In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: If I want to know the mind of God, where do I find it? In the scriptures. If I want to know the will and ways of God, where do I find them? I find them in the scriptures.

So that, if I want to know what to do in a given situation, I want to get in God's Word and start reading it and saying, "Lord, speak to my heart." And remember this: God assumes full responsibility for giving us direction in our life because He has a will and a plan and a purpose for our life. He has the best thought for us. And because He does, He assumes responsibility to show us which way to go.

Guest (Male): No competent contractor would build a structure without first studying the blueprints and then refer back to them frequently as the project moves along. Today's edition of In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, reminds believers of the need to continually study God's Word so we know how to live according to His design. Here's part one of Dr. Stanley's series, "The Joy of Obedience."

Dr. Charles Stanley: It's not always easy to obey God, but it's always the wisest thing to do and it's always the best. And it's interesting that throughout scripture, God continually reminds us of how important it is to obey Him. And over and over and over again, He promises us to bless us if we simply obey Him.

So what I'd like to do is to begin by taking you through some scriptures just to give you a little idea of His promises when you and I are obedient to Him. Because I want us to learn how to obey God, to make that our lifestyle and not just something that we do once in a while.

When you and I develop the spirit of obedience and it becomes a way of life for us, then what you're going to discover is a lot of pressure's all gone. Because when you're committed to being obedient to God, there are a lot of decisions that you've wrestled over you won't have to wrestle over anymore. You just know that's the way of the Lord. That's the will of God and that's the purpose of God.

So I want you to turn, if you will, to Deuteronomy chapter 28 to begin with, and the title of this message is "The School of Obedience." Turn, if you will, to Deuteronomy 28 and look, if you will, beginning in verse one. And we'll read through several of these verses.

"Now it shall be, if you will diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today, the Lord your God will set you on high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you will obey the Lord your God." Then He mentions many of the blessings there.

Turn, if you will, to Isaiah chapter 1. First chapter of Isaiah. And here Isaiah the prophet is speaking to those who are not believers and listen to what he says. Beginning in verse 18 of this first chapter, he says, "Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land. But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken it."

Then if you'll turn to Jeremiah chapter 7. Just over one book, Jeremiah chapter 7, and I want you to notice, if you will, in verse 23. Jeremiah 7:23, he says, "But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. And you will walk in all the way which I commanded you, that it may be well with you.'"

Verse after verse after verse is what? God says, "You obey me and I'm going to bless you." Remember this: it is absolutely impossible to obey God without blessing because God has chosen to bless obedience. And we as His children, as we learn to walk in His ways and walk in His will, then we're going to be blessed over and over and over.

Somebody says, "Well, what is obedience anyway?" Obedience is doing God's will, God's way, in God's timing. It's doing what God says, when He says it, and the way He says do it. So when you think in terms of obedience, that's really simple: doing what God says, when He says, and how He says do it.

And so when we think in terms of obedience and we think in terms of the fact that that's what God requires of us, what I'd like for us to do, I'd like to take a few moments to talk about some principles here that will help you in obedience. For example, obedience isn't something that you and I just know automatically since we trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior.

We know certain things would certainly be obedience to God and certain things would not be. And so therefore what we want to talk about is: how do we learn to obey God? The school of obedience. And I can tell you over these years I have certainly learned that obeying God is a process. It isn't something we just automatically know.

But one thing I'm also certain, in not only reading the scriptures and watching how God worked in the lives of individuals in the scripture, but also of observing how He has worked in the lives of people who've obeyed Him and people who've disobeyed Him. And there's a great lesson to learn for all of us in watching obedient people and watching disobedient people.

Because when you watch the lives of those who are obedient, you see sometimes suffering and heartache and trouble, but you see blessing after blessing after blessing. When you watch the people who are unbelievers who do not want to walk in the ways of God, you may see sometimes affluence and wealth and prestige and prominence and all these other things.

But the truth is, what you do not see, you do not see the consequence oftentimes immediately of what's going on in their life, though sometimes it's going on inside, not on the outside. But ultimately you're going to see it. The consequence of disobedience for the believer is the discipline, the chastising hand of the Lord.

The promise of the result of those who are unbelievers is the punishment of Almighty God. When I think about what He promises, if I were a person who not necessarily was a Christian and I didn't think I was very interested in that, then I may be interested in reading Romans chapter 2, verse 8, which says, "But to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also to the Greek."

