[0:00] Let's turn to God's Word. Two readings. Our first reading is the Book of Psalms. Book of Psalms. And Psalm 102. The Book of Psalms and Psalm 102.
[0:16] Of course then our second reading will be then in Matthew chapter 6 carrying on our series looking at the Lord's Prayer. But first of all Psalms and Psalm 102.
[0:30] Let's hear the Word of God. Hear my prayer O Lord and let my cry come unto thee.
[0:42] Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble. Incline thine ear unto me in the day when I call answer me speedily. For my days are consumed like smoke and my bones are burned as in hearth.
[0:56] My heart is smitten and withered like grass so that I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.
[1:08] I'm like a pelican of a wilderness. I'm like an owl of a desert. I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop. My enemies reproach me all the day and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.
[1:23] For I have eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping. Because of thine indignation and thy wrath. For thou hast lifted me up and cast me down.
[1:34] My days are like a shadow that declineth. I am withered like grass. But thou, O Lord, shalt endure forever. And thy remembrance unto all generations.
[1:47] Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion. For the time to favour her, yea, the set time is come. For thy servants take pleasure in her stones and favour the dust thereof.
[2:02] So the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord. And all the kings of the earth thy glory. When the Lord shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory. He will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer.
[2:18] This shall be written for the generation to come. And the people which shall be created shall praise the Lord. For ye have looked down from the height of the sanctuary. From heaven did the Lord behold the earth.
[2:31] To hear the groaning of the prisoner. To lose those that are appointed to death. To declare the name of the Lord in Zion and his praise in Jerusalem. When the people are gathered together and the kingdoms to serve the Lord.
[2:46] He weakened my strength in the way. He shortened my days. I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days. Thy years are throughout all generations.
[2:58] Of old thou hast laid the foundation of the earth. And the heavens are the work of thy hands. They shall perish. But thou shalt endure.
[3:09] Yet all of them shall wax old like a garment. As a vesture shalt thou change them. And they shall be changed. But thou art the same. And thy years shall have no end.
[3:21] The children of thy servants shall continue. And their seed shall be established before thee. Now turn to Matthew. Chapter 6. Gospel of Matthew in chapter 6.
[3:36] Reading from verse 9. Matthew 6 and verse 9. After this manner, therefore, pray ye. Our Father which art in heaven.
[3:47] Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
[4:00] And lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom. And the power. And the glory. Forever. Amen. We give praise to God for his holy and his perfect word.
[4:16] Let's again sing to God's praise. We can sing again from the psalm we had. Psalm 103. Psalm 103. Psalm 103.
[4:27] Let's now we can sing from verse 6. Psalm 103 and verse 6. Sing down to verse 13. God righteous judgment executes.
[4:39] For all oppressed ones. For all oppressed ones. For all oppressed ones. For all oppressed ones. His way to Moses. He his acts. Made known to Israel's sons. The Lord our God is merciful. And he is gracious. Long suffering and slow to wrath.
[4:51] And mercy plenteous. Psalm 103. Psalm 103. Verse 60 to 13. God's virtues. God's praise.спорт. Go to God's praise.
[5:05] Good righteous judgment execute for all oppressed ones. Amen. Amen.
[6:07] Amen. Amen.
[7:07] Amen. Amen.
[8:07] Amen. Amen.
[8:38] We won't recap the last three weeks, but just as a very brief summary, we are looking at the Lord's Prayer. And as we said last week, and indeed every week, just for our own minds, that the Lord's Prayer can be used and has been used and is used in two different ways.
[8:54] The Lord's Prayer is, of course, a prayer in its own right. And the church has been praying the Lord's Prayer word for word since the very start. But the Lord's Prayer, of course, there's much more to it than that.
[9:06] We see that in verse 9. The important words where Jesus says, after this manner, our translations have, in this way. In this way, you pray.
[9:19] Where it's clear from our Lord that he's giving us here not just a word-to-word prayer, which it is, but also, and perhaps more importantly, this is a framework for us.
[9:31] A framework where we can learn how to pray ourselves as Christians. And following that framework, we've looked at the first petition. We saw we're praying to a caring God who is our Father in heaven.
[9:44] We saw we pray together as a church family. Then we prayed that as we pray, we're praying to one whose kingdom is truly coming. Who has his kingdom, who has his people, who's expanding his kingdom day by day.
