(Bible Analysis of Man) Man's Will — Willie Mullan

Subject this evening is man's will. Now when we come to think about man's will and we come to think about God's will and we come to think about Satan's will, you know we are entering into one of the deepest subjects that I know.

I know it's not a thing that's easily handled mind you, although I'm feeling off on the shore just now. I say this to this company if you can get a clear understanding of what I'm about this evening it will answer a thousand questions for you that are always being answered in this world, asked in this world.

You know so many people come to me and they say why, why does God allow war? Why does God allow bombers to come over and drop tons of TNT on cities where there are harmless little children and blast them to pieces?

Why? Another one comes along the next day and they say why, why these different sufferings and sorrows and tears? Why all this? Why do we have to go through this? Could God not have made this world without all this?

Why the pain? Why the disease? Why the suffering? Why the tears? Ah, these are questions that have been asked down the ages by everyone. And sooner or later you'll come into a place and perhaps you'll look at me and say, why, why?

The Three Wills Behind Human Suffering

Well, if you get this subject right this evening you'll get the answer to all these questions. Because if you would allow me now to take you from this meeting, as it were, into eternity past, just for a brief second, as it were, step out of time into eternity past, before the world was, before Satan's power, right back down to where God made everything, where everything came from the hand of God, where there was only one God, God was.

There were no wars, there were no wars, there were no changes. And if I could lift this meeting now and take it forward into eternity to come, into the new Jerusalem, when the saints are gone home, when there's just one world, there'll be no more death, and there'll be no more pain, and there'll be no more tears, and there'll be no more nights, and no more sorrow.

With our universes, there are more worlds at work than one. If we could only get back, and one day we will, to know just the one world, and the form of things that's puzzled some of you, will be wiped away forever.

Now, I want to look first of all at God's will. I'm commencing at Romans chapter 12. The letter to the Romans, chapter 12, verse 1. Romans 12, verse 1, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

So, be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Three things are said about the will of God here that you'll need to note.

First of all, said that the will of God is good, and then that word acceptable is put in there, and it's not the best word for the Greek word that's used. The word well-pleasing would be much better.

God's will is always good for man, and God's will is always well-pleasing to man when man knows exactly how to get about it. And then, of course, it goes without saying that God's will is perfect. And so, here's God's will.

The will of God, all the time, for all eternity, is always good, and well-pleasing, and perfect. Now, I want you to turn to the book of Genesis, chapter 1. Try to keep that in your mind as we turn to some scriptures.

Genesis 1, verse 1. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Now, I don't think that anybody in this meeting could date exactly when that was. I feel that all the young ones would need to be brought to understand this, that between Genesis 1 and verse 2, there's a great gap.

They just don't run concurrently like you think they do. You see, it says in the first verse, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. And then, in the second verse, it says, on the earth was without form and void.

God doesn't make things like that. If God made anything, it was perfect. If God makes the thing, it's good. If God makes the thing, it's well-pleasing. Something has happened between verse 1 and verse 2.

The thing's without form now, and it's void, and it's covered with darkness. Something has happened. And you want to be careful about these verses, because they're made them millions of years between some of these verses.

And that's where I stand secure tonight and say, it doesn't make a matter what the scientists find out about the rocks of this world. When they find out the rocks are millions of years old, I don't mind, because God made them in the beginning.

Nobody knows when that date is. It can be as far back as they like to go. But betwixt the first verse and the second one, something happens. You see, when God created the heavens and the earth, He created Satan.

Not our Satan, of course. He created him as a wonderful, beautiful, shining angel. Good. Well-pleasing. Perfect. Oh, yes, when we go through Ezekiel, we find he was perfect. Thou wast perfect in all thy ways from the day that thou wast created, until sin was found in thee.

Yet he was good, and he was well-pleasing to God, and he was perfect. And then, when God had created the perfect heavens and the earth, and everything was good and pleasing and perfect, it was then that Satan said, I will.

