Lord, What Wilt Thou Have Me To Do? (Part 2)

4. The gospel of Jesus, which gives us the basic knowledge of Jesus (that He is the Son of God who died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures), is described as a light shining in our hearts. 2CO 4:4-6. a. This gospel was first shined into the hearts of the apostles by the Holy Ghost directly. JOH 14:26; 2PE 1:19. b. They in turn gave that light to others through preaching. 1PE 1:12; TIT 1:3. c. This is the gospel ministry, manifesting the truth about Jesus to the consciences of men. d. As Paul, we preach Christ Jesus the Lord and tell who He is, what He did, where He is now, and what He demands of men. We give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God as found in the face of Jesus Christ. e. The true gospel gives all the glory to God through the work of Jesus Christ and bestowed upon us according to God’s mercy and grace (EPH 2:8-9). It is the light of the glory of God, NOT the glory of man. Lord, What Wilt Thou Have Me To Do? 10-6-13 Page 3 5. This preaching of the gospel as servants of Christ is what Jesus commissioned His servants to do and teach for the conversion and obedience of men to Himself. MAT 28:18-20. a. Any true conversion includes the knowledge that Jesus is Lord and God that he died for our sins, was buried and rose again and is now reigning over all, and that we thus have a duty to obey Him. b. Note that Jesus states His authority first. MAT 28:18. c. “Go ye therefore...” (vs. 19-20) and teach these facts, baptizing those that believe it in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. (1) This baptism joins one into the kingdom of God. LUK 7:29; MAT 21:31. (2) The convert thus becomes a citizen of a spiritual nation and under the authority of Jesus Christ, its King. 1PE 2:9. (3) The ministers of that kingdom then instruct them what else Christ commands that they observe. d. Paul heard the truth about Jesus from Stephen. Now he believed it as that very person Jesus spoke to him and he was ready to obey whatever Christ willed. 6. We do not experience personal confrontations and conversations with Christ as Paul did but we do have his words to us in the Scriptures. HEB 1:1-3. a. The written word of God which is the testimony of Jesus about Him (O.T. and the four gospels), and from Him (N.T. epistles) which reveals His commands to us as believers, is also called light. PSA 119:105, 130. b. It is sufficient for full obedience to Him. 2TI 3:16-17. c. No extra-biblical “light” is needed. ISA 8:20. 7. If God is who He says He is in his word (e.g. ISA 43:10-11), and Scripture is truly the word of God, it then speaks with the authority of God and is to be received as such. a. If you do not believe you have the word of God, or if you don’t receive it as the true (i.e. pure and preserved) word of God, it will not work effectually in you. 1TH 2:13-14. b. It may work partially or for a while but you will always have an excuse to disobey. (1) You will internally reason, “Yeah, hath God said...?” (GEN 3:1). (2) You may well think, “Maybe another version will give me a reading more to my liking, because I don’t like what it says in the KJV.” (3) Multiple differing versions = Wiggle Room = Make Up My Own Religion. 8. To be converted, one must have a humble spirit and reverence for the word of God for such is the one that gets the grace to receive it and act upon it without resistance, arguments, self-justification or self-will rearing its ugly head. 1PE 5:5-6; ISA 57:15; 66:2 c/w 1CO 15:9-10. a. We know Paul was from his reaction to the words of Christ and his subsequent words regarding it. 1TI 1:12-15. b. Genuine conversion is impossible for someone whose arrogance forbids him from considering that God has preserved His word through translations and copies. He will be at best, “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2TI 3:7). 9. In conversion, a sinner is convicted and sees the error of his way and the truth he must acknowledge and follow. a. It is the Holy Spirit that convicts man of sin. JOH 16:8. b. It is called a pricking of the heart. ACT 2:36-37. (1) prick: fig. To cause sharp mental pain to; to sting with sorrow or remorse; to grieve, pain, torment, vex. Lord, What Wilt Thou Have Me To Do? 10-6-13 Page 4 (2) remorse: A feeling of compunction, or of deep regret and repentance, for a sin or wrong committed. c. Men fight against the pricking of the heart by hardening it against the rebuke or instruction of the word of God. HEB 3:7-8; ACT 7:51. d. The word of God, which is the word of the Spirit, in its written form or from the mouth of a preacher is as a goad, a pointed instrument, that admonishes and rebukes where needed. 2PE 1:21; ECC 12:9-12. e. You are to obey the man of God when he comes with the word of God for He speaks for Christ. 2CO 5:20; HEB 13:7, 17. 10. When you are convicted by the word of God and the Holy Spirit that dwells within you, how do you respond? a. As Paul did? b. Or as James writes in JAM 1:21-25? c. Or God forbid, as Paul writes of in HEB 10:26-31? D. What is it that the Lord would have you to do? 1. At times He has asked some hard things of His children. a. Consider Abraham. GEN 22:1-12. b. Consider Paul. ACT 9:15-16 c/w 2CO 11:23-33. c. Consider Job and the other prophets. JAM 5:10-11. 2. Sometimes his children do not ask the question or submit willingly to God’s will for them. JON 1:1-3. 3. God’s will for you is first of all to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, repent, be baptized, become part of His church, and continue in the apostles doctrine. ACT 2:36-42. 4. God’s will then for you is to continue learning and observing what Christ commands you to do. MAT 28:18-20. a. Some things done in the name of Christ are not what Christ would have you to do. MAT 7:21-23. b. Regardless of what Christ requires of others, the issue is what would He have YOU to do? JOH 21:22. 5. Your calling or station in life will determine the some of the answers to this question. a. If one is a pastor, there are things God requires him to do that are not required of others. 1TI 4:13-16; 2TI 2:3, 15; 4:1-2; 1PE 5:1-3. b. If one is a husband and/or a father, there are certain things that Christ would have you do. EPH 6:4; 5:25-33; 1PE 3:7. c. If you are a child, there are certain things that Christ would have you to do. EPH 6:1-3. d. If one is a wife and and/or mother, there are certain things Christ would have you do. 1PE 3:1-6; EPH 5:22-23; 1TI 5:14. e. There are instructions given to servants and masters or employers and employees. EPH 6:5-9. f. There are instructions given to civil servants and the military. LUK 3:12-14. g. There are also general instructions given to all of God’s children. 1PE 3:8-12; EPH 4:20-32. 6. What is it that the Lord would have you to do? Ans. Whatever His word teaches you to do, and whatever His word convicts you that you need to change and start doing. a. The time for this is the moment of realization without delay, as with Paul. HEB 3:15; PSA 119:60. b. This how one works out his own salvation. PHIL 2:12-13. Lord, What Wilt Thou Have Me To Do? 10-6-13 Page 5 E. God does not demand anything harder of His saints than what He has demanded of Himself for His love for us. JOH 3:16; 1JO 4:9-10 c/w GEN 22:1-3. 1. God asked the hardest thing of His own Son. a. He asked Him to take upon Himself the guilt of all God’s elect children and suffer all the wrath of God that those sins deserved in the inward torments of Gethsemane and the outward agony of the cross. b. And Jesus did it for His love of His God and Father and His love for us. MAT 26:36-42; MAR 14:36. c. Thankfully He was an Abraham and not a Jonah. d. His life and death manifested the question and the answer, “What wilt thou have me to do? I come to do thy will and please thee rather than myself.” HEB 10:7-9; JOH 8:29. 2. It is because of Christ’s submission to that question that we have eternal life as the gift of God’s grace. ROM 6:23.