Part 1 The Whole Counsel Of God

Part 1 The Whole Counsel of God in the Life of The Believer

Tuesday August 11, 2026

Acts 20:27 ESV

for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.

• Everything God gives is necessary and sufficient.

It is necessary, so nothing must be taken away from it. It is sufficient, so nothing must be added to it. Revelation 22:18-19

The whole counsel of God in Paul's speech referred to the ultimate purpose/will of God for humanity from eternity past to eternity future. It includes His acts and His ways but it is all bound up in His intent. His acts show what He has done, what He is doing and what He promised to do. His ways show how  He has chosen to move in the past, in the present and How He will move in the future. But all that will be pointless and grossly misunderstood if we fail to learn why He does it all, His motive and intention. 

The whole counsel of God therefore refers to what He is doing, so we are not ignorant, how He is doing it so we are not deceived and why He is doing it so we can work with Him and not against Him with good intentions. 

When it comes to the counsel of God, we must not cherrypick. If God provides it, we must receive it all. Sadly, we pick and choose, both individually and collectively. 

We like some of the things God does but others, not so much. His methods are sometimes too slow, too illogical and convoluted for our liking. We have our favorite scriptures. We have some others we are not excited about, but we tolerate. And then we have those scriptures we are not even able to stand.

All this is because we fail to understand His purpose. If we understood His purpose, what He is doing and how He is doing them will make sense. 

But we cannot understand His purpose unless we first learn and accept that what He is doing is right and that how He has chosen to do it is the best way. 

This is the very essence of faith. 

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)  and “Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

He has to first tell us His what and  show us his how. When we accept by faith, we will be brought into His confidence and be made to understand His why, His intent and purpose.

Psalm 25:14 NIV The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

The Counsel/Will/Purpose of The Lord for Humanity: The Image of God

Romans 8:29 ESV For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Romans 8:29 NLT For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

God’s original purpose was to make man in His own image and for man to be His representative and ruler on earth; His viceroy, regent or plenipotentiary. The highest representative of the sovereign with executive powers in a country or region. 

When man fell into sin, God did not change His counsel/purpose/will. 

At the right time, He sent His unique Son, who had full powers of a regent and viceroy to deliver us from sin and to model for us what we are supposed to be, (He who has seen Me has seen the Father. John 14:9)

• Jesus did not come merely to save us as refugees, but He came to pay a King’s ransom for us, as fellow heirs.

He gave His life for ours, showing how much value God placed on us. We see a prefiguring of this exchange in Genesis 43:8-9; Genesis 44:33-34, when Judah, an ancestor of Jesus, offered himself to Joseph in the place of his little brother, Benjamin. He did this to please his father, Jacob. 

We know that in history when a king or a member of the royal family was captured in war, a ransom was paid and the royal was returned home, not as a refugee but as a royal. 

The intention of God at the very end of the age remains the same: restore man to be His representative in the New Earth and there we will see His face and reign with Him forever. Revelation 22:4-5

Daniel 7:18,27 LSB

But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.’ 

[27] Then the reign, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.’

• It's not about what you know. It's not even about what you do. It is about who you become. That is the whole counsel of God.

The ultimate goal of Bible study is not simply to accumulate  knowledge about God, though that is a worthy benefit. Nor is it to equip us for ministry, which itself is essential. The ultimate goal is for us to become Christlike. 

1 John 3:2-3 ESV Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. [3] And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

It is entirely possible to earn a doctorate in theology without ever beginning the journey of transformation into Christlikeness. 

It is equally possible to exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit, yet resist His work to cultivate His fruit.

By the same token, one can be changing from glory to glory, without ever realising or walking in the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Loyalty to Christ versus loyalty to self.

Ultimately, our personalities determine our individual points of resistance. Some of us resist the fruits and others resist the gifts. 

We are often so attached to who we think we are and who we want to be, that we resist the Holy Spirit, the very One given to make us into who we ought to be. 

One of the core requirements for being a disciple of Jesus is self-denial.

Matthew 16:24 ESV Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

If we love ourselves more than we love Jesus, we will find it impossible to deny ourselves. If we fail to deny ourselves, we will ultimately deny Jesus. One day we will have to choose between self and Jesus. The choice we will make on that day can be predicted by how tightly or loosely we are holding onto our idea of self right now.

• We resist the Holy Spirit, out of fear, a lack of understanding or a lack of humility. 

Annanias was afraid when Jesus instructed him to go lay hands on Saul of Tarsus. (Acts 9:10-19)

Peter lacked understanding and resisted when he was told to kill and eat. (Acts 10:9-16)

Samson walked in pride. (Judges 16:20)

We do not see ourselves as resistant. We do not intentionally resist the Holy Spirit, we simply ignore Him. 

Whenever we ignore the Holy Spirit, or neglect His spiritual gifts, we resist God’s power just as much as saying “no” to Him does. 

1 Timothy 4:14 NLT Do not neglect the spiritual gift you received through the prophecy spoken over you when the elders of the church laid their hands on you.

Silent neglect of the Holy Spirit is just a quiet rebellion against His power.