I will not be brought under the power of any. I will not allow anything to master me. to master. We should never allow a non-moral thing to become our master. Welcome to Grace to You, the Bible teaching ministry of John MacArthur.
I'm your host, Phil Johnson. The Bible clearly says what is and what is not sin. That makes it pretty easy to figure out what God's will is. But what about when you're dealing with issues that aren't specifically covered in Scripture? How do you navigate those circumstances?
Find out as we continue John MacArthur's study called If God's Will is So Important, Why Can't I Find It? This series has been a favorite of our listeners throughout the years. But before the lesson, and thinking about what it looks like to find and follow God's will, We once asked John if he ever wondered whether it was God's will for him to leave Grace Community Church and pursue other ministry options. Here's what he said Well, I guess the simple way to answer that question would be no. There have been people at Grace Church through the years who thought it was God's will for me to leave.
Not many, though. And there have been some people in other churches who thought it was God's will for me to leave here and go there. That happened a few times during the years, but. And uh You know, and I I had thought about other ministry opportunities, some of them wonderful opportunities. But I always told people the same thing.
I have never had for one split second any sense of release. It wasn't that another ministry wasn't attractive. It wasn't that another ministry w wouldn't have maybe made it easier on some of the folks who were struggling with me at Grace Church. I could have maybe eased their lives a little by leaving. And there were some ministries, as as you know, Through the years, that were formidable, significant ministries that make a mark.
For the kingdom, and they would have been a great challenge for me, but I never, ever for one second, had any sense of release. And I think that's because. I don't see myself as a professional uh minister hired by a church This is my church. These are my people. Yeah, a lot of people don't understand this, but grace is the only church you've ever pastored, right?
It's the first church that called you. It is the first church and the only church that called me. I took the first one, and here I am 50 years later. But it's my church. These are my people.
We had a a luncheon a couple of days ago with some of the staff at Grace Community Church, and there were, I think, eight or ten sweet ladies that work in our very large nursery. They were part of the nursery staff. They came up to me and they kept wanting to give me a hug and they would express their love and gratitude to me. They have a relationship to me that is really unique because I've fed them the Word of God all these years. This is not a job for me.
This is my place. These are my... people that God has called me to shepherd. These are the ones around whom I have lived my life, my marriage, raised my kids, and now raising my grandchildren. I think that's why I never had a sense of release.
Uh not even for a split second did I ever consider anything Even though there were difficult times and challenging times, I just always knew this is where God wanted me. Even though I didn't have a plan for the future, I didn't have any design for where it would go. None at all. I am not the explanation for what Grace Church has become. The Lord is, and I've just been there for the ride.
Um these are my people and uh I'll uh I'll I'll go to heaven from this congregation, I'm sure.
Well, John did just that. He faithfully pastored the same church. 56 years until he was taken to heaven. And what a blessing it is to John's congregation that God directed him to stay at Grace Church. Really, that long tenure is what enabled John to teach verse by verse through the entire New Testament.
And that, of course, benefited not only John's church, but also all of you who listen to these daily broadcasts. And on that note, let's get to today's lesson. Here's John MacArthur to continue his study called, If God's Will is So Important, Why Can't I Find It? The Bible is very explicit on matters of sin. There's not any reason to uh Wonder what it is that God forbids.
You can start with the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments, and the Lord lays out the things that He does not. Permit. There are other things which God commands us to do and not to do those is sin. We are not in the dark about sin, the things explicitly spelled out in the scripture. are very clear to us.
We know what's wrong. We also know what is right in regard to many things, for God has given us very clear word on that. But what about all that stuff in the middle to which the Bible doesn't explicitly speak? And this is a large category. There are some people who believe television is a sin.
If you own a television, you're not spiritual. There are other people who are zombies. They stare at that box. Doesn't matter what's on, even a test pattern tickles their fancy. And they'll watch it as long as the fuse lasts.
