Living God’s Heavenly Will
An all-creatures Bible Message

Living God’s Heavenly Will

A Sermon Delivered to
The Compassion Internet Church

1 September 2019

Frank L. Hoffman, Pastor

Scripture References

Psalm 81:1-16
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Matthew 7:6-12
Hebrews 13:9-16

Living God’s heavenly will here on earth as it is in heaven is what all of us should be doing, and we can do it if we apply His heavenly will to our everyday lives.

The problems come about when people mix in other things, even some from the Bible, that are not part of God’s heavenly will, the largest of which, in our opinion, is the killing and eating of animals, which we will talk about in more detail in our discussion of the Bible verses that follow in this discussion.

We are told in Revelation 21:4 that there is no pain or suffering or death in heaven; thus, if we are truly living God’s heavenly will here in earth we cannot have anything to do with causing any pain, suffering, or death to any other living being, nor to any other part of God’s creation, and it is very important to keep these facts in mind as we continue today’s discussion, and in our daily living God’s heavenly will.

As we look at Psalm 81:1-16, discern whether or not the people are living God’s heavenly will.

1. Sing for joy to God our strength;
Shout joyfully to the God of Jacob.

2. Raise a song, strike the timbrel,
The sweet sounding lyre with the harp.

3. Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
At the full moon, on our feast day.

In Isaiah 1:13 we are told that God didn’t want these feast days because of the people’s insincerity of not living God’s heavenly will.

4. For it is a statute for Israel,
An ordinance of the God of Jacob.

Anyone can follow an ordinance and it doesn’t mean they are honoring God unless they are living God’s heavenly will consistently.

5. He established it for a testimony in Joseph,
When he went throughout the land of Egypt.
I heard a language that I did not know:

6. "I relieved his shoulder of the burden,
His hands were freed from the basket.

7. "You called in trouble, and I rescued you;
I answered you in the hiding place of thunder;
I proved you at the waters of Meribah.
Selah.

Even though the Lord did all these things, the vast majority of the people were not living God’s heavenly will; they were just doing their own things and expecting God to honor that because they came to His house of worship, which is just like most people seem to do today.

8. "Hear, O My people, and I will admonish you;
O Israel, if you would listen to Me!

9. "Let there be no strange god among you;
Nor shall you worship any foreign god.

10. "I, the LORD, am your God,
Who brought you up from the land of Egypt;
Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

The psalmist is telling the people then and now that the Lord really wants to help them.

11. "But My people did not listen to My voice;
And Israel did not obey Me.

12. "So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart,
To walk in their own devices.

In other words, they got want they deserved; they wanted to live in this corrupt and evil world, and God allow the evil around them to overwhelm them.

13. "Oh that My people would listen to Me,
That Israel would walk in My ways!

14. "I would quickly subdue their enemies,
And turn My hand against their adversaries.

This is why we all need to be living God’s heavenly will.

15. "Those who hate the LORD would pretend obedience to Him;
And their time of punishment would be forever.

16. "But I would feed you with the finest of the wheat;
And with honey from the rock I would satisfy you."
NASB

The Lord has been telling us these things since the beginning of time, and the vast majority of people wanted something else; they wanted the violent and corrupt want of this world, and we are not to be like them.

In Jeremiah 2:4-13, we see the recording of the prophet’s message to a wayward people.

4. Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob,
and all the families of the house of Israel.

Jacob, who was considered to be a deceiver, was renamed Israel by God after Jacob had wrestled with Him and had supposedly decided to become one of the people living God’s heavenly will; so, this verse seems to be addressing both the people of the world and well as the children of God.

5. Thus says the LORD,
"What injustice did your fathers find in Me,
That they went far from Me
And walked after emptiness and became empty?

6. And they did not say, 'Where is the LORD
Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
Who led us through the wilderness,
Through a land of deserts and of pits,
Through a land of drought and of deep darkness,
Through a land that no one crossed And where no man dwelt?'

We believe that God is telling the worldly people who were in the majority that He knows their sins, and He is telling the relatively few children of God so that they would understand why God was taking the action He was about to do, and among these few was Jeremiah.

7. "And I brought you into the fruitful land,
To eat its fruit and its good things.
But you came and defiled My land,
And My inheritance you made an abomination.

8. "The priests did not say, 'Where is the LORD?'
And those who handle the law did not know Me;
The rulers also transgressed against Me,
And the prophets prophesied by Baal
And walked after things that did not profit.

9. "Therefore I will yet contend with you," declares the LORD,
"And with your sons' sons I will contend.

