REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain: moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Key verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14).
TEACHING GOAL: To show that the “fruit” that proves a person is a believer is found in seeking to obey the Will of God as revealed in SOM.
REVIEW: Some key ”SO WHATS?” from previous lessons.
1. Mt. 7:15-20 warns us against false prophets. We can easily spot false teaching on major doctrines; it is much more difficult to spot gaps in teaching and yet we must make sure the whole counsel of God is taught.
2. To avoid the “Gospel of Gaps” our churches need to preach “The Five Solas”: The Gospel of Salvation is based exclusively on Scripture, experienced only in Christ, given solely of God’s grace and appropriated by faith alone with the single purpose of God’s glory.
INTRODUCTION:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Mt. 7:21-23)
QUESTION: What is the “operative phrase” in this text?
“. . . who does the will of my Father. . .”
This is the third request in the Disciple’s Prayer: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
In Roman’s Paul wants us to “. . . approve what God’s will is – – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)
Epaphras, one of Paul’s co-workers, prayed that the Colossian Christians would “stand firm in all the will of God” (Col. 4:12).
In the doxology at the end of Hebrews is a prayer that the Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, “. . . equip you with everything good for doing His will” (Heb. 13:21)
“The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (I John 2:17)
We tend to see this phrase, “…only he who does the will of my Father will enter the Kingdom of God” as contrary to the idea of salvation by grace. But we also need to see it as a promise.
OUTLINE:
OUR SALVATION AND THE WILL OF THE FATHER
1. What God Wills
2. God Wills that We Listen to His Son
3. Salvation is by Grace Through Faith
4. The Faith and Obedience Link
5. God Wills our Sanctification
OUR SALVATION & THE WILL OF GOD
I. WHAT GOD THE FATHER WILLS
It is clear that God wills that all hear the Gospel, repent and be saved from sin.
Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’ (Ezek. 33:11)
That everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:15-17)
[God] who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. (I Tim. 2:4)
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (II Peter 3:9)
He gave His Son. Obviously He wills the salvation of the world.
Sinner, turn, why will you die?
God, your maker asks you why.
God who did your being give
Gave Himself that you might live.
How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure?
That He should give His only son
To make this wretch His treasure.
“For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:40)
We also read specific statements in Scripture about what God wills, e.g. God wills that we give thanks (I Thes. 5:18), that we are sanctified (I Thes. 4:3), that we all depart from iniquity (II Tim 2:19).
The general will of God for the unsaved is that they come to the Savior; the general will of God for the saved is that we live sanctified, holy lives.
We should prioritize those two matters in our lives while we also wrestle with God’s personal will for each of us, e.g. should we go to Poland on a choir tour, or take a new job, or spend a couple of hours at some meeting or develop a new business venture.
II. THE FATHER WILLS THAT WE LISTEN TO THE SON
Read the story of the Transfiguration in Mt. 17:1-5. Focus on vs. 5.
“This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.” (Matthew 17:5)
“God . . . in these last days . . . has spoken to us . . . by His Son . . .” (Heb. 1:2).
READING: The genuine professor is the real Christian, who enjoys the blessings of the kingdom of grace here and will be admitted to the bliss of the kingdom of glory hereafter. He is described here according to his conduct or actions: “but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.” Two points need determining: what is here signified by the Father’s will, and what is meant by the doing of it? “The fundamental part of doing the will of God is revealed in these words: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him’ (Matthew 17:5). Where this is complied with, everything else follows” (J. Brown).
The will of the Father is perfectly made known by the incarnate Word, for He is the final Spokesman of God (Heb. 1:1, 2), all judgment being committed unto Him (John 5:22). The will of the Father is that we should forsake our sins, trust in His Son, take His yoke upon us, and follow Him; to do less and yet call Him our Lord is most horrible mockery. (Arthur Pink)
“If the Father’s wrath abide on all who believe not on the Son, the Son no less excludes from the kingdom of heaven all who obey not the Father” [Works of Andrew Fuller, I, 591].
“. . . whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” (John 3:36)
In the phrase “. . . only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” is a present tense verb. Doing the Father’s will is on-going, active.
QUESTION: We know that one aspect of the Father’s will is that people believe on the Son. But this is a present tense verb, so our Lord is talking about more than salvation, e.g. accepting Christ as Savior, when he says, “. . . only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” What specifically is the will of the Father that our Lord is referring to in this verse?
If the Father tells us to listen to the Son then we need to listen to what the Son has said in the Sermon on the Mount. The SOM is a concise statement of how Christ wants us to live in this world. Listening to and obeying what Christ is saying in the SOM is truly doing the will of the Father
CLASS ACTIVITY: At your table go over the list of commands found in SOM. Put a black circle before the commands you feel the Christian community tends to neglect, avoid obeying.
Have the tables list some of the commands they have noted.
QUESTION: Can “evangelicals” who claim to be “born-again” but who consistently and continually live in disobedience to the commands really be sure they are going to heaven?
READING: What is meant by doing the Divine will? Obviously it does not connote a perfect or flawless performance thereof, for there is no Christian who has ever attained to such excellence in this life, though nothing short of this is the standard set before us (Matthew 5:48). It means that I have surrendered my heart and will to the claims of Christ, so that I truly desire Him to “reign over” me (Luke 19:14) and order my life. It means that I have subjected myself to His authority and that it is the prevailing bent of my mind and constant endeavor to please and honor Him in all things. It means that I genuinely aim to be both internally and externally conformed to His holy image, and that it is my greatest grief when I do those things which displease Him. It means I truly seek that my thoughts, affections and actions are regulated by His precepts. It is not a sinless obedience which is here in view, but it is a sincere one. It is not a forced one, but prompted by love. It is not merely an external compliance with the Divine commands but a “doing the will of God from the heart” (Eph. 6:6). (Arthur Pink)
III. SALVATION – A GIFT OF GRACE RECEIVED BY FAITH
QUESTION: How does salvation by grace fit in with doing the Father’s will?
In Mt. 7:21-23 is sounds like it is difficult to be saved. But Acts 16:31 it sounds very easy. Paul said to the Philippian jailer when he asked, “What must I do to be saved?” “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – – you and your household.”
Ephesians 2:8: For it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith – and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
We spent much time looking at Sola Fide, one of the Five Solas of the Protestant Reformation … by faith alone!
“The Five Solas”: The Gospel of Salvation is based exclusively on Scripture, experienced only in Christ, given solely of God’s grace and appropriated by faith alone with the single purpose of God’s glory.
We are saved by faith alone but the faith that saves never remains alone. It is always followed by obedience.
No one is saved by living a life of godliness, but if you are saved godliness will be a hallmark of your life, a goal of your life.
IV. THE FAITH AND OBEDIENCE LINK
What is the “good fruit” of vs 17 but doing the Father’s will in vs. 21?
READING: Obedience is the hallmark of faith, and the proof of grace; but Judas and others worked miracles, and were lost. Faith and obedience are bound up in the same bundle. He that obeys God, trusts God; and he that trusts God, obeys God. Faith is the fountain, the foundation and the fosterer of obedience. Believing and obeying always run side by side. (C.H. Spurgeon)
READING: Faith alone unites us to Christ and Christ alone is the ground of our justification. Our obedience is the fruit of that faith. The faith that justifies is the kind of faith that, by the Holy Spirit ( Ro 8:13), changes us. If your faith in Christ leaves you unchanged, you don’t have saving faith. Obedience—not perfection, but a new direction of thought and affections and behavior—is the fruit that shows that the faith is alive. James put it this way, “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” ( Jas 2:17). Faith alone justifies, but the faith that justifies is never alone. It is always accompanied by “newness of life” ( Romans 6:4). (John Piper – Sermon)
“One cannot pick and choose, accepting eternal life while rejecting holiness and obedience. When God justifies people he also sanctifies them” (John MacArthur, The Gospel According to Jesus, 212)
“If you abide in my Word then you are truly disciples of mine” (John 8:3) . . . . “ . . . He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him . . . .” (Heb. 5:9)
We are saved by grace but the fruit, the only proof that we have been saved is on-going obedience to the Father, to Christ.