[10:01] We find ourselves here this evening in the second half of this verse. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. When I say we're taking a brief look, a short look at this, I know we often say that, and it ends up being less than brief.
[10:20] But in a sense, we must be brief here. We said this last week. It's the same reason. Not because there's lack of content, but quite the opposite.
[10:30] In our verse this evening, in our section of verse 10 this evening, we are dealing with respect to the very mind of God.
[10:42] The very plan of God. And to spend time, me, when I was up here, talking at length about it, about things which I can't even begin to even vaguely understand.
[10:53] It's not right, it's not respectful. So for a short time, just looking very generally at this. Because as we come to verses, to phrases, to truths like we have here in verse 10.
[11:06] These are things for us to ponder and to ponder. To take home this evening. To go home, to start this new week. And think just even more deeply at what we're looking at this evening.
[11:18] So looking very briefly and very generally at a topic which is literally eternal. And doing so with respect and doing so threading very carefully.
[11:30] We have three very simple headings. Even the headings themselves feel quite presumptuous, to be honest. First of all, what is the will of God?
[11:42] What is the will of God? And quite simply, secondly, his will on heaven as an earth. And thirdly, quite simply, why we need to pray this.
[11:56] If we're saying that this is a framework, why is it important for us in our prayers, our own daily prayers, to pray that God's will would be done?
[12:08] First of all, what is the will of God? Brothers and sisters and friends, as we said, we approach this. And in one sense, I have no answer for you.
[12:20] Because I am asking a question that is eternal. And through all the hours of sermons, and I could give you just now, there is no answer for this I can give you. There is no answer any human can truly give you.
[12:32] In one sense. But God is gracious. And God is loving. And God is kind to us as his people. And God, as we prayed, as we said, God has and does make himself known.
[12:44] God makes himself known to us as much as he needs to for us to love him and understand something about him. God tells us enough in his word.
[12:57] Enough for what? Enough for salvation. Enough for Christian living. It's the same when it comes to his will. God will never reveal to us his will.
[13:07] The question, what is the will of God, will never actually be answered. And dear friends and dear brothers and sisters, when we reach glory, we still won't have an answer for that.
[13:19] We will be in eternity digging into these things and looking into these things. We praise God for that. We have to give some kind of answer, though. If God tells us, if our Saviour tells us to pray, Thy will be done, we must have some understanding what it is to pray.
[13:35] What is the will of God? What does that even mean for us to pray that? Before we begin and delve into this simple question with a very eternal answer, we must cast our minds back to something we said before, months ago, when we looked together at Psalm 110.
[13:57] When we touched that psalm at the start of the introduction, we said that we're dealing here with things which are beyond us. In Psalm 110, of course, we get a glimpse into the throne room of heaven.
[14:10] We get a glimpse into the conversation between the Father and the Son as he returns back to glory. And we said there that we must be careful when we deal with big chunks of theology, that we aren't just here just to learn.
[14:25] We're not here just to expand our understanding in one sense. But the biblical truth and the gospel reality is that our theology, our learning about God theology, must always lead to doxology, our praising of God.
[14:45] Our theology must always lead to doxology. What we learn about God must always lead to us then praising God more, or praising him better.
[14:55] We never learn just the sake of learning. If we leave this evening and having had a better grasp, perhaps, of the will of God, then our time is wasted, if that's all we leave with.
[15:08] But if we leave this evening with perhaps just the most minuscule grasp of the will of God, but leave this place praising God for his will, and praising God for his eternal plan, then we leave this place having done well this evening.
[15:25] We approach this topic carefully. We give praise to God that throughout the centuries, and from the very start, his people have grappled and sought to answer this question.
[15:37] How do we pray thy will be done? Quite simply, and for ourselves this evening, we give praise to God for the people he has given us, over generations, over the centuries.
[15:48] We can speak of God's will in two simple ways. Two very simple ways. His secret will, and his revealed will.
[16:00] His secret will, and his revealed will. God's will is one. He doesn't have two wills. But to us, we see it, perhaps in these two different ways.
[16:15] God has one plan. He has one will. He'll accomplish his plan, accomplish his will. But for us, looking at it from a human perspective, we see that will in two different ways.
