I invite you to turn tonight to the book of James, the book of James chapter 4. We're reading a few verses from chapter 4, verses 13 through 17, and then page 61, 61 in your blue Psalter hymnal. I'm hesitant to tell you this, but I worked long and hard on this sermon this week, and I lost it. I mean it. I went this afternoon to print it. I don't know what happened. It's gone. It was an interesting moment to find out who was on my computer in the house and who had messed with my files. But if it's a bad sermon, you'll pardon me. If it's a good sermon, I don't want to know because that says really bad things. I trust the Lord's providence. I'm preaching a sermon on the will of God, so I have to submit to that will myself. James tonight, chapter 4, chapter 4, I'm reading at verses 13 through 17 and then we'll say together, Lord's Day 49 on page 61. This is the word of the Lord. Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Yet, you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. And there ends the reading of God's word tonight. And I'll ask on Lord's Day 49, the third petition and request of the Lord's Prayer, which is our study tonight. And please answer, as I ask the question, please respond with the answer. What does the third request mean? Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven means, Help us and all men to reject our own wills and to obey your will without any backtalk. Your will alone is good. Help everyone carry out the work he has called to do as willingly and faithfully as the angels in heaven. I think you see the logical connection to this from what we considered last time when we were taught to pray thy kingdom come you'll remember how important that section was as the lord was teaching us about the coming of the kingdom the nature of the kingdom and he was challenging us to pray for the coming of that kingdom that our lives would be ruled remember that that we would be ruled and then then we looked at how we are to pray for the strength of the church and destroy all of the opposition that happens against in the world against the truth of the gospel against what the lord is doing in his kingdom and and all of these other words that threaten the word of god and that satan uses to attack the truth well it's it's not surprising then that in logical connection he would then be concerned about us since we have asked him to rule us in this kingdom since we have a king that we obey the will of the king you think of of this morning where the king spoke what do you want me to do lord i'll tell you what you must do and the apostle paul went out and became the apostle to the gentiles and i think you see there how he loved doing the will of god it became the great delight of his life. That was his happiness to do the will of God. It was Jesus who constantly spoke of the will of God. This is what I've come to do. I've come to fulfill the will that my father gave me. And so the will of God was constantly on his mind and in his heart. This is one of the great struggles that we have when we think about the will of God. What is the will of God and how do we understand the will of God, I think there's no doubt that among us there's often confusion about the will of God because we sometimes feel that we don't know what that will is. Oh, I'm not talking about what's revealed in the Word. You know what the revealed will of God is, but you struggle with the will of God for the things that you don't know about and how to handle that and what to do. There's an important passage in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 29 29 that makes a distinction in the will of god that i believe is a good place to begin and i think you'll see shortly here how important the book of james is to understand the will of god and what james is after as he's showing us in that breakdown the way that the will of god shows itself in the earth and how we are to think about the will of god in deuteronomy 29 29 we read the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and our children that we may do the words of the law. That is the distinction that's important there. There are things that are in his secret will that he has not told us. And then there are things that he has plainly told us. And how do we navigate and how do we live life with the things that he has not told us and then the things that he has told us i think you'll see that it is just as easy to compromise the will of god in the things that he has told us and so therefore it's important to consider tonight what is the will of god and how the will of god is used in the scripture to encourage us to be obedient to what he desires what we're essentially asking tonight I think you saw that so beautifully in the Heidelberg Catechism, is that we would be obedient to God's will and reject our own wills. And then the catechism follows a line to help us to think about even our vocations in that regard. So that's a good way to break it down, to think of the first point being, help us to obey your will. Help us to love your will. And help us then to reject our own wills in life. and then as we go out and and and you've given us a vocation and a life and things to do and you've give us assignments under the sun help us to fulfill that will and that vocation just as cheerfully as the angels do it in heaven what a beautiful outline for considering the will of god well tonight uh as we look at this and begin to think about it there's something important that james says that helps us through this and i want to spend a few moments uh reflecting on this passage that is so important that it's all about the will of god and to think about the will of god as it as it comes to us in the scriptures and in how we behave when we don't understand what that will is notice what he says there in verse 13 tonight come now you who say today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town spend a year there and trade and make a profit yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring what is your life for you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. What is James reacting to? What is James thinking about? What is he struggling with? Well, he's reacting against a people who are living as if God does not have control over every aspect of life, who are living as if they are free agents away from and outside of the will