Introduction: Where there’s a Will, there’s a Way Part 3
I want to jump into the series that we’re on called ‘Where there’s a Will there’s a Way’. If you have your sermon notes there in your worship guide, you can pull those out. Or if you want to get on the YouVersion Bible app, the sermon notes are available on there as well. If you’re following along online, you can get the sermon notes on the website as well. So, let’s get those out. Whenever we opened the Bible, we believe God’s going to speak to us, Mt. Carmel Church.
We believe he’s got something good to say to us. So that’s why we get excited when we open God’s word. So let’s get our Bibles out. Let’s open up doors. Open them to Romans chapter one. Woo. Excited about that. Thank you Jesus for your word. Looking forward to what he’s speaking to us today. Let’s turn to Romans chapter 1. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Start reading in verse 8 as soon as you find it. Romans chapter 1 verse 8 (this is Paul writing) he says, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ. For you all that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. For God is my witness whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing, I make mention of you always in my prayers making requests. If by some means now at last, I may find a way in the will of God to come to you for I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift so that you may be established. That is that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith, both of you and me.”
Let’s pray. Father, we just need you. We want you Holy Spirit. I just yield to your direction right now in Jesus’ name. We want everything to be about you. We want you to be the focal point, so God, we just pray for you to bring this word alive. I pray, Holy Spirit, you bring revelation and understanding. I pray, God, that you will speak things into our hearts that will change us from the inside out. So I give you praise for everything. God, we thank you. That’s because of you. All things that we have are special and we thank you Lord for your faithfulness to us. In Jesus’ awesome name we pray, Mt. Carmel Church. Amen.
God is Sovereign, But He does not Control our Actions
So where there’s a will, there’s a way. We’ve been talking about the purpose behind this series is understanding that God has a will and God has a way and that you and I have a will and we have a way. And so we’ve got, if we’re going to experience God’s will for our life, that we have to realize we have to align our way, with his ways. While understanding this concept, sometimes people say things like this, “Well, if it’s supposed to happen, it’s going to happen. You know, God, everything happens for a reason. So, you know, I’m just kind of sitting here as a puppet in this world and, and God’s controlling everything and it’s just totally up to him. And I have no say so in anything.”
I don’t believe that’s the way God wants us to look at him. I don’t believe that’s the teachings of the Bible. Sometimes it’s easy to say God’s in control of every detail and God’s just working out until we look at certain specific things, Mt. Carmel Church.
Sometimes people come up to me saying, “Chad, God’s controlling everything. I’m just have such a peace.” Sometime I go, that’s been a while ago. Spit it out Chad. At some point some a person came up to me and they said this, Mt. Carmel Church, I’m not making it up. They really said this, “Chad, I’m just so at peace right now that I know God’s in control of everything and I don’t have to worry about anything at all. I just give everything up to him and I don’t have to worry about that faith stuff and all that junk. It’s such a great feeling for me now to be at peace knowing God’s in control.” I was like, yeah, I understand that. That sounds good in a church setting. It sounds super religious, until we talk about the young lady who is being sold into sex trafficking, or we talk about the girl that’s being abused over and over and over by a relative. Is God controlling that situation and, making sure that happens? Tell that to the 13 year old girl. Tell that to this person.
So when we start breaking it down, we understand that God’s not out of control, as in someone’s above him, controlling him, but it’s also understood that God’s not controlling everything that we do.
He has a will. He has a way. He gave us a will and we have a way. So let’s look at Paul right here in Romans. He’s praying to God. He said that I may find a way in the will of God. That word find a way means to succeed in reaching or accomplishing some activity. So Paul says, I want to be successful in coming to you and successful in this context is I want to come to see you. I want to be successful in coming to see you, buddy. He says, I want to be successful in the will of God. That word will there means determination, intent, or choice emanating from God’s heart’s desire or pleasure. So he said, I want to come see you. This is my desire. This was my will. I want to come see you. I want to be successful in coming to see you, but I want to do it in a way that emanates from God’s heart’s desire.
