The perfect will of God

The will of God is perfect because it is founded upon His perfect and most Holy character.  The implications of this truth are far reaching.  His purpose and plan for us is worthy of absolute trust.  We should never lean upon our own understanding or seek to do what is right in our own eyes.

Instead, we ought to trust in God and obey His Word, the Holy Scriptures.  How is the will of God described in Scripture?

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

The Greek word for ‘conformed’ is suschematizo (soos.khay.mat.id.zo).  It means ‘to fashion one’s self according to another’s pattern’.  In other words it means bending your mind around His.  Too often we try to force God into our pattern.  Making Him into what we are comfortable with, however, Scripture says for us not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed!

Psalm 119:36 - Incline my heart to Your testimonies And not to dishonest gain.

Bend my heart to You God!  When was the last time you prayed that way?  Not, God bless me, not even God thank You for what I have, but God incline my heart!  Bend it! Form it to You and not this world.

You see that is the implied opposite there.  If we are seeking God’s will, pleading with Him about our heart, then we are less likely to be found seeking dishonest worldly things.  You see that connection?  Why?  Because He is good and perfect and Holy!

Romans 12:2 then says that we are transformed so that we may prove what the Will of God is.

That which is Good. – Meaning that which is excellent, honorable, agreeable, pleasant, and useful.  Something that brings Godly joy or happiness.

That which is Acceptable. – Meaning that which is pleasing or approved.

Finally, that which is Perfect. – Meaning complete and lacking in nothing.

How should this description motivate us to live a life of obedience to the will of God?

Evaluate your life, how does your obedience to Christ, your walk, line up to what God’s Word says it should be?  Now, listen, disobedience is sin and for the believer that sin was paid for on the cross.  I’m not saying that you aren’t necessarily a believer either.

But a believer should have a Holy-Spirit driven desire to be obedient to the Word of God, because it reveals the Will of God.  It stands to reason then that if there is no desire to be obedient and FOLLOW after Christ, you may need to evaluate whether or not you are truly in the faith at all...

Proverbs 4:23 - Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.

Watch over your heart with ALL diligence, for from it flows the springs of life.

Now, here is something that may interest you.  Turn over to Matthew 7:2.  The same word for transfigured is used to say transformed in Romans 12:2.  It’s not a work we can do, but a work of God!  We are here being called to use the means that God has given for us to be conformed to His will!  Namely prayer and study of His Word.

What, then, is our response to the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God?

Matthew 6:9-10 says we should pray – Not my will be done God, but YOURS.

How do we do the will of God?

Psalm 40:8 - I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.”

I delight to do Your will God, why?  BECAUSE Your Law is within my heart.

Ephesians 6:6 - not by way of eye-service, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.

We do the will of God ‘not by way of eyeservice’, which means only working well when being watched, ‘as man-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the Will of God from the heart.’  Not just legalistic actions, but from the heart.

Jesus demonstrated a correct attitude and response to the will of God?  How do we imitate that?

John 4:32-34 - But He said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”  33 So the disciples were saying to one another, “No one brought Him anything to eat, did he?”  34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to accomplish His work.

What sustains us?  God!  Can I just suggest to you that the reason God designed us to need food and water was to be an ever present reminder that we are now self-sufficient.

We rely on food.  We need to look at that and see that we rely on someone for life.  Who?  God, the giver of that food.  What else do we rely on God for?  EVERYTHING!

What sustains Jesus more than food itself?  Doing the will of God! 

John 5:30 - “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.

We make decisions and judgments based solely on the Will of God!

God’s will is perfect because God is its Author and its Preserver!

Psalm 19:7-9 – God’s Word is perfect!
Psalm 12:6 – God’s Word is pure!  Refined 7 times, the perfect number)
2 Timothy 3:16-17 – God’s Word is inspired!  Profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.  Why?

So that we may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Finally, the Word of God is the primary means through which the will of God is revealed. 

What is our attitude to be to this?

Psalm 119:127-128 – Therefore, I love Your commandments above gold!

God’s Word is not a yoke on us, it is our delight!

Go home and rejoice in the perfect will of God.  Look to His Word and see what it says, then pray that God conform you to it.  Transform you!

The oneness, eternal nature, and sovereignty of God

Deuteronomy 6:4 (NASB) - “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!

The Jews refer to this as the Shema.  It’s the first thing that they teach their children.  And it is a right thing to teach.  It’s the implications about what that truly means that the Jews miss.  Because this statement points towards not only the One true God’s existence.  But also that the One True God is unified as God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Properly translated out this verse in Hebrew says Hear, O Israel ‘Jehovah our Judge is One Jehovah.  This is one of the most important declarations in all of Scripture.

