The Will of God

I want to begin the sermon today by asking you a question, as often we do before giving a sermon or a discussion. Christ said we are to pray every single day. I want to ask you, what are we to pray for every day that is not the kingdom of God, it is not for your daily bread, it is not for those two things?

What are you supposed to pray every single day? The Bible tells us that. In fact, Jesus Christ said that we should be praying every day for God's will to be done upon the earth as it is done in heaven. That God's will be done every day in our own personal lives. But the question is, does God always care what decisions you make in your life? Does He always care what choices you make? Such as what color or kind of car that you buy. Does God really care about that? You know, God is an afford man or a Chevy man, but God is concerned about whether you go into excessive debt if you can't afford a particular car that you're going to buy.

But what about this question? Does God care what your hairstyle is? Well, not necessarily, as long as it's up to Christian standards. As long as it fits into the standard that is within God's word, it could be if a person had hair a certain way, a statement of rebellion against authority. And the Bible says nature shows it's a shame for a man to have long hair.

And of course, the Bible does talk about good grooming. And you know, it's hard really to read the book of Leviticus, by the way, without getting that point with the priest of what God required them to do. They had to bathe. They had to clean themselves up. So there is good grooming. We see within, again, the Scriptures that Israelites were not to have a garish look about them. They were not to trim their beards and their hair on their head in certain ways by doing patterns and designs. They were not to wear tattoos and all of that sort of thing.

They were to wear clean clothing. The priests had to wear clean clothing before they could serve before God. And also, on particular times, where they appeared before God, they had to have on certain garments as well when they appeared before God in service to Him.

And presumably, again, at other times, they could wear the typical dungarees that people do to do the things that they do in the day-to-day lives of gathering wood or doing other things. But God gave them guidelines of what His will was. You know, does God always make His will, clearly known to us? I want to ask you as well, brethren, what do you really want in life? What do you really want in life?

If you knew God's will, would you do it? Or would you do your own will? Would you be self-willed? If it was revealed to you what God's will is, what would you do? What do you want in life? Now, again, can we know what the will of God is?

And if so, how? How can we know what the will of God is? Let's go over to Romans 2 here to begin in the sermon today. In Romans 2 and verse 17, here Paul is talking about the Jews.

But in Romans 2 and verse 17, here Paul says, Indeed, ye are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God. Of course, they triumphed about the law of God. And it was a shining beacon. As God said, it should be, in fact, for the world. And there was no problem, by the way, with the law that God had given to them. The problem was in them. That was where the problem was. But going on, the apostle Paul says, And know his will.

You know the will of God. And so, they had the law, and they knew the will of God. It's saying very, very clearly here, and they proved the things that were excellent, being instructed out of the law. Now, that's an interesting statement, isn't it? They approved of the things that were excellent, the highest ideals of human beings. The Jews believed, and at least they approved of them.

They didn't always practice those things that were the high ideas, but at least they knew what the higher ideals are. And I submit to you, brethren, that in the United States, we've forgotten high ideas of character and honesty and fidelity. We've forgotten all about that. In this country, we are the greatest, one of the greatest exporters, if not the greatest exporter of pornography to the world, demeaning women and everything else about the human experience, the human existence in a very depraved way. But going on, it says in verse 19, in our confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness.

You're confident about that. Again, the problem was in the Jews, in themselves, because remember what Christ said the problem was. What was the problem? The Pharisees? You say and you do not. You don't do what you say. You talk about it, but you don't do it. You don't practice it. Jesus Christ told them. So the problem was in them.

They knew, though, the will of God, and they knew the excellent ways to go. In life, it's just a matter they never practiced it. So we can know, brethren, what the will of God is because of the law.

