Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. Gideon confirmed God's will by putting out a fleece overnight. Are believers today expected to do the same?
Many Christians test God's will by asking for supernatural signs. If it's good enough for Gideon, it must be good enough for me, they reason. Today, some cautions on trying to be too much like Gideon.
From the Moody Church in Chicago, this is Running to Win with Dr. Erwin Lutzer, whose clear teaching helps us make it across the finish line. Pastor Lutzer, does Gideon's use of a fleece make it something God expects us to do in our day? Dave, I love the expression that you just used. You said that there's some people who want to be too much like Gideon. Well, yes, I do caution against that.
I caution against a young woman who says, well, if he calls me before 10 o'clock this evening, I'll assume that he's to be my boyfriend. That's dangerous territory. There are better ways to assess these things, including the wisdom that we can receive from others. We here at Running to Win believe that the most important part of God's will is, of course, the gospel. And we want to thank the many of you who contribute to this ministry to help us. Now, for those of you, you're looking for an opportunity to invest in ministry, would you consider Running to Win?
At the end of this broadcast, I'm going to be giving you some contact info because it is this month in which we have our matching gift challenge. For now, let us listen. But I think that the greatest thing about the will of God that is so misunderstood that it is so mysterious, so mysterious. It is a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
That's what most people think it is. Now, if I were counseling you, you know, if we were in the office, this would be a place where I might actually take off my glasses and look you in the eye and ask you a question. Are you telling me that the God who wants you to do his will would withhold it from you and try to mystify you through strange, unbelievable ways? Are you telling me that?
Are you telling me that the God of the universe who loves us more than we could possibly understand wants to play this game, hide or seek? A student says, I know which school I'm going to go to. I'm going to send in three applications, the school in which I'm accepted. That's the one I'm going to accept. That'll be God's will.
He's accepted by all three of them. Do you imagine that God is in heaven with his arms folded like this saying, I just dare you to choose the right one. I dare you to choose the right one. You really think that that's the way God is?
Why do we spend so much time? I'm going to be candid here today. If you're going to spend the rest of your life finding the will of God, at least find one verse of scripture that tells us we should do that. Find one that says find the will of God. The reason I'm a little bit revved up is because there's so many Christians who spend so much time looking for the will of God because they're just casting about looking for God's will as if it's something so possibly mysterious that there's no reasonable way that you could ever possibly know it. And then they think that that's the way God is treating them. Bible has a lot to say about the will of God.
Nowhere does it tell us to find it. Do you know what pagans spend their time doing in all pagans religion? It is primarily focused on finding the will of God. That's why people go to fortune tellers, palm readers. They look what they're trying to discern the divine mind. They're trying to divine God's intention. That's why people go to astrologers, not you folks, but I mean there are people who do that.
You look at the history of occultism and you find that there are innumerable ways, too many for me to mention today and it's certainly I don't know them all, all trying to divine the future, trying to read this inscrutable thing called the will of God or gods depending on what people believe ends in such foolishness. There was a farmer who was lying on his back one day as we used to do on the farm and watch the clouds go by and he noticed that suddenly before him the clouds just seemed to form into two letters of the alphabet, P, the letter P, and then the letter C. He was looking up and he thought, wow, look at that. What is God trying to say to me?
Oh, I know. I'm called to the ministry. It means preach Christ.
Obviously. So he sells his farm and becomes a preacher. Didn't work out very well, wasn't trained for it, didn't know how, wasn't going anywhere and so people in the church says, how do you know you're called? Well, I was looking up and I saw P.C. and one of the farmers says, how do you know that God just wasn't telling you?
Plant corn. Bypassing all of God's means for guidance. You say, well, how do we find the will of God?
I'm using the expression. Even though the Bible doesn't tell you, you have to find it. The will of God is revealed. The Bible says in Ephesians 5 17, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of God is. If we're supposed to walk in God's will, clearly we should know what it is.
And we don't have to try to look at clouds or try to find out, you know, all of these intricacies. Read all these providential puzzles, though providence is clearly involved. What I'd like to do is to give you five principles that all have to line up. Now, I know that the notes that you have don't include those.
You have to understand much of this message which made up yesterday evening. So, see, before that time, I didn't know God's will yet for what I was going to preach. Number one is the scripture. The scripture.
You say, yeah, I knew he was going to say that. I've heard it all before, the scripture. Sure, you know, the Bible tells us to live this way, but how does that help me to know whether or not I should move to Los Angeles or Seattle or wherever?
See, it doesn't help me at all to know where I'm supposed to move to here in Chicago. Hold it. This is a counseling session.
You're going too fast. What does the Bible say the will of God is? Look at passages like this and I can only refer you to them.
Romans chapter 12, for example. You give yourself a living sacrifice, holy pleasing to God, et cetera. I'm skipping verses here. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will.