This is the second will coming into the universe. And the moment that another will raised its head up to that point, God was ruling everything. God's will was perfect and good, and the only will that was known.

And now a rebel steps into the company and says, I will. I will. And the moment that happened, God turned the universe upside down, and it became void, and without form, and darkness. God judged that will.

God judged that will that came in, to be the opposer of God. A rebel will that Satan's will is. Now, I needn't go into the details of that, because on the night long ago, I spent, or not the night, I think I spent about ten weeks dealing with Satan.

And I went into these verses in a way then that I can't afford to take the time to go into now. And so the earth became without form and void. Wonderful if you were reading in the French Bible, that word, without form and void, would read like this.

It became touhou, bouhou. Any French scholars here? You know what it means, don't you? It became topsy-turvy. That's what it means. God just lifted it like that and turned it upside down. They said to Satan, all right, you're like me, fix it.

Satan couldn't fix it. It remained in just as long as God left it alone. You're like God, are you? Go ahead and fix it. And when it's upside down, Satan couldn't put it right side up. And when darkness came in the face of the deep, he couldn't bring light.

Because only God is light. So Satan was beginning to find out he wasn't a bit like God. And then when God had given him a real poke in the ribs, as it were, God went on with his plan. He said, all right, I'll fix it.

He brings light. He begins to dress him. He brings man on the scene. A man after his own image. Perfect man, that's what we dealt with one night. Did you know when the perfect man came on the scene, Satan came around again.

He thought, well, now, if I couldn't defeat God, then I'll defeat him another way. And what he did, he came along and he tempted the woman. You know all about it. Have a look at the temptation again, just for a moment.

Satan's Deception in the Garden

Chapter 3. Genesis 3, verse 1. Now, the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, yea, for God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden.

Now, he began by asking questions. And I feel that sometimes Satan does the same yet. He begins to ask questions. And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ye shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest ye die.

And the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. So that's flat, blunt, bold contradiction of God's will. God had said, ye shall truly die. Satan said, ye shall not surely die. And when you read something in that book, it matters not who stands before you.

If they say different to that book, they're on the devil's side. Why do you hear people who very bluntly and boldly say the opposite to the word of God? Well, they're emissaries of hell. They're what this Bible talks about, they're the angels of lunch, the ministers of Satan, ministers of Satan.

They're not all dead yet, you know. Some of them have got collars on around their neck. Some of them have got the doctrine of reverent, this and that and the other. But the same thing's opposite to that book.

If you find somebody who says anything opposite to this book, it's on the devil's side. That's why I've got to be very careful that I'll always keep close to the book. The devil said, ye shall not, ye shall not, that's a bold, blunt contradiction of what God says.

And then he went further than that, you know, he didn't stop there. Verse 5, for God doth know that in the day ye fare off, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.

You know, that's an implication, that God was keeping back something from them that was good. That's an implication. He says, you know, God's a soft man. He knows right well if you eat of the fruit, you know, you'll be far better than you are now.

Now, that's the sort of language he's come along with, this supple talk. He says, God sees me. That's an implication, that God doesn't give him that which was good to his own children. And then he went further than that.

It says, and when the woman saw that the tree was good for good, and that it was pleasant to the eyes. The words good and pleasant are here. And the devil implied, if you do what I want you to do, you'll get what's good and pleasant and perfect.

That's very subtle, isn't it? Now, the woman was deceased, that's what the book says. The woman was deceased. But I want you to notice that I wasn't deceased. The devil never deceased Adam at all. Here's a wonderful chapter back here in 1 Timothy chapter 2.

The Church, Women, and Authority

1 Timothy chapter 2. 1 Timothy chapter 2, verse 12, says Paul, I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to establish authority over the man, but to be in silence. That's a tight one for you, isn't it? Oh, I could nearly pick out the brethren-minded ones in the meeting.

You've got to be fair to God's word, you know. I wouldn't like to be on the devil's side, no matter what happens. This group before me says, but I suffer not a woman to teach. Does it mean exactly what it says, of course it does.

