Welcome to the For the Gospel Podcast, where we provide sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Costi Hinn, and I want to welcome our listeners on Apple, Spotify, and those of you enjoying this on our YouTube video podcast format. On today's episode, I'm kicking off a new series on God's will. Because if God has a will, and he does, we should all know about it, why he does what he does, how he does what he does, and perhaps most important of all, once we know those things, how should we live in light of God's will? This is one of the most important topics for the Christian life, and it is both theological and practical. We're gonna take a deep dive into it. I've got at least six episodes planned right now. I might have to condense some of those, but we will also do a listener QA. I loved the last one we did on the Holy Spirit series. So for this one, be thinking of questions. You can DM those in, and I'll post on Instagram and social media at some point for you to send those directly to me. We're gonna cover the different wills of God. We're gonna get into God's will and salvation. We're gonna dig into the apparent contradiction of God's will and man's will and how to know God's will for your life. I think by the end, you're gonna have a really good grasp of God's will, even if there's still things that you wrestle with. But to begin, there is one character quality that frames our mind and our heart for the study of God's will. It is not only required if we want to fully embrace what Scripture teaches, it's required if we want to make it through the wrestling match that often happens inside of our hearts when the topic of God's will comes up. This character quality is humility. Romans chapter twelve, verse three captures the true definition of Christian humility when Paul writes this, for by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of the faith that God has assigned. You say, Why do you bring up that verse? Well, that verse is in the context of spiritual gifts and being humble in how we view ourselves. We are all a part of the body, we're all used by God for his purposes to whatever degree he chooses, and all of us need to remember that we are not the center of everything. You say, why is that helpful? Why are you bringing up Romans 12, 3 on the topic of God's will? Well, because we can come to this subject as though we're putting God on the witness stand in a courtroom, and we're cross-examining him as though he answers to us. There are a number of moments this occurs in Scripture, and each one comes with a warning. One in particular is Romans 9, verse 20, where Paul writes, But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? In Job chapters 38, all the way to chapter 40, we see God respond to Job when he finally hits a low point, and he essentially argues with God that he's righteous, he doesn't really deserve what God has allowed to come into his life, and God responds by saying, Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? And then God goes on to say, I will ask you and you instruct me almost sarcastically, of course, perfect sinless sarcasm. It's rhetorical. Oh, tell me where you were when I laid the foundation of the earth. It's one of the most humbling sites in scripture. Job eventually responds by saying, Behold, I'm insignificant. What can I reply to you? He puts his hand over his mouth, and the picture we get is not that we can't express ourselves to God or that we can't question things or look for answers, but that we must be so careful of indicting God and altering theological truths to satisfy our own prideful opinion, or of lowering God to a puppet that answers to us as puppeteers. When it comes to God's will, we need to maintain reverence and be in awe of his sovereign power. And yet, as a loving father, he most certainly understands the wrestling match that takes place in the heart of his children. In all of these things, we need to be so humble. So many people come to God's will with what they think it ought to be. Let's flip the paradigm. With that foundation laid, I want to unpack the first principle of God's will according to his character. And it is this God does what he pleases. And the reason we started with humility is because that statement could rub some people the wrong way. God does what he pleases. If we're going to get a solid grasp of God's will, we've got to understand this core truth. God is God. We're not. This is to say theologically, God is totally sovereign and he is totally in control. And that has several implications if it's true. And I most certainly believe it is. I'm sure many of you do as well. Here are some principles for you or some implications. Number one, he acts according to what pleases him. So if God's going to do as he pleases, well then he's going to act according to that which pleases him. Psalm 115, verse 3 says, Our God is in the heavens, he does whatever he pleases. We've really got to get to a place where we believe and then embrace, as hard as that is for our fleshly, carnal, rebellious human nature, that God can and does do as he pleases. And that's a good thing. Why? Because he's God, he's perfect, he's righteous, he's holy. Number two, another implication, if God does as he pleases, then that means God controls all things. Proverbs 21:1 says the heart of a king is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord. He turns it