Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, March 14th. Today we reflect on what it means for Christ to rule your life. Here's today's final message in the series from The Truth About Sin.
I'm Charles Stanley, and welcome back to Truth Network. Sin, in essence, is acting exclusively and independently of the will of God, no matter what God thinks. So I want you to turn to Romans chapter 14, verses 7, 8, and 9 deal with this problem. Now, right in the middle of a passage that deals with judging each other and our relationship to each other, Paul makes this very clear beginning in verse 7 when he says, For not one of us, not a single one of us, lives for himself or unto himself. Not one dies for himself or unto himself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Jesus Christ came, that is, Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. So that nowhere does God imply that exclusive island-type living, and I mean by that, that we live to ourselves, we do our own thing, we have the right to live private lives to the exclusion everybody else is concerned, and being unconcerned about everyone else, that I'm going to be on my own business, do my own thing. I don't want anybody interfering with me, myself, and I.
The only problem with that is this. You have somebody, my dear friend, to whom you're accountable, and the Bible says that he is the Lord. You see, it's not a question of whether I think he is or not, whether that's my theological belief or not. The issue is, is he and God has declared him the Lord? That means he's the boss. Now, if Jesus Christ is the boss, what is he boss over? He's boss over everything that is in existence, including every single human being, so that there is absolutely no legitimate grounds for exclusive independent decision making or living exclusive and independent of the will of the living God. And this in itself is sin. Sin is acting independently of God, getting my needs met, my own way and my own timing to the exclusive will of the living God.
My friend, you're saved by the grace of God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is his goal to be Lord and master of your life. It is his goal to be your very life.
Anything less than that is less than the goal. He said he died and rose in order that he might be Lord of all. That is, by experience, he already is Lord.
Now, his goal, his purpose, his plan, he says, is to be Lord and master of our life. Now, he gives us some pictures in scripture to give us some warnings. You know, the Lord always knows how to warn us of what we need to be warned about. For example, in the Garden of Eden, we have this warning. If you act independently and exclusive of the will of God, you're going to lose it. That's how Adam and Eve lost it all.
They lost it all as a result of acting independent and exclusive of God's purpose and plan. Then in the Sermon on the Mount, as Jesus comes to conclude that, he gives us this story. He says, A lot of you have heard me, he says, some of you really heard me, some of you really didn't. Some of you are going to do what I say, some of you are not. Now, if you've heard what I said and you choose to do what I say, then you're going to be like the man who built his house upon the rock, solid rock, firm foundation. Now, the rains of life are going to come like they come in everybody's life. The winds, the storms of life are going to blow against you like they blow against everybody. The floods are going to come. The water is going to beat against your house. He said, but it's OK because you built upon the firm foundation, you're going to stand against the storms of life. He says the person who chooses to listen, but then to disobey, that is, chooses, having heard the truth, acting independently of God and his principles, choosing to get their own needs met their own way.
Any person who does that, he says, is like a person who acts foolish. That is, they go to the beach and they look around, they say, good place, lots of space. So they have the lumber hauled in and they build them a foundation for their house. And they build it right there on the sand that every time the wave hits that beach, the sand shifts just a little. So they decide to build their house there. I don't have to tell you what happened to a house built on shifting sand.
A little bit of wind, a little bit of water, a little storm, and down she comes. You know what Jesus is saying? My friend, he says, if you choose to act independently of him, get your needs met your own way, live your life exclusively of God, then you are as foolish as a man building his house upon shifting sand.
Your house is going to come tumbling down. In the Matthew account of the Sermon on the Mount, he also said this, Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Well, many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Haven't we performed many miracles? And he says, and I will say to them, I never knew you. It's one thing to call him Lord. It's something else to acknowledge him, to submit to him, to yield to him, to obey him. As the Lord, that's the whole problem of sin. Sin says, I'm going to have it my way and my time and I'm going to have what I want. God says the best is to have what I want for you when I want it the way I want it with my motivation. Now, doesn't God make things simple?
He makes it so simple. There's no way for us to miss it unless we choose not to listen. And what he's saying is simply this, when you are willing to acknowledge, submit to, commit to, yield to the Lord Jesus Christ, that is Jesus Christ as the practical, down to earth, Monday morning boss in your life, everything is going to be better. When you choose to do the opposite and decide that you're going to run your life, you're on your own and you're going to blow it.
And it is going to cost you and you're going to be wondering what happened. And what happened is you decided to live your life independently of God, making decisions that you know are a contradiction to the Word of God. My friend, he wants the best for you. Has he not proven that? He didn't create a Garden of Eden with thorns and thistles, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and lightning and hail and thunderstorms and snow and sleet.
They walked around with no clothes on in perfect innocence and in a perfect climate. Who blew the whole plan? Adam and Eve deciding to act exclusively of God. Now, my friend, when you live your life exclusively of the will and purpose and plan for God in your life, what you're doing is you're asking for trouble. You're saying no to the boss. I will do what I please, when I please, how I please, stay out of my life. You're choosing, you're choosing to disobey and to rebel against your only hope, who is the person of Jesus Christ. He says he's Lord of the living and of the dead.
Why? He wants the best for you. It glorifies him. It magnifies him.
What a warning. I'm going to give you a scripture, but I don't want to give it to you till after I finish reading it, because I want you to think about it. What I want you to do is I want you to answer this question to the Lord and see what answer you come up with.
Now, I have to come up with my own answers, but I want you to see what answer you come up to this question. Ten seconds, forget everything, just you and the Lord. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?
How did you answer it? Why do you call me Lord? Why do you say I'm the boss and you don't do what I say? Well, I only want the best for you, and it glorifies the Father. Could it be the reason we call him Lord, Lord, and do not do what he says is because... Now, we wouldn't say this, but we certainly must think it. Do we call him Lord, Lord, and do not do what he says because? At that given moment, in that given situation, we have the idea that no matter what he has said, we think we know a better way to get this done.
