Reasons to Obey God

Guest (Male): His love for us is unsurpassed, absolute, and immeasurable. When we think about the forgiveness of our sins, and all that He is and all that He does, we have a reason to stand in awe of Him. He is the absolute sovereign ruler of this universe, controlling all things at all times. Omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, merciful, just, the judge of all mankind. Why should you and I obey Him? Because of who He is.
Guest (Male): That was an inspirational description of God. If someone were to ask you what is God like, what would you say? It's a very important thought to consider because your answers affect you more than you might think. Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we'll hear compelling and encouraging reasons to obey God.
Dr. Charles Stanley: When you're confronted with a decision to either obey or disobey God, what is your response? You say, well, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. You know what? When you start living a godly life, you won't put up with that sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. There may be failures at times, and there will be weaknesses in moments when all of us don't do exactly what He says do. But you won't have a lackadaisical, spasmodic attitude. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. That's roller coaster living, and that's not the way He wants us to live. Oftentimes, the reason we excuse ourselves is because we've never decided why we choose to obey God. Is it obligation? Is it necessity? What is the reason? I think sometimes we don't realize the kind of spiritual impact that it has upon our life when we do not obey Him, or when we obey Him for the wrong reasons. I want you to turn, if you will, to Acts chapter five. Let me give you a little background of what's happening. Peter and John went to the temple. Here's a man who's been lame for 40 years, and they say to him as he asks something from them, silver and gold have I not, but in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, rise and walk. Grabbed him by the hand, pulled him up, and he stands up and he's healed. Everybody around gets excited. So they are brought before the magistrates and they're questioned about what they're doing. So Peter and John answered and said, whether it's right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge. We cannot stop speaking about what we've seen and heard. They had seen, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ's crucifixion, resurrection, and all the rest. So they are let go and then they're preaching the gospel again. A lot of things are happening. People are being saved, hundreds and hundreds of people are being saved. They get arrested again. This time, they get thrown in jail and an angel of the Lord lets them out. So when they come looking for them, they can't find them. They're brought before the magistrates again. Listen to what happens in chapter five, beginning in verse 27. When they had brought them, they stood them before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, we gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, that is the name of Jesus. And yet, you filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Listen to what Peter said. But Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you put to death by hanging Him on the cross. He's the one whom God exalted to His right hand as Prince and Savior, to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we're witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him. Now, here's the question. What is it that motivated this passion within him to say, we must obey God rather than men? Have you ever had to say that? I must obey God rather than you. I must obey God rather than men. Or simply, I must obey God in this situation. Confronted with something that God has confronted you with, and you know in your heart, I must be obedient to Him. I must obey God. What is the passion within Peter that caused him to say, we must obey God? Not obligation, not guilt, not afraid of Him. But what are the reasons? So I want to ask you a question. Why do you obey Him? When you get confronted with those things in life, why do you obey Him? Do you obey Him because you're afraid to look over your shoulder because if you disobey Him, He's going to get me? There are a lot of people who live their whole life out of fear, even after they're saved. They live their life in fear. Suppose I do this, what's God going to think? I don't want to disappoint God. You know you can't disappoint God? In order to disappoint someone, they have to have expectations of you and not knowing what's going to happen. You know what? God knows all about what you and I are going to do. He's never disappointed. He already knows everything that's going to happen in our life, so He's not disappointed. He may be grieved by what we do, but it's no big surprise to Him. God doesn't want you obeying Him because you're afraid of what's going to happen, and because you fear He's going to reject you and He's not going to love you anymore. Then what is the motivation? What is it that motivated the Apostle Peter standing before those people, knowing they could put him in jail and keep him there for a long time or take his life? What motivated him to say, we must obey God? He knew something. He was motivated by the right thing. So let's think about what those things are. The first one, of course, is we obey Him because we reverence Him. That is, we acknowledge who He is. We recognize who He is. When you look at this fourth chapter, what the disciples are saying here, when they are brought before the rulers, beginning in verse eight. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name, this man stands here before you in good health. He is the stone, that Jesus is, which was rejected by you the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. You know what motivated him? What motivated him is he knew. He had a reverence for the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew who He was. That is, He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. He's the giver of life to every single one of us. When Peter said, we must obey God, he knew who he was talking about. His love for us is unsurpassed, absolute, and immeasurable. When we think about the forgiveness of our sins and we think about all that He is and all that He does, we have a reason to stand in awe of Him. We sing that we stand in awe of Him. That means we reverence Him, we honor Him, we adore Him, we worship Him because He's worthy of it. Why should you and I obey Him? Because of who He is. A second reason you and I should obey Him and one of the reasons that we ought to be motivated to do so, and certainly I think this was true of Peter and those apostles, is we obey Him out of pure gratitude. God the Father, through His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, reached down, convicted you of sin, gave you the gift of faith, accepted your confession and your repentance. And what did He do? He saved you. He redeemed you, and He glorified you, and reconciled you, and justified you, and sanctified you. He adopted you into His family, so that every single one of us is a child of the living God once we've trusted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. And He sent the Holy Spirit to seal us forever as one of His children. You think about this. You and I are not saved today because of our good works. We're saved by His great grace. We're not kept saved by good works, but listen, by His eternal gift of eternal security. Who we are and what we are is the result of who He is and what He is and His love and devotion for us. The scripture says not only has He saved us, reconciled us, and changed us, living on the inside of us through the Holy Spirit, enabling us every single day, providing for our needs, giving us direction for our life. He's planned our life. He has the path all laid out. He's promised to walk with us and to provide our needs every single day, no matter what's going on in our life. When you think about so much that He's done that you're not even aware of. We talk about redemption, that He paid the sin debt at the cross for your sins. You couldn't have done that. Only the sinless Son of God could die for them, and He chose to do that. Prepared you a home in heaven. Wrote your name in the Lamb's Book of Life. Getting you ready to go there. And He has a place nobody can take but you. When you think about all He's done for you, how can you and I do anything but obey Him, motivated by pure gratitude and thanksgiving? But there's a third reason, and I think certainly this also was a part of Peter's thinking when he said, we must obey God rather than man. Why? Simply because we love Him. Peter certainly loved the Lord. You know, when I think about all the things that Peter went through and what a leader he was among the apostles. But in the most critical, crucial moments of Jesus' life, when He needed a friend as He'd never needed one before, he denied He even knew Him. Can you imagine the penetration of the eyes of Jesus when His eyes met Peter's eyes? He simply, the scripture says, He looked upon Peter and Peter remembered. It went straight to his heart. His confession and repentance must have been weeping and weeping. But you know what? He had a love for Jesus that gave him courage and confidence and assurance that nothing else in the world would. When we think about when he said, we must obey God, his love for Him, his love for the Lord Jesus Christ. And you think about how He's loved us. I think one of the most significant is this, that He chose a plan for your life. And I think as you think about that, let's look, for example, in Ephesians chapter one for a moment because this is a wonderful passage. Oftentimes you think, does God care about me? Does God love me? We question all the things that we wonder about sometimes. Listen to what he says. Chapter one, verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. You know what that means? He has already planned it, stored it up, it's provided for every single thing you and I will ever need. Our loving heavenly Father has already prepared. Listen to this. Just as He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. An awesome expression of His love for us, that He chose us. You know why you're saved? Because God chose you. Listen, He says not only that, He predestined us to do what? To become a member of His family, adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ. Now watch this. To Himself, according to the kind intention of His will. You know why He did it? Because He wanted to. When you think about the fact of how He has loved us and the things He's done for us in our life, you think about the fact He says He lavished His grace upon us. That God loved you enough to plan the best for your life and is willing to walk with you through that plan. He has the path every single day laid out. And if you and I will follow that, we'll discover something about Him that we could never discover any other way. He's so willing to express that love. When I think about how much He loves us and all He's done for us that no one else can do, why do I need any other reason than the fact I just love Him? We obey Him because we love Him. You won't love Him until you understand who He is. When you understand who He is, your gratitude's going to begin to skyrocket. Why do you obey God? Could you say that it's because you understand who He is, the sovereign ruler of this universe, your heavenly Father? Can you say that your heart is overflowed with gratitude for all that He's done in your life and all that He's doing and what you know He's going to do? Could you say it's because you just love Him? And