of God. And again, providence is very important in this discussion for what do we confess in providence, that there's nothing in life that happens by chance, but that everything that comes to us, whether it's good or bad, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, all of that comes to us not by chance, but from His fatherly hand. That is how in control God is of everything in life. I think you see the parallel to this morning for it doesn't seem like he's very much in control of anything when we look at the state of the world but then you look at the scripture and what the lord is encouraging us to see he is fulfilling his plans he is fulfilling that plan look at the power he demonstrated this morning in the life of the apostle of which no one in history would have ever recorded because you never want to paint yourself in that kind of light it's the truth so james is is is here reacting first to be obedient to the will when you don't even know what the will is that's an interesting statement isn't it does god tell you to go to such and such a city does god tell you to move here to move there does god tell you to change a church does god tell you to do this or to do that well if you're hearing little voices like that you should talk to me after i want to talk to you god doesn't do that does he makes life a challenge at times for how do we discern the will of the lord and what he wants for us it's not wrong to go to such and such a city is it it's not wrong to go to such and such a city and make a profit it's not wrong to make plans this is what we do in life you're making your little wills every day when you get up before you die you write a will you have wills what is james thinking of when he's thinking of life and he's thinking about the things that belong to the secret will of the lord the things that have not been revealed to us, you'll notice here that James says there should be a disposition and a spirit behind it if the Lord wills, we will do this or that. It's an important thing to think about because we often hear the pious line that people say, the Lord willing, the Lord willing, the Lord willing, that's a right statement. But what are we after when we say that? Do we have to run around saying that all the time? the Lord willing, the Lord willing, the Lord willing. It's important here when we're looking at what James then says about the brevity of life. We have all these plans. We get up in the morning, we're thinking about futures. We're thinking about what we're going to do. We're thinking about where we're going to go. Some of you are thinking tonight, who are you going to marry? You've got all sorts of challenges before you that really do have to do with the will of God. You don't know what it is. you don't know what it is and what james is challenging us with what the scriptures are constantly challenging us with is an attitude of self-dependence an attitude of independence in life i'm going to make my decisions and i'm going to do what i do and people talk like this all the time people live like this all the time they're going to do what they want to do and james is challenging that i think of jesus's words when he talked about the man who was going to build his barns and make all the living he was going to live remember that and then he said fool this night your soul will be required of you then where will your things go there was that independent spirit there was that um idea that he was his own god living out his life fulfilling his own dreams. And I believe that it's important to say tonight, when Jesus is teaching us to pray thy will be done, we're even in the things that we don't know, to have a certain disposition and attitude toward the will of God, living, realizing there is a will for us. This is the heart of proverbs 3 trust in the lord with all your heart lean not on your own understanding why is he saying that because you're going to look at life and you're going to go through life and you're going to be tempted to live life on your own wisdom and your own understanding and making your decisions there instead proverbs says while using wisdom in all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths he's in control of the path you see he's in control of the path he's in control of the future i always think about that when i am i was thinking of the call to come here i had i was really struggling with how do i know whether i'm supposed to leave linden and come here how do you discern that and you prayerfully wrestle with that and you you ask the lord for clarity and and i remember uh after i had made the decision and and and said i'm coming to escondido and i then after a night of sleep came back and said i'm not going i'm not going there is no way i'm leaving nope i'm going to tell them sorry here i am right here i am god is in control of what he is going to do with our lives and that's the realization of this you may not know what young people college to attend when we pray that i will be done your understanding you have full lordship and control over my life so i need you to lead me and guide me in the truth how many times do you see this in the psalms lead us lord and guide us this is at the heart of this prayer he opens doors and closes doors all the time for us he's directing our paths the decisions that we make even in your business dealing should have this spirit behind it if you will lord you don't have to piously run around saying it all the time that can be annoying but it's the disposition of a prayerful heart i want to submit to your will that's what james is after that's what we're asking of the lord uh rule us and let us submit to what you have for us in our jobs in our homes in whatever it is the very breath we're taking at this moment is upheld by rich provisions we are to acknowledge that even though we not may not completely understand the will of the lord we're called still to submit to it to obey it we're asking god that we would recognize that we are under his gracious control and care now i know that's hard i know there are times it would seem that this can't be the will of the lord you think joseph thought that you think when his brothers were beating him and stripping him and throwing him into a pit this can't be your will lord he ends up down in egypt and then when it's all said and done what did he say god was sending