Address—Jim Hyland
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Meeting this afternoon with 278.
Savior, we long to follow thee daily, thy cross to bear and count all else what ere it be unworthy of our care. We're going to stand to sing this. It might be helpful for an afternoon meeting. 278 if someone will please start it.
Save your way long to.
Fall.
If I cross together.
And go.
For everything I'm working on.
I'm working.
All your souls are.
Pretty.
Fly straight and grace and being behind.
For we are one for everything.
Who is being trusted all the time?
Let's ask God's help and blessing 2 verses of Scripture by way of introduction.
To what I have on my heart this afternoon, these might seem like strange scriptures to read at the beginning of an address.
But I want to read first of all in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 53.
Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 6.
All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way.
And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. And then a couple of verses in First Timothy.
First Timothy chapter 2.
And verse three, First Timothy, chapter 2 and verse 3. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.
Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth? Well, as I say, these might seem like strange verses to begin an address to believers with, but I have it on my heart this afternoon to speak a little bit about God's will in our lives.
It's a subject that I feel very inadequate to speak on, but I do believe it's important not only for those who are younger, but for each one of us, wherever we are in our Christian pathway. There are some children here who know the Lord as their Savior. There are young people here. There are those that we would consider middle-aged. There are some who are a little farther along in the path of faith and service. And brethren, we can never say we've arrived in the things of God.
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That we've reached a certain point and we've arrived. No, these things are to exercise our souls at whatever point we are in our Christian pathway. But I thought it might be good to begin with these two portions, because first of all, in Isaiah 53, we find what we are by nature. We like our own will. We like our own way. Someone has said if there's one thing man wants more than anything else, it's to have his own way.
And really, when we examine our own souls, we realize how true that is. Man acts in independence of God. Man's history began with disobedience. Man's history began with Adam reaching out and eating of the forbidden fruit. And it says by one man's disobedience, sin entered and death by sin. And any of us who have had children realize that those children are born with a nature that wants to have.
Its own way, they not very long after they're born, they squeeze those little fists and they raise their voice in self will. That's really what it is. Self will. And so man by nature is self willed. We've got turned everyone to its own way. And what's interesting to realize too is that the climax of man's history of sin on this planet is going to be self. Will we see it today? Human rights today are glorified our own way. If it feels good, do it.
Just do your own thing. You who are younger, know you're bombarded with this at school and at work every day, man desiring to have his own way. But I say, not only is self will and sin practice today, but it's preached and glorified. When has there ever been a day when human rights are as in the forefront as the day in which we live? And the climax of man's history of sin is perhaps summed up in Daniel Chapter 11. Speaking of the man of sin in a coming day, it says.
The king shall do according to his own will. Unbridled self will is going to climax. I say the history of man here in this world, but isn't it wonderful to be able to turn from that to the portion we read in Timothy and find out what God's will is and God's will is that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Not a tremendous thought if you're not saved here this afternoon. God's desire, God's will for you.
Is that you would be saved. Perhaps you sat here the last couple of evenings and you've heard the gospel. Maybe you've even been stirred in your soul as scriptures have been quoted concerning the person and work of Christ, and as warnings have been presented from this blessed book. But are you still going your own way? You know the gospel is to be obeyed. We're to obey the gospel. It's not something just to be listened to. And then you decide in your own mind if you're going to get saved or not.
No, we're to obey it. And have you obeyed the gospel or are you still going your own way? Well, God's will, God's desire for you this afternoon is that you would be saved and you still have an opportunity. The very fact that we're still here for the last meeting of these, this conference, is a proof that God's will and desire for you is that you would be saved. He's giving you one more opportunity. And I want to tell you the way. A blessing is open, and it's a happy way, you say, but I'll have to give up things that I want to do. I'll have to give up my own will, but you'll receive a life.
That delights to please the Lord Jesus. You only receive the very life of Christ so that your desires change, your desires become his desires, and so it's God's will that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. But now I'd like to connect some other portions. Let's go first of all to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 10.
Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 7.
Then said I lo, I come in the volume of the book. It is written of Maine.
To do thy will, O God, above, when He said sacrifice, and offering, and burnt offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldst not.
Neither has pleasure therein which are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God, He taketh away the 1St, that he may establish the 2nd. And then I want to read a verse in John 17.
