Biblical Counseling - God's Moral Will
Vern Peterman · May 18, 2008
Biblical Counseling, No. 07
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492611501749

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Okay, as we get into this one here on God's will, this is God's moral will. Now, one of the things we've continued to do is to use this illustration. The outer ring we've represented there as God's sovereign will, and then inside of that we have God's moral will, represented by the green ring, and then inside that The yellow circle is the individual will for each believer.

One question. What's the value of showing these rings? Why show them that way? Well, let's see. That's opening a can of worms I won't even go into. But there's certainly some issues there, isn't there, in terms of Arminian and Calvinist and all that. It's just, it's more than we can, I mean, I won't even pop the lid on that one. But okay, and why else?

What's the value there? Okay, that's a good point. God's will basically encompasses everything. There isn't anything going on in the universe that doesn't somehow involve His will, right? Okay, so that's one good point. Notice that the outer circle is God's sovereign will. Is that of any particular importance or value? Yeah, Tom? God saved us for eternity. This outer circle provides us with this, assurance and certainty and security. That's why we put it, in other words, what's contained inside.

Every decision that we have about God's will, there is no decision that I can make that will take me as a believer outside of that outer circle. I'm not going to break out and all of a sudden find that God's sovereign will has been broken. I can always completely count upon God's sovereign will. If he says, I'm in Christ, he doesn't go, whoops! There is no decision I can make that is going to break God's sovereign will.

And so God's sovereign will shouldn't be something we look at as dread, shouldn't be something we look at as some sort of a machine-like universe, but instead God's sovereign will is something in which we can take comfort. It is a solid, firm, absolute place from which to grow. because there is no trap door, there is no secret tunnel that's going to lead us outside of God's sovereign will.

That's why these other circles are inside there. There is security and assurance and comfort for the believer in terms of what is fixed and certain and absolute. So that's why we have this inner circle, the inner circles here inside that outer ring, God's sovereign will. These things are absolutely certain. Okay, now the thing that we have here... Ah, that's much better.

Okay, as we look at this here, We have this word will, and we use the word will here for both God's sovereign will as well as God's moral will. And yet there's a sense in which they're different, and that's because regarding God's sovereign will, what part does our will as believers play in God's sovereign will. Is there any place at all for our will when we talk about God's sovereign will? Okay, if you would say no, and why would you say no?

Because God is fixed. Okay, it's fixed so there is most certainly that part of it. I would again ask the question, and I think you are correct, but I would again ask the question because I just want to take a look at one more aspect of it. Yeah, Tom? That green area deals specifically with the plain text scripture and moral decisions, but that still needs other areas that are not covered. Okay, and you are certainly correct about that. Yes, Mike? Bingo! Okay? This is it.

We cannot, of our will, and this is the point that Bonnie made, we cannot of our will change anything about God's sovereign will. That's for God to decide. Our only place is willing to believe. Okay? Willing to believe. And that's the place. It's true whether we believe it or not, right? What God asks us to do is to believe those things. And that's not just hypothetical. Is it a practical value that I know that I am in Christ?

Yes, right? A practical value? Oh, most certainly. It is a practical value. And so that's the only part, but it's an important part, in our will. Not that we can will to change anything. but that we believe it because it is of immense and essential importance that we believe what God has told us is most certainly true and going to take place.

Right? Okay. Now, as we go into this next part, we say God's moral will. What do we mean about that? Does that have anything to do with the moral of the story? Yes? No? We've got quite a column here. It's okay. It's fine. What's that? Yes, there we go. When we say God's moral will, what are we talking about? What do we mean by moral will? Okay, let's make sure we have it clear. Does our morality matter to God?

Yes. Okay, getting some yeses on that. That's good. Why? Why does it matter? Okay? Because that's His will. Certainly that is His will. You're correct about that. Why does God have a moral will? Because He is holy. Yeah. He is a God who is holy. He is a God who has a fundamental moral character. It is basic to who He is. It's not an arbitrary decision. God is a holy God who has a moral character.