God does not have a Will that is Inaccessible to You
So we see that God has a will and God has a way. God wants us to find it. Now let’s go over to another scripture. Go to Matthew chapter 7. I’m going to give you three scriptures today. That’s the first one. Matthew 7 is the second one. God has a will for your life and he has a way for you and me to experience it. He does not have a will for you that is inaccessible to you. Anything God wants you to experience, he has a way for you to experience. It may be a process that may take some time, but he has a will for it. Too many times, I think in our life, we’re praying and we’re trying to figure out ways that God can bless what we want instead of us spending more time figuring out what he wants.
Our prayers, Mt. Carmel Church, too many times are God, please bless what I want to do. Many times people are just looking for affirmation for what they want. Sometimes, Christians are the worst about coming up with all kinds of spiritual Christian clichés to get what they want. Instead of just saying, God, it’s not what I want, but it’s what you want. We as Christians are very creative. I’ve been pastoring long enough that I’ve heard people come up with some very creative ways to tell God to do what they want to do. They even pull out scripture and everything. They say stuff like, “I just feel like, you know, God said, behold, I do a new thing and, so he’s doing a new thing, and so that’s telling me I need to leave my spouse and go get a new one. Behold, he does a new thing.” Great.
So let’s look at where there’s a will, there’s a way. Matthew chapter 7 look at verse 13. This is Jesus talking. He says enter by the narrow gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it. What is it? It is the wide gate and the broad way. That’s one way it says, because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life and there are few who find it. What is it? It is the narrow gate and the difficult way. So we have two ways that Jesus gives us in scripture. The first one we see here, the first way, that he gives us, it’s a way that leads to destruction, Mt. Carmel Church. That’s the wide gate and it is broad and many people are on it.
Sometimes it’s Easier to Determine what you want to Do, Rather than Where you want to Go
The second way he gives us is the one that leads to life. It’s a narrow gate and it’s difficult to find. There two ways leading to two different destinations, right? So the question really is where do we want to end up? Which way do we go? That question is answered by where do you want to go? How many know? Sometimes it’s easier to determine what you want to do in the moment than it is where you want to go. It’s easier to determine where I want to go sometimes, Mt. Carmel Church, than what I want to do in the moment.
What I mean by that is I know I want to do the right thing eventually, but right now I want to do this. It’s like I know I’m supposed to walk in forgiveness destination, but right now I want to hold a grudge. It’s easier to want the right destination than it is to do the right thing in the moment.
I know I want to be an honest person, but right now it’s a little more convenient if I don’t tell the whole truth. He says there’s two different ways and one’s going to lead to destruction. One’s going to lead to life. We all want to go to live, right? Everybody wants to go to live. Great. Well, let’s look at those ways. The one that leads to destruction. What does that mean? The word destruction just means to ruin, severe loss, destroyed beyond repair no longer exists, Mt. Carmel Church.
There’s a way that leads to destruction. There’s a way that leads to ruin. That way leads to severe loss, a way that leads to something being beyond repair. There’s also a way that leads to life and that word life just means to be alive, experiencing the life God intended. Now you see, when we talk about these two ways, we think about eternity, so we’ll think about heaven or hell.
There’s a way that leads to destruction, Hell. There’s a way that leads to life, Heaven. Yes, I think that applies. So, there is a way that leads to life and that is through Jesus. It leads to heaven. There’s a way that leads to destruction if we’re going to talk eternal terms, which is hell. There are two different ways, but I want to also apply it not just in eternal terms but also in everyday terms because here’s what I’ve found in my life, Mt. Carmel Church.
There is a way that leads to life every day and there’s a way that leads to suffering loss. There’s a way. In a moment I’ve got a decision. I don’t know if you feel this time something comes up and in that moment we’ve got choices to make. Which way am I going to think? Am I going to think along the way that leads to life, he God, the life that God intended for me? Or am I going to think along the way that leads to severe loss and destruction, Mt. Carmel Church?
Which way am I going to go? In that moment, I determine which way, which determines my destination. See, we can think ultimately just about heaven or hell and we like to do that. We just like to think in terms like, I’m saved, so that means I’m all good. I can be saved and still have some mess in my life. I can be saved and on my way to heaven and still have some issues that I need to work out and this is what God’s saying.
Don’t Choose Which Way to Go Based on How Many People are Going that Way
He said, there’s a way that leads to life and there’s a way that leads to destruction and it gives you the choice which way to go. Notice what it says, the way to the destruction. It’s wide and broad. Lots of people on it. There are a lot of people going that way. Be careful if we judge the validity of which way to go based on how many people are going that way, Mt. Carmel Church.
