The Strength to Obey God

SPEAKER 02 : 0:00

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, July 30th. Obeying God isn’t always easy, especially when it costs us something. But we are not left to do it alone. God gives us what we need to follow Him. Today’s reminder is this. God Himself is our strength to obey.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:21

God has planned the very best possible life for you. God doesn’t make any bad plans. He doesn’t come up short. He doesn’t show any prejudice. He’s a loving Father. We don’t always understand the ways that He oftentimes operates, but one thing for certain, He always plans the best. And He plans the best for all of us and then some people are able to experience the best and some people are not. One of the primary reasons people don’t experience the best is because they just refuse to acknowledge God’s plan. Somebody says, well if I just knew what the plan was then I might obey it. That’s not the way God operates. God doesn’t operate on giving us something to consider. He operates on the basis of giving us something to obey, something to fulfill. I want to talk about the strength to obey God, because I do believe that many people really and truly want to be obedient. And you try and try and try, and somehow it doesn’t work. You just want to give up and quit. You don’t have to give up and quit. And what I want to show you in this passage of Scripture, in all of these passages, you can obey God if you choose. Maybe you’ve just said, well, you know what? I’ll do the best I can and some of my best isn’t good enough. I don’t end up obeying God and I don’t know why I don’t. I’m going to help you understand why you don’t. I’m also going to help you understand why you can. So I want us to turn, if you will, to John. And the 12th chapter, this is not the passage that I really want to preach on, but I just want to give you this passage because it’s sort of a key verse of Scripture about this whole idea of obedience and life of Jesus. And I want you to look, if you will, in the 12th chapter of John. And I want you to listen to what Jesus said in this particular passage. He said… For I did not speak on my own initiative, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that this commandment or his commandment is eternal life. Therefore, the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me. Now, what I want you to see is this, that Jesus is saying, what I say is what I hear the Father saying. What I do is what I see the Father doing. So in order to understand what the key is, I want us to look at the life of Jesus. Somebody says, well, now wait a minute, but isn’t Jesus perfect? Wasn’t he God? Isn’t he God? Yes, he is. But what I want you to do is I want you to see the pattern in his life. Because there’s a pattern in his life that’s the key to our being obedient. I want you to look, if you will, in Philippians. Now, he did not say this. The Apostle Paul, who understood the life of Jesus better than anybody else, Philippians chapter 2, listen to what he says about Jesus, because the truth is, this spirit of obedience sprang from a heart and life of humility. Listen to what he did. Chapter 2, beginning in verse 5. Paul says, have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, who although he existed in the form of God… did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped. That is, even though he and the Father were one, he says, if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the Father. He didn’t grasp and hold on to that, but what happened? He was willing to lay down his glory, lay it aside, come to earth, listen, in the form of a man, and be less than, listen now, watch this, he never ceased to be God. He never ceased to be divine, to be deity, but he took upon himself human flesh and became a man, listen to this, who, although he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, to be held onto. But he emptied himself, laid aside some privileges and some of his knowledge, and certainly his glory or no one would have been able to see him and face him in those days if he had been in his glory.” But he emptied himself, taking the form of a bondservant. Now, a bondservant was the lowest form of a servant in the household. The bondservant is the one who met you at the door with a basin of water and a towel and washed your dirty feet, took your sandals off, washed your feet, dried them, and put them back on. Or you walked around without those dusty sandals. Bondservant. And being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, what did he do? He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Paul said, who is this Jesus? He is God in human flesh, walking among men, stepping down out of heaven, taking upon himself the flesh of man. Not sinning, but everything else was there except a sinful nature. He did not have a sinful nature. And so he humbled himself. He says he humbled himself and became obedient. How obedient? To the point of death. How obedient does God want us to be to the point of death? Death to self-seeking, self-service, self-exaltation, self, self, self. He doesn’t want that in our life. It wasn’t in Jesus’ life. And if you and I live a life of obedience to Him, those kind of things, they go. They don’t belong in who we are. And so what you have in this Philippian chapter is simply an explanation of what Jesus did when He came to earth, took upon Himself the form of a human being, walked among us to do what? To demonstrate by His life and by His ministry the kind of life that you and I could live. He