The Will of God

[0:00] God's will. God's will.

[0:19] Something that we all, ideally we all would like to have more certainty about.! What is God's will for me? What does God want for my life? What does he want me to do now and in the future?

[0:32] It's a question that's very important, isn't it, for all of us to have that question answered. It's a good question for us to ask. And David says in Psalm 40, verse 8, I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is within my heart.

[0:56] It can sometimes be difficult for us to discern what is God's will? What is God's best for me? Which way shall I go when I have a decision to make?

[1:08] Which way shall I choose? Which is the best pathway for me to take? What is God's way? What is certain for us is that all of us were created by God for a purpose.

[1:27] Created by God in his image. Each one of us having a purpose for our life. And God has a will for every one of us.

[1:38] He has his will for each one. Someone has put it that there is a U-shaped hole in God's global mission. There's just something that God has prepared for just you to do and to be.

[1:52] God has prepared something specifically for every one of us to do. Something he's made in his design that we do. And when the pastor and him writes to the one who wrote Amazing Grace was asked this question, John Newton, he was asked this question, How does the Lord guide us?

[2:14] How does he guide us? He answered it this way. He said, So he says, And in this message, We're going to look right at that.

[3:00] We're going to look at what is God's will? What is it? And how are we to do it? Very important. Simple, but important. How are we to know what is God's will?

[3:11] And how are we to do it? So firstly, the what. What is God's will? God's perfect will for his creation is evident through the scriptures.

[3:24] God's perfect will is evident for us. And first thing is that God's will is that we be saved. God's will really starts with that for the Christian.

[3:38] That's the starting point. Without that, we can't even start the journey. It says in 1 Timothy 2 verse 4. It says of God, Who will have all men to be saved, And to come unto the knowledge of the truth.

[3:54] God's will is salvation. That he will have all men to be saved. 1 Timothy 2 verse 4.

[4:04] And to come unto the knowledge of the truth. God's will, what is it? To be saved. To be saved. Salvation. And secondly, to be a living sacrifice.

[4:17] That familiar scripture that we know and love in Romans 12 verses 1 through 2. God's will is that we be saved.

[4:32] God's will is that we be a living sacrifice. Romans 12 verses 1 and 2. What does this mean to be a living sacrifice? It says, Paul says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, By the mercies of God, That ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.

[4:50] 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 acceptable and perfect will of God.

[5:09] God's perfect, acceptable will. It's good, acceptable and perfect. So God is saying here, In this verse, Romans 12 verses 1 through 2, He says that, Essentially, There's three things here, To that living sacrifice that he calls us to be, As his saved people, As his children.

[5:31] He says, Firstly, Present your bodies, Present yourselves, Present your lives, As a sacrifice, As a living sacrifice, A living act of worship, In that dedication, In that dedication, Of your life to God.

[5:46] Present your bodies, A living sacrifice, In other words, We're called to die to self, To die to the flesh, To die to the self, And we're called unto holiness, Called unto that living for God, As a living sacrifice.

[6:01] It goes on, Be not conformed to this world, This world is headed in a different direction, To the child of God. God's way is a different way, From the world's way.

[6:14] God says, Be not conformed to this world, But to walk a different way. And thirdly, Be transformed, By the renewing of your mind. We're called to think differently, As God's children, As God's own people.

[6:27] We're called to have a different mindset, A different pattern of thinking. We're called to think differently, As we walk in newness of life. It's good, Acceptable, And perfect, God's will for us.

[6:39] And David knew this new way of thinking, This new way of thinking. And he says that in Psalm 14, Verse 8, I delight to do thy will.

[6:54] There's a delight, That comes from the child of God. There's one that we delight in, Above any other. I delight to do thy will.

[7:05] David knew this new way of thinking, As a living sacrifice, As a word. David knew this new way of thinking. Delight in God. May he be your joy. Whatever goes on through your life, Delight in God.

[7:18] Delight in God. Delight in his will. Delight to do his will. May God your joy. The joy of your salvation. To know him. And to follow him. And as living sacrifices, He works in us, To have that life, That mindset.

