GOD’S NOT DEAD: GOD’S WILL
A. In the movie “God’s Not Dead”, the character Josh Wheaten, the Freshman defending his BELIEF in God in Professor Raddison’s philosophy class in, states “Evil is the atheists most potent weapon against Christianity.”
ILLUSTRATION:
Dr. Rubel Shelly, president of Rochester Christian College in Rochester, Michigan and author of the book “Prepare to Answer: A Defense of the Christian Faith”, tells of a time when he DEBATED and ATHEIST at the University of Alabama. While the ATHEIST was attempting to DISPROVE the EXISTENCE of God, Rubel noticed a man in his late 40’s to early 50’s enthusiastically APPLAUDING every POINT his OPPONENT was making. The man STOOD OUT because he was in a WHEELCHAIR sitting in the very FRONT of the AUDIENCE.
After the DEBATE, the man in the WHEELCHAIR came up to Rubel and informed him that he has CEREBRAL PALSY, which had CREATED a series of PROBLEMS in his life in addition to not being able to WALK. He WONDERED how could a God that Rubel so PASSIONATELY DEFENDED and PROFESSED do such a TERRIBLE thing to him. “Either God is CRUEL” he told Rubel, “or there is NO God.”
COMMENT:
Undoubtedly there are many like this man who look around at all the TRAGEDY, HEARTACHE, and VIOLENCE in the world and conclude that either God is DEAD or UNCARING, or He doesn’t EXIST.
Maybe you have even thought that at one time or another. It was during a time in your LIFE when you were faced with a very TRYING CIRCUMSTANCE. You confidently TURNED it over to God in PRAYER, only to have the situation WORSEN instead of getting BETTER. You wondered if God was REALLY there.
B. On the other hand, there are those BELIEVERS who KNOW that God EXISTS, but trying to get a handle
on the EVIL and SUFFERING in the WORLD will invariably say these things are GOD’S WILL.
1. In fact, we Christians use the phrase, “This is the WILL of God” quite regularly.
COMMENT:
We consign the WILL of God to all of the GOOD things that occur in the WORLD around us and to all of the BAD things that happen to us and the WORLD.
There are those who believe that WHATEVER happens in life, is the result of God’s WILL. Yet, if that be true, then God is responsible for some of the most VILEST of ATROCITIES. Misunderstanding the WILL of God can produce FRUSTRATION, DOUBT, CONFUSION, and even BITTERNESS toward our heavenly FATHER.
ILLUSTRATION:
That was exactly what happened to Professor Raddison in the movie, “God’s Not Dead.” He was raised by a Christian Mom to LOVE God and His Son Jesus. But when his MOM died of CANCER when he was just 12 years old after he had BEGGED God to let her LIVE, his FAITH was shattered and he became HARDENED believing that God was the REASON for his Mom’s DEATH. His LOVE for God turned into BITTER HATRED.
MOVIE CLIP OF JOSH’S FINAL DEBATE AND CONFRONTATION WITH PROFESSOR RADDISON’S HATRED OF GOD.
2. Is it true that WHATEVER happens in life is the WILL of God?
ILLUSTRATION:
On September 11, 2001 after America was ATTACKED by Islamic Terrorists killing over 3,000 people, I and other volunteer hospital CHAPLAINS were called into Hardin Memorial Hospital at Elizabethtown, KY to COUNSEL and PRAY with the hospital staff, patients and visitors. We met in the CAFETERIA.
As the head CHAPLAIN, a Naval Chaplain reservist, was speaking and reading Scripture I sat down among some of the hospital staff. I then overheard two of the NURSES share their SHOCK and DISMAY over what had happened, and then one nurse said to the other, “I guess we just have to ACCEPT this as the WILL of God!”
Was it really God’s WILL that 3,000 innocent people DIE by MUSLIM EXTREMISTS? Maybe it wasn’t God’s WILL at all, but the WILL of Osama Bin Laden to ATTACK America.
C. James 1:17- “Every GOOD and PERFECT gift comes from the Father . . .”
ILLUSTRATION:
I don’t know about you, but if God is RESPONSIBLE for the TRAGEDIES and SUFFERING in my life, the LOVED ONES I have lost, the HURTS that I have experienced, then I wouldn’t call that a very GOOD GIFT.