says, God predestined you and me to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. What is that? The spirit of humility and above all, the spirit of obedience. Here is the spirit of obedience. You can know in your heart that you have the spirit of obedience when you can tackle anything with this attitude. not my will, but your will be done. When you can come to any situation and circumstance in your life, listen, you may not want what God wants for your life. You may want something that he’s withholding from you. You may see something happening that you know it’s going to bring you a lot of pain. Can you say, nevertheless, Lord, Not my will, but your will be done. He demonstrated the most beautiful example of the spirit of obedience. Now watch this. You’ve not heard me say that when you begin to obey God, you’re going to obey him about every single thing, no more disobedience. God knows that. He knows that, and I know, and you know. We’re not going to live a perfect life. We live in this old flesh, our sinful flesh. We have desires and all the normal, natural things that God gave us desires for. But the issue is this. Not whether we will obey every single thing God says do, but do we have the spirit of obedience? That is, is it my desire to walk obediently before Him? Not just some weak desire. Do I live by the principle of obedience or do I live by the principle of preference? That is, most people go through life and they do what they prefer to do. They don’t live by principle. And this is why they come to this situation, that circumstance, and this problem in their life. And they have to decide every time now, shall I obey God or shall I not? When you operate on the basis of the principle of obedience, what happens is this. Every issue gets sifted through that principle. It is the will of God that I obey Him. It is the plan of God that I obey Him. Now, this is one of those tough things, God. And, Lord, you know, this isn’t what I want. And, God, I don’t want to lay this down. I don’t want to give this up, God. I’m telling you I don’t. Nevertheless, Lord, if that’s your will for my life, I choose to be obedient. I may weep in it. I may fight against it. Lord, I may complain and moan and groan and argue with you about it. But, Lord… I’m going to be obedient to you no matter what. That is the spirit of obedience. And that’s the spirit he wants in us. Listen, he doesn’t expect us to jump up and down and just have great jubilation and smile and cheer when we hit something that he knows is going to be extremely painful in us. That’s not his expectation. His expectation is obedience. It may be obedience in tears. It may be obedience in sorrow. It may cost you nights on your face before God, crying out to Him to strengthen you and enable you and to help you. But you know what? The spirit of obedience says, God, no matter how much the cost, no matter how many tears or sleepless nights, whatever, God, I’m going to obey you no matter what. Now, with that in mind, what was the key to obedience in the life of Jesus. Let’s think about in terms of humanity now. Listen, while he was God, he was still human. And he says he was tempted in all points such as we. Hebrews chapter 4, 14, 15, 16 verses, he was tempted just like we are. Every man, every woman, any temptations, trials, he had it all. But he didn’t sin. You say, well now, how can I be strong enough? How can I be strong? How can I have obedience as a way of life? It’s the only way that matters. It’s what God is looking for. How can I? Okay, I want you to turn to two or three verses in a moment. And I want you to notice something else about Jesus. And the reason I’m going through all these verses is so very important. You get the pattern. So let’s begin in Mark chapter 1. How did he learn this? He learned obedience. That is, in his humanity, he was learning to obey the Father. All right, look at this. And you’ll wonder, well, what’s this got to do with obeying God? Well, you watch now. Chapter 1 of Mark, verse 32. When evening came after the sun had set, they began bringing to him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed. The whole city had gathered at the door. He healed many who were ill with various diseases and cast out many demons. And he was not permitting the demons to speak because they knew who he was. In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. Okay, let’s go to the fifth chapter of Luke. Fifth chapter of Luke, and I want you to notice something here. Fifteenth verse. But the news about him was spreading even further. Large crowds were gathering to hear him and to be healed of their sickness. But Jesus himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. He had to slip away. Sixth chapter of Luke, one more over, and look what’s happening. In verse 11 of this sixth chapter, but they themselves were filled, that is his enemies, filled with rage and discussed together what they might do to Jesus. It was at this time that he went off to the mountain to pray and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. And you say, well, what does that have to do with my being strong and And being able to be strong enough to resist temptation and obey God. Here’s the whole key. It is absolutely essential. My life, your life, every single life, it was essential in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. for him to spend time fellowshipping with the Father, listening to Him. Now, I want you to listen carefully. You can try it differently if you want, but I’m telling you, here’s the truth. You will not, you