father, Thy will be
done. So He does have a will, doesn't
He? Ain't that a mystery, though? It was a mystery to us when we
were lost, and it's a mystery to this world until this very
day that God, in fact, does have a will. Now, you can get your
concordance out sometime, and if you want to, you can look
up God's will or will, and you can just go on and on and on
proving That the Father in heaven has a will. But after you've
done that, don't expect the world to know anything about it. And
why is that? It's a mystery. It's a mystery. It's a mystery that has to be
made known. The mystery of His will. Secondly,
concerning the will of God, is this. The will of God is a sovereign
thing. It's a reigning thing. It's an
irresistible thing. It's a working thing. Let me
give you three passages, and if you've got your pen or you
can remember this, you won't have to turn there. Perhaps I
should have you turn to them. But to most of you, these will
be very familiar. In Daniel chapter 4 and verse
35, here is what the most powerful king on earth said concerning
God's will. You remember what God did to
Nebuchadnezzar when he drove him out and he ate grass like
an oxen and his fingernails grew out, until he learned that the
Most High ruled in the kingdom of men and set over it whomsoever
he pleased. And that man stayed out there
and was wet with the dew, ate grass like an oxen, until the
Lord finally opened his understanding, and here is what he said concerning
the will of God. All the inhabitants of the world
are refuted, they're counted as nothing in His sight. And He doeth according to His
will in the army of heaven. Now that's a pretty powerful
group of people there. Angels, mighty angels, the armies of
heaven, and God does His will there in heaven. But He didn't
stop there. And among the inhabitants of this earth. kings and paupers,
men, women, boys and girls, circumstances, he doeth according to his will
among the inhabitants of this world. And listen to this, no
man can stay his hand or say to him, What doest thou? Now, what do we get from that?
God's will is sovereign. It's done in heaven and it's
done in this earth. And I said also it was this,
it was an irresistible thing. Listen to Paul in Romans chapter
9 in verse 18 and verse 19. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then
unto me, Why doth he yet find fault, for who hath resisted
his will? And what Paul was teaching there,
that no man can resist God's sovereign will, His will of decree. You don't resist it, you just
bow to it. And you bow to Him. You stop
arguing against Him. You stop fighting against Him
and bow to His sovereignty. He's God. And resisting Him in
the end, we don't thwart His will, we just prove it. His will
is irresistible. Who art thou, O man, that replies
against God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Don't argue
against it. Just bow to it. Bow to it. And thirdly is this, and you
find it here in verse 11 of Ephesians 1. I said it's a working thing.
Look at this, what he says in verse 11. We have obtained, in
Christ, we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according
to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel
of His own will. He worketh. What does He work? All things. Now, here's where
you and I get confused, ain't we? Because we start looking
at these little details. All things. And we start figuring
out, well, how does God work in all things? What about this
little thing that took place in my life? I can't see the will
of God in that. What about that accident or that
incident or that person's death? How do we reconcile that with
the will of God? And we get all confused, don't
we? It's because we look at these little details. But stand back
and get the big picture. Look at it like this. Look at
it like this. Look at the history of the world.
Go back all the way to the foundation of the world. And who was it
that laid that foundation? Why, it was God, the Triune God.
He made the earth and everything and everybody in it. Man sinned
and failed through that sin. And then the Lord comes and gives
him a promise of a coming Messiah, the Christ. And all through the
Old Testament, He gave them promises and shadows and types that the
Messiah is coming. And then in time, in the fullness
of time, the Lord Jesus comes. He is born of a virgin. He suffers
upon the cross. He pays the debt of sin. He is
buried and He raises again. And then He goes back to heaven.
And then Jews and Gentiles from all nations are being called.
They are being saved and heaven is being populated. And then
there comes the end, and then the judgment and the resurrection,
and all the nations stand before the Lord Jesus, and He separates
them. He sets the righteous on His
right hand and the wicked on His left, and He assigns them
their long home. And then the end comes. And then
you look back over the history of the world, and you say, how
did all of this turn out? Well, there was many details
that we can't explain. But in it all, as it all worked
out, how did it work out as it did? The will of God was working. The will of God wrought all of
this. We can see that when we look
at the big picture, can't we? The Lord is working His sovereign
will in everything. In everything. But when you come
down to these little particular things, That's when we get confused. That's when we start trying to
see the will of God in that. And we may not be able to see
it and even get confused in trying to see it. But look at the big
picture. Look at the big picture. God
is working. God is working. And you know,
we don't have to understand how He's working. Who can understand
the counsel of His will? Most of what God does is secret.
