What Do You Mean by “The Will of God”? is a sermon teaching us to follow the things we know are God’s will. He’ll direct you the right way.

Key verses:
Romans 12:1-2

 

Alright, let’s look at Romans 12. We’re just going to look at the first two verses. This is a tremendous chapter, and there’s so much truth in it. But tonight, we are just looking at the first two verses. Romans 12:1-2, the Apostle Paul writes to the church in Rome:

Romans 12:1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

Romans 12:2: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

A Living Sacrifice

So, Paul wrote to the church of Rome, and he set forth this challenge. He said, “I beseech you” – I’m begging with you, I’m pleading with you. And then he said “brethren,” these words to the people to whom he is pleading, and these words are for believers only. They don’t necessarily apply to everyone. We see that in Romans 8:28:

Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

It didn’t say all things work for good for everybody. It says but for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose. In this verse, he says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren.” What is he begging and pleading with the people to do?

Look at it again, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.” Now that is interesting. Because generally speaking, when there’s a sacrifice, an animal sacrifice offered, it’s killed. And yet, Paul says here to be a living sacrifice. Not a dead sacrifice, a living sacrifice.

How are you going to do that? Well, it means to live daily in total commitment to our Lord and Savior. Let me say that again, to live daily in total commitment to our Lord and Savior. We need to live a committed life. Lord, it is not my will; it’s yours. It’s not what I want; it’s what you want. We need to live a life committed. Paul calls that an acceptable life to God, which is your reasonable service. He calls it acceptable to God, and then he calls it a reasonable service. Now, reasonable service – he’s saying if Jesus died for us, it just makes sense it is reasonable that we should live for Him. So, it is acceptable; it’s reasonable that we do this.

Be Not Conformed to This World

But he further challenges us. In verse two, he says:

Romans 12:2: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

“And be not conformed to this world’” – don’t be like the world. Don’t let the world change you. It’s easy to do that, especially with younger people. But it’s not limited to younger people. Younger people want to be accepted. You want to feel that you fit in. You don’t want to be left out of things. But can I share something with you? Older people don’t want to do that either. They don’t want to be left out of things. And so, the temptation is to fit in, to be accepted, to do what the world does as the world does it.

Now, there’s a problem there. Some things that happen in the world are not necessarily bad or evil, and we’re not saying it all is. But the world system itself, the world philosophy, is not that of God, and it is certainly not of the Bible. And so often, it takes you in the wrong direction.

We heard about music and the words of music. Somebody pointed out to me the other day a song, and I’m not going to mention the song. A very famous song, a very popular song. And at the first mention of it, or if I mention the name of it, you’d see what I’m saying. It sounds like it could be a spiritual song, a beautiful melody, by the way. They said, “Did you ever listen to the words of that song? That is not a godly song.” But you could be caught up in the beauty of the melody. You could be caught up in the words that are there that sound spiritual.

Let me give you an example. It’s not the song I was just talking about. This goes back about 1969 when Norman Greenbaum came out with a song. Now, you might derive that his name is Greenbaum. He might be Jewish. I don’t know for sure, but there is a good chance of that. That’s fine as far as that goes. It’s wonderful. But the song says this, “You want to go to the place that’s best, you’ve got to have a friend in Jesus.” Let me run that by you again. “You want to go to the place that’s best. You’ve got to have a friend in Jesus.” Now, does that sound okay to you? It kind of does, doesn’t it? Did you know that in 1969, that song was voted the best comedy song of the year? That was not a song pertaining to the Gospel. It was a song mocking the Gospel.

Sometimes, in trying to conform to the world, we can be led astray, and we can be led to things that aren’t godly at all. So, we are not to settle to conform with the world. We are to point people to the Savior, who will take them to Heaven, and we will not accomplish the goal of taking people to Heaven if we are living like people who are going to Hell. You say that that’s a little harsh. It might be, but it will stay with you, and you’ll understand it, and it will stay with you.

Do God’s Will

So, Paul then says, “be ye transformed,” – that’s a wonderful word. “Transformed,” be transformed, be changed “by the renewing of your mind.” I’m going to share a good many scriptures with you tonight, too many to turn to, so I’m going to encourage you to listen or to write down a reference if you’d like to look it up later.