You say, well, see, there it is. We're supposed to be able to determine God's will. We're supposed to be able to divine the divine mind. No, look at the little word for there in verse three. For by the grace given to me, I say to you. He's talking about what the good, acceptable and perfect will of God is. If you want to know what it is, you say, oh, pastor, I want to find God's will. You take the text there in Romans chapter 12 and you read it from verse three on. I think there's something like 22 commands in those verses that tells you exactly what God's will is.
Look at this over here. Let me turn to another passage. First Thessalonians, it is God's will that you should be sanctified, that you should avoid sexual immorality, that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen who do not know God.
And in this matter, no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins as we have warned you. Now, you know, you want to know the will of God? There's the will of God.
Let me give you one other. First Thessalonians, 5, 16. Be joyful always. Pray continually. Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus. You give thanks when you're fired. You give thanks when you're hired. You give thanks when your friends help you. You give thanks to God when they disappoint you.
You give thanks continually. This is the will of God. Well, that's the one light that has to line up. Now, you understand here that if we respond to God in matters that he's revealed, he's going to guide us in those that are unrevealed. But let's go on.
There are five lights that have to line up to bring the ship to the harbor. Number two, our desires. You see, if we love the word of God and we want to serve God and we're in the word and our minds are bathed by the scripture, God purifies our desires and puts in our hearts what we want to do, because that is one of the ways that his will becomes known. Delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart.
Our desires line up with God's desires. I don't like to use myself as an illustration, but I will today, even though my situation is a little different. But at the age of six, I would come home from church and go up to the little room in the farmhouse and I would pretend that I was preaching. Nobody was listening, but I'd stand up and I'd pretend that I was preaching. When I was on my father's tractor, I would preach to the cornfields. I'd preach to that old tractor. If it isn't converted, don't blame me. It never heard the gospel many times. Where'd that come from? No pastors on either side of my family, no cousins, uncles, nothing. God implanted that in my heart.
Now, he does the same for you. There are people who grow up and they want to become an airline pilot. There's something within them. Now, maybe they're going to be frustrated desires and I'll talk about that in just a moment, but God puts it in their heart.
God wires them in such a way, and each of us is wired so differently because that's the way God covers all the bases. My wife always wanted to be a nurse, but when our children were small, she did not go to nurses training because she was in the home. But after they grew up, she took nurses training.
Why? She thirsts and loved being a nurse. She goes into a hospital and she's energized.
I go into a hospital and walk down the aisle and I want to turn around and check myself in. Pure and holy desires. You desire ministry? I didn't ask her permission to mention her name, but forgiveness is always easier, you know, than permission. But notice how God changes a person's desires even as an adult.
I think, for example, of Karen Milko, if you had talked to her a couple of years ago about Osiri and Africa, I mean, I would think that there would have been no real connection, but she goes there. She has a whole new desire and a whole new burden. That's a God thing, you see, to motivate us to action and to motivate help for people that God wants to help. He implants those desires in our hearts as we walk with them. And sometimes they come to us as a child.
Sometimes they come to us as an adult. But God works through the passions of the soul. Faith, faith, faith that you're being led. You say, well, you know, I have doubts about a certain decision.
That's fine. Own those doubts. But keep giving those doubts to God.
The Bible says that whatsoever is not a faith is sin. And he who eats is damned if he eats with doubts. So what you do is you you give those doubts to God, but you're not expecting some arbitrary sign, something in the clouds that tells you what you're supposed to do. You're not making up artificial constructs that God has to confine himself to so that you discern God's will. What you do is you give those doubts to God. You give God an opportunity to open doors, to close doors. And if you have unfulfilled desires and if you continue with doubt, that is one of the ways that God uses to drive us to wait on him.
My soul way to thou only on God for my expectation is from him. And so doubts are important in the process. There's some things you greatly doubt. I would say give it time. Don't rush in where the doubts are overwhelming. But keep seeking God.
Let me give you number four. Seek wise counsel, would you please? But please, we as a staff, we notice this that there are so many people who come to us and they'll begin with Pastor Worley and then they don't like his advice. And they go to Pastor Milko and they don't like his advice. Then they think that I'm the one who's going to finally tell them exactly what they want to hear. And then they don't like my advice. And pretty soon they're in another church trying to find somebody who agrees with what they want to do and to give them that stamp of approval.
But seek the wisdom of others. Oftentimes people come to us and they want us to tell them God's will for their life. Now I've done that in a few occasions, but very few, primarily helping young women break up with guys that they should break up with. If you're mistreating a young woman, please don't come to me if you're looking for sympathy. So we have to tell these young women, look, this guy's doing this to you.
This is God's will. Break it up instantly. Throw that fish back into the lake. Yeah, we could have clapped there. Am I alone up here today? So what we have to do is to seek counsel. Certainly we pray. And lastly, of course, we do leave room for providence, but providence is different than a fleece. And that's the way my life has been.
That's the way yours has been. A string of providences. But we see it only when we look back. I want you to know today that I have made decisions which at the time appeared to be perfectly inconsequential.
