R293 Experiencing God by Knowing and Doing His Will

God has an encouraging word for you and me today through the Bible-based preaching of Dr. Don Wilton and a message on experiencing God.

Today we'll be opening God's Word to Psalm chapter 143 and begin an Experiencing God series thinking how we begin by knowing and doing God's will. As we open the Word together, know that we're available for you. We're connecting on our website right now at www.tewonline.org. You can listen to this on demand or watch it in a video version. You can even hear other great messages from Dr. Wilton. That's online at www.tewonline.org. While you're there, take a minute and sign up for the daily encouraging word email as well. That's online at www.tewonline.org. And now today's message, Experiencing God by Knowing and Doing His Will.

Here is Dr. Don Wilton. Would you turn with me this morning in your Bibles to Psalm 143. Our subject this morning is going to be a very exciting subject.

Here it is. Experiencing God by Knowing and Doing God's Will. Maybe I could put that into a question this morning. How do you experience God by knowing and doing God's will?

Or maybe we could put it another way. Experiencing God how? By knowing and doing God's will. Our subject this morning, Experiencing God by Knowing and Doing God's Will. How do you know if you're in the will of God? How do you determine the will of God for your life? To what extent does God's will reach into the very fabric of our lives? Is God interested in everything that we do? Can we experience God in everything that we do? All of our circumstances, maybe even in the hurricanes of life.

I thought about the intricacy and the detail that God gives in His attention to each one of us. No matter what our circumstances, no matter whether we find ourselves on the west south side of the hurricane, which was relatively unscathed, or whether we find ourselves on the northeast side, which was devastated, we can experience God no matter what our circumstances might be. Let's read together Psalm 143. O Lord, hear my prayer. Listen to my cry for mercy. In Your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.

Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before You. The enemy pursues me. He crushes me to the ground. He makes me dwell in darkness like those long dead. So my spirit grows faint within me. My heart within me is dismayed.

I remember the days of long ago. I meditate on all Your works and consider what Your hands have done. I spread out my hands to You. My soul thirsts for You like a parched land.

Answer me quickly, O Lord. My spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who go down to the pit. Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul. Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord, for I hide myself in You. Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. May Your good spirit lead me on level ground. For Your name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life. In Your righteousness bring me out of trouble. In Your unfailing love, silence my enemies.

Destroy all my foes, for I am Your servant. May the Lord write His Word upon our hearts, experiencing God by knowing and doing His will. You see, the will of God is the heart cry of God Himself. It is the supreme thing in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We can study it for ourselves. Go back into Psalm 40, verse 7 and 8, maybe in our study of John's Gospel, chapter 4 and verse 14, or you may remember chapter 17 and verse 4. Turn over to Matthew chapter 26 and verse 27, and we're going to find out that the supreme thing about the Lord Jesus Christ was to be found in the centre of knowing and doing the will of God. So what does this prayer of David teach us about experiencing God, about knowing and doing the will of God?

Let's look at it closely together. Number one, number one, this prayer states a longing of all of us. It states a longing, the longing of all people who are born again of the Spirit of the living God, all people who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ, all people who have been washed and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, all people whose sins have been forgiven and taken and cast as far as the east is from the west and remembered no more. This prayer, beloved friends, it states the longing of all people who know and love the Lord Jesus Christ. And that longing, my friend, is the characteristic or the mark of the saved person. What does the Bible teach us?

In Isaiah 53 and verse 6, the Bible reminds us that those who are outside of Jesus Christ want to have nothing to do with the will of God. And it reminds me so much of myself. You see, for many years, Greg, I would have done so well touring with Frank Sinatra, because what Frank Sinatra sang about was not what I would sing about, but it was what I lived about. It was simply that Don Wilton wanted to do things my way. If we look at our world today, my friends, the world is out to try and design the world their way. The world is after its own prescription for life.

It charters its own course. And men and women today are in a mad scramble trying to find satisfaction in life according to their own standards and according to their own ways of determining things. And what David is trying to teach us here is about experiencing God, my friend, is simply this, that this prayer states a longing that is a part of every person. What happened? Well, what happened to me was that Jesus came into my heart.

That's what happened. You know, when the Lord Jesus Christ came into my heart, all of a sudden, I found that I had abdicated the throne of my life. And I found that Jesus Christ didn't make himself Lord of my life. He was and he is the Lord of my life.

