Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Thursday, September 5th. Can you identify anyone you've positively impacted with the gospel of Jesus Christ? If no one comes to mind, how about changing that today by applying lessons from the life of Daniel? Influence is both a responsibility and a privilege. When we think about influence, we think about the power to affect someone's life. The power to persuade someone to do this or to do that. Well, what I want to talk about in this message is influence, but I want to talk about a godly influence.
And that is the title of this message. What are the requirements in order that you and I would be a godly influence on other people? And so all of us have a responsibility, especially as believers, to be influencers. That is, exerting the power that we have.
Now that can be by our voice, by our speech, by our personality, by our possessions, by our position in life. But all of us are influencers. And in the book of Daniel, you'll find the most beautiful example of someone who indeed cast a godly influence on all those around him. And so I want you to turn, if you will, to Daniel. And if some of you are new believers and you don't know exactly where that is, if you look in the Old Testament, there are four big prophets. There's Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and then Daniel. And in this book, there are many, many wonderful lessons. But certainly Daniel is a beautiful example of someone who exerted a godly influence on those around him.
And to give you a little background, for example, while you're turning to that. Nebuchadnezzar, who was king of Babylon, attacked the nation of Israel, or at that time the Hebrews, Israel. And as a result, the city of Jerusalem was destroyed. The walls were broken down. The gates were burned. Many people lost their lives. And then he took some, those chosen people, back to Babylon. And some he would train for three years to serve in his court. Well, Daniel happened to be one of those along with three other men, young men, probably teenagers at the time, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
That's the way we know their names. And it's in the process of what happens to him during this time, the years that followed. Let me tell you what happened.
In a brief moment, here's what happened. This young teenage boy, Daniel, exerted a godly influence upon his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Upon the servants of the king, Nebuchadnezzar, his son who became king, Belshazzar, and then of Darius, Demid, and then also Cyrus, the Persian. And so, the truth is, he exerted influence, a godly influence upon all those around him plus the nation under these four kings. You say, well now, wait a minute, but I don't have that privilege.
Think about this. You do have the privilege of exerting a godly influence on maybe one person, two, your friends, your family, the people you work around, your children, your grandchildren. All of us have the awesome possibility, responsibility, and privilege of being a godly influence. And I want to say to you parents right up front, you have a divine responsibility before Almighty God to exert a godly influence upon your children.
So that it'll be upon their children, that is your grandchildren. Because God has given us that responsibility. And for all of us who are believers, we have this awesome responsibility and privilege. And we have the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us to give us guidance and direction and to empower us to be that godly influence among those around us. So what I'd like to do is I'd like to give you just a set of principles here. That is, what are the requirements that are necessary for us to be a godly influence? Not just some influence, but a godly influence, the kind that makes a difference in a person's life today and the days thereafter. So I want you to think first of all about this. And the first requirement is this. And that is a strong conviction about the Word of God.
If you and I do not have a strong conviction about the Word of God, we will not be a godly influence. And this was certainly true in the life of Daniel who became one of God's awesome prophets. Because what happens is this. His first challenge as one of these students, and you remember what happens here.
Here they are now. They're students of the king and for three years they're going to be trained. This is Daniel's first challenge. Because what is required of them is to eat food offered to idols and to drink wine at the king's table.
So I want you to notice what happens here. If you'll notice in the very next verse, verse eight, the Scripture says, But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank. So he sought permission from the command of the officials that he might not defile himself. Now where did he get that from? He got that from, listen, his understanding and his strong convictions based on the Word of God.
Because in Exodus chapter thirty-four, verse fifteen, God forbid such a thing that his people would eat meat offered to idols and drink wine poured out to them. And so this was a part of Daniel's training. This is what he grew up with. This was the teaching of God. This was the teaching of God's people. And so the time came when his commitment here and his conviction about God's Word was challenged. Now what would cause Daniel to put himself in jeopardy right up front when he had the privilege of being a part of the service to the king? He said, I will not defile myself. And the Scripture says in verse nine, I want you to watch this, that God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the command of the officials.
