Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, July 12th. Are you living outside the will of God? Today's podcast uses a familiar story to warn of the disastrous consequences of disobeying God.
God's will for us has always the very best in mind. Now, sometimes He offers us more than we expect and anticipate, sometimes maybe we don't get exactly what we were thinking about or what we thought we ought to have. And yet, you look around and oftentimes people who don't seem to have very much seem to be happy and contented and enjoying life. And you look around and you notice other folks who seem to have it all.
They got plenty, more than enough. They're unhappy, they're discontent, and somehow life just doesn't seem to be going right with them. And oftentimes when people have plenty and they make the big mistake we're going to talk about in a moment, they can't figure out what's going on. And the truth is, what's going on is they have allowed themselves to be deceived by something and thinking, if I have more, I'll be happier, more contented, more satisfied with life.
When the truth is, that's not necessarily so. And when a person begins to pursue more and more and more, what happens is they're tempted to go beyond what the will of God will allow in their life. And the next thing you know, they find themselves more and more miserable, not happier and happier.
So, ask yourself the question, what does it take to satisfy you? If you know you're living in the will of God and doing what God wants you to do, isn't there a sense of contentment and joy and happiness and all that? But if you find yourself hungry to have more, aching to have more, pursuing something that you know possibly or at least tempted to pursue something that you know is not the will of God, you know that that's not really going to satisfy you deep down inside and yet people do it anyway. What happens is when you pursue things that are outside the will of God, you get disappointed. You get disillusioned.
And before long, you find yourself being very discouraged with life. Because you see, God has fixed it so that if you and I will seek His will and His way and trust what He gives us is the right thing, the best thing, the right amount, then what'll happen is we'll understand what peace and contentment and joy is all about. We'll understand what peace and contentment and joy is all about. Well, Jesus gave us some wonderful lessons by telling us some parables. And one of these is what I want us to look at in the Scripture today. Because here is a story of tragedy and on the other side there is triumph. Here is disaster and then all of a sudden here's deliverance. And I want you to turn to Luke chapter fifteen.
And let me give you a little background of what's happening. Jesus is talking to His disciples and the Bible says a large crowd was around Him. And the tax collectors, whom the Jews hated, the tax collectors and sinners as they were called, others, they were around Him and the Pharisees were saying, you know, what are you doing eating with these kind of people? So, Jesus to teach them an awesome lesson gives us three parables. One of them is the lost sheep, the lost coin and then the lost son. So, it's the lost son I want us to look at and I want us to look at this principle and that's this. That is, whatever we acquire outside the will of God will ultimately turn to ashes. So, look at this fifteenth chapter beginning in verse eleven. And he said, A man had two sons, the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.
That is, give me what's coming to me. So, he divided his wealth among them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country and there he squandered his estate with loose living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country and he began to be impoverished. So, he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating and no one was giving anything to him. But when he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread?
But I am dying here with hunger. I will get up and go to my father and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.
Make me as one of your hired men. So, he got up and came to his father and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion on him. And he ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, Father, I've sinned against heaven and in your sight and I'm not worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his slaves, Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him.
Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf. Kill it and let us eat and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and has come to life again.
He was lost and he's been found and they began to celebrate." Now, here is a perfect example of reaching out where we do not need to reach out, where we should not be reaching out. Reaching out beyond the will of God to acquire something and it all began to turn to ashes.
So, I want us to look at this passage and one of the things I want us to notice is this. It's very evident according to what Jesus said here and that's this, that God will allow you and me to acquire things that are outside His will. He will allow it. Could He stop it? Yes, He could. Does He allow it?
Yes, He does. Why does He allow it? Well, for example, if God did not give you and me the freedom of choice, if He'd created Adam and Eve without a freedom of choice, they would have been like robots. That is, living amidst the Garden of Eden and just doing one thing, one way, not because they wanted to, not because they love Him or not love Him, because they would be almost emotionless.