I have never had one of those GIFTS on my Christmas LIST. At no time have I said, “For Christmas this year, I would like to LOSE a child in a CAR WRECK. Or to have my HOUSE BURN DOWN. Or to CONTRACT a TERMINAL DISEASE. Or to LOSE a LOVED ONE in a TERRORIST ATTACK.” Isn’t that what God gives us if we say that TRAGEDIES are His WILL?
COMMENT:
God loves us beyond measure. Therefore, the BAD THINGS that happen to us is not God’s WILL—the GOOD THINGS that life brings are the “good and perfect gifs that come from our loving Father.”
MESSAGE:
COMMENT:
The misunderstanding of WHAT IS and WHAT IS NOT the WILL of God has caused many people to turn from God. That is exactly what Satan, the one who is indeed responsible for all of our HEARTACHE, wants people to believe.
I can’t begin to understand nor explain all of the WORKINGS of God, but my study has revealed at least 3 stages of the WILL OF GOD that I want you to consider this morning.
I. THE INTENTIONAL WILL OF GOD
A. This is the way God RELATES to His PLAN for mankind.
1. What God has PLANNED for man is not necessarily what has been or will be ACCOMPLISHED.
a. God likes for man to live in “PEACE and HARMONY”- 1 Timothy 2:1-2. Yet, Jesus said
that “there will always be WARS”- Matthew 24:6.
b. Jesus said that we are “to be PERFECT as God is PERFECT”- Matthew 5:47. This is what God INTENDED man to be when he placed Adam and Eve in the Garden. Yet, they SINNED.
Paul- “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”- Romans 3:23.
c. Paul- “God desires (wills) that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth”-
1 Timothy 2:3-4. Is that going to happen? No! Jesus- “The MAJORITY of people are entering the WIDE GATE that leads to DESTRUCTION”- Matthew 7:13.
2. God’s WILL does not INTERFERE with the DECISIONS of man.
B. God’s INTENTIONAL WILL pertains to all the GOOD in the world.
1. Everything that is GOOD, RIGHT, and PROPER is the way God INTENDED it.
a. After God CREATED the WORLD and everything therein, Moses wrote: “God saw all that He had made, and it was very GOOD”- Genesis 1:31a.
COMMENT:
All of God’s CREATION, including man, was very GOOD. That’s was God’s INTENTION. However, SIN entered the world and everything CHANGED. Did God WILL that SIN enter the WORLD? NO! Did he ALLOW IT? YES! Does He want it? NO!
b. Because of SIN, that which was “VERY GOOD” became “VERY EVIL.” So much so, that God wished He had never CREATED man- Genesis 6:5-7 (READ and COMMENT)
2. What God INTENDED turned out to be totally different.
a. What we might INTEND to happen may not always turn out the way we LIKE.
ILLUSTRATION:
You plan the greatest VACATION ever. You decide you are going to see America. You MARK out the MAP. You make all the MOTEL RESERVATIONS. You know the PLACES where you’re going and the things you will see. But 25 miles outside of Indianapolis, some DRUNK DRIVER pulls out in front of you, totaling your car, and putting your wife in the HOSPITAL. The WILL of another person changes your PLANS.
b. Even as what we WILL doesn’t always turn out, so it is with God’s WILL
II. THE ALLOWED WILL OF GOD
A. This relates to the PERMISSION or the FREEDOM of CHOICE given to mankind—FREE WILL.
1. God’s INTENTION for man is for him to LIVE a life PLEASING to Him in all things.
COMMENT:
However, men being FREE-WILL AGENTS do not always do what PLEASES God. The ALLOWED WILL of God enables us to be something other than ROBOTS or PUPPETS on a string. God could have CREATED us like PUPPETS who have no WILL of our own.
Instead, out of LOVE He CREATED us in a way that we can make our own CHOICES and DECISIONS regarding the DIRECTION we want to TRAVEL. In doing so, however, man has made some BAD CHOICES that have produced a MULTITUDE of PROBLEMS.
