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Praise God, I really preached too long last week on this and I got to thinking,
I said, well, what I need to do is, well, first of all, finish it. This will be part two of a two -part series on the will of God, how we can know the will of God and do the will of God, which is extremely important, and how to respond to it.
But I'd like to just give you, in my introduction this morning, an overview.
And not to say I'm not going to expose it, but most of the exposition I gave last week.
So I'd like to focus just a little bit at the forefront of an overview and then give some practical application.
And I believe that practical application will help us in our everyday living.
We got the summary of the exposition, didn't we? The text, what the text is saying, what the text means.
That's critical. What God is saying, what is God saying to us? So if you haven't heard last week's message,
I would highly recommend you to. It's a little lengthy, but thank you for staying with me on that.
Most people would have walked out and said, forget this. But God's good, isn't
He? And His word's good. And we love God because it's synonymous,
I should say, with His word, right? You love God, you love His word, and you love the word, and you love
God. This is how He's revealed His will, right here. This is how we know the mind of God, right here in the word of God.
So in saying that, we're going to look at an overview, what we looked at from the text last week, to kind of fill you in.
And then also, we're going to look at some practical application and how to know and do the will of God.
I'm going to be looking at, I only have two points, and they're going to be very simple. I'm going to jump around in Scripture.
We're going to look at the decreed will of God and the command will of God.
It's broken up in Scripture that God has a decreed will.
In other words, that's set, nothing's going to thwart that. Hell, man, it doesn't matter.
God's decreed will will happen. That's what Scripture says. You can read about that all the way through the
Scriptures. Daniel even mentions some of it. Nothing will thwart the will of God.
God decrees it, it's going to happen, period. It's going to come to pass. We're going to look at that.
Then we're going to look at God's will and what He commands. And that's going to come down to earth where we live.
So we're going to look at how this ties in together. I think you really will be fed by this.
It fed my soul when I looked at it as well. But it's important to know the will of God, isn't it?
We've got to know it. That's important. We've got to make sure we know it. But more important, we've got to practice it.
We've got to do it. We've got to obey it. That's where the breakdown is. And a lot of times, it's the way we respond to God's will.
As believers, we must practice it in our everyday living. So our text today is from the book of James, of course.
Let's go back to the book of James. And James clarifies this awesome truth. It's clarified.
James points it out in his epistle, chapter 4. James chapter 4.
This will finish up chapter 4, by the way. And Lord willing,
I'm going to look at having a communion service next week. And we may take a break from James for one week.
And then we'll return and begin to finish up these 20 verses of chapter 5.
James chapter 4, beginning verse 13, reading through verse 17 to the end of the chapter.
Hear the word of the living God. Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city.
Spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit. Yet, you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.
You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, if the
Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that. But as it is, you boast in your arrogance.
All such boasting is evil. Verse 17, therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
May God bless the reading of this holy, eternal word from our ears to our hearts this morning. Let's pray.
Our Father in heaven, we praise you, we thank you for this awesome word.
We begin in prayer as we should always begin, as your son taught the disciples on the mountain.
Hallowed be thy name. Hallowed be thy name. Lord, help us to know that this first petition is how to worship you in spirit and truth.
Directions is given to worship you in the beauty of your holiness. Father, you are absolutely holy.
Your name is absolutely holy. Father, I would pray by your spirit to help us always to honor and glorify your holy name.
Your name is holy. It's glorious, but above all, it's holy. And Father, we also pray that second petition.
Your kingdom come. Your kingdom come. Your kingdom is coming. Nothing is going to stop it.
The gates of hell shall not prevail against what you're bringing to pass through your church.
The king of glory. If there's a kingdom, there's a king. And we thank you. We know King Jesus who's going to be coming back in an intimate return to this earth.
So, Father, help us to remember that second petition. Your king that whom you have ordained.
You have set on your holy hill. Your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, will be worshipped.
And next, Lord, as we will be studying today. Help us, Lord, with this third petition.
Your will be done. Your will must be done. Father, we come to glorify your holy name.
And we desire your kingdom to come. But, Father, we desire your holy will to be done in earth as it is in heaven.
So, Father, in order for your will to be done, our will must be undone.
For your kingdom to come, our kingdom must go. So, Father, I would pray that Lord give us grace.
Give us the help of your Holy Spirit to help us to submit as your subjects to your purposes.
To the king's will. To the king's kingdom. To the king's holy name.
To your purposes and plans and to your glory. And, Father, I would ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen and amen. Well, in this section of his letter, as we've already looked, the apostle
James points out three attitudes, actually, towards the will of God. Everything that is in these verses is all about God's will.
Of course, only one of the attitudes that he speaks of is the correct attitude.
And that is the one that every believer in Jesus Christ ought to cultivate and practice in his everyday life.
Because our life is none other like a vapor, as James says. That's the word of God.
And we're here on this earth only for a short period of time. It's like a shadow.
Then we fly away and then there's real reality. And I assure you that eternity is a reality.
The three attitudes given in our text is, first of all, we looked at ignoring
God's will in verse 13, 14 and 16. We looked at that. Second, we looked at disobeying
God's will in verse 17. And third, obeying God's will in verse 15.
