Ishmael LaBiosa: Well we're continuing our series, you ask answering common questions about Christianity, and today the question you ask is a little bit of a change of pace. Because the question today is how do we discern God's will for major life decisions? And maybe we could edit this question to just say how can we discern God's will for any life decision? How do we go about answering that question? Again, this series I have to synthesize a lot of biblical data. So today on the proclaimer is actually a vision test. If you can read everything on the back of the proclaimer, your eyes are good. And ⁓ I intentionally did that. I I thought about not doing it, but that bottom section, which I did not even write, I cited ⁓ that checklist. by theologian Wayne Grutom. I I felt like it was so good it needed to be put there even if you had to get a magnifying glass to read it. And so I intentionally did what I did. I have done what I have done. And I stand by it. So that's the way it is. One of the things about being a dad, you've got to ⁓ make a decision. And ⁓ one of my favorite quote quotes ⁓ is you you may not agree with all the decisions that I've made. But you gotta agree that I made them. So there's a little bit of that in leadership. This question was really pressed upon me actually by my college roommates. And ⁓ he he was a unique he had a unique problem. Some people don't think about what God has for them, they just go about their lives and they do whatever they want to do. And clearly that's not the way to live. But my friend Brandon Who was also my roommate in college, ⁓ he he he had a unique difficulty with this particular question because he he really wore me out with his questions. Now, most of you don't wear me out with your questions, but Brandon got me to the level of exasperation with his questions. And maybe one or two times I told him, do not talk to me anymore about this. And sadly the conversation was God's will. Because he would wake up in the morning and he'd be like, Rusty, it's time for class. I said, Yeah, I know, we're in college. We go to class. And he goes, What do you think God's will is for me right now? And I'm thinking, It is seven o'clock in the morning, Brandon, you know. And I haven't even got my cup of coffee. He says, you know, I mean we're going to class. You know, we're gonna see some people going to class. Do you think I should stop and witness to them? I said, Well, I don't know. It's seven o'clock in the morning and I haven't gotten my coffee. And and then after class, he'd say, Well, you think I'd go back to the dorm and study? Or should I go down to the local mall and witness where the group is going? Or should I meet a friend for coffee and and chat because he's having a difficulty? Or or should I just go play basketball because that's what I want to do? And and he lived in a state of like unbelievable paralys paralysis. Because he was trying to discern in every single moment what God's will was for him. Now you may never had that problem. ⁓ And I don't know too many people who've had that problem. But Brandon was a case in point that he had gone from a time in his life where he didn't really care what God's will was to a place that he was almost totally paralyzed. And ⁓ I remember quoting to him a few times. Which I'll quote today. Deuteronomy twenty nine, twenty-nine. The secret things they belong to the Lord. But those that belong those that are revealed belong to us and to our children. That'll make sense in a moment. But ⁓ I had to try to calm Brandon's anxiety and say this wasn't the right way to go about God's will. This clearly could not be the life of faith. It was a life of paralysis and anxiety. I've also in the ministry encountered people like this. They come up to me and they say, God has told me and now He's gonna tell you through me exactly what He has for you. Now I'm not saying God can't do that and I'm not saying every person who has done that is wrong, but I've come a a lot of times where I've looked at some of the people who I've known and I've been their pastor for a while and I said if you want me to do something You can just tell me you want it. You don't have to put God on it, okay? And then they look at me like this and I said, Just just say you want this. Don't throw God in the mix. I don't think any of this is from God. I think you want it and it sounds perfectly reasonable or it doesn't. So we'll we'll we'll take it under advisement. Okay? And there's this sense there's actually one of the Ten Commandments, don't use the Lord's name in vain. Which means if we say it's something from the Lord, It ought to be from the Lord. It shouldn't be something that we've conjured up in our own heart and mind. So I've come into so many different people and and had so many different opinions and I I feel like I've read pretty widely on this particular subject 'cause what could be more important for a minister than to know what