That is, no choice. It was a gift of God that He gave to them a choice, even though He knew they were going to make the wrong decision. For example, why did He create us? God created us for the purpose of expressing and then demonstrating and showering His love upon us. In other words, He's created animals and insects and all these things and all that nature involves, but until there was someone like Him that could enjoy it and that He could express His love toward. This is why the Scripture says, let us make man in our own image.
Everything else He created, but that was not enough. And so, He created man in His own image. Therefore, He gave us a choice, the freedom of choice, the power to make choices in life. People make good choices, they make poor choices. And whatever the choice may be, none of us would want to be without choice.
Because if you're without choice, what's life all about? Even though He knew that Adam and Eve would sin against Him, and for all the years of life on this earth, men would be rebelling against Him, He loved us enough to give us a choice to love Him or not to love Him. Now, the story of the prodigal son is a story of a young man who made a choice. He probably got a little bit tired of his father's restraints on him.
So, his father probably, knowing that he was making a terrible mistake, said, all right, son, he gave him his portion of his inheritance. And so, he left home. And he left home wealthy. He left home probably very healthy, in good standing with his father. And he left home to do it himself, going to do it his way.
Because being at home somehow, there was something about that that wasn't quite satisfying enough. And so, God gave you and me, likewise, the choice to go or not to go. He's given us choices in life that are good and choices in life that if we choose otherwise, we have the privilege, the freedom to make them. He made a very bad choice.
He made a whole series of bad choices. And the Scripture says He goes to a far country. Now, so, what I want you to understand is this, God will give you the privilege to making choices even when He knows you're going to make a wrong choice. The second thing that's evident here is this, and that is God will allow us to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Now, if that were not true, sin wouldn't have any appeal. What is it about sin that has an appeal? Well, first of all, you can have something you don't have.
And secondly, that it's going to satisfy you in some way. And the one thing about sin is this, sin usually offers the appeal. You can have it right now.
You don't have to wait. This is what gets people out of the will of God, for example. I've got to have it now. And so, what He wanted was He wanted what was coming to Him. He wanted it right then and there.
He had already decided in His mind what He was going to do with what He had. Now, it's interesting what in the book of Hebrews in chapter eleven, it's interesting what the Scripture says about Moses. Listen to this, in the twenty-fourth verse, He says, By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, the Hebrews, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. The passing pleasures of sin. Anything you and I acquire outside the will of God is going to turn to ashes. You see, if sin had no pleasure, there'd be no appeal.
It's the pleasures that we find in sin that make the appeal. Now, what we don't stop to think is this, what are the consequences? What are the consequences? What are the consequences?
But that's never the issue. In other words, when a person's really being tempted, they don't want to think about consequences. They want to think about what's in this for me right now. This is what gets people in trouble financially. It gets them in trouble morally. It gets them in trouble in their relationships.
It gets them in trouble, for example, on their vocation. In every aspect of life, when we begin to reach out for consequences, ultimately it's going to turn to ashes. The devil never talks about that.
Nobody wants to talk about that. For the simple reason, we don't like to talk about consequences. But every parent should diligently teach their children there are consequences in life for every action.
Good consequences, bad consequences. And you want to do what is right. You want to live in the will of God because in the will of God it is best there. You want to live in the will of God. You want to live in the will of God. Because we like pleasure and because we like new experiences and because we want to do things. For example, what's that bungee jumping all about?
Somebody wants to do something they've never done before. I mean, that's just one extreme. That's a real extreme to me.
That's just one extreme. But Satan, and I'm not saying it's a sin to bungee jump. I'm not saying it's a sin to bungee jump. I'm not saying it's a sin to bungee jump. I'm not saying it's a sin to bungee jump. I'm not saying it's a sin to bungee jump. I'm not tempting God jumping off of something with a rubber band around you. But anyway, but that's sin's appeal.
