God Has a Plan for You

- In touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Next on In Touch, God has a plan for you. - One of the most frequently asked questions that I have to face among people is this. Can I really and truly know the will of God for my life? How will I know when God is speaking to me? How do I know, for example, where to put my kids in school? How do I know exactly who to marry? How do I know when to leave this job? How do I know if we're to buy this house? All those questions that people ask and sometimes people would say, well, is God really interested in any of this at all? Is this just my imagination that God would have a personal interest in all of this? Yes, he is. God is interested in every single facet of our life. And that's what I wanna talk about in this message today entitled The Will of God. This is the first part of a two-part series. And the title of this message is The Will of God. God has a plan for you. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Hebrews chapter 10. I want us to read just a couple of verses of this 10th chapter. And the right of Hebrews is writing to a group of people who are undergoing all kinds of difficulty and hardship and pain and suffering and probably being a little discouraged.

And so this is what he says. He says in verse 35, therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward for you have need of endurance so that when you have done The Will of God, you may receive, listen, you may receive what was promised. Now I realize it's hard for some people to realize that God has a plan for their life. And oftentimes people say, well, I believe he could have had a plan for my life years and years ago, but now I'm at this age or that age or whatever it might be. And surely, God certainly could not have any plan for my life. But yes, he does, and I want us to see in this particular passage and throughout the scriptures, what he says about the fact that he has a personal will for your life and mine. When we talk about The Will of God, we're talking about his moral. We're talking about his personal, providential plan for creation, but we're also talking about his plan for your life and mine. And if you'll think about it, it's the very nature of God, the very character of God, that he would have a plan for our life. For example, when you think about how God responds and how he acts in situations and circumstances, he is certainly not simply a reactor. God is a planner.

If you'll think about creation for a moment, God planned the creation. As you read the first two chapters of Genesis, it's very clear that God planned exactly what he would do from day to day. When you think about the nation of Israel, for example, God planned to raise up a nation of people through whom he would send the Messiah through whom he would bless the entire world. God planned to call a man by the name of Abraham and make him the father of the whole nation of Israel. God planned to use that nation to impact the world and to spread the truth of the fact that there is only one God and his name is Jehovah. God planned the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and his death at the cross. God planned our redemption before he ever created the world. He says that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. God planned the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ through the Virgin Mary. God planned to evangelize the world that New Testament day through the Apostle Paul. God planned our resurrection. God has planned to take us home to be with him in heaven. He has planned a place and prepared a place for us which he calls heaven. God is not simply a reactor or responder. God is a great planner. And as you and I look at the life of our Lord Jesus Christ

and look, he says, I must needs go through Samaria. The Lord Jesus Christ was following the plan and the will and the purpose of the Father. He says, if you've seen the, you've seen the Father, I only do those things which I see the Father do. So therefore, when we think about the Lord having a plan for life, it's just in keeping, for example, the very nature of God that he plans that for God has a specific purpose and plan for your life. He did not birth you and dump you into humanity. He allowed you to be born with a plan and a purpose for your life. Now, with that in mind, what we might ask ourselves is this. When we think about God's plan and his perfect and his will, I want us to think about the categories in which we discuss now the will of God. I want you to listen carefully because I want to ask you to give me these back. There are two, listen, there are two general categories of the will of God. First of all, there is the category of God's moral will. The moral will of God, given in Scripture. If you took a concordance and looked up all the verses that have to do with the will of God or God's will, what you're going to come up with is you're going to come up with two primary categories. And that first category is God's moral will. What do we mean by his moral will? For example, let's take those do's and don't subscription. He says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." He says, "Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not covet." There's some things that are very evident to us in Scripture. We don't have to ask God's will to pray about whether to kill, whether to cheat, whether to lie, whether to commit adultery, whether to steal, or whether to have a

