Chapter 17
The Will of God
"I delight to do
thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart." – Psalm 40:8
The
words recorded in Psalm 40:8 find their ultimate and perfect fulfillment in the
Lord Jesus Christ. God the Spirit tells us this in Hebrews 10:7-9. How we
rejoice to know that Christ, the God-man, our Substitute, has fulfilled all the
will of God for us! By his obedience to God in our stead, the Lord Jesus Christ
obtained eternal redemption for God’s elect. His obedience to God is our righteousness.
His blood is our atonement for sin. We are complete in Christ; and we are
accepted in him, because he delighted to do the will of God as our Substitute.
Yet,
the words of the fortieth Psalm were also David’s words. They express the
desire, ambition, and driving force of every believer’s heart. “I delight to do thy will, O God.” All
who are born of God bear this distinct mark of grace in the likeness of Christ.
Believers in their inmost souls delight to do the will of God. Our joy and
happiness is not merely in receiving good from God, but in rendering active
service to God. We desire to obey and serve our heavenly Father in all things
and do his will at all times, not reluctantly, but cheerfully. God’s will is
our joy and delight.
More than that, we delight
to see God’s will done in and by others, too. Our heart’s prayer is, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be
Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt.
6:9-10). God the Holy Spirit has taught every believer in the world to pray
with Christ, “Thy will be done.”
Were it possible to gather all the desires,
ambitions, aspirations, goals, and prayers of all God’s saints in heaven and
earth into one expression, it would be this: “Thy will be done.” Every believer delights to do the will of God!
When the believing heart cries, “I
delight to do thy will, O God,” the meaning is: My heavenly Father, my God,
in my heart of hearts, from the depths of my inmost soul, I delight to fulfill
your will of purpose, to satisfy your will of pleasure, and to obey your will
of precept.
We
know that our heavenly Father, the God of the Bible, is a God “who worketh all things after the counsel of
his own will” (Eph. 1:11). And all who know him delight to do his will in
all things. It is not my purpose in this study to answer the objections which
men raise against the sovereignty of God in the exercise of his will. If your
heart is yet in rebellion to God, no words of mine can change you. You must bow
to Christ. You must surrender to his dominion as Lord. My purpose is simply to
instruct, comfort, and encourage God’s saints in seeking, doing, and submitting
to the will of God. In order to dispel confusion about this subject and to help
you who delight to do God’s will, I will make three statements and answer two
questions.
1.
It
is the duty and responsibility of all men, women, and
children to obey the
will of God revealed in his precepts.
The Bible reveals God’s will to be made up of
three parts, His precept, His pleasure, and His purpose. His precept is that which he requires
and commands of his creatures. As a wise and loving Father demands obedience
from his children, so God demands obedience from all rational creatures. God’s pleasure is that in which he
delights and that of which he approves. As a father delights in a child’s
willing obedience to his parents, so the Lord God takes pleasure in the willing
obedience of his children. He accepts us and what we endeavor to do for him,
through Christ, and takes pleasure in our efforts to honor and serve him. God’s
purpose is that which he is
determined to accomplish.
These
three things never contradict each other. They are never at odds. They are
always in perfect harmony. They are, together, the will of God. Let’s look at
them one at a time, beginning with God’s will of precept. This is his revealed
will, that which he requires of men, that which he commands us to do.
When
a person in authority expresses his will to those under his authority, his
revealed will is to them a law, a command, a precept, which they are
responsible to obey. That which God has revealed to be his will and pleasure is
to us a precept, a law, a command which we are responsible to obey. God’s will
of command, or precept, made known to us, is our rule of duty (Eccles. 12:13; Ex. 20; Rom. 2:12-15, 18). In the day of
judgment God will judge every man by that which has been revealed to him. No
one will be held accountable except for that knowledge of God’s will that is
within his reach.
The moral requirements of
God’s law are revealed to all men by the light of nature. The tables of the law
are inscribed upon every man’s conscience by the finger of God, our Creator
(Rom. 2:12-15). All men by nature, even the most heathen, barbaric tribesmen of
ancient cultures, know that God is and that he requires man to love him
supremely and love his neighbor as himself. It is man’s unceasing violation of
the law of God written upon his heart that floods his soul with a sense of
naked guilt before God, though he does not know him.
God revealed his will upon
Sinai in the giving of the law, summarized in what we call the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:1-17; Rom. 13:8-9; Eph. 6:2).
The decalogue, that which is commonly referred to as
the moral law, reveals what God requires of all men in their relations to God
and to one another. Though in Christ we are free from the yoke of the law’s
rule and its curse, these requirements are never altered.