He says, “be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” The same writer in 1 Corinthians 6:11:

1 Corinthians 6:11: “And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

Ephesians 5:26 talks of the washing of water by the Word, there’s a cleansing power in the Word:

Ephesians 5:26: “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,”

Titus 3:5 speaks of washing and regeneration, renewing of the Holy Ghost:

Titus 3:5: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”

Hebrews 10:22: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”

What is he saying? He’s saying cleanse, be cleaned, be transformed, be changed. Don’t be the person you used to be. Be the person God would have you to be. Why are we going to do all this? Why are we going to be the living sacrifice which is our reasonable service? Why are we not going to be conformed to this world? Why are we going to let the Word of God and the Truth of God, and the Spirit of God himself transform us? “That ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” So that you and I can do God’s will.

We said this this morning, and I think it will help to repeat it. Sin is violating the Word of God and the will of God. Now, the first time we see sin in the Bible is with Adam and Eve in the garden. They are told that they can eat of any tree in the garden. It’s all theirs. It’s all they want, with no limitations put on it. But do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We shared this here many times. God was not concerned that they would come to know good. They already knew good. He did not want them to know evil. And so, He said to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But they ignored the Word of God, and they ignored the will of God that was revealed by the Word of God, and that was the first sin. It was a willful choice. And we do that; we make willful choices.

So, what does it mean? What does it mean when we talk about the will of God? Let me give you a simple answer, and then we’ll give you a more complete answer. The simple answer to the will of God is this, to do what God wants us to do, to be who God wants us to be, to say what God wants us to say, to go where God wants us to go.

But then that raises another question. How do we know that? How do we know the right thing to say? How do we know the right thing to do? How do we know exactly how to be? How do we know where to go? In order for us to understand that, I want to share some other things with you that the Lord says specifically in His Word that this is His will. Again, we’re going to go fast, I’ll give you references, but we won’t take time to turn to all of them.

It’s God’s Will for You to Be Saved

2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

What does that tell us? It tells us that it is God’s will for people to be saved. It’s God’s will for you to be saved. So, the first step in following God’s will, finding God’s will, knowing God’s will is for you to be saved. You will not ever know the will of God until you are saved.

1 Timothy 2:9: “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

First, it is God’s will for people to be saved. I was talking about that to someone this afternoon. It is God’s will for everybody to be saved. Does that mean everybody is saved? No. Does it mean everybody is going to be saved? It does not because we have our own will and we make our own decision.

Somebody said to me, “I’ve heard if a person commits a certain sin (and I could name several who fit this description), they are automatically going to Hell. They don’t have a choice.” And the person said, “I don’t think God is fair about that.” So, I said to the person, I said, “The Bible says there is none righteous, no not one. Does that mean I am not righteous?” You know, there are always people willing to tell you that you are not righteous, and they did. They said, “Yeah, that’s right.” Then I said, “We’ve all sinned and come short of the glory of God. Does that make me a sinner?” And again, the person was happy to tell me that I was a sinner.

I said, “Alright, if I’m a sinner and the wages of sin is death and death, meaning spiritual death, is being separated from God, that means I’m going to Hell because I’m a sinner.” They said, “Yes.” I said, “Alright, the sin you are talking about, the person who committed that sin is going to Hell because they are a sinner.” God doesn’t say, “You know what? I’m going to kill you because you committed that sin. This sin over here is not so bad, so I’ll let you …” It doesn’t work that way.

Sinners are lost and are separated from God by their sins. When we need to repent of our sins, we need to come to the Lord, we need to give our heart to Him, and we need to trust Him to save us. It is God’s will for you to be saved.

It’s God’s Will for You to be Like Jesus

Secondly, once you are saved, it is God’s will for you to grow to be like Jesus. Listen to the words of the Lord Jesus. He says:

Matthew 12:50: “For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Do you hear what He is saying? You want to be close to Him. Do you want to be like Him? Do you want to have that deep relationship with Him? Then do His will. It is His will to be like Him and be close to Him.

It’s God’s Will for Us to Serve

Number three, it is God’s will that we live a life of service – serving God and serving other people. Acts 13:36 tells us of David, who served his own generation by the will of God. What did he do? He served his own generation; he served the people of his generation. Maybe you’re thinking, “Yeah, but David was king. He served his people. I want to be king.”

I tell you what, when I was in high school, we read a book called “Anna and the King.” It’s the basis for the play that became “The King and I.” Maybe you’ve seen that. But the book is “Anna and the King.” We read that book together in English class, English literature. I read that book and said, “I want to be king. Man, a pretty good deal to be a king.” You get treated well, do what you want to do, and so forth.

