We will get started. Father, we thank you for your grace and your mercy. We pray for Pastor Freddie while he is traveling and I believe in the air right now. We pray also, Father, for Giancarlo, for his son, and for Freddie and Nana while just dealing with the situation that you brought in their life and for the surgery, that things would go well and while it seems all is normal and we'll be able to be fixed by this and back to normal, we certainly know these things are in your hands and we pray for him, we pray for them, we pray that this situation would put their hearts and their eyes and their minds on you as a young man would see the gospel in this, and for doctors and other family members around, would see your hand, Father, in this, and would be... whether it be introduced or to the gospel or even come to faith for those that don't know Christ that are around this situation and in the Kampanas family. And we do pray for the doctors and that all would go for, that your guiding hand would be on them. and that all would go well there. Father, we pray for our Sunday school this morning. We pray for the communion, our prayer this afternoon for Brother Edwin while he preaches to us today. Would you help us to worship you with hearts that trust in you and rest in you and certainly in nothing else. And we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well, talk today, something that many probably have thoughts on, and I'd actually like to open, and we've, over the years, seen this in our pulpit in our Sunday school here. Probably you've read blogs or heard podcasts talk about this, but if I were to ask you, how do I find God's will, what would you say to me? So let's say that's not rhetorical. So what would you say? Because I am currently asking you. How do I find God's will in my life? Or let's say a young believer came up to you and said, I'm trying to make a decision. Can you help me open my Bible and tell me how to find what God's will is for this decision? What would you tell them? Mike. Yes, but I need to know if God wants me to eat the donut this morning or not. You know, I thought that and, you know, that's the old saying, right? Like, I told, you know, I was praying if God wanted me to eat the donut and, you know, so we went to Krispy Kreme or Dunkin' Donuts or wherever you happen to go. I have no opinion on such thing. I don't go to either place. But, right, the old saying would be, you know, and they just drove around the parking lot until a space opened and figured that was the will of God. But yes, so Mike is talking about the revealed Word of God. I do think, and I think with many things you're right, Does God want me to do right or wrong and things that are in there? But I think where the problem comes, and I know you know this, but I think where the problem comes is like, well, what about when someone might say the Bible's not entirely clear on the subject? Does God want me to buy this home or that home? Take this job or that job? Look. You know, I could solve that for you. Usually when people ask me for advice, I give them four options. You know, I'm in conflict with myself. So I could do all of that for you in one take. But yeah, so Louis, you're talking about, well, let me go to the Bible, and then in a multitude of counselors, and what you're saying is you have people who maybe are believers who think a little differently, because you said they would give you different answers. Okay, so the Bible, seeking out people, other people. Lynn, okay. So prayer, fasting, asking God, maybe what you're saying is asking God to open and close doors. Sure. So continuing to pray, continuing to seek the Lord for wisdom in where we are. That's why she made the comment on the you might go down a bad road. Two wills. And so right here, if you ever are reading in a book or reading anywhere and you see the word volition, and this is just an old word. It's probably not one that's used much anymore. But it is used in theological circles. What we're talking about in divine volition is God's will. What is God's will for me? And the Bible portrays for us two aspects of God's will. And this is interesting, right? Because think about this for a minute. If I asked you, is God in control and sovereign over everything, what would you say? Absolutely, okay. So the person who, you know, because of my bad driving, you know, flicked me off on the turnpike the other day, This time they weren't in my car, but the person who did that is God. Let's assume that you would agree that's a sinful action. Is God's sovereign will over that? Did God want them to do that? Or what about the person who sinned or the person who committed adultery on their spouse? What is God's sovereignty there? What would you say to that? Would we say that, well, yes, God wanted that sin to happen? No, Lewis. Okay, this is true. And we also could argue from the Proverbs that God turns the king's heart as he wills, right? It moves around as God wants it to. Still yet, God holds people responsible, and the New Testament would also remind us that God is not the author of sin, right? What does James say? Why do people sin according to James? Yeah, because you're drawn away by who you are. In fact, James is making the point that Don't point, just because God is sovereign, don't point at God and say, well, I only sinned because God's sovereign and He made this way. No, James says no. You are drawn away by your own lust and entice. That being said, I think everything we're saying is true, and God is much larger than