And that's what we're going to focus on, is how we can obey God's will, His word.
And in that summary, James has just condemned, really, the selfish worldly spirit, which is manifest, and it manifests itself in what he says, wars and fightings.
In verses 1 through 10, that's pretty much the track in which he's taking his readers.
And also the presumption, which takes place in God, of God, I should say, the place of God in pronouncing judgment upon fellow men.
In verses 11 and 12, about judging, or do not judge a brother wrongfully.
These are closely related, by the way, to the false confidence in which we make plans for our future.
With no thought whatsoever of God. That's what James is talking about.
So the apostle now turns to rebuke, and it is a rebuke. It's a loving rebuke, but truth rebukes, period.
Real love rebukes. And you've got to know, you know, we get the false impression of rebuke, but rebuke is to steer someone in the right direction, in the truth, pull them back so that they can make their adjustments or change or conversions to God's course.
And God knows how to get our attention, doesn't He, in doing this. So there's a rebuke. And what does
He rebuke? He rebukes godless conceit. James rehearses the imaginary words of certain
Jewish merchants, businessmen of that time, who are perfectly knowing their schemes.
And their schemes is, well, they're taking for granted what everything's going to happen tomorrow and the year and everything.
They got it all planned out without God. What do they say?
Today and tomorrow we will go to such and such a city and spend a year there and engage our business and make a profit.
God calls that person a fool. We looked at that. But every step for this businessman, and these businessmen
I should say, these merchants, is detailed and with absolute assurance and pride.
They're boasting. And doesn't He say that? He says in verse 16,
But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. There is the key right there, the arrogance, the pride.
And He says, all such boasting is evil. He calls it evil.
Oh, how evil pride is. How wicked. It is an abomination to the
Lord. So you see this in the text. And their plans is with no suggestion made of divine providence.
There's no thought of God whatsoever. However, no thought in their mind are they entertaining the will of God.
God's out of it. In his exposition, Charles Erdman says this of this text,
Today and tomorrow are regarded as a light completely within the power of the journey to the city selected is certain to be safe.
The year is quiet at their disposal, they think.
Neither sickness nor disaster can possibly come. The business venture is sure to be prosperous, they think.
Such seem to be the thoughts of the confident merchants, and their spirit is too commonly reflected by the professed followers of Jesus Christ.
We are tempted, and he's speaking about believers, to regard the future with presumptuous assurance.
So even the children of God can fall into this temptation. Something we need to beware of.
Verse 14, James clarifies with the sobering truth of the uncertainty of life, doesn't he?
The brevity of life, the frailty of life. Our life is frail. And he says it like this,
Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
So short is life. We're here for such a short time. Oh my.
Not that it is wrong, and we looked at this, that we make our plans, right? Not that it is wrong to engage in business.
That's not the point here of that being wrong. Not that it is wrong to expect a profit, really.
Nothing wrong with that, as long as that's not an idol, Jesus spoke about that. But actually the sin is having
God out of it, completely. That's the sin. Proverbs 16 .33
says, The lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision. Listen to that.
Every decision is from the Lord. God is the one that orchestrates everything.
Proverbs 16 .1 The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the
Lord. He turns it wherever he wills.
Get that? Wherever God wills. That's the decreed will of God.
So we as believers must always be living God's conscience, in a God -conscience life that God in His providence has for each of us in a divine purpose, in a divine plan.
That God cares about each and every one of us, personally, specifically, He does.
That's an encouragement, isn't it? You think, many times I used to think when
I was in trouble, and I was going through some hard times, and now
I'm talking about personally here, and I'd fall on my face, and at one time, I never will forget, back years ago, right at my conversion,
I believe it was right before my conversion, I'd look up to the stars, and pray on a clear, cold night, and I would think,
Lord, You run this universe, it's so vast, and I thought myself so small, and I think, but I know, if You number the hair of each one of our heads, and they are numbered, how much more do
You care for my soul? And I remember that. I remember looking at the stars, and you know, if you look at it on a clear night, if you look hard, it's just, the knowledge is too much for us.
It's innumerable. And I think, God, You control, You orchestrate all of it, and I fall down, and look to You, and my situation,
I think, surely my situation isn't too hard for You. And it's not. So, really we should make conscience that God is in control of what truth says.
We should be conscience of our total dependence upon Him, and eager to know and to do
His will. We ought to be saying, what if the Lord wills?
If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this and that. And I believe that's more of an attitude than this just being on our lips, you know?
It should be on our lips. Shouldn't it be both? It should not just be on our lips, and not our heart in it.
Jesus says, out of our hearts, the mouth speaks, right? So, it should be on our lips, but we should be doing, just not saying that, it should be our heart's desire.
So, here's that total trust upon divine providence of God's hand in our lives. The Apostle Paul had personal plans to go through Macedonia at one time, didn't he?
If you remember in 1 Corinthians, chapter 16, verse 6 and 7, but God was leading him, and this is the way he said it, and perhaps, this is
Paul speaking, and perhaps I will stay with you, and even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way wherever I may go.
