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. If you haven't, as always, I would tell you, subscribe right there if you're listening to this on YouTube. And if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel if you're listening to this on audio. We have a ton of free videos, a lot of free teaching there, as well as on all social media outlets. On today's episode, we're continuing our study on God's will by boiling everything down to this one big question: How do I know God's will for my life? There's a little book that helped me out very early on in my conversion. I remember I had a lot of questions about God's will. It's succinct. It's by John MacArthur. It's called Found, and then there's a colon, God's Will. And it contains one of the most helpful summaries on God's Will that you'll ever read. A number of pastors and theologians over the years have written or spoken about what a lot of them call the five S's and what I typically talk to with our church or with different men or people that I'm counseling, the five S's of God's will. And I want to take you through those as I boil this all down to how you can know God's will for your life, and then we'll summarize everything with a simple principle. Don't forget, in the next episode, I'll answer all of your questions about God's will. So be sure to send us a DM on Instagram or Facebook or shoot us an email so we can gather those and provide answers for you. I'm excited. I love our listener QA episodes, and so that'll be one to finish this series on God's will. And then the very next series we're doing is going to be on manhood. I cannot wait. Whether you're a man or a woman, it's gonna bless you. But here and now, let's get thinking about this. I want to say there's so much clarity on God's will in Scripture. There's so much clarity on God's will in Scripture. While we can say that all of the Bible is God's will and we should obey all of God's commands, that's true. We can say, in the context of what the Bible teaches in certain letters, uh, the will of God is made very plain. And there are several passages in the Bible that we can use since we have the full counsel of God and it can serve as a roadmap for making decisions, and we can live in light of what God's word says. I want to give you five aspects to God's will that are made very explicitly clear in Scripture. These are directly referenced. The first, number one, is that God's will is that his people are saved. God's will is that his people are saved. I get that from 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 9. It says the Lord is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. Now the first question is who is the all? Who is the any? Does that mean that God just wants to save everyone? Well, no, that's not true. If he did and he decreed that, then he would, nobody would go to hell. We know that's not biblically accurate to say, but God is patient toward you, Peter says, meaning the elect of God, the people of God. He doesn't wish for any to perish. He wants all to come to repentance. And so God's will is that his people be saved. This not only causes us to say thank you to the Lord, but it also helps us answer the question, what does God want me to do? Well, if you're not saved and you're thinking about God's will, the number one thing that God wants you to do or would command you to do is repent of your sin and trust in Christ for salvation. If you have done that, and you're one of those Christians that's going, what's God's will? What should I do? What's my purpose? And you're assessing your life. Well, know this. Number one, above all else, you need to be sharing the gospel. If it's God's will that his people be saved, well, then he is going to use you and the proclamation of the gospel to accomplish that. People will worry so much saying, you know, God, what do you want me to do? And should I do this or that? And I imagine if God were to respond audibly, this is my sanctified imagination, he might say, and this is just Bible, my will is that people be saved. You don't even share the gospel in your own church or community. So why would you be listening to any other direction I give you? I think many times over, we're just disobeying so much of the Bible while wondering what God wants us to do. Or in this case, on this point, we're disobeying one simple thing. Share the gospel. Proclaim the gospel, believe the gospel, and we're worried about all these things that God might have for us or want us to do. Let's just do the basics. Number one, it is God's will that his people be saved. So think of salvation in terms of what God's will is. Number two, God's will is that his people be spirit-filled. God's will is that his people be spirit-filled. Ephesians 5.18, coming off the heels of a statement about understanding what the will of God is, using your time wisely, knowing the will of God, Paul says in verse 18, but do not be drunk, for that's dissipation, but be spirit-filled. Basically, to be spirit-filled, as we've talked about before, and as I put in the recent book that I released, Knowing the Spirit, I know a number of you have read it or sent us in feedback. There's a whole section on being spirit-filled. You know this by now if you've read it or been with us on the podcast series on the Holy Spirit. It means to be yielded to the Spirit of God, which means to be under the total influence of God's word, total influence under the Spirit. And if you're filled up with the Spirit and you're walking by the Spirit, your decisions are going to reflect the will of the Spirit. So you say, How do I know God's will, or what should I do? Be spirit-filled. If you're spirit-filled, you're going to be walking in the will of God. So his will is that his people be saved, his will is that his people be spirit-filled. Number three, God's will is that his people be sanctified, or another S that's really helpful, sexually pure. First Thessalonians 4, verse 3 explicitly says this. For this is the will of God. Doesn't get any more plain than that, does it? For this is the will of God, your sanctification. Well, what does Paul mean? That is, he says, that you abstain from sexual immorality. I think people say, What should I do? Where should I move? Should I go do this or should I do that? What's God's will for my life? Those are all fine questions, and you certainly need answers to that. But maybe for some people, and professing Christians in this case, why are you so concerned with answers to all of those questions, but not concerned with the question, uh, when will you seek freedom from porn? When would we stop committing adultery of the heart or literally with our eyes or our relationships? Uh when will you seek God's help and confess your sins of sexual immorality? When will you deal with that sin? Yes, it's okay to say, God, where do you want me to go to school? God, what should I do about this? How should I go about that? But many times over, we need to remember it explicitly says in Scripture, this is the will of God for you, that you be sanctified. That means that you live set apart. So if we're to apply that even now, and I'm kind of jumping ahead, but I want to do this, what decision should you make? You should make the decision that is the most set apart for God decision, the most consecrated, the most holy, the most right and pure decision is the God's will decision. That will eliminate so many things we do or say. And of course, uh this all applies to any believer, but can I just press in on you who are maybe 18 to 30 right now, and you're either single or maybe in the first few years of marriage, maybe you're older in that same stage, uh, you're gonna be thinking about many things over