2. Many things happen on this earth that God ALLOWS, but they aren’t part of His PLAN—His INTENTION.
ILLUSTRATION:
In October 1991, George Hennard Jr. drove his pickup truck through a cafeteria window in Killeen, Texas, and then started RANDOMLY shooting people while they were having LUNCH. Before putting the gun to himself, he killed 24 people and wounded 22 more.
ILLUSTRATION (cont):
On an Oprah Winfrey episode a few months later, one of the SURVIVORS recalled the nightmare she went through. “A friend and I crawled under the table when we heard shots and screams,” she said. “We could see him walking slowly about, firing his gun at will. Coming closer to us, my friend and I CLUTCHED each other in FEAR. After moving our table he fired a bullet into my friend’s head, looked at me, and walked away.”
She concluded, “I guess it was God’s WILL that my FRIEND die and I live.” Her FRIEND was MURDERED. It is not God’s WILL that anyone commits MURDER. His WILL is: “DO NOT MURDER”- Romans 13:9.
If your house is broken into and everything you own is STOLEN, don’t say: “It must be the WILL of God.” God’s WILL is: “DO NOT STEAL”- Romans 13:9.
B. Under the ALLOWED WILL of God are Man’s WILL and the Devil’s WILL.
1. God has ALLOWED man to exercise his own WILL.
a. Romans 9:19- raises the question as to whether or not “man can resist God’s WILL.” (The
answer is an emphatic “YES!”)
b. 2 Timothy 3:8- Paul speaks of “men of depraved minds who oppose God’s TRUTH.”
COMMENT:
Man’s WILL can actually alter God’s WILL. We’ve already seen EXAMPLES of that. What God INTENDS and WILLS for man, doesn’t mean that man will always do it. In fact, often he does his own thing despite God’s WILL for him. That’s true of us every time we COMMIT sin.
2. When man exercises his own WILL in direct conflict to the WILL of God, he is actually doing the
WILL of the Devil.
a. 2 Timothy 2:26- Paul speaks of some having been “entrapped by the devil, and held captive
by him to do his (Devil’s) WILL.”
b. John 13:2- “. . . the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot . . . to betray Jesus.”
c. John 8:42-44 (READ and COMMENT)
COMMENT:
It’s wasn’t God’s WILL that George Hennard Jr. take the life of 24 people. It was not God’s WILL for 3,000 innocent people to be MURDERED by TERRORISTS on 9/11. Those involved in school shootings, beheadings in the Middle East, the abortion of babies, etc. are doing the WILL of their father, the Devil, “who was a MURDERER from the beginning.”
C. Even when it comes to SUFFERING, ILLNESS, and DEATH, don’t BLAME it on God saying that it
is His WILL. Suffering, heartache, and death entered the world when SIN entered the WORLD.
1. The troubles that Job went through: the DEATH of his CHILDREN and SERVANTS, the LOSS of his LIVESTOCK, the DESTRUCTION of his PROPERTY, the INFESTATION of BOILS on his BODY, were all caused by Satan. They were ALLOWED by God, but it was Satan doing the AFFLICTING.
a. Paul described his “thorn in the flesh” (a physical infirmity) as a “messenger of Satan”-
1 Corinthians 12:5-7.
b. Luke 13:10-17- Jesus said, “It was Satan who caused a woman to be crippled for 18 years.”
2. Whenever we or our loved ones are victims of gross WRONGS, or undergo severe PAIN and SUFFERING, or have undue BURDENS and HARDSHIPS placed upon us, let’s not BLAME
God and DOUBT His LOVE for us.
COMMENT:
Satan is the one at WORK! He wants you to BLAME God and TURN AWAY from Him. And if he can get you to think that God is to BLAME for your TROUBLES, he has pulled off the greatest DECEPTION known to man. The next time you undergo HARDSHIP, Get ANGRY with Satan not your Heavenly Father. He’s the one out to DESTROY us. He’s the ENEMY.
III. THE ULTIMATE WILL OF GOD
A. This relates to His POWER.
1. This leaves us with a perplexing problem.
COMMENT:
If the EVIL and TROUBLESOME deeds in this world are of the Devil, and if God is ALL-POWERFUL and ALL-LOVING what is He doing about it? Is God aware of what the Devil is doing? Does He care? Can He do anything to stop it? Is He involved in any way?