So, David was king. That’s the high position that I want. Don’t miss what it says here. David served his own generation by the will of God. First of all, it was God’s will for David to be king. We know that. It tells us that quite plainly. It probably isn’t God’s will for all of us to be king. So, what do you think? Probably not. But it is God’s will for us to serve the people that He brings us in contact with. We’re in their life. They’re in our life. We are to serve.

It’s God’s Will for Us to Pray

We quoted a while ago Romans 8:28.

Romans 8:27 teaches us that we are to pray. And it is God’s will for us to pray. We are to pray even when we do not know specifically how to pray. The Holy Spirit will take our prayers and interpret them, in essence saying to the Father, “Father, if he or she knew what to say, this is what they would say.” Why does He do that? Because He knows our hearts. It says He searches our hearts. He knows what to pray if you know how to pray it. So, our duty is to pray. And the Holy Spirit will make intercession so that our prays will be seeking the will of God even when we don’t understand exactly what that is.

It’s God’s Will for Us to Follow Him

Romans 1:10-32 teaches that we should follow the Lord and go wherever He wants us to go. He may lead you to one place or another. I shared this many times, but not recently. As a young man, I wanted to serve the Lord. I was saved by the grace of God, called into the ministry by the grace of God, and I wanted to serve the Lord. Now, I had my own ideas about where I wanted to serve the Lord. I did. I knew where I wanted to go. I knew what I wanted to do. Did you hear what I said? I said, “I know where I want to go. I know what I want to do.”

If the Lord had laid out a map of the world, and He didn’t do that. But if He had laid out a map of the world and said, “Look at this map of the world. You pick the place where you are going to serve me the rest of your life.” I’m sorry to tell you, I would not have picked Delray Beach. I wouldn’t have. I knew where Delray Beach was, and I knew a little bit about it. I didn’t think it was an awful place or anything like that. I just knew it would not have been my first choice. That is exactly where the Lord led me to be. No question about it. So, the point that I’m trying to get across to you is, it wasn’t where I thought I was going to serve the Lord, but it was where He wanted me to be. It’s so important that we understand that.

God Has a Place for Us to Serve

And then 1 Corinthians 1:1 tells us that God has a place of service for all of us. It may not be the same place. We all have a place to serve Him. Listen, we are all not called to be king. As a matter of fact, I don’t think any of us in this room was called to be king. I don’t want to hurt your feelings. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think so. Maybe you’ll be a king someday, but not in this life. But we all have a place of service. It is not always a place of promise. Hear me on that. We are not always the one standing in the pulpit preaching. We are not always the one on the platform and sing or play an instrument. Now, there is nothing wrong with that if God has led you to do that. If God calls you to do that, then that’s what you do, and you should do nothing else. But not everybody is called to do that. Sometimes the Lord leads you in a different direction. Then you would think, even with your talent and ability, let me give you an example, and we’ll move on.

I am quite sure the Lord has not called me to be a singer. I like to sing. I like music. We talked about music. I like music, but I’m not a singer, and God has not called me to sing, and that’s obvious. Let me tell you something else. You heard me mention here many times Dr. Lee Roberson. Dr. Lee Roberson, when he was a young man and he was a Christian, trained to sing opera. He had an operatic voice, and he had a big deep booming voice. He trained to sing in the opera, and for a good part of his early life, he sang on the radio.

But God did not call him to be a singer. God called him to preach. After he’d been in the ministry for many years, I was there when this happened. He became ill, and he lost his voice, and he couldn’t even preach. He went to doctor after doctor, and they said that there was nothing they could do for him. He went to the Mayo Clinic, and he went to many different places, but there was nothing they could do for him.

He was a pastor of a church, a very large and thriving church. He could not preach. He couldn’t sing. He couldn’t preach. Then, he was left to one doctor who took a look and said, “I think I could help you.” He performed a procedure on him, and he was able to preach again and preached well into his nineties. But he could not sing anymore. No more singing.

What am I telling you? I’m telling you, he had a great singing voice, but God didn’t call him to sing. He called him to preach. Now, you may say, “I know preachers who preach and sing.” I do too, and that’s wonderful. I could name some right now. Nothing wrong with that. But I’m saying God called him to preach and not to sing. Had the ability to sing but told him not to. He could only preach. We could go on with that, but we need to go on. The place that God has for us to serve is not going to be the same for all of us. It’s not going to be the same position for all of us. We all have a place of service for Him.