dollar to in their life. We don't have to pray about that. That is God's very clear moral will given to all humanity. So the moral will of God is the will of God that applies to every single one of us. Now, it's interesting to me once in a while, some people want to place in that category some things that do not belong there. But let's go, if you will, the first Thessalonians. Back to first Thessalonians. We'll just take one book of the Bible is to pick a few here. And look if you will in the fourth chapter of this first Thessalonians. And if you'll notice what he says, beginning in verse three. Paul says, writing to the Thessalonians, he says, "For this is the will of God." This is part of God's moral will. What's the will of God? This is the will of God. What is that? But this is the will of God. Your sanctification, that is that you should abstain from sexual immorality, that each one of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God, part of God's moral will. Well, let's move from something that you may feel like. Well, that would certainly be a part of his moral will, but turn over to chapter five and look if you will at a very familiar verse that most of us know by heart. Look if you will in verse 18. He says, "In everything," listen, "in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. The moral will of God is that will of God that encompasses every single person. It is the will of God for everyone. No lying, stealing, cheating, adultery, murder and so forth. It's the will of God for everyone. That we give thanks in every single thing in the Lord Jesus Christ, He says, that is indeed His will. So when we think about the moral will of God, that's what we are referring to here. Now, the second category is the personal will of God. Now, when we talk about, listen, when we talk about the will of the personal will of God, that three categories I want us to think about in God's personal will for our life. We said, first of all, there is that major category of God's moral will for all of us. Secondly, there is His personal will, but His personal will is related to each individual design. Listen, God's design for your life, His purpose, His plan for your life. Under His personal will, there are three categories I want you to jot down. Three categories under His personal will. The first of all is His intentional will. What do we mean by His intentional will? Simply this. What is it that God had in mind for you when you were born? What is it that He had in mind? That is surely. God certainly had a plan for your life and a purpose for your life. So therefore, because He had a plan for your life, He had chosen what spiritual gives, what abilities, what a talents, your personality. God knew all about that and planned that.

He, of course, allowed situations and circumstances, the effect does in our life in such a way that would develop us and that would equip us and prepare us for what He wants us to do. Every single one of us. And therefore, you can't put somebody in that category and say, "Well, anybody who's going to mount to anything ought to grow up this way or that way?" No. God, listen, God can take us out of the most difficult circumstances, out of the best of circumstances. He can accomplish His purpose and His will and your life and my life. He is a sovereign God of this universe. He has an intentional will for all of us. What kind of vocation you're going to give? You're going to have in your life? Who you're going to marry? God has a schedule for your life in mind. He has a span of life for us. He's given us a certain amount of time. He's given us certain skills and abilities and talents. We don't all have the same. Some people have absolutely amazing skills and abilities and talents. Some, maybe not so much. Some people may think, "Well, I'm just a homemaker. I'm just this and I'm just that." In God's mind, there's no just anything. Every single person is valuable in the eyes of God. Every single person has some gift. Every single person, God has a purpose and a plan for your life. There's no such thing as an unimportant person on the face of this earth. Listen, nobody should be looked down upon because every single person, Jesus Christ died for, that makes them extremely worthy in the eyes of God. What is His intentional will? What did He have in mind when He created you? lives and the kind of vocation you would have and where you would be schooled and who you would marry and your family and all of these things. You said, well, is God interested in that? He's interested in every single aspect of it because you see, he says, I will never leave you, no forsake. He sent the Holy Spirit to live on the inside of us so that you and I will always have His presence to do what? To enable us, to become and to achieve and to listen and to do whatever He calls us to do. He is personally interested in your life. Listen to this, God will never require of us or call upon us to do anything that He Himself will not do in us and through us. That is His personal commitment to us through the presence of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, I can't ever give Him an excuse for not doing His will. Somebody says, well, God's called me to do something I can't do. No, He did not. He may call you to do something that you are afraid to do, that you are scared to death, that you feel like you just absolutely will make a failure and embarrass yourself and embarrass someone else. But you know what? He will never require of us to do anything