2. Since God has CREATED us with a WILL of our own, does that mean he just leaves us DANGLING and does NOTHING to HELP us?
B. There are at least three things that God does for us.
1. God has placed LIMITATIONS (restrictions) on what Satan can do.
a. 1 Corinthians 10:13- “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful, He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”
COMMENT:
God FILTERS the TRIALS and TEMPTATIONS that come our way and allows only those to get through that we are able to HANDLE.
b. James- We have the POWER to “RESIST the Devil, and he will FLEE from us”- James 4:7.
COMMENT:
All of this is contingent upon our wanting to do the Will of God. The ESCAPE is always there, the only PROBLEM is that we don’t always LOOK for the WAY OUT! Yet, that’s our WILL, not God’s!
2. God uses TRIALS to help us become a BIGGER and BETTER person.
a. Psalm 119:67, 71- “Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word. . . .It was
good for me to be afflicted, so that I might learn your decrees.”
b. Even Job, although sorely AFFLICTED by the Devil, affirmed that what he went through was
to his GAIN- Job 42.
c. Paul, affirmed that his “thorn in the flesh” given to him by Satan, made him STRONGER in
the Lord- 2 Corinthians 12:10.
COMMENT:
The DEATH of loved ones, SICKNESS and AFFLICTION, PERSECUTIONS, HARDSHIPSwhatever Satan used in an attempt to DESTROY the Psalmist, Job and Paul, God ALLOWED them to go through it in order to make them STRONGER!
d. This is just as true of the TRIALS we go through today: “God is always able to cause GOOD
from the BAD”- Romans 8:28.
ILLUSTRATION:
Even though 9/11 was the DEADLIEST attack on American SOIL, including Pearl Harbor, God’s WILL was being CARRIED OUT on September 11, 2001. No, the TERRORISTS ATTACKS on America was not God’s WILL!
But people RISKING their LIVES to help others who were HURTING and DYING was God’s WILL. People MOURNING over the LOSS of INNOCENT LIVES, was God’s WILL. People RALLYING behind and PRAYING for their PRESIDENT, was God’s WILL. Nations who CONDEMNED this MURDEROUS ATTACK and VOWED to stand by America, was God’s WILL. People DONATING BLOOD and DIGGING DEEP into their POCKETS to AID the VICTIMS of this TRAGEDY, was God’s WILL.
The BEST of MANKIND that came out of this TRAGEDY—the COMPASSION, the GENEROSITY, the LOVE, the SYMPATHY, the DEVOTION, the PATRIOTISM, the UNITY, the HUMILITY, the REPENTANCE, the PRAYERS—is what God WILLED the WORLD to see. We will never know how many people were brought to Christ as the result of this ATTACK on America. God ALWAYS brings GOOD from the BAD to those who LOVE Him.
3. Even when man surrenders his WILL to the Devil’s WILL, God extends HOPE through Jesus.
a. Galatians 1:3-5 (READ and COMMENT)
COMMENT:
Let’s face it, we have BLOWN IT! We study God’s Word and we know what His WILL is, but we have SINNED against Him time and again, and will CONTINUE to SIN against Him. But thank God that through the BLOOD of Jesus we can be FORGIVEN.
b. 2 Corinthians 5:21- “God made Him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”
COMMENT:
God ALLOWED His Son to DIE on the CROSS for us. We are the SINNERS, we DESERVE to DIE, but Jesus took our place. That’s why we need to be forever GRATEFUL for God’s ALLOWED WILL
CONCLUSION:
A. How have you been using the phrase: “This is the WILL of God”?
1. It’s impossible for us to UNDERSTAND everything there is to know of how God works in our lives.
COMMENT:
The problem is, we have been BLAMING God for what the Devil has done when we say, “Everything that happens is God’s WILL.” God will allow Satan to TEMPT and AFFLICT us, for the reasons we looked at, but even then He does not leave us to BATTLE the Devil alone.
2. “If God be for us, who can be against us”- Romans 8:31. (Satan hates those words, because he knows with God on our side, there is nothing he can do to DEFEAT us—AFFLICT us, YES, but not DEFEAT US!.)
