As believers in Christ, we need to do the will of God in the kingdom of God; because the whole world is systematized by Satan to be an anti-God world system, we need to run to the Triune God and His word, and we need to flee the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the vainglory of life, so that we may do the will of God!
This week in our morning revival we come to the topic of, Doing the Will of God in the Kingdom of God under the Government of God for the Church as the Israel of God.
We need to do the will of God and we need to understand what it means to say that we are doing the will of God.
Then, we need to see the intrinsic, inseparable connection between the will of God and the kingdom of God; these two are inseparable.
We will see then that, in one sense, the kingdom of God is the will of God, and the will of God is the kingdom of God; yet we will also see that the kingdom of God is a realm in which we do the will of God.
We do the will of God in the kingdom of God, and the kingdom of God has a central government; the realm of the kingdom is not the government, but rather, there’s a governing center is the throne on which Christ sits.
Hallelujah, right now, at this very moment, the resurrected, glorified, enthroned Son of Man Jesus Christ is Lord of all, sitting on the throne in the kingdom of God, ruling over all things!
When we do the will of God in the kingdom of God under the government of God, we can see that the goal is a particular aspect of the church – the church as the Israel of God.
The church as the Israel of God fulfills the second commission in Gen. 1:26-28, that is, to subdue the earth and exercise dominion on earth to represent God with His authority.
The church has many aspects, and the church is an organism, the very Body of Christ; but the church as the Israel of God is the means by which God carries out His government, He accomplishes His will, He deals with His enemy, and He fulfulls His purpose.
All these are about to take place when we do the will of God in the kingdom of God.
The Lord Jesus came down from heaven not to do His own will but the will of Him who sent Him; what does this involve?
Firstly, this involves that our will must be in harmony with God and His will; certain aspects of the Lord’s will will cross out our feelings, concepts, and aspects of our natural life.
On our end, we need to give the Lord access to our will; we are not robots but rather, we have a measure of freedom to obey or disobey the Lord, to do and not to do the will of God.
And the will if God is not His will for ME or for US; it is the will of God for GOD, for what He wants to do, so we need to do God’s will for the sake of God’s heart’s desire, His purpose, and His kingdom.
Amen, may we learn from the Lord Jesus to do the will of God by having our will tuned to God’s will, in harmony with God’s will, and one with God’s will!
Seeing that the World is the Anti-God System of Satan to Usurp us and Distract us from God and His purpose
1 John 2:15-17 tells us that we should not love the world or the things in the world, for whoever loves the word, love for the Father is not in him; rather, the world and its lust is passing away, but he who does the will of God abides forever.
What is the world here? On one hand God so loved the world (John 3:16), but on the other hand, the world is something evil.
The world spoken of in John 3:16 is the fallen mankind, the totality of all men who live on earth; God loves all men.
However, in 1 John 2:15 we should not love the world – here the world is the enemy of God, and its lust opposes the will of God, so both the world and its lust will pass away.
God and His will are eternal, so those who love God and do the will of God will abide forever.
The world in 1 John 2:15 refers to the cosmos, the anti-God world system formed by Satan. Satan has “systematized” every thing, every one, and every matter on earth to make it part of his world system.
It is an order, a set form, an orderly arrangement set up by Satan, the adversary of God, to distract man from God and from His will, and to usurp man from being for God and His purpose.
God created man to live on earth for the fulfillment of His purpose, but Satan, God’s enemy, came to usurp the God-create man by forming an anti-God world system on earth.
Satan systematizes man with religion, culture, education, industry, commerce, entertainment, etc through men’s fallen nature, in their lusts, pleasures, and pursuits.
And if some people are not led by their lusts or sinful nature, Satan uses the indulgence in the necessities for their daily living such as food, clothing, housing, and transportation, to systematize them and keep them away from God.
Just think about it: we all need food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, but Satan has used these necessities to keep us away from God and distract us from His purpose.
Now Satan has man focusing on these necessities to the uttermost, or in indulging in these necessities, so that man would be away from God.
For example, we may need a car for transportation, but the lust of our flesh may desire a particular kind of car, a particular color, and a particular model; this will also make us boast before others when they see our car.
Similarly with food, we need to eat, but the lust of the flesh is for us to eat particular expensive food, a particular style of food, and only in particular restaurants.
The problem is not with the car or with the food, but with the lust of the eyes, the vainglory of life, and the lust of the flesh.
The contents of Satan’s system are the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the vainglory of this present life.
We do need to have a house, but having a bigger and more expensive house that will make us proud and will cause us to boast to others is something that Satan uses to keep us away from God and His will.
We may need a car, but having an expensive and flashy car, a car that others admire and lust after, will cause us to be distracted from loving the Lord and His purpose.
Some people not only play sports for recreation: they think about sports, they consider things related to sports, and they are obsessed with a particular sport.
Some people not only have a car, but they think about a certain car day and night, they desire to have a particular car, and they consider the car and even dream about it. Oh Lord!
Our eyes are always hungry: they always want to look at things, enjoy things, even if we do “window-shopping” we “eat” of the world and we’re “systematized” by Satan if we don’t do this one with the Lord.