that we cannot do, that He will not do through us because listen, He's always looking out for our best. His intentional will for you and me, ultimately He says is to be conformed to His likeness. He says He predestined you and me to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. He predestined us to bring Him glory and honor and praise. God has a personal will for every single one of us and it is our responsibility to find out what that will is to get in His will. Somebody says, well, but look, I'm 60 years of age, just trusted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior last week. How in the world has God got a will for my life? That brings me to the second category which is God's circumstantial will. What do I mean by God's circumstantial will? Simply this. Then listen, all of us, at times in our life, make mistakes. All of us sin against God. All of us blow it. All of us mess it up. All of us lose opportunities. All of us disobey God at some point of all of us rebel against God in some fashion to some degree or the other. So when we're talking about God's circumstantial will, here's what we're talking about. We're talking about, let's say for example, I used to teach in a Bible Institute up in the mountains of North Carolina and most of the pastors who were there in that school, many of them, God had called them very early in life. Some of them who never teenagers or less 20s, they refused to obey God, rebelled against God. Now they were in their 40s and 50s and they finally yielded to God and said, okay, God, the pressure is so much, can't handle it. I'm going to go and do what God wants me to do so they start the school. Well, what was God's intentional will? If He called them at 17, at 17 years of age, get busy getting prepared to serve God. Now they're 55 and 60 years of age. What does God do? It's what God does. He puts the pieces of their life back together. He forgives them of their sin. Has He revoked His call? No, He does not. What does He do? He just chooses to work in their life in the light of the circumstances as they are now. Listen, God does not reject anyone who comes to Him. They're people who mess up their life deadly. I mean, years and years go by and rebellion toward God, get on drugs or whatever it might be. And then they come to Jesus and you say, well, you mean to tell me that God has a will for my life? Yes, He does. What is His will? Well, His intentional will, you blew that one. Well, you say, well, does that mean I'm lost? No, it does not. Does it mean that God doesn't care? No, it does not. What does it mean? It means that God picks you up all the pieces. He has this amazing glue. He calls grace. And

you know what He does? He puts you back together. He forgives you of your sin. He begins to work in your life. And He will begin to use you, make an impact through your life, accomplish. Listen, accomplish His circumstance, your will in your life. But at no point does God say, well, you blew it, put you on the shelf. That's the end of that. You waited too long. Therefore, I can't use you. God can use anybody who surrenders their will to Him and obeys Him. No matter what your age is, no matter what you've done, no matter what your past may be. Almighty God loves you. And whoever you are, listen, you are worthy. Listen, you are worthy to be saved of the grace of God that He wouldn't have come. He came not because you are worthy of it in yourself, but because He sees you as a valuable vessel that can bring Him glory. Listen, you can bring glory to God, whether you're 16 or 106, you surrender your life to God. He's got a will for your life. He has a will for our life, whether we're surrendered to it or not. He has a will for our life, no matter what our age is, what our past has been, the circumstance you will have God. This is His grace saying, I'm going to take you where you are, you're forgiven of your sin, I'm going to re-mole and remake your life and I'm going to use you because my grace knows no end. He says, we're a sinner bound to listen. Grace did what? Much more abound. That is His circumstantial will. All right. Under the category of His personal will, what's the first category? God's intentional will. What's the second category? God's circumstantial will. And the third category is God's immediate will. life is one continuous series of decisions after the other and so you woke up this morning and Maybe our last night you decided in fact you never even thought about you just know you go into church You're gonna be in the Lord's house in the Lord's day. Well last night you decided what you were going to wear So you made a decision about that you made a decision about your tolling as somebody may have said Well, you know, I just can't afford it this week, which is not true But that's what they said and so somebody else said well, thank God. He's been so good to me I'm doubling mine this week and so you made a decision about your giving you made a decision Day after day all week long this week for example You and I wake up tomorrow morning most of us have some kind of a schedule that we believe that God has given us some direction For it oftentimes that schedule changes you make a decision here you make a decision there What are you doing you are listen you are making those immediate decisions? And so he says trust in the Lord with all your heart lean not to your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him

He'll direct your path which path every single aspect of our life So God is interested in fact name me something God's not interested in every single listen critical major decision And those things that seem to be insignificant decisions that oftentimes the very turning point of our life May be something that we think was insignificant. We didn't pray about it. We didn't ask God about it We wonder why we got ourselves not messed and the reason we did is because we never stopped to ask the question God What is your plan your purpose your will how does this fit into your will for my life? Somebody says well, I have a question Can a person resist the will of God? If God has a plan for my life, can I resist that plan? How can you resist the plan of this omnipotent God who has all power and who is designed our life? Or what does omnipotence mean? I'm nip the omnipotence of God doesn't mean that God listen by his brute force forces with his way into our life By God's omnipotence it means that God has the ability listen He has the ability to accomplish his purpose listen without defeat God ultimately will not be defeated. He will ultimately accomplish his purpose So the issue is can a person resist the will of God? Yes, we can You said well, how much free will do we have a limited free will God has not given anybody absolute free will only God has absolute free will and So we do have we do have some sense of a free will and so God will allow us listen He will allow us to make mistakes. He will allow us descent to sin He will allow us to be disobedient to him. He will allow us to rebel against him He will allow us to resist his will if that's what we choose Yes, you can resist the will of God Well, the second question is this the second question is If we resist the will of God Will God put pressure on us to bring us back into his will will he just let us go? Will he bring pressure upon us to to to do his will? Yes, he will Well, how much pressure will he put on us as much as is necessary To bring about what he desires at times when got no matter what we say