me to deliver you that's a marvel isn't it how he works out everything that's a marvel how his providence shows forth its power in life and that's the spirit of this it's the it's the truth of what proverbs says a man's heart a man plot plans his way but the lord directs his steps so that's the emphasis here in the first part of this if the lord wills we will live and we will do this and that now in the good times that's that's easy to submit to in the hard times it's much more challenging it's more challenging when a loved one faces sickness it's more challenging to pray this in times of intense sorrow and pain and hurt when there's heartache and suffering and we can't understand how any of that is for God's glory and this is where we're challenged tonight because what begins to overtake us when we're not so accepting of where God has us in the moment impatience impatience is the great thing that leads us into sin with God impatience worth what he is doing you saw it this morning i said that in in the history of the church and the struggles that we have and all the compromises that come are often that we are impatient with his patience because it seems like nothing's happening and yet he's being patient with us not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance impatient impatience happens and that's where then the the point of the second aspect of this is that we're asking the lord that we would be obedient to his will but reject our own wills which will require them that we listen to what he has said expressly in his revealed will that's the second aspect to this lord help us to reject our own wills in life well james captures that here did you see it in verse 17 therefore he goes on and Instead, you ought to say, if it's the Lord's will, verse 15, we will live and do this or that. As it is, you boast in your arrogance, all such boasting is evil. So, whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. There he seems to be also going after an understanding of a knowledge of the right thing to do. And then a failure to perform the right thing. The first failure is a basic submission in life, even when we don't understand all of it, that disposition of trusting in the Lord. But then when there is a clear path that we know we should follow and we don't, that's sin. This is really important tonight. I lived long enough and I know ministry long enough to know that when we are all of a sudden faced with something in life that will cause us great loss or hardship or trial or something that will test us in ways that we don't want to be tested, you can hold the Word of God strongly all until it affects you personally. God has told us specific things in His revealed will. The Scriptures are often telling us to search out that will, to know that will, discern what is the good and perfect and acceptable will of God. That's what's revealed in the scriptures. That's what we know. That's what we listen to. That's what we are to live by. Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. That's easy until it challenges us personally. We will hold fast to the Bible. We will even hold doctrinal positions until it challenges our families it challenges us it makes life hard this is where the rubber really meets the road i've i don't see how you can get away from from just the basic illustration of marriage how many times have and this is speaking to um to young people tonight and this is speaking to the challenge of those who who struggle with the will of god and where is that spouse where is that spouse? What is my future? In great anxiety and often impatience, we can make bad choices, can't we? And how many times has a young person begin to date and see somebody they shouldn't? And it's almost predictable what happens in almost every time they've made the decision to start that. What is it? Well, why would God be so unhappy with this? Can't I affect him more than he will affect me? You can go right down the line here on these kind of illustrations. I remember Charles Spurgeon had a young gal doing this one time, and you know the illustration, I think I've used it before, where he said, young lady, if you marry this person, you're going to have a life of misery. And she said, God just wants me to be happy. Never heard that one before, have we? He said, I'm going to show you what's going to happen to you. Charles Spurgeon was a big guy, heavy guy. He put her on a table. She's above him. He said, pull me up. She said, you know I can't pull you up. Pull me up. You know I can't pull you up. He goes, you marry this guy, here's what he's going to do. Right off the table. He'll pull you down quicker than you know. The clear command is don't be unequally yoked. So what begins to happen when somebody begins to reject the will of the Lord? Every kind of justification under the sun that God would be okay with it. Now, again, that's a practical example of the way that we do this constantly to the Lord in life because of our impatience or frustration with where he has us. I could go through a million examples tonight. How many people have justified patterns of sin with the statement, God wants me to be happy? That's a direct defying of His will when He has told us in the Scriptures the way forward. All Scriptures are revealed what? So that you know everything you need to know for life pertaining to godliness. And we have choices. It's common today for people to justify sex before marriage on these basic grounds. Listen, God wired us. God knows this. How would He be bothered with us if we do what is natural to us? But He's commanded the marriage bed pure. This is the will of God. Your sanctification. Well, what I do is not harming anyone. This is the will of God, your sanctification. church how impatient are we with things at times and want to change and go away from god's word to make it something because of our dissatisfaction with the way it's going these are all tests you have it in basic life with forgiving your spouse forgiving your neighbor helping and seeing all the ways that you're offended and how the lord has called you to respond in the gospel and how many times do we pass by them refusing to forgive and refusing to love you see why you need to pray this the command is love your neighbor so the prayer is important lord help us to reject our own wills and live according to your will to