Sermon entitled "A Guiding Hope". Primary Text: Psalm 25.
From http://www.ozemail.com.au/~gsmunro/resource.htm
G.S. Munro. Panania-Milperra Anglican Church, Sunday 2nd January, 2000.
Click here for a longer version preached at Willoughby in 1997.

It's been really interesting to watch the news reports over the past 24 hours and see interviews with ordinary people all over the world expressing what the year 2000 means to them. And I've noticed a common theme in almost all their answers. It seems nearly everyone wants to link the new millenium with one word. And that word is Hope. People talk about a new hope for humanity. A hope that peace, or tolerance, and understanding between peoples will mark the coming age. At the tail end of the second millenium, people are looking for Hope in life, for some driving principle of optimism about the future that will sustain them in everyday life and help them to make decisions that will lead to the good life. But sadly most people seem to be looking in all the wrong places. And when we look at the century that has been and at what is happening right now round the globe, there seems little real cause for hope.

In His Word, God has given His people sure and certain hope for the future. And today we begin a series of sermons called Psalms of Hope. Over the next few weeks we will be searching the Psalms together for the hope God gives us in that part of His Word. Today we are looking at Psalm 25, where we see that the hope a believer has is a guiding hope for the future.

Our chief calling in life is to be Christian. To be followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of our other choices in life, rest upon this first primary choice to submit ourselves to God's calling in Jesus Christ. But when we have to make decisions in life, does God guide his people? Will he show us the right path to take? How will we know what his will is for us? What hope do we have of navigating safely through all the hidden reefs that we will encounter in life? I want to say that the Hope we have in Christ does give us a clear guidance for life.

In Psalm 25 we find from God some real answers to questions about guidance. They may not be exactly the answers we want, but they are typical of the answers that God gives, not just in the psalms, but all throughout scripture. And they are answers that give hope.

As we look at Psalm 25, I'm going to ask six questions about God's guidance - who; why; when; where; what and how? Let's begin with the WHO. Or, to be more grammatically correct, WHOM! Whom does God guide? Psalm 25 gives some very specific answers.

We get our first hint in verse 2, "in you I trust, O my God," and verse 3, "No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame." Then in verse 4 & 5 David asks for guidance because God is his saviour, and he says, "my HOPE is in you all day long." He says similar things at the end of the psalm also. The first characteristic of one whom God guides is that he or she puts their trust and hope in the Lord as their own personal saviour and guide. That is, to receive guidance from God, you must place your trust in him alone, and be able to say with David in verse 15, "my eyes are ever on the Lord, for ONLY HE will release my feet from the snare."

Next, we are surprised to find that the person whom God guides is not a good person, but a sinner. Verse 8 says, "Good and upright is the Lord, therefore he instructs SINNERS in his ways." The person God guides, is a forgiven sinner, who fears the Lord and turns back to him for mercy, submitting to his rule and Lordship. David saw himself as a sinner, one who deserved God's judgement, but who had received mercy instead. It is not the PROUD who receive God's guidance, but the HUMBLE - those who know they are nothing before Him. Verse 9 - "He guides the HUMBLE in what is right and teaches them his way." Verse 12 - "Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the path chosen for him." And verse 14, "The Lord confides in those WHO FEAR HIM."

Do you see the picture this psalm is building up, of the person who receives the Lord's guidance? A person whose trust and hope is in God alone; who acknowleges their guilt, that they are sinful; who experiences the love and mercy of God; and who holds him in holy fear and reverence. That is the person whom God promises to guide and lead in His paths. Do you want God's guidance in the third millenium? Then first seek to be this kind of person. Above all, put your only hope in the Lord.

Now to our second question, WHY? Why does God guide those who put their hope in Him? Is it because they earn the right to his guidance by their faith and obedience? No. It's because of who God is and what he is like. He is the Saviour, verse 5, who rescues his people. He is merciful and loving, verse 6 and 7. He is good, verse 7. And he is supremely faithful to the covenant he has made. All of his loving kindness is shown in the promises He has made to those whom he has chosen. Verse 10, "All the ways of the Lord are loving and faithful," and verse 14, "The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them."

God is the faithful, covenant-keeping God. He promised in his covenant with Israel, and he promises through the New Covenant in Jesus, that He will be our God and we will be His people. That's why he promises to guide us. It's all part of the deal.

