Sermons - Cornerstone Christian Fellowship

The Will of the Lord - Part One

Jul 31, 2022 by: Ben Zeigler | Series: Messages by Ben Zeigler

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Today Ben Zeigler will present the first part of his message that looks at the will of the Lord for our lives.

The full text of this message can be found by clicking the PDF button.

The Lord’s Will for Our Lives
July 31, 2022
Part 1

Imagine yourself for a moment, you are about to graduate high school. You are 17 years old and have your entire life ahead of you. You are trying to figure out what is next. You love the Lord and want to please him in all that you do but you aren’t sure if you should go to college or just start working. You are not sure if you should stay in the city you grew up in or if you should move to another state for a different opportunity. You feel like you are trying to break some code of the Lord’s will and you are getting discouraged because you aren’t sure which direction He wants you to go. You might not be in this situation currently, but you may have a son or daughter who is getting close to it. Or maybe you are thinking should I marry this person or not? Should I uproot my family and take this new job, should we buy this house or car? Should I go to this church or that one? What does the Lord want me to do!? 
Does the Lord really care about these things? Does he really care where we live, what college we go to, what career we have? What house or car we buy? Does the Lord have a unique will for our lives that is different from that of someone else? Is there some mysterious will that we must try and figure out, we must try and break the code of the scriptures, of our emotions, our desires and the opportunities presented to us? 
Today, hopefully we will be able to shed the light of biblical knowledge on this topic of the Lord’s will. I believe it is pretty simple once we understand what the Lord says about it. 
Nothing good in life simply happens out of ignorance or by accident. We must strive to make sure we do not confuse the things of this world or the wisdom of this world with the things of God. We must not use the wisdom of this world to make decisions over the wisdom from above. Pastor Maina said in his messages “Study of the Scriptures” that “Wisdom is the correct, practical application of the knowledge of the scriptures.” So, our goal this morning is to not get caught up in the nuances of man’s wisdom in trying to describe God’s will but our goal is to grow in our biblical knowledge of what the scriptures say regarding the will of the Lord and then become wise in correctly applying/rightly dividing it to our lives.
Why is the Will of the Lord Important?
Let’s start off by asking the question: Why is it important to know and do the will of the Lord? We can very simply answer this, if we do know the will of the Lord, then we cannot do it, and if we do not do the will of the Lord, we will not enter the kingdom of the heaven. That’s very straightforward and a MASSIVE deal!
Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!' 24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:”
It is only the one who “does the will of My Father in heaven” that will enter the Kingdom of heaven (repeat this). This verse is speaking to eternally saved individuals who thought they were doing the will of the Father but completely missed it, completely fell short of it. They could have been living in the right city, had the right job, married the right person, even went to the right church, but missed it to the point that the Lord said, “I never knew you…” Do you think the Lord truly never knew them? No, of course he knew them, He is all-knowing but in relationship to the Kingdom of the heavens, in relationship to spiritual things, he never knew them. This is the same as what we see when God told Abraham to take his only son Isaac to Mt. Moriah to offer him to the Lord. 
Genesis 22:2 Then He said, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you."
Of course, God knew that Isaac was not Abraham’s only son, he had Ishmael, but in relation to the promise it was Isaac and Isaac alone.
Galatians 4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman. 23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise, …
We also see this illustrated in a secondary application in Mark 3 when Jesus’ mother and brothers were looking for Him. 
Mark 3:31 Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. 32 And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You." 33 But He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?" 34 And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 "For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."
Did Jesus not know who His mother or brothers were? Of course, he did! We are seeing here more detail revealed, the one who leaves his first birth, that born in the flesh (pictured by His actual mother and brothers), and pursues his second birth, that which is born from above, who is actually doing the will of God. These are those who through the “second birth” are His brother, His sister, His mother.
Circling this back to Isaac and Ishmael again in this picture of our first birth/our flesh and our second birth/our spirit. 
Galatians 4:28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise. 29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? "Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman." 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.
So, in Matthew 7:21 when Christ says, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Then we need to properly understand what is being said here. That tied to the world, our first birth, our flesh will not inherit, but that tied to our second birth, that brought forth from above, that which IS God’s will, that associated with the Promise, will inherit. 
1 John 2:16 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. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. 
Proverbs 28:26 He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, But whoever walks wisely will be delivered. (Remember what our definition of wisdom was? “Wisdom is the correct practical, application of the knowledge of the scriptures”).
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.
One more point before we move on, because of our flesh, our sin nature, this struggle between that which is of the flesh and that which is of the spirit is real and exhausting at times. Do we ever feel spiritually tired, worn down? We will all go through seasons that feel exhausting as well as seasons of excitement and renewed strength. We need to pray for ourselves and our brothers and sisters for endurance and strength as this race we are in is one of endurance, where stopping, standing still or resting is not an option, it is one with hills and valleys, where you might be running alone at times or with a group. One where we will need to continue adjusting, correcting, confessing and being all the more diligent as we see the day approaching. Therefore, it is so important not to forsake the assembly together. 
Hebrews 10:36 For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
Where we are Currently Positioned:
We need to look at the context that we currently find ourselves living in, so that we can better know the Lord’s will through understanding man’s created purpose. This will be review for many but as one of my flight instructors said in college, “Repetition is the mother of all learning.”