Some people would say that if you go to a movie, you've committed a sin. If you enter into a theater, you're participating in ungodliness. If you plunk down your, I don't know whatever it costs to go to a theater, that you are paying money into the godless movie-producing industry. Other people say, well, you can go to a movie and it's a diversion, it's recreational, you can see the beauty of certain scenery, and so forth. There are people who think that if you do anything on Sunday other than sit, and read the Bible.
Uh you have entered into sin. You're not uh when I was a little guy growing up I can remember when we were back in, particularly on the East Coast in Philadelphia, you were not allowed to do anything on Sunday that even remotely resembled recreation. We came home in our little Lord Fauntleroy suits. with a little stiff collar and a little tie. And sat on the couch all day.
Couldn't read the funny papers, couldn't read the sports page, couldn't look at television, couldn't go out in the yard and play catch, couldn't take a walk. We sat. The only sin we could commit, and we could commit that sin all we wanted was the sin of gluttony. We could literally Gorge ourselves. on Sunday.
And of course most of the women spent all morning cooking up This massive meal by which we sinned all afternoon but couldn't But couldn't run it off. And so we were stuck with the consequence of our evil. But that sin was tolerable, and in most evangelical circles, it still is. As given Evidenced by the shape of most evangelicals. But anyway, Yeah.
Well, stay away from that one. I remember as a little boy that you could play cards. You could play cards as long as the cards didn't have jokers, spades, clubs, and those other things. If they had anything else but those, they were okay. But if they printed those on them, that was sinful.
And no self-respecting person would ever pick up a card and see one of those markings on it without dropping it immediately, lest he commit some evil.
Now you could play Pit? and scream and shout and throw things, and that was all right, but Watch what's on the card. There are people who believe certain clothing styles are basically reflective of a sinful society. Yeah. I don't understand the fashions today.
I really don't. Personally, I believe God is symmetrical. You understand that? I believe God is symmetrical. He likes the same thing on both sides of you.
But I see Bus Yeah. Ah See, I see clothes that go every which way. I mean, crazy things like exploding things and everything all around. But I think God is a God of symmetry. But anyway, that's just me.
I like a pocket on both sides of my shirt. What can I say? And there are some people who um Some people who feel that Certain musical styles are sinful. Rock music is sinful, and we might even agree with that. country in Western is definitely sanctified.
They must not be listening to the words. There are some people who think that it's okay to have boys and girls together swimming, and there are some. who believe that's a sin. They call that mixed bathing, and that is forbidden. But there are a lot of things like that.
That enter into the area where the scripture really doesn't have anything to say, and so we're left with having to make some decisions.
Now, the easy way is to make up a list of rules. That's very easy. We'll just decide. We'll get a committee and we'll say, This is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong. We'll just live by those rules, and if you keep the rules, we'll call you spiritual, and if you don't keep the rules, we'll call you fleshly.
That's the easy way out. As Christians, We need to know how to make decisions about those kinds of things. There are these. Things that face us every single day in our life. How do we decide?
Well, I'm going to give you. Two handfuls of uh Principles, all right. We're just gonna lay them before you. I'm not gonna spend a lot of time on them except to share them with you. These are the things that I use in my own personal life.
I sat down one day. and just wrote them down. Just out of my own experience, I didn't have to go study to figure them out. These are the things that I ask myself. Periodically, whenever I'm faced with making a decision that isn't black or white in scripture.
The sooner you learn to apply these things, the more you will enjoy your spiritual experience and understand what it means to be free in Christ and yet submissive to his perfect purpose. Number one. I asked this question. Will it be spiritually profitable? Will it be spiritually profitable?
Look with me at 1 Corinthians 6, verse 12. 1 Corinthians 6:12, all things are lawful.
Now, let me qualify that by saying this: all things that are not unlawful are lawful. That's what he means. There are some things in Scripture that are already said to be unlawful or sinful. He's not talking about those things. What he's saying here is: all things that are not unlawful are lawful.
Okay? All things in that sort of middle ground, that non-moral area, are. Northwood. For me. All things not unlawful are lawful to me.