we're able to define Him, and God's ways are much more complex than we're able to define in our systematic circles, or systems, not circles, but systems, and God doesn't fit in our grid. This is where things tend to break down. Right? This is where people struggle because they're like, well, how could God be this way and this way? And the answer is because he's God and you're unable to understand how these things work. At some level, that has to be true. Lynn or Mike, I saw someone's hand. It's certainly in there. I didn't have that on the slides here. Mike's asking about permissive will and basically what Mike's asking, I believe, is God, correct me if I'm wrong, but God allowing or something to happen, meaning yes, God doesn't want this to happen. This would not be within righteousness, but God has chosen permissively to allow that to happen. Is that kind of what you're asking? No, I don't think it's a bogus concept. I think permissive will, I think even the terms I'm using here, which I did not devise, these are recognized terms, sovereign and commanded will, these are all ways of describing things that, you know, it's the way of describing God who is undescribable. It's a way of trying to define that which is undefinable, but to help us to understand. I think it's in there, and the Bible's clear about that. God did permit certain things to happen. Jesus even talks about that, like sinfully, like literally where the Pharisees come and say, oh, but how come marriage and divorce work that way? And Jesus says, well, because of the evil of your own hearts, God permitted this to happen. And there were a number of times that Jesus even spoke that way, where God permitted this to happen in response to the Pharisees. Two main occasions, the most popular one being where he's talking about marriage and divorce. And Jesus doesn't say, hey, it's a good thing. God says, no, because of the evil of your heart, God permitted it. Not that God wanted it. So these concepts are certainly there. I would suggest it's probably under commanded will to answer your direct question, but we'll get there. Yeah, absolutely. And what we're struggling with, again, and that's where I say the truth is that God is undefinable. The truth is when someone says to you, and I've told you guys this before, when someone says, well, that doesn't make sense to me, so I don't believe God because Or, and I don't believe the Bible and I don't believe God because it doesn't make sense to me. The problem with that logic is it supposes that you're capable of understanding God and his ways. And the Bible literally says that no one can understand God and his ways, and his ways are above all other ways. Jeremiah talks about this, right? And as well as other scripture, his ways are higher. He's not like other parts of creation that he has created. And the problem is, yes, the Scripture says very clearly to this conversation, God is not the author of sin. That's true. I don't think any believer would say that that's not true, or anyone who believes their Bible. God is not the author of sin, it's very clear. At the same point, he is sovereign over everything. Everyone pretty much, when I asked that, emphatically said yes, because that's very clear in the scripture, and how does all of that come together, and then God is just, but yet man is still responsible, and God has clearly given people a choice, and you have a choice on how to behave, don't you, in some level? You know, when you did good or bad, any good you do, I would suggest, is because God has been gracious to you, and I get that. But still, we understand decisions. We do understand that at a level, we know what robots and automatons and computers are in our time today. We recognize that we are not them. In fact, I would suggest to you, we recognize that we're not like animals that you would find in nature and in places, right? Different decision making. I'm not saying you don't see emotions. I'm not saying you don't see love. I'm not saying you don't see the fingerprint of the creator on them. By the way, if the same creator has a thumbprint on all the creation, it's not shocking that it all has similar things, just saying. The Bible talks about that. So two aspects here is sovereign will and commanded will. And I want to talk about these two things. Now, God has a plan that covers all aspects of creation and time. I think everybody would agree with that. We would say God is sovereign. God has a plan. When the fall happened, so God creates everything. Everything is good. He declares it good. We see no sin. Romans looks back at that time where there was no death in that time. God says everything's good because sin had not entered yet. And death had not entered yet. And then we see the fall of, the curse come in and the fall of creation. Did God know that that was going to happen? He did. Which of course causes people to say, well, why did he create anyway? Well, God's ways are not our ways, right? We look at that and we say, well, if I knew all of that was gonna happen, it'd be better not to move forward here. And God's ways are not our ways. And thankfully for us, that's true. But he has a plan that covers all aspects of creation and time. He also has a commanded will that he legislates to his people. So let's talk about God's sovereign will. God's sovereign will involves his ultimate, complete control over everything. Nothing happens that was not in God's plan. History is really, if you would, the unfolding of God's purposes, which happen exactly as he