God Gives Us The Desire and Ability to do His Will

The third, Hebrews 8 again, there are three things mentioned in Hebrews 8. One is that God will not remember our past anymore, first blessing of the new covenant, verse 12. Second, that we can know God as a father, and the Holy Spirit is the one who comes to make God as a father known to us, verse 11. And the third is, verse 10, this is the best part of it. Not the best, I mean, all three are good. Another part of it. I will, middle of verse 10, I'll put my law into their mind and I'll write them in their heart. Mind is up here, heart is here. The mind is what gives us instruction, the heart is what gives us ability. The mind gives us knowledge of what is God's will, the heart gives us the strength to do God's will. That's why the Holy Spirit doesn't fill my mind, He fills my heart, because the Holy Spirit comes not to give us instruction, but to give us power. And then we will understand also. So what the Lord is saying is, here's the third blessing of the new covenant. In the old covenant, there's no such promise. The old covenant is, thou shalt do this, thou shalt not do this. Thou shalt do this, thou shalt not do this. You know, the 10 commandments. And there was 613 commandments in Exodus to Deuteronomy. And it was only you shall do this and you shall not do this. And Lord, how shall we do it? No, no answer until Jesus came. And he said, John the Baptist said, when he comes, he will immerse you in the Holy Spirit and fire. Then you'll have the desire and ability to do God's will. So here, when he says, I put my law into your mind, it means he'll give you the desire to do God's will. The knowledge of God's will and the desire to do it. But that's not enough. He'll come in our heart, which means he'll give us the ability. So there are two things we need. The desire to do God's will and the ability to do God's will. Knowledge of God's will and desire. And God says he'll give us both through the Holy Spirit. The same thing is written in Philippians in chapter 2. Philippians 2, it says in verse 13, Philippians 2, 13. God works inside you. Whenever the Bible's New Testament says God works inside you, it's referring to the Holy Spirit. When it says God is working outside you, making all things work together for your good, that is his sovereign power as a loving father, working everything for your good. But whenever you read God working inside you, like it says in verse 13, that's the Holy Spirit. And what is God working inside me? First of all, to will his good pleasure. That means he produces a tremendous passionate desire to do the will of God and gives me an understanding of the will of God. And secondly, it says he'll give me the... to work his good pleasure means he gives me the ability. So this is exactly what we read in Hebrews chapter 8. I will write my law in your mind, which is, I will give you a desire and instruct you about my will. Then I will write it in your heart, which means I'll give you the strength and the ability to do God's will. Now, who's the one who's going to ask for it? I'll tell you, the one who has a passionate desire to do the will of God on earth, just like Jesus did. I'll tell you something you'll discover when you go to heaven. When Christ comes back, that the people who live the most useful life on earth were not the great scientists and the great explorers and the people who made a lot of money and all that. No, it's those who had a passionate desire to do everything that God planned with their lives when he sent them to this earth, when they were born on earth. And I hope you have such a desire. I remember reading in Psalm 139 once that I don't have time to go there now. God planned every day of your life before you were born. Amazing. While you were in your mother's womb, he planned every day of your life before even the first day was there. So I've thought about that often. I say, Lord, I don't know how long I'm going to live on this earth. That's in God's hands. But I know it was written down in eternity. It's already in the book. And when I got converted in 1959, 64 years ago, I did not know what God's plan for my life was. I knew that Christ had come in. I was forgiven. But as time went on, God began to show me what his will was. And I want to tell you, for every one of you, if you received Christ into your heart, please listen to me. There's a plan God made for you before you were born. Some of you were born in non-Christian families. God determined that one day you would hear the gospel and become a Christian. That wasn't accidental. He planned it. And from that day, he planned everything in your life. Now, you may not have fulfilled that plan. You may have been careless about it. Well, wake up today. It's never too late. Say, Lord, I wasted many years, but I want to start living for eternity. That gripped my heart as a very young man. I want to live with eternity in view all the time. I want to live in such a way that when Christ comes back and I stand before him, I'm not going to tell him how much money I earned, or