And I look back now and they were absolutely critical in a whole chain of events, which I can't foresee. But you make decisions in faith. You do not persistently do nothing while you're finding this elusive will of God. Whatever thy hand findeth to do, you do it. And you do leave room for the providence of God, because there are times when when things come together in such a way that we can see, not clouds in a sky that have various interpretations, but where we can begin to see that there's a pattern developing here and God begins to lead us.
But my point to you is simply this. That if we follow the Lord in those matters that he has revealed to us in the word by the spirit, that's where you put the spirit is when we talk about our desires, we're acting in faith, we're seeking counsel. If we follow God, God will guide us. He will guide us.
I can only talk from experience here. There have been times I've wanted to do something and just as clearly as anything, God just closed the door and would not let me do it. And you can talk about those times too, can't you? You know what our problem is? Oftentimes we don't really want God's will. I often ask those who have been very unhappily married, this has to be asked sensitively and in the right context, but did you really seek God about this marriage? No, not really. Because I was scared that if I presented this decision to God, he might say no and I didn't want to take the risk.
Bad idea. Let me ask you a question today. We're still informal, aren't we? Who knows more, you or God? Think he maybe knows better than you as to what the good plan is? I think so. I think we should give him that credit. So we move ahead. We don't spend the rest of our lives looking for a sign. We say this is God's will. This is where we walk and we trust and that's the key idea because remember signs are always a result of doubt, never of faith. We trust God to guide us and we keep making decisions in faith and one door opens and another closes, but another opens and on and on we go, rejoicing in every circumstance, giving thanks to God and being filled with his spirit. God will guide us.
Now there's some of you here who have never trusted Christ as savior and I know what some of you may be saying. If there's a God and if Christianity is true, then I want some sign. My wife worked for a man who said, well, if when I die I'm standing before God, I'm going to look him in the eye and say, where have you been? I want to tell you today, you're not going to get your sign just so that you know it's not coming.
Oh, God may do some providential thing, but by and large, that's not the way God works. But Jesus said, a wicked generation seeks for a sign, but there will be no sign given them except the sign of the prophet Jonah, who is three days in the belly of the fish. And in the very same way, the son of man shall be three days in the heart of the earth.
And then he rises again. There is enough information about Christ and the confirming power of the Holy Spirit and the word for you to believe right now. And that's what I urge you to do. God loves to guide us. I believe that. I believe that he's not playing games with us, wants us to use sound judgment and move on through being able to look him in the eye and to say, for this cause was I born, for this cause came I into the world. And to know that you are doing his will.
Let's pray. Our Father today, we ask that you shall give clarity. We pray today, Father, that you will help all of our doubts and all of our questions about your leading to be laid at your feet. Create within us desires, passions that match where you're leading us. Give some people a passion for missionary work. Give some a passion to preach the gospel, but also Lord God, give some a passion to be a godly influence as an airplane pilot or as a banker or as a caretaker.
We pray that you might birth in us that what you want to do through us, that we might have the satisfaction of knowing I live to do thy will. Oh God, why don't you just talk to the Lord now? Why don't you give him all of the questions that you have brought to the table today? If you can, and it's difficult to do in a few moments, but if you can transfer it to his responsibility and ask him to show you through these five principles that you can keep moving forward, forward, forward, and he does guide.
Would you talk to him? If you've never received Christ as Savior, you can receive him even where you are seated. Believe on him and be saved. Father, I really do believe that there's nothing that we more earnestly desire. At least I'm speaking for myself and probably for virtually everyone here than to know your will. And you've revealed it to us, Father, and now you want us to trust you with our lives, with our futures, with our decisions. Oh, grandfather, a sense of faith and clarity and joy in saying I do thy will, oh God. Oh, do that, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You know, one of my favorite songs is, God Leads His Dear Children Along.
That's certainly the story of my life. And I'm holding in my hands a letter from someone, one of our listeners who says, I so much appreciate the ministry of running to win. I have left the business world a few years back to be full time in ministry. So God sometimes leads us in various ways and you may be in business and he may want you to continue to be in business, but sometimes he leads us directly in other directions for his glory. So my point is simply, let's be open to the possibility of God directing us because he loves to do that. While we here at Running to Win, we commit this ministry to the Lord because we believe that there are people just like you who pray for us and that of course is most important. I know that there are many opportunities that all of us have to give toward various ministries, but would you prayerfully consider running to win?
During this month of August, any gift that you give will be doubled. Here's what you can do. Go to rtwoffer.com. That's rtwoffer.com or pick up the phone and call us at 1-888-218-9337. When you contribute to this ministry in my mind, I think of you as joining the family of running to win.
Simply go to rtwoffer.com and thanks in advance for helping us. You can write to us at Running to Win, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60614. Running to Win is all about helping you find God's roadmap for your race of life. Pastor Erwin Lutzer has concluded a message on trying to read God's mind, the fifth of 12 on the topic we've been down this road before, taken from the book of Judges. Next time, we'll learn some lessons on how God wins battles. Thanks for listening. For Pastor Erwin Lutzer, this is Dave McAllister. Running to Win is sponsored by the Moody Church.
