Lesson 5: Pleasure in His Will
 "In sacrifice and offering You have not delighted, but You have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me; I delight to do Your will, O my God’…” – Psalm 40:6-8.
 
When Jesus faced and overcame temptation, He did so in the strength of Scripture: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Matthew 4:4). When His disciples urged Him on one occasion to eat, He replied, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work" (John 4:34). He needed bread; but the supreme necessity was that He should do the Will of God. That was the food of His deepest life. In reply to criticism He dared to say, "He who sent Me is with Me: He has not left Me alone; for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him" (John 8:29).
 
The Will of God was the subject of His teaching. Indeed, He said, "I AM the Truth," not "I teach the truth" (John 14:6). When I see what He is, I know what He is going to teach me; and when I hear what He teaches, I know what He is. His Sermon on the Mount is the essence of the Will of God.
 
"Happy!" (Matthew 5:3). That is the first “will of God,” the keynote of all that follows, declaring immediately what is the Will of God for man. In solemn words He sets the doing of that Will at the very gate of the kingdom, not as a password (for there are no words that will pass men into heaven's kingdom) but as the condition upon which men may enter: "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21); and closes with that most wonderful claim for Himself, "Everyone, therefore, who hears these words of Mine, and does them, shall be like a wise man who built his house on the rock" (Matthew 7:24).
 

The Gospels unveil the perfect ideal in life and teaching of the man who does the Will of God. The Acts of the Apostles opens with the significant words, "In the first book…” making it the history of the disciples doing of the Will of God. Study that wonderful fifth chapter. What a state the priests were in! Nothing troubles the priest so much as to come in contact with men doing the Will of God. They told the disciples, "We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching" (Acts 5:28). There is no finer testimony to apostolic work on record. A mere handful of men had filled Jerusalem with their teaching, a teaching that gripped, for the priests continued, "and intend to bring this Man's blood on us" (Acts 5:28).
 
In Peter's answer, in a brief sentence, he reveals the secret of these events that so angered and confused the priests, "We must obey God!" (Acts 5:29). That is the secret. These men shook kingdoms to their foundations and turned the world upside down, their enemies being witness; and the reason of their success lay in their abandonment to the Will of God.
 
Question: What was Jesus’ example for us to overcome temptation?
Let’s pray: Lord, help us to not have a routine that allows us to follow the routine, but not truly follow or worship You! Take the routine from us and help us to Delight to do You Will. In the Name of Jesus we pray, Amen.