Would you turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 1. Sure I'm glad to be back. Missed
everybody. Hope you missed me. Second Corinthians chapter one. Paul. An apostle of Jesus Christ. By the will. Of God. Paul, what are your credentials? Why should I listen to what you
have to say? What if Paul would have answered,
well, I was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. He'd tell us
where he went to seminary and he would tell us how he was more
exceeding zealous of the tradition of his fathers and how he profited
in the Jews religion above many of his equals. He could give
all kinds of credentials that would make me think I'd listen
to this fella. But what does he say? Here's my credential. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
by the will of God. Now that's some kind of credential,
isn't it? By the will of God. Now, it's one thing to say that.
I don't know how many times I've heard people talk about something
they're going to do, and they say, well, it's God's will for
me to do this. Well, I'm not so sure about that. I'm not so
sure. But when Paul says this under
the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, we are sure. Paul, an apostle
by the will of God. Now, what I want to attempt to
preach on this morning is the will of God. the will of God. Now, someone may be thinking
you're biting off a bit more than you can chew. I agree. But wouldn't it be a blessing
if the Lord taught us in such a way, as Paul said in Ephesians
5, 18, so that we would not be unwise, but understanding what
the will of the Lord is. Wouldn't that be a blessing if
we come away here with some understanding of the will of God? Now, what is the will? Before
we talk about the will of God, what is the will? What is meant
by the will? The will is the intent. The will
is the desire. The will is the purpose. The will directs us in doing
what we do. When we do something, our will
is involved. We do what we want to do. We desire to do it, and we do
it. Now, there's no such thing as
free will. Understand that. There's no such
thing as free will. People, preachers talk about
free will. No such thing. God doesn't have a free will.
He cannot lie. Somebody says, well, if he wanted
to, he could. No, he couldn't. His will is controlled by his
nature. And your will is controlled by
your nature. But you and I do what we want
to do. You know what people do? They
do what they want to do. Every time. That's the will. The will is what directs the
actions. Now, our will is controlled by
our nature. If you have a sinful nature,
it's that sinful nature that controls your will. But still,
whatever it is we do is what we want to do. That's what the
will is. Will is the intent. Will is the
desire. Will is the purpose. God's will is God's desire. God's will is God's purpose. God's will is God's intent. But there's something different
about God's will and our will. The Lord God is omnipotent. He has the power to make sure
His will comes to pass. Now, do you know how much power
I have to make sure my will comes to pass? Zero. Nada. Nothing. We have absolutely no control. But God has the power to make
sure his will comes to pass. Now, there is the secret will
of God. The secret will of God. That's
the stuff we don't know. A lot of that in there. Deuteronomy 29, 29 says the secret
things belong to the Lord, our God. But the revealed things
belong to us and our children that we may do all the words
of the Lord. There's the secret will, the
stuff we don't know anything about. And there is the revealed
will of God when he has made his will known. There is his will of command. And there is his will of decree.
Now, there is a difference. His will of command. Thou shalt
not lie. That's his will of command. And
if you tell a lie, or if I tell a lie, I can't say, well, God
decreed for me to tell that lie, therefore I shouldn't be held
responsible. No, it's disobedience on our part if we disobey His
will of command. It's God's will of command for
us to be obedient. That's the way it is. But there's also His will of
decree, His will of purpose. I just read about it in Isaiah
chapter 46. Whatever He purposes, He has
the power to bring to pass. And whatever He purposes, He
does bring to pass. Everything that happens is God's
will. There's nothing that happens
outside of God's decree. Now, God's will of purpose is
always done. He said, I have spoken it. I
will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it. His will of purpose is always
done. It's never thwarted. God never
will something and something messes it up to where his will
doesn't take place. No, his will is always done without any exceptions. His will is always done. His
will of purpose and his will of command is done only by one,
and those in him. The Lord Jesus
never sinned. He always obeyed God perfectly,
without any sin. He never sinned. He knew no sin. Now, here's the glorious thing.
If I'm in Him, I did neither. Everything He did He did as an
us. Remember when John the Baptist
came to him, or he came to John the Baptist to be baptized, and
John the Baptist said, Me baptize you? I have need to be baptized
with thee. Why are you coming to me like
that? And he said, Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh
us to fulfill. All righteousness. And when the
Lord fulfilled all righteousness, He did it for the us. If God
be for us, who can be against us? So this will of command. I could say only the Lord Jesus
has kept the will of command. And that's true. But so did everybody
He represented. Everybody in Him. Now, here are some things the
Word of God tells us about the will of God. Now remember what
the will of God is. The will of God is his purpose.