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
We know that Satan was created to rule over this province (earth) in God’s universal Kingdom. He was “the anointed cherub who covers;” The Lord “established him; he was on the holy mountain of God; he walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones.”. But iniquity was found in him, and he was cast down to the ground. (Ezekiel 28:14-18)
This is where we find ourselves in Genesis 1:2. Due to Satan’s rebellion and then the Lord’s judgement of him, the earth was/became formless and void with darkness covering it. We also know this because the Lord didn’t create the earth in vain.
Isaiah 45:18 “For thus says the LORD, Who created the heavens, Who is God, Who formed the earth and made it, Who has established it, Who did not create it in vain, Who formed it to be inhabited: "I am the LORD, and there is no other.” 
Genesis 1:2 God started His restoration process of restoring a ruined creation, earth, in 6 days of work followed by a 7th day of rest. 
To understand the will of the Lord in a wide, general sense for mankind we need to make sure we understand why the Lord created man in the first place.
Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Man’s created purpose was to have dominion over the earth in a marriage relationship between a man and woman. Man was created to replace the disqualified ruler who was ruling over the earth. Man has never fulfilled this purpose though as sin entered the picture when Satan deceived the Woman in the garden. She was deceived by believing the lie, “Did God indeed say” and “You will not surely die”, and the fruit that the Lord told them not to eat was appealing to her eyes and she ate from that tree, her husband also ate, and they were separated from the Lord in sin and from their created purpose. 
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' " 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.
Sin had now corrupted mankind, Satan was not replaced as ruler and thus the restoration process of another ruined creation, man, must be started, 6 days of work followed by a 7th day of rest (6,000 years of work followed by 1,000 years of rest – 2 Peter 3:8). Where all three parts of man must be redeemed, his spirit, soul and body. This is the context we find ourselves in; we are currently sitting here today having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ’s provision for our sins – through His death and she blood, our spirit has been made alive; we now have the ability to understand spiritual truth, we are not slaves to sin leading to death anymore but now we have a choice to be slaves of righteousness. 
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
This battle for our soul, between our sin nature (our flesh, our first birth) and our spirit (our second birth, that which is born from above) is ever present as we seek the Lord’s will for our life and strive to walk wisely in it. 
Now as we go through this, we must keep in mind that Satan is still the ruler over the earth, he is still there to deceive and to destroy. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Satan is still asking the question “Did God indeed say…You will not surely die”. Causing doubt and luring us to believe the lie for the purpose of preventing us from fulfilling God’s created purpose – replacing him as ruler over the earth in a marriage relationship. 
Ephesians 5:15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, 16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil. 17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit…
Remember what our Matthew passage said, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” The luring question that may come to mind…Did God indeed say this?
Our Example – Ruth:
Let us now examine Ruth who will give us a clear picture of how EVERY faithful Christian living out the will of the Lord must live. This book provides a great overview for us of how Ruth walked in faithful obedience, properly preparing herself and doing the will of her mother-in-law Naomi, for the purpose of the redemption of a forfeited inheritance by a Jewish man in a marriage relationship.
As we already know Ruth and Orpah were Gentiles from Moab who married into a Jewish family. During their time in the land of Moab Naomi’s husband and her two sons died, leaving Naomi, Ruth and Orpah widows. After their husbands had died Naomi decided to return to Bethlehem. 
Ruth 1:6 Then she arose with her daughters-in-law that she might return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had visited His people by giving them bread.
Ruth and Orpah both decided to start the journey with her to Bethlehem. Ruth 1:7 Therefore she went out from the place where she was, and her two daughters-in-law with her; and they went on the way to return to the land of Judah.
These two women had to decide; would they remain in the place of their birth, in their mother’s house or would they continue the journey with their new family, their new mother? (Remember that which we saw in Mark when Jesus’ mother and brother went looking for him). 
Ruth 1:8 And Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, "Go, return each to her mother's house. The LORD deal kindly with you, as you have dealt with the dead and with me.
We know what happened next, Ruth clung to Naomi while Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, stopped her journey, and remained in the place of her first birth. 
Ruth 1:14 Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her. 15 And she said, "Look, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law." 16 But Ruth said: "Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. 17 Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me." 18 When she saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.
All of this was for the purpose of the inheritance being redeemed. So just like Abraham with Isaac this is a turning point in the book of Ruth where Ruth alone is moving forward. Orpah had no part in the inheritance being redeemed and thus is nowhere to be seen from that point onwards. 
We can easily see that which is pictured in Ruth is inseparably connected to the redemption of the inheritance through a marriage relationship. The actions that Ruth took recorded throughout this book are exactly the actions we Christians must take on our journey to Christ’s threshing floor, for the purpose of our inheritance being redeemed, in a marriage relationship. Our inheritance is not heaven but is reserved IN heaven for us. 
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, 9 receiving the end of your faith--the salvation of your souls.
If the Lord is willing, in a few weeks we will be looking at Ruth working in the proper field and how she properly prepared herself for meeting Boaz at his threshing floor. We will be discussing practical examples through the scriptures of what this looks like through various stages/seasons of life from childhood to being a grandparent and biblically how we can discern the Lord’s will for our lives.
May our desire be like King David when he wrote Psalms 143:10 Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
Let’s Pray.

The Will of the Lord - Part One

Refresh A Recap from the Sermon

The Will of the Lord - Part One

Jul 31, 2022

Speaker: Ben Zeigler

Series: Messages by Ben Zeigler

Category: Sunday Morning

Refresh
A Recap from the Sermon