not even how many countries I traveled, or how many places I preached the gospel, but only one thing. Lord, did I finish the plan you wrote in your book for me before I was born? But you may say, but I messed up so many years of my life. I'll tell you the story of a brother who messed up 30 years of his life, but still fulfilled God's perfect plan. 30 years of his life, he not only messed up his life, he was an anti-Christian belonging to another religion. His name was the Apostle Paul. He was not the apostle that first 30 years. He belonged to another religion. He was a Jew. He hated Christians. Much better. He was much worse than all of us. And he messed up 30 years of his life. Did God have a plan for Paul's life when Paul was born? Sure. But Paul messed it up for 30 years. Can such a man fulfill God's plan? You know what Paul says at the end of his life? You read it in 2 Timothy chapter 4. I have finished my course. How in the world did he finish his course, which was planned from eternity, if he messed up 30 years? He lived only up to about 67. Because God had made provision saying, this guy's going to do a lot of stupid things for 30 years. I make allowance for that. I thank God he's made allowance for me also. For all the years I did stupid things. And I want to tell you, my brother, sisters, the good news for you. Even if you have done a lot of stupid things till today, there's hope for you. If you come to him in humility, forgive everybody. Say, Lord, I want to take my Christian life seriously from today. I want to relate to you as a father. I'm coming to you as a father. I'm needy. Fill me with the Holy Spirit. I'll yield anything. I want to live for you on earth at least the rest of my years. I don't want anything on this earth for myself. I want to live for you. I'll tell you something. If you start today, whatever day Christ comes or whatever day God takes you away from this earth, you will be able to look back over a life where you will be able to say like Paul, I finished my course. Even if you live only another 10 years. Believe me, it's a wonderful way you can live because God can make up for so many things. You know, there's a great verse in the book of Joel, where it's Joel is the chapter 2, where there's a chapter that Peter used on the day of Pentecost about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And one of the promises in Joel chapters 2 is, I will restore to you the years that were eaten by the locusts and the canker worm, the worms that have eaten away your harvest. I will restore to you the years that are eaten away. I claimed it. When you go to a promise in the Bible, claim it. The promise in the Bible is like a check. If you frame it up on the wall, you'll get nothing. You take that check to the bank and put your signature behind it, it gets entered into your account. So take that promise in Joel chapter 2, which says, I will restore to you the years that were eaten away by the canker worm and the other worms. And say, Lord, please restore it to me. This check is signed by Jesus Christ. I put my signature on the back and say, Amen. It'll be yours. God will restore to you the years that are eaten away. I did that. I cashed that check in the bank of heaven. You can do it. Don't leave all these checks lying in your Bible. Take it before God and claim them. One verse in closing. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 20. Let me read it like this. All the checks in the Bible, the promises of God, 2 Corinthians 1 20. All the promises of all the checks in the Bible, which are written in your name. They're all written in your name. They're all signed by Jesus Christ. You take them to the bank of heaven, put your signature behind it, and it will be credited to your account. And God will be glorified in your life. All the promises of God are yes and Amen. You have to say Amen to it. That's your signature. God, when He says they are yes, that means Jesus has put a signature on it. But it says you got to add your Amen to it. That means you got to put your signature in that check and put it into the bank of heaven. It comes to your account. What do you want? To be filled with the Holy Spirit? To be an effective witness for Christ? Don't ask God for something so that you can be known as a great saint. He's not going to answer such prayers. Lord, I want people in NCCF to respect me. Garbage. Throw it under the trash. Say, Lord, I want to live a life for your glory. I don't care whether people respect me or not. That's not important. I want my life to come for you. I want to fulfill the plan you made for my life. That is the wonderful glory of the new covenant. So what are the three things? I will not remember your past anymore. Completely blotted out. You will be my son. I'll be your father. You can come to me for anything as a child would go to his father. And third, I will put in your heart a desire and a knowledge of my will, and I'll give you the ability to fulfill all my plan for your life. There's only one thing I can say at the end of that. Hallelujah. Amen.