Now watch this. Oftentimes when you and I are challenged to do something that we know is not right, whether it's in your job or whatever it might be, when you and I purpose in our heart, when we determine, when we make up our minds, we are not going to disobey God. We are not going, listen, to cross our convictions. We are not going to violate our basic biblical convictions how often God will give us favor in the eyes of those who require of us something that we know is absolutely not right.
And this is what happens. So as a result, he responded to Daniel, gave them those ten days. And at the end of those ten days, the Scripture says, then when he looked at them, he says, for these four youths God gave them knowledge and intelligence and every branch of literature and wisdom. Daniel even understood the kinds of visions and dreams. And at the end of the ten days, which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander, listen, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. And so what happens? As for, look in verse twenty, as for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all the realm.
That is, they had gone through this three-year period and these four stood out above all the rest. Now here's the issue, and I want you to get this in your heart. Listen, if you're going to be a godly influence on somebody, the first thing that has to be established in your heart is this. And that is simply that you must have strong convictions about the Word of God.
You must believe that this Bible is exactly what it says it is. That is, this is the infallible, inerrant, listen, Word of the living God. These are the principles by which we're to live. These are the principles by which we're going to judge. If you don't have the basic principles of Scripture, if you do not believe this book, if your convictions are not based on the Word of God, you're going to be all over the place in what you believe and what you don't believe. So I ask you this question. What basic principles do you hold so dear in your life that you would not give up under any condition? You say, well now, wait a minute, I don't know that I believe anything so much that at some point, in some way, for some reason, I wouldn't give up.
Well, let me ask you a question. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Do you believe that He is the Judge of all mankind? Do you believe that one day you'll stand before Him and give an account for your life?
Do you believe that He is the Lord and Master of all life? Have you as a teenager purposed in your heart not to defile your body, your soul, your spirit, your heart, your life? Have you purposed in your heart to be absolutely true and honest in your business?
Have you purposed in your heart to walk godly before Him so that the people who know you will know you, you are exactly who you say you are, who you claim to be? Because if we're going to be a godly influence, we must have unalterable, listen, unwavering convictions about the Word of God. Because you see a conviction, a conviction is sort of like that solid line in the highway at nighttime on the curb. You stay on the right side, you'll be fine.
If there is no line there, then you're sort of wobbling all over the highway at nighttime just what your lights can see and all of a sudden here's a curb and you're on the wrong side. Listen, the Word of God, conviction is your safety. Walking in the will of God, being obedient to Him, doing what He would have you to do. There is a second thing that's absolutely essential and that's this. You and I must be committed to the conviction.
What is this I believe? Am I committed to that? It's one thing to say, well, yes, I have conviction. Do you have a conviction so strong that you're committed to it? You live by it. And no matter what somebody says or how they threaten you or whatever it might be, you hold to that. If you're not committed to your convictions, what's going to happen is this.
You're going to move from conviction to preference, from principles to just whatever is convenient to you. And this is why oftentimes the church is so weak today is because the unbelieving world sees as acting that it went. And remember what Jesus said.
He was very clear. In the sixteenth chapter of Matthew, He said to His disciples, He says, listen, He said, watch out. Watch out, be careful about the influence of the Pharisees and the Sadducees because it was wrong, bad influence. On the other hand, He said in the fifth chapter of Matthew, He said, let your light so shine before others that they will see your good works and they'll do what and glorify your Father which is in heaven. And it's interesting what the apostle Paul said when he was talking to the Colossian church and trying to influence them and to help them to understand, for example, their influence and their testimony and how very important that testimony was. He said, for example, in the fourth chapter in the fifth verse, watch what he says, conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, unbelievers, making the most, listen, making the most of the opportunity. He says, conduct yourself in such a fashion to those who are outside that you take advantage of your possibility and the privilege of influencing them for what's right. He said, but conduct yourself so that they don't see you saying one thing and living something else.
And ask yourself this question. The people you work around, the people you go to school with, the people who are your friends, your personal friends, when they see you and they listen to you and they talk to you, do they sense within you you have a strong, immovable commitment to what you believe? That this isn't something that you believe in their presence, but out of their presence you don't.