loving Him is enough for you. There's another reason we obey Him and that's because we trust Him. Why do you think the Apostle Peter and his fellow disciples said, we must obey God? Here's the reason. Because they trusted Him. You know what? You will not obey a God you don't trust. And the reason you and I disobey Him is this. We disobey Him because at that moment or in that situation, we don't trust Him. What we're saying is He's not all He says He is. What we're saying is we know better than He does. He can't fix this, I'll have to fix it myself. I can't wait on Him because my timing is better. God does not understand all the circumstances. If He knew what I knew, He'd do it my way. You know what? You don't obey a God you do not trust. We should indeed obey Him because we trust Him. You and I come to situations and circumstances we don't have the answer. He does. He's never been confused or confronted or late. He's never been disturbed or upset or frustrated by some circumstance in our life. He loves us, He desires the very best for us, and He has chosen to give you His best if you will trust Him and wait for Him and let Him do it His way. Another reason you and I should obey Him is because when you and I obey Him, we feel very secure. Now think about this for a moment. They stood before their accusers. Peter and John answered, whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge. We can't stop speaking about what we've seen and heard. Had courage, boldness. He said, we must obey God rather than men. Here's what happens. When you and I sin against God, our conscience gets to working. That's not the only thing that begins to work. Sin fragments your thinking. Sin causes doubt, sin causes fear, sin causes anxiety, sin causes frustration, and sin causes a person to make decisions that are unwise. There is an awesome sense of security that comes when you and I obey Him. And when we obey Him, God gives a sense of security that comes no other way. You see, when you and I obey Him, we ought to obey it for the very security that it gives us. We ask, why is it some people can go through difficulty, hardship, and pain and come through it all somehow with a smile, a sense of calmness? As hurtful as it may have been, how can they come through that? Is it by knit and grit? No. Here's the reason. Because when a person is walking in obedience of the Father, the circumstances really don't make a lot of difference because the Father is going to give a sense of security, strength, courage, boldness, contentment that nothing else in the world can give. And you see, there is no other answer for that kind of assurance and boldness. What oftentimes would knock other people off the path, you come along because you're walking in obedience to Him. And you know what? The devil may try you, tempt you, test you, give up, quit, run away, whatever it might be. Inside of you, the Holy Spirit is reminding you. You're walking in the presence of the Father, the sovereign ruler of this universe. I am here. I am with you. I will enable you. I'll protect you. I'll walk you through this. You will come through it. I will bless you. I will honor you. I will do things in your life far beyond your imagination. That is the testimony of the Spirit of God when you and I walk obediently before Him. Listen to this. A loving heavenly Father is not going to allow you, one of His children, to have the sense of security and boldness and confidence when He knows you're disobeying Him, living in disobedience. You are out of His plan. And you know what He does? He stirs up enough to bring us back to Himself. We obey Him because there is an awesome sense of security that comes in knowing that you're walking in the center of the will of God. This is the reason people can face death, even through sickness, knowing that they are in the will of the Father with this awesome sense of confidence. The next time you're in a situation or a circumstance and you're gripped with fear, uncertainty, doubt, ask yourself this question. Why would I, a child of God, unconditionally loved by the heavenly Father, who's promised no weapon formed against me shall prosper, no plague shall come nigh me, why am I afraid? And if you will examine it, more than likely you're going to find something that shouldn't be there. You're going to find something that's missing. And that is, you see, there is no security without obedience. And I want to encourage you to ask yourself the question. Isn't it about time you started obeying your heavenly Father? And if you've never trusted Him as your Savior, if you will confess your sins and you can pray this kind of a prayer. Father, your word's right. I've had it my way. I've been stubborn. I want it my way. I'm not really happy. I'm not content. I don't really have joy and peace. I don't have any real genuine security. I'm worried about this and fretting about that. And you see, people who are very wealthy, you think they don't have anything to worry about. Oftentimes they've got more to worry about. You know why? They look back and see how hard they worked to accumulate all of these material things. and now they're worried to death about what's going to happen to them. They turn to drink, they turn to all kind of things. Worried about God's blessings. Don't know what's going to happen when they die. The major question ought to be what's going to happen to them when they die, not their material possessions. I'm simply saying if you will ask Him to forgive you of your sins and to save you, He'll do it right now. And then what happens? You can stop being afraid of God and remember that He is your loving heavenly Father. Jesus Christ is your Savior, Lord, Master, and brother. And the Holy Spirit is your continuing enabler to help you to become the person God wants you to be. It is foolish to live a life of disobedience when so much is offered to those who obey Him.