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John, chapter 17 and verse 24. Father I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. And one more portion for now in the book of Colossians.
Colossians Chapter 4.
Colossians Chapter 4 and verse 12.
Epifras who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you always laboring fervently for you in prayers that you may stand perfect and complete in the will of God. For I bear him record that he hath a great zeal for you and them that are in Laodicea, and them in Heropolis. Well, first of all we read in Hebrews chapter 10, because here we have the Lord Jesus as a man, the perfect example.
It tells us in first Peter.
Left us an example that we should follow in His steps, and that's why later on in the book of Hebrews, he set before us at the right hand of God as the object for faith because he's the one and the only one that began and completed the path of faith in perfection. When we go to John, I think it's the 6th chapter we read. There the Lord Jesus said I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
His meat and drink was to do the will of God the Father. And in the 17th of John we find he could say at the end of it all. I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work that thou gavest me to do. He carried out that will in perfection. Every breath he took as a man, every word he spoke, every movement of his body, every step he took, was in complete harmony with the will of God the Father. And what an example it is for you and for me. But I read here because.
Here we find the Lord Jesus spoken of as having come to do his will.
Even to offer himself as the supreme sacrifice, shall I say, as a man to make the ultimate sacrifice, to give his life. And we go in thought to the Lord Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, before he is put on trial and then LED out to be crucified. And he vows in the garden. And he does say as a man, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. But what does he immediately add nevertheless not my will.
But thine be done. Did he deviate for one moment from the will of the Father? Did he deviate for a second from that which was set before him to accomplish? No, he had said earlier, I have a baptism wherewith to be baptized, and how am I straightened until it be accomplished? And even in the hour of his greatest trial he rises from the garden, and he goes forth to pilots judgment hall and from pilots judgment hall, it says.
He bearing his cross went forth. It wasn't an easy path for the Lord Jesus. And I'm I'm not going to stand here and tell you this afternoon if you seek God's will and seek to walk in obedience to his will, that it's going to be easy. Was it easy for the Lord Jesus? No. He was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He how how he suffered there was a great cost. But oh, there was a joy too. There he was. He was the man of sorrows. But, you know, it's been pointed out that even at a difficult time in his life.
Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and again it says in Hebrews who for the joy that was set before him.
Endured the cross. What was that joy, really? I believe it was the joy of returning to the Father. Having accomplished the Father's will, what must have passed between the Father and the Son, as the Son leaves this world and goes back and seats himself down. And God set him there at his own right hand, what must have passed between the Father and the Son. Both perfectly satisfied with all that had been accomplished to God's glory here in this world, You know sometimes.
We set one of our children to a task, and when the task is completed, we're somewhat satisfied and often we let little details go. We say, well, they've done a good job, or they've done the best they can, or we're going to be satisfied with the job, even though perhaps it wasn't quite up to par.
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When the Lord Jesus went back to the Father, nothing had been left undone of all that had been given him to do here in this world. I say He fulfilled the Father's will to the letter to the last jot of what had been given him to do. But then we find we read in John 17 and here we find the Lord Jesus again at the end of His pathway, just before he goes to the cross. And what is His desire expressed?
This is perhaps the only, or at least one of the few times where the Lord Jesus as a man expresses his will and what is his will. All his will is that his own be with him where He is, because, brethren, his heart will never be fully satisfied until the Father's house is filled with those that he delights to call his own. The Lord Jesus had the privilege this morning of having a few gathered around himself in this room.
And in various other places, and with the time changes, will still perhaps this day have the privilege of the joy of having his own gathered at his table to remember him. But all I say, his heart is really anticipating that day when every believer, every child of God, is going to be gathered around himself. Isn't it wonderful to think that so satisfied will his heart be such? Will his rejoicing be that he's going to lead the singing? He's going to joy over us with singing. He's going to raise, as it were, the first note of the eternal song. We think of what it will be for us to burst into the eternal song, and it will be something that we can't even anticipate.
But all to think of his joy, to think of his viewing that vast company in that day, and saying, finally, finally, the desire that I expressed here in this world in John 17, finally that desire is realized. He's still waiting for the full realization of what he expressed here. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.
But now I want to go on, and I want to look at some scriptures, brethren, that I trust will exercise your heart and mind. We're not home yet, brethren, and when we get home, we're not going to need the exhortations from the word of God to follow the Lord Jesus. We're not going to be a need to be admonished and encouraged to do the will of God in our lives. Know the path of faith and service is going to be over when we finally sit down in the Father's house.