The ceremonial law given to
the nation of Israel was God’s revealed will concerning worship in the Old
Testament. It began when God commanded Israel to observe the passover (Ex. 12)
and ended when Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, when the handwriting
of the ordinances was nailed to the cross (1 Cor. 5:7; Col. 2:14).
Since Christ has come and
fulfilled all the requirements and types of the moral and ceremonial law, the
revealed will of God to all men is the gospel of Christ (1 John 3:23). Because
no man is capable of fulfilling the righteousness of God revealed in the law,
Christ fulfilled the law in the place of chosen sinners; and we fulfill the
righteousness of the law by faith in him (Rom. 8:2-4; 3:31). This is the only
way in which sinners can fulfill God’s holy law. We look to Christ alone for
both righteousness and satisfaction (1 Cor. 1:30).
This
is what God requires and commands of all men - “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 3:23). Faith in Christ is
the revealed will of God. This is God’s precept. All men are responsible to
obey it (John 3:36). In this sense, every believer says, “I delight to do thy will, O God.”
2.
It
is the desire of every believer to
obey the will of God’s
holy pleasure.
A loving child wants to do more than merely
avoid his father’s disapproval. He seeks to know and do that which is his father’s
pleasure. A loving wife wants more than to do just what her husband requires.
She wants to please her husband in all things. And the believer wants something
indescribably greater than to avoid the wrath of God. He wants to do the will
of God. He wants to do that which gives pleasure, satisfaction, and delight to
his heavenly Father. We do not and cannot add anything to God’s infinite
pleasure. Still, believing sinners earnestly seek to do that which pleases him.
Do we not? Do you seek to do the will of your heavenly Father’s pleasure?
There are some things
revealed in the Bible that please God (Mic. 6:6-8). Though we recognize our
utter inability to do so, believers do endeavor to walk humbly before God,
dealing with men in uprightness (justice), mercy, and love, following the
example of Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 4:7; Eph. 5:18-21; Phil. 2:1-4; Eph.
4:32-5:1). There are also some things revealed in the Scriptures that are
displeasing and grievous to our Lord (Eph. 4:17-5:1). While acknowledging, with
broken hearts, that every lust and abomination known to man resides in our
depraved hearts (1 John 1:9), we studiously seek to avoid the evils of our
flesh. This is my constant prayer. I hope it is yours. – My Father, grant me
grace that I not dishonor your name or offend in thought, word, or deed. Give
me grace that I may not offend your children, bring reproach upon the name of
your dear Son or the gospel of your free grace in him, or grieve your Holy
Spirit.
Still, every heaven born
soul is fully aware of the fact that the only way sinful men and women can
please God is by faith in Christ (Heb. 11:5-6). God is pleased with his Son,
only with his Son. God is pleased with us in his Son, only in his Son (Matt.
17:5; Eph. 1:6). Yet, our God is pleased with our feeble efforts to please him
for his Son’s sake (1 Pet. 2:5). In this sense too, regarding the will of God’s
holy pleasure, we say, “I delight to do
thy will, O God.” We delight to trust Christ as our only, all-sufficient
Substitute and Savior.
3.
We
are assured in the Bible that all things
obey the secret will of
God’s eternal purpose.
Read
Deuteronomy 29:29. Moses certainly does not there
suggest that we can know nothing about divine predestination, or that God does
not intend for us to study the subject. The only thing Moses is telling us is
this -- We do not know what God has predestined and what must come to pass.
However, we do know what God requires of us; and that is our duty.
It is a clearly revealed
fact that the Lord our God has purposed, decreed, and predestinated
all things that have ever come to pass and all things that ever shall come to
pass, without exception (Psa. 115:3; 135:6; Isa.
46:10; Dan. 4:35; Acts 2:23; 4:27-28; 13:48; Rom. 8:28-30; 9:15-18; I Cor.
5:18; Eph. 1:11). In this sense, everything that is, has been, or shall be is
the will of God. God is absolutely sovereign in directing the affairs of the
universe. His will of purpose includes all things, evil as well as good, sin as
well as salvation, error as well as truth. And God’s will of purpose is always,
perfectly accomplished in and by all things. That is not a secret thing, but a
revealed thing.
With
regard to God’s will of purpose, we must understand that God wills whatever he
does in providence (Job 23:13; Eph. 1:11). God acts voluntarily in all that he
does. He is never compelled to do anything. Creatures do not force the hand of
the Creator. The clay does not mold the potter. The potter molds the clay. God
does in providence whatever he willed to do from eternity (Acts 15:18). Nothing
comes to pass in time except that which God purposed in eternity. And nothing
purposed by our God in eternity fails to come to pass in time. If God could
will, desire, or purpose to do anything that he failed to accomplish, he would
not be omnipotent. God’s will of purpose includes all things (Ps. 76:10; Pro.