[7:34] He doesn't force it upon us, But he prompts it in us, As we yield unto him. God's will is, That we be willing. That our hearts be made willing, To walk in his way, To do his will.

[7:48] And God's will is something, That he reveals to us, Through life. As we take one step, After the other. As they walk. As his children, He reveals to us, The pathway to take.

[7:59] He reveals to us, To those who come to him, To yield to him. And God promises, To guide. And Psalm 25 verse 9, Tells us the ones, That God will guide.

[8:13] Psalm 25 verse 9, God promises to guide. Who will he guide? In Psalm 25 verse 9, It says, The meek, Will he guide? In judgment.

[8:25] And the meek, Will he teach? His way. There's a, Need for meekness. It's not a weakness, There's a gentleness, There's a, A resignation unto God, As it were.

[8:36] There's a, Coming before him, In acknowledging him, As master and lord. There's a meekness there, There's a humility, And a willingness, A submission. If we want God to guide us, We've got to come, As those that will be meek, Before him.

[8:52] Now some people come to God, And as it were, Come to God and ask, What does he want for us? And they say things like, Lord, Tell me what you want me to do, With my life.

[9:06] And, If I like it, I'll do it. Don't we make that mistake? I know I have. Lord, Tell me what you want me to do, With my life.

[9:18] And, If I like it, I will do it. No. That's wrong, Isn't it? We must come to him, With that meekness, And say, Lord, I'm willing to follow, Your plans for my life, Whatever they be, Whatever it be, Whatever they are, Please lead me, Into them.

[9:37] Can you ask yourself, Honestly, Is my will, God's will? It should be that, They should be, In sync, Shouldn't they? They should be, In harmony, As that, Living sacrifice, As there's a renewing, Of your mind, There's that, Receptivity, To God's instruction, As your mind is, Transformed, As it's renewed, And we become, Teachable too.

[10:01] Some, Some Christians have issues, Because they're not, Teachable, It's like, I heard this other little, Saying that, Someone has said, That you might, Some of you might have heard this before, About what God wants us to be, Who's heard this one?

[10:21] Faithful, Available, Yeah, Teachable, All important, Aren't they?

[10:34] That's what he wants us to be, Faithful, Available, And teachable, And he'll help us to be that, So teachable, Says the meat will he guide, In wisdom, The judgment rather, And the meat will he teach, His way, So it says in Psalm 143, Verse 10, Teach me to do thy will, For thou art my God, Teach me to do thy will, There's a practical aspect, To God's will, That we want, Our walk to be impacted, That it will affect our walk, Ask God, Teach me, Teach me Lord, Teach me Lord God, To do thy will, And God's will is something, That we do, Teach me to do thy will, In 1 John 2, Verse 17, It says, And the world passeth away, And the lust thereof, But he that doeth the will of God, Abideth forever, There's a wonderful, Joy in doing God's will, In finding it, And doing it,

[11:35] And being, Who and what, God wants us to be, So we see what, God's will is, It's that, We be saved, He will have all men, To be saved, It's to be that, Living sacrifice, To present our lives to him, To be not conformed, To this world, But be transformed, By the renewing of our minds, To delight in God, Delight in God, It's that new, Way of thinking, That he is our delight, We put our affection, On things above, Not on things on the earth, Our delight, It's not, Earth bound, It's heaven bound, There's a delight there, For the child of God, And there's a, Need to be teachable, To be teachable, With meekness, So secondly, We move to, The how, How do we, Find and do, God's will, How do we know, God's will, For ourselves, How do we know, What God wants us to do, We see, That God's will, Is especially, Revealed to us, As God guides us,

[12:36] Through, His scriptures, Through the scriptures, His holy scriptures, His holy word, I delight to do, Thy will, O God, Yea, Thy law, Is within my heart, The scriptures, Read the bible, And see, What it says, You know, Some people, Use the bible like this, Say, They get up in the morning, And they say, What are you telling me, Lord, And they sort of go like that, Ever tried that method, You know, But, But, It's not like that, It's taking the bible, And trying to, Make it part of our, Way of thinking, Our lives, Trying to, Understand its message, Trying to apply, It to our lives, To listen to God, We need to see, What he says, How do we, See what he says, It's right here, It's right here, We can hold it, In our hands, Listen to God, Listen to him carefully, Can you hear him, Can you hear him, Hear his still, Small voice, His still, Small voice,

