In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: Those of us who are following the Lord Jesus Christ must be willing to suffer whatever God sends us through or allows in our life. And we must be wise enough to grab hold of every experience, look at it, analyze it, sift it through our life and ask the question, what is God teaching me? If you're smart enough to weasel your way out of periods of suffering, what you do is you weasel yourself out of being used by God.

Announcer (Male): Jesus said, follow me. That simple phrase moved 12 men to leave their homes and families and be used by God to change the world. And as you'll hear today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, the Savior's call didn't end when He left the Earth. It still challenges believers today. Here's part two of Following Christ.

Dr. Charles Stanley: When we talk about the requirements of following the Lord Jesus Christ, sometimes we want to formulate our own. But there are specific requirements that God has given us. And you see, once Jesus began to talk about the requirements, it's amazing what happened to His congregation.

Oh, as long as they could see signs, miracles, and wonders, and He was feeding them with bread and multiplying the loaves and the fishes, I mean, He had the crowds. I mean, you couldn't count them. They were coming from everywhere to hear Him.

But then when He said, "This is the message. This is what you can expect if you follow me," even His apostles, it appeared, were going to leave. Now what are the requirements? Requirement number one: Sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

We cannot see Him, but because we cannot, we have to develop a very keen sensitivity to the Holy Spirit so that when the Holy Spirit, who does not shout—I've heard Him speak much louder than that on the inside of me so loudly I absolutely could not avoid it under any condition—the Spirit of God on the inside giving us guidance, we must develop a very keen sensitivity to Him.

The sharpness of our spirit is so sharp, so needle-point sharp, that when the Spirit of God speaks, we just know that it's the Spirit of God. The second requirement of following Jesus is service. It is impossible to be a follower of Jesus Christ and close our eyes, our ears, our lips, close our hands, and still our feet.

It is impossible to be a follower of Jesus Christ without giving ourselves away to other people. Was not Jesus Christ a servant? Serving the Lord is giving yourself away to other people to the glory of God in their behalf, in the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

The third requirement is sacrifice. Listen to what happens in this passage. Verse 20: "And they immediately left the nets and followed Him." Now what did the net represent to Peter and Andrew? It represented their life. They'd been fishing since they were kids. It represented their security. It represented their lifestyle. Peter was thinking about his family.

Listen to what it says in the 22nd verse: "James and John, and they immediately left the boats and what? Their father and followed Him." What have you ever laid down that really cost you emotionally in order to be obedient to Jesus?

Was it a relationship? Was it something you really wanted badly, had worked for, slaved for? And when the time came, the prompting of the Holy Spirit said, "Do not do this." You see, a follower of Jesus is one who is willing to pay the price of sacrifice.

So I want to say to all of you who are listening carefully: if God has said to you, "Lay it down," it doesn't make any difference if it's money, if it's relationships, if it's vocation, it makes no difference what it is. If you don't lay it down, you will spend the rest of your life wondering what in the world God would have done with you had you been willing to obey Him and to follow Him. You declare yourself to be a follower of Jesus. If you are, my friend, is there anything too much to sacrifice for Him? Look what He sacrificed for you.

The fourth requirement is self-denial. Now I want you to watch this, because this is where we have to get down to the hard, cold, solid spiritual facts about whether you and I are following Jesus Christ or are we not. To follow the Lord Jesus Christ means that I am willing to ask this question: "Lord, what do you want to do with my life? How do you want me to invest this life which belongs to you? Where do you want me to go? What do you want me to do? This life is not mine, it's yours. I transfer total possession, total control, total use of spirit, soul, and body, Lord Jesus. What is it that you want?"

To deny myself means I am willing to lay down my plans, my goals, my ambitions, my desires, my pleasures, what I think will meet my needs and my desires in life, and to offer them as a sacrifice to the Lord Jesus Christ upon His altar to say, "Lord, not I, but Christ Jesus living within me. I choose to follow you no matter where it leads me, what I have to lay down, what I have to separate myself from. I choose to follow you."

Now, my friend, most of us have played with that most of our Christian life. Several months ago, when I began to think about following Jesus and what that really implied, I went away for a couple days and just got alone with the Lord and began to pray and ask the Lord first of all to search my heart. "God, I don't want to preach this sermon until first of all you have sifted me through what you said."

Looking at every aspect of my life, and so we all have our own different ways of praying, and I sort of stretched out on a pallet that I have. So I was getting ready to get down and just say, "Okay, Lord, here I am." But for some reason, I couldn't get down there. I walked around the room and I talked to the Lord and I listened.

And all of a sudden it dawned on me, "Lord, are you trying to say that there's something in my life that has not been laid down? Is there something that I'm holding onto? Is there something you're trying to get my attention?" It took me about 40 minutes before I could stretch out to say, "Okay, Lord, here it is." It's amazing how little subtle things creep into our life that we rationalize.

And we think, "Nobody's perfect." That's not the issue. Jesus didn't say perfection; He said, "Follow me." To deny ourselves and to take up our cross means that self—that is the fleshly desires, the natural person, what you wanted, what you were like before you were saved—that that is not in control of your life, but the Spirit of God is in control because you have issued Him control of your life.