1.) The God whom we serve is Jehovah, a Being Who is infinitely and eternally perfect, self-existent, and self-sufficient.

2.) That He is the One and only living God; HE only is God, and He is One.

This firm belief armed Israel against all idolatry.  As it should us as well.  Does everything we do, everything we stand for, etc… Does it reflect that the Lord is OUR God!  Our ONLY God!

The word used here for ‘one’ means unified.  While Scripture clearly teaches that there is only ONE God, what’s being taught here is that God is unified in His persons.  Trinity God.  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… perfectly One and perfectly unified.  God in three persons.  So it is a clear indication of the unity of all members of the Trinity.  Jesus said in John 10:30 that He and God are One!  They are one, they are unified!

The word ‘one’ comes from the Hebrew word echad.  So this statement would have signified to them that God is unified in His persons and His judgments.  Only one God in three distinct persons who are working together as a unit to accomplish all that is righteous.

Deuteronomy 4:39 (NASB) - “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.

The Lord, that is Jehovah, which means ‘the existing One’, is God, Jehovah is judge, He is Sovereign in heaven above and on earth.  He is over all things and there is NO OTHER.

It makes total sense then why God goes on in verse 40 to say that because only He is Sovereign… then we should keep His commandments and His statutes.  (His Law)

So God is ONE, He’s unified, and also He is the only True God.

God is also eternal.  He has always existed.  Genesis 1:1 establishes that ‘In the beginning’ there was ‘God’.  This is confirmed in and more of the unity of God is seen John 1:1-3.  John 1:1-3 (NASB) - In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  2 He was in the beginning with God.  3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

The eternal existence of God is self-explanatory. 

Isaiah 43:10-11 (NASB) - “You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me.  11 “I, even I, am the Lord, And there is no savior besides Me.

Whose witnesses are we?  God’s witnesses.  Whose servants are we?  God’s servants.  Why?  So that you may KNOW and BELIEVE Him.  And understand that He is.  He says of Himself ‘I AM He.’ 

Isaiah 41:4 (NASB) - “Who has performed and accomplished it, Calling forth the generations from the beginning? ‘I, the Lord, am the first, and with the last. I am He.’ ”

v11 – There is NO Savior besides Me!  So who is the Savior?  God!  Who was Christ?  God in the flesh.

What God is establishing about Himself here though is that He is eternal.  Before Him, no gods, after Him, no gods.  Who has always existed?  God.

Isaiah 43:12-14 (NASB) - “It is I who have declared and saved and proclaimed, And there was no strange god among you; So you are My witnesses,” declares the Lord, “And I am God.  13 “Even from eternity I am He, And there is none who can deliver out of My hand; I act and who can reverse it?”

From eternity, I AM HE!  No one can deliver from MY hand.

Lastly, God is the Sovereign Creator of all!

Isaiah 45:18 (NASB) - For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited),“I am the Lord, and there is none else.

He is the God who formed the earth and made it.  HE established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited.

So, God created, formed, and established the earth.  So that He could populate it with us and that through even just creation alone He demonstrates His Sovereignty over all things.

Psalm 19:1 (NASB) - The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

The gods of the pagans did not create the world.  All these pagan gods swirling around Israel.  They aren’t real and did not create anything.

- He formed the world.  It’s not an unfashioned chaos resulting from a big bang.

- He established it, which is to say He fixed it.

Job 26:7 (NASB) - “He stretches out the north over empty space And hangs the earth on nothing.

He hangs the world on nothing.  In other words, He set the earth’s orbit in space.  Keep in mind that in the case of Job 26:7 that at the time that was written, it was believed that the earth sat on a large animal or a giant.  Around 1500 BC.  Science didn’t discover that the Bible was accurate until 1650.  So, 3100 years later!

He fitted it for use by man to be His witnesses!  Created it merely to demonstrate that He could.  He didn’t need it or us, but we certainly need and rely on Him.  We were created solely to bring Him Glory!

The Westminster Catechism wisely states it this way, 1. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God,[1] and to enjoy him forever.[2]

[1] Psalm 86. Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me. Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them. But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid. Show me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me. Isaiah 60:21. Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. Romans 11:36. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. 1 Corinthians 6:20; 10:31. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.... Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Revelation 4:11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.
 
[2] Psalm 16:5-11. The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psalm 144:15. Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD. Isaiah 12:2. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Luke 2:10. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Philippians 4:4. Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. Revelation 21:3-4. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.