God's will is for your life and ⁓ the life of a church? And so what I'm gonna do today is give you five principles, all rooted in scripture. That's why I put these extensive outlines because I don't have time to go through all the scriptures, but you can. Check me. And then after I cover these five principles, I'm going to walk through this quick checklist that wasn't my own, but it's the best I've found. And I really think this really kind of opens the door to wise decision making and discerning God's will in life situations. Five big ideas today, five big principles from the Bible. Here's the first one. God's moral will is fully revealed in Scripture. Believers are called to obey its clear commands and principles as a first order priority. When anybody asks you the question, What has God revealed that we should do? The first place that should be consulted, the ultimate ⁓ arbiter of what God has said is His Word. And if anybody tells you, well, I think God wants me to do something, and it's in contradiction with his word, God didn't say it because God speaks through his word. Second Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 and 17, where Paul writes to young Timothy, he's telling Timothy about the nature of Scripture and its purpose in the life of a Christian. It says in 2 Timothy 3 16, all scripture is inspired by God and is profitable. What's it profitable for? For teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. The purpose of Scripture is to illuminate your way, to tell you this is what God desires, and this is what God does not desire. So one of the ways that ambiguity in relationship to God's will is can be reduced is what has God pla plainly said in his word. He clearly wants you to do that. And honestly, if we just spent our days trying to be faithful to the commands of Scripture, you'd have a plateful of things to do. Love one another as I have loved you. I mean that in of itself would be sufficient to take up much of your day. Psalm one nineteen one ⁓ five, the purpose of Scripture is to To illuminate our way. Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. But when it comes to discerning God's will, I quoted you Deuteronomy 29, 29 a moment ago. I quoted again, because when we say we want to discern God's will, there are at least two ways in which theologians have talked about God's will. They've talked about God's secret will. or his sovereign will, and they've talked about his revealed will. Listen to Deuteronomy twenty nine, twenty nine. The hidden things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law. Now you've asked me another question. It's not today. I'll pick this question up later, about how is God sovereign and man free? That's another question. But this is what I'd like to say today is that God knows the beginning from the end. God knows the future. God knows the details of your life down to the minute, down to the second. He knows everything that's going to happen to you. He knows the day of which you're going to die. He knew the day of which you were born. But here's the thing God knows all of that, but you don't. The secret things They belong to the Lord. And there are some things about our life that God knows that He has not yet revealed to us. I actually don't want God to tell me when I'm going to die. I'll just figure it out when it happens. Do you see? But it's those things so you have God's secret will, but you also have God's revealed will. Those things that He has revealed, they belong to us. There are some things about our life we will just not know. We might be able to look back in hindsight and see the hand of God. I think that's clearly the case. But God speaks through his word, yes. But we say of God's will, how do we serve God's will? Well, we cannot discern God's secret will because we cannot know it. We can only discern his revealed will, and God's primary way of revealing himself is through his word. I've got more to say, but that's the first point. Nothing that God calls you to do ever contradicts his word. Full stop. Second big idea this is the one that could have helped Brandon. And I worked hard to help Brandon. I don't know how much I helped him. But I did my best. The second big idea in non moral areas where Scripture is silent, God grants Christians genuine freedom and responsibility while also providing personal guidance through the Holy Spirit so that believers can choose the wisest course among morally permissible options. Now think about all the decisions that I have made today. On this glorious Father's Day at two AM, my young Thomas decided to awake me up. He's like, Where's mom? I'm like, you were just with mom. Why are you asking me? You know? And he's roaming around the house, and then I was concerned he was going in the basement because he fell asleep in the basement. We carried him up to his bed. And it's so I had to make a decision. Do I sleep a little later since I was awakened? And usually when I'm awakened, they go right back to sleep. Not last night. Okay? It was 2 30, 3 o'clock. 