Denial of self does not mean that I deny myself of this thing, that thing, and the other thing, though it may end up being part of that. But to deny myself and take up my cross and follow Him means that I am willing to say, "Lord Jesus, I want your plan, and I choose to suffer whatever is necessary in order to obey your will for my life."

My friend, are you a true follower of Jesus Christ? Are you willing to deny yourself of all that self desires to be gratified with in order to pursue a life that has eternal consequences? That is, you choose to walk the way of God no matter what it means. Whatever He tells you to lay down, I guarantee He's going to replace it with something that will be much more fulfilling.

Now here's the satanic trap. Listen carefully. God has a direction for your life, and Satan, just at the perfect timing, interjects his plan. He always says, "You can have this now." That's always his offer. "If you want it now, this is where you can get it now. You can get your needs met. You can have pleasure in life. You can have a fulfilling life. This is the way to go."

Jesus says, "I want to tell you the truth. It's going to cost you to take this trip. But I'm going to give you everything you need. And I am going to personally design everything I send into your life that will perfectly fit you. I am going to glorify my Father through your life. I'm going to make your life worthy and useful. You're not going to waste your life frivolously trying to meet needs which I would have very easily met, only to find yourself at the end of the way disappointed, disillusioned because you spent your life trying to get something that God intended you to give as you gave yourself away to others."

Look at the two directions. One is a get-get-get, only to lose it all. And the other one is a give-give-give, only to receive it all. But watch this: Satan is very subtle. Just when you're about to choose the right path, he comes in to offer you a detour and a substitute for life at its best.

The fifth requirement is suffering. These men suffered as they followed the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, it is said of the apostle Peter that he was crucified head down—that is, upside down—because he chose if they were going to crucify him, he did not feel worthy to be crucified in the same position as the Savior.

Many of those who followed the Lord Jesus Christ suffered martyrdom. There are people today suffering martyrdom because of their willingness to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. There is suffering in following Him. Now I want you to see how this goes together. Let's go back to John chapter 12 for a moment.

You remember in this passage what He says. Verse 26 says, "If anyone serves me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall my servant also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him." To follow the Lord Jesus Christ requires serving Him.

If you and I are going to serve other people, we're going to have to suffer. Let me tell you why. Because bleeding is essential to blessing. That's just the principle. If you and I are going to be a blessing to other people, we must be willing to suffer. Look at the apostle Paul. You know what Paul said? He said, "There are two things I want to experience above all else in life. I want to know the Lord Jesus Christ in the fullness of His resurrection power. And secondly, I want to know the Lord Jesus Christ in the fellowship of His suffering."

If you're going to be a blessing to someone else, my friend, you can just get ready to suffer because serving is helping other people, getting under their load, encouraging them, helping them in time of need. Who are those that do that best? Those who've been there, those who've hurt, those who've suffered, those who've wept.

And you see, sometimes we look around and say, "Well, I know so-and-so's living a Christian life and God's blessing them and they're not suffering." How do you know that? You see, you can't look on somebody else's face and tell what they're suffering on the inside.

Jesus didn't walk around with a long face, but He suffered much criticism, much persecution before His crucifixion. But there was something about Him that just drew the children. That's why I know that Jesus Christ's face was radiantly, beautifully appealing. There was something magnetic about it. What was it? It was His oneness with the Father that shone right through His eyes. You can't look at somebody's face and tell whether they're suffering or not.

Those of us who are following the Lord Jesus Christ must be willing to suffer whatever God sends us through or allows in our life. And we must be wise enough to grab hold of every experience, look at it, analyze it, sift it through our life and ask the question, what is God teaching me? And having learned the lesson, now how can I apply this to someone else's life? How can I be an encouragement to someone else?

Suffering is a part of serving God. If you want ease, comfort, and pleasure, I want to tell you, you won't ever be worth much in the kingdom of God. Jesus said, "Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men." He says, "Follow me," and He says, "I want to tell you, foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head."

Does that mean that we'll always suffer the physical, the material? Not necessarily. You can be physically healthy all of your life and have every material thing you want and be mightily used of God, but only because in some other area of your life you are going to walk through the valley of suffering. It is absolutely essential to building saints, building character, and making the servant effective in service. Ease, comfort, and pleasure was never found on the cross. But shame, suffering, and death are always there.

Are you willing to be sensitive to His Spirit and follow Him? Are you willing to serve Him? Are you willing to sacrifice for Him, to deny yourself? Are you willing to suffer for Him? Or are you just carving out your own little way over here? Going to get your needs met. Going to live your life of pleasure. Going to do your thing and one of these days end up having never found what you were looking for in life because, you see, you can't follow the inclinations of the flesh. You can't follow the allurements of the world. You can't follow the appeal of the world and follow Jesus at the same time. They go in opposite directions.

Now the least important part of this message is the third part, and that's the rewards. You say, "That's what I've been waiting for." You and Peter. Look if you will at the 19th chapter of Matthew. I'm sure Peter must have thought about this before now, but he finally gets around to asking Jesus about it. 19th chapter of Matthew.