planned. This is true in the scripture, the one who has planned the end from the beginning. Isaiah 124 says, the Lord of hosts has sworn, as I have planned, so shall it be, as I have purposed, so shall it stand. That's what the Bible says. Ephesians 1, in him, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things, those little words of the Bible, they're important as well, just like the big words, all things according to the counsel of His will. So yes, Very clearly, God has a plan. God has ordained all things. Not that God is the author of my sin, that he is not, and the scripture is also clear there, so you, it kinda depends on what vantage point that the scripture writers are looking at the thing. When they're looking at you, your problems are not God's fault. Your sin is not God's fault. Your sin is your fault because you are a sinful creature born dead and born, as Ephesians 2 says, dead men walking, creatures of creation or creatures of wrath is the language in Ephesians 2. Isaiah 46, remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other. I am God and there is none like me. And then God goes on to say, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all my purpose. And a number of years ago, it's a little less. It's come in and out of popularity for, I mean, nothing new under the sun. This has come in and out of popularity for the last 1,900 years or so, really before. But I tend to talk about theology and church history within the scope of the last 2,000 years. And there's a term called open theism you may know or not know. Does anyone know what I mean by that? Open theism? No. OK, well, you guys don't read all the blogs. That's OK. I don't read them either, actually. I find them kind of worthless a lot. It's not that Revelation's not done yet, per se. It more has to do with who God is. So what they would do is, let me talk to you a little bit about their scripture. So here's what they say, and then let me talk to you about what they say a bit. But you've heard the ideas of open theism, which is why I bring it up. So open theism is the idea that It's not so much that God is completely sovereign and has planned everything. It's more that he has set the end and God is the best chess player. If the whole thing is, if the earth is a chessboard, then God is the best chess player out there. No one can outmaneuver him. He will always make his agenda happen. Now he may not know what the, and if you play chess, right, you have like the early game, the middle game, and the late game of chess, right? The early game's your opening moves, the middle game's what you think, and yeah, it's probably self-explanatory. The end game is the end, when you just have the couple pieces around there. But what they're really saying is God knows how he's going to eventually take the king on the chessboard. If you don't play chess, that's the object of playing chess, is to take the king. God knows how he's going to take it, and he knows what square he's going to take it on. He's not exactly sure how he's going to get there, but no one can outmaneuver him. He'll always get to his purpose. That's what open theism says. Basically, that God is just the smartest, the best, which he is, but it's doing it without the complete sovereignty of God. And they look at the world, they look at scriptures like Jonah, right? And God relented, God was gonna destroy the people and then the scripture in most English translations use the word relent, right? God turned his heart. and seemingly, they would argue, changed his mind. Moses asked God to relent at one point. So what they would say is they would take those scriptures and they would say, see, God does change his mind at times. Now, Malachi would beg to differ. Malachi would beg to say, no, God doesn't change his mind, and in fact, he's the same all the time, yesterday, today, and forever, right? I think scriptures like this would beg to differ. But they would see these scriptures through the eyes of situations like God relenting, hence open theism. My comment was this. The scripture's very clear, and be careful, because I actually believe, well, you may say, well, I don't know a lot of people who know the term open theism. No one really raised their hand, and that's fine. But we do know people who view God that way. It's a very common way of viewing God. You know, does God change his mind? Does morality change? I mean, what was right in marriage 4,000 years ago, has it changed today? What was right or wrong in how we should think, and what I mean is in clear, like this is okay and this is not okay, do those things change? Has God learned, oh, I see now? Is there anything for God to learn? See, this is the problem with open theism. God learned that they were gonna change their minds, so he relented, as if he didn't really know how they were gonna behave. Yes, he's not omniscient, and in fact, it's probably more of a play on, because they might say, well, he is omniscient in that he knows everything there is to know right now. Absolutely, they would say that. They're tricky with words. They would say, well, he's omniscient because he knows everything there is to know. There's no one who's smarter than him, and everything that could be known right now is known by God. So yes, he's omniscient. That's what they would say. What they are attacking, though, might be a combination of what we understand to be omnipresent. combined with omniscient. Because we would not just say that God is everywhere right now, nor would we say that God just