3:30, I said, help me, Jesus. I gotta preach a sermon. And then I said, Well, I'll sleep a little later. Later it's Father's Day to try to be coherent for the congregation. And then I had to make wake up and I had to make a decision. Now you know how I made a decision on how to wear this? It was the first thing I saw in my closet. Okay. And then I usually look back at last week's Facebook to say, Yep, didn't wear that last week. Praise God. Okay, so that's ⁓ that's the good news about having it. ⁓ and then I I drove in, I already had two cups of coffee. I says, Does the Lord want me to have three? The Lord was silent, I said yes. Okay. And then I went for a number four, okay, and we we'll we'll just ⁓ we'll just praise the Lord for that, okay? When the sleep is low, the coffee is high. ⁓ well what am I trying to demonstrate? I already made a ton of decisions just to get here today. And listen carefully, while it is possible, it's possible that in these non-moral areas where I can choose among a whole host of morally permissible options, the Holy Spirit of God could. intervene and say, you must speak to this person. That's true. I could have a subjective experience that I should listen to, but for many decisions in life, subjective experience doesn't happen. You're just going through, and here is what I want to say is that in non-moral areas where scripture is silent, God grants Christians genuine freedom and responsibility. And that's what Brandon couldn't seem to get. He was expecting a lightning bolt every single decision, and when the lightning bolt didn't come, he became paralyzed. And I would say that the Bible calls us to embrace biblical wisdom. By the way, the Apostle Paul is very clear of these areas where things are amoral or non moral. Like the scripture just kind of leaves it ambiguous. You can do what you want to do. Now there are some principles, by the way, for non-moral or amoral things. If you want the most extended discussion of these, I would say that ⁓ Romans 14 and 15, Paul gives an extended discussion of how you deal with in areas that are amoral. I'll just summarize it for you. In ⁓ non-moral areas where the scripture is silent, the question is: is this beneficial for me? Okay? And ⁓ let's just take since I brought up my coffee drinking, I'll talk it again. If I didn't feel like I could stop coffee, I I like I genuinely feel like I could stop it and it's not controlling me. Okay? And I have stopped it for a while just to make sure it wasn't controlling me. I had a headache, but yeah, I could do it. And I'm having to ask the question is it beneficial? Like, is it controlling me? And then the other area and non moral areas. Is I ought to think about how this action affects other people. And Paul actually said in some contexts that he would restrict his liberty if it was going to cause division in the body. And these were some principles that he used in areas that are non-moral. But nevertheless, the idea is you have true flexibility, and this type of thinking liberates you from paralyzing anxiety. ⁓ and false guilt that you don't have a word from the Lord on every single situation. Now I want to go to this third big idea that God's will for every believer is fundamentally sanctification, spirit-filled obedience and holiness within these revealed boundaries. Christians can confidently confidently quote do whatever they want as their desires are shaped By delight in the Lord. Now there are a few places in the Bible where it says this is God's will for you. Do you know that? There's a few places. I quote one for you. First Thessalonians chapter four, verse three. It actually says, For this is God's will for you, your sanctification. That's what it says. And you say, Well, what does that word mean? Sanctification. It means being set apart to God in your character, in your conduct, in your virtue. And and interestingly enough, ⁓ and this might just be me, but oftentimes we think God's will for us is merely something that we do. What do I need to do to do God's will? And the few places in the Bible where it says, This is God's will for you, your sanctification is much more ⁓ not about what we do, but who we're becoming. Are we becoming a person of character? Are we becoming a person of virtue? Are we embodying the fruit of the Spirit in our life. And so that's God's ultimate will for you is that that is happening. And you you may if we only think of God's ⁓ will for us as something that we do, we could be and I've watched this happen unfortunately with some of my pastor friends and sometimes me, that you can go about doing things for God without becoming what you should be along the way. And so God's will for you is, do you look more like Jesus today than you did yesterday? And that's not just the c the task you've accomplished, but the person that you are becoming. By the