The
Only Way to Know His Will - 1.
November 4th, 2014, Kichijouji Bible
Study
Gotthold Beck
Romans
8:12 Consequently, brothers, we are
not―with respect to human nature, that is―under an obligation to
live according to human nature.
8:13 For if you live according to human
nature, you are going to die, but if by the Spirit you continually
put to death the activities of the body, you will live.
8:14 For all who are led by God’s
Spirit are God’s children.
8:15 For you have not received a spirit
of slavery that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received
the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with
our spirit that we are God’s children.
8:17 Now if we are children, we are
heirs―heirs of God and co-heirs with the Messiah―if, in fact, we
share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
8:26 In the same way, the Spirit also
helps us in our weakness, since we do not know how to pray as we
should. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans too deep
for words,
8:27 and the one who searches our
hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, for the Spirit intercedes for
the saints according to God’s will.
8:28 And we know that for those who
love God, that is, for those who are called according to his purpose,
all things are working together for good.
8:29 For those whom he foreknew he also
predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that
the Son might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Philippians
1:9 And this is my prayer, that your
love will keep on growing more and more with full knowledge and
insight,
1:10 so that you may be able to choose
what is best and be pure and blameless until the day when the Messiah
returns,
1:11 having been filled with the fruit
of righteousness that comes through Jesus the Messiah so that God
will be glorified and praised.
Colossians
1:9 For this reason, since the day we
heard about this, we have not stopped praying for you and asking that
you may be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will with
respect to all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
1:10 so that you might live in a manner
worthy of the Lord and be fully pleasing to him as you bear fruit
while doing all kinds of good things and growing in the full
knowledge of God.
1:11 You are being strengthened with
all power according to his glorious might, so that you might
patiently endure everything with joy
1:12 and might thank the Father, who
has enabled us to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light.
Ephesians
3:16 I pray that he would give you,
according to his glorious riches, strength in your inner being and
power through his Spirit,
3:17 and that the Messiah would make
his home in your hearts through faith. Then, having been rooted and
grounded in love,
3:18 you will be able to understand,
along with all the saints, what is wide, long, high, and deep―
3:19 that is, you will know the love of
the Messiah― which transcends knowledge, and will be filled with
all the fullness of God.
Unfortunately, I can't stay until the end of this
meeting today. I am not skipping out but I have to go to the hospital
to take some radiation treatment. I believe it will continue until
December 14th.
For the subject today, I would like to discuss
with you, “the way to understand the intention of the Lord.” It
revolves around how we understand what the Lord wants from us. To
come right to the point, the intention of our Lord God can be
understood through nobody but the Spirit of God, and by nothing but
the work of the Holy Spirit.
Those who desire to understand the Lord's will
need to live according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. For this
reason, we first need to know how to live such a life, being led by
the Holy Spirit. Two things are required. We first need to be ready
to listen to his words, and then we need to be ready to obey his
words.
David, the author of a lot of the Psalms prayed.
He desired from his heart. Here is his extremely important prayer. I
believe that we, too, should pray this way everyday:
Psalms
143:10 Teach me to do your will, for
you are my God. Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
Teach me. Lead me. So prayed David, who pleased
the Lord. This prayer of David should be our prayer, too. The Bible
says that David fulfilled the intention of the Lord.
We, too, want to be someone who please the Lord,
don't we? However, to fulfill the intention of the Lord, we
definitely need to understand the life led by the Holy Spirit. So, we
should offer this prayer of David in front of the Lord today from the
bottom of our hearts; “Let your good Spirit lead me on level
ground.”
David mentioned in the Psalm we just read, “for
you are my God.” To receive the precious guidance of the Holy
Spirit, we first need to be newly reborn, belong to the Lord, and
have his Spirit inside. The attitude of David toward the Lord was
always, “Lord, please teach me.”
Those who pray this way will receive his blessing.
Whoever begs to teach in front of the Lord this way, will never fail
to receive an abundant blessing. The man who had been blind since he
was born begged Jesus for teachings. When he asked, “who is he,
sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him,” Jesus revealed himself
to that man.
John
9:37 Jesus told him, “You have seen
him. He is the person who is talking with you.”
9:38 He said, “Lord, I do believe,”
and worshiped him.
He prayed. He worshiped. The Ethiopian eunuch did
the same. When he was taught by Philip and sought help, saying, “How
can I unless someone guides me,” the eunuch obtained the salvation
and continued his trip filled with joy according to the Bible. Let us
look it up from the wonderful chapter 8 of the Acts of the Apostles.
Acts
8:26 Now an angel of the Lord told
Philip, “Get up and go south on the road that leads from Jerusalem
to Gaza. This is a deserted road.”
8:27 So he got up and went. Now there
was an Ethiopian eunuch, who was a member of the court of Candace,
queen of the Ethiopians. He was in charge of all her treasures and
had come up to Jerusalem to worship.