God has had enough of the people’s corrupt and evil ways of living, and He is about to pass judgement upon the nation.

10. "For cross to the coastlands of Kittim and see,
And send to Kedar and observe closely,
And see if there has been such a thing as this!

In other words the Gentiles were more Godly than the nation of Israel who was supposed to know God and had seem all the wonders He had performed for them.

11. "Has a nation changed gods,
When they were not gods?
But My people have changed their glory
For that which does not profit.

12. "Be appalled, O heavens, at this,
And shudder, be very desolate," declares the LORD.

13. "For My people have committed two evils:
They have forsaken Me,
The fountain of living waters,
To hew for themselves cisterns,
Broken cisterns,
That can hold no water.
NASB

And God sent them into exile in Babylon for 70 years.

In Matthew 7:6-12, Jesus was talking about how people who live in the heavenly will of God should live in the world.

6. "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.  

My understanding of the term “dogs” used here were male cult prostitutes, or people who were living openly in worldly sins, and the swine were not actual pigs, but people who may pretend to be religious, but are living in the corrupt and evil ways of the world.

Such people will not internalize the word of God and His heavenly will, because they don’t want to change their worldly lifestyles, and they will often get angry with people speaking about the will of God, and Jesus is telling them and us not to waste our time on such people.

As Christian vegan animal rights activists, we run into these kind of people all the time, and we have learned to not try to tell them anything but to live as loving children of God before them and others as witnesses of God’s heavenly will, and concentrate on telling others.

Some people get angry when we post something on social media or on our web site, and they say, “don’t tell me how to live”.

But when we live in the heavenly will of God, Jesus says…

7. "Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.

8. "For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.

When we live in the heavenly will of God here on earth as it is in heaven, and keep seeking Him and desiring to grow in His knowledge, He is faithful to encourage us and help us keep maturing as His children.

9. "Or what man is there among you, when his son shall ask him for a loaf, will give him a stone?

In those days, some of the barley loaves that they baked came out looking like a stone, and dishonest people try to make a lie look like the truth, and we are not to be like them; we are not to present falsehoods in place of the truth.

10. "Or if he shall ask for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?

The fish referred to here was most likely an eel, which looks something like a snake, which is another example of what we discussed above.

Then Jesus says something to the worldly people who just might be willing to listen…

11. "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

Including those who repent and truly seek the heavenly truth of God and want to be saved from the corrupt world and become one of His children.

12. "Therefore, however you want people to treat you, so treat them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
NASB

This is the Golden Rule that we are to live by, and Jesus further tells us that if we truly live this way, we will be fulfilling the teaching of the whole Bible.

Now, let’s take a look at Hebrews 13:9-16, which is often used against vegan animal rights people, but hopefully you will see that it is pointing us in the direction of living in the heavenly will of God.

9. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were thus occupied were not benefited.

It is a matter of fact the God’s original diet, which He gave us in Eden, consisted of only whole plant foods, which is similar to the present day vegan diet without the processed foods, is the best diet for our health, so we know that this cannot be the strange teaching or the food that this verse is referring to.

It is most likely that the writer is referring to the arguments between the Jews and Gentiles over the eating of the flesh of animals sacrificed to idols.

Thus, if we don’t eat any animals or their by-products, which is sound teaching that comes from heaven, then the strange teachings and food referred to in this verse must be in reference to the eating of animals and their bodily secretions, such as eggs and milk.

10. We have an altar, from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.

We know from Jesus’ teachings and from some of the prophets, that God wants our obedience and not sacrifice, for sacrifice is really a form of scapegoating innocent animals to appease the offering sinners, who seem to rarely repent and become true children of God.

11. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.

From what we have discussed so far, we know that none of this is in the heavenly will of God, so the writer must only be using their practice as an example of the killing and death of Jesus.

12. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

13. Hence, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.

Remember the supposedly holy people had Jesus brutally treated and killed to appease the people, but His death served another purpose, for He rose above their evil as an example of how we should be living.

14. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.

And that city is the new Jerusalem which comes down from heaven.

15. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

See, our sacrifices are to be our own lives and the praises that come from the depths of our souls and spirits, and these kinds of sacrifices cause no pain or suffering or death.

16. And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
NASB

Again, we see that these kinds of sacrifices cause no pain or suffering or death, in fact, they cause healing of the body, soul, and spirit.

We can be living God’s heavenly will here on earth as it is in heaven if we truly want to.

We can!

Amen?

Amen.

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