Be careful with a way of thinking whether it’s right or wrong based on how many other people think that way. The Bible says right here, there are lots of people. Let’s go into destruction. I don’t think everybody that’s going to destruction is holding up signs saying, I want destruction. I want destruction. I don’t think they do. I don’t think very many people at all really want destruction. The problem is not the desire of the destination, it’s the difficulty of the way. Have you ever heard this phrase? Somebody says, “Well, if it was easy, everybody would do it.” Doing the right thing is not always easy to do. The right thing to do is sometimes is harder, church.
Notice what it says, the easy way is the broad way. There are a lot of people in that, but the narrow gate, is narrow and difficult. Narrow and difficult to the world. Let me give you the definition of the narrow and difficult. The word narrow there just means thin. Then with obstacles restricted, limited, confined to bounds. Difficult means it’s crowded or compressed. There is pressure to suffer hardship or persecution. We want the way that leads to comfort and sometimes the way of life leads to pressure and difficulty. We don’t like this message. We like to message that says, “Oh, everything’s going to be great”. No. Sometimes the way of life stinks.
Yeah, in certain contexts it stinks in that sometimes we feel great pressure. Anybody ever went hiking? There’s a place that you can go on this rocky trail and you come to this real narrow place. It’s called Batman squeeze. You don’t? I’m talking about, and this is what talking about the narrow gate, when you go to go through that, not everybody or everything will fit through that area. There is passage. There is a way that you can walk through there, but not everybody can go through there, church.
You Might have to Leave some things Behind in order to Fit through the Narrow Path
When it says there’s a narrow gate, it’s not saying some people are not welcome to come, it’s just telling us that not everything is going to fit. We can’t take anything with us. In other words, to do them, to go on the way that leads to life, I may have to leave some things behind. In order to do it God’s way, I may have to throw some things off. I may have to leave my pride behind to go the way that leads to life.
I may have to leave my selfishness behind to go on the way that leads to life. I may have to leave self-justification behind to go on the way, because when I go on the way that leads to life, sometimes there is pressure. Doing the right thing may bring some pressure into your life, Mt. Carmel Church.
Who knows that it’s harder to get good grades than bad grades? Why is that? Does everybody want to fail? No, not everybody goes to school and says, “I want to flunk.” But not everybody wants to go the way that leads to good grades. Does everybody want a failed marriage or failed relationships or failed finances or whatever? Nobody’s going around and saying, I want to be a failure. No little girls wake up someday and say, “I want to be sold into sex trafficking.” Nobody does that. No drug addict woke up in the morning said, “I want to be homeless and strung out on drugs.”
It didn’t happen that way, but things happen. Sometimes things orchestrate that are in and out of our control. He says, “Listen, there’s a way that leads to life.” And he’s wanting us to find it, but we have some baggage and it’s harder. It’s harder to do things the right way. Sometimes. I’ve had people come to me and say, “Chad, I want to change my life. I want to do things right. I want to live for God, but man, it’s hard.” I’m like, “Yeah, I know. So is staying in shape, but you still want to do it.” I mean, if it was a lot easier…
You know, it’s Thanksgiving and I sit down for lunch and I don’t know if you’re like me, maybe. We had two places to go in one day, and at sometimes the duration of the meal, you’ll start to blink a little bit. So you’re by the time we start, by the time I finished, those are two totally different time zones. So, I start eating and I sit down have a little bit of everything. You want to try all this stuff. Oh, they make this once a year, Mt. Carmel Church.
You know, you get those dishes you try once a year. So everybody brings to the family, their one dish and see it and think, “Oh, I got to have that.” So I get my plan. I’m like, I need a bigger plate. So I sit down and I’m eating it. I’m eating way beyond my normal consumption. I mean I’m eating foods I don’t normally eat and quantities I don’t normally eat.
Living our Life according to our Feelings is like Eating according to our Taste Buds
How many know that it’s a whole lot easier to eat that way than to eat rice and broccoli? It’s a whole lot easier. It’s a whole lot easier to eat according to your taste buds than according to your body. Come on. I’m just saying it’s a whole, it’s a whole lot easier to live my life according to my feelings then according to the spirit of God, Mt. Carmel Church.