[16:27] We see that, given as in Scripture, quite beautifully, Deuteronomy 29, and verse 29. The secret things belong to the Lord.
[16:41] The secret things belong to the Lord, our God. But the things that are revealed belong to us, and to our children, forever. That we may do all the things off of this law.
[16:53] The secret things belong to the Lord, but the revealed things belong to us, and our children. So how do we mean, or what do we mean by these two distinctions of God's will?
[17:05] So first of all, his secret will. Well, quite simply, as the name sounds, his secret will. It's that part of his will which he does not reveal to us.
[17:20] We have no access to seeing this, to understanding this. We have no part to take in this, to grasp this. It's not for us to go near, not for us to touch.
[17:33] The secret will is his perfect ordering of all things that he does to accomplish his perfect plan perfectly. These are the parts of creation, of providence, that we don't even begin to enter into.
[17:51] We have no idea at all of these things. But we can see God's secret will in our lives, in our world, but we only ever see it in retrospect.
[18:05] We only ever see it by looking back. See, God's secret will is not revealed to us at the time. We always see it looking back.
[18:15] His works of providence are what we call part of his secret will. We could all go round one by one as Christians here this evening and I could ask you of God's working of providence in your life.
[18:30] Those situations and those times where things just go right away from your plans, right away from your ideas, from your setting and your situation, and things perhaps even go to chaos at times.
[18:46] If you look back, you see all these things worked perfectly. Worked perfectly for our good but also for his glory. We see his secret will revealed to us in providence.
[19:01] Things which over time make no sense to us. Plans which change. Lives that are changed. Situations which might even seem dark and so confused for us are part of his secret will.
[19:15] And then a year later, five years later, ten years later, we look back and we see where we are now. And we see God's hand so perfectly placed in all these things which were so hard, so confusing, so just downright chaotic for us at times.
[19:33] He is there planning it all out perfectly. It's the old illustration but it works well so why change it? I don't know who said it first. It's been copied and pasted so many times for different speakers and authors.
[19:47] But it's one we understand our own culture so well, isn't it? Of God as the weaver. And there he is placing his threads together. And you look at it and you think, we see his work.
[20:01] We're just a strand. We're just a small wisp of part of one of the threads. We just see chaos around us. We see just panic perhaps at times.
[20:12] We see confusion. In our own lives, we see situations which make no sense to us. Situations which take us to our very core, which are just horrific for us and so on and so on.
[20:23] At the time, we think, Lord, what is going on here? Lord, I don't understand this. Lord, help me. And so on. And so on. But then, as we step back, as the years go on, we look back and we see our place gradually and more gradually taking bigger and bigger shape.
[20:43] And we see that God as weaver has woven in our lives so perfectly according to his perfect plans. That is the secret will of God.
[20:58] It's his working of his plans to accomplish his purposes of which we have no way of seeing at the time. But in his love, he lets us see into as time goes on.
[21:14] So that's his secret will. Then we have his revealed will. And his revealed will is what he gives to us, for us today at least, in Scripture.
[21:25] Here we see a part of his will that he chooses to reveal to us quite simply. The Ten Commandments are part of his revealed will. All the various prophecies and promises of Scripture are his revealed will.
[21:39] The ways God tells his people to live, to act, the promises he gives his people and so on and so on, these are part of his revealed will to us.
[21:51] All that he tells us about himself, all that he tells us about his plan to save his people, these are all his revealed will. Now the secret will and revealed will, these two things, they're not in conflict.
[22:04] But we see one and we can't see the other. But in God's glory and to his glory and the beauty of who our God is, as he works out his secret will, as he works out his perfect plans, which nothing and no one can influence or destroy or somehow put off the tracks, as God works out his eternal plan from before time itself, that plan was there.
[22:33] He then shows to us his revealed will. He tells us how we must live as Christians, what commands we must keep, what promises we must hold dear.
[22:46] One example for us and one of which is a simple example perhaps for us to understand is our own salvation. In our salvation, Christians, we see these two as we see them, the two parts of God's will working so perfectly.
[23:05] If I was to ask you just now, how did you first hear the gospel? How did you first come to church? How did you first hear about Jesus?
[23:15] How did you first know that you need to be saved by Jesus? And so on and so on. We'd all perhaps give different answers. Some of us were born perhaps coming to this church. Others came later in life.