It's his desire. It's his intention. First, his will is essential. What do I mean by that? That
means nothing takes place without his will. Nothing. Turn to Ephesians
chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. Beginning in verse 9, "...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 times he might 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, the desire, the will, the intent
of him who worketh all things after the counsel, after the
will of his own will. His will is behind everything. That's how supreme His will is. He works all things after the
counsel of His own will. So His will is essential, and
His will is eternal. You're there in Ephesians. Look
at Ephesians chapter 3, verse 11. Ephesians 3, 11. According to
the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord. It's an eternal purpose. Whatever his will is right now. It always was and always will
be. God dwells outside of time. There's no past, present or future
with him. It's always the now and his will
is always. Always been. His will is immutable. His will
is essential. Nothing happens without it. His
will is eternal. Whatever it is now, it's always
been and always will be. And his will is immutable. God
is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should
repent. Numbers 23, 9 changes mind. Malachi
3, 6 says, I'm the Lord. I change not. Therefore, ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. That's why. The reason a son
of Jacob is not consumed and sent to hell is because God's
will of purpose never changes. He doesn't change his mind. If
he loves me now, he's not going to change his mind and stop loving
me. If I'm accepted now, he's not going to change his mind
and no longer accept me. His will is immutable. It cannot
be changed. And his will, fourthly, is efficacious. What does that mean? That means
his will cannot be thwarted. Whatever he wills must come to
pass. He's God. Listen to this scripture
from Daniel 435. He doeth, hear that? He doeth according to his will. In the armies of heaven and among
the inhabitants of the earth, And none can stay his hand. None
can stop him from doing his will or saying to him, what doest
thou? Give an account for your manners.
He gives no account of any of his manners. His will is so supreme
that he's not answerable to me or you. So much is explained
there. He doesn't have to. He's God. His will is supreme. Efficacious. And his will, here's
the fifth thing I'd like to say about his will, his will is causeless.
His will is causeless. What do I mean by that? His will
is never a response to something. The cause is found in Himself.
That's the only cause of the will of God. Whatever He wills,
the reason for Him doing it is found in Himself. The scripture
I thought of was there in Matthew chapter 11, where the Lord said,
I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
You hid these things. from the wise and prudent. Now
you think about what that scripture says. The Lord Jesus Christ says,
God hid these things from the wise and prudent so they couldn't
find them. And if God hides the truth from you, you'll never
know it. And he's got a reason to do it. That's an act of his
judgment. But our Lord said, I thank thee,
O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you've hid these
things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes. For even so, Father, so it seemed
good in thy sight. That's his reason for doing it,
and no other reason needs to be given. His will is causeless,
and his will is sovereign. His will is sovereign. He has
mercy on whom he will have mercy. And whom he wills, he hardens. That's what the Scripture says.
Can I not do what I will with my own? God's will is sovereign. That means that you and I are
utterly in His hand. He can save you if He wills to
do it, or He can pass me by and let me go to hell if He wills
to do it, and whatever He does is right and just. It's not of
Him that willeth, nor of Him that runneth, but of God that
shows mercy. This whole idea of man having
a free will and letting God save him as an activist will, that's
foolishness. It's not true. God's will is
sovereign, and if God's will is sovereign, that means His
will is sovereign over man's will, isn't it? He's in control. God is God. This is the supremacy of His
will. Paul says, I'm an apostle of
Jesus Christ. According to the will of God,
what a credential according to the will of God. God's will must
be done. You think of the glory and the
power of God's will. Now, the supremacy of God's will
is seen in these three. I don't know what dimensions,
aspects. I don't know how to exactly what
word I should use for that. But at any rate, first of all,
the supremacy of his will is seen in creation. Now, here's
how supreme his will is. There was nothing. He willed the universe into existence,
and there it was. Now, is that supreme? There was nothing. All there
was, was God. And he willed the material universe
into existence, and there it was. He created something from
nothing. All things were made by him and
for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things
consist. Revelation 4.11 says, Thou hast
created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Proverbs 16.4 says, The Lord
hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked, for the
day of evil. That's our God. His supreme will
is seen in creation, in that whatever was made, he made it,
and he did it as an act of his own will. There was nothing,
he willed it, and it was. Secondly, the supremacy of his
will is seen in providence. First, it's seen in creation,
where he just simply willed. Here we have the universe. But
secondly, the supremacy of his will is seen in providence. Everything
that happens in time was purposed in eternity. Everything that happens in time,
doesn't matter what it is. Everything that happens in time
was purposed in eternity. Everything that happens in time
does so as a result of his will. I've already read the scripture.