The Epistle to the Romans starts and ends with an interesting phrase – “obedience to the faith.” (Romans 1:5. KJV) “. . . the obedience of faith.” (Romans 16:26, KJV)
Various translations: Obedience that comes from faith, faithful obedience, obedience associated with faith, believe and obey, obedience that springs from faith, come under the rule of faith.
One thing is clear, faith and obedience in the Scriptures are tightly linked, not loosely linked!
Where there is the “smoke” of faith there will be the “fire” of obedience. Sometimes smoke is not easy to detect but fire is always obvious.
READING: But the bottom line is this, with all of your false assurance, with all your failure to self examine, with all this fixation on religious activity and with the fair exchange principle in operation, the bottom line that you’d better examine is this, do you live in total obedience to the Word of God? And when you disobey it, is there a sense of conviction and remorse that draws you to confess it to God? And if that isn’t so there’s a fair question about whether you’re even a Christian. Because the one who comes into the Kingdom, verse 21 says, is the one not who says, but the one who does. (John MacArthur)
V. THE WILL OF GOD – OUR SANCTIFICATION
“For this is the will of God [even] your sanctification.” (I Thes. 4:3, KJV)
“It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is . . . our holiness. . . . “ (I Cor. 1:30).
“Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” (Heb. 12:14)
So we are positionally holy since we are in Christ but we are to grow and see a practical outworking of holiness in our lives.
A person who is not concerned to have his present sins cleansed probably hasn’t had his past sins forgiven. (John MacArthur)
ILL: Standing outside the door of a friend in Pamekasan at 6:00 in the morning so that I could ask forgiveness. A friend asking forgiveness for being dishonest in handling money for me when he purchased milk for us. Grace Chang making me take back a 2 kilo can of margarine that I had received at 1/10th the cost from a Chinese store in Surabaya.
READ: II Peter 1:3-11. Note:
Vs 10: Make your calling and election sure.
Vs. 4: We participate in the Divine Nature when we are saved.
Vs. 3: His divine power has given us what we need for life and godliness
Vs. 5: Make every effort to add Christian graces to your life.
Spiritual growth in personal holiness, character changes is the best proof of Christian salvation.
Does the character of God permeate my life?
In our text “only he who does the will of my Father” Jesus is referring to a profound heart obedience that is not only on the surface but permeates our inner being (Hughes, 257).
Becoming a believer in the early church meant a new life that would focus on holiness. Here is an overview of rites as recorded in The Early Church by Henry Chadwick (pg. 260). “The practice of baptism in North Africa in 200 is described by Tertullian. After a preparatory fast the ceremony began with an act of renunciation of the devil and his works and with a declaration of faith. . . . this declaration took the form . . . . of a repeated answer to ‘I believe’ to three interrogations concerning belief in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit respectively. At each answer the candidate was dipped in water. After coming up from the font, the candidate was anointed with oil and hands were laid on him with prayer for the gift of the Holy Spirit. He received milk and honey as token of his entry into the promised land.”
Becoming a Christian, believing in Christ, meant a brand new way of life!!!!
SO WHAT???
1. God’s general will is that all believe on the Son and that all who believe on the Son be conformed to the image of Christ.
2. God the Father wills that we listen to His Son.
3. Doing “the will of the Father” referred to in Mt. 7:21 refers specifically to obeying all of the commands laid down in the Sermon on the Mount.
4. Salvation is by faith alone through grace but the faith that saves always produces the fruit of obedience. If no obedience you have a “deluded” or “temporary” believer.