vestigating God #13
GOD’S WILL FOR YOUR LIFE
Steve W. Reeves
seversermons.blogspot.com
INTRODUCTION:
A. One
evening when I was a student in college I saw a friend from high school in the library. She and I had grown up in the same church and had known each other for a
long time. As we talked she asked me a question I’ve never forgotten. “How can I
know what God’s will is for my life?”
1. Some of you who are students may be asking that question today.
2. It is not only students who ask that question. It is pertinent to all of us regardless of
age, gender, ethnicity or status of life.
B. The desire to know God’s will is as old as time itself.
1. The Psalmist wrote, “Teach me to do your will for you are my God” (Psalm 143:10).
2. Jesus was insistent of doing His Father’s will.
a. In John 5:30 He said, ““I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge;
and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him
who sent Me.”
b. During his garden prayer the night before the crucifixion Jesus prayed, “My
Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You
will” (Matthew 26:39; Luke 22:42).
c. Jesus taught His disciples to seek God’s will in prayer. In the model prayer of
Matthew 6:10ff, He prayed, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
3. The apostles diligently sought to understand the will of God.
a. In Romans 12:2 Paul wrote, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will
of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
b. To the Ephesians Paul wrote, “not as man pleasers but as servants of Christ
doing the will of God” (Ephesians 6:6).
c. In Colossians 4:12 he expressed his desire that those Christians might, “stand
perfect and complete in the will of God.”
3. In light of the words of Jesus and Paul it is not unreasonable to say that a person
who has no interest in doing God’s will can in no way be called a disciple of Jesus
Christ.
C. What is God’s will for you? You do not have to guess.
1. My college friend in the library was convinced God was giving her a sign to go to
Russia. We had recently had a chapel speaker who had gone to Russia. In her
study at the library she had run across material about Russia. It seemed that she
couldn’t get Russia off of her mind. Was this God giving her a sign?
a. I’ve heard of people who claim to have seen signs from God in everything from
the reflection of a cross in a storm door (Wynne, Arkansas) to a Mexican woman
who claimed she had seen the Virgin Mary in a scorched tortilla.
b. In Old Testament times God did use signs to lead and guide people. You might
recall the pillar of cloud and fire that led the Israelites out of Egypt, the fleece
that confirmed God’s commission to Gideon, or the signs that accompanied the
ministry of Jesus. All of these pointed to something greater – that was the
completed word of God.
2. In Romans 10:17 the Bible says, “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word
of God.”
3. God’s will is revealed for us in Scripture. In the movie, “Apollo 13” there is a scene
when the flight director admonishes his engineers after the spacecraft had suffered
a debilitating explosion, “Let’s get it right people. We don’t need to be guessing.”
You and I do not have to guess about the will of God.
4. By examining Scripture we can understand the will of God for our life. This
understanding begins with God’s greatest desire – our salvation.
I. SALVATION IS WHAT EVERYONE NEEDS
A. What do we mean by “salvation?” What does it mean to be saved or lost?
1. As I use the term “lost” in this message I am referring to being separated from
God because of sin.
a. This is not a matter of subjective opinion. The Bible clearly teaches the
tragedy of sin and the heartbreak of being lost.
b. In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus spoke of two roads a person can travel in life. “Enter
through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to
destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is small
and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
c. Later, in Matthew 7:21-23 - “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will
enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in
heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not
prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your
name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew
you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
d. In John 5:28-29 Jesus said, “Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in
which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29 and will come forth;
those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed
the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”
e. Jesus proclaimed a truth that is revealed throughout the Bible. There is a
way of life and a way of death. There is a way of blessing and a way of
condemnation. In Mark 16:16 he said, “He who has believed and has been
baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”
2. When we use the term “saved,” we’re talking about a person whose sins have
been forgiven. A person who has been reconciled to God through the sacrifice of
Jesus on the cross.
a. It was for the forgiveness of our sins and our reconciliation with God that
Jesus came to earth, lived a sinless life and was offered as an atoning
sacrifice on the cross. In his resurrection He overcame death once and for all,
and he offers us eternal life.
b. In John 3:16-17 Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His
only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have
eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world,
but that the world might be saved through Him.”
B. To fully appreciate the difference between being saved and lost consider what
Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:7 – “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.”
1. Redemption means to release or set free.
2. A missionary in Africa asked one of the local men how he would define the word
“redemption.” The man said, “releasing the head.” He went on to describe how
centuries ago native Africans would be enslaved with heavy iron collars placed
around their necks. As they were taken through the countryside and villages on
their way to the slave ships, a village chief might see someone he knew and buy
their freedom with ivory or gold. Their head would be released from the heavy
iron collar.
3. The blood of Christ is the price God has paid for our lives to be released from
the shackles of sin.
3. Peter wrote, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like
silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but
with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of
Christ.”
II. SALVATION IS WHAT GOD DESIRES FOR EVERY PERSON
A. Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 2:3, “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the
truth.”
1. This is the one thing that God wants for you more than anything. He wants you to
be saved.
2. Someone says, “God just wants me to be happy.”
a. God is not opposed to happiness. However, happiness is here one minute
and gone the next.
b. God is far more concerned about your eternal well-being than He is your
temporary happiness. Whenever God challenges you with something hard He
has something good planned for you.
B. In 2 Peter 3, Peter reminded his readers how God had brought judgment upon the
ancient world in the days of Noah by the waters of the flood. Then he told them of
another judgment that would come. This one would be a judgment of fire.
1. Notice verse 9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count
slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to
come to repentance.”
2. Think of the vilest person you can imagine. God’s desire is for that person to
turn away from sin and turn to Him that they might be saved; He wants them to
confess faith in Christ and be baptized into Him. His forgiveness is absolutely
full and complete.
C. In Matthew 18:12-14 Jesus said, “12 “If a man has a hundred sheep but one of the
sheep gets lost, he will leave the other ninety-nine on the hill and go to look for the
lost sheep. 13 I tell you the truth, if he finds it he is happier about that one sheep
than about the ninety-nine that were never lost. 14 In the same way, your Father in
heaven does not want any of these little children to be lost.”
1. Though Jesus addressed “little children,” the principle is true for all of us.
2. Can you imagine how much God wants you to be saved? Look at the
outstretched arms of His Son on the cross. That’s how much.
III. SALVATION IS DEPENDANT ON OUR CHOICE
A. There are two choices made the process of salvation.
1. The first is God’s choice. God did not choose some arbitrarily and neglect
others. He chose to save all who came to Him through the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. The second choice is the one you make. You are the one who must choose
whether or not you will accept the grace of God that has been extended to you.
B. Imagine a man being caught in a flood. As the water surrounds his house
someone comes by to rescue him in a four-wheel drive truck. He refuses the offer.
As the water continues to rise he is forced to the second floor. Someone comes by
in a boat to rescue him. He refuses. Ultimately, he is forced to the roof. A
helicopter pilot sees him and lowers a basket for him to get in and be saved. He
refuses. At judgment he complains to God, “I don’t understand why you let me
drown?” God said, “I sent you a truck, a boat and a helicopter. You refused all of
them.”
CONCLUSION:
A. There are some things about God’s will for your life I do not know.
B. I do know, beyond any doubt, that God loves you more than you can comprehend
and His ultimate will is for you to be saved. That is why He sent Jesus. Will you
respond to Him today in faith, repentance and baptism. If you have forsaken Him will
you come home. Why not now?