Guest (Male): Thanks for listening to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. A rich friendship with God is the blessing that belongs to Christians who are surrendered to Him and intent on obeying Him. So as you study the Bible, ask the Lord to help you understand who He is. The insight you gain will motivate you to trust Him and serve Him. If we intend to obey God, we need to understand what He wants us to do. For help with that, visit us at intouch.org or remind yourself of what you just heard at the link Today on Radio. And our online store is where you can order a copy of today's complete message, Reasons to Obey God. Again, that's at intouch.org or call 1-800-INTOUCH. If you prefer to write, our address is In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357. What we truly believe or don't believe about God affects our thinking and conduct. Today's Moment with Charles Stanley is coming up.
Guest (Male): There is an inexplicable joy that comes from understanding scripture and learning how to apply it in our own life. The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible includes 30 foundational truths that Dr. Stanley has learned from over 60 years of ministry. It's available in the New King James Version, New International Version, the King James Version, and New American Standard Bible version. To order, call 1-800-INTOUCH or go to intouch.org/store. We've all experienced seasons of loss. Times when we are thriving and moments when things seem to fall apart. These stages can often leave us feeling unsure of how to move forward, needing to rebuild. The In Touch Rebuild Workbook is a resource that will help you rebuild and form a life of sustaining faith and intimacy with God. Begin your journey today. Visit intouch.org/rebuild. From the Pastor's Heart is an in-depth teaching letter inspired by the teachings of Dr. Charles Stanley. To receive In Touch's From the Pastor's Heart letter, call 1-800-INTOUCH or visit intouch.org/pastorsheart.
Guest (Male): A person's attitudes and behavior reflect their perspective of God. With a reminder for believers, here's a Moment with Charles Stanley.
Dr. Charles Stanley: One of the primary reasons people don't obey the Lord is because they don't know who He is. And so you and I talk about Jesus Christ being a Messiah, being virgin born, being the Son of God, being the Savior, the Lord, the Master, the Creator, the sovereign ruler of the universe. And they don't have an idea what we're talking about. Listen, you will not obey a God whom you do not know. If you don't know Him, you're not going to obey Him. And you see, many people who are Christians have such a very skimpy attitude about Jesus and a very lighthearted attitude and oftentimes know so little about who He is and about the Holy Spirit and about God the Father. There's no real sense of genuine heartfelt reverence and awe before Him. That's why we live in a world of total rebellion. That's why we see people doing things that we do not even possibly conceive of how anybody could do such a thing in the presence of the living God. You know why? Because they don't know Him. They have no fear of God. We're living in an age that has no fear of God. We spout off anything and everything and all kinds of philosophies. We see all kinds of sin and wickedness and evil going on. Why? Because there is absolutely no fear of God. When you fear the living God, that means you reverence Him. You understand who He is. You stand in awe before Him.
Guest (Male): The only way to know God is to trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins. Learn more about becoming a Christian at intouch.org. Has the good news of the gospel changed your life? If this program has been part of that journey, please let us know. When In Touch continues next time, what is the church? Be back again as we begin a series that explains how believers are uniquely called and empowered to serve by Jesus Christ. That's on 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.