But we know this about God's will. It's a working thing. He's
not setting up in heaven today unconcerned, just waiting to
see how things are going to turn out. He's working. His will is
sovereign, it's irresistible, and He's working His sovereign
will in this world. And aren't you glad of that as
a believer? Thirdly, something else concerning
the will of God. And it's found here in verse
5, and the will of God is a good thing. It's a good thing. It's right, and it's perfect.
See what he said there in verse 5? Having predestinated us into
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ Himself, according to
the good pleasure of His will. His will is good, ain't it? It's
a good will. Right. It's right. You know,
whatever is contrary is what's wrong. God's will is good, and
it's right, and it's perfect. Listen to Romans chapter 12.
Paul said, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service, that you may prove what
is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The will of God is good. It's
good. You know, we preachers sometimes
get up and we handle this in such a way that you may perceive
in hearing us preach that God is like some hard-hearted dictator. that's ruling without any concern. He's ruling arbitrarily without
considering men at all, without considering their circumstances
or their feelings. But it's not that way. God is
good in everything that He does. He's right in everything He does. Can the will of God be fearful?
Yes, it can. It can. But it's always right.
He set himself against sin. His will is to punish sin. I
will punish the world for her iniquity. But when he does it,
won't it be right? We can't see that now. We cringe
now to think about the wrath of God coming upon this world.
But in that day, When this sympathetic flesh is done away with, and
we're holy as the Lord, and His judgment falls upon the unbeliever,
you know what we'll say in that day? Amen! It's right! This is God's will, and He's
right in exercising that will. You know, things don't always
seem right, do they? God's will don't always seem
right. You look there on Calvary. And you see the Savior hanging
in agony and pain, forsaken of God and forsaken of men, suffering
unto death. And you ask yourself the question,
is that good? Is it good that the Son of God
should hang there, forsaken of God and men? Finally giving up
His ghost and having a spear stuck through His side, is that
good? Could that possibly be the will of God? Yes. And we
have a scripture to prove that. Listen to Galatians 1 verse 4.
Christ gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from
this present evil world according to the will of God. The world looks upon Christ and
they think what an awful calamity. What an awful failure. Why would
He have to suffer? Oh, the shame of men that He
had to suffer. But that was God's will. God's
will. The just for the unjust that
He might bring us to God. We don't always see the will
of God in people's sufferings, in their afflictions. You see
a poor broken-hearted man, and he's grieved, and he's cast down,
and he has a tear in his eye. And he can't enjoy living anymore.
He can't even enjoy his food anymore. He goes burdened all
the day long. Is this good for a man to be
in that condition? The world looks at him and says,
Be happy, man! Cheer up! What's wrong with you? But you know what's wrong with
him? The Lord is weaning him from his sin. The Lord is making
him sick of himself. He's filled his heart with sorrow
over his sin. He's making him feel his need
of Christ. But when the world looks upon
it, it's not pretty to them. But it's good. It's right. And when it's God's will to bring
it to pass, it's a gracious thing and a wonderful thing. And you
see that poor saint, the child of God, and they've grown weak
and they're sickly. And they've contracted this awful
disease, and there they lay on their bed, their dying bed. And
you go to visit them, and they're so weak they can't hardly speak.
And in a few days they're gone. And there lays their lifeless
body. And of all things, we take that body and take it out in
the ground and put it six foot down in a cold, wet ground. Is this good? Is this God's will? You wouldn't think so, would
you? And even the world tells us, no. But this is God's will. And it's a good thing. And you
know what happens when that soul departs that body? Paul said they go to be with
Christ, which is far better. As long as we're in this tabernacle,
we're absent from the Lord, we have a desire, rather, to be
absent from this body and to be present with the Lord. But
we can't always see the will of God in these things, can we?