the years, like what job to get, where to move, how to live your best life, who to marry, whether or not to try to have children or not, or some other important decision. Let me just challenge you with this and challenge all of us. If we are not sexually pure, then we should make every other decision a secondary priority. Sexual purity, our sanctification, should be a priority. In that, we can walk in the will of God. Are other decisions important? Sure. Do other decisions have very big consequences or impacts if we make the wrong one? Of course. But you can make a host of right decisions. If you're not prioritizing confession of sin and our purity, your sexual purity, yeah, you're not walking in the will of God. And I'm not being patronizing when I say this, but why are you so worried about knowing God's will and your decisions and you know, the adventurous ones, the where are you taking me, and what do you want me to do with this when we're not worried about God's will in those private places in our life? Sexual immorality is serious. We should deal with it, and God's will is that you live set apart. That starts in our private life and it spills out into our public life. Number four, God's will is that his people be submissive. Uh attached to Ephesians 5.18, shortly after, there in verse 21 and then into verse 22, he says, What? Be subject. And he goes on to talk to wives in that sense. But Paul the Apostle says, Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ in verse 21. In 1 Peter 2, 13 to 15, he says, Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as to the one in authority or to governors, as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right. He's saying when government uh is doing its job, you should be submissive, never into sin. Of course, we know that. We've talked about that in previous episodes. But based on how government does its job and if it's doing what it's supposed to do, we should be respectful and subject. But then in verse 15, for such is the will of God that by doing right you silence the ignorance of foolish people. Again, this doesn't mean you're submissive into sin or you obey blindly any leader who is abusing their authority, but it does mean that it's God's will for Christians to have a generally submissive and meek spirit to those who are doing their job the right way, to those who are following God's order. Picture this as a contrast between those who do whatever they want and those who you know do whatever they're told without thinking. Those in Christ do what God wants and do what God tells them, because they think deeply about his word in every matter. We don't follow people into sin. We don't blindly obey, but it's God's will that we be submissive in the right ways to the right people according to his word. Number five, God's will is that his people be suffering faithfully. Suffering. The fifth S. Second Timothy three, verse twelve says, indeed, all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. You want to live godly? You want to follow Jesus? You're gonna be persecuted. Uh 1 Peter 4 19 says, Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful creator in doing what is right. God's will includes us suffering faithfully, and that means suffering faithfully for living godly lives, not suffering because of our own sin or foolish decisions, but because we choose to live in light of who Christ is and who he's called us to be. That begs the question: are you suffering in some way, or have you ever suffered in some way for living out your faith? Is your life ever, ever bumpy because you live boldly for the gospel? Or is it always smooth sailing? One of the ways to know if you're in God's will is to examine your life and find the examples of suffering for the gospel. When you experience this, you don't have to wonder, you know, God, why are you allowing this or why are you doing this to me? You can actually praise God and say, I'm in your will. Thank you for helping me endure suffering faithfully. It is God's will that you suffer faithfully. That's part of his will. The Bible makes that clear. These are the passages in Scripture that specifically give commands or are descriptions about the will of God. But let me add one more general principle. If you're saved, if you're spirit-filled, if you're sexually pure, if you are submissive to the right things the right way according to God's word, and you're suffering faithfully. Tell me how a person living that way will make major life decisions that are outside of the will of God. They won't. If you're submissive to the word of God, you're gonna be obedient. If you're spirit-filled, you're gonna be under the control of the Spirit of God. If you're sexually pure, you're gonna have a clear mind and the right motives. You're gonna be doing things the right way for the right reason. If you're suffering faithfully, well, trials aren't gonna pull you off. You're not gonna run scared from persecution or run away from the will of God, if you will, because you're constantly going, well, I don't want that, or I don't want to obey, or I don't, I don't do it when it gets hard. No, you're gonna be living out the five S's. All of these mark the person living a life totally yielded to the Spirit of God and the Word of God. So walk that way. I appreciate at the end of his book, that book found God's Will, how John MacArthur essentially says, if you're living out the five S's, make your decisions. Trust the Lord. You're gonna be right where God wants you to be. You don't have to worry. Even when you're suffering, you can know I'm in God's will. Even the trial has been allowed by God to strengthen my faith. Or when you're blessed in other ways, maybe materially, or it's not a season of suffering in that sense, you don't need to wonder, well, am I doing all the right things? Or no. No, God has blessed you in that season and wants to use you for his glory. Then when trials come, you don't say, Well, did I do something wrong? No, because if you're spirit-filled, sexually pure, walking submissively to his word, whatever he allows you to go through, you're in his will. I used to think that Psalm 37, verse 4, was a prosperity gospel promise that would get me whatever I want. It says, Delight yourself in the Lord, and he'll give you the desires of your heart. I thought if I just delight in God, then I can get what I want out of him. He's gonna do my will. After I got saved, I remember studying that verse properly, and I realized it reads more like this Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will put or give you the desires he wants for you in your heart. That would be more of an accurate interpretive summary or translation. And that's the secret to knowing and living God's will. Delight yourself in the Lord. When your heart is all wrapped up in Him, everything else will fall into place. Delight yourself in the Lord. He'll put the desires he wants for you in your heart. I hope that that is a helpful summation of how to know God's will and encouragement. The five S's that you be saved, that you be spirit-filled, that you be sexually pure, that you be submissive, and that you suffer faithfully for the gospel and for his glory. When you're living that way and delighting in the Lord, you can rest assured you are right where he wants you to be. Don't forget, next episode, I'm gonna answer listener questions on God's will. So fire away, send those in, send us a DM, and we'll get you some biblical answers on all of those questions. As always, thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to YouTube for free teaching resources every single week. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. Keep on living for the gospel.