[13:37] You know, We hear of, Um, Elijah, As we've already, Referred to him today, As he prayed, And he sought God, And, Wonders happened, And then he fled, From Jezebel, He fled, And in 1 Kings 19, Verse 11 through 12, We pick the story up, About Elijah, He'd been disappointed, He'd been through some, Trouble, He was a, A marked man, And he felt, Uh, Alone, And he fled, He ran, Uh, He ran, The entire length of Israel, It was a, Quite a distance that he ran, Uh, As he fled for his life, And there God met him, And God had a conversation with him, And it was a, Still, Small voice, You know, There's a lot of, Other noise and, Things about, And then God spoke, And what did he say?

[14:32] Elijah, God spoke his name, And God spoke his name, He said, What are you doing here, Elijah? What are you doing here? God had a conversation with him, It was the voice, That called him by name, And sometimes we've just got to stop, In all of our busyness, And hear as it were, His still small voice, As he speaks to us, In the voice of conviction as it were, He puts things on our heart, He prompts us, We hear his voice, Through the peace, Or lack thereof, In the circumstances, Do we stop and listen, To what God is telling us, To what God is teaching us, It might be unpleasant teaching, But a needful learning, To hear his voice, He calls you by name, He calls you by name, And God will work, And he will speak to us, In accord with his word, Won't be contrary, To the word, It will be in harmony, With the word, And so too,

[15:35] His holy spirit, His holy spirit, He speaks to us, Through his holy scriptures, Through his still, Small voice, And through his spirit, God guides us, Through his holy spirit, Who will always act, In accordance with his word again, Not in contradiction, To it, And so, Consider, Our being led, Led by the spirit, Led by the spirit, What is the fruit, Of the spirit, Starts off, Love, Joy, Peace, If we're in a state, Where we're angry, And anxious, And worried, When we're loveless, Joyless, And peaceless, Maybe we're outside, The will of God, Because we're not, In accordance with, The holy spirit, Loveless, Joyless, And peaceless, Rather, Let us have love, Joy, And peace, The fruit, Of the spirit, Amongst others, And it shows us, Where we are at,

[16:35] The holy spirit, Shows us where, We are at, Whether we are, Out of God's will, Or in it, So trust the Lord, To reveal his will, By that still, Small voice, By the scriptures, By his spirit, And another thing, Is we need to pray, We need to pray, We need to, Wait, On the Lord, Wait, On the Lord, Do we, Stop and wait, Sometimes, I know it's easy, To get busy, And it's one of my, Failings, We can get, Busy, Rather let us pray, Let us pray, James 1, We read that it says, If you lack wisdom, Ask of God, And he'll grant you, Ask God for wisdom, In your circumstance, Pray, Don't neglect to pray, Sometimes, We get busy, With our own, Solutions, And not, Pray, And truly, Yield to God, Our Lord, Answered his disciples, Request, When he said, Lord, When they said to him,

[17:37] Lord, Teach us to pray, He said, Pray like this, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth, As it is in heaven, You know, We need to have, God's will, Centre stage, Centre in our mind, Front of centre, In our mind, Thy will be done, Pray that God's will, Will be done, In your life, In your situation, And only in God's will, Can we find true joy, Only in his will, As we wait upon him, As we learn, Through life, As we learn from others, As we learn from our own mistakes, Hopefully, And the mistakes of others, We won't make the mistake, Of missing his will, Friends, It's very easy in life, To occupy ourselves, And to miss what God is, Instructing us to do, To make choices, And then, Go to God, To make decisions, And then, Go to God, But rather, Let us go to God first,

[18:39] Go to God first, And seek his will, Do we wait, On the Lord, And do we rest, In the Lord, Rest in the Lord, Delight in the Lord, Rest in the Lord, Rest in the Lord, And wait, Patiently for him, Rest in the Lord, And wait, Patiently for him, To make those sins, To make those sins, To make those sins, To make those sins, To make those sins, To make those sins, To make those sins, It says Psalm 37, 7, They go together.

