Living Godly in an Ungodly Age - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, January twentieth. Today, we learn how to remain faithful to God as we listen to God's Word. Now, let's look at the key to living a godly life. Well, let's go back to this Godly age. Well, I want you to turn to a little book in the New Testament, Titus.

Give you a little background. Paul wrote to Titus giving him some admonitions about the church in Crete. He sent him to a very difficult place to pastor a church. He said, Well, let's go back to this ninth verse and listen to what he says. He's told him what to do. He's getting ready to say, now look at the society you're in.

Here's what he says. Ninth verse, holding fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching so that he'll be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. What do you mean, hold fast?

Hold fast means to grip it tight. Hold it close. Apply it to your life.

Don't allow it to drift away. What he's saying is this, the key to living a godly life is right here in this book. Now, I want to give you a list of things.

I want you to jot them down. So, the power of God's Word. So, what does it do? Number one, leads us to salvation. It's the only book that can give us the full story on salvation. Secondly, it guides our steps. It shows us how we are to walk in our Christian life. It leads us to wisdom. When we come to the Word of God, searching for answers, seeking truth, making decisions, what happens? We come to the Word of God and He shows us wisdom.

What's a wise thing to do? It lifts our burdens. For example, when we read in the Psalms especially when David was going through all those difficult trying times and how God sent him back to the Old Testament at that time because that's all they had.

But he says he went to the Word of God and how God worked and lifted his burden. Brings us joy in our life. And I'll give you a perfect example of that. One of the most critical examples is sometimes in a memorial service and here's the casket and the body is there and the family walks in and they're full of sorrow. Their heart is aching and hurting and they're always coming with that sense of real remorse in their life.

They've lost a loved one. You begin to speak the Word of God. You begin to talk about God being with us in difficult and trying times. You begin to talk about these physical bodies of ours and that their loved one's not in the casket, absent from the body, present with the Lord. And what He says about the resurrection, where they are today. And next thing you know what's happening. That sorrowful look is gone and this relaxed look is on their face and the next thing you know what are they doing? They're shaking their head yes, yes, I believe, amen. Praise the Lord.

Yes, yes, yes. What can do that? What can do that? What can do that? What can do that? What can do that? What can do that? What can do that? What can do that?

What can do that? Only the truth of God's Word. Why did He make such emphasis? Because not only will it bring you joy, but it'll give you peace. When your heart is troubled and you're living in the middle of a storm, you don't know which way to turn next, you can go talk to somebody else and it's amazing what they'll tell you.

Well, here's what I think you ought to do. I will be with you. I will not forsake you.

I will be with you even to the end of this age. The very promise of the presence of Almighty God and His power to assist you, uphold you, help you. And He says, listen, fear not, I am your God.

Do not look at your circumstances around you. He says, I will help you. I will strengthen you. I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. You see, it's God's Word, the power of God's Word to bring us joy and peace and happiness in our life. Likewise, it's the Word of God that keeps us from sin. Because you see, what this book is doing continually while you are now reading it, it's cleansing us. It's cleansing us from wrong thinking. It's cleansing us from lust. It's cleansing us from anger and bitterness and resentment and hostility and unbelief.

Because we're continually being reminded, what? These things don't fit who we are. These beliefs do not, these beliefs and these emotions don't fit who we are. Anger doesn't fit who we are. Bitterness does not fit who we are.

And besides that, it not only cleanses our mind, it has a positive effect upon the human body. He says, cling to this book. Hold on to it. Apply it to your life. Let it make its difference in your life.

Because as it makes a difference in your life, it's going to make a difference in somebody else's life. And so, there are many things we can say about it, but of course, there are many things we can say about it, but of course, there are many things we can say about it. And so, by this book, we can expose and refute false doctrine. And there's so much false doctrine going on today. Some of it you hear on television, it's in church after church after church. Well, you don't really, in other words, here's what is oftentimes said today. Now, I believe the Bible, pastor, but this is a different age, right? And so, therefore, you can't take this Old Testament and this Old Bible that's so antiquated, it's so old. How do you think you can apply that to this day? Well, what are they saying?

Simply this, there was a time when marriage, as the Bible says, between a man and a woman. Now, this day and age, that's gone with the wind. No, it hasn't. Well, what difference does it make? After all, pastor, you know, these are different times. We've got to get updated.

Well, let me tell you something. No man or woman, no matter who they are, has ever updated this. You don't update the wisdom of God.

Amen? You don't update the wisdom of God. And God's power hasn't ceased. His wisdom hasn't ceased.

This is the ultimate message to mankind. That's why He says, Titus, hold on to it, cling to it, because if you don't, you're going to drift. And so, when I look at all these things He says about it, and Paul says, he says, of all things, it's the power of God.