In the sufferings and these afflictions. And here in verse 10 and in verse
11, look at this. Ain't this good? This is good
here. You know, we think of sin, and
we think of the wrath of God, and we think of hell, and it's
a fearful thing. It's a very fearful thing, but
it's right. And it's God's will when we look
at the big picture. But look at these wonderful things
here in verses 10 and 11. Look here at God's will. In the
dispensation of the fullness of times. In other words, when
God's purpose is finished. That's what that means. When
the last sermon has been preached, the last song has been sung,
the last prayer has been prayed, when God's mystery of His will
is finished, when His purpose is accomplished, what is going
to happen then? He is going to gather together
in one all things in Christ. Those who are in heaven and those
who are upon this earth. Those saints who have left this
world and gone on to heaven, They are going to be gathered,
and the saints that are alive and left in this world, they
are going to all be gathered together in one, that is, in
Christ. What a great Savior He is! Can
you imagine what a mighty man He is? How the preeminence that
God has placed upon Him, everybody is going to be gathered to this
one man? There in His presence, at His
feet, before His throne, All the nations of the world are
going to be gathered right there around Him. Isn't that what you
and I are waiting for? And that's God's will. We believe
that, don't we? That's what He said. He's made
known unto you the mystery of His will, and then He says, verse
10, and this is His will. Soon we'll all be gathered together
in Christ. That's our hope, and it's according
to God's will. And then, of course, he says
in verse 11, "...in whom also we have obtained noninheritance,
being predestinated according to the purpose of him who works
all things after the counsel of his own will." Noninheritance. We haven't got time to deal with
that today. But what a wonderful thing it is. that God has given
things unimaginable to His Son. A world, heaven, a new heaven
and a new earth, life eternal, righteousness, happiness, holiness,
everything He's given to His Son. And now His Son shares it
all with His people. That's wonderful. Ain't that
very generous? And that's God's will. It's good. It's His will. Yes, there's a hell. Yes, there's
sin. Yes, there's wrath. But thank
God, there's salvation from sin. There's deliverance from the
wrath of God. There's a hell, and those who
go there will deserve to go there. But thank God, there's a heaven.
And those who go there, go there because another deserves to bring
them there for Christ's sake. You say, Bruce, I want no part
in God's wrath. I'm finished with sin. What do
I need to do? Well, you know what you need
to do? It's simple as it can be. It's almost too simple. You
know what Paul says here? When you heard the Word of Truth,
the Gospel of your salvation, what did you do? You trusted
Christ. That's one of the most simple
words, and you don't even need to define it. Everybody knows
what it is to trust. Trust Christ. Trust Christ. You say, Bruce, I can't trust
Him. I just can't. You can't trust Him? You cannot
trust Christ? Well, dear soul, what an awful
thing to say. Can you imagine how that would
make Him feel? If I told you I would do something
for you tomorrow, and you went out here and you told somebody,
He won't do that. I don't trust Him to do that.
I would come to you and I'd say, why have you got such a low opinion
of me? What have I done to you to offend
you or to cause you to mistrust me? And Jesus Christ is such
a gracious Savior, such a faithful Savior, and true, He's never
lied, He's never failed, and you can't trust Him? You can't trust Him? You say,
well, my sins are too great. Well, your sin is great. But
what about his sufferings? What about his blood? If you say your sins are greater
than his blood, then you mistrust his sacrifice. You mistrust his
work. Yes, your sins are great, but
his blood is greater. God will damn a man if he looks
upon that man's sin, but when a man trusts Christ, God will
forgive him of his sins. All of them. You know why you'll leave here
today unsaved? Of all of what I've told you this morning about
God's sovereignty, of what I've told you about His will, you
know why you'll leave here unsaved today if you do? It's because
you won't trust Christ. That's the only reason, dear
soul, that you won't be saved. If you can trust Christ, you'll
be saved. The very instant you trust Christ,
you'll be saved. Now, I know that sounds simple,
but that's what the Bible says. You trusted Christ when you heard
the Word of Truth, the Gospel of your salvation. I can't trust Christ for you.
All I can do is tell you He's trustworthy. He is trustworthy. And I don't care how great your
sin is, and you don't either. You don't either. But what a
great sacrifice the Son of God has offered. And God is pleased. And if you'll trust Him, you'll
be saved. You'll be saved. May God help
you to do it. Gracious Father, oh, we thank
You, Lord, for such a Gospel. Thank You for bringing us to
Yourself and teaching us. All such mysteries, Lord, yet
You've made them so simple. It's us that cloud these things
by our comments on them. We were dead in our sins and
confused, but You give us light in our understanding. You taught
us from Your Word. You've been so faithful. Oh,
Lord Jesus, blessed Savior, I truly feel if I had a thousand souls,
I can trust you with all of them. If my sins had climbed into heaven,
I could trust your blood to put them away. You're so faithful. You're a great Savior. You've
condescended in great mercy to look upon us. You pity us. Oh, thank you for grace to trust
you. Give us grace to trust you more. And I pray somebody that's
come here this evening, walked in here lost, without the Lord,
They'll be laden with their sins. I pray they'll leave here with
their souls trusting You. Simply trusting You. And You'll
be gracious to them. Oh, we praise You, Lord Jesus.
We bless You. Amen.