knows everything there is to know right now. What we would say is God is everywhere of all time, even including before time began, all the time, always, because God doesn't experience time, and yet he knows everything from all of those times all the time. He knows everything from all times, all the time, at every time. I think that was said right. I was thinking, could I say that again? Someone write that down. Well, they would redefine what sovereignty is. Yes. Again, they're clever with words. You know, these are issues of being, and they're all clever with words, right? The Jehovah Witnesses who come to your door vary, and some of you guys have experience with them. They're very clever with words. They're clever with how they use salvation. They're clever with how they use Savior and Lord. They redefine these terms. The Mormon Church has redefined a lot of those terms. These guys redefine terms. Some of these guys are believers, don't get me wrong, but they do have a wrong view. I believe of God, and I think it's important when we consider how do we find God's will, and we talk about who God is. Yes, Mike? Yes. Yes, and you gotta wonder what God was doing before the beginning of Genesis 1-1. Because that's the beginning, like when time began. I mean, literally, the Hebrew's very clear. This is when time began, in the beginning, the beginning of time. The beginning of what? Right, so in the beginning, well, what did God do a day before then? Oh, well, there was no day before then, because there were no days. So what was God doing prior to the beginning? What happened in Genesis zero? I don't know. That's always been my question to the open theist. Where was God in Genesis zero? So if you ever meet one, ask him that. What happened there? Or somehow God lives in time. See, this is the problem. You know, you start to move into the universe as all there ever was and is, and God's just some creature in the universe, right? Like somehow, if you like Star Trek and things like that, right? Like the universe was always here and God's just, you know, the Q or something. God's commanded will. So let's talk about this for a minute. Is that where I got to? That is where I got to. God's commanded will is revealed throughout the Bible as laws or principles. It is that aspect of his will to which men are held accountable. Okay? Psalm 25, good and upright is the Lord, therefore he instructs sinners in the way, he leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way, and the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. Now look, I understand and we understand this within the confines of the gospel. There is one who kept the covenant in his testimonies. We are credited as having kept the covenant in the testimonies because of what Jesus did. So it is true, the Bible looks at us and says, we are those who keep the covenant in the testimonies, but it's not because you behaved. It's because Jesus obeyed, not you. But still, we understand that God does instruct us. Matthew 28, teaching them to observe all that I command you, and I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So even within the Great Commission, we see these commands, right? God's commanded will. Matthew 22, and he said to them, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost command that the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Now, again, this is we're talking here about God's commanded will to us. And I do want to just make the one comment one more time about the gospel here, what I just made a second ago. Because we need to not be confused here. People tend to, in general, and everybody thinks they're in the middle. But let me just divide Christianity and the way Christians think into two groups. And maybe what I'm going to do is set up the straw man of each group. And most people are not the straw man of their group, right? The right is usually not the way the left describes them. The left is not normally the way the right describes them. You know, Facebook memes, political cartoons, jokes of these things. They're terrible ways to learn what the other side believes, right? You want to know what the other side believes? Go and learn what the other side believes from their own stuff. Don't, don't, don't. Don't learn it there, but let me break Christians into two groups here and how they typically think. Well, you're a Christian, so now you've got to do all the Christian things, and this is God's commanded will for you, and if you don't do them, well, you know, we'll talk about your Christianity. And then on the other side, well, hey, you have the gospel, so nothing matters. Right? So that's it. Now there's an aspect where, and I think it was Edwin had some slides up a number of weeks ago talking about this. I don't remember what class it was, but I just kind of remembered that. You had a slide talking about this. You had like, where what's true and what's not true. I think it was when you started Romans 12. I think it was the beginning of Romans 12.1, because you were talking about the. Exactly. Obedience versus legalism. You know what? That slide was in my mind. It was the two sides. You had the chart, the table. Probably generated in Excel, if I'm not mistaken, and copied over. Yeah, terrible. In my world, in IT, all the business guys like Excel, and they use Excel for everything they should. And so I'm always telling them, you know, and the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer. Every problem you run into looks like a nail. And so they just use their hammer