We can know the excellent ways of life because of the law. And God has made, clearly known through His laws, His will on many matters that ancient Israel understood. They had it right before them. But you know, brethren, and I know that every time you want to know God's will, you can't find a thus saith the Lord. This is where a lot of times we trip up, right, in our lives. You know, when we can't find a in black and white, a thus saith the Lord. And all that a Christian must do in life is not spelled out by law. However, there is, as we understand, a spirit of the law or a purpose of the law or an intent of the law that Jesus Christ would never came to add. You know, one of the reasons that Christ came was to talk about the spirit of the law that had not been observed by Israel and certainly not the Jews of His day because they were trampled all over the law, even though they claimed and they knew the law. They understood the law. And they did, again, understand what the will of God is, but they weren't practicing it, the intent of it, of what God intended by His laws and His commandments and His statutes.

You know, sometimes, again, a person can keep the letter of law exactly, but they can trample all over the purpose for the law to begin with, the purpose for the law in its intent and the spirit by which God gave the law to Israel. You know, God's will isn't automatically known, but, you know, we have to prove it. You have to prove what the will of God is. Let's go to Romans 12, since we're in Romans there, but Romans chapter 12, just one verse over here, we'll go to in Romans 12 and verse 2, and it says, And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And here's the last part of this verse that says, what I'm talking about here, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You have to prove the will of God. You know, and those choices that we make need to be based upon something. So we can prove, you know, the will of God. We can test it as it were.

And with the expectation, the word, by the way, the Greek word for prove here is dakamazo, if I'm pronouncing that correct, in the Greek. It means to test or to prove with the expectation of approving, the expectation of approving, and that's from vines.

And so the litmus test, brethren, though, is it according to the word of God, those things that we may want to do? You know, for instance, you will not find a law in the Bible, thou shall not participate in jury duty. But should a Christian be involved in jury duty?

It's not in the black and white. And what principles would one base not being involved in jury duty? You know, it's not my purpose to talk about that right now, but all you've got to do, again, look at John 1836. Christ said, my kingdom is not of this world. If it were, then my servants would fight. Christ's kingdom was not of the world, and we're told in the Bible to come out of the world. But there's a lot of other reasons, again, one should not participate in jury duty. But you have to prove that for yourself. Prove what is the will of God, again, for yourself. But God wants His law, brethren, His holy law to have a perfect impact on you and on me. That's what He means, the perfect will of God, the complete will of God in our lives. Even those things that, you know, we can say, well, I can't see a black and white on that, but there's something in us that shows us that it's wrong. It's contrary to the intent or the purpose of God's law if we go ahead and do something and involve ourselves in something that is not according to the law of God. And that's why, again, Paul uses the term, the perfect will of God. You know, often in our lives, brethren, if we are going to understand what the will of God is and what we are to do, often we have to choose between the lesser of two evils.

Even God had to make choices, by the way, in His own, you know, experience with Israel. Let's go to Exodus 32. Exodus 32. Now, I don't mean that God did evil, by the way. Far from it.

It's just a phrase, the lesser of two evils, by the way, so let's you misunderstand what I'm saying. But Exodus 32, I'm saying that sometimes choices God had to make, one was not, you know, the greatest to make and the other would not have been the greatest to make either, but one had to be made. But here in Exodus 32 and verse 1, because the alternative was very dramatic. Exodus 32 verse 1, and it says, Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron and said to him, Come, let's make us gods, that we shall go before us, or that shall go before us. For as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. Maybe he fell in a crevice up in the mountains and he died. And Aaron said, Did it break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me? So all the people broke off the golden earrings, which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron.

Remember, he took the gold and he made a calf with it, and threw it in the fire that popped out as you know, it seems to explain it. Usually what happens when we do the wrong thing, is it a, you know, first one thing, you know, this led to that, and one thing led to another, and voila, this is what happened. How many times does this happen when people end up doing something they shouldn't do? Well, one thing led to another, and well, you know, it happened. And Aaron gave his excuses. But here, notice going on in verse 9, you know, here God says you better get down below because your people are rebelling. You know, when our kids do wrong, by the way, I always tell my wife, your kids, you know, have done this. Well, God is saying, you know, your children down there, Moses, are acting up. And in verse 9, and the Lord said to Moses, I've seen this people, indeed, verse 9 here, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, and my wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them, and I'll make you a great nation. You know, God may have been testing Moses here with his own vanity. But notice, and then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God and said, Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with a great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak and say he brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them, you know, from the face of the earth? Turn from your fierce wrath and relent from this harm to your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven. In all this land I've spoken of, I give to your descendants that they shall inherit it forever. And so the eternal relented from the harm which he said he would do to his people.