He declares the end from the beginning. And from ancient times,
the things that are not yet done say, my counsel shall stay and
I will do all my pleasure. That is the will of God. In Proverbs, chapter 16, verse
33, we read the lot is cast into the lap. And that's what we think
of as luck. Casting of lots. The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Ecclesiastes
chapter 3 verse 1 says to everything there is a season and a time
to every purpose under heaven. 1 Samuel chapter 2 verses 6 and
7. This is talking about providence.
The Lord killeth. And the Lord maketh alive. How many people have died in
the world since I started preaching this message? Many. Every one
of them, the Lord killed them. They came, they lived, and they
died according to His purpose. The Lord killeth and the Lord
maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up.
The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and He
lifteth up. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
He does all these things. That's why. where it says, Rejoice
evermore, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Whatever
God brings my way, whatever He gives me or whatever He withholds
from me, whatever it is, I'm to give thanks because He did
it. This is God's will concerning me. In everything give thanks,
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
God said in Isaiah 45, verses 5-7, I am the Lord and there
is none else. I am the Lord and there's none like me. I form
the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil.
I, the Lord, do all these things. He is the Lord of Providence.
He's the cause. His will is behind everything
that happens in time. Now, whenever we say, it's almost
amusing to me because I've done it. You've done it. Something
good happens. Boy, that was really providential. It's all providential. As a matter of fact, if we say
that was providential, we're denying what providence is. Providence
is everything him being in control of, his will being done. And so we see the supremacy of
his will in providence, everything that happens in time. You know,
I get, I really get upset at that oil gushing out of the Gulf,
don't you? I wish that would stop. But it'll
stop when the Lord stops it. When He gives them, He's in control
of that. I mean, I get upset with it,
I think. But He's in control. Do I understand? No! I don't
need to understand. But I believe He's in control.
He's our God, oh God, our help in ages past, our hope for time
to come. He's all those things. He's in control. Thank God for
that. He controls province. Now, the
supremacy of His will is seen in creation. It's seen in Providence,
but it's most especially seen in salvation. Let me show you
that in Scripture. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. Beginning in verse 6. In burned
offering. and sacrifices for sin thou hast
had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God."
Christ came for this one purpose, to do God's will. Above, verse 8, when he said,
Sacrifice and offering, and burnt offerings, and offerings for
sin, thou wouldst not neither have pleasure therein, which
are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second by the witch will, by God's will.
Remember, he said, I come to do thy will. By that will, by
the witch will, we are sanctified. Through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. How was I sanctified? By the
will of God. God willed it. I'm sanctified. Now that's through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ. It was through his bloody death
on the cross that had to take place. But I'm sanctified. Every
believer is sanctified by the will of God. If God wills for
me to be holy, you know what? I am holy. If he says, if he
wills my sanctification, I am. sanctified. In John chapter 6,
verse 38 through 40, turn with me there please. John chapter
6, I want you to see these. The Lord says, for I came down
from heaven, verse 38, John 6, 38. For I came down from heaven
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me
And this is the Father's will which is sent me, that of all
which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again at the last day. And 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." God's will. We see what it is, right? 2 Timothy
1.9 says He saved us. He called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to His own purpose,
His will, and grace which were given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. Everything I have now, justification,
sanctification, acceptance, adoption, was given me in Christ Jesus
before time ever began. Our Lord said in John 5, verse
21, For as the Father raises the dead and quickens them, even
so the Son quickens whom He wills. Who does he quicken? Who does
he give life to? Whom he will. In 2 Peter 3, 9, Peter said,
God is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. I think it's interesting how
people use that verse to try to prove that God wants to save
everybody. That doesn't say that. It says God is long-suffering
to usward. His people, those who believe,
the elect, not willing that any of them perish, but that they
should all come to repentance. You know what? Every one of them
come to repentance because God's not willing for them to perish.
James 1, 18, of his own will, begat he us through the word
of truth. Romans 9, 16 says it's not of
him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
showeth mercy. It's not the will of your father
that one of these little ones should perish. God's will, the
supremacy of His will, is most especially seen in salvation. So, we see the supremacy of His
will, and this covers everything, really. Creation, providence,
and salvation shows the supremacy of His will. And, beloved, we
are saved that we might know His will. We are saved that we
might know. his will. Remember when Ananias
came to Paul in Acts chapter nine? When God met him and he
said, the God of our fathers has chosen thee that thou might
know his will and see that just one and hear the voice of his
mouth that we might know it, that we might love it, that we
might delight in it. Now, here's the essence of holiness. You want to know what holiness
is? That's such a hard concept to grasp in many ways because
we're so unholy and sinful in and of ourselves. It's hard to
get hold of this, but what is holiness? Christ in the garden,
praying, not my will, but thine be done. That is holiness. And you know, it's our desire.
