Sermon Cloud

• The time has come for you to leave uni. – how do you, / parents / G-parents decide what to do next? 
• Do you look for “signs”?
• What about choosing where to live?  How will God show you?  Do you put a pin in your bible and find the verse “Go down to Egypt”?  Or do you just say, “I have no money – so I’ll live at home”
• As well as believing that God guides you, you also believe that somehow he is Sovereign in this world – he is in control of all things.  How does his Sovereign control fit together with your choices?
• Do you ever ask:  I wonder what God’s will is for my life?
• Do you ever think: How would I know the voice of God if he should actually speak to me?

Guidance is a regular topic amongst Christians – we want to know how & where God is urging us, moving us and directing us. And its not surprising that we want direction – cos life is full of decisions.

Yet every decision has its repercussions – some we can see; others are quite unexpected.  Every decision has consequences.  Take some of the big ones: who we marry, what job we take. They affect many, many things.  Because we aren’t God, we don’t know how it will work out. And we are not in complete control of the outcome.  Making such decisions is hard.

How then can we get help from God. How do we find out his will?

The Good News is that God has great plans and that he is Sovereign in the world - he knows all things, and he rules over all things.

How do we know God is Sovereign?

1. The bible tells us; history shows it; the Jewish people sang about it.

Psalm 113 and 135. Here is God over all, but in control over all things. His concern is for his people, to ensure their salvation.  He has power over the nations, and makes his name great.

Just because he is sovereign, we shouldn’t think therefore that we have no say. We too have a part to play.  God’s sovereignty and our human responsibility show themselves brilliantly at the cross.

2. The cross demonstrates it

People took Jesus to the cross to get him executed, but at the same time God was working out his purposes through human stupidity. See Acts 2:23. Indeed he ensured that he would be victorious. The fact that the cross was part of the plan in no way lessons the culpability of those who engineered it

Divine Sovereignty and human responsibility go together

When Paul writes to the Romans, he bursts into praise: Rom 11:34-6 God holds all things together – no-one else does. That’s why we trust him and live for him; that’s why he’s worthy of our praise.

At the same time, we discover responsibilities laid on the believer 12:1 – we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices. God doesn’t do this for us – WE are to do it

When we say God is sovereign, we are NOT saying we humans have no role, no part to play.  Not at all – we are fully responsible for our actions, for acting in line with what God requires.  We must never duck our human responsibility.  Some people want to call this “free will” – I suggest that’s a very unhelpful term.  For our wills are not TOTALLY free – they are bound as Luther put it – bound in sin; drawn to sin more naturally than to God.  We are not so free that we can do whatever we like – we are limited by our personality, by our history, by the place we live.  Within those boundaries – we have freedom to choose.   Divine Sovereignty and human responsibility go together

Now there is another truth:  God also guides his people

Psalm 23 speaks of God as a Shepherd. Look at His qualities: he leads me, restores me, guides me.  It is a brilliant truth that the God of the universe enters into a personal friendship with you and me.  Jesus calls himself the Good Shepherd – look at Jn 10:27. What are we the sheep meant to do? – to listen to him, to follow him. The shepherd has a long crook and a stick – he pulls the sheep back into line, and hits them if they’re being too silly! He’s constantly giving them a prod in the right direction.

God not only PRODS, but he has PLANS for his people. His plan was to send his son to rescue us – Gal 4:4. His plan was to redeem us, Eph 1:5.  We are chosen to be holy & blameless, 4

And to come under Christ, 10. We are created by God as Eph 2:10 puts it, to do good works.

Our correct response to the gospel is always repentance and faith. We are to walk through life under Christ’s control. God has “guided” us towards the gospel and towards a correct response.

We can see this as we look back. We know WHERE we are going – to heaven; and we know God will get us there. God has “guided” towards the gospel and towards a correct response. But the day-by-day details are not given in advance.

God gives us general principles to live by – and within those we are free to choose.  The Bible says very little about “personal guidance”. Here are some big principles:

1. God, as Sovereign in the world, uses everything to guide is in right paths
2. God speaks to us through Christ – this is the high point of all he has to say. Heb 1:1ff
3. God speaks to us today by his Son through the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures.

It is this regular intake of Scripture that keeps us on the right track. 

How will God guide me? By talking to me. 

How do I hear his voice? By reading the Bible. The scriptures teach, rebuke, correct and train me in the right way to live. See 2 Tim 3:16.

Now you may say – I’m happy with the Bible in general terms of guidance.  But it doesn’t tell me who to marry, or what options to study, or what job to take - shouldn’t I look for other forms of guidance? But God has given us everything we need to know for life and godliness in the scriptures, 2 Peter 1:3

What we need to do is to apply the Scriptures – and that requires “godly wisdom”. The Bible shows us two sorts of wisdom – “the wisdom of the world” and God’s wisdom, 1 Cor 1:20, 3:19.  Human wisdom sees things ONLY through human eyes – godly wisdom puts on the lens of Scripture which has the cross at the centre.

The aim is to use good judgement in the decisions we make. If the Scriptures do not give a clear way to go – then we are free to choose, and neither way is right/wrong.

Example: 1. You are about to leave Uni. – where do you choose to live?

1. There is no right/wrong area – cos God hasn’t said that in Scripture
2. We use good judgement – look for accommodation in the affordable price-range and in an area we like/where we can serve God
3. We might choose to move back home cos it is cheaper, and will help us get out of debt quicker
4. We might choose an area where we are more likely to get work – or where our travel time is less
5. Choose a place where the local church is really good – great teaching and warm fellowship.

We have used the best “wisdom” available from the Scriptures

To ask the question:  “what is God’s will?” is to ask the wrong question.  God hasn’t revealed his will to us on this matter.

What if we make a BAD judgement? Will we have to suffer consequences?  The aim is always to make the best judgement we can – but if it is a poor one, we must ask God to help us out of it. If there are consequences from a bad choice, then we ask God to teach us greater wisdom, and try to make better decisions in future.  We often learn best from our mistakes.

Although God doesn’t bale us out of our own silly mistakes, he always ensures that we will be truly saved. As believers he will not let us be lost; we can always call on his help and learn his ways. Some lessons are a bit painful to learn – but we can never fall out of his eternal protection.

God’s guidance is not like a detailed map – more like a compass. We are not given every detail for every decision. God gives us the general directions and we make good judgements and wise decisions. The compass is the Bible.

2. You want to get married, how do you choose a partner?

You can work that out for yourself

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Pray: Proverbs 21:1 “The kings heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases”  Our father we thank you that you run this world – and that we don’t.  Thank you too that we are not merely puppets but real people made in your image.  Please help us to know how we should life by reading all that you tell us in the Scriptures.  Prevent us from merely doing our own thing by failing to act on what you say. We are extremely privileged to be allowed to make decisions and choose so much – help us to do so wisely wee pray – for your glory we ask.  Amen.