So God changed his mind here about what he was going to do. God had two choices here, didn't he?

That at least humanly we can see. He could destroy Israel, and he could make Moses great and bring a reproach on his name, or he could save Israel and allow sinners, rebellious, stiff-necked sinners, to continue. So God had to choose between the two. And you know, those that rebelled never stopped rebelling, it seems, because eventually they were made to wander for 40 years in the wilderness, and none of them entered into the Promised Land. They all died in the wilderness.

So you see, God has to make sometimes decisions that would be great if everything were just cut and dried. But here you might say that it was a lesser of two evils. In Numbers 12, Numbers 12, let's see another example over here. Now Moses, as you know, was a general in the military of Egypt. And according to some of the history, apparently he married an Ethiopian woman, and this did not set well with Aaron and Miriam. But notice, verse 1, and then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And so they said, has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also when the Lord heard it? Sometimes we think God doesn't know what's going on. He does listen in on our conversations. And we do have to be careful what we do, as Mr. Taylor is talking about, what we say to not cause offense to people because certainly God hears what we say. And he will hold us accountable. Now the thing about Moses, Moses was very humble. Verse 3 says, more than all men who were upon the face of the earth. And suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, come up or come out, you three, to the tabernacle of the meeting. So the three came out. Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both went forward. And when he said, here now my words, if there's a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision.

I will speak to him in a dream. Verse 7, not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings. And he sees the form of the eternal. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and he departed. You remember the story of what happened to Miriam, you know, that she had leprosy, and she was put outside the camp. Apparently, in this case, Miriam was probably the one that had had egged Aaron on, but God punished both of them for their rebellion. Now, the question is, was Moses' marriage to the Ethiopian woman one that was good? No, it wasn't good. Was it wrong? Yes, it was wrong. It was wrong.

But the question is, was breaking up a marriage worse, based on the fact that God hates divorce? So you have, again, two choices God had to make.

And I think it's quite clear which decision he made.

You know, Miriam and Aaron were told to keep their mouth off of his servant.

So Moses, again, here, God upheld him as a leader at this time, and the rebellion of Miriam and Aaron was wrong, and God treated it accordingly. He made his will made known very clearly here.

So often, in our own lives, brethren, we have to make choices that maybe we'd rather not have to make.

It's not a matter, again, of doing evil, but sometimes having to stay with something that a mess up that we have made. Let's say it. Let's put it that way. You know, and, of course, the problem with Israel was Israel itself, dealing with human beings. Sometimes it can be a pretty difficult thing. Pastoring a church, by the way, is a lot like, by the way, riding a horse without a saddle. You may not be aware of that, because you maybe have never ridden a horse, but I'm sure you probably had never ridden one without a saddle. And sometimes without a bridle.

So that's another thing. But anyway, and pastoring five churches or four churches is impossible, because you can't ride four horses without a saddle. I'm not like one of the great wellendas that ride the horses and stand on the back of the horses.

I can only imagine what it was like for Moses, how difficult it must have been.

So again, sometimes we have to make decisions that we don't want to have to make, but we do it.

Next, brethren, God's will is not ever, by the way, to choose between two rights, two things that are right to do. His will is that we do both, you know, when there are two rights that need to be done. One of the things—let's go over to Matthew 7. Jesus Christ Himself said over in Matthew 7, in verse 21, over here, how important, brethren, the will of God is. In the future, you know, in fact, if we don't think that the will of God is all that important, brethren, in the future, Christ is going to say to some people, depart from me, I never knew you, because they did not practice the will of God.