See, living our life according to our feelings is like eating according to our taste buds. Both of them will produce a result and we may not like what we see. See as okay as it is for me to get by doing it the one day because then, you know, we have to travel. Then we go the next place and they’re like, “Hey, we’ve been waiting all day for you to eat.” I’m like, “Oh great. I’ve got to take one for the team.” So I just keep shoveling it in and he’s saying, “Listen, there’s a way that that’s a little harder, but just because it’s harder doesn’t mean it’s bad.”
It leads to life, but there’s few that’s finding the way that leads to life. Not because they don’t want to go there, but because the way is a little more difficult. It’s harder to say no. It’s harder to choose the right thing in that moment, and this is what God is saying. He said it’s a whole lot easier to get mad at somebody and throw a fit than it is to look at him and say, I forgive you. I love you.
It’s a whole lot easier to stay mad at that family member and not speak to him, and give him the silent treatment for the rest of the week. But I’ve understood this. We sang the song. It’s better his way. I’ve found this about God. His way is always better, even when in the moment Chad wants his way. When I choose Chad’s way, and I do sometimes, I’m like, I know I shouldn’t do this. I know I shouldn’t do that. I know that’s what I’m supposed to do, but right now I’m feeling this so I’m going to go with this, Mt. Carmel Church.
If we choose our Way we Reap the Fruit of Our Way
Yes, I’m going with it, baby. I’m going and why? Because we want to make all the decisions and in that moment when I make the decisions I get the fruit of my decisions, but if I would do it God’s way, I get the fruit that comes from him because of the way that leads to life. That way leads to life and that way leads to destruction. It leads to it. Let me illustrate this way.
If you go out on the highway here in our city, if you come out of the parking lot and if you turn left that road leads to Carmi. Like you get on the road and bam, you’re in Carmi. The road is not Carmi but if you get on that road it leads you to Carmi. Well that’s what it’s saying here so that we get on the way that leads to destruction. Sometimes we’re just deciding whether we should do something or feel something or think something based on what it is in that moment instead of where it’s going to take us, Mt. Carmel Church.
We’re judging whether something is right or wrong, whether we see what’s wrong with it. How did that work out for Adam and Eve? They saw that the fruit was good and looked good. I’m going to eat it. I don’t see the big deal. I want to right now, but it’s not what we do right now. It’s where it’s going to lead us. He said there’s a way that leads to life. Get on that way and stay on it.
Sometimes we choose the way that leads to life and we do it until it gets hard and then we bail. I tried being nice to her. I tried. I did and she didn’t change, so I’m off. Wait a minute. Who said anything about you getting off the way that leads to life based on what they do Mt. Carmel Church?
Oh, I know. I don’t want to hear it either, but it’s still the truth. It’s not based on, get on the way that leads to life unless other people do you wrong. Oh, okay. Then let’s get back on the way that leads to destruction. No, let’s stay on the way that leads to life, even though it’s difficult. So there’s a way. Look what he says though. There’s a way that leads to life and a way that leads to destruction. There are two different options, but notice he doesn’t choose the option for us. Where there’s a will there’s a way. Look at the beginning of verse 13 he says, enter by the narrow gate. He tells you which way to go. He tells us which way to go. Wait a minute. Which one did he say? The broad way that’s wide and many are people on? Did he say go that way Mt. Carmel Church?
No, he said go which way? He said go the narrow gate. Yeah, but the narrow gate is narrow and difficult. God said, “Yeah, that’s the one I want you to take.” So God, you’re telling me to choose the hard way? Yes. He said, “I want you to choose the hard way.’ See, God gives us a choice. In that moment, I have a choice. Am I going to walk in the love of God or am I not going to walk in the love of God? Am I going to think the right thoughts about myself? Am I going to have the right perspectives? Am I going to speak the right words over my situation? Am I going to do the right thing or am I not? He says you enter the right gate, so in other words, God has a will for you. He has a will for you there, his will, his life, but he says, you choose which gate you enter in to.
God’s Telling us but not Forcing us to Choose Life
God’s not pulling the strings and controlling which gate you and I go into. He’s given you the option. He’s not controlling which way you’re going to go in that conversation with your spouse. When your coworker says that thing, he’s not controlling which attitude you’re going to take. He gives you two Gates. He says which one you want to go into? Here are the doors. He says, by the way, pick this one. He even tells us which one to go into Mt. Carmel Church.