When we're there, we won't need admonishment in the same way. But brethren were not home yet and everyone of us have a path of faith and service. And again I say this is not just for those who are younger, it's for my own heart. And if what exercises my own heart exercises yours, then so be it. Let's go first of all to Ephesians Chapter 6.
Ephesians chapter 6.
And beginning at verse 5, servants, be obedient unto them that are your masters, according to the flesh, with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ, not with I service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart with goodwill, doing service as unto the Lord and not unto men. And then just hold your finger here. I want to read a portion in Romans chapter 12.
Romans chapter 12 and verse one. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove. What is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God we noticed? I didn't comment on it yet. I wanted to read these two portions first.
But we noticed in the book of Colossians that Epiphros prayed for the Saints of God.
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Because just as we've been saying, he realized that they were not, they weren't home yet, and that God had a path of faith and service for each of his people. And when Epiphros prayed for the Saints of God, what did he pray about? He prayed that they might stand perfect and complete in the will of God. You know, so often when we pray for the Saints, we pray about problems and difficulties. Now, brethren, don't take what I say out of context.
Don't misunderstand me. It's good to pray for one another when there are difficulties. We know of a health issue with a brother or sister. It's good to pray for them. Some difficulty in that person's life. We pray for that person. We pray for our brethren, we pray for our families. We pray concerning our own problems and difficulties. And certainly there's much in the word of God to encourage us to do that. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
But it's interesting to go through Paul's epistles and to notice that when Paul or others pray for the Saints of God, it's usually not in connection with, shall I say, the lost button or some problem or difficulty. But it's that they might go on in the truth of God, that they might be preserved in the truth of God, that there might be that genuine desire and exercise with each one to seek God's will. And I just picture Epifras, a man who labored in prayer, going into his room.
Day after day, closing his door, praying in his closet, and bringing before the throne of grace the Saints, name by name and need by need. Maybe many of them were going on well for the Lord, but Epifras knew that if they were, they were going to be special targets of the enemy. And you know it's good to pray for one another in this way, not to not to pray for one another after we've become indifferent or cold or missed the path or.
Left the Lord's table or something like that. Good to pray for one another then. But you know, brethren, I believe if we used prayer as a preventative measure, it would spare us from many things. And if we would pray for one another, name by name, from day-to-day, that we would go on together, and that we might grow, and that there might be a desire, genuine desire and exercise to follow the will of God. I say again, it might spare us from many things. I had a rebuke from a sister one time.
Now, some of the greatest rebukes I've received and needed, I've been from sisters and I appreciate it in their proper place and I appreciate it. But, you know, a sister said to me one time after a prayer meeting, an assembly prayer meeting, she said, Jim, why is it the brothers never pray for the people that are there and the people that are there every Thursday night and the people that are seeking to go on for the Lord? I thought that was quite a rebuke. Because if there are brethren in your assembly who are always at all the meetings seeking to go on, they're helping the Lord's people. They're seeking to do the will of God. Those are the ones that Satan is going to target, brethren. Those are the ones that need your prayers.
In your closet and Epifras not only prayed for those in his home assembly Colossi, but he had an exercise to pray for those in neighboring assemblies, Laodicea and Heropolis. Well, let's learn to pray for one another in that way. Well, then we find in Ephesians where we read He brings in the heart. And that's really why I read this portion. As we read these portions, we don't have time to comment on everything that is in these verses. But I wanted to notice two things particularly.
That is in verse five, in single singleness of heart, and in the end of verse six from the heart. Because, you know, it really is a question of the heart. We could stand here all day and tell people they need to follow the Lord that they need to seek the mind of the Lord and the will of God. But you know, it has no effect on the on the soul whose conscience and heart isn't affected and all. I just want to encourage you. I trust that as a result of these meetings.
Our hearts have gone out more than the person of Christ because the Lord Jesus said if a man loved me, he will keep my commandments. Why is it so often we find it hard to do the will of God. Why is it so often we find it hard to follow the word as it's laid out and its instructions for our pathway. I suggest it's a matter of the heart and notice as I say it's singleness of heart. I was impressed some time ago and going through the Psalms to realize how much the psalmist speaks of a whole heart.
