Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20000116.htm

FUNCTIONING BY GOD'S POWER FOR BASIC DAILY LIVING NEEDS
Part V: Discerning God's Clear Guidance By His Power
(Romans 12:1-2 et al.)
  1. Introduction
    1. A believer can live in spiritual blindness, being unaware of his condition, and end up unhappy, 1 Jn. 2:9, 11.
    2. Yet, every true believer is led by the Holy Spirit, Romans 8:14, so that even in this "blind" spiritual condition God works to correct and discipline him, creating unrest in his life until the believer repents.
    3. Instead of going in the difficult "blind" route, a believer is given the option -- according to Romans 12:1-2 NIV -- of always enjoying the Lord's clear leading so he can have God's fellowship and blessing. We examine this passage and other related Scriptures for practical steps to this end (as follows):
  2. Discerning God's Clear Guidance By His Power, Romans 12:1-2 et al. (among others):
    1. Every true believer is being led by the Holy Spirit's power, Romans 8:14. If a believer is doing God's will, he is blessed, and if he is outside of that divine will, the Spirit convicts and disciplines him, Rom. 7:22-24.
    2. The comprehensive route to knowing and affirming God's will is for the believer to resist conforming to this world and yield to the Holy Spirit's prompting to do God's service in every area of life, Rom. 12:1-2.
    3. To understand how that occurs in practical terms, we note the following Scripture teachings:
      1. Every believer operates either totally controlled by the Holy Spirit or totally controlled by the OPPOSITE nature, his own sinful nature that remains after his salvation, cf. Galatians 5:16-17.
      2. If a believer sins, he operates by his sin nature opposite the Holy Spirit's prompting to produce hateful, unhappy, restless, impatient, harsh, unwholesome, unreliable, conceited and uncontrolled thoughts and acts, Gal. 5 :17 with 19-23. As such, he fails to discern God's will, and lives blinded to it and outside of God's blessing, Gal. 5:19-21; 1 John 2:9, 11; Mtt. 15:14. God must discipline him to repent.
      3. Thus, he must confess his sin to the Lord for God to cleanse him and restore him back to a state of readiness for the Spirit to control his thoughts and behaviors, 1 John 1:9.
      4. In this condition, the believer must yield to the Spirit's prompting described in Galatians 5:22-23.
      5. Now, to STAY blessed by God, the believer needs to resist CONFUSING what is not God's values and will that the world system presents to him, and stick with GOD'S true will, 1 John 2:15-16:
        1. When John wrote 1 John 2:15-16, he did so to "young men" who grew in the intermediate level between "little children" and "fathers", Mitchell, Fellowship: Three Letters From John, p. 63-66.
        2. These believers had already learned to use Scripture to overcome the deceptive doctrines of Satan, 1 John 2:14b, Ibid., Mitchell, p. 66. However, they stood in need of RESISTING the values and teachings of the alluring WORLD'S lusts [of the flesh, of the eyes and pride of this earthly life (bios, v. 16)] which COUNTER the OPPOSING views of SCRIPTURE, 1 John 2:15-16.
      6. Accordingly, Scripture reveals how to do this in discerning and following God's will (as follows):
        1. The believer must RIGIDLY make Scripture's teaching with the indwelling Holy Spirit's discernment of Scripture (2 Tim. 1:13-14) his FINAL authority, cf. 1 Jn. 2:15-17 with Ps. 1:1-2, Isa. 8:19-20 and 2 Tim. 3:15-17. Thus, he should read Scripture often, 2 Tim. 4:1-2 with Ps. 1:2.
        2. Only if Scripture is non-instructive on a given issue should the believer then seek multiple godly COUNSELORS for direction, Romans 3:4a with 2 Timothy 3:13-14; Proverbs 11:14.
        3. Then, only if Scripture and godly counselors are non-instructive in a matter should the believer rely on circumstances for God's leading, Acts 16:6-10 in light of 1 Kings 13:7-24.
        4. Then, only if Scripture and spiritual counselors and circumstances are non-instructive on an issue should the godly believer do what he WANTS: God is then at work in him to lead him to want and perform the right decision, Philippians 2:12-13 in light of Joshua 6:17-19 with 7:1, 19-26.
Lesson: To KNOW God's will and to DO it with His BLESSING, one must (1) believe on Christ for salvation from sin to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit of guidance, John 3:16; Rom. 8:9b. (2) Then, he must confess his sin(s) that block fellowship with Go d (1 Jn. 1:9) and (3) rely on the Spirit for behavior control (Gal. 5:16-23) to be ABLE to do God's will. (4) Then, he discerns that will by looking FIRST to (a) Scripture, THEN (b) multiple spiritual counselors, (c) THEN circumstances and FINALLY (d) to w hat God moves him to WANT to perform [in his condition of fellowship with God].