This group before me says, but to be in silence. Does it mean exactly what it says, of course it does. Now, there's some of you wavering now, aren't you? You think it's, I think I've changed my mind in the last two weeks, not a bit of me.

Now, watch down in the next chapter, just for a moment. Chapter 3, verse 15. But if I carry long, verse 14, these things write I unto thee. But if I carry long, that thou mayest know how thy office shall behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.

You know, the teaching that he's teaching here, it's for the church. Now, always please remember that when he talks about the church, he's not talking about four walls and a roof. That's a building. This is the town hall.

And all the places ever I've preached are halls. Even the Baptist hall, yes. The church is composed of living members, and they rest upon the emeralds too. How could you be in the church of Jesus Christ if you hadn't a new life?

There's no dead things in his church. Now, the great point is here. When does the church meet? And I live bold to say, of course, that the church meets only on Lord's Day morning, around the table. That's when the church meets.

And there's no woman to speak at the morning meeting. It was time. That's your teaching of your book. Some folks try to argue with me. They say, is a prayer meeting not the church meeting? No. And my plain answer is, come and argue afterwards if you want to.

Did the church begin then? Yes, chapter two, that's right. Holy Ghost came down and formed the body, the church. There was a prayer meeting in chapter one. It was informed. Happened to be a prayer meeting.

Some people say, is the gospel meeting not the church meeting? Philip went down to Samaria and preached the gospel one month. Is that the church? I'd love to have a whale with some of you, you know. I would tame you, man.

Friend, it's not the church. Paul stood up at my first stanza and no man stood with me. All alone is he the church? No. Gospel meeting is not the church meeting. Prayer meeting is not the church meeting.

This is a Bible meeting. This is not the church meeting. We're met around the book tonight. Look, in Thursday night, we are meeting around the food. On Sunday night, we meet around the shore. Tonight, we meet around the wood.

On Sunday morning, we meet around the Lord. That's the church meeting. And you know the Lord are in the church meeting because the Lord is the head of the church. That's why he's supreme on Sunday morning.

Friend, the man is the head of the woman. That's why he's teaching the Bible. And never any of you women ever be caught guilty of getting up to pray on a Sunday morning. If you do, I'll get up and stop you.

The teaching of this book is you're the best teller. You should be in subjection. You are not to usurp authority over the man in the church. But there's nobody keeping your back from praying in the prayer meeting.

And there's nobody keeping your back from teaching the gospel. Where am I? In the church. How thou oughtest to behave thyself in the church. That's what it was written for. These things write I unto you that you might know how you ought to behave yourself in the church.

And that order comes for this reason. Now, what's your book now? 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 12 is where we were reading. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

Now, if the word silence there had meant that a woman was to be silent right through life as far as the things that God were concerned, would you come up and tell me why God gives some women the gift of prophecy?

Well, you could say nothing else, then God was a fool. If he wanted to keep women silent, why did he give them the gift of prophecy? Bless us all, you couldn't keep them silent even when the hob and dust were good.

I'll get into trouble for this now. Now, look, there was real wonderful order here. God says there's to be silent in the church, and then comes in verse 13, for Adam was first called, then Eve. And you know, my dear sister, the man first, and the same order prevailed in the church.

Then she meets him Sunday morning, Christ is the hand, and then the man's neck. And if it's true that you're subject unto the teaching of God's word, you're asked to be silent in the church. Let them be silent in the church.

Then he goes on to say this, and Adam, in verse 14, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Now, I want you to get that, that Adam was not deceived, that's the bit I'm after.

You know, when I come through this part, the hobs, I'll thrash out this woman business then with a real vengeance. I only have to explain the verses I passed by in case some of you thought I was afraid of it.

But what I'm really after is this, that Adam was not deceived. You know, the devil came round and deceived the woman. But Adam's standing quietly in the shadow here now, and he knows all about it, you know.

His memory is working, he remembers what God said, this is working. He knows what will take place. He's never seen anybody dead yet, but he can imagine what is right. But God said, thou shalt truly die.

