1) - Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth..." Psalm 135:6

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1 The Will of God Lesson 3 Review: Sovereign Will of God This facet of God s will comes out of the recognition of God s sovereignty and focuses on the fact that God sovereignly ordains everything that comes to pass. There is nothing that happens that is outside of God s sovereign will. 1. Job 42:2, "I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. 2. This view of God s will is based on the fact that, because God is sovereign, His will can never be frustrated, unfulfilled, unsatisfied. 3. Nothing happens that is beyond His control. 1) - Whatever the Lord pleases He does, in heaven and in earth..." Psalm 135:6 Revealed Will of God - Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Ps. 119:105). The revealed will of God is that which God has declared for us in His Word. And everything that He has revealed is profitable for instruction and correction that the man of God might be adequately equipped for every good work. The Four Forms of God's Will 1) Design Will -- this is God's will as expressed in the ways He ordained that the universe and its life forms will function. 2) Moral Will -- this is God's will for human conduct, as expressed in the Bible 3) Permissive Will -- this is God's will whereby He usually permits humans and angels to make moral choices, even when such choices run contrary to His moral will. 4) Plan of the Ages -- this is God's will for the ultimate destiny of the universe, angels, and people The Intentional Will of God We see the intent of God in his desire for people to be saved. The parable of the lost sheep in Matthew 18 ends with this statement, In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.

2 1) It is not God s intent that any should be lost 2) he is not willing. Yet there are people lost every day. 3) Why? God did something in creation that had a bearing on the outcome of His intent. He gave mankind choice what is often called free will. 4) It was God s intent that Adam and Eve not eat from one tree, but he gave them the choice. 5) They chose to go against the intent of God. In order to allow mankind to have free will God chose to limit His intentional will. Men and women are allowed to choose even when it is against God s intent. Our God is omnipotent and He can do anything He chooses. 1) He can even limit the intentional nature of His will to allow us to have choice. 2) Does that make Him less than perfect? No, he is more perfect since He can shape His ultimate will to include our free choice. 3) Because of the fall of man, sin is in the world. 4) Sin and free will leads us outside the intentional will of God. In God s ultimate plan He made a provision to correct our walking outside His intentional will. 1) God brought salvation and new life through the gift of His son Jesus Christ. 2) Redemption takes the person outside the will of God and brings him or her back into the will of God. 3) Even now as Christians when we fall it is the grace of God that picks us up to new beginnings. 4) As redeemed people we desire to know the intentional will of God. a. We practice spiritual disciplines and obedience to follow God s intent. b. We do this out of love and thanksgiving. c. God s intentional will is for our best. It is what Romans 12:2 calls his good, pleasing and perfect will. God is glorified when we choose His intentional will.

3 The Story of Joseph Joseph father's name is Jacob, and they lived in Canaan from where his grandfather was from. God s intentional Will 1) Genesis 12:1 3 (NKJV) 12 Now the LORD had said to Abram: Get out of your country, From your family And from your father s house, To a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. 2) Genesis 26:24 (NKJV) And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, I am the God of your father Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for My servant Abraham s sake. 3) Genesis 35:10 12 (NKJV) 10 And God said to him, Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name. So He called his name Israel. 11 Also God said to him: I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body. 12 The land which I gave Abraham and Isaac I give to you; and to your descendants after you I give this land. Joseph was seventeen and he had eleven brothers; Because Joseph was one of the youngest sons, his father spent more time with him, and he became very special to him. 1) So Jacob had a special robe made for Joseph. 2) All of Joseph's older brothers saw this and they got very jealous. 3) Joseph's brothers disliked him because they thought his father liked him more, and because he got the special coat. One day Joseph had a dream, and he went to go tell his brothers. 1) He said, Last night I had a strange dream. 2) We were tying up bunches of grain out in the field when suddenly my bunch stood up, while all of yours gathered around and bowed to me." 3) The brothers looked at each other in disgust, but Joseph continued. 4) Then I had another dream that the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed down to me."