He's been sent by the church, right? The Macedonian call. Verse 7, then
Paul gives us a very significant truth here. He tells us his heart's attitude, and the plans in which he's making.
Did you hear what he just said? That I even may spend the winter there, and that you may send me on my way, wherever I may go.
But notice in verse 7, if you turn there, this is a great verse. It's 1
Corinthians 16, 6 and 7. And notice Paul's attitude. Notice the apostle's attitude in the will of God.
For I do not wish to see you now just in passing, for I hope to remain with you for some time, if the
Lord permits. Underscore that. If the Lord permits it.
So he knew God was leading him. He was led by the Holy Spirit, and sometimes God, the
Holy Spirit, would not lead him in this direction. He would steer him in another direction.
He had to be really sensitive to the Spirit of God. And Paul was, because he knew God. Paul includes
God's plan into his plans, right? If the Lord permits. What does that tell us?
We need to be in submission. Paul was in submission. He was depending on God's leading.
Should not we do the same? In other words, the truth of God's providence, the belief that life and all its blessings are
His gifts, are God's gifts. Every good and perfect gift from above comes from the
Father of lights, in which there's no shadow of turning, unbearableness with God. He doesn't change.
But the change is within us. So the conviction that the future is holy within God's power, in God's hands, that He's the one that orchestrates everything, and that our self -confidence and presumption is vain.
See, we need not to forget. We need not to make any plans without God in it.
Let us beware of that. Any thought of Him to regard the future with foolish boasting assurance is not only foolish, but Scripture says, it's wicked, it's evil, right?
I didn't say that. That's strong. But He says right here, therefore, to the one who knows the right thing, in other words, what
He's saying, you can know the will of God, and knows the right thing to do it, and does not do it to Him that is sin.
That's a strong verse. Very strong verse. Sins of omission always lead directly to sins of commission.
That's what He's saying. The implication is that they also did what they shouldn't do.
So it is absolutely critical to not only know the will of God, but to do the will of God. And that's what
He's saying here. To submit and to obey to God's Word.
I like what Warren Wiersbe says about this and God's will, and I quote him. Rather, he says, than looking at the will of God as a cold, impersonal machine,
I prefer to see it as a warm, glowing, growing, living body.
This is a beautiful illustration he gives. If something goes wrong, he says, with my body,
I don't die. The other parts of the body compensate for it until I get that organ working properly again.
There's pain, there's weakness, but there is not necessarily death.
And he's talking about the function of the body, of course. And then he goes on his illustration. So when you and I get out of God's will, it is not the end of everything.
We suffer, to be sure, but when God cannot rule,
He overrules. Isn't that good? Just as the body compensates for the manufacturing of one part, so God adjusts things to bring us back to His will, end quote.
And God does that. So it is with every believer in Jesus Christ, the believer's relationship to the will of God is an ever -growing experience.
And haven't you experienced the same thing? Since your conversion, you grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, and as that knowledge increases, your personal application to it, and everyday living, the
Lord leads you a little here, a little there. And you look back and you say, wow,
I see the hand of God. You may not see it at present, but you think about those times when you were going through suffering, going through the fire, and going through the hardships, and you're thinking,
Lord, you're almost praying, why God? Why the suffering?
Why the pain? Why the hurt? Then you look back now, oh
Lord, You're so good. You were purging me. You were purifying me. You were making me more like Your Son.
That's the way I see it. When I look back at my times, going through those hard times, God, You were doing a great work.
You knew exactly, perfectly, what You were doing at that time, in that place, in my life, making me more like Your Son.
He loves you that much. Aren't you glad that God is patient with us? And He loves us that much.
The goodness of the Lord. So it is with every believer. We grow in the relationship to the will of God as an ever growing experience.
Now, the remaining of our time, let's look at this question. What is the will of God? And how do we know it?
And how do we do it? That's the key right there. How do we do it? I'm going to try to put some important truth in your hands this morning.
I believe it would be a blessing to you. So according to the Word of God, according to the Bible, the teaching of Holy Writ, God has revealed
His will to us. It's not a mystery, right? It's been revealed to us. Here it is. Open up the pages of Scripture.
The mystery of His will has been revealed in the Gospel. Jesus Christ Himself is the revealing of the will of God.
And as I said before, there are only two points I'd like to bring out. Two very different meanings of the term the will of God according to Scripture.
And knowing the difference between these two meanings of the will of God is crucial and critical to the understanding of one of the biggest and most perplexing things,
I believe, in all of the Bible. Namely, that God is sovereign over all things and yet He disapproves of many things.
Now, it's a paradox. And we're going to look at that paradox. John Piper basically put it this way, quote, he says this, which means that God disapproves of some of what
He ordains to happen. That is, He forbids some of the things He brings about and He commands some of the things
He hinders. Or to put it most paradoxically, he says,
God wills some events in one sense that He does not will in another sense.
End quote. Now, are you with me? We'll look at that. That may sound like a paradox.
It is a paradox. So, Scripture full of paradoxes. It may sound complex.