[23:26] A friend shared the gospel with you. A parent shared the gospel with you. And so on and so on. Your salvation, where you are right now and who you are right now, that was planned and set in God's plan before time itself.
[23:47] We know that, we believe that, we affirm that. Ephesians 1, Romans 8, Romans 9, and so on and so on. Again and again throughout scripture, we're told and told and told that God has his people set before time itself, chosen, he's put his love upon you.
[24:07] He knew you, he saw you. As we heard this morning, Christ came to save you. Before time itself, you were part of the secret plan of God. But then he uses, doesn't he, his people, his word, his promises.
[24:24] He uses his revealed plan to bring you into the kingdom. In the secret sense, God alone knows who his people are.
[24:38] God alone knows his people. God alone will save his people. It's the age-old question, there's been books and sermons and essays written and printed and preached over hundreds and hundreds of years on these topics.
[24:54] The question is, why do we bother preaching? If God has his people, why are we wasting our time here? What are we doing? Why preach the gospel? Why does a minister, why do any Christians say, come to Jesus, believe in Jesus, if God has his elect?
[25:13] And, I don't know your situation, maybe some here, in our island tradition, there are some, and I've heard it myself, who aren't Christians, who don't believe yet, and who will use that theology as an excuse for not coming to Jesus.
[25:26] I haven't come yet, and I'm almost 60, I'm almost 70, I'm almost 80, I'm almost 90, I haven't come yet, therefore, I'm obviously not part of the elect, therefore, why bother, therefore, that's the end of it.
[25:39] That heartbreaking, clueless argument, it makes no sense whatsoever. Yes, God has his people, of that, we cannot deny that fact, but that's his secret will, that's not for us to touch, not for us to ponder, not for us to even, as it were, think about, until it's revealed to us, after the fact.
[26:04] We don't preach the gospel to those who we think, have a chance of being saved. When whoever's up here looks at the crowd, I'm not looking at the crowd, thinking, well, who looks most interested?
[26:15] Who looks most engaged? The gospel's for you, the gospel's for you. We preach the gospel. We preach the gospel week after week. Christians, you share the gospel day after day.
[26:26] The question does not, and should not enter your mind, is this person one of the elect? That question does not belong to you. It does not belong to me. It belongs to the Lord and him alone. Our question is, does that person know Jesus?
[26:41] Have they heard the gospel? Have they shared it with them? Whoever's up here, our question is, are we sharing the gospel clearly? Are we making it as simple as possible for those to come and believe?
[26:54] Charles Spurgeon, and he himself says, he took this example from somewhere else, but he doesn't say where he took the example from. But someone asked him the same question, why bother preaching if God has his elect?
[27:07] I don't have a quote in front of me. I just, it was the drive-up, I remembered the quote just now, but he gave the illustration, and this is very paraphrased, but it's not as if God somehow paints his name on the back of his sheep.
[27:22] And the preacher can see that name on certain people, not on others. Charles Spurgeon said, the preacher sees in front of him sheep without a shepherd. Christ came to save sheep without a shepherd.
[27:35] That's who we preach the gospel to. This is not tonight's discussion, this is church history, there's no time for us this evening, but it is indeed a grave heresy, it is indeed a grave danger for those who believe what they call an extreme form of Calvinism, they call it themselves, it's not Calvinism, it's nowhere near Calvinism, where they believe that God saves who he saves, therefore we do not witness, therefore we do not share the gospel.
[28:04] There are some, even in our own experiences, and there's so many on the island who I've heard say that in a roundabout way. God saves who he saves, therefore why evangelise?
[28:15] Why have gospel evangelical meetings? Why share the gospel? Why try? God will save, he will save. It sounds holy, it sounds very good, it's not biblical, it's not right.
[28:29] It's certainly nothing that Calvin or the reformers ever, ever taught. Quite the opposite, in fact. All this to say, God has his people, yes, but his people are not known to us.
[28:43] His people aren't known to us until that person then comes to know the Lord. So what does that mean for us just now? It means that we share the gospel. To the person who seems interested, we share the gospel.
[28:55] To the person that looks like they have no interest whatsoever, to that family member who doesn't seem to care at all about their soul of the gospel, they are not anywhere further away from the person who looks interested, who feels interested.