16:4).
C.D. Cole stated the doctrine of Scripture very clearly - God’s “will includes whatsoever comes to
pass. Hence, everything that comes to pass is providential and not accidental
so far as God is concerned. He worketh all things after the counsel of his own
will (Eph. 1:11).” He goes on to explain, “The will of God includes the wicked
actions of sinful men, but does not take away their blameworthiness.
We may not see how this can be, but the Scriptures declare it and we should
believe it. The Scriptures were not written to confirm our reasoning, but
rather to correct it. On the day of Pentecost Peter said, concerning Jesus,
‘Him being delivered by the determinate counsel (will) and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain’ (Acts 2:23).
And on a later occasion he said that Herod and Pilate, the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered
together ‘For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel (will) determined (Gk. predestinated) to be done’ (Acts 4:27-28). We may not be
able to see how God can will or determine a sin without becoming the author of
sin, but the fact remains that the greatest of all sins, the slaying of the Son
of God, was divinely ordained.”
The will of God, his eternal
purpose of predestination, is in every way consistent with the character of his
Being. It is his eternal will. It is his immutable will. It is his sovereign
will. It is his unconditional will. It is his
effectual will. It is his wise and holy will. And God’s will, his
purpose of grace, is the cause of our salvation (John 1:11-13; Rom. 8:28-30;
James 1:18).
Because depraved rebels are
ever bent upon perverting the things of God, a few words of caution regarding
the will of God’s purpose are needful. The sovereignty of God’s purpose does
not destroy man’s responsibility, or even his will. Man’s sin has put his will
in bondage to sin, not God’s purpose. The universality of God’s purpose does
not make God the author of sin. God is not the author of sin; but he is the
author of the good which he accomplishes by overruling sin. God does not bear
the blame for our ruin by the sin and fall of our father Adam; but he does get
all the credit and praise for our recovery by his grace. He does not bear the
blame for man’s hatred toward and crucifixion of his Son; but he does receive
all praise, honor, and glory as the author of that redemption accomplished by
his Son’s death in the place of his people.
It must also be stated
emphatically that the immutability of God’s purpose does not imply that God
made some just to damn them. He did make all men just to save some men for the
glory of his own great name; and believing hearts rejoice to praise his
sovereign wisdom and grace. When we hear God say regarding all things, “I will do all my pleasure,” we rejoice
to bow before him and say, “Thy will be
done,” “I delight to do thy will, O God.”
“Thy will, not mine, O Lord,
However dark it be;
O lead me by Thine own right
hand, Choose out my path for me.
I dare not choose my lot; I
would not if I might;
Choose Thou for me, O Lord
my God, So shall I walk aright.
Take Thou my cup, and it
With joy or sorrow fill;
As ever best to Thee may
seem, Choose Thou my good and ill.
Not mine, not mine the
choice In things both great and small;
Be Thou my guide, my guard,
my strength, My wisdom, and my all.”
4.
Is
it possible for a believer to
miss or be out of the
will of god?
Without question, insofar as God’s revealed
will, his precept, and his pleasure is concerned, a believer can miss, disobey,
and be out of the will of God. Any act of sin, unbelief, or disobedience, and
act, movement, or decision, made contrary to the direction of the Holy Spirit
is, in that sense, out of God’s will. The thing which David did in the matter
of Uriah “displeased the Lord” (2 Sam. 11:27). Yet, God’s
purpose was accomplished. Our Redeemer came into the world through the union of
David and Bathsheba. Elimelech was out of God’s will
of pleasure and precept in going down to Obed-Edom;
but his disobedience was overruled by God to accomplish his will of purpose and
predestination for the salvation of his elect.
Let
it be understood and emphatically clear that no one, and no action performed by
anyone, is ever out of the will of God’s purpose! “He worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” God’s
purpose is always accomplished, even when we are disobedient to his revealed
will. That fact does not lessen our responsibility to any degree; but it does give
us reason to adore and worship our God, whose purpose is ever wise and good.
Even when it is contrary to our will, our choice, and our actions, believers
still declare, honestly,, “I delight to
do thy will, O God.”
5.
How
can we know the will of god?
No one can determine what
God’s will is for you, except you. Paul said, “I conferred not with flesh and blood.” If we seek to find God’s
will for us by the counsel of other men, we are sure to miss it. God reveals
his will to those who seek it in three ways: (1.) By his Word, (2.) By his
Spirit, and (3.) By his providence. And he will reveal his will to all who
truly seek his will in faith (Pro. 3:5-6). Let this be our prayer - “Thy will be done!” Let this be our
determination - “I delight to do thy
will, O God.” Let this be our attitude - “It is the Lord, let him do what he will.”