So if I were not a believer and I looked at the scriptures and I'd ask myself the question, "Well, now according to the Bible, what is it I can expect?" Here's what you can expect: if you live your life in disobedience to God, you can expect the punishment of God. You can expect loss. You can expect to miss all the blessings that God had in store for you, had you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.

To those of us who believe in Him and who desire to walk in His way, who've committed ourselves to be obedient to Him no matter what, there is blessing upon blessing upon blessing. You say, "But now wait a minute, but isn't there suffering in the life of the believer and isn't there pain and heartache?" Yes, yes, yes. We go through all of that likewise.

But you know what the difference is? The difference is this: we respond in the fashion of knowing that God has allowed it for a purpose. And then we look for the blessing and look for the lesson that we're to learn so that we can get on God's right path and walk in obedience to Him and be blessed with the very best that God has to offer.

So I want us to think about some of these things. And when I think about how do we learn, how do we learn to be obedient? Well, one of the first principles is simply this: and that is, first of all, you must trust Him. You will not obey a God you do not trust. You just will not. And so the real truth is that I would say that most disobedience is a lack of trust in God.

"Well, I know that's what He said, but..." Whenever you put a "but" behind something God has said, you're just about to head out in the wrong direction because God doesn't make any promises that He either cannot or will not fulfill. So one of the first things I must learn to do is to trust Him.

I want you to turn to a very familiar passage of scripture that we quote over and over and over again. But I want you to see something here. I want you to turn to Proverbs chapter 3, if you will, and I want us to look at a couple of verses that most of us know by heart, certainly the anchor verse of my soul. Listen to what he says.

He says in verse 5, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him." That doesn't just mean that God's up there, but acknowledging Him means in all your ways acknowledge Him, obey Him, and He will make your paths straight.

So if I'm going to be obedient to God and I'm going to learn to walk in obedience, I have to settle this issue of who God is: that He's the sovereign ruler of this universe. I have to settle this issue: that He is trustworthy, that He's reliable. He doesn't make promises He does not fulfill. And that every promise He makes, He will fulfill. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. I can rely upon Almighty God to be the faithful God that He is.

And so when you look at that passage of scripture and you think in terms of your own life, you have to ask yourself this question: is my life characterized by obedience? And somebody says, "Well, okay, how do I learn to trust God?" It's just this simple: you do what you know God tells you to do and then you look for the results.

And then you observe the results. Did it work? Yes, it did. Then you may falter and fall and you disobey Him and you didn't trust Him, and you look at the results: didn't work out, didn't pay off, caused me hurt, caused me pain. It won't take you long, listen, if you are an observant, honest person, genuinely honest about your life, willing to observe what's going on in your life and the lives of others, it won't take you long to realize: when you put your trust in God and obey Him, you're going to be blessed. And when you don't trust Him, you miss God's blessings.

Just as simple as that. How do you learn to trust Him? You do what He says do and you back off and look at the results. When you falter and fall, you look at the results. Won't take you long to figure out: trusting Him is always the wisest, best thing to do. So step number one in the school of obedience is simply this: and that is, trust Him. He's faithful, reliable. No one has ever been able to point out to anyone else how God was unfaithful. God, by His very nature and character, is a faithful God. He's trustworthy. You can rely upon Him.

The second lesson, I think, in the school of obedience is this: and that is learning to wait upon the Lord. Go back, if you will, to Psalm 27. A very important verse along this line because we're in such a rush in every aspect of our life. This is a "I got to have it now," "I got to do it now," "can't wait." Waiting is something in the past. But listen to what he says. Psalm 27, the last verse, verse 14: "Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for the Lord."

I'm glad he put that middle part in there because sometimes we have to be strong and we have to be courageous and take heart. Because sometimes everything in us says "move, move, move," and somehow in our spirit we know we have no business taking a move yet. You don't move until God tells you to move.

Here you've got a decision to make and you don't know what to do. And so somebody says, "Well, listen, man, just buckle up and do it." That's the admonition of the world. The admonition of scripture is if you don't know what to do and don't know how to do it and don't know when to do it, you wait for God to show you what to do.

Now look at that verse, Psalm 27, verse 14. "Wait for the Lord," that is to give you instruction, "be strong and let your heart take courage." Why'd he say let your heart take courage? Because oftentimes, here's what happens: we are afraid we're going to miss something. We're afraid we're going to lose something. We're fearful of being left out, so we want to hurry up and do it. When He says, "Listen, take heart, be courageous, stand strong, stand firm. Don't move until God tells you what to do."