You remember that Jesus had just been talking to the rich young ruler, and Jesus said to him, "If you want to follow me, you go sell your possessions, give it to the poor and then follow me." They began to talk about how hard it was for a rich man to get into heaven, and then Peter says, having no doubt looked at this young man with all of his riches coming to Jesus, Peter said, "Behold—that is, look—we've left everything and followed you. What then shall there be for us?"

Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that you who have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man will sit in His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel." Now if He'd have just stopped at that, we'd have said, "Hey, what about us?"

So He said, "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for my name's sake shall receive many times as much and shall inherit eternal life." Did you know that you absolutely cannot follow the Lord Jesus Christ without being rewarded? You can't.

Listen, some of it is the natural overflow of following Him. Some things God will send into your life, some relationships. Listen, the greatest reward of following the Lord Jesus Christ is not finances. You see, today we've got everything narrowed down if it's green and you can count it. The greatest rewards of following Jesus Christ are not things you can count nor things that you can touch.

Lying down in your bed at night and knowing, my friend, that you have walked with Jesus that day, that you have shared His truth, that you have encouraged someone, that your life that day has amounted to something that has eternal consequence. The loving relationship that you enjoy with the Savior. The peace that passes all understanding. The joy that overflows in your heart. The character God is building in your life. The acceptance you feel from Him. The faith that you have in Him. The confidence that you have in Him. The growth that you experience in your life.

The rewards of following Jesus are innumerable. If you're one of those persons who's trying to count, "Now if I follow Jesus and do what He says, what's it going to cost me?" I'll tell you a better question. Here's the better question: What am I going to be like if I follow Him? The next question is: What am I going to be like if I choose not to follow Him? Because when all the things are gone, the one thing that you cannot escape is what you are on the inside. You can't run from it no matter what.

I know a lot of folks who'd like to take that trip back and start all over again, but as the years go by, you can't take a second back, let alone a year or a decade or generation. And I want to ask you, my friend, more than likely the vast majority of you have already declared that you're a follower of Jesus Christ. Would you say that your life is characterized by obedience to Him? That you attempt to yield to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in your life? That that's your heart's desire to be obedient to Him and to follow Him, and that your life will glorify Him and count for Him?

Or are you meticulously trying to carve out your way, your plan, your relationships, your things, squeezing out of life every bit of pleasure you possibly can? I want to tell you that is a futile, endless, disappointing route. It'll never work and you'll be sorry before you get to the end of the way. Jesus said, "Follow me if you want life at its best and if you want eternal life forever and ever."

Announcer (Male): Thanks for listening to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Following Christ won't necessarily bring you a life of ease. In fact, it may mean just the opposite. What we are promised is this: those who walk closely with Jesus can know a peace and a joy that surpasses any difficulty.

To understand more about what took place on the cross of Christ and how it relates to your life right now, visit us at intouch.org. To listen to this lesson again, click on Today on Radio. And connect to our online bookstore to order a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, Following Christ. Again, that's intouch.org. You could also call or text 1-800-IN-TOUCH. If you prefer to write, our address is In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357.

The life God has for you is not about you, it's about Him. We'll take a look at God's loving choices just ahead in today's Moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Let your time and your schedule and everything about you revolve around this: that you and I are to develop and continue to develop this ongoing, intimate, wonderful, exciting, satisfying, indescribable, wonderful, incomparable relationship with a personal God.

Announcer (Male): Dr. Stanley devoted his entire life to helping us get closer to Jesus, as we all want to do. You can learn how at charlesstanleyinstitute.org.

In Touch Plus is streaming on Local Now, featuring all the best of Dr. Charles Stanley. We want to have strong convictions based on the word of God. He's working out things that you and I would never know about in our future. In Touch Plus, your streaming network for quality Christian programming 24/7. Now watch this. In Touch Plus, streaming free on Local Now.

You're listening to In Touch. Sometimes it looks like God chooses the least likely person to do His work. With encouragement for believers, here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Well, the primary reason is He is going to be more glorified. People are going to recognize it had to be something besides him or besides her. How is it that they could accomplish these things? And so it all comes back to who's behind it, and that's Almighty God. He's always interested in bringing glory and honor to Himself.

And somebody says, "Well, isn't that rather selfish?" No, that's who He is, because the reason He gets our attention upon Himself is because of what He wants to do in our life. And if a person doesn't even recognize God, doesn't even pay Him any attention at all, God's going to do those things necessary to get our attention, whether it's pain or pleasure. He will do it because you and I should be so observant every single day of what God's doing in our life. The people we meet, how we respond, things that happen to us, what we're able to do, what we maybe fail to do.

And so in the process of God working in our life, He's in the process of building us up and strengthening us and bringing us into intimacy with Him. And everything begins to happen in our life when we begin to recognize that in every single situation, every circumstance, God is there.

Announcer (Male): And the only way to have an intimate relationship with God is through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. Trust in Him today and learn more about becoming a Christian at intouch.org. When In Touch returns next time, we'll focus on freedom with a series of messages that remind believers what has been given to them as children of God. Join us again for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.