And it would sure be a crying shame, brethren, if we were to not, you know, live by the will of God, at least based upon the law. The things are in black and white, you know, in the Word of God.

The things that, in fact, that are in red in the New Testament, Jesus Christ told us, you know, particularly, that we should do, and clearly that we should do. But here in Matthew 7, verse 21, He says, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Notice what He says, And many shall say to me, in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name. And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from me, you who practice, this is a very important word, lawlessness.

You didn't live by my laws. And lawlessness, by the way, brethren, sums up not just the law of God, but the intent of the law, a lawless attitude, you know, a lawless spirit.

And we don't want to ever be caught in that. But again, we don't want to ever be choosing between two things we ought to do, you know, two good things.

In Mark 7, Mark 7, Mark 7, Mark 7 and verse 9 over here, you can see what man does and continues to do in our world and society today to abrogate the laws of God as much as he possibly can. But in Mark 7, down to verse 9 here, it says, and he said to them, all too well you reject the commandments of God that you may keep your tradition.

Now, the Jews are really famous for tradition.

For Moses said, I honor your father and mother, and he who curses father or mother let him be put to death. But you say, if a man says to his father or mother, whatever prophet you might have received to me is carbon. That is a gift of God. In other words, I'm going to give it to the treasury, you know, of the temple. So therefore he could negate his mother and father's need.

Then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition, which you have handed down and many such things you do. This was just one of the things, the tip of the iceberg of what they did to do away with the law of God with their own human traditions.

You know, brother, we must do all of the will of God. If somebody wanted to give money to, say, for instance, the church or the treasury at that time, not wrong with that, nothing wrong with that, but you see, you would take care of your parents and you would do that as well.

You would do both, in other words. You would be able to do, or you should be able to do, if you're living, again, God's way and you're applying yourself in your life and dedicated to God, because God says, I'll make you right on the high places of the earth. So God would bless a person so that they would be able to do both of those things. But again, the Jewish tradition negated the intent and the spirit of the law. Remember, Jesus Christ actually said that the widow that cast in her might, she did more than the rich people. So you don't have to get much to God if you really have a heart of doing them as best you can, brethren. So it's certainly possible, even if you don't have a lot, maybe to give to do both, to help your parents and to contribute to the temple, as it were. The physical temple, of course, is what was involved at that time and the spiritual one today. Let's go to Matthew chapter 12. Matthew 12 over here. Matthew 12 and verse 10.

Matthew 12 and verse 10. It says, And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand, and they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, that they might accuse him? And then he said to them, What man is there among you, who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold on it and lift it out? And he says, Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. So again, here they were trying to cause him to commit an error, but he was saying, You know, this is where you make a big, big mistake here. You don't choose between two good things you ought to do. You obviously would lift the sheep out of a pit, and you would also keep the Sabbath. You wouldn't be breaking the Sabbath to do that, and therefore you wouldn't be breaking the Sabbath as he was trying to teach him there if he healed somebody on the Sabbath. It's good to keep the Sabbath and to heal, in other words. Good to do both. It's good to help an animal out of the ditch, but you know what? It's bad to push an animal in the ditch so you can pull them out on the Sabbath as well. In other words, doing your job on the Sabbath is never good.

Never good. I suppose there could be a case where it was if you happened to be coming to the church, and you know, there was a fire that was, you know, a building on the building where you work, and you could help in some way, maybe grab a bucket and help put it out, you know, and then head on to church afterwards. I guess that might be a scenario there. I'm saying this, by the way, because I'm sure that there's some cogs going up there that are thinking of these things. When I say the word never here, and maybe that's an unsafe generalization, but, you know, to keep the Sabbath and to heal are good things. You should do both. Now, for instance, it's never a choice, brethren, to work on the Sabbath or break the Sabbath and keep my job so I can feed my family. In other words, you know, if I work on the Sabbath, my boss, you know, or don't work on the Sabbath, my boss fires me, then I lose my job. I can't feed my family. Well, you know, that's flawed reasoning, flawed reasoning. God wants you to keep the Sabbath, and He wants you to feed the family as well. In fact, the Bible says that a man who does not take care of his family is worse than infidel. But one does not say, well, you know, feed your family is more important than keeping the Sabbath. You know, the Sabbath is important, and feeding your family is important. Those two things, you see, are good things, and the Bible spells it out. We have six days to feed our family and, you know, work, and we have one day to keep the Sabbath. So God's will, brethren, is not to choose between two goods but to do both. Next, brethren, don't look for signs of what God's will is when those things contradict what's clearly spelled out in the Word of God. I've had people that have tried to do that. Remember the time, brethren, when Jesus Christ was very labored, very much troubled by what was going to happen on the Passover? It was in the garden, and he said he had to go pray. And Christ prayed to the Father. He says, you know, is there a way, Father, that this cup could pass from me?