cannot, you will not, you cannot live a life of obedience unless there is times in your life, daily, when you are listening to the Lord, talking to Him, meditating upon Him in His Word, Listening to Him. That’s the way God… Listen, God created us to love us, to have fellowship with us. He created us to obey Him as a result. And listen, with the refreshing and the renewing and the strength and the energy and the power and the might that comes through spending time fellowshipping with Him. That’s the way He created us. You miss the fellowship with Him, the time alone with Him, you’re not going to be obedient. Think about how many voices you hear in a given day. How many things you see that appeal and are attractive to you that God doesn’t want in your life. You know, when you start the day with Him, He sets your focus. You start the day with Him, listen, He guides your mind. You start the day with Him, He energizes you. He’ll strengthen you. I don’t care how tired, how weary you are. There’s something about spending time with Him that makes a difference. And this morning I awakened about 3.30 and I thought, Lord, you’re going to have to turn me over. I think I’m so tired I can’t turn over. And so I didn’t sleep too much the rest of the morning. And so at 6 o’clock the alarm went off. I thought, okay, okay, God, you know where I am. And I’ve done my best this week. And a lot of people’s lives have been changed. And a lot of people have been encouraged. And here I am and I’m tired, Lord, and I’m weary. And, you know, I don’t even feel like getting out of the bed. But God, here’s what you promised. And I just laid there for a little while and talked to him and reminded him what David said. I will go in the strength of the Lord my God. By the time I got through talking to him and listening to him, I jumped out of the bed and here I am and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. This is the second message. Because why? Because I claimed for myself what I did not have and could not do for myself. And that is His divine energy and strength and a clear mind. Energy to do whatever He calls us to do at any time. You cannot and you will not obey God without spending time in fellowship with Him. That’s the first thing. The second thing is this. Relying upon the Holy Spirit. And what I want you to remember is this. Every single ministry of the Holy Spirit is directed toward some need you and I have in our life. You remember what He said to His disciples? Sit down in the city of Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You should receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. So what happens? If we’re going to be obedient to Him, we have to acknowledge, Father, I don’t have the strength to do it. It’s not what I want to do. And so what do we say? We say, Lord, You sent the Holy Spirit to live on the inside of me. He lives on the inside of every single believer. Why is He there? He’s there to enable you and me to do what we cannot do. We’re not equipped to do it. He didn’t build you and me in such a way that we can live obediently before Him without relying upon the Holy Spirit. That’s why He sent Him. It would be unjust on the part of God to call us to do something we can’t do without helping us do it. And there’s much in life you and I cannot do. You want to walk obediently? Number one, fellowship. Cannot, will not without it. Relying upon the Holy Spirit. Trusting Him. You cannot, you will not without Him. And the third thing is simply this. It’s real simple. You must be willing to believe that fellowship with Him and relying upon the Holy Spirit. will give you that energy and strength and power and refreshment and renewing that you need to live obediently before him. You say, why’d you give us all those scriptures about Jesus? Because I wanted you to see how he operated. I wanted you to see what he said. He said, I don’t do anything on my own strength. Jesus did not operate apart from the Holy Spirit. He didn’t operate apart from fellowship with the Father. And he never thought about operating apart from from trusting in his Father to meet his every need. What I want you to see is this. The availability of the strength to live godly is available to every single one of us. And listen to this. Nothing pleases Jesus anymore than our willingness to obey him. Because what that says is, I understand who you are. I acknowledge you as my Lord. I trust you. And I love you. That’s what it says. Father, we pray the Holy Spirit will sink these simple truths into every single one of our hearts. And the next time we get tempted to be disobedient, that you will remind us we don’t have to fail. It’s a choice we make. And that the more time we spend with you, and the more we rely upon your Holy Spirit, and the more we trust you, the less appeal any sin will have to us. And if we find ourselves being tempted and something has a very, very, very strong appeal, let it send us a message that our fellowship with you, our reliance upon the Holy Spirit, our trust in you may be weak because we have not spent time with you as we should We’ve not relied upon the Holy Spirit as we should. We’ve not trusted you as we should. Father, my prayer for every single person here this morning is that each of us would wake up each morning anticipating what you’re going to do in our life because we choose to be obedient. And watch what happens. and we live it out throughout the day. In Jesus’ name, amen.

SPEAKER 02 : 18:43

Thank you for listening to Strength to Obey God. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.