But all things are not Now, this word literally means to my advantage. They are not to my spiritual advantage. They don't profit me.
So, I ask myself the question that Paul is posing right here. Will my doing this Enhance my spiritual life? Will it cultivate godliness? That's a fair question. That's a basic question.
Will it? Cultivate godliness. Will it be Profitable. to me? Will it be to my advantage?
Will it profit me? There are some things that are not wrong. I think about sleep. Sleep is not wrong, sleep is good. I try to do that.
Now and then, I'd like to do it more than I'm able. But there's nothing wrong with sleep. In fact, there's nothing wrong with sleeping in. Do you ever look forward to a morning when you can sleep in? Sure, you do.
Sometimes it's Sunday morning, but the Lord will punish you for that. But I mean, we all look to those times when we want to sleep in. I mean, that's a wonderful thing. But that good thing of sleeping in and collecting your physical strength, if done too frequently, will not be to your spiritual profit because it'll cultivate what? Laziness.
In and of itself, it is not wrong, but it creates a habit of dullness. And overdone. It is not to your benefit.
Now there are many things like that in life. Whatever they might be, you ask yourself the question: will it be spiritually? beneficial. Will it be to my profit, to my advantage? Will it cultivate godliness?
In other words, I'm not looking at life from the standpoint of, boy, can I do this and get away with it. I'm looking at life, can I do this and have it increase my godliness. Will it be spiritually profitable? Let's call this the principle, and you can write this one down of expedience. The principle of expedience.
Is it expedient for my spiritual benefit? Principle number two. And I'm just touching lightly on these. Principle number two, and it's a very close Parallel. Will it build me up?
Will it build me up? The first one simply looks at it. In isolation, will it profit me spiritually in itself? The second question: will it put me on the path to greater spiritual maturity? Will it build me up?
1 Corinthians 10, 23. Go over a few chapters. 1 Corinthians 10, 23. He gives basically the same idea. All things are lawful.
That is, all things that are not unlawful are lawful. all things that aren't wrong in themselves. All things that are not unlawful are lawful for me, but all things are not profitable. Same thought. Then this.
All things are lawful for me, but all things do not what? Build me up.
So I asked the question: Will it build me up? The word is oika de me'o, means to build a house. Will it add to my life things that increase my spiritual stability, strength, and maturity? First Corinthians 14:26 says, Let all things be done unto edification. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:19, We do all things, dearly beloved, to build you up.
In 1 Corinthians 9. back a chapter. Verse 24. Paul says, You know that we run and we all run in a race, but only one receives a prize, so run that you may win the prize. Every man that competes in athletics is temperate, that is self-controlled in all things.
Why? Because he wants to win. Verse 27: I bring my body into subjection. Literally, he says, I keep under my body, means to give it a black eye. I punch my body in the eye, if you will.
I buffet my body, not buffet my body, I buffet my body. I give my body a black eye. For the purpose For the purpose of keeping it under control, in order that what I do may be self-edifying. I make my body my slave, would be another way to translate that. Frankly, and this is an honest thing for us to admit, most of us are slaves to our bodily desires, right?
I mean, we basically respond to whatever physical impulses are there. That's why I've always said in the matter of self-control and self-discipline, there are several key elements. To be a self-disciplined person, you have to train yourself in discipline. And I use a lot of little practical things, like for one thing, I always do the most difficult task, what? First, that helps you to learn self-discipline.
Another one that helps me is always be on time. In order to do that, you've got to order the diverse elements of your life all to converge to have you in the right spot at the right moment when you're supposed to be there. That's a control. That indicates you can pull the pieces together and manage. And another one that helps me is learn to say no when you have every right to say yes.
In other words, when you have a right to go out and just have a great, big, huge meal and top it off with the. you know, a hot fudge sunday or whatever, just Say no so that you can say to your body, see, I'm still in charge. Cultivate self-control. When you control your desires with your mind, your spiritual mind, you exercise the right muscles in training yourself for godliness.