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He says with my whole heart will I seek thee. You know, it says in John first. John in contrast, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. You know there's nothing hinders the will of God in our lives like divided affections. Nothing hinders the will of God in our lives like divided affections. Can we think of a time in our lives when our hearts went out more to the person of Christ? And as a result there was that fervor and what we sometimes refer to as first love?
If we can remember such a time in our lives, brethren, then we need to get into the presence of the Lord Jesus.
To enjoy his person, to let him love us as it were, and to have our affection stirred, because the heart that is stirred toward Christ has no difficulty in letting the feet follow. And we find that it says of Daniel at the beginning of his career there in Babylon. It says he purposed in his heart. I believe it was the great secret of Daniel's life, because purpose of heart is more than desire. Purpose of heart is the affection stirred by an object.
It's a desire, true, but it's more than that. The affections must be drawn out to an object if the feet are going to follow on. And so that's why Barnabas went down and exhorted the early believers that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. Is there that purpose of heart with us? I say it's more than desire. You know, I'm thankful when I hear of a sister or brother in Christ who says, you know, I really have a desire to follow and please the Lord.
I really have a desire to know the will of God in my life, but brethren, that isn't enough.
You know, these meetings are just about over and we could have a desire after this meeting is concluded to get in our vehicles and to go home. But, you know, if that's all it is, we're going to sit here forever. I'm not trying to be facetious or funny, but the slaughter desireth and hath nothing. Desire in itself isn't enough. That's why David in the 27th Psalm, he said one thing have I desired of the Lord. But he didn't stop there. He said that will I seek after. There was energy of faith. There was purpose of heart.
On the part of David. And so it does take diligence. You know, we talk about exercise in Christian things, in spiritual things, And you know yourself that exercise takes diligence, It takes discipline. It takes energy to discipline yourself to get up a little earlier and go out for a walk. The young people sometimes go to the spa or the gym for a couple of hours a week. That takes discipline and scheduling. And you know, it's no different in Christian things if we're going to walk in the path of faith and service.
If we're going to walk in the will of God, it takes discipline, It takes energy. That's why it's referred to as exercise. Christianity is not easy. Christianity is not easy, but it is happy and it is blessed. And so he speaks here of this singleness of heart is unto Christ, and not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart. Because Christianity too is more than just a set of rules and regulations.
It's more than just a set of commandments laid down, but again, a commandment, as we said in one of the reading meetings, a request, I should say, has the power of a command to a heart that goes out to the person, the person that makes that request. They don't have to repeat it. If there's love involved, if there's real love, and if that response is mutual, then they don't have to repeat it. They don't even have to propagate it as a command or even a request.
Is just the expression of their soul in some way. Maybe not even in words sometimes, but just by what they what they do. Just by the look on their face, you say, I know what would delight that person. I know what would make that person happy. And so let's learn to do the will of God from the heart.
But then I read in the book of Romans as well, these verses that were very familiar with and that we often read.
And here we find that first of all, the Apostle Paul encourages them.
To give their bodies as a living sacrifice. You know, this is total commitment. It's total commitment. Again, it's not halfway commitment. You know, I've been in countries where persecution is a very real thing. I've been in countries where brethren meet with the doors bolted and the window shut. And when we do sing a hymn, they say now don't sing too loud, We don't want to arouse any suspicion. You know, in those kinds of circumstances, there's no halfway.
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In a sense, and I want to speak carefully, but in a sense, you can't be 1/2 hearted Christian under those kinds of circumstances. It's all or nothing, you know. So the problem in this country, the difficulty is we get lulled into complacency. The work of the enemy in this country is not so much open persecution, but we're lulled to sleep. And so it is high time to awake out of sleep. It tells us in this very epistle, and I believe that the work of the enemy in this country is perhaps in many ways more successful than the open persecution.
That we get in other countries today because the Saints of God are often lulled into a lethargic state of things so that we just drift along. But are we willing, first of all, in connection with the will of God in our lives? Are we willing to lay ourselves on the altar? Are we willing to give ourselves as a living sacrifice? You know, sacrifice is not a word that's very familiar in our vocabulary here in the Western world. And brother, don't misunderstand me, I can't stand here and speak of sacrifice.