8:28 Now he was returning home, seated
in his chariot, and reading from the prophet Isaiah.
8:29 The Spirit told Philip, “Approach
that chariot and stay near it.”
It is beyond our imagination. He traveled from
Africa to Jerusalem to worship. Although it is not explained
specifically in the Bible, I believe that he was so disappointed
because, while Jewish people were allowed to listen to the words of
God in the Holy temple, being a Gentile, he must have been rejected
from entering the temple.
However, he was rich enough to buy the Book of
Isaiah. Today, anyone can buy the Bible. Actually, they can get a
free copy at Kichijouji. However, it was never that easy in those
days. Books were not printed, but were copied by hand, and thus, they
were only affordable for very wealthy people. He could purchase the
book, anyway, and read it on his way back.
8:30 So Philip ran up to it and heard
him reading the prophet Isaiah out loud. Philip asked, “Do you
understand what you’re reading?”
8:31 The man replied, “How can I
unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit
with him.
It was a kind of hired cab for him.
8:32 This was the passage of Scripture
he was reading: “Like a sheep he was led away to be slaughtered,
and like a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his
mouth.
8:33 In his humiliation, justice was
denied him. Who can describe his descendants? For his life is taken
away from the earth.”
8:34 The eunuch asked Philip, “I ask
you, who is the prophet talking about? Himself? Or someone else?”
8:35 Then Philip began to speak, and,
starting from this Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus.
8:36 As they were going along the road,
they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, there’s some
water. What keeps me from being baptized?”
Why don't you testify the faith you were just
given?
8:38 So he ordered the chariot to stop,
and Philip and the eunuch both went down into the water, and Philip
baptized him.
8:39 When they came up out of the
water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch went
on his way rejoicing and did not see Philip again.
8:40 But Philip found himself at
Azotus. As he was passing through that region, he kept proclaiming
the good news in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
He kept proclaiming the good news; in other words,
he introduced Jesus to people. This Ethiopian not only had an ear to
listen to the words of the Lord, he was also ready to accept and obey
all of the words of God.
After Paul had made a remarkable repentance, he
asked, “Lord, what must I do?” When he humbled himself in front
of the Lord and asked this question, the Lord clearly showed him the
way to proceed.
Acts
16:6 6 Because they had been prevented
by the Holy Spirit from speaking the word in Asia, Paul and Timothy
went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia.
When the jailer begged for teaching from Paul and
Silas saying, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved,” in trembling
and in fear, he was given these amazing words of salvation, “Believe
on the Lord Jesus, and you and your family will be saved.”
These are unimaginably wonderful words of God. In
those days when the New Testament was being written, the meaning of
the word “family” was quite different from what we consider
today. While a “family” today refers to those who are connected
by ties of blood, it was not so those days. The “family” included
all relatives and acquaintances. This makes us realize the importance
of thanking God for our family members, relatives, and all unsaved
people we know.
All of these people I mentioned above were
prepared to listen to the words of the Lord. Furthermore, they were
ready to obey the Lord. They had flexible hearts, which made it easy
for them to obey the Lord. It is clearly promised in the Bible that
we all will be guided by the Holy Spirit. The people of Israel
actually experienced it.
Exodus
40:34 The cloud covered the Tent of
Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tent.
40:35 Moses was not able to enter the
Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of
the Lord filled the tent.
40:36 Whenever the cloud was lifted up
from the tent, the Israelis would set out on their journey,
40:37 but if the cloud was not lifted
up, they would not set out until it was lifted up.
40:38 For the cloud of the Lord was
over the tent by day, and the fire was in it by night, in the sight
of all the house of Israel in all their journeys.
These people of Israel had a magnificent
experience. David, too, experienced this guidance. It was what he
prayed for and desired. We can see this wonderful promise in this
famous Psalm 32, verse 8:
Psalms
32:8 I will instruct you and teach you
concerning the path you should walk; I will direct you with my eye.
Jesus also explained the guidance of the Holy
Spirit.
John
16:13 Yet when the Spirit of Truth
comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own
accord, but will speak whatever he hears and will declare to you the
things that are to come.
16:14 He will glorify me.
When the people of Israel traveled across the
wilderness, the Lord led them with the pillar of the cloud and the
pillar of fire. Likewise, all the saved people are given this
wonderful privilege of receiving the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Romans
8:14 For all who are led by God’s
Spirit are God’s children.
The destination of the Holy Spirit, when he led
the people of Israel was fertile land of Canaan. The Holy Spirit
always leads us with one definite objective.
Psalms
78:53 He led them to safety so they
would not fear. As for their enemies, the sea covered them.
107:7 He led them in a straight way to
find a city where they could live.
When the people of Israel wandered in the
wilderness, many incidents occurred to them. As we can see from the
ordeals they had to go through, they were not led to the destination
peacefully. Still, the Holy Spirit lets them reach the land of Canaan
at the end. It makes us convinced that the Holy Spirit leads his
people securely, after all.