And he prayed it for three times.

And at the end, he said, nevertheless, Father, not my will, but your will be done.

So Christ went through a period, brethren. You know, he obviously would rather not have had to go through what he was going to go through. I think as time went on, it was more the resolve was there. He knew what he was going to have to do, you know, for the salvation of mankind.

But, you know, Christ after, he said, nevertheless, you know, not my will, but your will, Father, be done. He didn't look for an excuse then to do his own way, but he committed to God's will in his life. If he had been looking for a way out, you remember when Peter drew out the sword and lopped off the servant's ear? That would have been a good time. He could have snuck away if he had wanted to at that particular time. Remember, Christ sometimes, you know, there'd be a big tumult, and he would simply disappear. He'd disappear in the crowd, like he was like the average Jew of his day, looked that way, and he'd run away in the commotion.

But he didn't. He stayed there. And in fact, he told Peter, he said, put up your sword. Those that live by the sword are going to die by the sword. And he said that, well, I've got to suffer is according to Scripture. It's according to what the Bible says. And what man has been told about what the Messiah was going to have to do. And so Christ kept the will of the Father, the will of God. Rather, he didn't look for a way out. He looked for a sign, you know, as to how he could get out of it from God. Once he knew God's will, he went through to the very end, as we know the story. Another question, or another point, brethren, is God doesn't force you to do his will.

He's never going to force you to do it.

Yet sometimes people think that's what God does. That's his business, forcing people to do things.

Some people can say, well, you know, if God doesn't want me to date outside the church, he'll stop me. What would he have to do to stop you? By the way, you know, I told the minister what I was going to do, but he didn't say anything to me.

So it must be what I'm going to do is right.

I don't know, maybe the minister heard the person and they were so dogmatic about what they were going to do that he knew that they didn't want to hear what he had to say. I've done that before, brethren. If I see somebody committed to jumping off the cliff, go ahead. That's what you want to do.

Face the consequences. Or I pray that if God wants me to go to the Feast of Tabernacles, he'd provide me with a car.

But someone only offered me a ride at church to the Feast.

People, reasons, pretty strange things.

Remember, God didn't stop King David from sinning, but you know what? David paid a very high price.

Remember his child died? He faced the rebellion of Absalom and all kinds of havoc in his own life. It was a great price to pay. And the worst thing of all, he almost lost out on his eternal life.

Remember in his impassioned prayer in Psalm 51, he said, Lord, don't take your spirit from me.

If I can retain your spirit, I'll teach sinners your way. You had to change your heart.

We don't really see how important something is until we lose it.

But David saw in advance what that would mean.

I wouldn't want to go back to the way I used to think in the world.

Sometimes it's hard enough, with God's spirit.

I can't imagine what it would be like without it.

I can't imagine what it would be like without God's way of life.

Another point, brethren, is doing God's will doesn't always bring quick results.

Doing God's will doesn't always bring quick results.