And he's looking at the truth of God, and he's understanding it, that they know he can stand up, thou shalt truly die, and he knows all about it. And with every faculty working, he boldly, most dispitedly, made a decision, I'll disobey God.

And it was then that it entered. Hard, but just then, this book says, not because of the woman, but by one man's disobedience. Poor woman was deceived. Oh, Adam wasn't deceived. That's what I assure you now.

He just said, thou, I'll go my own way. I'll just go my own way. But that's another world coming into the universe. That's the third world. We've seen God's world, good, pleasant, perfect. We've seen Satan's world, I will be like God.

Now comes in Adam's world. That makes a triangle in the world tonight. That's where all the trouble comes from. You know, friends, God wants to do his will, and Satan wants to obey Satan. He not only wants to obey God, he's got a way of his own.

All we, that sheep of God of strength, we have turned everyone to our own name. We wear the robe. You know, friends, Satan would love to get the world into a place of false religion, where they would actually worship him.

So he's bent all the time. He said to Christ, I'll give you everything if you fall down and worship me. When the Antichrist comes, he'll give him all his power, that the world will fall down and worship him.

And I'll tell you this, you're nearer to the devil's side when you're a hypocrite playing about with religion and you don't want Christ. That's very severe, isn't it? See these poor drunkards that go drinking every Saturday night, that tumble out onto the streets.

They're not going the devil's way, they're going their own way. That's their choice. The devil doesn't want them like that. He would rather have them speak. And the bitterest thing said in that book by our Lord Jesus Christ was said to empty, dead, former religions.

He said, you hypocrite. Ruled up on religion. It was to that very people, keep in religion, he said, ye are all just. He said that to the harlot woman, you know. It's not a difficult thing. He said that to some of the old hypocrites and he's saying it again.

Tell me you're stuck in church as you have no time for Christ. You know, you're loath to just be fiddling about with religious toys, don't you? Well, God hurts you. If you can't bow your knees and accept, then God knows you're only.

Playing about with an old thing the devil wants you to play about with.

But you know a man that goes drinking and a man that goes running after women and a man that only lives for pleasure. Dancing and eating. Remember him? Couldn't must be. That man is going his own way.

Going his own way. Well, this brings a real jangle into the world, doesn't it? Some of us might as well just live for the lusts of the flesh. Other folks are deceived by Satan. And so very few of us ever consider exactly getting to the place where God's will is evident.

No wonder those tears and pain and wars and trouble and sorrow and death down here. There are three wills at work. Now, let's have a look at the man going his own way just for a moment. Have a look at 1 Peter.

Man's Will and the Lusts of the Flesh

1 Peter, chapter 4, verse 1. 1 Peter 4, verse 1. For as much then as Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, and when he says us, he means the believers, all yourselves likewise with the same mind, for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath peace from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time, the rest of his time, that's the bit that's before him, as a believer, in the flesh through the lusts of men, but through the will of God.

See, the next verse. For the time past, that's the time before you suffered the loss of all life, may suffice us to have lost the will of the Gentiles. You see, we walked then, we walked in the lusts of the flesh.

See, friends, there are people in this world tonight and they're walking just in the lusts of the flesh, that's their own way. We just have our own way. We'd rather have the pictures, we'd rather have the sport, we'd rather have the drinks, we'd rather go after women, that's our own way, that's the will of man.

See, when Adam disobeyed God, his understanding became darkened. Remember I showed you that last week? Yet his imagination became clouded. Oh my friend, it's prison fixed, it doesn't want to remember what kind of man he is.

And he can just see one path, that's the path for me, that path, that's the will of man, the lusts of the flesh. Then some of them, you know, they get into a deeper thing where the devil has deceived them, and they're playing about with ecclesiastical toys, and they have no time for Christ.

If you would ask them to come to this platform in front of the evening to give their testimony, they'd die of fright. They haven't got any testimony. They want to know what you're talking about. If you'd asked some of the old dead ministers how many were saved last year, they would drop dead at your feet.