Learning to obey God is the absolute essential lesson of the scripture. And all through the Word of God, what is His word to us? "I'm going to bless you. Trust me, I'll bless you. Trust me, I'll bless you." He says He's stored up goodness for those who trust Him, who believe Him, who wait upon Him.

And so the third lesson that you and I want to learn in the school of obedience is this: and that is learning to meditate upon His Word. Now I want you to watch something very carefully here. Learning to meditate upon His Word. If I want to know the mind of God, where do I find it? In the scriptures. If I want to know the will and ways of God, where do I find them? I find them in the scriptures.

So that if I want to know what to do in a given situation, I want to get in God's Word and start reading it and saying, "Lord, speak to my heart." And remember this: God is committed to showing you His will in every circumstance. God is committed to showing you His will. God is responsible to show you His will.

God assumes full responsibility for giving us direction in our life because He has a will and a plan and a purpose for our life. He has the best thought for us. And because He does, He assumes responsibility to show us which way to go. So therefore He says we are to meditate upon His Word.

Go back, if you will, to Joshua chapter 1. One of my favorite passages of scripture, and they're all favorites for a specific reason. Sometimes situations that we've walked through. Listen to what He told Joshua. He said to Joshua, "Joshua, Moses is dead. You're in charge. You not only have been the general of the army, now you're the president, you're the leader."

And here's what He said to him, knowing that there would be lots of questions, lots of times of possible fear, lots of times of not knowing for certain what to do. Here's what He said to him, beginning in verse 6. He said, "Joshua, be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous. Watch this. Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right nor to the left so that you may have success wherever you go."

Now the Law of Moses is all that they had in those days. You and I have the whole scriptures. Now listen to what He says. He says, "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. Then you'll make your way prosperous, then you'll have success."

What'd He say? He said, "Look Joshua, I want you to succeed. You're going to succeed and you'll prosper in your way. But here's what you must do: you must listen to me very carefully. You must obey me in every circumstance. Listen, don't turn from it to the right, don't turn to the left, then you'll have success. Meditate on it day and night so that you may be very careful to do according to all."

That is, listen: to walk in obedience to Him does not mean that I pick and choose where I want to obey God. It doesn't mean that I have a variety of choices. I don't remember God ever saying to me now, "Here's about seven choices you have. Which one do you want?" I don't remember that anytime. God speaks in specifics.

Now let me just say this: God isn't interested necessarily only on little things like whether you wear brown socks or blue socks, whether you wear a green tie or a blue tie. In other words, there's some things God leaves up to us. Decisions in life that affect His will, His purpose, His plan, His goodness, His blessings in our life, all of those God is interested in, intricately interested in, personally involved, because He has a plan for your life. He has the best waiting for you and He wants you to have it. God desires that we reap every blessing He has in store for us.

So how am I going to do it? If I ignore the Word of God, how am I going to know His Word? Now listen carefully. For example, let's go back to, move over to Psalm 119 for a moment, and I want you to look, if you will, at a verse of scripture here that most of us know, but I want to show you something so you won't forget it. Psalm 119, verse 105: "Thy Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

He says the Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. So if I want to walk in the right way, then I've got to keep God's Word before me, in my heart, in my mind, looking to see what sense of direction I should take. God usually, watch this, God usually shows us His will one step at a time.

If I want to know what's around the corner on God's will, I will never find out as long as I stand here because God gives us one step at a time. "This, now I want you to turn left." Well, as long as I'm saying, "God, I want to see what the end result is," God's not obligated to show me the end result of anything. He's only obligated to show me enough of the path that I can walk on.

This is why you cannot walk in obedience to God with a closed Bible. That's like walking in the woods in the pitch black dark and no batteries in your flashlight. You can have a flashlight, but if you don't have any batteries or no bulb, it's not going to do you any good. You can have a Bible, but if you just lay it up on the table somewhere, on the shelf somewhere and say, "Oh yes, I have a Bible," what good is it doing you?

He says meditate on it day and night. That is, learn the ways of God. Learn the ways that God operated in the lives of His Old Testament saints. And I can tell you through these years, probably one of the greatest blessings that I've had in searching God's Word is reading the Old Testament: reading how did He work in Abraham's life? How did He work in Joseph's life? How did He work in David's life? How did He work in Daniel's life? How did He work in Isaiah's life? How did He work in Paul's life, Peter's life, David's life, all of these men?