As to myself, I know very little, if anything, about real sacrifice. But he does want us to give ourselves in that way, to give our bodies as a living sacrifice. We're not our own. We're bought with a price. Do you realize you don't belong to yourself? When I say I want to do this, I'm really, I'm really discrediting the claims of God in my life when I abuse my body, when I use my body for myself.
I'm not recognizing who I belong to. I don't belong to myself. I belong to the Lord Jesus. He's purchased me and he has a path for us, and it's a happy and a blessed path. The way of the transgressor is hard. If you abuse your body and live for yourself, you can expect physically that you're going to suffer. Just. I know, I know, it's an extreme, but some of us have been down in the inner cities and some of these cities and other countries where you see in stark reality.
What abusing one's body really does in the end, no. God has a happy path for us, a blessed path. He's got his will set out in His word, and we're not to use our bodies for ourselves. We're to give those bodies as a living sacrifice. It is sacrifice.
But are you willing to make that sacrifice again? I exercise my own soul. Am I willing to make that sacrifice, to just lay it all on the altar and to say whatever it is my strength, my abilities that God-given abilities. The very breath I take is a gift from God that a man eat and drink and enjoy the fruit of his labor. It's the gift of God. The very temporal things that we enjoy are a gift from God. Are we using them for his glory? And then he says, which is your reasonable? Or if you notice a better translation?
Your intelligence service you know maybe there's someone here and you're saying well Jim it's OK to speak about these things but but you know I really do want to know the Lords mind for me. But it seems that the path is so difficult seems it's so clouded and twisted and turned. But he has abounded unto us as it tells us in Ephesians in all wisdom and intelligence. He has an intelligence service for us to render to him and we're going to go to some scriptures in a few moments that.
Give us some instruction as to how we can discern that that path. But it is a past service of intelligence. You know, in the Old Testament they had a service, The priests and the Levites had a service, but it really wasn't an intelligent service. If you had stepped up to the altar and said to the priests or the Levites, now why do you do such and such? Why, when it's a bird, do you have to separate the crop and the feathers? Why sometimes you have to pinch the head off and why are there things that are burnt and things that aren't? And so on.
You know, they wouldn't have really been able to explain. All they could have said was this is how God has instituted it. And if we don't do it in the proper way, we saw Nadab and Abayu slain at the altar and we know the consequences. But it wasn't really, for the most part, an intelligence service. But you and I have an intelligent service to render for God. But then he says and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing.
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Of your mind. Now, you know, we often apply this to many practical things, many outward things, and certainly.
It has its application. Most have heard me say this before in commenting on this verse, but I'll repeat it. I believe really what he's saying here is that as a believer, as a Christian, we are no longer to be the center of our world. You know, the natural man puts himself 1St. And you've heard me say it. This is not the me first generation. This is the me only generation. We're the center of our world and we do everything for self. I'm speaking in a natural sense now.
But in Christianity, there's a new center in our world. It's Christ and his interests. And so he says, don't go back to making yourself the focal point. Don't go back to being the center of your world. I enjoyed standing by the grave of Mr. Darby and reading those well known words as unknown, yet well known. His whole desire and his service for Christ was to put Christ first, not to put John Nelson Darby first, not to put Mr. Darby to the front, but to present Christ.
Is that really our desire to have Christ as our center? And if we do, then His interests will follow. And then he says, prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God? When we read this, brethren, can we doubt that His will isn't the best for our lives?
Can we doubt that his will isn't the best for our lives, you know? And Jeremiah said, oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself.
It is not in man that walked us to direct his footsteps, Solomon said in the book of Ecclesiastes, Who knoweth what is good for a man in this life.
David said in the 37th Psalm the steps of a Goodman are ordered of the Lord. How can you and I think that we can go through this life without the will of God or to choose our own way, that we know better than God, that we are wiser than the scriptures? How can we think that our God knows all about us? He knew us from a past eternity. He watched our members being framed before we were born.
He knows our thoughts are far off our down sittings and our uprisings, knows our family background, knows the different bends to our nature. It says he remembers our frame and knoweth that we're but dust. And we think that we can choose our own way. But you might say, but Jim, all you've said is good and well, but how am I really going to know the way? As Brother Bob Brimlow used to say, it's where the rubber meets the road. Wonderful to be at these meetings, to enjoy fellowship with one another, you say. I have no doubt that it was the will of God for me to be here.