Now, why would he say that? Because his whole life was transformed. He said to Timothy, he said, I was a violent aggressor against the church, doing my best to destroy the church. And then one day, I met Jesus Christ, blinded by Him, didn't saved by Him, filled with the Holy Spirit by Him, and now I am aggressively doing my best to shed the gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world of His day, because His life was so transformed. And all of us who've been saved, we know that it's the power of God. And those of us who pray and seek His face and long to know His will and long to know Him personally, you know what?

God is doing the most incredible things in our lives. And so, when somebody comes to me and says, you don't believe all that stuff, do you? Yes. Can't believe it enough.

Why? Because I got sixty-two years of proof that God never let me down, never lied to me, never gave me any wrong direction. Do I believe it?

Yes, I believe it. Every single word of it. And then I want to question, well, who's giving you that kind of guidance? Because only God can give you perfect wisdom and guidance. He's going to give us perfect guidance. Listen to this, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. Cling to the Book.

And what does He say? He'll guide us in all of our ways. He'll make our ways straight. There's so many awesome verses of promise in the Word of God.

Why? That's the power of God's Word. So, when we look at our society, where it's headed, where it's been, where it's going, and things are dark and getting darker, people compromising more than ever before. And so, what's the message here?

The message is simply this. Cling to the Word, lest you drift and become like the world. Cling to the Word. Now, what's involved in holding on to this Word? What's involved, as He says, in clinging to the Word?

Well, there are a number of things. First of all is this, you've got to believe it. If you don't believe it, it's not going to work.

You can read it, read it, read it. But first of all, if you're going to cling to it, you've got to believe it. Secondly, you've got to be willing to apply it.

It's one thing to have it, but the second thing is to apply it. One of the primary ways that Satan's going to attack you, he's going to say, listen, you know what? He hasn't changed his tactics at all, not one bit.

And the reason is because it's working so well for him. What did he say to Eve? Oh, did God really say that? Creating doubt. If he can get you to doubt in God's Word because of what you hear from your friends, doubting God's Word when somebody says, well, I used to believe that, but no more because, you see, this is a whole new day, man. You're just living in the past if you believe that stuff. Yeah, but I'm going to be eternally safe and secure in heaven and you're going to wish you'd have heard me. That's where it is.

Why? Because this is the Book with God's answers. And so, we must continually apply it as we said, get in your house, get in your hands, get in your mind, get in your heart, get in your conduct, get it on your lips, telling of a people, here's what God has done in my life. It simply means cling to it. Don't depart from it. Don't drift from this Book.

Think about this. If you've got gobs and gobs of money, you lose it in a minute. You lose your health. You lose everything.

If you own a copy of this, this is the most valuable possession you have. Because when this is out of your life, you have no hope after this life, no assurance, no peace, no real joy. You may have momentary, fragmented times of happiness and joy and peace for moments. But when it comes to what life's all about, living down and closing your eyes at night and looking up in the blackness of the night, and you don't have Jesus, face it, mister.

Face it, lady. You don't have anything if you don't have God in your life through His Son, Jesus Christ. All you have is a shadow, a shadow. That's all you have. That's what your life's like without Christ.

It's just a big shadow. You've been deceived by the devil to think that your possessions and your possessions, and your popularity and your prominence and your prestige is something it is nothing apart from Christ. Now, as you think about that, say, Okay, what do I do with this book if I'm going to hold to it? So, I'm going to give you a list of things. This is one of those things, it would be good if you would just find an empty page in your Bible and everybody's got an empty page.

It'd be good if you wrote these down. So, this says, What do I do with the Word of God? What do I do with the Word of God?

If I'm clinging to it, give me something practical. Here it is. First of all, read it how? Read it carefully. Not going to do any good if you don't read it. Read it carefully.

Meditate on it daily. That means the passage that you read, you stop and you think about it. You ask God, What are You saying to me in this?

What do You mean by this? And one of the things we want most of all is, God, what does it mean to me now in my life? What are You saying to me in this passage of Scripture?

So, we meditate. It isn't just a matter of reading it, but read it carefully and meditate upon it daily. Study it seriously. Somebody's saying, Oh, wait a minute now, I don't know how to study the Bible.

You know the best way to study, this is so simple, the best way to study the Bible is this. Read it. Meditation means that I think about it. I ask questions. That's the way you study the Word of God.

Now, you can have some commentaries or whatever to help you, but the best way is just to read it. I think about my grandfather who did not have a commentary to his name. One day, he said, I had gone to visit him when he really made a big impression on my life, gave me a whole sense of direction for my life, didn't know it. And I said, Granddad, I said, I'd like to see your library. So, he, it's real interesting. He said, Well, I'll show it to you this afternoon.