accordingly. So I'm like, you have other tools there you could choose. I'm picking on Edwin about that. He knew what I was going to say. But we talk about these two sides, and what I want you to understand is this. Does the Bible have encouragement for us on how we should live our life as Christians? Yeah, I think it would be wrong to say that's not true. Edwin's been preaching through Romans, I believe is there today, maybe not. And he's talking about where Paul does spend, after all this amazing theology of who God is and encouraging of the people, Paul spends a few chapters. He spends one saying goodbye, right? But he spends a few chapters talking about very practical ways of what all of this amazing truth of God means. Sometimes Paul splits it up. In Ephesians, it's kind of split down the middle, right? He says, yeah, because of the density of Ephesians 1 to 3 can be preached for a very long time and how amazing it talks about who God is. But yes, then it says, therefore, so we'd say, yes, they're there. But when we talk about God's command and will, I do have want to be careful because we don't want to be on that side that makes Christianity and makes the Bible, right, as I've told you, basic instructions before leaving earth, right, B-I-B-L-E, basic instructions before leaving earth. That's not what the Bible is. We've talked about this. The Bible is, and I only bring it up because, again, we're talking about God's commanded will, and I don't want to be misunderstood. It's important to me not to be misunderstood here. The Bible's about Christ. But yes, there's encouragement, meaning the Bible says, well, you're a believer who could disobey every day, who does disobey every day, who could be the worst believer on earth and the worst Christian on earth. And let's just face it, sometimes Christians are the worst people on earth. You could be that, and by God's grace, you are one who's kept the covenant of testimonies like I read a couple slides ago. Why? Because of Jesus's obedience. But because He has saved you, and because you do love God even though you act like you don't, because you do love God even though often you struggle and wrestle with that because of the old man that remains, here's some encouragement to do what you really want to do. And that's kind of the Bible's language. That is the Bible's language there. And I just want to comment about that when we talk about God's commanded will. Still, his commanded will is there. We would be wrong to say that the Bible does not. Forget the Old Testament and the arguments of the old and the new. And, by the way, those got people who separate the old and the new. I don't even love the old and new breakdown. I understand the old covenant and the new covenant, but I don't even like that. Because, in all honesty, all the old covenants are the fulfillments in the new. They're all the same. It's all the same story. I actually dislike greatly the way theologians have broken down the scripture in that way. There's a divide. But let's even forget those arguments for a minute. Let's just talk about the New Testament. for to say that God does not encourage and have commanded will for us and commands for, I mean, that would be silly. And not all of those commands are just so you could see how terrible you are and come to Jesus. A lot of those commands, now they are there and they are there to make you run to Jesus, but a lot of those commands are there actually not to make you feel bad, they're there to encourage you. That's what they're there for. Most of the letters say, I write to encourage you in some way. They don't say, I write to beat you up. They don't say, I write because you need to hear what I'm saying because you guys are the worst. Well, Paul might have said that to the Corinthians. But minus that, for the most part, most of the letters are not that way. The Corinthians were the worst. Paul was nice to them, in most chapters anyway. They were bad. Sovereign will and commanded will. Sovereign will is secret, known only to God. Can you think of scriptures like that? No one knows, except the Father. The things that are hidden, yet to be revealed in the ages to come. This is Bible language, right? except as revealed through history or revelation. Now, yes, what do I mean? Once the event happens, do we know that God had it in His sovereign will to either allow or cause it to happen? Yeah, why? Because it happened. And then, do we know that what God promised will happen? Yeah. What God promised will happen. It always has. There is zero reason to believe that what God has written will not happen. I talked about this last week. We read about Cyrus written 200 or so, 200, 250 years, at least prior to Cyrus being there. And scholars can debate that, but to be honest, very difficult to debate that. Daniel has the very liberal scholars for a long time, and they've kind of backed off on this, but they tried to place Daniel having a later date on when it was written for one reason. You know what the reason was? It wasn't because of, oh, archeology shows us or where we found it proves that it was newer. You know what the reason was? There's no way that Daniel could have been written when it was written because there's no way that Daniel could have known the history that was to unfold. So the primary liberal argument of moving the date of Daniel has nothing to do with what you would think in academia. The primary argument starts with a bias that says, Daniel couldn't have written Daniel when he wrote it. Because if Daniel