I'm refreshed and encouraged, but you say I've got it. We've got to get up off these chairs. We've got to go back to school tomorrow, to work, to our homes, to our neighborhoods, to the little assemblies that we come from. And there are great questions and difficulties facing the people of God in every sphere of life today. I realize that. I realize there are questions and we don't know where to turn sometimes, but I want to look at some scriptures now that show us how we can know God's will in our lives.
Let's turn first of all to John Chapter 7.
The.
John Chapter 7.
And verse 17 If any man will, or any man desire to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. And now turn to the 143rd Psalm.
Psalm 143 and verse 10 Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God, thy spirit is good. Lead me into the land of uprightness. And then a few pages over in the book of Proverbs, Proverbs, chapter 3.
Proverbs chapter 3. Beginning with verse five. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths well. We began with that familiar verse in John Chapter 7. If any man desire to do his will, he shall know, because sometimes I've talked to young people and those who are not so young, and they have said to me well.
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God won't show me his will. God doesn't just doesn't seem to reveal himself. I've got this turn. I've got this decision to make in my life, and I don't know the will of God. But if you and I don't know the will of God in our lives, the hindrance is not on God's part. And that's really why I read these portions. Because if there's a hindrance, the hindrance is on my part and your part, because God wants to show us. But as the Lord Jesus said, the first thing again, is there must be a desire.
Do we really want to know the will of God in our lives? I know we've been over this already, but I just want to reiterate this thought. Do we really desire to know His will in our lives, or would we rather not know? You say? Well, you know the world has an expression while ignorance is bliss.
But ignorance is not bliss in Christianity. No, He wants to show us His will. Do you and I really have a desire to know his will? And so if any man desire to do his will, he shall know. And not just to know it, but to do it. Is there really that exercise with your soul in mind? You know, as we get up off these chairs and we return to our various spheres of life, is there a fresh and increased desire to follow God's will, to follow the Lord Jesus in our pathway, if we genuinely get off these chairs with that fresh exercise?
That desire renewed, then it's been all worthwhile. It's been worth our while coming. But if we just get up off these chairs and we go back without any renewing or stirring up of those exercises, brethren, what a sad thing it is. No, if any man desire to do his will, he might know.
Not what it says. He shall know. If you and I really have that desire to do his will, then he wants to show us what his will is. And then we find the psalmist in the 143rd Psalm. He says not just teach me thy will, or teach me thy way, but teach me to do thy will, not just to know it, but to do it. There's a little progression in the psalms that I've enjoyed, because in the 27th Psalm the psalmist there says, teach me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path.
I trust that's the prayer and earnest desire of your heart and mind. And I know if you belong to the Lord Jesus, deep down you really have that desire in your soul to follow the Lord Jesus in the path of faith and service. But the psalmist here says, teach me to do thy will. In other words, if I can put it this way in application, he says, when you reveal your will to me, then give me the grace to walk in it. Give me the grace to take the step. Because maybe we have a desire to know the Lord's mind and then when he reveals it to us we say, oh, I wouldn't mind if it wasn't something.
Like that, I wouldn't mind if it was something a little less costly in my life. No, David said. Whether it's a big step, whether it's a small step, whether it involves sacrifice or whatever. Give me the grace, Teach me to do thy will, for thy spirit is good. Leave me in the land of uprightness. I just want to say a word about that. It's a little off our subject, but I believe again one of the things that hinders us from knowing the will of God.
Is a lack of uprightness in our lives. You know, this is a day when uprightness is set aside, integrity is set aside. But we need to learn in our Christian pathway to be upright. You put that pen in your pocket at work and you take it home. You say the company owes it to me. You say everybody does it, or whatever it might be. David said lead me in the land of uprightness. And he said as it were too Don't let me pretend to be something I'm not.
You know God hates hypocrisy. He wants us to be, as it were, an open book to be upright. But again I say David the Psalmist says here teach me to do thy will tell you a little story. I trust I'm not out of line in telling this, but it's been a couple coming to the meetings in Smiths Falls for some time now, very exercised about being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Refreshing to be with them. We have had the privilege of having them in our home many times.
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But you know, there isn't an issue that needs to be addressed before they can remember the Lord Jesus.
At his table, it's an issue of employment. And I was very upset because the issue was brought up in a way that it should have never been brought up, and the issue was brought up in the wrong spirit, I'll say it by the wrong people. And I was afraid that we would never see these people again. My wife and I prayed much about it. A couple of days later we got a phone call.