But WHEN & WHERE does he promise to guide us? Look at verse 3, "No one whose hope is in you will EVER be put to shame." Verses 4 to 6, "Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my saviour, and my hope is in you ALL DAY LONG. Verse 15, "my eyes are EVER on the Lord, for only he will release my feet from the snare." Other scriptures say similar things, such as Psalm 48:14, "For such is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us until death." In Isaiah 58, God promised Israel that if they turned back to him he would always lead them. Isaiah 58:11 says "the Lord will CONTINUALLY guide you."

So when and where will he guide us? God will guide His people throughout their life, at all times and in all places, because he is eternal and present everywhere at every time. Jesus spells this out also in John 16, where he speaks of the Holy Spirit who will be present with his disciples even though Jesus is physically absent.

Well, now we get to where the rubber hits the road. HOW does God guide those who hope in him, and WHAT does he say to us? What is the nature and content of the guidance he promises?

Guidance involves finding God's will for our lives. But there are some things about God's will that we need to remember. First, God's will covers the big picture as well as our small lives. He has a will for the whole creation. Some call this God's sovereign will. His plan to bring all things into conformity with his rule. God is in charge, and somehow is working out his good purposes, even through the evil things that happen. The bible clearly teaches this; that God is working out a sovereign plan for the world.

Now this big-picture aspect of God's will is mostly hidden from us. God doesn't usually reveal beforehand what his will is going to be for the world each day. And even in hindsight we cannot always work out why things happen. When some event happens, unless God Himself reveals its meaning to us, we can only guess where it might fit in with his sovereign plan. We can only know that it is somehow within his purposes that it happened. That takes faith.

But there is another aspect of God's will that he HAS revealed to us. This is his theological and moral will for us. That is, what God wants us to believe and what God wants us to do as we exercise faith in him in our daily lives. The guidance God gives allows us always to know God's theological and moral will for our lives at any given point. This is the guidance that Psalm 25 promises to those whose hope is in the Lord. And that guidance comes to us by the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God.

In the New Testament book of Hebrews, God tells us that his word is used by Christians to make them wise. He says in Hebrews 5:14 that by constantly using God's Word, mature Christians have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. If you can do that, then you have a reliable tool to help in making decisions at any point in life when you face a moral dilemma. God's moral will for us is clearly known.

Let me illustrate. You don't need to wonder whether it is God's will for you to leave your spouse for someone else. It isn't, because God clearly says in His word what he thinks about faithfulness in marriage. If you are driving down the road under normal circumstances and you see a speed sign saying 50, because the local council has just put all suburban road speeds down to that limit, you don't need to ask, "I wonder if God wants me to keep going 60?" Romans 13 makes it plain that we are to obey governments in all things that are not against the gospel. If you are a Christian believer and are wondering whether God wants you to marry someone who is not a believer, let me tell right now, He doesn't. 1 Corinthians 7:39 and 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 leave no doubt about that.

Those are moral decisions. There are also even more basic, theological decisions. Is it God's will for me to follow what this person is teaching, or not? Again, God gives clear guidelines. Someone says to you, "I think God is really the earth and everything in it. He is an impersonal force that emanates from every living thing." You have to choose whether to believe or reject that. But the choice is easy, because we have the reliable standard of God's Word, the bible, to judge such ideas by. It is an objective standard - that means, it is outside ourselves. It is not dependent upon our knowlege, opinions, or feelings. It is the mind of God.

Rejoice on this first Lord's Day of the twenty-hundreds, that you are not like sheep without a shepherd. You are not like so many of those New Year revellers, without clear moral direction in life as you enter the third millenium. So many people are entering this century like a ship without a rudder to guide them. But you are not like that if you are in Christ. Thank God!

But what about guidance in non-moral, non-theological questions and decisions? Doesn't God promise guidance there too? Well, yes...and no. It all depends what you're looking for, and what you mean when you talk about God's will for your life.

Let me put it in more concrete terms. How do I know whom God wants me to marry? How do I know IF he wants me to marry? What subjects at school does He wish me to study? What university is it His will for me to attend? Should I go to South America as a missionary? Does He want me to buy a new car? If so, which one? A Toyota Camry?

All of these questions about non-moral decisions assume something that the bible doesn't. They assume that God has what is often called an individual will for each of our lives. A specific hidden will for us that we must discover. Usually it is said that the way to discover it, is by a sort of inner compulsion. We will just KNOW that this is God's will. Advice from friends, circumstances, and other factors may back up that feeling, but ultimately, it boils down to this subjective impression within the heart. I FEEL that I am called to this ministry. I feel that God wants me to sell my car. God has told me to do this by an inner conviction. And so on. I hear people using that kind of language all the time.

