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[b]The Will Of God: Actual And Possible[/b]
[i]by brother Greg[/i]
Clear biblical proof texts showing the will of god
A SUPPOSED GREAT MYSTERY
Perhaps one of the greatest mysteries to the modern evangelical mind is to ‘know the will of God.’ There is a lamenting plea given up saying that we cannot know the will of God; Yet that is not true! The will of God simply is the Scriptures. Every command, prophetic word, law, story, are all in the economy of God’s will defined to mankind. God will never contradict His will displayed in the holy Scriptures. Some will therefore complain you cannot surely keep and walk according to what the Scriptures say? But alas what a supposed mystery this is! All the promises of the Bible are not tried and impossible but rather “yea and amen” in Christ Jesus. God has not given one promise or command that cannot be obeyed and kept in Christ. There is a phrase that has stuck with me recently: “The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot sustain you.” God never calls where He will not empower.
Hebrews 10:35-36 - “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” It is not just enough to know the will of God in your mind but to truly “know” the will of God is to “do” the will of God. Let no man deceive you, if you are not “doing the will of God” then you are truly not going to receive the promise of God: Eternal life. By their fruit you shall know them, which you could say by their works you shall know them, by the way they walk, the thing they do. He who is wicked does wickedly, but he who is truly righteous does righteousness. If God says that we are of the light there should be a token difference between those of darkness, Oh may we walk as children of light.
ONE - DELIGHT IN THE WILL OF GOD
Psalm 40:8 - “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” God has made a capacity within man to enjoy and delight in His will. To walk according to God’s commands is freedom and liberty yet to walk without is bondage and torment. A man might seem free to do as he wish but he is simply a servant of his lusts and desires that are working in him. The will of God is clean and pure, everything done is God’s will is complete lacking nothing!
TWO - TEACH ME THE WILL OF GOD
Psalm 143:10 - “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” Have you ever asked God to teach you His will? Have you opened the Scriptures with that plea? Oh how much different our walk with God would be if we earnestly desired to be taught His will.
THREE - PRAY THE WILL OF GOD
Matthew 6:9-10 - “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. They kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Matthew 26:42 - “He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.” Our Master on this earth taught His disciples how to pray in way that is pleasing to God. I believe it is simple: Pray the Scriptures (the promises of God).
FOUR - FAMILY IN THE WILL OF GOD
Matthew 7:21 - “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven.” Matthew 12:50 - “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.” Are you a child of God? Let us not believe what men tell us but God Himself. Those that “do” the will of God are those that are children of God. We either “children of disobedience” or christian of obedience. May God make it clear in our life’s of the reality of Christ “in us” who is able to make us walk according to God’s will and walk “all pleasing” to God in every good work. “You are not your own” let God control your mortal body to do those things that glorify and honor the name by which we have been saved.
FIVE - BORN AGAIN BY THE WILL OF GOD
John 1:13 - “Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” No man can be justified before God. Every religion tries to be justified in the sight of God fails miserably. We are begotten by the will of God into a living hope, being dead in our trespasses and sins.
SIX - RENEWING OF YOUR MIND IN THE WILL OF GOD
Romans 12:1-2 - “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And 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.” Our minds were corrupted with wicked words apart from Christ. But now we have been purchased unto God and our minds can be renewed towards the will of God. We need to immerse our mortal minds with eternal truths from the Scriptures daily, therefore continually proving what the will of God is, seeking after the complete and perfect will of God.
SEVEN - CALLED BY THE WILL OF GOD
1 Corinthians 1:1 - “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother.” Galatians 1:1 - “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father , who raised him from the dead;)” All true ministry is called of God. That which is called of men is not true ministry. Only those called of God can know the will of God. What countless damage has been done in the name of Christ by the callings and elections of mere mortal men. What a tragedy!
EIGHT - ABIDES FOREVER BY THE WILL OF GOD
1 John 2:16-17 - “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” Many have a simple theology in our day that if you believe in Christ you are saved and are secure in heaven when you die. But the Scriptures state that only those that “do” the will of God will have eternal life and abide forever. You are only eternally secure if you are abiding in Christ now daily, seeking to “do” His will by the power of God in you.
NINE - SANCTIFICATION IN THE WILL OF GOD
1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 - “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; No in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:” Our day is a day of sexual vice and perversity. Immorality abounds with every other type of lewdness and uncleanness. To such a age God clearly says that His will is our “sanctification” that we be clean, pure, holy, blameless. If this is God’s will then it is His promise also! Let us never forget we have the entire Godhead helping us. It is possible for moral victory in a life to be a “overcomer” in the midst of such a landslide of filth in our day.
TEN - SUFFER ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD
1 Peter 4:19 - “Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.” 1 Peter 4:1-2 - “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.” It is the will of God for Christians to suffer. We must suffer against the powers of darkeness, we must suffer against our own flesh, and we must suffer against the world and its lusts. Yet God has promised that in Christ we can “cease” from sin’s control over us through the refining fires of suffering. Let us embrace our baptism’s of suffering as the will of God and preserver therein.
THE WILL OF GOD ACTUAL AND POSSIBLE
Ephesians 5:17 - “Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be no drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;” Ephesians 6:6 - “Not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;” Let us do the will of God from our hearts with the full assurance that we have all the promises of God open and available to us. We can be “wise” and “understand” fully what the will of God is in all our current situations!
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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon
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