wrote Daniel, then that means he knew what was going to happen because that's how precise it was with what happened after Alexander. And then we're talking about what Daniel talks about the four kings and Alexander, the great empire crumbling around him. Not a good guy in history, by the way. I know people really like him and the movies romanticize him. Not a good dude. But they moved Daniel. But Daniel was written when we think it was. Daniel was there. It's referenced by New Testament writers. And it was from long ago. It was from Daniel who wrote it. And we understand that he was able to write it because of who God is. Sovereign will cannot be resisted or thwarted. encompasses both good and evil. Again, we already talked about that God is not the author of our sin. That's very clear. No one stands on judgment day and says, but God, we are not robots. That's true. Biblically, we're not robots. And I told you this, as much as you may love your dogs, I'm sorry, Edwin, as much as you may love your dogs, and as much as you may, or Shorty, there's some others here too, some of my family, as much as you may love your dogs and your cats, though that's weird, And horses or cows, look, I don't eat any of them. So I understand. I do like God's creation. But as much as you may love them, they're not humans and people. And while I'm personally not in favor of slaughtering animals, I'm not saying I know other people have other thoughts here. And that's fine. And we're allowed to eat meat. I get that biblically. I'm just telling you me. I don't. I would not call, and you cannot biblically call murder anything other than the killing of a human being. And there's a reason for that. That's a biblical argument. This is sound in the scripture. So God's sovereign will encompasses both good and evil, even though Us are responsible for our own sin because God has created us to be like him. Not God, but like him. That's what it says. You can choose to get up and throw things at me right now. You have, I don't think you should, but you could. Comprehensive, controls all aspects of time and history. The believer is not commanded to know or discover what God has not revealed. Hence the problem often with Christian theology and arguments that are irrelevant. You want to discuss with me what I would call coffee shop theology, and you want to discuss with me the things that the Bible doesn't make clear. Oh, but if God is the author of sin, or excuse me, if God is not the author of sin, that's what I meant to say, and God is sovereign, let's talk about how that really works, and let's build a chart, and let's build a system and a grid to explain how that works. You know what the Bible says? You're responsible, God's not the author of sin, and God is sovereign over everything. All of those are true. And people wanna fill in the middle gaps, often, because people can't deal with the paradox. because people won't believe God unless they understand God. And the Bible says no one understands God. So that's a problem. It's a problem. And this is something in evangelism you could use. And I've told some of you guys this before. So the person who says, well, I just can't believe God unless he fully reveals and I understand these things. OK, so what you're really telling me, let's just be honest. Let's look at this logically. What you're telling me that is unless you're at the same level of God and ability to understand. So unless you are God, you won't believe in God. OK? This is why nobody talks to me. Commanded will, commanded will is revealed in the Bible. Can't be resisted or disobeyed. Is that true? Have you always been kind? Okay, well then you have resisted God's will. If you're a believer, the encouragement is to be kind-hearted like God is kind-hearted. To forgive as Jesus and God forgave, that's Ephesians 4. If you have ever not done that, then you have resisted God's commanded will, yet it clearly is commanded. It involves only that which is good and holy, right? Does God command anything bad? Again, I point to Jesus in the comments about Because we were talking about permissive will earlier, the comments about divorce with the Pharisees. Oh, well, well, and Jesus says what? Because of the hardness of your heart, God allowed that. That kind of comes into here where we talk about only that which is good and holy. Specific provides principles for living. Believers are exhorted to know, understand, and obey what God has revealed. Not because it earns you anything. And if you've ever sat in counseling with me or anything, you know I've always told you, look, you should obey here because you're a believer and you love Jesus. But if you don't obey, I mean, it's not, there's no threat here. I mean, if you're a believer, you're fine. And I've had to deal with some sticky situations where those things become hard to say sometimes. Sovereign or commanded, what would you say here? For it is God, who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure." What would you say? Sovereign or commanded will? Sovereign will. Oh, look at that, the font didn't come over. There actually says sovereign right there. I blame Tony. I sent him my PowerPoint and it went in and somehow the font didn't come over. 1 Thessalonians 4.3, for this is the will of God. your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality. What would you say this is? I would say commanded. Then do keep in mind, guys, I'm just trying to show examples. These are theological grids that we put on the Bible to explain it, and we do have