In the book of Hebrews, I won't go over there, but in Hebrews 10 and verse 36, and I'm going to read from the Revised Standard Version here, Hebrews 10 verse 36, it says, you have need of endurance, patience, in other words, that you might do the will of God and receive that which is promised. That we would receive the fruit of doing the will of God in our lives. Sometimes we just don't have the patience that we need to have. I guess that's why God gave me jury duty to sit all day, you know, learn about those things. I guess that's why we have long lights, stoplights, coming down here, by the way, we had some long lights. Everybody sort of sitting at the lights looking at each other and wondering when is this thing going to change. Whipping out my book on Truman reading a couple of books. No, no, I didn't do that. But, you know, we are to learn patience in our lives. You know, sometimes we can snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. Can't wait. If we only endure just a little longer, we had victory, we had it made. How many times may God look down from heaven? He says, you had it made. As far as I was concerned, God may be standing on his throne, maybe he stands up to him sometimes when he makes stupid mistakes.

You had it made! Why did you make that dumb mistake? Why did you do that?

Well, brethren, there's so many things that we could say.

So doing God's will doesn't bring quick results. Also, brethren, don't assume that because God doesn't respond when and how we expect him to that we aren't doing God's will, that we aren't doing God's will. Remember, God promised Abraham and Sarah an offspring, and it took 25 years before it happened, before it occurred. And in the interim, by the way, what happened?

Sarah offered Hagar, and maybe Abraham looked at this as a sign that maybe God meant I would produce an error through Hagar. Boy, that was a big mistake, wasn't it?

Besides, if God had really wanted Sarah to be pregnant, she'd be pregnant by now. I mean, she's not getting any younger. It must be God's will, but it wasn't God's will.

Let me give you some examples of how people jumped to the wrong conclusions about God's will. Nobody spoke to me Sabbath, so God must not want me to be there.

Question is, did you speak to anybody else? That's the question.

Were you approachable on the Sabbath? I've had people tell me this.

If God doesn't give me a job this week, he must want me to take that job working on the Sabbath. It's like we give God an ultimatum. You will do this. Somehow, we've got that little turned around, don't we? If the boss doesn't give me the time off, God must not want me to go to the feast. Because he'd work it out. Surely he would. If the race doesn't come through, God must not want me to tithe. I mean, how else can I afford the cable and other stuff I have to pay for go through? I've had people show me their budgets. I wonder if you can't tithe.

Or you think you can't tithe. Get rid of your cable if you can't afford it anyway.

My wife and I, by the way, rather, are off the grid when it comes to those things.

You know, we do have internet, and I would like to get rid of that. But in this world, it's kind of hard. I don't know if the home office would really understand.

They could never get ahold of me.

Another thing, if this was really God's church, I wouldn't be going through these trials.

I've heard this one many times. Why do I have all these trials?

You know, I should be peaceful in the church. I should never have any trials.

I'm such a nice person, you know, and I should never have any trials. I don't cause anybody any problems. But boy, they cause me problems. You know, but yeah, I know. I know. I know, brother.

You can be Lily White. And it is true. You can be Lily White, and you can come into a Tar Baby situation pretty soon. You've got muck all over you. You don't want a Tar Baby situation, don't you? You don't want a Tar Baby.

What is the story, brother? It's been so long, I've forgotten the story.

Isn't that about the Brer Rabbit? You know, in getting in the story, you can't fault me. I'm a little old on this one. I have to educate you about this, by the way.

But it's going to take a while for my mind to remember. But let's do that another time, okay?

But another thing, brethren, we need to understand is that God's truth and God's will does not come through human or intellectual reasoning. God's truth and or God's will, in fact, it cannot come through human reasoning. This book, brethren, is the only place, in fact, that we can figure out God's will unless God is talking to you every day.

And if he is, I'd like to talk to you after church. But this is the only will of God that I know about that's been revealed. And it can't come from human reasoning.

Now, we can understand the truth with God's, the ability God has given us to reason as human beings through His Word if we submit to it. But apart from it, no, you can't. You can't come to see the truth, and you can't come to see the will of God. Hebrews 4, 12.

You know, the the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. It's a discerner of the hearts of men.