And, if it is true that God has a specific car in mind that it is his will for me to buy, what if I go and buy another one? What if God is calling me to Africa and I go to Asia instead? What if I marry Natasha when I should have married Georgina? Questions like this have troubled Christians no end in the past century or two.

But something is fishy here. Why has it only been a problem for Western Christians in the past century or so? Why do we find nothing in the writings of the great reformers like Martin Luther, about this issue? Why do none of the great Roman or Greek theologians before them wrestle with it? And most importantly, why is it not in Scripture? Because try as hard as you like, you will not find in the bible the idea that God promises to guide us in the ordinary decisions of life by an inner compulsion or feeling. That is not something that comes out of the bible. It is just something people read INTO the bible.

Could it be, that there is no such thing as God's individual, non-moral will for our lives? Could it be that some of the decisions we make are not so important as we think? I believe so. Please don't misunderstand me. God does guide, and he does give us guidance in the individual decisions we make. But he does not promise to use such a subjective, introverted, unverifiable method as inner feelings.

How then, does God guide those whose hope is in him, in the everyday matters of life? Well, first he guides us by giving us faith to understand his moral will for us in the bible. That cuts down the choices. But it still does leave us with choices. What then? To deal with these choices, God gives us wisdom, and the responsibility to choose for ourselves between morally neutral alternatives. God will bless whatever choice we make - IF we make it in faith.

The important and primary choice is for faith, integrity, and uprightness. Proverbs 11:3 says, "the integrity of the upright will guide them." If you choose to walk with God, then any path you take is really just like changing lanes on that main highway of faith, and it will be a good path. If we're talking about everyday decisions, you CANNOT choose wrongly if you choose in faith. There is no such thing as God's second best, with regard to choices in those areas where God has given us freedom to choose.

If you make a morally neutral decision in a spirit of prayer and humble trust, asking that God will work his sovereign purposes out in what you choose, then you can't lose. You cannot make a wrong decision that way. Inner impressions; desires; feelings; circumstances; and advice from Christian friends may all figure in your decision making process. But none of those things will be binding on you, and you won't miss out on the individual will of God for you at some point by deciding the wrong thing. That can be a very liberating truth to grasp. It gives great hope for the future. Because we know that if our trust is in the Lord, He will bless whatever decisions we make.

Just because you have an inner desire to do something, doesn't mean that God is saying that you must do it. Just because there is an open door of circumstances in front of you, doesn't mean you have to walk through it. The apostle Paul didn't always go through the open doors that God provided, because there was something more urgent to do. An opportunity is just that, and no more than that. It is not a command from God like the moral and theological commands we find in the bible. We are not bound. I am free to decide what to do, as long as I do it prayerfully, acknowleging God's sovereignty, and thanking him for the opportunity of choice. Don't get all uptight about decision making of this kind. God has given us wisdom and promises to bless whatever choice we make if we make it in faith.

As Psalm 25 says, "ALL the ways of the Lord," that is, all his paths, "are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant." Or, as Proverbs 3, verse 6 says, "In all your ways acknowlege him and he will make your paths straight." That is, whatever path you take in life, God will make it a straight one, if you acknowlege him. If your hope is in God any path you take will get you home in the end.

If you are not outside of God's moral and theological will for you, that is, if the decision you make is not sinful or idolatrous, then it really doesn't matter what you decide. In morally neutral decisions, the choice is yours and God will honour the path you choose if you choose in faith, humbly and prayerfully trusting him. If the theological and moral aspect is covered, then you can't choose against God's will. If you make your choices within God's revealed will in the bible, it doesn't matter what car you drive, what work you do, whom you marry, where you serve him, or what you have for breakfast.

God does promise to guide us. Psalm 32:8 says, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you." Jesus promises in that wonderful passage from John 16, that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all the truth. God gives us in His Word, the bible, everything we need to know God's moral and theological will for our lives at any point. And if it's not in the bible, then we don't need to know it. God gives us common sense, friends, circumstances and wisdom to decide on non-moral questions. In these questions, it is not what, but how, you choose, that God cares about. Make your decision in faith, with the wisdom God gives, thanking him, and asking him to work out his sovereign purposes in whatever you choose, and make the words of that famous old hymn your prayer, "Lead us heavenly Father lead us through the world's tempestous sea, guard us, guide us, keep us, feed us, now and to eternity: here possessing every blessing, if our God our Father be."

Our God is the God who guides us in real and lasting hope. A Hope that guides us into Eternity.