wherever he wishes, and that is to say God is in total control, and he is the sovereign over sovereigns. Such a powerful thought. The third implication of God being totally sovereign and that he is in control and does as he pleases is number three, God shapes and governs our lives. He is not a God in heaven with his fingers crossed, hoping it all works out and just trying to keep up with the devil and his evil plans. No, he shapes and governs every aspect of our lives. Isaiah 29, 16 is a warning passage. It declares, woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord and whose deeds are done in a dark place. And they say, Oh, who sees us or who knows us? You turn things around. Shall potter be considered as equal with the clay? That what is made would say to its maker, he didn't make me, or what is formed, say to him who formed it, he is no understanding. All this passage exposes the truth that nothing we do can be hidden from God. Nothing's outside of his control. No one who is made can say to the maker, why did you do this? Or you can't control me, you can't understand me, you can't find me. Oh no. God is completely governing our lives and he shapes everything. The fourth implication of God's total control, his total sovereignty when it comes to his will, is that mercy and judgment are under his authority. This is a good thing. You want a sovereign, completely sovereign God. You want a God whose will is completely in control. Why? Because then mercy and judgment are under the authority of that God, which we know to be the one true and only God. Romans 9, 15 to 18 explicitly says, for he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. And so then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I raised you up to demonstrate my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. So then he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens who he desires. That is such a helpful passage when it comes to understanding mercy and judgment in the hands of God. Why? We would never be as perfect as he is in his mercy. We would never be as perfect as he is in his judgment. It also removes the idea that you and I can play judge and jury on people and whether or not they will be saved or not, or whether or not it's fair that God would allow some to waltz on into hell and not respond to his offer of salvation. It also keeps us very humble when we start thinking about the doctrine of election or God choosing to save people, and those topics come up and we start getting very frustrated and very controlling, thinking, well, that's just not the God I think of, or that's just not a God that I can have, or that's not the God I see in the Bible. Oh, be so careful, Christian. His will will be done. He hardens whom he hardens. He has mercy on whom he desires to have mercy on. Those are heavy words for the human heart, and yet so comforting that God is in complete control. If it were left up to you or I, we're sinful, we're biased, we're not perfect, and we don't have a righteousness outside of Christ's. And so we would most certainly be prone to misjudgment or mercilessness. The fifth implication of God being totally sovereign and him doing as he pleases. Well, God has no obligation to man. That's the fifth implication. God has no obligation to man. This is an implication because if God is the sovereign over all sovereigns, if he's in total control of all things, if he's the shaper of lives, if he's the authority over justice and mercy, if he does whatever he pleases, then there is no obligation on God's part to answer us, to bow to us, to appease us, or to bend his will to us. We are not owed anything as sinful humans who are created beings. As believers, he does love us, he does call us, he does know us, he does forgive us, he blesses us, and yes, he treats us special. We are his children. We are a royal priesthood. We are a chosen people. We're no longer slaves, we're sons and daughters. Yes and amen. And still, we are the clay. He's the potter. He is no obligation to us. We're his sheep, his beloved. We're given an inheritance in Christ, yet we're never to be entitled in how we approach him. You say, well, that kind of infringes on some of the confidence I think we're supposed to have in Christ, Costi. I mean, can't you be confident in your salvation? Isn't there some sort of entitlement or now we're heirs with Christ? Well, yes, but there's no aura or attitude of obligation. Like now that I'm saved, God has to bless me this way or that way. Now that I believe and I have faith, well then God must. And this is where people get into some slippery slopes. Healing is mine, because I believe. Well, hold on now. So is suffering. Well, wealth and riches and good relationships and a perfect marriage or saved children or this, that, and the other, because I'm in covenant with God and I deserve, and I'm this and I'm that. We need to be so careful in how we approach God. If someone like a Johnny Erickson Tata were to have that attitude of entitlement, like God is obligated to have not allowed her to be a quadriplegia, or maybe a child or someone you know or you love, maybe you yourself are thinking, well, you know, I should this because I'm a Christian, or if God loves me and I'm one of his children, well, then he would, and then you fill in the blank. How careful we must be. Isn't it true that naked we come, naked we go, the Lord gives, the