In one side it is complex. But let me say this, it's never confusing.
Why? Because God is not the author of confusion. God is light and He reveals that to us through His Word.
Now, we may not know everything, but it's still profitable. It's still profitable.
God orders all things and He orchestrates all things. Now, I'm going to, in this application time, go with me to Romans chapter 12.
Now, here is the application to the will of God. Right here. These two verses
I should say. This is a great passage of Scripture. We're going to look at this a little bit.
Paul is speaking about how we are living sacrifices to God and what is our spiritual service of worship to Him.
Romans chapter 12, verse 1 and 2. Now, let me say this.
This is a critical transition from what
Paul has previously spoke about in Romans and everything he spoke about in Romans chapter 11.
How do we know this? He begins with the transitional. You've got to remember this. When the pages of Holy Scripture was written down on a scroll, there were not chapters and verses.
Chapters and verses is to help us. I don't know about you, it helps us memorize Scripture. But back then it was just a long series of writings in Greek, in the
New Testament, most of the New Testament, and some Arabic, and most of the
Old Testament was in Hebrew. But here Paul says, he begins in chapter 1.
Notice, Therefore I urge you. Therefore I urge you. In other words, another translation says, you may have the translation that says,
I beseech you. A beseeching. This refers to the last refrain of his doxology of praise in chapter 11, verse 36.
So, before we can even understand what Paul is actually saying in verse 1 and verse 2 of chapter 12, you've got to go back, anytime you see a therefore, always go back to get the context in what he's saying.
Verse 36 in chapter 11. For from him and through him and to him are what?
All things. Not some things, all things. And then he praises him.
To him be the glory forever. Amen. Now what did he just say?
Let me summarize it. This awesome text, it is an awesome text of the sovereignty of God.
In essence, Paul is saying God is the source of all things. For from him.
First of all, from him. He's the source. God is also the sustainer of all things.
And not only the source, he's the sustainer of all things. How do you know that?
And through him. You see that? From him, God's the source.
He sustains all things through him. And God is the rightful end of all things and all things that exist.
And by the way, if you go to the book of Colossians, it says all things exist for him. It's for his purpose.
It's for his glory. So all of creation, even the wicked, if you read the scriptures, is made for the day of judgment that will come in the future of eternity.
And to him are all things. I love that. All things.
Not some things. Not 99 .9 % thing. 100 % of everything that exists is for him.
And to him be the glory forever. Amen. In that one verse, in verse 36 of chapter 11,
Paul by the Holy Spirit of God has just unpacked the true meaning of worship to God.
If you notice how it takes its duration, its course, from the source of God, from him, to the sustainer of all things, him, and back to him.
Did you see that? It comes from God, then it comes like a conduit to time, it enters into time and what he's doing.
Then it goes back to him again through all eternity. I tell you what, no wonder
Paul said after he said that, and the Holy Spirit led him, to him be the glory forever.
Amen. So be it. So that's why Paul was praising him because he just gets caught up in doxology and worship of the greatness of God.
And if you read all of chapter 11 and how the course it's taking of everything that God is doing in his mercies, in his goodness, in his righteousness, and how
God orchestrates everything, and then what he does to transition in chapter, by the way, chapter 12 to the end of the book, and I believe there's 16 chapters altogether, from chapter 12 to chapter 16 is nothing but practical
Christian living. You see what Paul does, he always gives sound theology from the first.
Then he unpacks the rest of it and gives application. So right here is the application, the beginning point of the application of everything he has said from chapters 1 to 11.
It's a lot there. It's a lot. And now, here he unpacks the true meaning of worship to God.
And since all things are for his glory, we must respond to the offering by offering up ourselves for that holy purpose.
And he tells us how to do it. God has a purpose, doesn't he? He has a plan.
Where do you and I fit in that plan? Well, that's important, isn't it? We need to know this.
Notice Paul says, I urge you, I beseech you. That's a beautiful word. What does that mean, pastor?
Well, the Greek word comes from a root which means to call alongside to help. That's what it means.
Now, does that sound familiar? Jesus used a related word, translated perically, meaning comforter in the reference to the
Holy Spirit. It's a family of words. It's a family that later connotes exhorting and encouraging and counseling.
Isn't that beautiful? God wants to encourage you. He wants to exhort you. He wants to counsel you.
And by the way, he's the counselor. Not man. If you want to be taught of God, Tozer talked about this.
There's people that are taught by God and there's taught by men. There's a vast difference.
Now, it doesn't mean we're not to have gifted ministers and teachers, even though we need to always check them with the word of God.
I remember years ago when I was attending a seminary and my teacher of last day's prophecies, and I disagreed with a lot he would say today.
And I'd like, if he was around today, I'd say, hey, Dr. John Hall, let's look at the scripture and what this really says.
I'd like to call him to his own words. But I've seen him many times in chapel after chapel.
A speaker would speak and this particular minister said something way out of line from the word of God and I kid you not.
This man that taught us, when he told us to always be a faithful, diligent
Berean of the word of God and to check what the word of God says, that was his thing.
This is where I got it from. He says, always check people with chapter and verse, chapter and verse, chapter and verse.