I've never been put to this kind of test as to the will of God.
But this couple called me and they said if that's what it costs.
To be at the Lord's table, we're willing to do it. To do God's will That stirred my soul, brethren, I say I've never been put to that kind of test. In the path of faith and service. I don't know how I would respond or react. How would you respond or react? And so teach me to do thy will at whatever cost. Lord, teach me to do thy will. And then we read in proverbs as well, because again, one of the great.
One of the things that hinders our knowing the will of God is leaning to our own understanding.
Something comes up in our lives and we tried to try to figure it out ourselves. We're taught in school to reason everything out. Don't believe it, don't accept it, don't do it unless you can fit it into a nice little package and reason it all out. But in spiritual things, we're not to lean to our own understanding. Sometimes the young people go to the guidance counselor, and I'm not saying those guidance counselors and consultants sometimes aren't helpful in connection with the things of this world in a career. And so on.
But whose will are we really seeking in these matters? Are we leaning to our own understanding?
Are we leaning to the arm of man, Those counselors, while some of the advice they give might be helpful, they just give the advice and wisdom of this world. And so he says in all thy ways acknowledge him. And again, I want you to notice this, and he shall direct thy paths. But let's go to the 105th Psalm for a moment. 119th Psalm for a moment.
And the 105th verse.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Now I suppose, brethren, this is really what it all boils down to, and that is that the will of God is marked out in his word for us. And the psalmist here recognized this. I said there was a progression in the Psalms and between the 27th Psalm and the 143rd Psalm. The psalmist here says, as it were, if I'm going to know the way.
If I'm going to know the will of God, it must be through His word and when you read this Psalm.
You find that over and over and over again. He speaks of the importance of God's word in his life. He says Earlier in the Psalm, I have more understanding that all my teachers, because I keep thy precepts. And so we're never going to know the mind of the Lord if we don't open this book every day and read it consistently and orderly. I want to encourage you in that regard. I believe that the way God directs us.
In the path he has for us is generally by orderly, consistent reading of the word of God. I realize there are other ways to.
But, you know, sometimes we speak about circumstances, and God does sometimes use circumstances in our lives to direct us. But we can't go wholly on circumstances. You know, if Jonah was going on circumstances, he might have said, well, the way is opening up for me to go to Tarshish. Why, He went down and he found a ship going the very direction that he wanted to go. He had the money to pay the fare. Everything seemed to go. There was, shall I say, a birth for him in the lower part of the ship, a place where he could sleep. He might have said, well, circumstances show that the way is opening up for me to go to Tarshish. But it was not the mind of the Lord for him to go. And so while we need to weigh our circumstances.
In the presence of the Lord, they and themselves are not enough as an indication of God's will in our lives. I realize too, there are some steps in our Christian life that we'll never know unless we're walking in close communion with the Lord Jesus. There's steps that are only discerned as we're in fellowship with Him. I enjoyed that in connection with what it says, He will guide thee with with His eye. You know my children, when they were younger, they sat on the same row as we did in meeting.
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And if they were doing something that I didn't want them to do, as long as they were looking at me, I could speak with my eyes. They knew exactly by my the look in my eye what I was saying to them. But two things, they had to be close to me and they had to be looking at me. And that's important in our Christian pathway. But I say again, I believe that we need to orderly and consistently read the word of God. And I know you've experienced this. You're reading along in your regular chapter in the morning or the evening or whenever you find time during the day to read the Scriptures and all of a sudden.
There's the answer to some problem. There's the There's the scripture that gives you the direction.
For the turn that you need to take, you say. I never saw that before. Maybe that Scripture never meant that to you before. Maybe it will never mean that to anybody else.
But it's the Spirit of God taking the word of God and applying it for the situation to direct you and guide you. And so thy word is a lamp unto my feet, as we often say. That's one step at a time. It's a lamp under my feet, but it's also a light under my path. In other words, it's sufficient light for the whole journey. Now let's go to 1St John.
First John Chapter 5.
First John chapter 5 and verse 14 and this is the confidence that we have in him.
That if we ask anything according to His will, he heareth us. And if we know that He hears us, hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petition that we desire of Him. I want to connect this with a verse in the 37th Psalm.
Psalm 37 and verse 4.
Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. But we've spoken of the importance of the word of God in our lives for light and instruction for our pathway according to God's will for us. But I want to speak for a few moments of prayer, because prayer is also necessary in our lives if we're going to know the mind of the Lord. Over and over in Scripture, we have examples of men and women who prayed at crossroads in their lives.
And how God came in and directed them in what they said, what they did, the step that they took in the path of faith.
Because it tells us in the book of James, if any man lack wisdom, let him ask you ever lack wisdom, you say, I just didn't know what the will of God was for me in that turn or twist in my life. But you prayed about it. And didn't the Lord come in and direct you? Didn't he give you the right word for the moment? Didn't he send you to the right place at the right time? You say, if I'd said the wrong thing or done the wrong thing, I could have lost my job, could have caused some difficulties.
At work or in the neighborhood, but you just prayed about it, and the Lord came in and directed you.
But we find here that his desire in our prayers is that we would ask according to his will. Now, again, I don't believe we can really ask according to his will unless we're walking in communion with himself. You know, when I married my wife 21 years ago, I thought I knew a lot about her. But I know a lot more today, 21 years later, as to her thoughts and desires and what pleases her than I did back then. Why? Because we have walked together.
For 21 years. And I know what pleases her. And you know, if there's real love, then that person's desires become your desires. And so when we ask for something, we if we if we're in tune with him and his desires and his thoughts and his will, then we will ask according to his will. And if we ask according to his will, can we doubt that we're not going to have the petition that we ask because he does want to do the best for us?
His will, as I said earlier, is really the best for us. And so that's why I read in the 37th Psalm where it says delight thyself also in the Lord, trust also in Him and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart. It's not that He gives us everything we want, but His desires become our desires. Well, in conclusion I'd like to read two further scriptures to leave with our consciences and with our hearts in connection with this subject.
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That we've spoken so quickly and feebly on this afternoon. First, Peter, Chapter 2 or Chapter 4?
First, Peter chapter 4 and verse two, that he should no longer live the rest of his time in the flesh.
To the lust of men, but to the will of God. For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness, lost excess of wine revellings, banquetings, abominable idolatries, wherein they think it's strange that you run not with them. To the same excessive riot, speaking evil of you. And one more portion in First John, this time in the second chapter.
First John chapter 2 and verse 16.
For all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life isn't. I'm sorry, I'll start that verse again. For all that is in the world, The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. The world passeth away.
And the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. I say at the end of this meeting, these verses are very exercising, especially to my own soul. I read the one in Peter because here it speaks of the rest of his time. And maybe there's someone here. And you say I haven't lived the way I should. I haven't been seeking the will of God in my life. Have I gone too far? Have I left it too long? Well, there is always a way back. There's always a way to return to the path of God's will for us.
And so he says the rest of his time, you know, we can't dwell on the past. We need to be exercised by the past and confess it and judge it and then leave it and go on. Because if we haven't in the past lived in this way, we can for the rest of our time. There's just a few moments left. At best, we're right on the threshold of the Lord's return. We're about to sit down in His presence. And wouldn't it be wonderful when he comes to be found in the path of faith?
To be found doing the will of God from the heart. To be found giving ourselves as a living sacrifice, and proving that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And so I read the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. And I would conclude my remarks by saying this. What is going to abide in eternity? What's going to abide in eternity? You'll pardon me, I'm not speaking directly to anyone, but is that 4 car, garage. And that boat in that cottage?
And all those nice things and the mercies that many of us enjoy and appreciate, are they the things that are going to abide in eternity? Is what's going to abide in eternity that we got to the top of our company, or that we were the best salesman, or something like that. Again, we're to do everything heartily as unto the Lord, and so on. I'm not saying it's wrong in itself, but is that our goal? And is that what is going to abide in eternity? The world passeth away and the lust thereof. We came into this world, and it is sure that we can take nothing out.
But what is going to abide in eternity is the will of God, what we've done for His glory. It's often repeated, but I'll repeat it again. That little poem that I sometimes see on the walls of the rooms I stay in in the Saints home. Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. And brethren, what's going to matter when we look into his face at the judgment seat of Christ? All the things we accomplished and accumulated down here. Now what's going to matter is his well done.
Thou good and faithful servant, may we get up off these chairs with a fresh and increased desire to please our God, to walk according to his mind, proving what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Let's pray.