He's in control. He's my Lord and my Savior, Jesus Christ. And he calls the shots and he determines my pathway and he makes the decisions.

And he tells me where I should go. But I'm grateful that I'm a sinner saved by the grace of God, that God is a God of forgiveness because as we are reminded in 1 John chapter 1, my friends, the Bible says that we can never aspire to long to do everything that God exactly wants us to do. But the Bible says that if I love the Lord Jesus Christ, there is going to be a longing in my heart to want to do that which is well pleasing in God's sight.

But I want you to note in the second place, it not only states a longing, but it declares a fact. And that fact is that God has a will and a plan for every single one of us. Now I want you to turn over, keep your hands in Psalm 143. Turn over to Colossians chapter 1 in the New Testament, Colossians chapter 1 and verse 9. Listen to what Paul said to the church at Colossi, Colossians 1 and verse 9. He says, for this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to do what?

To fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and all spiritual understanding. What was Paul saying? Paul was saying my friends quite literally, that when you and I come to grips with a declaration of the fact of the will of God, that God wills and does that which is well pleasing in his sight, we are going to become participants in spiritual wisdom, in spiritual knowledge, in spiritual understanding. And it means that we are going to be able to interpret life from a spiritual perspective rather than from our human perspective. The greatest tragedy today, beloved friends, is that so many churches and so many people and so many nations are endeavouring to interpret what God wants for us through man's eyes instead of interpreting what God wants for us through God's eyes.

There is a monumental eternal difference between a human interpretation of life and a spiritual interpretation of human life. That's what Paul is saying. He is saying here that we are going to appropriate all that God has in store for us. And so back in Psalm 143, the Psalmist is simply saying, number one, that this prayer states the longing that ought to be a part of every person who loves Jesus Christ, but number two, it declares a fact, and that is that God has a will for us. Did you know that? Did you know that every person here today who loves the Lord Jesus Christ, that God has got a plan and a purpose and a will for your life? You can go back and read the biographies of great men. As I think about all of those whom God has touched in a marvellous way, you go back and you're going to see the outstretched hand and touch of God as He has mapped their lives out.

There is no exception to the rule. Every child of God becomes a participant in the declaration about the fact of God's plan and purpose for our lives. I want you to note in the third place that this prayer affirms a willingness on the part of God as well. Number one, it states a longing on the part of man. Number two, it declares a fact about God. Number three, it states a willingness about God and it affirms a willingness about God. Why? Because the Bible teaches, folks, that there are two dynamics related to the will of God.

Did you know that? The first is God's direct will. The Bible teaches, my friend, that God has a direct will.

What is the direct will of God? It is God's highest, most perfect extension of His grace. Why is His direct will an extension of God's grace? Because God is a God of grace, is the God of mercy. Why would a God of mercy want to reach out to you and to me as sinners and map our lives out?

Because He's a God of grace. It is an extension of the character of God. And God's direct will is God's perfect will. It is what God wants us to do.

It ought to be the highest thing for which we strive, the highest mountain we climb is to try and understand and to appropriate what God's direct will is for our lives. But there's a second dynamic related to God's will. It's not only God's direct will, but there is God's permissive will. God's permissive will. Now what is God's permissive will? God's permissive will means that God will give you and me permission to do what we demand from Him to do, even though God doesn't necessarily approve of it.

But then we have to live with the consequences. I want you to turn with me very, very quickly to Psalm 106. You need to turn back there. By the way, in your own time, you need to read this long Psalm. It's a remarkable experience, all about the children of Israel as they worship the Lord right across the areas that He sent them. I want to go back to verse 9, Psalm 106 and verse 9.

Read with me there. He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up. He led them through the depths as through a desert. He saved them from the hand of the foe, from the hand of the enemy. He redeemed them. The waters covered their adversaries.

Not one of them survived. Can you imagine what God did for the children of Israel? This was God's direct will. Then they believed His promises and they sang His praises. And all of a sudden in verse 13 something horrible happens. We have a rude awakening that reminds us of ourselves so often.