to be careful. Because if you said, well, Jay, where does the Bible break down commanded will and sovereign will? No, what we're talking about are the things the Bible talks about. And Edwin has pointed this out. I have pointed this out for years. I hope it's something that you will remember while you read your Bible. The Bible is not a theological book, right? It's not a systematic theology. I know that sounds weird. It sounds weird to say, what do you mean the Bible's not a theology book? The Bible's not a book written for classrooms. The Bible, while it was a book that was meant to think on who God is, you're not to meditate on the things. It's to cause you to meditate on who God is. That was always the point. Like, what are you really supposed to meditate on? The in-betweens? Meditate on it like you try to think or study for a college course. No, the idea was always reading the scripture to help us to meditate on the ways of God, on the character of God, on the love and the grace and the mercy of God, on where am I in my relationship with Jesus and with God the Father. That's what those things are for us to meditate on. Sovereign or commanded. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What do you think? Yeah, commanded. They're usually easy in this respect, because I would suggest it has an imperative in there, right? A command. Do not do this. That sounds like a command, right? God's telling us something, right? How about this? Oh, and of this I'm sure that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. What would you say? Yeah. Is there anything you can do to thwart that? Could you disobey this command in a way that it will not be true? See, you could disobey, forgive. You can't really disobey this one. If you're saved, God is going to ultimately save you. You can't ruin it. You can't fall out of his hand. This is Paul's point in Romans 8. It doesn't matter. There's not even an angel, the devil himself, that can hinder this in any way. In fact, Paul in Galatians went so far to say that if anyone ever tells you anything different than this gospel, let him be accursed. If I ever say anything different to you, let me be damned. That's the word, literally, let me be damned. Let me be anathema, if you're familiar with that word, is what he's saying. Matthew 7, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. This is like one of those, and I think when you read it within the gospel, it comes to light. But honestly, I've always thought of this as like one of the scariest verses in the Bible. But not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter a kingdom, but the one who does, the will of my Father who is in heaven. What would you say about this one? This one's more tricky. Yeah, I would say it's both. Oh, look at that, the font almost came over that time. It's supposed to be white, though. But at least the size came in that time. I would say this is both. Now, ultimately, the command here is the will of my Father, which is done by who? Well, that's one person, God, Jesus, right? That's who does that. And there's a call here, because what happens after this? The one who builds his foundation, you know, do you build it on the house of sand or on the rock? I mean, the encouragement here is to be in Christ, not really do, do, do. In fact, in some respect, that's the point of Matthew 7, right? A lot of people in the end are going to say, but Lord, I did these things for you. Why am I not saved? And what does Jesus say? I never knew you, right? Get away from me, evil workers, people of iniquity, because I never knew you. And there's a relationship aspect there. There's an intimate aspect there. It had nothing to do with what they did or did not do. In fact, I would suggest to you that there's a lot of gospel in that. So we've been talking about decisions, decisions. What do I do? Keep in mind when you make decisions, God's sovereign will, Mike and Lewis both brought this up earlier, we look in the Bible, right? God's commanded will, is what I'm doing. different than what God's commanded will is? If you believe that God wants you to be unforgiving to someone, if you believe God wants you to be mean in a way that would violate Corinthians 13 to someone, well, then you have to say, well, what's God's commanded will for me? If God wants you, like, oh, well, God wants me to potentially, you know, have a relationship outside the bounds that God has defined for me to have a relationship in. Well, no, I can tell you that's not God's will for you. So consider that. Now, if you're unsure, and this was brought up by Lynn earlier, what's the answer? What's James 1.5 encourage you to do? Pray for wisdom. Right? Pray for wisdom. And I know that sounds supernatural and odd, because it's like, well, Jay, I prayed and I still don't know what to do. And I get that. And there's a lot of comments there. But at some point, you also have to trust the Lord to work in your heart. If you're not doing something that's in a violation of scripture, If you are there, if you are genuinely asking God to check your motives, if you're really laying your soul bare before God, and I think you guys understand what I'm saying, not in a manipulative way. And you are where you are. At some point, God gives the righteous man the desire of his heart. And there is a fulfillment in Jesus, but there's a principle for us as well in that. So where do I go? What way? Be careful about isolating verses. You could make the Bible say anything you want to say. That's very true. You can twist