What is the will of God?

Believers, in Matthew 7:21 our Lord Jesus said "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

But what is the will of our heavenly Father? Before the Lord opened my eyes to His salvation, I’d hear this verse read and people preaching that “You must do God’s will in order to enter His kingdom.” But the preachers never really explained what God’s will was. It was presented quite ambiguously and in the light of doing good and doing evil. With hindsight (by God's grace,) I see that this definition is death! Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (a representation of the Law, including the Ten Commandments, which tells us good from evil,) and they died.

Defining what God’s will was left to my imagination back then. Like many Christians, I would think of long lists of dos and don’ts, rights and wrong, good and evil and choosing right. But do we really for one moment think that our heavenly Father would make His will that is so crucial to our salvation vague in any way? Certainly not!

So what is God's will? What are the works that God wants us to do? Some people asked our Saviour Jesus this very question in John 6. No better answer or explanation than that which comes from our Saviour Jesus Himself!

28 "Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 "Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent."

Again, in the same John 6, Christ says:

39 "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Our Saviour Himself is telling us what God’s will is! He is saying here that the will of God is:

1. For us to believe in our Lord Jesus (verse 29.) Even this we cannot decide to do on our own. Verse 44 of the same John 6 says “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.” And there we were thinking “I decided to follow Jesus out of my own good sense and smarts:)”

2. That Christ should lose none of us that He (our heavenly Father) has given to Him but raise us up at the last day (verse 39)

3. That all of us who see our Lord Jesus Christ and believe in Him may have everlasting life. (verse 40)

Believers, this is what God wants us to do: to believe in His Son. For the New Covenant believer, believing in our Saviour Jesus is obedience. Under the New Covenant, there only the obedience of faith, not the Law. The Law is not of faith and without faith, it is impossible to please God. When the believing is right, right living will follow.

Remember Philippians 2:13 "For it is God who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure." He works His will in us, makes us desire to do it; gives us the ability to do it; does it through us and for us so we please Him and then He rewards us for doing it. Yet not us doing His will but Christ in us. Nothing to do with us. All to do with our Saviour Jesus. Even our being called to believe to enjoy His grace.

That's why in heaven, we will sing "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain" and not "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain....and me, I also played my part!"

How we please Him is in His hands. It's unforced. It's grace! It's Christ in us. It's natural because when we rest in Christ's finished work (which He gives us grace to do,) we become like Him. Let's look to the Giver and the gifts, including right living, will follow. All these things shall be added unto you, including the grace to live right.

Doing the will of God is believing in His Son, our Saviour Jesus. He called us to believe and does everything else too.This is His Grace - undeserved, unmerited favour! Trust in Him, "being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;" Philippians 1:6.

Believe Right and you will Live Right.

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