The Eternal Purpose of God - Part 4 — Stephen Kaung

The Good, Acceptable, and Perfect Will of God

What is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. It is because our mind is deranged. Therefore, sometimes we think the will of God is bad. You know, at one time, when I was working with young people, I asked young people, what do you think is the will of God?

How do we know this is the will of God? Well, one answer is, whatever is against me is the will of God. It is not good, not acceptable, not because God's will is not good and perfect and acceptable. It is because our mind has not been renewed.

God's Perfect Will and Eternal Purpose

Whatever comes out of God must be perfect. Thank God for his will, and out of that will comes his purpose. The Bible said he purposed in himself, even before the foundation of the world. There before he created the world, before there was time, God exercised his will.

According to his good pleasure, and he purposed a purpose in there was nobody there. He was all by himself, so he can only purpose in himself, and that purpose, that will, the Bible called it the mystery of his will.

The Mystery Hidden Throughout the Ages

Now, why is it called a mystery? A mystery doesn't mean something mysterious, something bad, no. Mystery simply means a secret. God has a secret. He secretly made up his mind even before the creation of the world, and he kept his secret so well.

We are not able to keep any secret, especially if that secret is so glorious, so good, so perfect, so pleasing. We cannot keep it back. We want to tell it to all, but God knows how to keep secret. He has a top secret, and he has hidden it in himself throughout the ages and generations, until the fullness of time.

God's Hidden Purpose Awaits Revelation

A secret waits to be revealed. Sometimes we say the greatest mystery is God. Now, who knows God? He is so above us. He is unlimited, infinite. How can we know him? So no wonder with the Greek, they have an altar called unknown God.

God cannot be known. In one sense, that's true, but in another sense, thank God. He can be known. Why? Because he loves to be known. A mystery, a secret waits to be revealed. There is only one way to know a secret, and that is when it is revealed.

God Reveals Himself in His Timing

Brothers and sisters, we do not know God. He is way beyond us. So far as our natural man is concerned, there is no way we can know him. But thank God, even though his will is a mystery, and he has hidden it throughout the generations and the ages, and yet he is just waiting for the right moment to reveal it.

In the fullness of time, he reveals it. Our God is not a God who hides himself. You remember in Genesis chapter 16, Haggai, he fled from her mistress, and an angel of the Lord told her to go back, and she will bear a son, shall be called Ishmael, and God will bless her.

And then you find Haggai said, he is the God who reveals. He has revealed himself to me. Our God is a God who reveals himself. In Galatians chapter 1, verse 15, the apostle Paul said, it has pleased God to reveal his son in me.

The Need for Revelation to Know God's Purpose

So you know that our God has a secret, and he is able to keep his secret, but until the right time, and secret, so brothers and sisters, when you come into this matter of the eternal purpose of God, remember one thing, we need revelation.

Without the spirit of wisdom and revelation, we are not able to enter into God's eternal purpose. We are not able to get that true knowledge of God. So we need to cast ourselves upon the Lord, not trying to depend upon our own ability.

A Humble Attitude Before God's Eternal Purpose

I think from the very outset, we need to have a right attitude. As we are faced with the eternal purpose of God, we need to acknowledge that so far as we ourselves are concerned, this is something beyond us.

No matter how we try, we will not be able to really understand it.