And so, when I look and see how Satan worked in Adam and Eve, that's the way he works today. It's the appeal of something. If you haven't tasted that, you have never tasted it. You have tasted all of it.
And you know what happens? That bird is satisfied because there's some things God didn't intend for us to taste till later in life. So, as I think about this young man, what motivated him to leave home to begin with? Well, he'd heard how fantastic it was in a far country. Now, somebody says, well, where's a far country? A far country is anywhere anytime you and I live outside the will of God.
Well, the truth is, you know what? There are people who live across the street who are living in a far country. And there are people who come to church who are living in a far country. And there are many of you who are listening, are living in a far country.
You know that you're living outside the will of God. They're living in a far country. Traveling in a far country is dangerous territory. Because when you get there, Satan will see to it that you don't want to be left out. You don't want to be left out. You don't want to be left out. You begin to pursue new things. You begin to pursue things that used to not really appeal to you. But now, so many other people are doing it and so many other people have it, and you don't want to be left out. And so, sin has its growing appeal. And the longer you look and the longer you feel and the more you think about it, the more you're going to be left out. And so, sin has its growing appeal to you. And so, sin has its growing appeal to you. Because anywhere you're living outside the will of God, you're living in a far country. And far country traveling is devastating. You may say, well, these things are not going to happen to me.
Yes, they will. Now, the prodigal son left because of what he thought about, what he'd heard, and what he wanted to experience. And he's coming to me because I'm leaving.
And as I think about what the Scripture says about what he did, and how he began to live. Remember, now when he arrives, he's got plenty of money. When he arrives with plenty of money, he'll soon have plenty of friends and plenty of recognition, sense of self-worth. Now he's somebody. He's making it on his own.
So, here he is living it up. Now, remember how he arrives. He's got the power. He's got the strength. He's got the strength. He's got the strength. He drives full friendship, plenty, you name it.
He's got it. But what happens is this. Listen to these verses. The Scripture says that He gathered everything together men on a journey into a distant country, and there He did what?
Look at these words. He didn't spend it wisely. Now, he squandered it with loose living. Now, loose living means what? Well, his brother told his father how he spent his money because he says in verse thirty, But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf around. Why did he begin to squander this estate?
Because you see, somewhere along the way, somebody told him, You haven't lived, for example, until you try this, until you try that. And so, the Bible says it was loose living. Whenever you start living outside the will of God, you're going to start living loosely.
You're going to start losing. You're going to start doing what he did. He squandered, the Scripture says. Everything he had, he squandered it. And so, here was his whole idea.
He said, Well, I'm going to start living, and I'm going to start living, and I'm going to start living. And that is, plenty last forever. Consequences, somehow we'll be able to avoid them. You know, if all of us could just learn one lesson, there are good consequences to good actions. There are bad consequences to bad actions. There will be bad consequences, and there's no escape. It doesn't mean that God will not forgive you. When you choose to deliberately disobey God and reach beyond what He's provided for you, and acquire things that are not within His will, what you have acquired is going to turn to ashes.
And you see, only when you begin to read the Word of God, if you'll look around and see what's happening. And this is exactly what's happening to him. So, when you look at this passage, and you see he started that with plenty, he ends up with nothing. He probably started out morally, but he ended up immoral. He started out with friends, he lost them all. And he started out probably dressing well and looking well, he ends up in a hog pen. And all of his friends are gone. All of his money is gone. All of his self-esteem is gone. All of his self-respect is gone. He squandered it all. He lost it all. But you see, but his motive was that he was going to enjoy life, he was going to be free to do what he wanted to do, when he wanted to do it, with whom he wanted to do it. And that was going to be life.
There's a whole generation of people in this world of ours who've been hoodwinked by Satan to believe the same thing. You can have anything you want. You can have as much of it as you want.
And there are no consequences. When we step outside the will of God, everything we acquire will eventually turn to ashes. Thank you for listening to When Plans Turn to Ashes. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
