Security Through Doing God’s Will

It’s good to be with you again. In my two previous talks, this week, I’ve been dealing with security in the financial and material realm.

In particular, security of investment, and I’ve said the true secure investment is the investment in the kingdom of God. Jesus said, “Seek first God’s kingdom, His righteousness, all other needs will be met by God.” He said, “Don’t invest where moth and rust corrupt, where thieves break in and steal. Invest in the eternal realm where your investment will never be lost.”

And then I spoke about God’s Social Security. And in essence that is faith that works by love. In faith doing good to the poor, to the sick, to those in need, to those who cannot help themselves. Casting your bread upon the waters. God promises after many days it will return to you. Giving to the poor, the Bible says that’s lending to the Lord. And what we lend to the Lord, He will repay to us at a high rate of interest.

Well, today I’m going to go on to speak about a kind of security that covers every area of our lives. The security that comes from doing God’s will. I want to begin by reading a passage from the first epistle of John, 1 John 2:16, 17:

“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God abides forever.” (NASB)

All through this series of talks on where to find security, the Bible has consistently been reminding us of the two different realms, the temporal, the temporary, the impermanent, the insecure; and the eternal, the realm of God and His kingdom. And we have that contrast in the passage I’ve just read, speaking about all that’s in the world, John describes three kinds of driving motivations. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. And he says, “All that is not from God the Father but is from the world.” He says, “The world is passing away, it’s impermanent, it will not last. It does not and cannot offer permanent security.”

But with that he contrasts another type of security. He says, “The one who does the will of God abides forever.” What a tremendous statement! If you are doing the will of God you will abide forever. You’ll never be overthrown. Your security will never be taken from you; nothing will ever be able to overcome you or hinder you. You see, when you set your heart and mind and will to do the will of God, you unite with the will of God. And God’s will is going to prevail. Over all other forces in the universe, ultimately the will of God is going to prevail. And if you are united  by your decision and commitment with the will of God, then you are going to prevail with the will of God. And God’s strength is going to become yours because you’re doing His will.

Let’s look, for a moment, at the pattern of Jesus in connection with this motivation to do the will of God. In John 6:38, this is what Jesus says:

“For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me.” (NIV)

The whole motivation of Jesus was to do the will of God the Father. There’s an interesting instance of what this means. In John 4, Jesus was resting by the well of Jacob. His disciples had gone into the nearest town to buy food. So they were in need of food. And then the Samaritan woman came along and Jesus spoke to her and talked to her about the water of eternal life. And the woman came to some kind of commitment to Jesus. Then his disciples came back with the food that they bought and this is the record, John 4:31-34:

“Meanwhile, His disciples urged Him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ But He said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about.’ Then his disciples said to each other, ‘Could someone have brought Him food?’ [They were amazed because they knew that when they went into the town, Jesus was hungry and in need of food. Now they’ve come back with the food, He didn’t need to eat it. Where had He gotten His food from? And this is the answer Jesus gave them:] ‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish His work.’” (NIV)

Isn’t that a remarkable statement? What does food mean to us? It means the source of strength and support. Jesus says,”I have another source that’s not just natural food. It’s doing the will of God, My Father. And when I do His will that supplies Me with strength and vitality.” You see, in doing God’s will, Jesus was absolutely secure. In the gospels, in various places we read how His enemies tried to kill Him. But they were unable to do so because it wasn’t the will of God for Him to die in that way or in that time.

For instance, in John 7:30 it says:

“His enemies tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on Him, because His time had not yet come.” (NIV)

He wasn’t protected by armed guards. He was just there, absolutely vulnerable, in the natural, but no one could touch Him because His time had not yet come. He was committed to doing the will of God until the will of God was fulfilled in His life, He was irresistible. And then again, in Luke 4:28-30 an incident in His own city, in Nazareth, after He’d spoken to the people in the synagogue and angered them by what He said. We read this:

“All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove Him out of the town, took Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But He walked right through the crowd and went on His way.” (NIV)

He didn’t have any armed guard, but there was something about Him that made Him irresistible. No one could destroy Him. No one could lay hands on Him because He was committed to do the will of God. And until the will of God was fulfilled, He was irresistible.

Contrast the scene in Gethsemane when the time had come for Him to be arrested, and taken away, and crucified. When the men came to arrest Him, this is what He said, Mark 14:41-42:

“The hour has come. Look, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.” (NIV)

But that could not happen until the hour appointed by God the Father had come. Until that moment, He was absolutely irresistible. You and I can follow His pattern and you and I can be equally invincible, irresistible, if we’re totally united with the will of God. If our motivation is to do God’s will, then we are as secure, as strong and as irresistible in this world as the will of God Himself. It’s important to see that each one of us can be equally committed to do God’s will. Just as Jesus was. I want to read you two verses from Psalm 40:7, 8. This is a prophetic picture of Jesus. It’s quoted about Jesus in the epistle to the Hebrews. But it doesn’t need to be a picture of Jesus only. If we will make the same decision and the same commitment, it can be a picture of you and me. This is what it says:

“Then I said, ‘Here I am, I have come. It is written about me in the scroll. To do your will, O God, is my desire. Your law is within my heart.’” (NIV)

The writer to the Hebrews explains that those words were fulfilled in Jesus. We’ve already seen that He Himself said, “I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me.”

And so here, prophetically, we foresee this:  “Here I am, I have come; it is written about me, in the scroll,” in the prophetic scroll, revealing the will of God, the course of Jesus’ life, His work, His destiny, what was appointed to Him to do had all been set out. His purpose was to fulfill that which was written in the scroll. In a certain sense it’s like an actor who has a part written for him and his responsibility is to play that part. He doesn’t have to improvise, he doesn’t have to think up his own lines, he just has to express that which the playwright has written into the part. The more perfectly he expresses it, the better he is as an actor.

And that’s how it is with doing the will of God. The scenario is already written. We have to find it. In Ephesians 2:10 Paul says, “We are God’s creation in Christ, created for good works which God has already prepared for us to walk in.” So that’s the will of God. It’s not something that’s going to be improvised. It’s something that’s already prepared. And I want you to see that in the scroll of God’s eternal book somewhere there’s a pattern written for you life. The part is already written. The scenario is there. You don’t have to improvise. What you have to do is be like Jesus. Say, “Lord, here I am. I’ve come to you. I’m committed to you. My whole purpose in life is to do what’s written about me in the scroll of your book.” And when you do that, you see, you’re just as invincible and invulnerable as Jesus Himself. No one could touch Him, no one could stop Him as long as He was walking out the part that was written in God’s scenario. It’s so important that each of us sees this. We are not, as somebody said, an accident looking for somewhere to happen. We are God’s creation, His new creation in Christ. He’s created us to do something specific. There’s a specific role, a specific part for each one of us. True security in life comes from committing yourself to God, finding the role that He has for you and then doing it, walking it out day by day, step by step, always with that in your heart. This is why I’m here to do God’s will.

Well, our time is up for today. I’ll be back with you again tomorrow at this time. Tomorrow my theme will be How to Be Irresistible.