way, I wanna talk I do want to also, well, let's let me talk about point number four. Stay on track here. Number point number four, the view of God's will that for every situation there is a sp specific action that a Christian must take creates unnecessary anxiety and paralysis. I think a more reasonable biblical alternative prioritizes bold, reasonable act, responsible action in faith, consistent with God's moral will. w rather than waiting for perfect supernatural confirmation in every situation. Now I've kind of said this because I want to balance point number four with point number five. I do think it's possible for God to become very directive to us subjectively. Did I just say this? Yes I did. That I do think it's possible for God to become very directive in our life subjectively, but let me say this, I don't think that's the norm. I mean I just gave you a whole list of decisions that I made this morning that honestly the Holy Spirit of God did not say, now that particular toothpaste is a lot better than this one. I mean, I could use biblical wisdom. Maybe I ought to brush my teeth because I don't want my teeth to fall out. Right? Do you see? But I while I do think, I think many life decisions, God gives us freedom to use wisdom. By the way, I think there's a section of the Old Testament called the wisdom literature. The book of Proverbs, in particular, that actually says that God has put His world together in a certain way that we should be able to observe the way the world works and that we should live wise within the world using the faculties that God has given us under the fear of the Lord. It's it's often strange to me that ⁓ there's there's another group of Christians that I run upon quite often. It's like if the decision that I make is not outlandish, it's not spiritual. I could give you plenty of examples of this. They say, let's just do something that's completely crazy because that's spiritual, but like thinking about it and using wisdom, that's that doesn't work. And I've always been a bit mystified by that because I'm thinking, well, it seems to me that the thing that you're doing actually stands in contradiction to biblical wisdom. So while I do think that God can give subjective direction. His subjective direction never contradicts Scripture. And I would propose that there are many life decisions that God gives you genuine freedom and responsibility to use biblical wisdom. And that should be liberating to you. I hope it's liberating to me. ⁓ Now notice this fifth idea, because I want to talk about objective, subjective, and I'm going to look talk through this chart and then I'll be done. Effective discernment. For major decisions, integrate Scripture, Spirit filled guidance, wisdom, counsel, providence, humble dependence, resulting in decisions that prioritize long term gospel fruitfulness, stewardship of gifts, and alignment with one's growing maturity in Christ. Now I've said on the one hand scripture is uttermost, but listen. Jesus left us, he said, the Holy Spirit, another counselor. And the Holy Spirit illuminates the scripture, that's for sure. He teaches us all things. But there is also a subjective element in our Christian life where God does, I do think, in moments, ⁓ give us direction that is within God's moral will. But is more tailored to us. Now the question that is really debated here, and I'll give you my two cents, you don't have agree with me. when I feel like I'm sure, I'll tell you, and when I tell you when I'm not sure, I'll tell you. ⁓ when you when you read through the stories of the Bible, i if you just read through all the especially the Old Testament, you would assume that like every day there's a lightning bolt from heaven. I mean You get you read the story of Abraham. Get up from where you're going. get up from where you are and go to a place that I'll show you. And well Abraham's like, where is that? Well, the the land of Canaan. And so you read these great stories of faith. I mean, ⁓ just we just preached through the life of Moses. But let me just say, I think the reason those stories are in the Bible is because they're exceptional. Do you understand? Like there are exceptional moments where God has really done something exceptional when He's moved his plan forward. I also think that ⁓ there's a there was a lot of downtime in the life of Abraham where he wasn't getting a lightning bolt from heaven. Do you understand? I mean, if you just think about this and and ⁓ a statement I've come up with, I think it's right. That oughta stay on my last assignment until God gives me a future assignment. Like if God said, do this, I don't need to switch assignments until I'm clear that it's time to switch assignments. so I think if you're expecting your life to to kind of be like Abraham and Moses, I think in one sense it can be. There will be moments, but I actually think the majority of your life, like the majority of the decisions you make