You know, basically, brethren, it will incisively show us the difference between right and law. It will chop up and dice human nature, as it were, to show us again what exactly is the right way to go. If we learn, especially we learn about what the intent of God's law is. And we need to learn that. And it's something you learn over time. When we first come into the church, we don't know it. You know, we, unfortunately, it's amazing when I first came to the church how much I knew. And after now, I don't know how many years we've been in, well, since 68, you figure how much you don't know. It's scary, actually. You wonder how you made it to here, based on what you really do know. But, you know, so the Word of God is powerful. It's a living thing. It's a discerner, a discerner, you know, the thoughts and the intents of the heart. And so, you know, we need to learn to discern between what's good and what's bad.

We need to discern what is truth and what is the will of God. And that takes skill.

Down in verse 12 of chapter 5, it says, For though by this time, Paul told them, you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God. And it says, you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of a full age. That is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. So we need to discern what is the will of God and what is wrong, what is evil, as God's people, knowing what again the will of God is. And those things, by the way, are spiritually discerned. You can have the book, by the way, but you need the decoder of the Holy Spirit in your mind to be able to understand the book.

And either that Spirit has to be working with your mind, as it was the disciples before they received the Spirit, or it has to be in you to discern good and evil. And so that is what is important, brethren. Spiritual perception of right and wrong. No, in fact, Paul said that had, you know, the leaders, the religious leaders of his day had spiritual discernment that they would not have crucified Christ. You know, but they did. They crucified Christ because they didn't know who they were crucified, first and foremost. And certainly they did not understand and know that in his case he should never, he was, it was an illegal trial anyway. The whole thing was illegal!

It was contrary, you know, to even their basic law. So, you know, they made so many different mistakes with regard to that. You know, the carnal mind is capable of such great evil, and it is capable of some good. Not very much, but it is capable of good.

And carnality, brethren, is human reasoning, pure and simple.

The way we reason apart from God is just carnality. Carl-men.

But, you know, even carnal men can make good decisions.

Member of Mr. Armstrong used to talk about Colgate, who tithed on his income, and as a result of it, he used to talk about how that Colgate, who was the founder, of course, of the toothpaste and other types of products that were produced by Colgate, that God blessed him.

But here was a man who was a carnal-minded man that made a good decision, and as a result, he was blessed of God for what he did. But, you know, we have to realize, too, that even a clock is right, a broken clock is right half the time.

So, I shouldn't say half the time, but twice a day. That's what I meant to say.

If it wasn't for my broken mind, I would have gotten that right the first time.

Ha ha ha!

Remember, I told you riding a horse.

So, God's truth or will does not come through human reasoning.

You know, finally, brethren, we ought to be very wise right now, and not be unwise.

We need to be wise in understanding what the will of God is. Let's go to Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5 over here.

Ephesians 5.

You know, this is a topic, quite frankly, that you could probably spend three or four sermons on, but maybe more. But Ephesians 5 and verse 15, when we're talking about the will of God, I mean, it's a big subject, isn't it? But verse 15, it says, So then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.

Realize, brethren, the times that we're living in.

Redeeming the time because the days are evil.

And, by the way, if you don't really believe these days are evil, you need to get in touch. Open your eyes.

Maybe you're too close to it. You know.

The days are evil. Certainly calamitous as well.

Calamities are going to come. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understanding what the will of God is, the will of the Lord is. And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. In other words, we ought to make hay while the sun shines, as they say in Oklahoma. Make hay while the sun shines.

And it says, giving thanks always, verse 20, for all things to God, the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God. We ought to be, again, be very wise right now, making use of the will of God in our lives. It's time for us to immerse ourselves, brethren, as never before, in God's way of life so that we can better understand, in fact, what the will of God is. How many of us have not seen the movie about Rocky?

Sylvester Stallone. Hey, grin! I think everybody's seen Rocky, haven't they?

You know, he trains himself. To begin with, he's in, what is it, Philadelphia?

He's going to participate in the ultimate, you know, boxing match of this Italian stallion against this champion. He gets up before dawn, you know, goes to the refrigerator, mixes himself raw egg. You remember him cracking the eggs into the cup? And he drinks it right down.

