Knowing the Will of God

AN OFFERING FOR APOLOGETICS CLASS

You cannot know the will of God without first knowing the nature of God:

I. THE NATURE OF GOD

A. A holy, pure God and is Himself the source and definition of purity and truth
B. A revealing, speaking God
C. An omniscient God who knows all things and all potentialities
D. A God with a will
E. An omnipotent God capable of completing His will
F. A sovereign God ruling the whole universe He created and all that is in it and therefore all things answer to Him and Him alone
G. A fruitful God
H. A God who speaks of a beginning and an end
I. A personal God who made man in His image
J. A God of love who loves His creation and man in particular
K. A just and righteous God whose will is His own standard of righteousness

II. GOD'S SOVEREIGN WILL

A. This will by His very nature must happen
B. This will is revealed usually in broad terms and occasionally with some specificity regarding some of its parts
C. Only occasionally is this will revealed to select individuals for a select purpose.
D. Most of us will only know this will in its broad terms.
    1. There is enough about it and its parts that cause us to search the Scriptures to know when and how this will is accomplished.
    2. There is also speculation and error that go along with our attempts to know His Sovereign will
    3. There is great danger in this speculation ofadding to or taking away from God's Word
    4. This speculative area by those who believe the have found the secret to knowing God's will has led to much confusion and even heartache
E. God's sovereign will is best known by us after it happens!
F. God's sovereign will is to be trusted as our confident knowledge that He is in con frol ofall things, including the current events of our lives.

III. AS A PART OF THAT SOVEREIGN WILL HE HAS ORDAINED THAT MAN WILL HAVE THE CAPACITY AND THE FREEDOM TO MAKE CHOICES.

A. Man is made in the image of God
    1. He has intellect and can therefore reason what he deems is a good choice
       a. He makes his choices based upon the desire he has and the information he is given or has chosen to work with.
       b. Based on these choices he reasons a plan to meet the ends of that choice
       c. He is limited in that he is not omniscient and there are variables that he does not know and over which he has no control
    2. He has volition and has the capacity to carry out that choice.
       a. Man is given, by the dominion clause, the capacity to reason a plan and gather the resources to conduct
that plan
       b. He has been given the strength to conduct that plan or to find a reasonable plan to enhance his capacity to carry it out.
       c. He is not omnipotent so he cannot do everything he wants to do. God by His own divine intervention
has limited man's capability to do everything he wishes.
    3. He is a moral creature and his choices will reflect his moral reasoning
       a. He was made by God to have his conscience, moral compass, informed by God's revelation
       b. Though still influenced by God, man's conscience has been tainted by sin in such a way as to have the flill capacity ofrejecting that influence and doing his own will.
       c. Man is held responsible for all his decisions not by his own morality but by the moral nature of God
B. None of those choices can alter His Sovereign will
C. God has chosen tofulfill His Sovereign will and still allow man to have a choice in the matter through His Sovereign influence on man's choices. Prov 16:9; Prov 20:24; Jer 10:23
    1. By limiting the choices a man may have.
    2. By altering the circumstances to influence the choice
    3. By direct divine intervening acts: the king with Sarai
    4. By indirect supernatural intervening acts: Job
    5. By withholding divine intervention: Romans 1