It’s God’s Will to Deliver Us from Evil

Galatians 1:4 tells us that it’s God’s will to deliver us from the evil that prevails in this world. That does not mean that you and I will never have trouble. We’re promised trouble in the Bible. What it does mean is that He will care for us. He will guide us, and ultimately, He will rescue us from this world.

It’s God’s Will for Us to Obey Him

Ephesians 6:6 tells us that it’s God’s will for us to obey the revealed will of God as it is set forth in His Word because we want to obey Him in our heart, not because we are required to do so, but because we desire to do His will.

It’s God’s Will for Us to Labor and Pray

Colossians 4:12 tells us that we are to labor fervently. That means working with all your energy, all your heart, and working for others who are fellow believers. And we’re told to be always praying. That’s God’s will. Pray always. We are standing perfectly and completely in the will of God, and we are praying and following the will of God, and we’re to do so with a full heart.

It’s God’s Will for Us to Be Sanctified

1 Thessalonians 4:3-6, we’re told this. That this is the will of God for us. We’re taught that it’s God’s will for us to be sanctified, cleansed, and set apart for His service. We’re taught it is God’s will for us to abstain from fornication. Someone asked me recently, “Well, what about people who say they’re Christians and live an immoral life, are they saved?” You know what? It’s not for me to judge their salvation, but I can tell you this. It is not God’s will for them to live an immoral life. And we are told it is God’s will for us to abstain from fornication. We are told it is God’s will that we keep our bodies in sanctification and honor.

We are told it is God’s will to live like those who know God and not live like those who do not know God. We are not to cheat or oppress other people, not our brothers particularly, but not anybody. We should be known as the most honest people anybody knows. Somebody should be able to hand you $1 million in cash and tell you to take care of it for him and never worry about it. You should be that trustworthy.

It’s God’s Will for Us to Live Godly

Then, God called us from uncleanness to holiness. We’ll never achieve holiness in this life, but we’re to be working on it. We are to be growing to be like Him.

Titus 2:12 tells us that it is God’s will for us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust and that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.

It is God’s Will for Us to Be Thankful

1 Thessalonians 5:13, we are to be thankful to God and in everything give thanks, the verse says. In everything, give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Do you ever think to thank God for the little things? I mean little things. I mean, did you ever lose something and thanked God, you found it? Sure. And just thank God for the little things. I thank God for little bitty things. For example, I got one more squeeze out of the toothpaste tube. I thank God for that. I needed that. Thank God for the little things.

I heard a pastor criticized one time because he said he was visiting in another city, not his hometown, and he just had a great craving for hotdogs. You may not like hotdogs or not eat hotdogs. That’s your decision, that’s fine. That’s not the point of the story. He had a craving for a hotdog. He asked the Lord, “Lord, I sure would like to have a hotdog.” You know what? Somebody brought him one. You’d say, that’s silly. God’s not going to answer a prayer like that. That’s silly. Why not?

Didn’t like that one, let me tell you another one. I was in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I was young, and I was working in a factory, and the work got slow at our factory. So, we were working two or three days a week, more often two days a week. I was just getting by working five days a week. Working two and three days a week, I wasn’t making it financially.

I was going to school and paying the school bill. I had a car payment at the time, and I had other responsibilities, a place to live, and so forth. And because I was going to school during the day because I worked from 2 pm to 10:30 pm, I didn’t have much opportunity to hunt for a job. I prayed about it, and I sought the Lord’s will.

And one day, I was at church, and a friend of mine, Leo, walked up to me, and I hadn’t said a word about it to anyone at church. I hadn’t mentioned it. Leo was here the year before last and sat right about where brother Dennis is now. He just walked up to me and said, “Do you need a job?” I said, “As a matter of fact, I do.” And he reached into his coat and said, “Fill out this application. I’m sure you’ll get the job.” I did. Not only was it five days a week work, but it paid more. It paid more per hour. It was a good job, and I was thankful for it. You seek God’s will, and He brings you the answers that you need.

It’s God’s Will That We Do Right

1 Peter 2:15 tells us it is the will of God for us to do well, to do what’s right, and that by doing so, we put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. Those who falsely accuse Christ and Christians of doing evil are put to silence by the good that we do. It’s God’s will that we do good and we do right.

It’s God’s Will to Suffer for the Lord

1 Peter 2:17 tells us that if we suffer in this world, it is God’s will that we suffer for doing what’s right rather than what’s wrong. What do I mean? Well, if we do something wrong, we break the law, we do something we know is wrong, and we pay a penalty. I’m stealing something, and I get caught and pay a penalty, then I don’t say, “Praise God, I’m suffering for the Lord.” You’re not. You’re suffering because you did wrong.