I have another scripture for that. Deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 19 says “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you that I’ve set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live. God says, listen, I’m telling you, I have set before you blessing and cursing, life and death, and if you’re not sure what to do, choose life.
If we didn’t have a choice, why did God tell us which one to choose? If we didn’t have a choice, which way to go, why did he tell us which gate to enter? Where there’s a will there’s a way. You and I have a will, and we will get our way if we want it. God will let you have your way. He will let you have your way, if you want it. You say you know what? This is what I’m going to do. I don’t care. I don’t care what anybody says. I don’t care what anybody thinks. I’m just going to do it and God will forgive me, Mt. Carmel Church.
Yeah, he’ll forgive you, but I don’t know what all repercussions may come with that decision. When we start doing things based on whether we know it’s not God’s will, but we’re going to do it knowing that his will is ultimately forgive us. We’ve got to be careful that we’re abusing the big plan of God and we’re bringing something along with us that we may not want to be packing later on.
Let’s go into one more scripture. Let’s go to Ephesians chapter 1. Are you with me so far? Let’s close with this. When he finishes chapter one, so he says to enter into the narrow gate. That makes sense. Let’s go to the one that’s hard. That sounds fun.
I was at Frozen 2 this weekend. Random thought. Just while you’re turning, I’ going to sing a song from Frozen 2 here pretty soon. I’m going to be working on that. I’m rehearsing it, except for the one where it goes up like three times. I’m going to hit it. Never mind. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. There’s a wilderness way. Look at what it’s saying here. Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. So he has a will. He has away. God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. Where are these blessings? They’re in Christ, in him, just as he chose us, Mt. Carmel Church.
God Chose Us before the Foundation of the World
So he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Notice God says us, you and me. When did he choose us? When we got our life string down and got everything together and finally started attending church, God chose us? No, that’s not when God chose you. Whoa. Have I finally started to stop sleeping around stuff? Have I finally stopped drinking, and finally got off the meth? That’s when God said, no, that’s someone God chose you. God chose you before the foundation of the world.
People say, “Well Chad, I’ll come to church if I just get a few more things together.” God’s already chosen you before the foundation of the world that we should be Holy and without blame before him in love. Wait a minute. God’s already chose us to be Holy and without blame before him. How’s that possible? Verse 5 tells us, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will, Mt. Carmel Church.
What is the good pleasure of God’s will for us? Here’s the good pleasure of his will. Remember his will represents his heart’s desire or pleasure. So this Bible is telling us that notice his good pleasure of his will was to predestine us to the adoption of sons by Jesus Christ. What does that mean? Anybody heard of predestination? Here’s what we’re going to address. There’s a will, Mt. Carmel Church.
There’s a way in predestination. Some people believe predestination means that God is controlling every outcome of every decision, of every action, that he’s predestined everything. If it’s going to happen, it’s because God ordered it to happen. If it’s happening right now is because God wants it to happen, he’s predestined it. No, this word predestined. Here’s what it means in the Greek. I gave you that definition there in your sermon notes. It means to set bounds before, to limit in advance or predetermined. So what did God predetermine? According to this passage of scripture, having predetermined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ himself to himself. So now God shows us in him and he predetermined that through Jesus we could be adopted as sons. Predestination, therefore, does not mean God’s controlling our actions. It means he’s already chosen his, Mt. Carmel Church.
He’s chosen you. When did he choose you? Before the foundation of the world. He’s already made up his mind. I choose you. That’s my part. I’m even going to make a way. Here’s my will. I want you to be my sons and daughters. Now I’m going to make a way for you to become my sons and daughters. And that’s through Jesus Christ. That’s my part. I’ll make my choice. Now it’s yours. Predestined is God’s already determined what he’s going to do, now he leaves the rest up to us. He didn’t predestine your decision. He predestined his decision. He predestined a way for you to know, according to his pleasure. Look at verse 7. In him we have redemption.