[19:19] So, now another aspect is whilst we do wait on the Lord, there is a sense of tomb where we walk. Walk in the spirit.

[19:33] The waiting is not so much something static, where we do nothing. When we wait on the Lord, it doesn't mean we sit idle and inactive and think, well, God hasn't told me to do anything, so I'm not going to do anything.

[19:48] Some Christians are like that. It's the typical Christian cop-out phrase, isn't it? God's not put that on my heart. God's not told me to do that or this. Let someone else do it.

[19:59] There's a man or a woman called someone else who tends to do most of the things in churches, right? Get someone else to do it. Which one of you is someone else?

[20:12] That's why we need a few someone else's, amen? We need people who are willing to get up and do. It says we are to walk.

[20:23] And someone has put it like this. I thought this was a really neat kind of way of putting it. God can only guide a moving ship. A rudder doesn't work if the ship isn't moving.

[20:40] Guidance comes when you are actively doing God's will. We're not empowered to do our will. A ship without power is helpless at sea.

[20:55] So if you see this ship out on the ocean, unless it's moving, you can turn the rudder all you like. It's not going to go anywhere. And the quote goes on, The point of this illustration is to help us catch hold of this thought that as a Christian, our waiting on God is not a static thing.

[21:50] But we wait on Him as we work. You know? In the storm we pray and we man in the oars as well. There's a sense where we work together with God.

[22:02] We walk with God. There's a going in His way. And He'll move us through life's journey as the pilot would move the rudder and change the vessel's direction.

[22:14] It's like as Abraham's servant, when he went out to find a wife for Isaac, and he looked for a wife for Isaac, and he found Rebekah. It says in Genesis 24, 27, I being in the way, the Lord led me.

[22:30] I being in the way, the Lord led me. So He was already in the way, and God directed His way as He was walking. As He was walking. So there's a sense where we wait, but we walk.

[22:43] We keep actively doing what God has generally put upon us to do. So when there's an opportunity to join in some witnessing, you don't wait until an angel taps you on the shoulder and says, oh, why don't you go along and join in?

[22:58] It's already in the Scriptures what God tells us to do. We are to witness. And such things as that. When there's a prayer time and you can make it, you don't have to ask God to tell you to go.

[23:11] He says pray. Pray with one another. There's simple things. When there's a fellowship time and you can make it, it's obvious what you have to do.

[23:23] Not out of bondage, but because it's in God's general will, is that we fellowship. So walk. As God directs your steps, He'll guide them.

[23:34] And just as He guided the servant, as He got up and went, let's be sensitive to His leading. It says in Proverbs 16 verse 9, A man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps.

[23:48] So we can have our own way of thinking, but God directs our steps as we go along the journey. So let's not forget to pray. And trust in the Lord.

[23:59] Trust in the Lord. It says in Proverbs 3, that familiar one, Trust in the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart.

[24:11] And lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Trust in the Lord. At the heart of it all is our heart.

[24:23] Trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Trust Him with all your heart. When our heart is in tune with God, we'll have the affections and the love and the promptings that are in accord with Him.

[24:37] Trust in the Lord. And when our heart is in tune with Him, we'll delight in the Lord. Here will be our delight and our joy. And we can say with David, I delight to do thy will, O my God.

[24:49] It's twofold. How can we delight in God and give delight to Him? So we delight in God and He delights in us. There's that wonderful twofold aspect of it.

[25:01] As it says in Psalm 37 from 23 through 24, It says, The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way.

[25:12] Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. So it says, The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in his way.

[25:23] Now you could read it both ways, that the good man delights in God's way, but God delights in the good man's way. There's a sense where you could take it either way.

[25:34] But I believe there is a sense where God delights in the pathway that you take when it is according to His will. God guides us in so many ways, through these circumstances, through the Scriptures, through His still, small voice, through His Holy Spirit, as we wait on Him, as we pray, as we walk with Him in the Spirit.