This isn't something that you practice at church but not out of church. That is, do they see something so strong, so stalwart, so immovable, so unchangeable that all their arguments in the world will never persuade you to deny the Lord Jesus Christ? Do they see in you a strength and a commitment that when they use the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in vain in some joke, you don't laugh with them? You don't stand around while they talk in their profane language or their dirty jokes? Do they see a difference in you that is so strong? They see a commitment level, listen, it may antagonize them, it may cause them to be angry, but I want to tell you what's happening.
The Holy Spirit, listen, is using your godly influence to convict them of their sinfulness, their attitude, their actions, their language, and all the rest. Will it cost you sometimes? Yes, but let me ask you a question. What are you willing to give up your convictions for? Would you give them up for acceptance? Would you give them up for something financial?
Would you give them up for somebody's love and devotion to you? What are you willing to give up to hold onto your convictions? Your convictions about who you are in your relationship to Jesus Christ. Who you are as a child of God.
Who you are in your service to Him. And when I think about men who've been called by God to stand in the pulpit and preach the unsearchable riches of God. And when I think about, oftentimes they compromise. They compromise what they know is right. Compromise their conviction for the simple reason they want the approval of their church members. Now they want the approval. And when I think about what's happening today when whole denominations and pastors, for example, are compromising their convictions, violating the absolute unquestionable, unalterable truth of the Word of God about ethical issues today that they know are absolutely and morally wrong.
Let me tell you what's happening. The people who sit in their congregations, they may never say it, but deep down inside their respect, their confidence in men and women of God who have opened this book for years and years and years. And now they've said, well, but today the society in which we live in. And after all, you know what they're looking for? Acceptance. And I want to tell you, my friend, the people who stand in the judgment who will come under the greatest judgment are those of us who opened this book and proclaimed to tell the truth to those whom we are influencing supposedly for good and righteousness and godliness.
We will be held the most responsible. And so therefore, not only what happens from the pulpit, but what happens in the pew when you go to work? Are you are you so committed that no one has any question about the fact you not only say you believe it, they watch how you live? Well, it's certainly true of Daniel, because all through the scripture, what happens? He's committed. Nothing happens when they come to say we're going to throw you in the lion's den because you're still praying toward Jerusalem.
So be it. Nothing ever bought him off. Nothing ever persuaded him to violate the basic biblical conviction that God had built into his life as a young man. But there's a third thing I want you to notice here that's very evident when you look at his life.
And there's so many evidences of this. If you're going to have a godly influence, it requires courage. It requires courage. Now, it took a lot of courage for him to say to the king's messenger, you must eat from the king's table and drink his wine. It took a lot of courage to say, no, I'm not going to do that, and I am not going to change my mind about it.
Took a lot of courage because he could have immediately had him executed or send him into some form of slavery, but he didn't. Let me ask you a question. Do you have any convictions? Do you have a commitment level to the Lord Jesus Christ that you would say to someone in authority over you where you work, where you go to school? Do you have that kind of conviction and courage to say, I'm not going to do that even if it costs me my job. I'm not going to join that no matter what you think. You can reject me. You can threaten me, whatever it might be. I'm not going to violate what I know God has told me to do.
How many times have I said this to you? Obey God, leave all the consequences to him. That is exactly what they're doing. Obey God, leave all the consequences to him. And so the truth is we have to be men and women, young people of courage. You stand for your convictions.
They're going to be tested. But let me just say this. Your children are going to follow your lead. You swivel up. You walk away. You bow down. You give up.
You cave in. Watch what happens to your children when they get in those same situations. And you, having had the greatest influence in their life growing up, they have watched you. They have listened to you. More than likely they're going to repeat what you say.
And what you do. You can't shirk this responsibility and you cannot escape the consequences. Are you being a godly influence on those precious gifts of God given to you to raise? Listen, will your children grow up trusting Jesus early in life as their Savior? Will they grow up desiring to be like you spiritually? Will they grow up desiring to go to church?
Desiring to be baptized? Will they grow up desiring to serve the living God? Will they grow up with this hunger and thirst to know Him? Will they grow up with this sense of unshakable confidence that God will accomplish His purpose and plan in their life? All of this can be your heritage, your gift to your children when you exert to them a consistent godly influence. Thank you for listening to The Blessings of Our Inadequacy. 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.