And this minister stepped out of line to something he said and I kid you not. After the service, I saw him right up there.
He had his Bible open. He said, right here, right here. And that minister is going, he knew he messed up somewhere.
So anyway, it was serious. Dr. John Hall, that was his name. I remember he signed his book one time and he said, it was the text, 1
Timothy chapter 3, where it says, rightly divide the word of truth.
Not to be ashamed to study before God but rightly divide the word of truth. That was his thing.
And I've always appreciated that. It helped steer me in the right direction. But right here, Paul was basically saying, exhort, encourage, counsel.
The real counselor is the Holy Spirit of God. So Paul was speaking as a counselor to his readers in a sense because he was spirit inspired, right?
We know that this man was inspired. God was breathing upon this apostle. And that's why we say these are
God breathed words. They're inspired of God. But his counsel carried the weight, like I said, of his apostleship.
So the text says, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God. That's who he urges, these
Romans, by God's mercies. God's mercies. So in this gracious, divine graces, he explains all of the chapter of God's mercies.
This includes God's love and God's righteousness and God's goodness, and all that he unpacks there.
And then what does he say? To present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable, and as some translations would say, well -pleasing to God.
That's what it means. Well -pleasing to God, which is your spiritual act of worship.
Verse 2, and here's a key verse right here. And do not be conformed, or be not conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove, or approve, what is the will of God.
There it is. That which is good, number one, it's good, it's always good, isn't it?
God's will's always good. And it's acceptable, and it's perfect.
God wills to reveal that to us, and he has revealed it to us. It's good, it's acceptable, and it's perfect.
So let's look at the decreed sovereign will of God real quickly, and what this covers. There's no way
I'm going to unpack all this, but I like to give this an application. So what is the decreed will of God?
Well, basically it is his sovereign control, in which we looked at in verse 36 of chapter 11, that God sovereignly controls all that comes to pass.
I like what Sproul says, and you'll hear me say it over and over again, if God is not sovereign, then
God is not God. But he is sovereign. He orchestrates everything that happens.
Even evil? Even evil. Now he's not the author of evil, but he permits it.
He allows it. He's got a plan. He has a purpose.
So this decreed will of God was demonstrated in action, and if you want to look at an example,
Matthew 26, 39, one of the greatest prayers ever prayed in the Scriptures. You know why
I say that? Because it's Jesus Christ our Lord praying in the garden of Gethsemane, in agony, with blood mingled with sweat, and he's on his face, and twice he goes before the
Father. My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.
He submitted to the authority of God, his Father, and he submitted to God's will. That was his food.
He came for that purpose, was to go to a crucifixion and die, and take upon himself the sins of the world, upon himself as the
Lamb of God, God's Lamb. So what does the will of God refer to in this verse? It really refers to the sovereign, decreed plan of Almighty God that will happen in the coming hours, in which
Jesus was praying. It happened, didn't it? He was crucified. He was put to death.
He was buried. And he was resurrected. God willed and planned all that. He decreed it.
Nothing could stop it. Now, go with me very quickly. Let me show this to you.
Acts chapter 4. If you go to Acts chapter 4, it speaks about this, about the crucifixion of Jesus, that how it was planned, and eternity passed.
And look at verse 27 of chapter 4, and verse 28 as well.
For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant.
And by the way, this is a prayer. God's people were praying. They're praying to God the
Father. For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus. This is a powerful prayer.
Whom you anointed. He's the anointed one. Christ. Both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the
Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. And look at verse 28. To do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur.
God predestined it. It was by the hand of God. So God decreed it.
It was already decreed. It took place. And eternity passed, and then
Jesus brought it to application. He brought it to fulfillment. And He died.
This was God's plan. His decree. There was no changing it, no stopping it.
Nothing in all the universe could reverse this one great event. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm telling you, this is the greatest event that ever would take place on planet
Earth. When the Son of God, the Son of Man died on Calvary's cross. You focus on that.
It will humble you to the dirt if you really know the true meaning of the atonement and all that took place there.
You know, God Almighty decreed it. Think of this. The Almighty God. Jesus bowed to the
Father's will and fully submitted Himself to it. And He says, Not My will, but Thy will be done. And don't miss this.
Don't miss this. Or you'll miss the point here. That it includes the sins of man.
You see that? Man's sins was involved.
They all sinned in fulfilling God's holy will. His Son, Jesus, that was crucified,
Isaiah 53 .10. But the Lord was pleased to crush Him. Listen to this. Putting Him to grief.
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring and will prolong
His days and the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand. So be very clear about this.
God's will will come to pass and some things that He even hates.
You get that? But He allows it. He may hate it, but He allows it.
Now, a lot of people get lost right there and say, hold on. That don't make sense. Well, He's God.
He makes the decisions. If we could figure out God, then He wouldn't be God. He's incomprehensible.
His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. Aren't you glad God's God? And we're not.
1 Corinthians chapter 2. Go with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. This is very important. We're going to return back to Romans.