today. Will be rather mundane. Do you understand? Okay. So you say, well, how do we put all this together? Well, scripture's uttermost. Check. ⁓ God's objective standard is where we find his will, clearly. God speaks through his spirit. That's absolutely the case. And that there are times where God can illuminate his word. And sometimes through promptings, God can give very God the Holy Spirit can give direction. but in places where that is not available, God gives us genuine freedom in non moral areas to choose the wisest among a lot of options. I think that's all of this is biblical wisdom. I'm gonna give you this chart. I didn't come up with this chart. It's it's produced by Wayne Grutum. I don't like to plagiarize a man's sermon. ⁓ this actually wasn't a sermon, it was a book. It's simply entitled, What the Bible says about how to know God's Will. And I walked through this with my last few moments that I think if you're making a decision, you ought to weigh some objective ⁓ factors and subject and subjective factors. So let's talk about the objective factors first and the subjective factors second. So if you're trying to make a decision, ⁓ the first question you ought to ask. Is what does Scripture say? I I've actually had plenty of people tell me as a pastor, God has told me to do something, and it was in direct violation of Scripture, and I've looked them in the face and said, No, God didn't. He didn't he doesn't contradict himself. And so the so I'd say, first of all, what does the Bible command, forbid, or teach in principle? Second of all, leaning into the book of Proverbs and just having wisdom, what are the facts of the situation? There's some objective facts that you should know. ⁓ Self assessment. I think about Romans twelve, three, that we ought not to think too highly of ourselves. But we ought to think soberly as God has given to each one a measure of faith, the Apostle Paul said there. I think objectively wise counsel. ⁓ Even the phrase be filled with the spirit, Ephesians 5 18, which is often used quite often in this, I really want to change the translation here. It's not you be filled with the spirit, it should be y'all be filled with the spirit. Okay? Because it's plural, not singular. And many people when they hear the phrase you be be filled with the spirit, they think it's a command that I alone work out. But actually Paul isn't saying you individual be filled with the spirit, although it's true in one sense. He's actually saying he wants the church, y'all, to be filled with the spirit. He didn't want a spirit filled person as much as he wants a spirit filled church. And guess how the church discerns the voice of the spirit speaking to one another, right there in the next phrase. And and oftentimes it can be through wise spirit-filled counsel that the voice of the spirit is discerned. And I think cutting this is especially true for some people. They cut themselves off from counsel. Not that counsel is always and counsel is conflicting sometimes, but wise counsel can be very important. And then providence. Henry Blackaby would note this particular area. He would say in his experience in God that you ought to find where God is at work and join him. You ought to look for moments. Is there an open door? Is this a unique season? But these are all objective factors. So you could take a pad out. You could say, I need to make a life decision. What does the scriptures say? What are the facts of my situation? Who has God made me to be? What are other spirit-filled people saying? And Providentially, what's going on right now? Is there a unique open door that probably won't be here in future days? Those are the objective factors, subjective factors. Conscience. ⁓ The Apostle Paul clearly says in Romans 14 and 15, I just kind of have to give you this in shorts, that That in non moral areas there were Christians that Paul was writing to that they had the freedom to do a particular thing, but their conscience had not yet been educated, so they could do it, and Paul said, You shouldn't do it till your conscience is educated. That's very that's a very important principle. I'll give you the case in point just to make that make a little more sense. In the first century, this is very different from us. In the first century, much of the food, much of the meat that the Christians ate had been offered to an idol. And so when that food that had been offered in pagan worship got sold in the marketplace, and Christians would sit down to eat it, they go, ⁓ no, I'm not eating this. This thing's been offered to an idol. This thing's got demons in it, you know? And Paul says, No, no, no, no, no, no, no. He said the idol is nothing, and you can eat that thing to the glory of God. Actually the phrase, First Corinthians ten thirty one, whether we eat or drink or whatever we do, do all to the glory of God, it's in that context. But some people they start eating it and they go, ⁓ I can't do it. And