But they soon forgot what He had done and they did not wait for His counsel. In the desert they gave in to their craving. In the wasteland they began to put God to the test and so what happened? The Bible says in verse 15, So He gave them what they asked for but sent a wasting disease upon them. That, my friend, is God's permissive will. I have seen people during my ministry who have demanded an alternative that is not God's alternative and God has finally said, If you demand that and it is going to satisfy the craving of your human appetite, I'm going to give you over to it and you are going to be left with the consequences. I've seen young couples fall in love and end up getting married against the advice of godly people and they've ended up in absolute disaster because God has given them over to permissive will. The Bible says, my friend, that if we are to ever understand experiencing God by knowing and by doing His will, we must understand that it states the longing of all believers. It declares a fact about the will of God and it affirms a willingness on the part of God to give us His direct will or to grant to us His permissive will. Please forgive the interruption, but oh what power as we discern between God's direct will, His permissive will, perhaps in this discovery of willingness I have some questions you'd like to have someone pray alongside you for. We would love to do so. Our prayer line is 866-899-WORD.

That's 24 hours a day. Jot it down, store it in your cell. 866-899-9673. Not only would we love to pray with you, but we have wonderful resources.

Right now so many people are asking about the loneliness solution. It's a brand new book by a good friend of Dr. Wilson's Jack Eason and breaking through, especially in this past season of separation, breaking away from loneliness and knowing how God is truly with us and will never forsake us. All the details are also on our website at www.tewonline.org.

That's www.tewonline.org. Now back to today's great teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. You may say to me today, Pastor, if I'm in the midst of God's permissive will and I know that I have stepped outside that boundary, is it too late for me?

No, it isn't. You can step back into the direct will of God by repenting of your sin, by confessing your sin, by asking God to restore unto you the joy of your salvation, the same as the psalmist did. There is hope, my friend.

There is hope. But I want you to note in the fourth place this prayer indicates a condition. It not only states a longing on the part of man, declares a fact about God and affirms a willingness on the part of God, but it states and it indicates a condition.

And there are three conditions according to this passage in 143. Number one, first condition, there must be a teachable attitude. If you want to experience God, you must have a teachable attitude. You see, friends, what this verse tells us in verse 10, teach me, you must have a teachable spirit.

I wonder if there's someone here today who's arrived. You'd say to me, Pastor, I don't need experiencing God. I don't need to come to this. I don't need to be involved. I don't need to study.

I've arrived. Friend, if you want to experience God, there is a condition. There must be a teachable attitude. Number two, number two, there must be a desire to know.

There must be a desire to know. Psalm 37, you go back with me very quickly to Psalm 37 and verse five. The Bible says, commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will do this.

He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn and the justice of your cause, like the noonday sun. And number three, there must be a willingness to do. There must be a willingness to do, not only a willingness to be taught, but there must be a willingness to do. You must not only desire the will of God, you must be prepared to do the will of God.

See, that's just like all of us, isn't it, choir? We say, Lord, show me and the Lord shows me and we say, uh-uh, I'm not gonna do it like that. You see, David is saying here very clearly, Lord, teach me in verse 10 to do your will. What does this prayer teach us? Number one, it states a longing about man. Number two, it declares a fact about God. Number three, it affirms a willingness about God.

Number four, it declares and indicates a condition. And number five, it provokes a question. It provokes a question and here's the question.

You ready for this? How does God teach me His will? That's the question. If we're gonna talk about experiencing God, it provokes a question. How does God teach me His will? Three ways God teaches us His will.

Here they are. Number one, by the teaching of His Word. By the teaching of His Word. Number two, by the prompting of His Spirit. And number three, by the overruling of His providence.

Let me go back over those again. Number one, by the teaching of His Word. The Bible says, hide God's Word in your heart. The Word of God shows us what to do. The Word of God teaches us. But friends, the Word of God doesn't have a word about everything that we do. So here's the point, folks.

Listen carefully as we close. If the Scripture doesn't have a definitive word, how do you know God's will? That's number two, by the prompting of His Holy Spirit. That's where the Spirit of God comes into it. The prompting of His Holy Spirit. Romans 8, 14, 1 Corinthians chapter six. This passage, Psalm 143. Look at verse eight, nine, and 10. What does the Bible say about the prompting of the Holy Spirit?

Four things. Verse eight, show me the way. Verse nine, rescue me from my enemies. Verse 10, teach me to do your will.

Verse 10, the latter part, lead me on level ground. What does the prompting of the Spirit of the living God do for me as I determined to know His will? He shows me, He rescues me, He teaches me, and He leads me. Praise God from whom all blessings flow. How do I know the will of God?