But if you are standing and testifying for the Lord, you get persecuted for that; that’s suffering for the Lord. So, what Peter’s saying is, it’s God’s will that we suffer for doing right rather than doing what’s wrong.

It’s God’s Will to Surrender to Him

1 Peter 4:12, we are not to live according to the desires of the flesh but according to what we know God would have us to do. We are to surrender to Him.

It’s God’s Will for Us to Trust Him

1 Peter 4:9 tells us that it’s God’s will for us to trust God without reserve with our souls, our lives, and our circumstances.

It’s God’s Will for Us to Focus on What’s Eternal

1 John 2:17 says that this world will pass away, but those who do the will of God will live forever. He’s telling us to focus on what is eternal, not that which is temporary. So much that we value so highly in this world will not last. It is the will of God that we follow and obey the things that are clearly revealed in His Word about how we should live.

Follow God’s Clearly Revealed Will

I just gave you multiple scripture references where it clearly states the will of God. Now, in all those verses that I gave you, all those references I gave you, there’s almost a 100% chance that none of those verses or all of them together aren’t going to cover something in some area where you are wanting a decision. So, how am I going to find myself in that situation? Let me help you. You do all those things that are clearly revealed in God’s Word for you to do, and you will be in the will of God. You will.

Let me give you an example very quickly. “Thou shalt not steal.” You know that it is God’s will for you not to steal. “Love thy neighbor as thyself.” You know it is God’s will to treat your neighbor the way you treat yourself, the way you take care of yourself. You see, it is so simple. So many things God spells out for us so clearly that we know is right.

It’s God’s Will to Put Him Above All Else

So, if we follow those things and obey those things that are clearly revealed in the Word as to how we should live, the Word of God is in front of us. We are in the will of God and living in it. It is the will of God to put Him and all His purposes above all else in life.

“But preacher, I enjoy doing this.” Well, if you enjoy doing this and it’s not wrong, there’s nothing sinful about it, then I think you should do it. But if that interferes or takes you away from what God has called you to do, then you should not do it.

When I was a first-year student in Bible college, I went to the vice president of the college. Understand, I had only been saved a little over a year. I went to the vice president of the college, and I said, I wanted to know, “I enjoy drag racing, I do. Is there anything here at the school, anything in the ministry here that would be hindered if I participate in drag racing?”

He said, “We have no policy against that. I don’t see where there is anything wrong with that. I think you can go ahead, but as a student here, I don’t see how you can afford it.” You know what? He was right. He was right. I couldn’t afford it. I couldn’t do it. So, you know how many drag races I was in that year? None. Because he was right. I enjoy doing it, but it wasn’t where God led me. My priority was not drag racing. My priority was serving the Lord. Does that make sense to you?

It’s God’s Will for Us to Share the Gospel

It’s the will of God for us to be messengers for Him for the people of this world. The world is lost without Christ. They need to get to know the Gospel. It’s the will of God to follow Him to the very end of our time here on earth.

It is so important that you and I are witnesses, it’s so important that we share the Gospel. Then, I encourage you to do that. Sometimes you say, “Well, I’m not sure how to speak to a person” and so forth. There are things you can do to learn. But here is something we can all do. We can all give out tracks. You can take a track and give it to somebody. I did that today. I’m not trying to brag about myself. I’m trying to say that you can do it. It’s not difficult. Hand somebody a track and tell them, “I think this is something I think will help you.” And pray about it. Ask the Lord to use you.

We’ve had testimonies. We’ve had people stand up when we were having testimonies here and tell us that they were saved because somebody handed them a track. Has it happened? Yes, it does.

Follow the things that you know are God’s will. The things you’re not sure about will fall into place. You’ll be going the right way, and if you aren’t, He’ll direct you the right way.

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Let us pray together. Father, thank you so much for blessing us. It is our prayer that you would help us to do what is the good and acceptable perfect will of God in every area of our life. Not putting ourselves first, not putting our desires first, but putting you first in all things.

Now, Father, we come to a time of invitation. If you’ve spoken to hearts, decisions need to be made. I just ask, Lord, that you encourage the people to take this opportunity to give their hearts, their minds, and their lives to you to surrender and say, “Lord, I’ll do your will. I’ll follow what you will have me do. I’ll commit myself completely to you.” Lord, we ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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