We're taught to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Holy and reverend is thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as
it is in heaven. That's our desire, isn't it?
I don't care what, however I fit into the plan, it's okay. Thy
will be done. on earth as it is in heaven.
And his will is to be done from the heart. We read in Ephesians
6, 6, of doing the will of God from the heart. We want to do
the will of God from the heart. And his will is to be acknowledged.
Remember there in James chapter 4, when he said, don't say, tomorrow
I'm going to go here and do this and get that. No, he said, say,
if the Lord will. If the Lord will, I'll do this
or do that, knowing that everything is dependent upon His will, even
in the mundane, what we would consider the mundane things.
Maybe what I'm going to do tomorrow, if the Lord will, I'll do this. And His will is to be willingly
submitted to. You remember in Acts chapter
21, where Paul said he was going to go to Jerusalem, there he's
going to be bound, and Luke and all his buddies will say, no,
don't let that happen, don't let it happen. We begged them,
don't go there if that's going to happen. And then finally,
when we saw he wouldn't be persuaded, we just said, the will of the
Lord be done. The will of the Lord be done. We submit to his will and whatever
it is. And beloved, his will is to be
done. Our Lord said, not everyone that
sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he that doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven.
That's the only person who's going to enter the kingdom of
heaven. That person who does his will. And let's be real specific
as to what it means to do his will. That means you believe
the gospel. You believe the gospel. You believe the gospel. You rely
on the Lord Jesus Christ. You've come to Him. You rest
in Him. You really believe that He's your wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification and redemption. You're doing God's will. That's
believing the gospel. What must we do to work the works
of God? This is the work of God that
you believe on Him whom He has sent. I love the simplicity of
that. Not two things that get confused about this is the will
of God. This is the work of God. that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. This is the will of him
that sent me, that of everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life. And I raise him up at the
last day. Now would you turn with me to
Matthew chapter 8. This is not theology. This is not some abstract
of theology where we're trying to find out, you know, certain
attributes of God. Well, he's dealing with the will
of God right now, looking at it from an abstract sense. The will of God is where we live.
And where we move. And where we have our being.
And it actually is our plea. The will of God is our plea. Now, in Matthew chapter 8, verse
1. Now, the Lord had just given
the sermon on the mount. And when he was come down from
the mountain, Great multitudes followed him, but one person is singled out. The multitudes were following,
but one person is specifically singled out. And behold, verse
2, there came a leper. Here's the way the scripture
speaks of a leper. You know, if somebody has cancer,
we don't say, behold, there's a cancer. You don't talk about
people that way, really. There's heart disease. But yet, when the scripture speaks
of, behold, not a man who was a leper, but there came a leper. I think of Naaman. He was a great
man who thought he happened to have leprosy, and he didn't understand
that he was nothing but a leper. who happened to be a great man,
in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't even count. There
came a leper. And if you look in the other
accounts, this is in both Mark and Luke, he came full of leprosy. There wasn't a healthy square
inch of flesh anywhere on his body. Now, leprosy is the great
type of sin. This man came full What if there's
anybody here like that this morning? Full of sin. Full of sin. That's all you are. Now, how
did he come? The scripture says, Behold, there
came a leper and worshipped him. Now, this has to be settled first.
We can't go any further until this settles first. Now, he hadn't
been cleansed yet, and he didn't know if he would be cleansed,
but he worshipped. He worshipped Him for who He
was. If He doesn't cleanse me, if
He sends me to hell, He's still to be worshipped because of who
He is. And before that's settled, nothing
else will be settled. If He's not to be, well, I won't
worship Him at this. If He doesn't do this, well,
you can forget it then. You'll go to hell. This has got to be
settled. He's to be worshipped whatever
He does with me or you. Can you believe that? He's to
be worshipped. That's got to come first. And
we're not going anywhere until that's settled. You bow before
His sovereign throne. He is King. He is God. Whatever He does is right. I
may have leprosy, and I may keep leprosy, and if He makes me keep
it, He's still to be worshipped. He's God. He came, and this was
settled. He came and worshipped Him. If the Lord, just forget about
everybody else. If the Lord doesn't save you,
if he leaves you to yourself and lets you go to hell, is he
in your heart, when God looks in your heart, is he still worthy
of worship without reference to what he does with you? That's
got to be settled. This leper came and worshipped
him. And look what he said. And there
came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord." This man acknowledged
the lordship of Jesus Christ. Obviously, there's no worship
without this. This man knew who he was speaking to. He was the
Lord. the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't stand to hear people
talk about the Lord in a flippant Jesus this and Jesus that. He's
the Lord. You call me Master and Lord and
you say, well, for so I am. He's the Lord of glory. He's
The thief on the cross understood that. I love thinking about that.