And one of the passages in the Old Testament carried over and quoted in the New, you know, be holy for I am holy. God has a moral will for us because He is a moral God. God desires holiness in us because He is holy, not because He just kind of flipped a coin or threw a dart at the dart board and said, okay, I think I'll ask Him to be moral. So it's because of who God is that God has a moral will. Now, is that ever going to change? No, no, because he doesn't change, right? The Lord does not change. Therefore, that's not going to change. There will always be a moral will of God because God is unchangeably holy in character.

All right, now let's take a look we have at the bottom of that first page, page 19. God's moral will is given in passages and acts in the New Testament letters that are in the nature of an imperative or urging or exhortation or a statement to do or not do something and can include attitude and mindset. And you know how many of these statements of God's moral will there are in Scripture? Just even in Acts and the New Testament, well over 500. Lots of them. And they come in the form of imperatives. They come in the form of urgings. Does everybody back here have a handout? You're likely in need of one if you want to stay with us here.

The first example that we have there in Romans 12.14, bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. Now is that a suggestion, a recommendation, a general guideline? How is that given? Pardon? Yeah, it sounds like a command. Alright.

And how do we know that it in fact is? The imperatives. There is in that one verse there, bless, Twice is an imperative, and do not curse, so there's a negative side of it, is an imperative. We will talk about how do we take these imperatives before we're done here, so we'll get there.

1 Corinthians 1.10 is another one.

Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. Now, that isn't an imperative, but how do we know that it is expressing God's moral will?

Yeah, it is the Apostle Paul writing inspired scripture in which he urges by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that using the name as some sort of a magic incantation? Why does he say by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? What does it mean in the Bible when it talks about by the name or in the name of? It's in his power and who he is, right? Yeah, and so it's by the person of Jesus Christ and who He is. And what is the exhortation?

That you all agree, and by the way, it says all agree that basically the King James carries it over I think a little bit better, that you all say the same thing. That there be no divisions among you. That word for divisions, There's basically a schism that you be made complete. To complete is a word that is used in the Gospels for when the disciples mended nets that were ripped up. So it's a matter of restoring.

It's the word used in Galatians 6.1. If you see a brother falling alongside the path, that you restore such a one. That's the word here that's translated made complete. That there's a restoration of the brokenness.

That you be of the same mind and same judgment. So a unity among the believers and their mindsets and even what they teach and what they say. In Romans, a little farther beyond this passage, we've quoted Romans, Paul urges that you glorify God with, and it's translated literally one voice, it's literally that you glorify the Lord with one mouth. Isn't that interesting? That the whole body glorify the Lord with one mouth. That kind of unity.

Okay, next page there we have an example from Ephesians 4.32.

And he says in that verse B, and that's an imperative, kind to one another, be tender-hearted, be forgiving, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. So there's an imperative that applies to kindness, tender-hearted, and forgiving. That's what you are to be, he says. Well, here's another one that talks about our attitude. Remember, we said that God's moral will can even affect our attitudes.

What attitude ought we to have as believers, right? Have this attitude, this is the imperative, in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus. Although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. but emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." So what's the imperative there?

What's it telling us to do? Pardon? Okay, and how does that show itself up? Where does that start from? Where does the obedience start from? It starts with an attitude, right? There is certainly a calling to be obedient, but it's interesting, God's moral will even goes to the place of, where does it start? What's the attitude?

Have you ever been in a situation, especially with kids and maybe you get this response, I'm obeying on the outside but I'm not obeying on the inside. So the obedience isn't just externally going through the motions. It's not just an acting job. It has to do with mindset.

It has to do with a fixed attitude and where things come from. So that's a part of God's moral will too. It is possible for believers to kind of have this sense of it's only on the outside that counts, or to have a sense of mentally thinking one way and carrying out externally a different way. Part of what he's saying here is those go together, both the attitude and the obedience. The obedience comes from the attitude. That's a part of what he's saying. That's a part of God's moral will. Not just what we do, but even what we think. Here's 1 Thessalonians 4, 3. And here's an interesting one. For this is the will of God. Now, as you look at that, oh boy, now we get to find out what the will of God is.