Likewise, we, too, ought to keep walking with our
eyes fixed on the destination to which the Holy Spirit is leading us.
The compassionate Holy Spirit leads us to the heavenly perfection and
spiritual satisfaction, to which we are transformed to the same image
of Jesus. When we are preoccupied with the problems and pains that
occur in our lives, just like the people of Israel did, we sometimes
wonder whether the Lord has forsaken us.
However, when we stop at some point of our lives
and look back to our past, we can't help but admit that disease,
agony, suffering, and all kinds of problems that we have gone through
were under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Until we reach the
destination the Holy Spirit is trying to take us, we will be
challenged by even more problems. Every time we suffer, we need to be
taught the intention of the Lord behind them.
We pray when we suffer. However, the result of the
prayer is not always clear. We experience it in our prayer meetings,
too. We meet to open the Bible, learn from the words of the Lord, and
pray without seeing any consequences. Why is that? It is because we
are not convinced that what we are about to pray is the intention of
the Lord.
This is why we say very often in our prayers, “if
you are willing, please do it this way and please make it that way.”
When people pray in this kind of state of mind, they won't get any
conviction even after the prayers. When someone asks them whether
their prayers are heard, they can only answer, “Well, that is what
we hope.” These kinds of prayers are neither encouraged in the
Bible, nor desired by the Lord.
What the Bible urges us to do is first to learn
the intention of the Lord, and then to offer faithful prayer with a
conviction that it is what the Lord wants. Elijah stood firm, being
convinced that he was following the Lord's will, and said these words
with authority. It was his wonderful testimony:
1 Kings
17:1 As the Lord God of Israel lives,
in whose presence I’m standing, there will be neither dew nor rain
these next several years, except when I say so.
Of course, it went exactly that way. It was a
remarkable conviction and confession of Elijah. The Lord is alive.
James
5:17 Elijah was a person just like us,
and he prayed earnestly for it not to rain, and rain never came to
the land for three years and six months.
18 Then he prayed again, and the skies
poured out rain, and the ground produced its crops.
As we can see from these verses, it was because
the prayer of Elijah was led by the Holy Spirit that it was heard and
answered. If we, too, want our prayers to reach the throne of heaven,
we need to offer prayer that is led by the Holy Spirit. What is
important is not just to pray, but to stand firm, being convinced of
the Lord's will before the prayer begins. The Holy Spirit is here to
give us this conviction. Let me read again these famous verses:
Romans
8:26 In the same way, the Spirit also
helps us in our weakness, since we do not know how to pray as we
should. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans too deep
for words,
8:27 and the one who searches our
hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, for the Spirit intercedes for
the saints according to God’s will.
The Holy Spirit is there to guide our prayers.
True prayer must be the prayer of the Holy Spirit that is prayed
through us. The Holy Spirit begins by teaching us the intention of
the Lord. It is not until this occurs on us that we are able to pray
with faith in Jesus, and we are given the conviction that our prayers
will absolutely be answered.
Lack of faith and conviction arises when we do not
understand the intention of the Lord. It was for this reason that
many prayers are left unanswered. We ought to wait and seek until we
clearly understand the intention of the Lord and move forward only
when we are certain of what the Lord wants from us. This was what
Moses did. The Lord spoke first, and then Moses acted, as commanded
by the Lord. Paul, too, first asked for the intention of the Lord,
and then obeyed the voice he heard. Let me read one more verse.
John
14:10 You believe, don’t you, that I
am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you
I do not speak on my own. It is the Father who dwells in me and who
carries out his work.
What we can see in here is that even Jesus obeyed
the words of his Father God, which were whispered in his heart. Jesus
was not moved by the voice actually he heard in his ears, or by the
incidents happening around him. The important thing is that the Holy
Spirit speaks directly to our spirits. We need to understand the
intention of the Lord and stand firm being convinced of it.
It is nobody but the Holy Spirit who can lead us.
There is no conflict at all between the Holy Spirit and words in the
Bible, but they totally match with each other. The Holy Spirit uses
the words of God as he talks to us. When we face problems, the Holy
Spirit picks up some words from the Bible, gives them a life and
casts them into our hearts.
The in-dwelling Holy Spirit gives life to the
words in the Bible and talks to us with them. Only the Holy Spirit
can lead us. This was the reason Paul wrote in Romans 8:16:
Romans
8:16 The Spirit himself testifies with
our spirit that we are God’s children.
These words - not only do they apply at the
beginning of our lives of faith, but they also remain true throughout
our lives. The Holy Spirit, who first testified the words of the
Lord, continues to lead us by talking inside us. True guidance can be
accomplished by no one but the in-dwelling Holy Spirit. Furthermore,
this guidance of the in-dwelling Spirit is not given only to specific
Christians, but it is a privilege granted to all brothers and sisters
who have been saved by the Lord.
みこころを知る道
2014年11月4日、吉祥寺学び会
ゴットホルド・ベック
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