So hold your place there in Romans. We're going to return. But if you go to 1
Corinthians chapter 1, read this whole chapter. It really, Paul again, he unpacks a lot here of what the crucifixion is really about.
Now, here he is before the Corinthians, and he's making a point right after he mentions.
So, just as it is written in verse 31, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord. And notice he carries on chapter 2 verse 1.
And when I came to you, brethren, this is the apostle Paul now. Listen to this. I did not come with the superiority of speech or of wisdom.
Don't you love this man? He came with humility. Listen to this. Proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
That's what he came to preach. Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Verse 3.
I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power. So that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
And then he says this. Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature.
A wisdom, however, not of this age, nor the rulers of this age, who are passing away.
But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery. The hidden wisdom which
God predestined before the ages to our glory. The wisdom which, listen to this, which none of the rulers of this age has understood.
For if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
And then he says this. And just as it is written, Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered into the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love
Him. God has orchestrated His will and His plan, His decreed will, by even using the evil intentions and sins of men, even to crucify the
Lord of glory. And that's how God did it. You know, the disciples, the apostles, they didn't understand this.
When Jesus died, they thought it was all over with. They were thinking, here He comes, the
King. He's the King of Israel. He's the Messiah. He's the Anointed One. He's bringing the
Kingdom. Then they put Him on a cross. But they forgot. They ran scared behind the scene.
They were fearful. But they forgot Jesus said, I will die, but three days later
I will rise again. And He did. See, God's providence over the entire universe extends even to the smallest details.
To the biggest and to the smallest. Even in nature, in human decisions. Matthew 10, 29, not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from our
Father in heaven. Don't you love that? His eyes upon the sparrow. And He cares for the sparrow, but He cares for you.
And that's why Jesus mentioned that. If God cares about that one sparrow falling, He surely cares even more about you.
Proverbs 16, 33, as I already mentioned, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision from the
Lord. God's eternal decreed will, nothing can stop it. So the first meaning of the will of God is that God is absolutely sovereign, control over everything that happens, every single thing,
God has decreed it. Now, you know, we take this for granted. I remember R .C. Sproul talking about this one particular subject, the sovereignty of God, in a classroom of Calvinist, men who would be ministers, and he asked them a question, he said, in this room, how many of you truly believe that God is in control of everything, including evil?
He said, only just a handful of hands went up. So at first he asked them, how many believe that God is sovereign?
Oh, everybody raised their hand. And then he says, over evil, everything, half of the hands went down.
Sproul was really upset about that. I would be too. Because this Bible teaches that God is over everything.
He orchestrates it all, even the evil that He allows. You know, it's horrible, isn't it?
We look at it, it's horrible, but God hates it, but at the same time, He's decreed it.
You see what I'm saying? You could sleep on this pillow, as Spurgeon says, it's the pillow in which every saint of God can sleep, because God is in control of everything.
And that's the hope we have, you see? That God is in control. Look at me very quickly to Daniel chapter 2.
Notice the prayer that Daniel speaks. Daniel chapter 2. Don't you love the book of Daniel?
I tell you what, that's a great book. All these books are great. What am I talking about? Someone asked
R .C. one time, what's your favorite scripture? He said, all of it. I said, that's an amen right there.
He said, I don't have one favorite verse. He said, all of it's my favorite. He took it all.
All 66 books. Notice chapter 2, verse 19. Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in the night vision.
God let this man know so much because he was a God -fearing man. Also, you know,
Daniel truly prayed three times a day, facing toward Jerusalem. This man set his face like a flint.
He loved God. He prayed and prayed and prayed. No wonder he knew God's will so clearly.
He was in close communion with God. Notice what he said in verse 20. Daniel said, Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever.
For wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs.
He removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise men and knowledge to the men of understanding.
It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things. He knows what is in the darkness and the light dwells with Him.
To you, O God, my fathers, I give thanks and praise. For you have given me wisdom and power.
Even now you have made known to me what we requested of you.
For you have made known to us the king's matter. I'll stop right there. You see that?
Daniel was in such close communion with God. He knew God so intimately.
And I believe he read the prophets as well, the other prophets, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
And you think of it. This man knew God and he praises
God of actually everything that God controls all things and He grants all wisdom and might to whomever
He desires to. Now back to our text, to Romans 12.
There, in a nutshell, you have the decreed will of God. There's so many other verses. Study this in your devotional time.
Time flies by. It's almost gone. I've got to hurry. Okay, God's will that He commands.
He commands what? The will of God is what
He commands. And by the way, this can be obeyed or disobeyed. It could be we can fail to do it or successfully do it.
The will of decree, we do whether we believe it or not.
You see that? But the command will of God is different. Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 7 .21.
Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my
Father in heaven. You know what John MacArthur said in this verse? Fasten your seatbelts.
This is strong. John MacArthur says, To say, Lord, Lord, and then disobey is equivalent of a
Judas kiss. Can you say, oh me? I'm telling you, that's strong medicine.
It makes me examine my own heart. To say, Lord, Lord, and then disobey is equivalent of a
Judas kiss. Beloved, that's a very powerful statement. But it's an eye -opener, isn't it?