He's gonna put pressure on us for example Would you consider a whale ride in the bottom of the sea a little pressure? I think you would if you read those chapters second chapter of Jonah and you'll find he's talking about to see weed All wrapped around his head and he's struggling for life and crying up to God and repenting of sin what the real revival Took place and the better that whale was that pressure. You better believe it was pressure The Apostle Paul listen he said listen to God chose him before he was ever born He said he was a chosen vessel of God the scripture says he was a chosen vessel that God put pressure on him Here's a man who was committed to destroying the Christian faith wiping out the very idea of g of the person of Jesus Christ The idea of a resurrection and the very very arrogance of him calling himself a messiah Did God put pressure on him you better believe he did what did he do? He started listen when he stood by the clothes When they stone Stephen to death the pressure began to build to build he watched this man this servant of the living God This person who believed in Jesus. He watched him die without any complaining and the conviction began to build What is it in this man? Who is this Jesus this man is willing to lay down his life or never fight back and say into My hand into our hands. I come in my spirit pressure began to build When did that pressure come to consummation on his on the Damascus road the Bible says that God struck him down Struck him blind. He was lying than the dirt and crying out Lord. What will thou who art thou Lord? What will thou have me to do was that pressure you better believe it was pressure now? Here's the problem sometimes God says here's where I'm here's where I want you to go Or here's where I want you to go God says that this is the direction we say Lord. I'm not gonna do that Here's where I'm going all of a sudden what happened? What is it? God says no. I'm not putting up with that, and you are not going to be disobedient to me. My will may be disobedient. My plan may be disobedient, but there are times when God says no, I'm not putting up with that. I'm not going to allow that. And I can think about times in my life, and I'm sure I would have chosen something other than the will and purpose and plan of God, and the pressure would get so intense that I'm telling you, no, there's no way in the world.

I could have disobeyed God says something, somebody says, "Well, was the will of God resistable you at that time?" For me personally, I could not have resisted the will of God under the awesome pressure of God. I believe there are times when God's put such pressure upon us, whether it is to show us the consequence of disobedience, or just simply the awesome awareness of what He is saying, what He is requiring, and that He's not going to let up, that we have to yield and say, "Yes, God, your will be done not mine." Now, so the question is, can we resist the will of God? Yes, we can. Will He put pressure on us at time? Yes, He will. But here's the third question. Can we resist the will of God without suffering the consequences of that resistance to His will, and the answer is no. You cannot resist the will of God without paying the price. Now, well, you say, what is that price depends upon what the resistance is. If we want to get the consequences taken care of quickly, then listen, when you and I rebel, or when we resist the will of God, the best thing we can do is to repent immediately ask God to forgive us for being prideful and arrogant, thinking that we know better than He does, ask Him to forgive us at that moment, then listen, little pressure or no pressure. But when we choose, and we resist the will of God, and we say, "I know that's what may be what the Bible says, but I'm going to do it in a way. I know the Scripture teaches, but I'm going to disobey God. I know that's what you may think and what you may believe, what you may teach, but here's what I'm going to do, and I had a man say to me one time when I was sharing with him something that I said, listen, here's what you feel, but here's what God says." And I said, listen, is that what He says the word? That's what He says, but He turned to me, and He said, "I know that's what you say, and I know that's what it says, but I'm going to do it in a way."

And what did He do? He suffered an awful, awesome calamity in His life. He deliberately, willfully, disobey God knowing the truth, where their circumstances, yes, their circumstances. When Jonah said, "I'm not going to none of us, I'm going, listen, I'm going, I'm going down to Tarshes, I'm going to buy myself a ticket, I'm heading the other direction, where are their consequences?" Yes, they were. And I'll tell you, listen, every single moment He's spending the belly of a whale, listen, He would have wished before Almighty God, listen, that He had never, listen, He had never said no to God of the consequences, yes, they are. Can you resist Him? Yes, you can. Can you live outside the will of God? Yes, you can, but not without paying the price and the consequence of being outside the will of God. Now, for let me tell you something, listen, you can't play around with the will of God. If God, listen, God created you for one purpose ultimately. He created you to bring Him glory and honor and praise. He has equipped you, He has saved you or He will save you. He either lives within you or He will live within you. He has given you talents and He will give you spiritual gifts once you trust Him as your personal Savior. God has it, listen, God has invested Himself in us. God has invested Himself in every single one of us and to think that we can ignore the purpose and plan in specific, personal design of God in our life and think that it makes no difference, that there are no consequences, listen, that is insane thinking. God created you for a specific purpose and all of us will stand before Him one of these days. We'll give an account for the life that we've lived.