They wouldn't know a thing about it. Remember then, you can be deceived by the devil. Take care of where you are tonight. Are you walking in the devil's will? Or are you walking in man's will? Or are you getting into the temple of God's will?

Mind you, you'll only get into God's will through God's words. You shall see that in a moment. Now, here's something else that comes in with the crash. John chapter 6. John's gospel, chapter 6, verse 35.

Christ's Submission to the Father's Will

The Lord Jesus is speaking here, and here's what he said. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, that ye also have seen me, and believe not.

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in the Jesus said, I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. Say, the trouble between the father and the son?

Did the father want one thing and the son want another? Takes me there, doesn't it? Jesus said, I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. Was his own will opposite from the will of him that sent him?

Takes one, doesn't it? It almost looks like that on the page of Scripture. Let me angle it out for you. The father's will is always good, and well-pleasing, and perfect. But when the father looked down, he saw the son, he said, this is my beloved son in whom I am wealthy.

So he's all right up to this. And then when this son, do you remember one day he said to the rich young ruler, why call us only good? Isn't I good with God? And what he was teaching the young man is this.

Just because I'm the absolute essence of goodness, I'm God. Or if you would like to point out to me where our Lord Jesus Christ wasn't good, I'll be glad to meet you. It's an open challenge to me. Anybody here like to put their finger on them, say Mr. Morley wasn't good?

Would you? Because I defy you. I just stand before this audience, and I defy every living being in this house to show me one spot where Christ was not good. And then the father took him out of the grave, up through the clouds, and set him at his own right hand.

Would he have put him there if he hadn't been good? And then he gave him a name that's above every name, that's the name of Jesus. Every knee shall bow. Do you think he wasn't perfect? And so friends, I wouldn't need to take very long to prove that he was good, and well-pleasing, and perfect.

Then we'd need to get the meaning of this thing. And the meaning of this thing is very simple, but it's very wonderful.

You know, the father and the son dwelt together in eternity past. He was on the bosom of the father. That speaks of the very sweetest and deepest fellowship they ever communed. And you know, the father could see all that was going to happen down through the ages.

The old devil of sin, he's deceived the woman. And then the man will take a long turn, and will bring sorrow, and shame, and sin to that world and the spirit of sinners. But I want to save sinners, I want to save sinners, the cry of the father.

And son, son, there's only one way I can save sinners, and that is you go into the darkness and go out of fellowship with me. For that dreadful, seems as if the father in his love for the world is going to push the son down into the depths of darkness at Calvary, where the son will cry, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

No, the son never willed to leave the father, if it was never my will. I never wanted to go out of fellowship with you. But if that's the plan, and if that's the only way of salvation, then I'll come not to do mine own, but thine.

No rebellion there. He never came to rebel against God's will. He came as a perfect son to submit to God's will. And here's the contrast. By one man's disopinions, listen to it, penance. Here's the other verse.

By one man. Praise him. Praise God for the father and the son. You know, the father so loved sinners, so loved the world. What is this? The son. Oh, that that would touch us this evening. Oh, that we could see it in the greatest, deepest reality, what it meant to God.

And God wanted to save you. He sent his son. He gave his son. He gave his son. And Jesus, who loved, he gave himself. All right. That's the son's will. That's another will. That's a blessed one, isn't it?

So that we have God's will. We have Satan's will. We have man's will. We have Christ's will. I tell you, friends, it gets deeper as it goes on. And the wonder of it all is this. That because God gave his son, and because Christ gave himself.

That the father can stand tonight and say, Whosoever believeth in Jesus shall have eternal life. That's the life that they're going to live right down yonder. It doesn't begin away in heaven, you know.

New Birth by the Will of God

It begins here. The life that desires. That's new life. That's not going my own way. That's being born again so that I desire. That's wonderful, you know. I'll show you how that happens, won't you? Watch it.