That's the big question. By the teaching of His Word, by the prompting of His Holy Spirit, and the third way is by the overruling of His providence. What in the world does that mean? Proverbs chapter 16 and verse three, listen. Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. Let God take control. This has been the Encouraging Word with Dr. Don Wilton. What a powerful statement, let God take control.

And the remarkable thing is, He'll not rinse it from our hands. God is a gentleman, as my grandfather would say, but He is ready. As a matter of fact, we are ready to talk to you about what it is to let God take control.

You've heard Dr. Wilton preach. For the next moments as he's coming into the studio, would you open your heart to what he's going to ask you to do next? Are you ready to give your heart and life to the Lord Jesus Christ?

I'm so happy to hear that. Why don't you pray this prayer with me today? Dear God, I know that you love me very, very much, and I know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and died on a cross so that I might be forgiven of my sin. Today, I repent of my sin. I confess my sin to you, and I invite you to come into my heart and into my life by faith. In Jesus' name I pray. If you prayed that prayer, let me be the first one to welcome you to the family of God.

This is wonderful. I hope that you know how much I'm going to be praying for you and how very important this is for me. Call us so that we can talk to you and connect you in the right place so you can begin this wonderful journey.

And in just a moment, I'm going to come back with a final word. If you just prayed along with Dr. Wilton in your heart and have given your life to Jesus Christ or maybe rededicated your life to Christ, we would love to put some resources in your hands that Dr. Dunn wants you to have absolutely free about starting this new life in Jesus. You can call us and get your copy at 866-899-WORD. That's 866-899-9673, or you can connect online as well at tewonline.org. That's tewonline.org. As I mentioned earlier, many folks are asking about the book that's available now called The Loneliness Solution by a good friend of Dr. Wilton's, Jack Eason.

And breaking free from loneliness is something that God is wanting you to accomplish today. Again, details are also on our website at tewonline.org. And while you're there, sign up if you're interested with a new book coming out from Dr. Wilton in just a few weeks called Saturdays with Billy.

Here are the details from Liz. On our new website, you can reserve a copy of Dr. Wilton's brand-new book, Saturdays with Billy. In Saturdays with Billy, Pastor Don shares heartwarming stories of his times with Mr. Graham.

Just as Billy's words change Don's life, they can change our lives today, a testament to a man who leaned on God's grace into eternity. Discover their powerful friendship at tewonline.org. We're so excited about that book, but there's more things going on on our website as well than just book sales, tewonline.org. We'll give you a portal to audio and video teaching from Dr. Wilton, not only today's messages, but messages in the past, messages in the future. You can sign up for the Direct Connect with our podcast if that's something you're interested in. But one thing I would truly challenge you to consider doing is signing up today for the daily email that comes from Dr. Wilton.

It is literally tens of thousands of people have been talking about how it launches their day in a remarkable way because it shortens the point. It's something you can take and digest on, marinate on all day, so to speak, but it launches your day in God's Word with an application and an opportunity to pray your way in the Scriptures every single day. You can sign up online at tewonline.org.

That's tewonline.org. And before we get away, closing thoughts from our pastor, Dr. Don Wilton. You know, before we go today, what a day of worship we've had. You know, you and I have in the middle of our hearts our beloved nation, don't we, how much I love America.

I'm so proud to be an American. And you know, this broadcast is seen by so many of our armed forces across the world, and we hear from many, many of them, and we love them, we admire them, we respect them. They are our real heroes, and I want you to join with me as we are praying for them, that God would protect them and their families and loved ones. Let's do that right now, shall we, just before we go? Why don't you join with me? Lord Jesus, I'm joining with thousands of people right now and praying for our members, our brave, brave members of our community and our world who are in uniform.

Many are overseas in strange and difficult places, families left behind. Lord Jesus, bless them, keep your hand upon them in every way, in Jesus' name, amen. Our time's gone for today, but we are just getting started. Dr. Wilton started today with his Experiencing God by Knowing and Doing His Will series. Tomorrow, he talks about experiencing God through prayer. The next day, experiencing God by understanding who we are. And then Friday, experiencing God by living a holy life. It's a wonderful week ahead. I pray that not only will you join us tomorrow at this same time for the teaching of Dr. Don Wilton, but between now and then, let's connect online as well at www.tewonline.org. You might invite a friend, get them connected to this level of encouragement, biblically-based teaching with Dr. Don Wilton. Again, our prayer is to see you tomorrow at this same time.