the scripture. Be careful about partially true truths, taking things out of context, because I have to prove to you that what I'm saying is right. So I kind of abuse the text to force it to mean my thing. But we do see peace. Seeking the Lord, Lewis brought this up earlier, with godly counsel. I mean, where is your heart? There's an aspect of really praying and really laying your soul humbly before the Lord, and where is your heart? Are you at peace? You may be upset, you may be happy about the situation, but try to remove that. Where's your heart before the Lord? Are you troubled? Do you believe it's right in the good conscience? Circumstances? The word, what is the word? You know, being a light, guiding our path. And again, prayer in James. And there's other things. These are just ideas and things to consider. So we start with the plain. Being saved, right? This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. Desires all men to come to a knowledge of the truth. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. And I only throw this up here because of this. Look, what's God's will for me? God's will is for you to be saved. God is asking, and even if you think I'm wrong about the Peter verse, what about the Luke verse that says how often God desired to gather you in? and you were unwilling. God, who as Spurgeon had the Isaiah verse that I read last week above his pulpit, come to me, who? Who should come? All the ends of the earth, for I am God and there isn't another. That's what God says. So what is God's will for you? It's to be saved. It's to follow him. It's to be a believer. Spirit-filled, for us who are believers, know what the will of the Lord is. Do not be foolish, know what the will of the Lord is. Be filled with the Spirit. Okay? Sanctified, for this is the will of God, your sanctification. God desires us to honor Him, not to be sad. Not to go on, does God allow other things? Yes, but this is the will of God, your sanctification, that is that you abstain from sexual immorality, that each of you know how to possess your own vessel and sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God, for that no man transgresses and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is an avenger in all these things. Just as I told you before and solemnly warned you, for God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. And yes, we have Jesus, but what is God's will for you? To walk in the spirit, submissive, and to suffer. God's will is for us to suffer. You can't say, well, I'm in a difficult situation and I'm unhappy and I don't want to suffer, so God doesn't want me to do this. You can't say that. Jesus didn't say that, and the scripture would point us at Jesus. And finally, and we'll pray here. delight yourself in the Lord, it says in Psalm 37, and he will give you the desires of your heart. And I know this is an often abused verse. And if you look this verse up in a lot of commentaries, they spend more time explaining what it doesn't mean than what it does mean. I always find that unfortunate. I always find it unfortunate when I read a commentary and it spends the entire time telling me what it doesn't mean. And then this little thing telling me what it does mean. I'm like, something's broken. Something's wrong. But this verse has great application for us, and it should be a huge encouragement. You know what? Yes, I'm not saying, oh, well, my heart desires to leave my wife and go do something else. So hey, look, delight yourself in the Lord, and He'll give you the desires of your heart. That's not in any way what I'm saying. You have to take the context of everything that we've been talking about. But honestly, at some point, be happy in the Christ, resting in the gospel, delighting in the ways of the Lord. And at some point, you pray for wisdom and where your heart is, your heart is. And God is a good God who, the Bible says what? Knows how to give gifts better than any father on this earth. God is a good God who desires everything and all riches for his children. and he gives them, we don't always get them here, they await us, the real treasures await us, but there is still truth here. God is God and within his ways. Yeah, delight yourself in the Lord. He gives us the desires of our heart. There is truth and application there for us in Jesus. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for your grace and mercy. We thank you that you are a good God. We thank you that you provide wisdom. And Father, I'm sure all of us here are faced with decisions, are faced with situations, And Father, we don't always know the right outcomes, and we would look back on our life and question even decisions that we think might be right, and we struggle. Lord, give us mercy for where we screw it up. Give us grace in moving forward, Father. And would you grant us wisdom, because we don't have it, and we don't know how to process these things. And Father, we read your word, and we argue about what we read and what it says. Forget with other people. We argue even amongst ourselves. We question, and we doubt, and we struggle. And Lord, we are like the man that says we believe, yet help us with our unbelief. Father, help us with our unbelief. Help us to see your will. Give us wisdom. Give us grace. Give us knowledge. Help us to honor you, not because we desire these things for our own, but give us these things so that we could honor you and love you, and give us a heart to do so. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you. You are dismissed.