John's Gospel, Chapter 1. John's Gospel, Chapter 1, Verse 10. He was in the world. The world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, so then gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born, now watch this, which were born not, this is the way you don't get born again, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man.

You can't get born then. There's three ways you can't get born again. Have a look at the three ways you can't get born again, folks. Now you're looking at God's word now. Now you be careful with this.

You know what, you can't get born of blood. It doesn't make a matter what blood runs in your veins tonight. I hear them talking about royal blood, and blue blood. I know nothing about it. And I know the blood that's in a negro's veins.

It's the same blood that's in mine. If you like to touch it, go and get the medical folks and they'll tell you it's just the same.

And if I didn't know anything about medicine, I know this book behind me that of one blood God has made all nations. The color of a man's.

Skin doesn't matter, you know. Well, it doesn't make a matter who your father is. Just because he's your father doesn't mean to say that you can be born again because there's blood in your veins. You're not born again of blood.

And then you can't get born again of the will of the flesh. You can't walk down the street one day and put your arms in your pocket and say, well, I'll just get born again. No, you can't. Oh, no. Send the pointers in your womb.

Except God comes and moves and convicts you and breaks you down and you never want to.

Get saved. You don't get saved by the will of the flesh.

Here's the tape that's been in the meeting tonight. You can't get born again by the will of man. You know, there's an old duke and he was on the wireless last night. Tell him I said that too. And he talked, you know, about baptism and regeneration, didn't he?

Good for him. Well, that just means that he thinks this. That he can say to a woman, you bring your baby on a certain morning at a certain time to a certain place and I'll drop, drop, drop to water and I'll be born again.

That's the will of the flesh. That's the will of man. Does he think he can do it? Does he think that he can just give you new birth when he selects the date? Cool joke, isn't it? And there's the book line open.

You can't be born again! Somebody says something that's opposite to that book that's on the devil's house. Have you got it? Keep the hold of it. You can't be born again! But my final will of man it doesn't make a matter what man he is.

He'll select the date and the time and the place to give you a new birth. He'll do it. This book before you says this. Watch it now. Then that we're born verse 13 not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God!

Ah, that's how you get born again. You know this thing's all of God. Watch it. You know, God loves the world where it's begun. This great big heart of love. Beloved peaceful love. It'll be fine. And God sent his son.

God sent his son. And God pleased the Lord. Mind you, it pleased the Lord. That was God's will. For it was good that it pleased the Lord. And it was perfect. It was done.

God crushed them. Then God brought them back from the dead.

Then God the Holy Ghost came to present them. And it's God that moves and uplifts and touches and reveals Christ and draws you to Christ for you can't come except the power of God. And when God has done all that and he shows you the whole thing in your understanding and loving of God's love and of good that Christ has done for us and that the work done is a good work and it's a perfect work and it's mostly due to God when you understand all that and then you hear the sweet trill of the gospel brought to you by God's power.

Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. You can make a decision. And you can do it now. You could look at the Saviour full in the face by faith. And you could say Christ almighty.

You could do it with your whole heart. You could put your whole being into the hands of the Savior and pass from death to life. That's what you think. And be born again. Born of God. Oh, it's wonderful.

I was there when it happened. Praise God, I'll never forget it. It's amazing. It's not something that happens that you don't know about. It's really wonderful. Now, we've got on a bit now. We've got God's will, and Satan's will, and man's will, and Christ's will, and now we've got the person who was lost born again.

Born again. And what about him? Friends, there's something very deep about him that we would need to really consider. Let's have a look at Philippians chapter 2. The letter to the Philippians chapter 2.

The Believer's Struggle to Do God's Will

Paul's writing to those who have trusted Christ, who are really born again. He says in verse 12,. Wherefore, my beloved as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his.

See the two words together. Good pleasure. You know, friends, that's the wonder of being saved. You become a child of God. And now the God who sent his Son and the Christ who left you and saved you the Holy Good takes up the work now to work in you to will of good pleasing perfect will the Holy Ghost comes to work.