So, I ask myself the question: if I do this, will it build me up? Will it strengthen me? Will it move me toward Christ-likeness, toward greater spiritual maturity? Let's call that the principle of edification.
So the principle of expedience and then the principle of edification. The third principle, and for this one, turn with me to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. And let's ask a third question. You ready for this?
Will it? And this is the negative side of the two we just mentioned. Will it slow me down in the race? If I'm running, as 1 Corinthians 9 says, If I'm running to win the prize, if I'm running to obtain. Then I have to ask myself if this will slow me down.
Notice verse 1 of Hebrews 12. We are in a race. The race of faith. We have seen in chapter 11 a host of people who live by faith, and they are living witnesses of the validity of living by faith. They are the cloud of witnesses who tell us to live by faith.
You know, back there at the beginning. Um Verse 4, by faith Abel, by faith Enoch, by faith Noah, by faith Abraham. By faith, Sarah, by faith. Jac uh Isaac, Jacob, by faith Joseph, by faith Moses. Then it goes on to talk about by faith the walls of Jericho fell down, by faith the harlot Rahab, and then Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets, on and on and on, men and women, all living by faith.
Now, with so many people testifying to the significance of the life of faith. We are also to live by faith, to run the race of faith.
Now, in order to do it successfully, notice verse 1. Let us lay aside Every weight And the sin which does so easily beset us. And let us run with endurance. The race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, is now set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Now the key that I want you to notice, let us lay aside every weight. And the sin.
Now, what do you conclude from that? That the weight is different than what? Sin. We are to lay aside sin and we're to lay aside the weight.
Well, what's the difference? To run in this agon, from which we get the word agony, which is the word for race, this demanding, grueling life of faith. Requires determination, perseverance, self-discipline. And in order to do that. We have to lay aside every weight as well as sin.
Now what is Every weight. The word is ankas. It simply means bulk. Bulk. It isn't sin.
It's just Needless bulk.
Something that weighs us down, diverts our priorities, takes our attention, sucks our energy, dampens our enthusiasm for the things of God.
Now let's take an athlete who's going to compete in the 100 meters. And let's say that before he ran in the 100 meters, say, in a world-class event, he went out and got drunk. and committed sins of dissipation and then came in and tried to run. He would be running. without having set aside sin.
He sinned against his own body. And Sucked out his strength. But let's assume that he trained perfectly. That he did everything he was supposed to do in the process of preparation. He was in top physical shape.
Everything was as it ought to be in his training. His moral life was clean. He didn't dissipate his body, but he came in and decided to compete in combat boots and a wool overcoat. That wouldn't be sinful, but it would be pretty stupid. That would be unnecessary bulk.
Let me put it simply to you. Is it sinful? To go out with your wife on a Saturday night and have a late dinner and just Eat a nice big meal and then go for a drive and sit in front of the moon at the beach and tell your wife how much you love her and go home at 2 o'clock. Is that sinful? No, you say, I wish my husband would do that.
But let's add one other dimension. You have A prayer meeting at 8 o'clock Sunday morning, and you have to teach the Word of God at 8:30. Let me tell you, it's not sinful to do that, but it is a lot of unnecessary bulk. That will have an impact on what you're able to do the next morning.
So, there are some things in our lives that we restrict for no other reason than that they would slow us down in the race, right? That's why, for me, for example, Saturday night. is a very sacred time. It is a do-nothing time. I can remember when my boys were playing football games, and I can remember Saturday night football games, and I would go out, and when your son is playing football, you get into the thing.
I get into it anyway, having played so much and loving the game, and you're watching your son, and your emotions are running high at a fever pitch, and you come back and you're playing the game over and over, especially if your son breaks his leg and he's in the hospital and he severed his femur right at the growth plate, and we're there half the night. And we've got to get up the next day and preach the Word of God and Um so forth. You get your emotions and your mental processes running down the wrong channel.
Now, it's not sinful to go watch your son play baseball or football unless you think football is a sin. That's Your privilege, I guess. But the point is, you add to your life unnecessary bulk. You don't need that. You don't need to encumber yourself with that.