It's sobering, and it should be sobering. But how important it is, not only to know God's will, but to do
God's will. That's why James says, Be doers of the word and not merely hearers that delude themselves.
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he's like a man who looks at his natural face in the mirror. For once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
Self -deceived. God commands many things. Let me go through this very quickly.
And I touched on these a little bit last week. 1 Thessalonians 4 .3 This is the will of God, even your sanctification.
That you abstain from sexual immorality. That's God's will, that you be pure and holy.
Here we have a very specific instance of what God commands us. He commands to be holy as He is holy.
Personal holiness. To be set apart. To be sanctified. To be sexually pure.
This is the will of God. God commands this. And yet the world does everything they can in the name of God, in the name of God.
And we know they're lost. There's people that even use God, even in churches, sad to say.
They will take verses of scripture and twist it for their own personal pleasure and their own desires.
And God says specifically that it is God's will that you abstain from sexual immorality.
Flee it. Run from it. Stay away from it. Oh, that command.
So many people do not obey. Another command Paul gives in Acts 17, 30 and 31.
Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent.
You know, verse 31, he even tells us why we should repent. Why? God commands repentance because number one,
He has fixed an appointed day in which He would judge the world in righteousness through a man whom
He has appointed having furnished proof to all men by raising him from the dead.
Jesus Christ. The resurrection. God commands all to repent.
Another example, 1 Thessalonians 5, 18. This is a command. Give thanks in all circumstances.
You hear that? In all circumstances. Not some. All circumstances. For this is the will of God in Jesus Christ for you.
There again, a very specific aspect of the will of command. Give thanks in all things. Not some, but all things.
Another example. This is one more here. 1 John 2, 17. The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Very quickly, back to Romans 12. Important verse. Very practical verse. And let me bring this to a conclusion.
God does not intend for us to know His sovereign will ahead of time.
Did you get what I said there? Ahead of time. Because the secret things belong to the
Lord of God, but the things that are revealed belong to us. Deuteronomy 29, 29. I would encourage you to memorize that verse.
Because it's a very encouraging verse. I like what Piper says about it. I got some
Piper quotes here. If you want to know the future details of God's will decreed, you don't want a renewed mind.
You want a crystal ball. Yes. You got it.
This is not called transformation and obedience. It's called divination and soothsaying. It's the truth, isn't it?
End quote. So Romans 12, 2. Verse 2, basically. I don't have time to unpack all this, but it's a will of command from God.
This text implies that we should approve of the will of God and our personal obedience with Him. Hebrews 5, 13 and 14 says this.
For everyone who partakes only of milk, and believe me, I know what milk is. Is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant.
Milk actually refers, you definitely know what the writer is saying here, is the knowledge without obedience does not advance a person.
In fact, it's rejecting faith. The Hebrews were going in regression.
They were going backwards rather than forward. You could say they were backsliding. Because they were like babies.
They were spiritual infants. They were unskilled to comprehend, let alone to teach the truth of God.
And that's what the writer of Hebrews is saying. But verse 14. But solid food is for the mature.
For those immature. The solid food, you've got to have teeth, right? Infants don't have teeth. They can't even eat a steak.
Try to give a grilled steak to an infant. See what they can do with it. And they can't do nothing with it, can they?
You've got to have teeth. You've got to grow up. And you chew it and love it. Well, in a sense, that's what he's saying here.
Because the solid food is for the mature believer who because of practice, because he's practiced obeying the word of God, have their senses trained to discern good and evil.
Now what does it mean by trained? That means that's a deeper, more solid truth speaking of the priesthood of Jesus Christ in reference to what the writer of Hebrews is saying.
Trained is an athletic word of competition form. Metaphor implied that this particular word, the person who has come to Jesus Christ for spiritual completion and maturity is then trained by the word of God to discern truth from error.
How much do we need this today? And I'll tell you why. I'll tell you the main thing that helps us know this.
The word of God. The word of God. All Scripture is inspired. 2
Timothy 3 .16 God breathed by God is profitable for teaching, for reproof and correction, for training and righteousness.
Why? So that the man of God, he's actually speaking about ministers here, ministers of the gospel, may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
Now let's break that down for a second. Here the divine God breathed instruction by God provides the comprehensive and complete body of divine truth necessary for life and godliness.
Number one, reproof. What's reproof? That's a rebuke for wrong behavior and wrong belief.
Holy Scripture exposes sin, doesn't it? And then it has to be dealt with through confession, through repentance.
Reproof leads to correction. Look, correction. It restores back to the proper condition.
He restores my soul. God is in the restoration business. But a person must first see his sin.
The word of God cuts in order for the person to be exposed to their sin. Then He restores them.
He heals them. Scripture not only rebukes wrong behavior, but it also points to the way back to God.
Way back to godly living. Third, training in righteousness. What about that?
Scripture provides positive training, which originally was in reference to a train a child, really, in godly behavior.
Not merely rebuke and correction in wrong behavior, but this would be the first stage of the revealed and knowing the will of God in our life.
That's important, isn't it? And for references, you have to go to Joshua 1, 8, 9 to meditate on the word of God day and night.