Listen, however God, the principles He used then, same principles He uses today. You want to walk in obedience to God, you've got to meditate upon His Word. When I say meditate, what am I talking about? I'm talking about reading it and asking God to speak to your heart and praying it back to Him and saying, "Thank you, Lord. I understand what you're saying."

And what's going to happen is this: you'll be trying to make a decision, you're reading God's Word, He's going to bring a verse to you, a simple verse to you that you'll think, "That's just like it's got my name on it." And sometimes I've said that: had my name so secured to address and telephone number, it absolutely could not be anybody but me when it was written 2,000 years ago, absolutely the answer to exactly what I needed to hear.

Now, if the Bible is a stranger to you, that is, if this is a strange book, you say, "Well, you know, I just don't, I'm not very familiar with it." How do you get familiar with it? Looking at it on the shelf? You get familiar with it by opening it and beginning to read. You say, "Well, I don't understand all that." You know what? Join the crowd.

Because there are things at times we read and we think, "Now Lord, what in the world are you saying here?" You keep studying it long enough, you keep reading it long enough, He's going to show you. Sometimes God will bring you to a verse or to a passage of scripture, He won't let you get away from it. Why? Because He's trying to rivet that into your soul to help you understand He's trying to say something to you. "Here's what I want you to do. Here's how I want you to do it."

And oftentimes it'll conflict with human reason, so you have to decide: am I going to be obedient to God or not? Now remember this: we have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of us to help us and guide us. But He has given us a light. Listen, we don't have to walk in darkness. In fact, walking in darkness is not what God's people do.

But remember this: this is my light, this is the compass. This is going to show me where to go. You can't think of a single solitary question or decision that you have to make that you can't find an answer somewhere in God's Word. Now it may not be the very incident that you're talking about, but the principle is there somewhere to help you find out exactly what God's up to in your life. So if we're going to learn obedience, we must learn to meditate upon God's Word.

Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. God's Word is a limitless source of guidance, encouragement, and wisdom. As you daily read and meditate on the scriptures, you'll be drawn to faith and obedience to the Lord.

We'll continue this topic next time. But to keep studying about following God, drop by intouch.org. And that's where you can listen to this message again. Just click "Today on Radio" on our homepage. Then head over to our bookstore if you'd like to order a copy of Dr. Stanley's complete message, "The School of Obedience." It's also included in his teaching set, "The Joy of Obedience."

Our web address again is intouch.org. Call or text to 1-800-INTOUCH. If you prefer, you can write to us at: In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357.

It's no secret God allows us to go through difficult times. The question is: are we allowing our faith to be strengthened through those difficulties? Today's Moment with Charles Stanley is just ahead.

Guest (Male): We're not the first to seek a life of purpose. The Bible tells of many who followed a specific path step by step with courage, with surrender, for a deeper purpose, a stronger passion, a lasting peace. Introducing Your Path to Purpose, Passion and Peace: a new 90-day devotional inspired by the timeless teaching of Dr. Charles Stanley. Available now at intouch.org/store.

Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch. God will never push you away. Whatever He allows you to experience is designed to draw you closer to Him. With insight for believers, here's a Moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Are you willing to do what God tells you to do when you don't want to do it? Are you willing to do what God tells you to do when you don't think you can do it? Are you willing to do what God wants you to do when you are fully persuaded that it's impossible for you to be able to achieve what He's set you out to achieve? Are you unwilling to be obedient to Him because of something in your life you don't want to give up?

He knows how to test our devotion. It's easy to say "I'm devoted to Jesus Christ." But remember what God does: Jesus doesn't work on the surface. It's a deep abiding relationship with Him. It's a devotion. It is a commitment. It is a reliance upon Him. And when He talks about our faith being tested and being tried: am I willing to do what He says do when it's more painful than I think I can handle? Am I willing to be obedient when I don't understand why?

And there've been many times I've been tested by the fact that I didn't understand why. "Why, God?" "You just trust me. You just obey me." And here's what I discovered: the tougher, the more difficult, the more trying, the more painful, the more heartache, the more hurt, the more sorrow, the more tears, what happens? When He walks you through that, you take these giant leaps forward in your relationship to Him. What happens? He's strengthening your faith, building your faith, growing you up, making you the godly man and woman He wants you to be.

Guest (Male): And as you grow in godliness, you're better equipped to be of service to those around you. Learn more about living the Christian life at intouch.org. Next time on In Touch, you'll hear four more essentials in the school of obedience. I hope you'll 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.