I said, Well, why do you want to wait this afternoon? So, I walked in this room and I looked around and I didn't see anything. He took out his old Thompson Chain Reference Bible and laid it on the table.

He said, Well, there's my library. And I'd hear him preach an hour at a time, and sometimes longer than that. And I mean, he never stopped, he never got a breath, and when he, they gave me his Bible, later on, all the edges were black.

Not like this black. Had five pencil marks in that Bible and that's always there. He never got to the sixth grade, but he knew this book. Study it seriously. All you have to do is to start reading.

Study it seriously. Then likewise, believe it wholeheartedly. You got to, in other words, if you say, Well, I believe most of it, it's over. Now listen to what happens. When you say, I believe most of it, you set yourself up as a judge to determine what is true and what is untrue in the Book, in the Word of God, which He has protected for centuries and centuries and centuries because it is His Word.

You've got to believe it absolutely and you can wholeheartedly. Then apply it personally. You're up here doing what? Reading it carefully. So, if you don't apply it, here's what happens. If you read it, God's going to speak to you and expect Him to do it. Expect God to speak to you. Here's what happens. When you begin to study and read the Word of God and you begin to expect Him to speak to you, here's what's going to happen. You're going to be reading along and thinking, My, my, my, that's exactly what I needed to hear.

And here's what's going to happen also. You're going to read a passage of Scripture that morning and something's going to happen during the day and you think, God warned me about this today and I didn't even realize it. You see, God's going to take you where you are. Wherever you are in your understanding, God's going to take you right where you are when you say, God, I'm going to accept the truth of this Book.

I want this to be my guidebook and my textbook for life. I'm going to trust You to guide me and give me understanding. That's what You said You'd do. The Holy Spirit said He would give us understanding.

That's one of His jobs. I'm going to claim the Holy Spirit to teach me the truth of this Book. You know what's going to happen? You're going to get excited about the Word of God. You can't get enough. Once you taste of the truth of God's Word, you can't get enough.

The problem is that most people have been tasting something else. Reading the magazine, reading the newspaper, watching the television. Listen to what you're doing. You're getting the world's view of everything, not God's view.

How many hours of the day do you, the sounds come in your ears and you listen to other people and you watch the television? And here's the phallus of it all. You watch this channel, they tell you one thing. Watch another channel and say, is that in the same place? Well, I mean, that sounds like the same place, same photo sometimes, different story, different slant.

Same story, same slant, every single time. It's God's Word. He says, the grass withers, the flower fades, but this book will stand forever.

Now, let's think about it. Then, apply it personally, obey it deliberately. If you're not going to obey it, you're not going to understand it. Here's what happens. You read the Word of God, God speaks to your heart, you ignore it. Here's what you've said.

I don't believe it. He shows you something else and instead of deliberately obeying it, you're neglected. What you're doing is you're not clinging to the Word. You've got the Word in your mind, but you're drifting. And I want to show you what happens in a moment. You drift from the Word.

I don't believe that. If you want God to bless you and give you understanding, whatever simple thing He tells you to do, obey it. And here's what happens.

Watch this. When you obey His Word, your understanding expands. And you obey it and it expands.

And you obey it and it expands. And for a long, God's just enriching you. Rich in the things of God. Rich in the things that nobody can take away from you. You won't understand it.

Read it and obey it and something begins to happen to your understanding. And then, share it openly. How can you keep a treasure to yourself? Let me ask you this, not checking on women necessarily, but if you have this beautiful gift that your husband gave you, I mean, it's a ten carat or whatever it might be. I know you're dreaming now. But whatever he chooses to give you and you're proud of it, don't you love to show it off? Yes. And in fact, for example, I was up in Alaska.

One of the photos that I wanted was to catch one of these big eagles coming down and picking up that fish with his talons and moving on and never even hesitating, never even stopping. Well, I got it. Am I going to brag about it? Yes.

Yes. Why? Because I'm grateful I tried a long time and the first time it came through, I only got his tail.

He was too fast for me. But then I wised up and got exactly what I was after. Do I have a right to be proud of it?

Yes. Not ungodly pride, but thanksgiving to God that He gave me the opportunity and I was able to accomplish it. There's nothing wrong with that. But I'll tell you something I'd much rather do. I'd rather tell you how absolutely awesome Jesus Christ is and how He works in my life and how He can work in your life. That is the most awesome thing I can show you and help you understand. This is why I hold this book up week after week to say this is the living Word of God.

This is our handbook, our textbook, our guidebook. And if you'll follow this guidebook, you'll go through storms, difficulty, hardships, troubles and trials and heart aches that everybody goes through. But you'll come through with confidence and assurance and boldness that your God and His Word makes you adequate for everything you face in life. Thank you for listening to Part 2 of Living Godly in an Ungodly Age. 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.