We either discover the will of God, God in it and walked in it according to His will, or we stepped out of it, chose the rebel against Him and live outside the will of God. Once in a while somebody says, "Well, I know a lot of people living outside the will of God and they seem to be getting along fine." Remember the warning of proverbs, don't look at the wicked and make your judgments of how well they're doing. You know how many sleepless nights they have? They have no peace and contentment and joy and assurance and security in life. They're basing all of their life and all of their sense of whatever happiness they have on things they can get and things they can enjoy and things they can be pleased with in life. But what about the moment when they come to die? What about the dying moments of their life? What assurance do they have none whatsoever? And that is the moment that's coming in every single person's life. How you live is the way you're going to die. How you live outside the will of God unless you say, listen, you live outside the will of God, you die outside the will of God and somebody says, can people ultimately resist the will of God? Every single person who dies without Christ is testimony that yes you can rebel and rebel and rebel and resist and resist and resist the will of God and ultimately God will give you over to that kind of resistance. It is a dangerous thing to hear the truth, to know the truth, to believe the truth. agenda for your life other than his. What you say, listen, what you say, when you resist his will and his agenda for your life is, I want to have it my way. I'm going to ignore God and have it my way. My friend, listen, believe me, hear me. He says, whatever a man or a woman so is that they're going to read. What they sow, more than they sow, later than they sow. It is impossible to live outside the will of God without suffering the consequences. Listen, the consequences not because God hates you, not because God ceases to love you. That's the

very nature of disobedience and rebellion. The very nature of disobedience and rebellion are the awesome consequences of the very nature of sin itself. It is a foolish thing. It is an insane thing to know that God loves you, that God's sin is only begotten son, that he will save you, cleanse you, make you somebody, equip you, live on the inside of you, has a personal agenda for your life and ignore all of that, live your life as you please and die without Christ. You better should never have been born. Have I told you the truth? I've told you the truth. And the second question is this, what are you going to do about the truth? Right now every single one of us is probably thought about something, it may be a little something or something that God brought to our mind and we've had to ask us of the question, Lord, am I in your will about that matter? All he may have said to you, you know, you know you have resisted, rebelled against my will in this issue in your life. The question is, what are we going to do about it? And that's between you and God. Listen, life at its best, listen, life at its very, very, very best, is discovering his will and walking in it. You cannot improve on living in the will of God and my plea to you is, if you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're out of God's will. You say, well I don't believe all that stuff, that's not even the issue, you're out of God's will. If you've never trusted Jesus as your Savior, out of God's will, never been baptized out of God's will, never belong to a local fellowship, don't care out of God's will, never given the money to support the work of minister and the world out of God's will. No, so, so wrapped up in yourself, no time for God out of God's will. The issue is, what do we do about being out of God's will? We confess it, we repent of it, we ask God to forgive us, and if you've never been saved, you tell Him, Lord I'm asking you to forgive me of my sins. I'm placing my trust in Jesus Christ, in His death at Calvary, for payment of sin I receive Him as my personal Savior here and I want to be the person you want me to be. I surrender my life to you. If any of these other areas are over areas that I'm not even mentioned, God says I want you to, you're resisting my will here, make a decision, just say, God, for this moment on, I yield to you, I want you will, I'm walking in it, God, no matter

what. And you know what He'll do? He will enable you to listen, He will enable you at that moment to step right in the center of His will and begin to walk in that, to His glory and listen to your much, much greater happiness than you've ever experienced. He has a plan, the will for your life. Let me meet you and what other thing there's a plan about. He has a plan that one day that you and I will stand before Him and give an account for our life. Part of that plan is that He's going to reward us for all the good things that He's been able to do through us and in us. The last part of that is we're going to have an eternal home in heaven, where we will be serving and rejoicing and living in oneness with Him with absolute uninterrupted joy unspeakable. And the question is, do you want to miss that? I don't think so. you [MUSIC PLAYING]