[29:08] Each person we come across, each person we talk to, we share the gospel. We bring them to Jesus. We say, as we heard this morning, come and see. Come and see.
[29:20] God's revealed will to us is that he calls what? All men to be saved. The gospel goes out to who? The gospel goes out to all. All are sinners.
[29:34] Christ died to save sinners. Therefore, the gospel goes out to all. Who will respond? Those who know Jesus, who love Jesus. Who will respond?
[29:44] Those who see their sin and their need of a saviour. And when they respond, when they come to know Jesus, to love Jesus, then and only then we can say, that person is part of the elect.
[29:56] Part of God's precious chosen people. Up to that point, we have no right saying that and no reason to say it. We share the gospel to all and to everyone. God's will is secret in one sense.
[30:10] But he has his perfect eternal plan. But his will is also revealed. He has given us instruction. Given us command. Given us promises we must follow as his people.
[30:27] So what does it mean then that his will, as we pray, his will will be done in earth as it is in heaven? Why do we pray that? What does that prayer mean for us? What's the reason of inclusion of that in his prayer?
[30:41] Because if we're honest, if we just pray, thy will be done, that covers it, doesn't it? That says the same thing anyway. Thy will be done. But no, God, his wisdom and our saviour and his love has told us to pray, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.
[30:59] Why are we mentioning or thinking about heaven? Our minds, of course, here are meant to be drawn upwards. Up away from the chaos of earth, the disunity, away from the sin we see around us and in us.
[31:15] Up towards heaven. Up towards God. Where God's will is always carried out with joy. Now here we must be careful.
[31:26] God's will is always carried out. God will always accomplish his will as we said and so on and so on. We know that. His secret will will always be done. But God's revealed will as we see in our own lives again and again that we will not at times carry it out.
[31:44] We will break the commandments. We will not believe the promises. We will fail him and fail him and fail him. That's not the case in heaven. In heaven when God gives command the heavenly host they follow that command.
[31:59] They fulfil that command with joy and in an instant. In heaven his will is followed perfectly. His revealed will, his commands are followed carefully, not slowly or unwillfully.
[32:15] Not done as we are sometimes with half hearted effort. In heaven God's revealed will is done instantly, perfectly, joyfully and so on and so on. We see that again and again.
[32:26] The heavenly hosts do the will of their God so carefully, so well. In heaven the perfect will of God is carried out with instant effect.
[32:40] and those creatures to whom his will and his plans are given that they follow that will, they follow that plan perfectly. Unlike us the angels don't do God's will sluggishly without joy, without peace, without care.
[32:58] We often seek to do God's will so half-heartedly don't we? After a long day, a long week we fail to really seek God's will. We fail to carry out the duties we have as Christians.
[33:10] We fail to share the gospel. We fail to show ourselves in a Christ-like way and so on and so on. That's not the case in heaven. God's will is always completed perfectly by those in heaven.
[33:25] We must do the will of God with a heavenly mindset. Revelation 7 verse 15 one of hundreds of examples in scripture where we see God's created creatures serving him so openly.
[33:38] Revelation 7 15 Therefore speaking of the creatures they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. They serve him day and night in his temple and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
[33:58] Time is going quickly. But God's will to us is seen in two ways. Secret will his revealed will. And the will which he will accomplish.
[34:11] The will which he commands us to accomplish. The commandments and the promises he gives us. The command to come and believe in Jesus as our saviour. We are reminded that we should be like those creatures in heaven.
[34:26] The heavenly host which do his will joyfully. Who do his will gladly. That should be how we seek to do his will. As we pray the Lord's prayers. We pray Lord in my life that you would do your will.
[34:39] In my life help me to follow your will. Help me in my life to follow your revealed will well. We should do that willfully, gladly, joyfully, like the host of heaven do.
[34:54] Thirdly and very briefly, why do we need to pray this? Why do we need to understand this for ourselves? First of all, as we think of God's perfect plan to complete his will in his perfect way, it lifts up our minds from our own lives.
[35:13] It lifts up our own minds from our own, perhaps, situation we find ourselves in just now. It reminds us of the fact that we worship a sovereign God. We worship a God that has a set plan.
[35:29] They are brothers and sisters and they are brothers and sisters, but they believe at times that God is somehow changeable in his plans. Brothers and sisters, indeed, whole denominations that will teach and will believe that somehow God's plan is somehow bound to our actions at times.