Now, isn't that foolish? You mean we're smarter than the omniscience of God? I know you said do it that way, Lord, but I'm going to do it this way.
The second answer to that that I'd have to answer is sometimes we're just downright selfish, self-centered, and self-seeking. We're going to do it our way no matter what anybody else thinks, God included. My friend, he's the Lord. He's the boss.
And we act as if he's not. So what we want to do, we want to act independently of God, and then if we get in trouble, what do we do? Oh, Lord, I need your help. Well, God knows if you'd have listened in the first place, you wouldn't need his help.
You'd have had his help all along. We get in trouble, then we acknowledge him. Oh, Lord Jesus. We mess up our lives because we act independently of the will of God. It happens in the life of young people that parents say and their son, sweetheart, this is what Dad wants you to do.
It's the best. It's what God says. Yes, I understand that. Go right off and do something totally opposite. Willfully disobey.
Mom drops out, family caves in, and everybody's wondering what happened. It's real simple. We disobey God. We're going to have it our way. I don't know how much simpler he could have made it.
Jesus said, hey, I'm the boss. You're living for me. And if you want the best, you just follow me.
If you want to blow it and mess up your life, you do your own thing. Real simple. You know what it all boils down to? It all boils down to whether I really and truly believe what He says or not. He says, I want to be the Lord in your life, my experience. Now, how do you know whether He is or not? I want you to listen carefully.
In the next five minutes or so are the most important five minutes of all. When Jesus Christ is really the boss, when He's the Lord by experience, that is, when you acknowledge Him as the boss, as the Lord, you will have a strong desire in your heart to follow Him. Someone invited you into a relationship, into an experience that was ungodly, and something inside of you said go, and something inside of you said don't go. Did you follow the Lord Jesus Christ, or did you follow the flesh? When Jesus Christ is the boss, there's going to be a strong desire placed there by God the moment you were saved to obey Him.
Secondly, if He's the boss, your lifestyle is going to be a lifestyle of obedience. You don't have to get up in the morning and just say, Am I going to obey God today, or am I not? No, you get up in the morning and you put on your clothes.
You don't think, Shall I dress or shall I not dress? It's part of life. Obeying God is the natural lifestyle of a believer.
That's what you just naturally do. Would you say that's true of your life? He says, Alive or dead, we are what? The Bible says, We are the Lord's. My friend, if Jesus Christ is the boss, you know what your spirit is toward Him?
Submission. Yes, Lord. He doesn't have to come fighting you every time an issue comes up. There is the spirit of submissiveness. Do you have a strong built-in desire to follow Jesus? Is it your lifestyle to obey Him? Is your spirit toward Him one of, Yes, Lord?
And is it your habit to sift those decisions in your life through His will? Now, I want you to listen very carefully. You're facing a decision.
I don't know what the decision is, but you know what it is. And that's where you are right now. You're facing that decision. Either you're going to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, or you're going to follow the appeal of the flesh, whether it comes through someone else or it originates with you. One of those two directions you're going, it may have to do with your vocation.
It may have to do with your marriage. Oh, you know what God says, but you don't like your circumstances. It's tough.
It's getting worse. And your friends have said, you've listened to them, and they have said, Oh, you have a right to choose this direction in your finances. You're at the fork of the road, and you have an opportunity to make a lot of money, not honestly, but dishonestly.
And the appeal is strong. And what you have to decide is, are you going to follow the appeal of the flesh and what it promises? Are you going to follow the appeal of the Lord Jesus Christ and be richly blessed? That decision may be that God has called you to serve Him full time in your life as a pastor, as an evangelist, as a musician, as a missionary. And all your parents are saying, I don't want you to get mixed up in all of that. Something may happen to you. And God is saying, come. You're standing at the fork of the road. Who are you going to obey? My friend, the truth is every day of our life and many times during the day, we stand at the fork of the road. And we make choices. And those choices demonstrate and reveal who's the boss. If we choose to do it our way, we're bossing our own life and we're going to blow it. If we choose to follow Him, we're acknowledging His Lordship and He will exalt us in due season.
That's how cut and dried it all is. At the fork of the road, there stands the Lord Jesus Christ every time and we make choices to follow Him or to follow the flesh. One thing for certain, you can't stand there forever. God is confronting you about something in your life that you've been dealing with and wrestling with and you've put it off and you've been fighting God over it. The issue is who is going to be the boss and as you stand at the fork of the road, which will it be? To follow Jesus, that's always the wisest decision. Or to follow the appeal of others, the call of others and the flesh, that is always a downward trip.
It is my prayer for you that you'll take the wiser of those two directions and follow the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord, acknowledging and following Him as the boss in your life. Father, in Jesus' name, I pray for those who are standing at the fork of the road. Some of them are facing momentous decisions. Some of them are facing decisions that will affect them the rest of their life. Some are facing decisions that will affect their life. Some facing decisions that will affect their whole eternity. I pray in the name of Jesus, by His blood, by His power, by His Word, by His Spirit, that you will send such deep-seated conviction into that life that the fear of God may grip them. The fear of the Lord may grip them. The wisdom of God may overshadow them. And by faith, they would take the step of righteousness, the step of godliness, the step of holiness, acknowledging in this decision, I will yield to Jesus Christ as the boss, as the Lord of my life and follow Him.
I pray that for them, Father. We acknowledge you as the Lord. We willingly submit to you as the Lord. We praise you for being our Lord. We glory in your Lordship. And we humble ourselves before you that whatever you require of us, Lord Jesus, the answer is yes. Unreservedly, yes. Only then are you glorified. Be glorified in these moments. In Jesus' name. Amen.
