The Will of the Father

Matthew 7:21-23

I once heard two preachers talking about another, older minister who had experienced some very rough times in his ministry. He had fallen into sin and failure but had continued on and was being used of God. The one commented that he wondered what kept the older minister going in spite of all that had happened to him, and the other minister said, “Because if he quits, he will go to hell. He has to keep preaching, it’s his call”. The first minister nodded in agreement, citing Matthew 7:21.

These ministers believed that “He that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” meant that if God tells you to do something and you don’t do it then you will be rejected at the judgment, because you did not obey God’s will. This thinking is usually held by those who also believe that you can be in God’s perfect will or God’s permissive will. They say His perfect will is what He wants, while His permissive will is what He allows. What He “allows”? Doesn’t He “allow” anything? If there are two wills of God for man, which one must you do to “get to heaven”?

In order to properly understand verse 21 we should read further to find the context. In verse 23, Jesus makes it clear that those to whom He is speaking were never believers in the first place; “I never knew you”. This tells us that someone who knows the Lord but fails to do everything that He tells them to do has no fear that they will be rejected at heaven’s gates, for they have known Jesus.

Jesus states in verse 21 that those who get to enter into the kingdom of heaven are those that “do the will of my Father”. There cannot be two wills of the Father; one perfect and the other permissive, for that would make one path of God less than perfect. God’s will and plan for your life is always perfect and anything that you do other than that is always permissive. Even living in sin is “permissive” since God doesn’t strike you down dead, but no believer wants to live under the power of that (Romans 6:14; 1 Corinthians 6:12).

The will of God must be universal for every man so that salvation is the same everywhere. We know that the “will” that Jesus is speaking about is not the 10 Commandments, for Paul calls these the “ministry of death” and “condemnation” (2 Corinthians 3:7, 9). What might this will be? Jesus was asked as much following His feeding of the 5,000, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent’” (John 6:28, 29). Jesus defines God’s will as man placing faith in Jesus Christ. Only faith placed in Jesus Christ and His finished work will produce the kind of works that every believer desires.

If that older preacher mentioned at the beginning were to quit preaching, he would not go to hell because he stopped walking in his call. He would be miserable because he would not be using the gift that God gave him to minister to souls, but he would not have to fear being rejected at the judgment day. If you have accepted Christ as your Savior, you have fulfilled the will of the Father and you will not be rejected as if He never knew you for “he cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2:13).

 

Captive at Satan’s Will

2 Timothy 2:24-26

We have all heard the phrase, “The devil made me do it”. We know that free will is not tampered with, neither by God nor by the enemy, but it is obvious that there are many people doing things that they don’t really want to do. Apostle Paul said, “For I do not understand my own actions – I am baffled, bewildered. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe (which my moral instinct condemns)” (Romans 7:15, Amplified).

Paul’s struggle was in living victorious over sin and all vice. He wished to walk free from the dominion of the enemy, and his opening to the 8th chapter is the glorious good news that he had been looking for, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The knowledge that he was not condemned gave him the liberty that he so desired, making him “free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2).

If you and I are free from condemnation from our heavenly Father because of the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ on the cross, then we should never listen to the voice of condemnation in our life. If He has freed us from condemnation, who else could possibly condemn us? When we dwell in guilt and condemnation, it is either of our own devising, or it has been planted there by the enemy intent on destroying us.

In Paul’s closing lines to young Timothy, he tells him that a preacher must not strive or “argue”; “but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient” (2 Timothy 2:24). This patience is so that we can instruct those who “oppose themselves” (2:25). “Oppose” is not the correct translation here, for the Greek word is “condemn”. Paul is referencing those in the church who condemn themselves. This self-condemnation leads them into the “snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will” (2 Timothy 2:25, 26).

The devil cannot override our will and force us to sin, but according to this statement by Paul he can hold us captive and make us miserable. We give him the right to do so when we condemn ourselves, which ignores the finished work of the cross. When the believer lives in condemnation, they do not cease to be a believer, but they cease to walk in peace and happiness and they are a whipping boy for the whims of the enemy. Oftentimes, we wonder where God is during these moments, even going so far as to ask if He has deserted us. His work is finished, but if we do not accept it as so, we will live in condemnation over our inability to “please God”. Satan swoops in and takes advantage of our ignorance, and as they say, the rest is history.

Accept the gift of no condemnation, just as the woman caught in the act of adultery did in John 8. When Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more”, you have been provided with all of the equipment that you will ever need to live beyond the grip of sin. Silence the voice of condemnation by feasting on the loveliness of Jesus and His love for you. Change your mind about what God thinks about you if you have felt that He was distant and uncaring. Be removed from Satan’s snare and live at peace in your wonderful Savior.