[35:49] There is no hope in that. There is no hope in believing that God's plans can change because of our actions. Our actions have consequences, yes. as we follow or don't follow his revealed will, that has real bearing in our lives.
[36:06] If you choose right now not to follow Jesus, if you choose yet once more this evening to ignore the call to come follow Jesus, that will have a real impact impact in your life now and for eternity.
[36:21] If we remind ourselves of God's will being done, we remind ourselves that we worship a God who has a set will, God who has a plan, a plan that's above his creation, that's more than his creation, a plan that is perfect in all its ways.
[36:39] We're reminded that nothing and no one will ruin or thwart his plans, not the opposition of ourselves, not government opposition, not nationwide opposition, that God will carry out his plans regardless.
[36:55] As we heard last week, look at God's kingdom, God is growing his kingdom this very moment in countries and in nation states where he is hated, where his people are being killed daily, God is growing his kingdom there, God's will is being fulfilled in these places.
[37:13] Against all human effort, he is building his kingdom, he is fulfilling his perfect will. It's good for us as we seek to live our lives as Christians, we are reminded, we're reminded that as we praise God, as we seek to serve him, as we seek to share the gospel with those around us, as you go home this evening and start this new week, as you share the gospel to that loved one who you share the gospel to time and time again, that loved one who as of yet seems to have no gospel care, no gospel interest, who even perhaps worse than that seems to be against the gospel, you remember you are sharing the gospel of a God, of a saviour, whose will is perfect, whose will is perfect, and your words and your ability and your eloquence, it does not stop his plans, and I assure you for everyone who stands up here in this place, that's our comfort too, that the people of
[38:21] God are not saved because of the eloquence of a minister, because of the study of a minister, God blesses these things, yes, he blesses us as Christians as we seek to come before him and do his will well, but his plan is not dependent on us, his plan is not dependent on your tied words you try and share the gospel, it's not dependent on you mixing your words up as you try and talk about Jesus well, he will use these efforts that we have for his glory according to his plan, as we pray thy will be done, we remind ourselves we are before a God who is eternal and who rules and who reigns, and finally as we pray these words of thy will be done, we find ourselves praying alongside our saviour, do we not?
[39:10] As we read these words, our minds not drawn to our saviour in the garden, Matthew 26, not as I will, but as you will, here we see our saviour, the God man, fully man and fully God, he is there in the garden, crying out to the father in heaven, if this cup, if this cup be taken away, not as I will, not as I will, but as you will.
[39:44] We follow his example as we pray this prayer, trusting in the fact that despite our own personal and present circumstances, God's will is perfect, his will is good, his will is there as God tells us for the benefit of his people, for the good of his people and for his glory.
[40:05] Christian, as we pray this prayer, as we pray in our prayers, as we add this petition to our prayers, as we remember the will of God and ask that his will be complete and his will be done on earth as is in heaven, we have assurance.
[40:21] Yet again, we have assurance, don't we? We are praying to a God who cares about us, a God who cares about the smallest aspects of your life and of my life, who cares about who we are and who cares about our own small and larger family, personal work, so on, so on, situations.
[40:41] All these things are part of his plan and because they're part of his plan, he cares eternally for them. For those here who as of yet don't know Jesus, you are here, and this won't surprise you as I say this, you are here because God has eternal plan before you were born, before this building existed, before this creation existed.
[41:11] God has eternal plan before time itself he planned and prepared that you would be here this evening, not to hear my words, but to hear his word, to hear the word of God preached yet again to you, to hear the gospel preached yet again to you, that you must come and believe in Christ.
[41:33] If you want to follow the revealed will of God in your life, you must come and believe. There is no accident, there is no chance in this world. All things, all things belong to our Lord, all things belong to his perfect plan.
[41:50] You are here because of that plan. You are here just now, listening to this gospel, listening to his word, because of his plan. Dear friends, the reality is, do not presume, do not presume on God's plan.
[42:08] Do not presume that God has planned for you to have the rest of this night, the rest of this day, the rest of this week. We don't know his plan for that. That is part of his secret plan.
[42:19] Our days are numbered according to his secret plan. What is revealed, what you can, what you must respond to is the gospel, through just now, revealed to us, part of his revealed plan, he has sent a saviour.