I mean, people sometimes go through all sorts of strains and gymnastics to find the will of God. Now he's going to spell it out. For this is the will of God, your sanctification. What's that mean? I think the thing is, if you look at it, what Bonnie pointed to earlier, these circles that we have, these circles, this is the entire will of God regarding everything. Then what is He doing? He's saying, okay, now within the whole will of God, a key part of that is your sanctification. What does it mean by sanctification? What does that mean? Pardon? Set apart. Being set apart, made holy. Here's something interesting.

We just read, previously, Ephesians 1.10, right before 1 Corinthians 1.10. Right before 1 Corinthians 1 10 Paul had told the church at Corinth You are sanctified and he wrote in the perfect tense.

You're already completely in your position sanctified So what is this this one here? The will of God is your sanctification. It's growing into the sanctification that you already have and in your position in Christ. So this is the will of God that you grow into the holiness, the being set-apartness for a particular purpose that you already have in your position in Christ. You're growing into your position. And kind of the way I like to make the distinguishing words is eternal position, daily condition. In our daily condition, It's God's will that we be growing into our eternal position that we already have. Then he gets specific. That is, and so now he's talking about the will of God, which is a really big term. Then he gives the principle, your sanctification. Then he gets down to specifics.

That you abstain from sexual immorality. Now, one of the reasons we know that this last part, that you abstain from sexual immorality, is a specific, is that's not the entire will of God, is it? That's just one item. But that you abstain from sexual immorality, why is that important? Why does that matter? Uh-oh, we're in trouble here. These people don't know why it's important. We got big problems. Whoa! What's that? Boy, I tell you, between the silence and the laughter, I'm not sure what to do here. I'm starting to panic.

God is perfect. And notice that this is put in a negative sense. That you abstain from sexual immorality. What did God have in mind? There is a valid biblical expression of sexuality. That's right. Entirely within marriage, that's the valid place where it has God's full approval. That is exactly what God had in mind.

But outside of that, that's a problem. That's a problem. And the world doesn't get it. The world doesn't get it. And that was exactly true then in Thessalonica when Paul wrote this as it is today. The world does not get it. Yeah, Jeremy? These things are the way God made us. The world doesn't understand that God planned this, that there will be sexual relations inside there. I think the world understands that.

When you have this, I promise you again, sexual looseness, that it's not fulfilling, it does not bring any type of to life, but they don't understand God's plan, but they understand that when you have this sexual immorality, that it's devastating to individuals, and it leads to a lifted life. So there's some practical aspects of that that you'll see in some places people do, but they don't understand the connection to God's holiness and his plan for us. It is not just God being arbitrary. There are profound impacts on hearts and lives for not recognizing this.

So the Lord most definitely intended that sexual expression remain in marriage. And that's why you abstain from sexual immorality. He didn't want to just say, just don't do stuff. Some people have joked, you know, I can tell you're a Christian because you don't do anything, right? But it's beyond that.

It is keeping what God intended positively in the positive. And so there is a valid biblical expression. He's saying it needs to remain where God intended. God's moral will. Donna? Yeah, and that's exactly the point we'll be making here shortly. That it is not a matter of just, okay, what are the rules? Let me follow them. And yeah, that's a critical point. God's ultimate issue for us as believers is not just what's the list and do this, don't do that. But where's your dependence? Where is your life? Where are you seeking life? And ultimately, who is glorified? And you don't do that through the sin nature, even if you follow the rules by the sin nature. Now, there are hundreds of verses, I would say upwards of 500, probably closer to 600 in the New Testament that say, do this, don't do that.

But ultimately, the priority issue, and we'll get there quickly, the priority issue is actually not the doing, it's who's doing it, okay? Where is the doing coming from? All right, let's take a look here. We've got the middle of page 20, but what is really, really important is, Biblical Anthropology, on page 32, we wrote it this way, Sanctification can be summarized as learning to walk in the Spirit in fellowship with God. Sanctification is primarily a matter of faith and not of works.

The priority choice, and I think that's the key, the priority choice for the believer is not to be sinful or to be holy, it's either to abide in the Spirit or to abide in the flesh. That's the first and foremost decision. God's moral will Even before we could put this abstaining from sexual immorality or being involved in it, God's moral will is that we walk in the Spirit.