The thief on the cross, he looks at Christ hanging on the cross,
his visage barred more than the sons of men. You couldn't even
recognize him as a human being. He seemed so helpless, nailed
to a cross, everybody making fun of him. And that thief on
the cross looked at him and said, Lord, he knew he was the Lord. Lord, remember me when you come
into your kingdom. This is what people who worship
understand. He's the Lord. Look next. And behold, there came a leper
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt. He didn't say, Lord, I will that
you make me clean. He didn't say, Lord, I'm going
to allow you to let me make me clean. He didn't say, Lord, I'm
going to accept what you did for me. Nothing like that. There's
no free will hint in this, is there? I mean, not a hint of
it. There's not a drop of it. He
says, Lord, if thou wilt, if thou wilt, I'm totally in your
hands. It's up to you. I know you've
got the ability. I'm not sure you're willing to
save me, but I know you have the ability to save me. If thou
wilt, thou canst. Make me clean. We came for the right thing,
didn't we? I'm filthy. I'm filthy. I'm a filthy leper.
I need to be made clean. And that's all together out of
my hands. I'm in your... Oh, Lord, if you will. Can you
pray that? Right now, in your heart, can
you say, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. Do
you believe that? Do you believe that he is able,
by his grace, by his blood, by his righteousness, to make you
clean before God? To where God looks at you and
he sees you as clean? Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Now look at verse 3. And Jesus put forth his hand
and touched him. I don't reckon anybody else would
touch him. Would you touch somebody full of leprosy? But he reached
forth his hand and touched him, saying, I will. Be thou clean. And what happened as a result
of his willing, the cleansing of this leper, and immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. Now, if you come like the leper
did, you'll hear these same words he did. If you come saying, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. If you come to him like
that, you're going to hear the same thing. I will. Be thou clean. In Romans 12, would you turn
with me there? I'm going to look at two other
scriptures. Just read them. Very little comment. You see how this thing of the
will of God is, it's, it's everything. It's not an abstract principle
out there that you get down pat. It's how we come into his presence,
if you will. You can make me clean. Now look
in Romans 12, verse 1, Paul says, I beseech
you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, the saving
mercies, the justifying mercy, the freeness of his grace. That's
his argument. He doesn't say I beseech you
because you get in trouble if you don't. He doesn't say, I
beseech you, or God will take it out of the casket, or He'll
cause some kind of financial disaster to happen to you, or
He'll cause some kind of sickness to come upon you if you don't
straighten up. Nothing like that. I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, everything
about you, a living sacrifice. Holy. acceptable unto God, which
is your reasonable service. That's the only thing that's
reasonable. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove, demonstrate
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. That's the will of God, isn't
it? Good and acceptable and perfect. Well, what's God's will for me?
What is God's will for me? Scripture answers that. Turn
to 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. Now, what's God's will for you
or me as to what we're going to do tomorrow? I'm not real
sure about But here's something I encourage. Chapter 4, verse 1. Furthermore,
then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus,
that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and
to please God, so you would abound more and more. For you know what
commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus, for this is the will
of God, even your sanctification." There's God's will for you. That's
God's will for you. Your sanctification. And he goes
on to tell us what he means by that. That you should abstain
from fornication, sexual sin. That every one of you should
know how to possess his vessel, his own body in sanctification
and honor, not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles,
which know not God. That's God's will for me, for
you, that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any manner.
It doesn't matter what it is. I'm to treat everybody who I'm
supposed to treat them. Don't defraud. Don't defraud. Because the Lord is the avenger
of all such, as we've also forewarned you and testified, for God hath
not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. Well, there's
God's will for me. There's God's will for you. I
mean, it's just real clear. No question about it. Well, should
I do this? I don't know about that, but
I know this. It's God's will. for me to be obedient, to do
what he says to do in his word. This is the will of God, even
your sanctification. Now, thank God for that will that
said to that leper when he said, if you will, you can make me
clean. And he said, I will. Be Now. Let's break.