Our Will as it relates to Holiness
Notes
Transcript
for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
When we think of Holiness we know the expectations but as with other things in our life we know what to do but do we do it?
Or do we choose to do it?
It is our responsibility to do it. That is the necessity of conviction and commitment, perseverence and discipline of holiness in body and in spirit. So the activity of our will is implied.
It is the will that makes each individual choice of whether we sin or obey. It is the will the chooses to yield to redemption or to say no.
Our will determines our moral destiny whether we will be holy or unholy in our character or conduct.
It boils down to our choice.
We need to learn how to bring our will into submission and obediece to the will of God on a practical, daily, hour-by-hour basis.
We need to understand how our will functions this comes about when we look at the heart. The Bible denotes all the faculties of the soul as they work together in doing good and evil - the mind, emotions, and will.
Our faculties were put into man’s soul by God, but we are all corrupted through man’s fall in the Garden of Eden.
Our reason or understanding was darkened
They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
Our desires were entangled
All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
And our wills perverted
yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
The great part is with new birth - salvation - our reason is enlightened again, our affections and desires redirected and our wills subdued. It is a growing process that does not happen all at once.
We are told to renew our minds
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
And set our affections on things above
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
And submit our wills to God.
So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
When God created us - the reason, emotions and the will all worked together in perfect harmony.
Reason led the way in understanding the will of God, the will consented to God’s will and the emotions delighted in doing it. But with the entrance of sin into man’s soul these three things (faculties) began to work at the cross which purposes one another to God.
Our will has become stubborn and rebellious and will not conscent to that which reason knows to be the will of God.
Our emotions often get the upper hand and draw away both reason and will from obedience to God.
We need to understand how the mind, emotions and will are interrelated and while the will is often what determines our choices, it is influenced in its choice by the strongest foces brought to bear upon it.
These forces come from a variety of sources: Satans suggestions or our own evil enticements due to our sinful nature.
You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.
Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.
Our wills are reached through our reason or our emotions.
We need to guard what enters our minds and what influences our emotions.
Solomon said in Prov. 4:23
Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life.
If we diligently guard our minds and emotions we will see the Holy Spirit working in us to conform our wills to His own.
Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
So the question is how do we guard our minds and emotions?
David gave this word in Psalms.
How can a young person stay pure?
By obeying your word.
David guarded himself with God’s Word. The Bible speaks to us through reason and this is why it is important for our minds to be constantly brought under its influence. There is no shortcut to holiness that goes past putting God’s Word and the consistent intake of it as priority.
Solomon told us in Prov. that wisdom, understanding and discretion will guard us from the evil way.
For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will fill you with joy.
Wise choices will watch over you.
Understanding will keep you safe.
Wisdom will save you from evil people,
from those whose words are twisted.
So how do we acquire these qualities?
For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
This is where Prov. 2:1-5 comes in: God gives the qualities of knowledge and understanding to those who:
inwardly treasures His commandments
Makes his ear alert to wisdom
Makes his heart ready for understanding
Prays for discernment
Seeks understanding as hidden treasure
Casually read through Prov. 2:1-12 and you will see that the protective influence of the Word of God comes as a result of diligent, prayerful, and purposeful intake of Scripture.
To guard minds
Give Priority to the Bible in our lives - not just for spiritual information but also for daily application in our lives.
We need to not only guard our minds but also our emotions. God most often appeals to our wills through our reason. Sin and Satan usually appeals to us through our desires.
Satan will attack our reason trying to cloud and confuse the issues, but that is only to make it easier for him to conquer us through our desires.
This is what he used on Eve.
Gen. 3:1-3 talks about Satan’s strategy? He attacked her reasoning by questioning God’s integrity, but his primary temptation was to her desire.
Eve saw that the tree in the garden was good for food.
It was a delight to the eyes
desireable for making one wise
Knowing that Satan would attack through desires we should watch over them diligently and bring the Word of God on them constantly.
This does not mean you have to live a life without pleasure but we need to be spiritually prudent. We need to seek to be aware of how sin attacks us through our desires and take preventative actions.
This is what Paul urged Timothy to do when he instructed him to “flee the evil desires of youth”.
Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Guarding our desires is more than fighting a rear-guard defensive action against temptations from the world, the flesh and the devil. We need to take the offensive. Paul tells us to set our hearts on things above that is on spiritual values.
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
The Psalmist encourages us to delight ourselves in the law of God in Psalm 1:2.
I take joy in doing your will, my God,
for your instructions are written on my heart.”
We are to set our desires on spiritual things and delight ourselves in the law and will of God.
Normally our reason, wills and emotions should work in that order, but since we so often reverse the order, giving attention to our desires and we need to work at directing those desires toward God’s will.
When we first begin a new discipline we have to work hard to maintain it. Changing our habits is not easy.
Each year when I begin walking outside I have a hard time staying true to it. It is not easy getting into the habit of healthy exercise. I know I need to but I don’t want to.
Trying to overcome my own desires and trying to be healthy is a battle. I stop and start and stop and start.
Then I read about it and reread about it. This documents the importance of this healthy activity. I find myself needing to be convinced of the importance of this action. What I needed was the motivation. I like to take a look at those successful in these habits and that helps keep me consistent.
Now in addition to giving us instructions and guidelines for living, the Bible is filled with success stories of real people who trusted God and obeyed Him and who’s lives were changed dramatically or who significantly influenced the course of history.
I love Hebrews 11 this is a chapter in scripture that gives us a brief index of some of these stories. But there are many more not mentioned as Heb. 11:32 acknowleges.
The exploits of men like Daniel, Nehemiah, and Elijah as well as Abhraham, Noah and David will motivate us to go and do likewise.
We will do well to include these types of accounts of these people in our Bible reading in order to motivate us in areas of holiness.
In addition to scriptures we are be alert for books that motivate us to a holy and godly life. The basic idea is to have a plan that will enable is to stay motivated to holiness.
God is the one who works in us to will and to act according to His good purpose. We are expressly told by Paul to work at this ourselves.
Dear friends, you always followed my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away, it is even more important. Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.
Our responsibility is to guard our minds and emotions, and be aware of what influences our minds and stimulates our desires. As we do our part we will see the Spirit of God do His part in our way towards holiness.
Lord I want more of us living water reign down on me. Living breath of life come fill me up.
We are hungry for more of you.