Yes, yes. Ultimately, what does God desire from human beings? He desires that we fellowship with Him. That's at the core. If someone looks at life as simply a matter of, here's the list of things I'm supposed to do and not do, and that's it. We've missed the point. It is ultimately a matter of fellowship with Him. That's the key. In every instance, God desires that we fellowship with Him. If we are fellowshipping with Him, then these other decisions here become a whole lot more clear.

And they are empowered by the Lord. We'll get there shortly. It is not, and this is really important because a lot of Christians bang their head against the wall with this. It is extremely important that Christians realize God does not intend, never has, does not, and never will intend that we of ourselves try to will to do or not to do something.

God never, ever intends that we do that. Some people have this idea, I'm going to stand outside of walking in fellowship with the Lord or the sin nature, and I'm just going to decide to do and not do things. That is never God's intent. Let's put it this way, that is not God's moral will. The Lord does not ask that we simply make moral choices apart from this priority choice of abiding in fellowship with Him.

In Galatians 5.17 we have this, For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.

That's the ultimate battle. For these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do, you cannot do the things that you please. That word please there is phthalo. It means you can't do by simply willing. You cannot just simply say, I'm going to do this, and I am not going to do that, and figure that you're going to please God that way.

The battle is a whole lot bigger. It's just not mechanically possible. Let me put it this way. Can you get in your car and drive to San Francisco and Washington D.C. at the same time? Not so much. Not so much. And he puts the same kind of impossibility here.

We cannot stand outside of our fellowship with the Holy Spirit and fellowship with the sin nature and that question and just simply decide we're going to be good Christians. That is never what God has in mind, and Paul's telling you right here, and a good portion of Romans chapter 7 is telling you the same thing. You cannot decide those kinds of things and make that kind of a decision any more than you can drive at the same time to San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Good luck.

That is why position is so important. so that we know as believers most certainly who we are. That's part of God's sovereign will, right? That's why we covered it first. We know who we are. That's a big part of the decision. Last paragraph there, let me read it.

Every attitude and action of the believer is willed from abiding in either the sin nature or the spirit. Everything that the believer is called to do or not do, as well as every attitude and mindset, is to be done by the multiple ministries of the Holy Spirit. The next section here, we're going to address how the believer is to carry out each action and attitude. All right, how are these imperatives and other urgings, admonishments, statements, how are these things to be carried out?

We've got some key points here. As we look at these, because, you know, here, for example, there'll be an imperative. Love one another is written as an imperative. Okay, so now I've got my checklist. Love one another. I go to church today. Okay, I went and I patted Dave on the back and so I checklist. There we go. Is that it? Is that what he has in mind? Not so much, right? Okay.

Here is what I see Scripture saying. We've used the term logical imperative here in the past and I want to explain what that amounts to. We have, as a part of God's sovereign will, this position in Christ. Based on the logic of our position, what God has already done, our living out these things makes good, solid, logical sense. And Paul will often write that way. He's not the only one who does, but he certainly does.

An example of this is Ephesians 4.32.

B, and this is an imperative, kind to one, excuse me, yeah, kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. Now, is it Sermon on the Mount, forgive so that you'll be forgiven, or is it Paul's letter, forgive because you're forgiven? Which one is it? because you're forgiven. It's not a matter of, boy, you better forgive or you won't be forgiven. For us who are in Christ, it's clearly laid out here, forgive because you've already been forgiven.

A whole different mindset. Am I trying to follow the law so that I will be blessed? That's the law mindset. Or am I called to do this because I've already been blessed? That's a huge distinction. So the logic of our position isn't just rational, logical, mechanical. The logic of our position is a recognition of how graciously we've been blessed. Abundantly we've been blessed. And that's the next point. Motivated by grace and mercy.

What motivates us? It's not a matter of, boy, you better forgive or you won't be forgiven. That's not what's motivating us. Instead, what we have here is we're motivated by thankfulness, not by threat. You want your TH words? Thankfulness, not by threat. Key, huge distinction.