put some of this together i remember a man years ago who earlier in ministry he would come to the church and he would be obsessed with why god hasn't answered his prayers and why god has left him in the state he is in and he can't find a wife and he he could not get away from god is has abandoned me and god is not answering me and therefore he was obsessed with the struggle with what is the secret will of God I can't figure it out and he's not answering me why he's not providing this and the in the revealed will of God the man refused to ever come to church the man refused to ever live according to what God said in his clear word that was revealed to him and I said to him, I said, I said, first things first. You're not even listening to what he's told you to do. You see, but you're worried about the secret things, the things that he's not answered that you don't have access to. First start here. First start here. So this is important tonight to think about God's will alone is good. God's will is good. We have to trust that in life, don't we? We have to trust that where He has us and what He has done for us and what He's commanded us is good for us. If you don't believe that, then you'll test the water and you'll never really want to pray this. I think you will see as we study the Apostle Paul, even though Paul went under a lot of hardship for what he did. Somebody came up this morning and said, it's amazing in that passage. It says, I'm going to show him how many things he must suffer. That doesn't sound like a wonderful plan for your life. does it and yet paul was absolutely happy and content and joyful in the will of the lord for god had placed him in that will and he loved to follow that will this is what we're asking of of the lord tonight that we would be honest with him that we would love what he loves and hate what he hates and seek to do what he wants us to do i think you understand why the petition is lord forgive us is so important isn't it that's coming there's one other thing i think it's important to emphasize tonight as we close and that's the third point here that the catechism so beautifully picks up on when it says do this or i mean it says um help everyone to carry out the work he is called to do as willingly and faithfully as the angels in heaven you ever thought about the fact that uh all the angels in heaven are perfectly doing the will of god god speaks and they move they're overjoyed to do that will you have that imagery constantly uh even in ezekiel in the first chapter when you have the beautiful chariot and when the lord speaks the chariot moves and they go and all the angels turn and take take him wherever he commands they are joyful in the will of the Lord, doing the will of the Lord. I believe this gets to the basic aspect of your vocation in life. What has God called you to do? Where does God have you? This is where we're challenged. And to ask God that his will would be done. He may change your circumstances, or he might not. Remember, Paul struggled with that when he asked in Philippians 4, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds. God has a vocation for us. God has a work for us. You have to use wisdom. But you're asking God that he would give you the strength you need to fulfill that vocation and to do it well and to realize there's a witness in that, that all of life, has a vocation from him all of life is under his care all of life he has given me direction and purpose then that i would use that for his glory that i would pursue it for his will whether i eat or drink whatever i do is for him and his glory one of the most um comforting verses is in hebrews chapter 10 therefore do not cast away your confidence which has great reward for you have need of endurance so that after you've done the will of god you may receive the promise for yet a little while and he who is coming will come and not tarry he's motivating us in the will of god what he has for us he's coming so after a while you've done that will then he comes and takes you what a beautiful thing and confidence to live in then i want to close uh with this tonight probably the most enjoyable thought and helpful thought is our Savior who when he came here was given a will to complete he was so determined to fulfill that will of God you'd be amazed if you go through the scriptures and do a word study on the will of his father how much that drove him I'm here to do the will of my father Why was He doing that will? To save you. This was His determined course so that you would be saved. What a beautiful thing. When He was tested at the highest point in the Garden of Gethsemane, remember when the wrath of God was falling on Him. Remember what He said? He said, O Father. This is His prayer. Oh, Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass for me. But not my will, but your will be done. You see why he's telling us to pray it? He endured that will, finished that will to save you. That was his mission. He did it for you. He completed it. And he wants you now to live in that will, not to pay for your sins. Isn't that wonderful? You're not paying for your sins. He's asked you to live in this will as those who follow Him, who look like Him, who are witnesses to Him. What a beautiful truth tonight. To think about all that He went through was to fulfill the will of God, fulfill that petition for you so that you can have joy and peace tonight. I think that should motivate us this week to say and pray from sincerity of heart. Not our wills, O Lord, but yours be done on earth as it is in heaven. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your good and perfect will. You order our lives. You direct them in your revealed will, your word. Give us a heart to love that word, to know that word, to understand that word, to be obedient to that word, which gives us the greatest safeguard to all the misery we choose and live in when we depart from it help us lord to reject our own wills and to do yours without any backtalk knowing that it's good and right and that your will alone is always good give us help for we're weak give us strength to help us endure for after we've done the will of god for a short time what a glorious thing to think the lord jesus christ will come again and take us to be with Him in glory. Not our wills, O Lord, but Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.