[25:57] And we see also in the circumstances. Sometimes it's just the circumstances of life, where something just seems to just fall into your lap. It's just something that you wonder why.

[26:10] Well, that's just so providential. That's just so appropriate. It's just something that just fits with how I feel God's leading me. The circumstances of life.

[26:23] And He'll prompt us and lead us through those things. It says, just back to the Word of God, the Scriptures, I delight to do Thy will, O my God.

[26:35] Thy law is within my heart. Now, if our heart is in accord with God's Word, that will help us to settle for us the direction that we are to take.

[26:49] He'll quicken His Word to us. He'll put that Scripture, and He'll quicken it, make it come alive as it were. Just make it really speak to us as something personal.

[27:02] It says that God's Word is our counsel. It says in Psalm 73, verse 24, Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel.

[27:13] Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel. And afterward, receive me to glory. God's Word is our counsel. And there's another kind of counsel as well, is the wise counsel of other Christians.

[27:26] Counsel. Sometimes we can be unwise by lacking counsel, lacking to seek counsel. In Proverbs 15, 22, we're urged to seek mature Christians' counsel.

[27:43] It says, without counsel, purposes are disappointed, but in the multitude of counsellors, they are established. So, listen to others. Listen to others who follow God. That's the main thing.

[27:54] In Proverbs 12, 15, it says, The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise. So, listen to counsel, and you can choose wisely.

[28:07] Choose the path that you take carefully. Brothers and sisters, we can go through life and not hear God's Word, not hear His Spirit. We can neglect God's truth.

[28:20] The psalmist cried, Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee. Psalm 119, verse 11. He writes, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

[28:37] That sense where God guides us in the present, where our feet are, and the pathway ahead, our future. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

[28:48] The question for all of us here today is what pathway will I take? In Proverbs 4, verse 18, it says, The path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

[29:06] We've seen all these different understandings of what God's will is, that we be saved, that we be that living sacrifice.

[29:16] And how do we understand His will? Various ways that we've talked about here today. We've talked about to know His will through the Scriptures, through His Scriptures, through His Spirit, through His still, small voice, that voice of conviction, that voice of peace or lack thereof, seeking it by waiting on Him through prayer, through circumstances, through counsel, and hiding His word in our heart.

[29:49] Sometimes it's whether all these things line up as well. We can sometimes get one impression and yet other things don't match up. You know, there's a preacher called Maya who was on a ride on a boat one day and it was getting dark and he wondered how the crew would safely guard this vessel to the safe dock, to the shore.

[30:14] And he asked the captain, how is it that you can guide this vessel in this darkness, safely to the dock, even in a stormy night when visibility is so low.

[30:28] And Maya was standing there on the bridge and the captain answered him, he said, that's an art. He said, do you see these three lights here? These three red lights on the shore.

[30:41] When they're all in a straight line, I go right in. They had to line up, these three lights had to line up so that he knew he had safe passageway through the reef and to the safe dock.

[30:54] And Maya said later that this is just like how we know God's will. How we know God's will. There's three things which always occur. The inward impulse.

[31:05] As a safe man or woman, you've got a heart that is filled with God. It's a heart in tune with God. The inward impulse, the word of God and the trend of circumstances.

[31:20] So there's many others as we've talked about other things here too. that we should be cautious and act when these things are in alignment. I delight to do thy will, O my God.

[31:33] Thy law is within my heart. I pray today that you might know what it is to be saved. It's the most fundamental. It's the starting point. To start the Christian life is to be saved.

[31:45] To know Christ as your Lord and Saviour. To know Him as the one who saved you and made you His own and that you belong to Him.

[31:56] And I urge you today that you put your trust in Him and be saved today. And then as Christians too, we don't just stop there and leave it there. We want to be that living sacrifice.

[32:07] We want to have that walk that is pleasing to God. We want to delight in God. Rest in Him. Wait upon Him and trust Him. Let us pray.

[32:18] Let us pray.