By the way, do we owe a duty to God because He's been gracious? No. We don't owe a duty to God. We do not do these things. We're not asked to do these things because we owe God a duty. God did not give us a gracious gift, and then when you open up the card that's attached to the gift, it's got an invoice.

Here's your payment schedule, right? No. It is out of grace entirely. We don't come feeling like, oh, I owe him a duty, we come to him out of thankfulness. Yeah, Tom? That's right. You get your thank you gift if you pay for it. Oh, here's an advertising ploy that just Well, I have to laugh because everything else hurts. Here's an advertising gimmick. You've heard this one again and again. You deserve this, right? Hey, if I deserve it, why don't you give it to me? Right? Well, you're never going to hear that. Okay.

Here's, Paul does Romans 12.1. 1 Corinthians 15.10 would be a similar one.

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God. And by the way, the prior chapter, and Paul didn't write with chapter breaks, the prior chapter lists multiple times God's mercy, singular, and here it says mercies, plural. By the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

What's the motivation there? What's the basis of his appeal? By the mercies. He wants them to be mercy motivated and for them to be thankful for God's mercy and to respond in heart to that. He doesn't say, I urge you therefore, brethren, in order that you not get punished and pounded. He doesn't say that. He says, I want you to be motivated by the mercies of God. God's mercy and God's grace are to be the believer's motivator. Nancy's heard me say more than once, guilt is a terrible motivator. Terrible. It works. It works. It works. And why does it work? It drives us to Christ. Okay.

But in terms of us as believers, how does guilt work? Not that it should be that way, but how does guilt work to motivate us? Negatively. It says, I have an obligation to God. It beats us down. It denies God's grace. It denies God's mercy. See, so that's the problem with guilt. It will motivate people, but it's not what God has in mind. Guilt is the opposite motivation from grace and mercy.

Oh, I understand. But there are believers who, boy, they just love to pile it on. And there are even some pastors who love to see people whimpering and sniveling, you know. Oh look, they're whimpering and sniveling. I must be doing some good. When they don't realize they're using the opposite motivation from what God intended. People will get pounded by this thing. You've got to tithe! Oh yeah? And I bet you're going to have lobster for lunch. That's in the passage right before the tithe. Says not to do it. Jeremy. I think that's interesting what you said.

When we try and live by legal standards, whether that's guilt or obligation or something, we're denying the grace of God. And He gives the most glory when we accept His grace and just say, thank you, and let that grace motivate us. Because that's His plan. That's where He is glorified.

Rather than us trying to put the legal standard on us, Yeah, you may get those good words, but God has not glorified as much as if grace was the motivator. Yeah, you get that? God has not glorified as much as if grace was the motivator. Let's turn that around. God has given us grace and mercy, motivation, in order that He might be glorified the most. Right? Yeah. In order that He might be glorified the most. Grace is glory present and glory is grace future. Okay. Good. That's a good insight. Let's take a look at the next one.

An appeal to the believer's will. This is not to put the focus on the believer. This is not even to say that the believer's will is somehow central. But the point being here that Scripture repeatedly makes an appeal to the believer's will. And what is an appeal to the believer's will? It's an appeal for the believer to look at the spiritual landscape and notice that Christ is central and foremost. in the spiritual landscape and to behold the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's just saying, respond to those truths that are there. That's all. You're responding to the spiritual truth laid out before you. That's what it's talking about here.

Romans 6, 11 is the example we've drawn upon there. Even so, consider, and this is a middle voice imperative, which actually is a double appeal to the will, Consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Does that mean put the focus on you? No. It says you consider, and what are you considering?

Christ and what Christ has done and who you are in Him. Because what he just got through talking about, you've been baptized into Christ. You've been identified with Christ. It's who He is. It's what He has done. That's what we're responding to as believers. That's the appeal to the will that's being made. Not to exalt us at all, but to consider ourselves dead to the sin nature and alive to God on the basis of what Christ has done. It's beholding Christ. Let's take a look at the next one there.