There's lots of forms of bulk: legalism, ceremonialism. Needless waste of time that sucks your energy and fouls up your priorities?
So you ask yourself a simple question. Will it slow me down in the spiritual race? Anything that impinges upon my effectiveness in serving Christ, I won't do that. Might be something that in itself is not evil. But it becomes a needless weight for me to bear.
Let's call this the principle of excess. Number four. Number four. Will it bring me into bondage? Will it bring me into bondage?
1 Corinthians chapter 6, back to the verse we started with. 1 Corinthians 6:12, listen to this. All things that are not unlawful are lawful. For me, but all things are not expedient or profitable, then this. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of what?
Of any. I will not be brought under the power of any. I will not allow anything to master me. to master me. We should never allow a non-moral thing to become our master.
And yet there are people. Think of it. Psalm 8, what is man that thou art mindful of him? You've made him just a bit lower than the holy angels. You've crowned him with glory and honor.
You've given him dominion over creation. He rules the beast of the field, the fowl of the air, the fish of the sea. He rules the land and all it produces, man, the king of the earth. But isn't it amazing how he yields up his sovereignty to the stupid little things? How many men have turned into absolute slobbering, blithering idiots because they can't control what comes out of grapes?
How many people have ended up dead because they can't deal with tobacco? How many people literally have their lives totally run by a television, which is a bunch of wires that were invented by man, the king of the earth? All of a sudden television is king. Television is sovereign and man is nothing but a slave to that. Drugs.
Invented really and discovered by man for the benefit of those who have need of them, becomes the master of so many men.
So many women. There are many things that can enslave us that come from creation which God designed. to be ruled by us.
So I ask myself the question. Will this Put me into bondage. I remember a particular preacher who was preaching the circuit in evangelism and finally had to leave evangelism because he was so engulfed in losing money in golf that he literally bankrupted himself. Getting to the point where he was playing for three and four hundred dollars a hole. in a golf match.
There are a lot of people in this world controlled by a little round ball like that. A lot. There are those kinds of things that inherent in them take control of us. Take control of us. That happened with music.
Young people who are dominated by that. I watch people who are literally paralyzed if they can't get home and see the next edition of the soap opera.
So many things. Can bring us into bondage. Let's call this the principle of enslavement.
So we ask: will it bring me into bondage? Does it have the potential to make me its slave? The principle of enslavement. You're listening to Grace to You with the Bible teaching of John MacArthur. Our current study is answering the question.
If God's will is so important, why can't I find it?
Well, friend, as John has explained throughout this study, you can know God's will. It's right there in His Word, and few resources make the meaning of Scripture more clear or help you better discern God's will than the MacArthur Study Bible. And just a reminder that for a limited time, you can get the MacArthur Study Bible and nearly everything we sell at 25% off the normal price. If you don't own a copy of the MacArthur Study Bible, this is a great time to order one.
So contact us today. Call us here at 80055 GRACE or visit our website gty.org. Along with 25,000 footnotes that explain virtually every passage of scripture. The MacArthur Study Bible also has detailed introductions to each book of the Bible, maps, Cross-references and many other helps that will pull you deep into God's Word. And again, for a limited time, we have discounted the prices on nearly all of our resources by 25%.
So you can now pick up a hardcover or leather study Bible for an even more affordable price. To order the MacArthur Study Bible, and there are several English and non-English versions to choose from. Go to gty.org to make your selection, or you can call us at 800-55GRACE. Also, keep in mind our current study: if God's will is so important. Why can't I find it?
That's available for free in MP3 and transcript format at our website. In fact, All 3,600 of John's sermons are free at gty.org. Start downloading today.
Now for the entire Grace to You staff, I'm Phil Johnson. Remember that Grace to You television airs this Sunday on DirecTV Channel 378 and be here tomorrow for another half hour of Unleashing God's Truth one Verse at a Time. on Grace to You.