The whole entertainment system, the social media websites and apps, the smartphone we have in our pocket and in our hand, our laptop or computer, the TV, and all the screens – all are designed in such a way that they would fulfill the lust of the eyes and cause you to lust even more.
We need to have clothes to cover ourselves, and we need to have a roof over our head, but lusting after fashionable clothes and designer garments, and desiring to have a bigger and more modern house to fulfill the lust of our flesh is part of the systematizing of Satan. Oh Lord!
May the Lord really shine on us and expose this world system that Satan has invented to keep people away from God and His purpose, and may we come back to the Triune God – even run to the Triune God – and to His word so that we may love God and do the will of God!
It all starts with a seeing: if we see that the world is the anti-God world system of Satan, we will run to the Triune God and enjoy Him, and we will be in the word of God!
May the Lord shine on us and the things related to us, and may He have a way to expose in us the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life, so that we may be saved from loving the world and love the Father and do His will!
Lord Jesus, shine on us concerning the world and how Satan systematizes us through the world to usurp us and distract us from God and His purpose. May we realize how much Satan has a grip on us through the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the vainglory of life, and may we come back to You in Your word! Lord Jesus, we give ourselves with all our needs to You: You know what we need, You know our necessities, You know what we should have, wear, drive, and own. Save us from the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life. We want to run to the Triune God in His word to be filled with love for the Father and to do the will of God!
We Escape the anti-God World System of Satan as we Run to the Triune God and His Word
How do we escape the anti-God world system all around us? Should we do like the monks do, isolate ourselves from the world, live a frugal life, and cut ourselves from anything that the world has to offer?
Should we move to the countryside and live without any commodities of the modern life, putting away technology, dressing poorly, and eating what we produce from laboring on the land?
The Lord in His word doesn’t tell us to take such “radical measures” to escape from the world with its lust, but the Word does warn us of what the world is and how he who loves the world will pass away but he who does the will of God will abide forever.
As we see that all things in the world can be used by Satan, the ruler of this world, to usurp us and distract us from God, we need to run to the Triune God and go to the word of God so that we may be sanctified, love God, and do the will of God.
We do need all kinds of things for our human existence, and we do need to be informed and take care of our clothes, house, car, smartphone, and all kinds of things; however, we need to be one with God as we use these things, and we need to love God even in the midst of all these.
The world is against the Father (1 John 2:15), the devil is against the Son (3:8), and the flesh is against the Spirit (Gal. 5:17).
So we have a Divine Trinity – the Father, the Son, and the Spirit – and there is also an evil trinity – the world, Satan, and the flesh.
If we run to the Triune God and His word and enjoy the Divine Trinity, we shall have nothing to do with the evil trinity.
The world is against the Father, and the things of the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the vainglory of life – are against the will of God.
If we love the world, we cannot love the Father, and if we are in the lust of the world, we cannot do the will of God.
So the apostle John encourages us to do the will of God, which is to practice God’s will, do the will of God habitually and continually.
The Greek verb for “does” in 1 John 2:17 denotes doing (things) habitually and continually by abiding (in the things).
For us to escape the anti-God world system of Satan we need to run to the Triune God and His word, abide habitually and continually in the Lord and in His word, and do the will of God habitually.
This may mean that, even though we may buy a car, our lust is not aroused and we do not have the vain glory of life in driving, using, and taking care of our car.
Rather, we love the Father and do the will of God, and in our intimate fellowship with the Father we open to Him concerning any lust or vainglory, He deals with these, and we love Him more instead of being usurped by these things.
May we be those who practice the will of God by doing the will of God habitually and continually, and may we run to the Triune God to enjoy Him and do His will instead of allowing the things of the world with their lust to have a hold on us!
Lord Jesus, we choose to run to the Triune God and to His word again and again so that we may be filled with love for the Father and habitually and continually do His will! Amen, Lord, we run from the anti-God system of Satan – the world – and we seek to love God, love His word, and do the will of God! We want to use all these necessities of life by loving God and His word, and we want to stay close to the Lord in doing all the things of our daily life. Make us those who practice the will of God by doing the will of God habitually and continually!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of 1 John, msg. 20 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Will of God (2020 spring ITERO), week 6, Doing the Will of God in the Kingdom of God under the Government of God for the Church as the Israel of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
– We, once dead in our offences, / Walking in the worldly course, / Lusts of flesh and mind fulfilling, / Satan and his hosts their source, / God with Christ has resurrected, / Seated in the heavenlies; / We, His masterpiece, created / In Christ Jesus, Him to please. (Hymns #823)
– Thy word is sweet unto my taste, / Yea, sweeter more than honey. / It says to watch and pray that you / May not enter into temptation. / But flee youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, / faith, love, and peace. / Whatever you do, / do in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. / And pursue with those, / Those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (Scripture song)
– What should our posture be today / In such a desperate hour? / Should we our ease and pleasure seek / And let the foe devour? / Or with increasing conflict strong, / Courageous to endure? / ’Tis here that life or death is won! / Who will God’s praise secure? (Hymns #887)
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