Enabled and empowered by God. This term empowered is something we're going to look at in the main service here shortly. In everything that God asks us to do, He provides the moment-by-moment ability and empowerment as this verse reveals. Ephesians 3.20, Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works within us.

There is nothing, let me say it again, there is nothing that God asks us to do or not do for which He is not already established in our position, in our motivation, and in our empowerment. God is not asking you to do anything that is outside of who you already are by His sovereign will in your position in Christ. As He really is not. He has not asked us to do anything that He intends for us to be motivated by anything other than His grace and mercy. He has not asked us to do anything for which He has not already determined to empower us, and that empowerment is not just barely sufficient.

Ephesians chapter 1. The last part of that chapter, Paul begins praying for the Ephesians. He says, I pray that the eyes of your hearts, having been opened, that you will have your eyes opened, that the resurrection power of Jesus Christ is into, some of the translations say toward, but that's kind of foggy, is into each believer. The power that God has for each believer to enable you in each and every step of life is the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. This is awesome. This is awesome. Our position is every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. It's every one. It's not lacking any. It's in the heavenly places. It's not going to be touched. And you and I can't blow it.

We're motivated by grace and mercy. And what does he say in Ephesians chapter 2? riches of His mercy, riches of His grace, insert the words wealth, and then we have enablement and empowerment that has as a standard and a source and a magnitude the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. Everything He asks us to do, He has provided everything for it in our position, in our motivation, in our empowerment and enabling. Phenomenally. Phenomenally.

The last one there, we have, well, second to last one, intended for right now. The Lord does not intend that we say, oh, that's God's will, that's someday. Eventually, He'll kind of get around to it, I suppose. No, those are stated either in the present tense or some of them are even stated in the aorist tense, in aorist imperative, which conveys urgency. And the last one is prepared beforehand. There is nothing that the Lord asks us to do that He's not already prepared beforehand. So we're not going along trying to, boy, I've got to invent something here, or I've got to think of something. Every single thing that he asks us to do, these good works, he's prepared them all ahead of time.

I mean, think about it. Is there any way in which the moral will of God is somehow insufficiently provided for? Not so much, right? I hope you're getting the idea. The Lord is provided abundantly. He's prepared most of the good works so you can walk in. You've got to figure out the rest of them. Kind of get the dartboard out and see what seems good. Or in terms of motivation, well, you've just got to work that up for yourself.

No. Every single aspect of God's moral will is something for which he has provided for immensely. And there is nothing that he asks us to do that falls outside of his complete provision in every respect. This is cool. This is major cool. Isn't that where your condition becomes your position? Right on. Gail, I see a hand up. Okay? Yeah. Okay, good. Praise the Lord. Yeah, Jeremy?

I'm thinking of this from a counseling aspect. When we are not in God's will or committing to God's will in all these areas that you're talking about, allowing grace to motivate us, understanding that God has empowered us, when we step outside that, whether we're walking in the flesh in sin, or we're walking in the flesh trying to on our own to please God, Even though we already have all these blessings in Christ, we're not experiencing them in our daily life, in our mission, and most of the challenges that we as Christians face Maybe you need somebody to come alongside us and remind us of these things. Or we get down in the press, or whatever it is, because we're falling outside of the Gospel. Even though these blessings are there, we're not by faith, I don't want to say accepting them, but we're not by faith experiencing them what is true of us.

Yeah. Think about it. Why is it that believers struggle with different things? You might think, boy, this is all great, but I really struggle with this. Why? Why do believers get in this place of struggling over things? And they do. Let's be honest, they do. Me too, right? Why is it? It's okay, it's believing. I think you're right, but let's hold that because there's something prior to that. What's the other issue?

Gail? Okay, all right. So there's a Sin Nature message. There's believing in a Sin Nature message. What else? Yeah? Self-effort is going to pinch you into plenty of corners and it'll never get you out at all. Okay. And that probably is a good coupling with a Sin Nature effort. What else? Yeah?

We don't know who we are. We don't know who we are. See, if you're ignorant of these things, It's like, wow, I had no idea. We don't know who we are. We don't know. Here we talk about, we've been motivated by mercy and grace, and what Paul describes, how much mercy and grace? A wealth of it, the riches of it. We don't know who we are. We don't know the magnitude of the power. We don't know the magnitude of the power. Yeah, Gail?