4 5) "Who do you think you are?" The brothers said. "Do you think that you are better than all of us? Do you think that we would ever bow down to you?" This made the brothers dislike Joseph even more. Then Joseph told his father about his dreams and he rebuked him. 1) A few days later Joseph's father asked him to check on his brothers. They were in the fields quite a distance away. 2) So Joseph went to find them. 3) When the brothers saw Joseph in the distance, they made a plan to kill him. a. But when Reuben, Joseph's oldest brother heard this he said, "Let's not kill him, just throw him in a well out here in the field." b. He said this because he was secretly planning to come back and rescue Joseph when the other brothers had left. So when Joseph came to them, they took off his beautiful robe and they threw him in an empty well. 1) A little while later a group of people came traveling to Egypt. a. One of the brothers spoke up, "Why don't we sell him to these people, this way we never have to see him again, and we don't have to kill him." b. The other brothers liked this idea, so they sold him to the people who were going to Egypt. Unfortunately Reuben had been working and hadn't seen what happened. When he returned to the well he noticed that Joseph was gone. Joseph was later sold to an important man named Potiphar, an assistant to the Pharaoh of Egypt. 1) The rest of the brothers took Joseph's beautiful robe and dipped it in animal blood and took it back to their father. 2) They told Jacob that a wild animal had kill Joseph and eaten him. 3) When the father saw this he cried many days, and nobody could comfort him. Now Joseph had started out as a slave, but the Lord was with Joseph and He helped him do everything right. 1) Potiphar made him his helper, and put him in charge of everything that he owned. 2) Potipher s wife wanted to sleep with Joseph but Joseph refused her

5 3) She did this for many day and one day caught him alone 4) When he refused to lie with her she tried to force him and he ran leaving his coat. 5) Potiphar's wife lied to her husband about Joseph, so Potiphar had Joseph put into jail. The Lord was still with Joseph in jail, and the warden put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners. He never worried because the Lord was with Joseph and helped him do everything right. 1) After Joseph had been in jail for some time a cupbearer and baker to Pharaoh had been sent there. 2) One night each of them had a dream. They told their dreams to Joseph and he told the cupbearer that he would soon be let out of jail. "Please tell Pharaoh about me, and ask him to get me out of here." Joseph said. 3) When the cupbearer was freed he forgot about what Joseph did. So Joseph stayed in jail for two more years. 4) One day the Pharaoh had a dream, and nobody could explain it to him. The cupbearer then remembered what Joseph had done for him, and Joseph was brought to Pharaoh. "Can you understand dreams?" Pharaoh asked. "I can't, but God helps me." 1) After Pharaoh had told him his dream Joseph interprets Pharaoh s dreams that warns Pharaoh of a great famine that is coming upon the land. 2) Pharaoh asked Joseph, "What can I do 3) God has shown you what to do Joseph explains, a. There will be seven years before the bad years that will be very good. b. So good that there will be extra food for everyone. S c. o you should save a little bit of each years harvest, that way you will have enough to get you through the bad years." Joseph said. d. Pharaoh believed all that Joseph told him, and put him in charge of all the land of Egypt. People came from all countries to buy grain from Joseph, because the whole world was in need of food. Some of those people were Joseph's brothers. When his brothers came, Joseph recognized them, but they did not know who he was. (It had been over 10 years since they had seen him).

6 1) The brothers all bowed to him because he was an important person. Just as he dreamed they would at the beginning. 2) After a few meetings with his brothers he could not keep it in any longer and Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father alive?" 3) But his brothers couldn't answer him because they were afraid. Then Joseph said, "Come here. I am your brother, the one you sold! a. Do not worry, and do not be angry at yourselves for selling me, b. God has put me here to save people from starving." So his father, his brothers, and their families came to live in Egypt with Joseph, and they had all the food they needed. It was God s intent for Israel to be saved, prosperous and multiply. He fulfilled His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and not Jacob. God Intent: Genesis 1:28 (NKJV) Then God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV) 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.