He does one-headed push-ups. He does get a trainer. He chases chickens around.

You know, I should be a great boxing person. In fact, I chased a lot of chickens when I was growing up, but he, to build up his reflexes and his stamina. In other words, to prepare for the boxing match, brethren. I know it's just a movie, but, you know, shouldn't we take our calling seriously, brethren, in the same spiritual sense? Now, I don't mean you have to get up and drink raw eggs, but, you know, what do I mean? Putting our effort into what we're doing as God's people.

Re-ly applying ourselves in the things that matter—prayer, fasting, studying God's word, meditation, drawing close to God. You know, the Passover is not very far away, just over a month away, brethren. It's coming down quite rapidly.

You know, and we need to, again, be aware that God wants us to live by His will in our lives. Chapter 6, chapter 6 over here, verse 5, notice this, and it says, Bond servants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling and sincerity of heart as to Christ.

Not with eye service as men-pleasers, but as bond servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. They knew what the will of God was, but were they doing it from the heart?

The intent of, again, what God's desire was. Brethren, it's time for us to stop playing games with God. If we've ever been playing with games with God, we need to do things from the heart.

The intent of what God wanted us to be. We ought to be hardworking, respectful employees on the job, and trustworthy. We need to prove the way of God really does work, and it will for us work, brethren. God will bless us. We need to, again, do that perfect will of God in our lives, and we'll see abundantly in abundant blessings. We may suffer, by the way, by what we do as well, but you know, we ought to be able to take that in stride as well, as God's people. Because if you're doing everything right, brethren, let's just say, give you the benefit of the doubt. Everything you're doing is right. You have not made one solitary mistake, and you still suffer. You go through it. Then what should you do? Well, brethren, if you suffer, the Bible says, for doing good.

Wonderful! Wonderful! But don't suffer for doing evil. Don't suffer for doing wrong. That's what the Bible says. It may be appointed to you, brethren, to go through situations and trials that right now in your life it might be your time, your responsibility right now to go through these things and suffer. So if you find out I'm in jail after jury duty on Monday, maybe that'll be my lot. I don't know.

But like you, I'll stand my ground when it comes to, you know, what I feel I should not do conscience-wise. Let's go to 1 Peter chapter 3. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 17. I'll skip over some of these verses here for the sake of time, but 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 17.

Here it says in verse 17, and maybe it says it all, for it is better if it is the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

And sometimes it's the will of God that we suffer, brethren, certain things.

But because we suffer doesn't mean that we stop obeying God. We stop doing what He tells us to do.

You know chapter 4. Let's go over to chapter 4 here, verse 1, I believe, and 2.

It says, Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind.

Have the same attitude. For he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin.

He suffered the ultimate suffering, didn't he, when he gave his life.

That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh, but for the lust of men, but for the will of God. Then Peter says, For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles, the will of men. We have, haven't we, brethren? We spent enough time doing what men wanted us to do, doing what we wanted to do sometimes. When we walked in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, abominable idolatries.

In regard to these, they think it's strange you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation speaking evil of you.

They will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. Those people that judge you if you're doing the right thing, they're going to have to give an account.

You and I don't have to worry about that.

You know, Christ is going to be the ultimate judge. We know that. So, brethren, God's will, brethren, is that his character be so deeply embedded in us that decisions of doing his will are almost like second nature to us. God doesn't have to think about whether he's going to do one thing or another thing. At least, he doesn't have to think very long about things because it's his nature. And God wants it to be our nature. His nature, God wants to be in us. So, it's our character so that we will do what we do based on his holy way. Jesus said to his disciples, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.

Well, brethren, I hope that we, as God's people, have that same attitude. That our meat, our food, brethren, is to do the will of the Father in heaven and have his Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, brethren, let's live according to the will of God. We know in the final analysis the rewards are so much better for us in the future when Jesus Christ returns, and we can be a part of his wonderful kingdom.