I don't believe that we learn the magnitude of God's power once, and then we never struggle again. People around us make decisions and choices and do things, and those things affect us. And they affect people we love. And we struggle with how do we get through this? How do we help them? What can I do when this is hopeless? Yeah, Wayne?

In the end, this is not a matter of determination. This is not a matter of us standing apart and saying, boy, I'm making the decisions here. It is a matter of us first learning, and this gets to Donna's point of we don't know who we are, first learning, and then once we learn, we have to believe it, don't we? That's Mike's point.

Once we learn, we have to believe it, and in the midst of that, both the world and the sin nature are singing the song. And the world and the sin nature are selling us something. And it's way oversold. As a matter of fact, if there were a legal structure in place to control those things, the world and the sin nature would be charged with false advertising. The world and the sin nature could be charged with false advertising because You know, one of the things that's really grabbed hold in our culture is, for example, addictions. Or you find somebody has done something and afterwards they look at it and think, oh heavens, you know, what did I do? Why did I do that?

And the underlying thing is they've been oversold. The sin nature in the world promised too much. I mean, do you actually believe that if you buy this new Cadillac and go deep and hawk to get this Cadillac, that you get the girl that's advertised with it?

Yeah, right. Okay. And see if they'll put that down on the sales contract. Right? No. Basically, it's false advertising. If you buy this, then you'll be happy. I mean, that's ultimately what, you know, you look at television, there's all these advertisements. It's promising you satisfaction and happiness. Then you get the girl and you really find out. Yeah, that's not it. Yeah, yeah.

And oh, what a pile of headaches, right? The world oversells things, and essentially the world promises a heaven it can never promise. It can never fulfill. It can never follow through on the promise. That's the world's problem. That's the major deficiency. The world and the sin nature, and Satan stands around as a cheerleader, are all trying to oversell us something they can never follow through on.

And what the Lord has done is He's laid out everything and He's saying, you need power? Here is resurrection magnitude power into you. I say the translation say toward, but it's the words typically translated in or into. Resurrection power into you. Position in Christ every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Irreversible. Untouchable. Motivation, riches of mercy, riches of grace.

So, yeah, it can be tough going, but a part of it is ignorance. A part of it is, do we believe it? And a part of it is the overselling of the world, the flesh, and the devil. Pardon? You have to have the need. What's that? Well, through the beggar brings the need. Well, I think there's certainly, you know, Scripture lays out, you know, this is what you need. Sometimes it can be tough for us to recognize that, can't it? Yeah, Nancy? For me, I didn't have to do drugs to follow the free love movement except to recognize my Jesus Christ. Other people have to do that. Whatever their sin nature is stronger in that area. I'm not saying their sin nature is stronger in that area. Yeah. How much does it take before we recognize that we've been sold a bill of goods? Pardon?

Is that genetics? Oh, I think genetics is probably not the picture. Genetics may have some part in what's people's favorite sins. But that's still a sin nature issue. Yeah? Yeah. Genetics puts us all in the same boat. And the only real variation is which part of the sin, which sin might be something genetically inclined. But genetically, we're all in the same boat until we're saved.

Yeah, or the more it says more. Okay, next time we're going to go on God's individual will, which kind of shifts gears even some more because it goes into things where something might be God's will for me individually. but not the same for another person. So this is something where Christians can be kind of in a different place, whereas everything we've talked about now is uniform among believers. Now we step into God's individual will for each one of us, and how do we deal with that? Okay, let's pray.

Lord, as we look at this passage here, as we look at the truths you've laid out, we give you thanks, and we just praise you how abundantly You've blessed us here. Our position is every spiritual blessing, every single one, untouchable in the heavenlies. Our motivation is the riches of your grace and mercy, Lord, and we are empowered and enabled to do every good work that you've prepared beforehand. Lord, that's just phenomenal. It is amazing and astounding. Just pray for eyes to be opened to understand that and hearts to believe it. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.