Sin has Already been Paid For, We just have to get in Jesus to Find It
Where do we have redemption in Jesus? In him through his blood is the forgiveness of sins. Now wait a minute. So what do we get through Jesus? We get redemption and forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. Woo! There is a lot of grace, bountiful grace. There is a lot more grace than there is sin. His grace went way above and beyond sin. So now in him we have forgiveness of sins. So in Jesus, God made a way in Jesus for all of our sins. What’s he on line here? All of our sins to be forgiven. He made it available in Jesus. When did Jesus die? 2000 years ago on the cross. So in Jesus, your sins were forgiven like back then, Mt. Carmel Church.
Yeah, like your sins have already been forgiven. Well, I need to beg him. Some people say, I just need to beg God to forgive me. No, I heard somebody say something like, “You need to just pray and beg God to forgive you of your sins.” I’m like, that’s not biblical. It sounds good. It sounds very religious, but it’s not biblical. We don’t beg God to do what he’s already done. He’s already forgiven you. I just don’t make any sense, Mt. Carmel Church.
He paid the price for sin. Now he’s saying all we have to do is get in Jesus and we receive forgiveness. The forgiveness is located in a person, not in your behavior. I have to get this. It’s not based on performance equals forgiveness. No, no, no. That’s religion. It’s in Jesus. When I get in Jesus, now redemption has been applied.
This is why I’m saying this so you just get to sin. No. When you’re in Jesus, you don’t want to sin. When you’re in him, he begins to mold your desires. So in him, we have forgiveness. Now just because we’re in him, we have forgiveness. Has everybody received that forgiveness? No, but this is his will for them to be adopted as sons and daughters. Yes, he predestined them for that, but yet they’re still not doing it. Why? Because they have a will.
God has a will for everyone to be adopted as sons and daughters, but not everybody’s doing it. Why? Because they’re not getting in him. He made a way. There is a way.
Well, everybody wants to go to heaven. I’ve done a lot of funerals. Every funeral I’ve ever done, every time I’ve ever met with a family they’ve never sat down said, “We sure hope he’s in hell.” We sure do, man. We just hope he’s in hell. We’re excited. It’s going to be a party every single time. All of a sudden they get spiritual, whether they believe God or serve God, what they’re hoping that they’re in a better place. Right? Everybody wants to go to heaven, but there’s one way to get there and it’s narrow and it’s difficult. Not difficult, as in what we’ve got to earn our way there. It’s difficult in that there’s pressure to keep you away from there.
The enemy’s always going to try and keep you away. There’s pressure in serving God. Look at Jesus in the garden. Yeah, in Gethsemane there was great pressure and the pressure is this. Here’s the pressure. It’s my will and God’s will coming together and there’s great pressure in that moment of who’s going to win out. The pressure is, is my will going to win or is God’s will going to win, Mt. Carmel Church?
And that pressure, that moment is difficult, but when we yield to him, his yoke is easy and his burden is light. But there’s pressure before that. And this is what God’s telling us. So we have in him forgiveness of sins. We have that redemption. Go on to verse 9, having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed. So this was his good pleasure. He purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ which are in heaven and which are on the earth in him, Mt. Carmel Church.
Also notice how many times in this passage of scripture it said in him or in Christ. In him also, we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. I want to zero in on verse 11 in him also we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, right? Are we clear? Do we understand that he made a way for us to receive forgiveness of sins? Do we understand that he gave us a will on whether we’re going to receive that forgiveness of sins or not? Right? We’ll okay on that. Yes. Sorry. So secondly in him, we also have an inheritance. So the same rules apply, Mt. Carmel Church.
The same rules apply everything that Jesus died to give us our inheritance. How do you get an inheritance? You get an inheritance by someone dying and leaving you something, right? So when it says in him we have an inheritance, that means everything that Jesus died to give us in Jesus, we have forgiveness of sins. Thank you Lord. I have to receive that buffet and him also, I have an inheritance. That means everything he also died to give me, Mt. Carmel Church.
That’s not to say forgiveness of sins is not important. That’s why it’s listed. First we said also there’s an inheritance. Look what he says, being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Here’s what I’ve heard before. People use this verse. They say, hold up right there, Chad. Right there. See God’s in control of everything. He works everything according to the council as well. Everything that’s working is according to his will. So if it’s happening, it’s his will. I beg to differ.