[42:34] He has sent a saviour who has come to save sinners. And dear friend, you and I fall into that bracket, that we are sinners, we need a saviour. And your excuses for not coming to him, will not save you.
[42:47] Your reasons for not coming to him will mean nothing in the final days. If you say, it wasn't part of my plan, I would hear the gospel, it wasn't part of my plan, I'd be saved, that won't work. The gospel is given to you yet again once more just now.
[43:01] According to his perfect plan, you hear the gospel right now, come and believe. As I heard this morning, come and see for yourself, come and see Jesus, come and know him as Lord and saviour in your life, come and worship him, come and place yourself under his loving rule, come and be saved, come and be able to pray this prayer with the brothers and sisters here, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[43:32] Come and pray that prayer with a heart full of joy and understanding, a heart full of appreciation. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Lord, we come away, Lord, from looking at such eternally magnificent truths, such eternally deep realities, Lord, that we find ourselves wading just so shallowly, Lord, that we're very sure of these things.
[44:01] We find ourselves going not beyond ankle depth, for we find ourselves running out of words so quickly. We give you praise that you've given to us some understanding, that through your word you have in your revealed will you have revealed to us the great truths that we have to be saved.
[44:15] In your word we have all things for salvation and for godliness, but there is nothing that you have not told us that we must know to be saved. You have revealed yourself to us.
[44:27] You have not kept yourself secret or hidden. Lord, help us to be in awe as we think about your secret will. Help us to treat that reality with respect it deserves. At the same time, Lord, give us feet and hearts and minds ready to act upon your revealed will.
[44:45] Most importantly, the revealed will that all men should be saved and we must be saved in accordance to your gospel, the gospel that you have given a saviour to us, the Lord Jesus Christ.
[44:58] That all who come to him and cry out for salvation, that he will not ignore their cries. He will not ignore the cry of a poor one who cries out for that life. The one who cries out for that living water, he will not deny it to them.
[45:12] We pray this evening you would let that gospel be known, even just to one here this evening, Lord. You alone know the circumstances and situations of your people gathered here today.
[45:25] Or even we ask in the recording, if it goes out to record, Lord, that you would even use the recording in the months, indeed even years to come, to bless someone, to bring one into your kingdom. Lord, help us this week to understand that we are walking every day, indeed every second of every day, walking in your perfect will, walking alongside, Lord, that we plan our steps, we plan our lives, we plan our ideas, as your word tells us, that you alone order those steps, you alone make those steps take place.
[45:58] There's nothing we can do and nor we can go beyond your perfect plan, beyond your eternal power. Or we acknowledge that for your people here this evening, that's a comfort for us.
[46:09] But for those who as of yet don't know you, the idea of you being internally in charge of all things is a fearful and dreadful thing to those who as of yet don't know you. We ask that we would come from that place of fear to a place of understanding, that place of dread to a place of love.
[46:27] And we can join in with your people as we pray together, our Lord, in our daily prayers day by day, that thy kingdom come and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Help that to be our prayer even this week.
[46:39] Think about these holy things, these eternal things we would see in our own lives in the daily small things of our day. We would see your will be accomplished and take great joy knowing we worship a God who cares enough for his people.
[46:55] You've given us a saviour, who has died for us, who lives forever intercessing for us, who will one day come to take us home to be with himself. Let's call these things in and through and for his precious name's sake.
[47:09] Amen. Let's bring our time to an end by singing to God's praise from Psalm 99. Psalm 99. Psalm 99.
[47:25] We can sing just verses 1 down to verse 5 of the psalm. Verses 1 down to verse 5. The eternal Lord of rain as King, let all the people quake.
[47:36] He sits between the cherubims, let the earth be moved and shake. The Lord in silent, great and high, above all people is, by great and dreadful name, for it is holy, let them bless.
[47:48] Psalm 99, verses 1 to 5, to God's praise. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[48:55] The King's strength, God's sword, judgment, love, the sinless equity.
[49:10] Just judgment, love, just execute in Jacob's right, just lead.
[49:27] The Lord hath gone and sought on high, a breath and weary.
[49:42] Behold his good stone, worship him, the Holy One is here.
[50:00] Let's close with our bond action. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, for with you now and forevermore. Amen.
[50:12] Amen.