Lord takes away. Job said, Blessed be the name of the Lord. So we want to be so careful with uh an obligatory attitude towards God. If he's totally in control and he does according to his will, what a privilege, what a joy that he loves us, that he would call us, that we have an inheritance. You can be confident in your relationship with the Lord and your salvation in as much as you are bearing fruit from the Holy Spirit, but God is under no obligation to do what you want just because you're his child. Matthew chapter 20 captures one of the most vivid illustrations of God's freedom and authority. He does what he pleases according to his will. I want to read it to you, and then we'll finish with three applications that you can put into practice today. So I grabbed my Bible and I want to just read this to you here. Matthew chapter 20, about the laborers in the vineyard. It says, For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to those he said, You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give to you, and so they went. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did the same thing, and about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, Why have you been standing here idle all day long? They said to him, Because no one hired us. He said to them, You go into the vineyards too. When evening came the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first. When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. When those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. When they had received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, These last men have worked only one hour, and you've made them equal to us, and of who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day. But he answered and said to them, to one of them, Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give it to the last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous? So the last shall be first and the first last. You picking up on the theme here. As Jesus explains that story, the picture is quite clear. It is lawful for him to do what he wishes with what is his own. That line right there is what we must remember when it comes to God's will. He reserves the right to do what he wants. He can do all things because all things belong to him, including us. Now, I don't know about you, but that makes me feel free. Burdens lifted because he carries them. Anxieties evaporating because I don't have to worry about making it all happen. I don't have to be perfect because he is. And I have glorious peace because my God is in control. I simply get to go out there today and serve him. I get to seek to obey him, put my hands to the plow in the field he's placed me in and love him. God will take care of everything. Never mind what I want. You get to walk in what he wants. That's the beautiful picture of submission to God's will that you and I are called to live in. I want to give you three applications and then we'll wrap up this episode and jump into God's decreed of will next time. Number one, come to the subject of God's will with a humble heart. He is God. He does as he pleases, he will have his way, we're the clay, not the potter. Number two, come to the subject of God's will with a submissive heart. Think of the line from the hymn Trust and Obey, where it says, What he says we will do, where he sends we will go, never fear, only trust and obey. And trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. When we come to his will, him, what he says with a submissive heart, oh, there's such peace. There's no better way to live, and there's no greater joy. You will be happy in Jesus when you rest in his will and come submissively to this topic. Third and finally, come to the subject of God's will with a hopeful heart. He's a good father. James 1.17 says that every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights, in whom there is no shifting shadow. God, if you're his child, intends good for you according to his will and what he defines good as, he's gonna accomplish exactly what he's promised to in your life as a believer. And you can be hopeful that you can know his will. You don't need to have a mysterious mind about it, you know, just wondering, what's your will, God? You can know. You can understand that his will is gonna turn out for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes. Come to the topic of God's will with a hopeful heart. In the next episode, we'll dig into the first of two particular dives we're gonna take into his different wills. We're gonna look at God's decreed of will. Some people would call this his will of decree or his sovereign will. It's that which he has said will happen, he'll do it, he knows it, you don't. We're gonna get into all of that. And then we're gonna look at God's revealed will. And I think if we understand both of those first and foremost, it's gonna help you answer questions in your mind about apparent contradictions when it comes to God's will, and then it's gonna set us up for the episode about how to live in God's will. As always, thanks for listening. Thanks for watching, thank you for supporting for the gospel. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe on our YouTube channel and for more information or to partner with us and get more free resources as well. Go to for thegospel.org. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.