God Works all things According to his Council
Because here’s how I understand this verse. When I break it down, the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will works all things according to the counsel of the will. I believe it’s not speaking to how he is manipulating everything, but I believe it’s speaking to how he works. Let’s break down the verse real quickly. He works all things. How does he work? All things according to the counsel of his will.
Has anybody ever counseled anybody? I’m not talking about just professionally, but you gave them some counsel or gave some advice. Have you ever given anybody some advice and they didn’t take it. Have you ever gave anybody life tips and they disregarded it, church?
You said, “Hey, I think it’s a good idea for you to not do that. I think it’d be a good, you know.” They come to you and say, “Hey, what are you thinking?” And you tell them what to think of. Many times people come to me as a pastor and say, “Hey pastor, here’s my situation. I just wonder what you think.” And I said, okay, well here’s what I think. Okay, thank you. And they go out and do exactly what they were wanting to do anyway, Mt. Carmel Church. What he’s saying here, that God works all things according to the council.
That word counsel means they thought out, plan the counsel of his will, thelema. What is God’s will? God’s will is his heart’s desire or pleasure. Check it out. Let’s put it together in him who works all things. So everything that God does, he does it out of the love that comes from his heart’s desire for you. It does not mean that he’s orchestrating everything that’s going on because we live in a fallen world and there is evil in the world that is working because we have free will, Mt. Carmel Church.
All things work together for Those who love God
It’s saying that everything that God does, he works it out of the counsel of his heart’s desire for you. So how’s that work for me? That tells me this, that whatever situation I’m in, even if I’ve made a mess of my life, God says, “Hey, wherever you are right now, everything that I’m going to work in your life, if you will follow me, I’ve got a plan for you and it’s my heart’s desire for you.” So everything I’m working is based on my heart’s desire. I’m always leading you towards my desire. People throughout this will, Romans 8:28, all things work together for good.
There’s another part of the verse. Sometimes it’s only part of the verse. Some people know all things work together for good and you know I believe this must be God’s will. He’s just going to work it out just because, well let’s read the rest of the verse. All things work together for the good, for those who love, and for those who are those specific people. Now all things don’t work together for good for everybody.
What does it mean to Love God?
I’m just reading the Bible. All things don’t work together for good for everybody. All things work together for the good of those specific people. Now those, who are those? Those who love God. Well, I love God. No, we have to know what love God means. Using our Bible, we have to define a biblically, and biblically it says that if you love God, you will keep his commandments. The Bible says, if I say I love God and hate my brother and sister, I’m a liar, Mt. Carmel Church.
The Bible says, if I say I love God, but I don’t keep his commandments, I’m a liar. So, if I’m going to all things going to work together for a good, I have to love God and do what he tells me to do. I’m not saying I do it all the time, I don’t, but when I do, things can work together for good for me.
Number one, love God. Number two, who are called according to his purpose? To call according to the purpose. Some people use this as a verse to call out certain select people and that only select people. God has chosen that word called the Greek word, kaleo. It is an invitation word, not a controlling word. It’s a word that means to call out, to invite. Like many are called, few are chosen. If you call a tryout for a sports team, and certain people would make the team their chosen people that didn’t answer the call aren’t chosen.
Is it because the person picking the teams didn’t want them? They’re not chosen because they didn’t show up. They didn’t answer the call. For those that are called according to his purpose, so now all things are going to work together. When I choose to love God and do what he tells me to do and I answer the invitation to walk in his purpose for my life. That’s when things are going to work together for my good.
When I don’t choose his way, and let me tell you, sometimes I don’t. For me, sometimes I don’t do it in thoughts. I know in a moment the way I’m supposed to think. I know this is the way I’m supposed to think, but I feel this way. Which one am I going to do Mt. Carmel Church?
Which one am I going to do? Which one? Whatever. Oh, this feels so good. I want to feel this way, but it leads to destruction. Maybe not hell, but maybe severe loss, maybe relationship loss, maybe self-esteem loss to my thoughts in my words. Sometimes I don’t want to say and I know I shouldn’t say that. How many times have you heard somebody start out a sentence like this? I know I shouldn’t say this, but well if you know you shouldn’t maybe shut up. But we’re like that, right? So listen, here’s what we’re seeing. God says I have a will for you, but there’s a way for you to experience it. If we choose our way, we will get our results. I don’t want my results so I have to choose his way and sometimes his way is hard.
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