Look at it. Day and night, day and night. Meditate on the word of God. Psalm 1, 2, and 3.
Meditate day and night. His delight is in the law of the Lord. And in His law, He what?
He meditates day and night, day and night. It's not enough just for daytime. You got to do it nighttime too.
Saturate yourself with the word of God. Let me close with this. The Bible does not tell you which person to marry, which car to drive, whether you should own a home or not own a home, where you should take your vacation, what cell phone or iPhone to buy, or which brand of orange juice to drink.
I'm just thinking of this. Or a thousand other choices. You got so many people out there, they talk about this, don't they?
Well, what's God going to choose for this and this and this and this? Look, let me come right down to where you live.
What is necessary is that we have a renewed mind, beloved, and have discernment from the word of God.
And with that renewed mind, by setting our minds on things above and not on earth, we have wisdom from God and knowing how to make the right decisions.
Does that make sense? Beloved, we need to know how to make right decisions. And that's wisdom.
It's not knowing all about it. There's a lot of people that can know all the facts. Tell you everything about it from A to Z.
Give me a person with wisdom any day over a person with knowledge. Because the person with wisdom fears
God. And he knows how to discern between truth and error, from bad and good.
Because he has the mind of Christ. He knows how to discern what God is calling us to do. This is very different, beloved, from constantly trying to hear
God's voice saying, do this or do that. Jesus actually said it, my sheep hear my voice.
And they basically do what the Father says. So, I didn't have enough time to unpack all that, but in a nutshell, having the mind of God in this and knowing how to have the mind of Christ is really what
Paul is talking about in Romans 12 and 2. That we be thinking and judging and discerning a new way of thinking.
Not the worldly way of thinking. And that's the way people are. They follow everybody's way of thinking, their track of thinking.
Hey, I want to go by what the Scripture says. What does God say about it?
Next, bringing this to a close, God's willed the vast majority of living where there's no conscience reflection before we act.
Isn't that the truth? People act and we have all done it. I, myself included. We've acted out before we thought about it.
We did it almost by impulse and reflection. We never thought over it and prayed over it.
Most of our thoughts and our attitudes and actions are spontaneous. Spill overs.
For what's inside. Matthew 12, 34 -36 Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
The good person out of the good treasure brings forth good. And the evil person out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.
Jesus was black and white, wasn't he? A bad tree brings forth corrupt fruit, bad fruit. A good tree brings forth good fruit.
Period. There's nothing in between. Well, then he says,
I tell you on the day of judgment people will give an account for every careless word they speak. Wow, what a sobering verse.
So, this is why we need to immerse ourselves, beloved.
I can say this, but it's up to you. And Tozer said this, you're as holy as you want to be.
You are as holy before God as you desire to be. How great is your desire?
That would be my question. How great is my desire to be more like Jesus? And I pray,
Lord, enlarge my heart. Give me greater desire for holiness, right? And less desire for the things of this world.
May the Holy Spirit help us and encourage us to teach us, to meditate on Scripture day and night.
We would make the conscious decision that God would renew our mind, that we may have the mind of Christ.
And that would be a spillover of what we would be able to know, what is good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.
Well, an old hymn put it this way, Take my life, let it be. Let it be consecrated,
Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days. Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my feet, let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice, let me sing always only for my King. Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold. None of might would
I withhold. Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will, and make it Thine. It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own. It shall be
Thy royal throne. Take my love, my Lord I pour at Thy feet, its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.
Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this word, Lord. Thank You from our hearts,
Lord, for the revealed word that You've given us. There's so much more that could be said here,
Lord, but there is a decreed will You have willed. Nothing's going to stop it. Hell can do its best.
It will not stop it. You're going to build Your church. That's decreed.
And that church is going to be built upon the great rock, Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we're so thankful that we're part, that redeeming grace is part of the church of the living
God. All hell may be able to muster up its forces to bombard us and stop us.
But Lord, we know that You have caused us in which way to go.
And You hold us fast. You keep us by Your power. But yet, Lord, at the same time, that being decreed, we know that we need to be careful to take heed that we can all fall away in our own flesh.
So Father, help us to totally depend upon You and Your will, Your word, Your power, and not to depend upon our own weak, frail, fleshly ways.
Our confidence is in You, Lord, today. So Father, thank You for teaching us.
May we all dig, dig, dig, more and more into Your word and find those treasures there that's ready to be unlocked.
Because Father, You have given us the key. You've given us Your Holy Spirit. You've given us
Your Son. And Father, You hold us fast. What else can we ask? Because if we have
You, Lord, we have everything. So Father, forgive us for not loving
You more, for obeying You more, obeying Your will, and the little mundane things, the things, each and everything that matters.
Father, help us to, as Paul says, count everything from the past and all the religious works that we have tried in our own flesh as dung,
Lord, but seeing only Christ and His righteousness. Because Father, in the end of the day, all that's going to matter, are we washed in the blood of Jesus Christ?
Are we dressed in the righteousness of Christ? Father, may it be so, by faith alone.
In Jesus Christ, in His name we pray. Amen and amen. Praise God.