Paul says, Well, don't eat it yet. Until you've educated your conscience to do it to the glory of God. That's actually a very important subjective principle that's in the Bible. Also also sanctified desires. ⁓ delight in the Lord and He give you the desires of your heart. Now sanctified desires. ⁓ I I do think that God does put desires in us. I mean, in seminary and even before seminary, guess what desire God put in me? To love old churches. I told some of my buddies, I love these old churches about half broken down. And they and they're about to close. I love those churches. And they go, You do? I said, Yeah, I love I love to see turnarounds happen, and they go, I don't. It wasn't in And and it it couldn't be in ⁓ I don't know. They just they just didn't like it. But God can put desires in you, and I think it's something if they're sanctified. And then we get this idea that the Holy Spirit of God speaks to our spirits. So they seem to be We have a ⁓ a soul, we have a disposition that's separate from the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit speaks to our spirit that we're God's children. It says in the book of Romans, Romans 8:14. ⁓ there are some places where the apostle Paul is on on mission and he won't go anywhere because he's distressed in his spirit. It doesn't say the Holy Spirit there. It's like he he's like he There's a situation, I think, with Titus, and he just wouldn't go because he's distressed. And then there are other places where there's a clear leading by the Holy Spirit of God. We must go this direction. We must do this. The Holy Spirit led the church on mission. And I think when you make decisions, you've got to hold these two together. My question for you today is, are you even asking this question? Like I do I do pretty faithfully I might miss a day, it's not too many days, where I wake up in the morning and before the day is out, I'll say, Lord, what would you have for me to do today? Some days, you know what I hear? Nothing. So you know what I do? ⁓ do what I did yesterday. We cleaned out a bunch of closets here and ⁓ I picked my blue blazer and I go about the day. Open to the Lord. You know, if you got something to say, I'm I'm all ears. But I'm gonna live in your revealed will, I'm gonna do your commands. And in places where you don't have commands, I'll make the best decision I can make, believing you left that one up to me. But that doesn't rule out the fact that God, the Holy Spirit, can give promptings, and then I must do something particular because I think that's what the Lord requires. I hope this helps you. Because what could be more important to your day to day life than to discerning the will of God as you live it? And I don't want you to either be in paralysis because you're expecting more guidance than God promised, nor should you be prideful, not realizing that we ought to trust in the Lord with all our heart, lean not on our own understanding, in all our ways acknowledge Him, and He makes our path straight. And I think that's this beauty of balance here that helps us to live. Well, there's one decision that I know today is God's will for you, and that is to trust in Him. That's not one we need to think about. God desires for you to know Him. You say, Well, how do I know Him? How do I trust in Him? The Bible says we turn from sin and self and put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and in Him alone, and we can be saved. That's the most dis important decision. You'll make in all of your life. And I'll be right here, Pastor Ishmael will be right here. We'll take take a Bible and show you how you can be a Christian. And then, Christian. As I pray, why don't you pray right there in your heart and say, God, am I walking in in your way? Am I following your will? Is there something you would have for me? And there, with a mind informed with the Scripture and a heart informed by the Spirit, we pray. That God would speak to you today if his voice needs to be heard. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that you would help us to live wisely in the world, that we would walk in accordance with your word, attuned to your spirit, trusting in your sovereignty, that you are bringing all of history to an end. You have our life in your hand. And so, God, today we pray for the person Who is like my friend Brandon, who may be paralyzed. God, we would God that you would liberate them, that you would ⁓ reveal to them the freedom that they have to make decisions in non moral areas. But God, I also pray for the person today. It's been a while since they've really asked. Spirit of God, lead me. And God today, may, God, the Holy Spirit, may this be. One of those important moments, this time of invitation, where you may get a hold of a person and reveal to them an area of disobedience or reveal to them a new direction. And we pray that they would seize upon that direction and walk in faith, trusting you in Jesus' name. Amen.