[music] Dr. Charles Stanley: Well,
when you're facing a major decision in your life, there are
three questions you need to ask yourself: what, when, and how? And often times, we leave out
one of those, and when we do, we make a mistake. And our Scripture is about
making a mistake and Moses is a perfect example of that. So, I want you to turn, if you
will, to the second chapter of Exodus and I want us to read
beginning in this eleventh verse. "Now it came about in those
days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren
and looked on their hard labors, and he saw an Egyptian beating
a Hebrew, one of his brethren." So, you remember he was taken
out of the basket and went from the basket to his home, but
ultimately to a place in the palace in Egypt. "Beating a Hebrew, one of his
brethren. So, he looked this way and that,
and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the
Egyptian and hid him in the sand. He went out the next day, and
behold, two Hebrews were fighting with each other, and he
said to the offender, 'Why are you striking your companion?' But he said, 'Who made you a
prince or a judge over us? Are you intending to kill me as
you killed the Egyptian?' Then Moses was afraid and said,
'Surely the matter has been made known.' When Pharaoh heard of this
matter, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the presence
of Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian, and he sat down
by a well." So that means he travelled many,
many miles through the desert of Midian and then to end up
as a sheepherder. Well, when I look at this
passage of Scripture, I think about how oftentimes people make
decisions based on the wrong thing. And if you'll think about it for
a moment that Moses was a Hebrew baby and his mother arranged for
him to be seen by Pharaoh's daughter. She took him and realizing he
was a Hebrew and took him and he was raised by his own parents,
at the expense of Pharaoh's daughter. She said, "I'll pay you to raise
my son." So, he was probably there four
or five years--enough for her to drill into him who Jehovah was. And so now he's been in the
palace: a place of power, prominence, and prestige and
all the rest. He knows that he's a Hebrew, and
so he sees these two fighting each other and without thinking,
probably, he kills the Egyptian. And so, all of a sudden, he was
in trouble, because the next day one of them said to him,
"Are you going to kill us too? Are you going to kill me too?" So, with this particular
situation in mind, here he was, he had everything in his power,
everything at his disposal. And all of a sudden, one
decision. One decision, the wrong
decision; quick decision--he ends up cast out not only of his
position but cast out of his own homeland. And so, they sent him out into
the desert, and he travels I don't know how long--pretty good
while--till he ends up in Midian, crosses the whole Midian
desert, and away from everything he'd grown up with. So, the consequences was he
lost everything, end up being a sheepherder all the way across
the desert. He didn't stop to ask the
question, "What should I do, when should I do it and how
should I do it?" And so forth. He didn't. All of us have made decisions
that were the wrong decisions, because we didn't stop to ask
why and when and what to do. And so, you can look at the
Scriptures and you see that. Look around you today and
see that. Look at our own lives. All of us have made wrong
decisions. And he lost everything,
and oftentimes people still lose everything because of decisions
they make. So, I want you to look at
two things. How did he get ahead of God? And I want us to talk about that
same way we do. We get ahead of God the same
way. We've all gotten ahead of God. We've all made mistakes. We've all sinned against God. We've all done the wrong things
at times. We've all been prejudiced about
things. And so, we have to pay the
consequences. But most of the time people
don't think there are any consequences. So, I want us to look at this. How Moses got ahead of God. How did he do it? Well, number one, He focused on
an event rather than the big picture. What was the event? A fight between an Egyptian and
a Hebrew. That was the event. But the big picture was
this--that God had something awesome in mind. But forty years later, God was
going to release and free and liberate all the Hebrews. But what did he do? Of course, he didn't know that. But he focused on one event. Watch how tragic this is. He was in the palace of Pharaoh
who dominated to a million Hebrews in slave labor, working
to build all kind of monuments to himself. And in one decision--watch this
carefully--one decision, he jeopardized his own position and
lost everything that could have been his, because he did not
stop to ask, "What's the wisest thing to do?" So, ask yourself this question:
Do you focus on events or do you think in terms of what are the
consequences of this decision whatever it might be? It's costly to make the wrong
decisions oftentimes. Well, second thing I want you to
notice is this. He followed his reasoning rather
than listening to God. And that's what we do. We follow our reason about
things. We look at situations and
circumstances and think, "This is what I think I ought to do,
but what does God think we ought to do?" Watch this--there's no decision
you and I have to make in which God just absolutely shuts us out
and says, "You make it." He's always there to help us. And making the wrong decision is
oftentimes extremely costly in every aspect of our life. So, before you make a decision
do you ask these questions? What am I to do? How am I to do it? When am I to do it? Am I willing to ask those
questions, or do I want to make up my mind quickly and pay the
consequences? Third thing I want you to notice
is this, he acted on impulse rather than seeking what God
would have him to do. His impulse was: Defend this
Hebrew, rather than what is the wisest thing to do in the
big picture? So, ask yourself the question:
Are you prone to responding by impulse? Or when decisions come? Oftentimes major decisions, but
you find it easier for you to just react? Now people react quickly for
several reasons. Number one: because of their
attitude toward the situation. Secondly, because of their
prejudice in a situation. Thirdly, because of their
selfishness. And we could just go on and on
and on. God doesn't want us making any
kind of decisions in our life that affect our entire life, and
to make them regardless of the will and purpose and
plan of God. So, when I go back, and I say
this over and over again. Because he had everything and he
lost everything in one foolish decision because he didn't stop
to ask: what to do, how to do this, and when to do it. So, ask yourself the question:
Are you impulsive? Are you prone to make decisions
that later you regret? This is why families break up. This is why children have
disastrous effects in their lives. And we go right down the list of
what happens to families as a result of not saying,
"God, what's You will? What would You have me to do? How would You have me to
do this? What's Your plan?" And for one simple decision
he lost everything. You say, "Why do you keep
repeating that?" Because one decision in your
life can cause you to lose everything you have, or you had,
or God had in plan for you. So, he acted on his own strength
rather than God's strength. God showed them that one
God--Jehovah, Yahweh, Elohim as they called Him--one God could
absolutely destroy the whole Egyptian army. One God could set all the
two million Hebrews free. One God could do anything,
everything and all things that are needed. God had another plan, but Moses
stepped out of this awesome, wonderful, fantastic, miraculous
plan of God for the whole nation of the Hebrews just to settle
something in his own heart. That's the danger of animosity
and anger, bitterness and resentment and unforgiveness,
and all the rest. He acted in his own strength
rather than God's strength and he acted in anger. There are people who are very
angry and don't know it. You can tick them off if you do
certain things. Watch this. And this is the reason. Burning down inside of them is
something that happened probably yesterday or years ago, and
they've never been forgiving about it. They still hold it in there. And they cover it up most of the
time until something ignites that anger. And as a result, they act in
a way they wish they had not acted. They respond in a way that is
oftentimes devastating, costly, embarrassing, hurtful, and
painful and very destructive. He acted in anger. The Bible says we're not to act
in anger. Be angry and sin not. It doesn't mean that we can't be
angry about a circumstance or a situation, but we're not to hold
anger toward someone. We're to be forgiving. You say, "Well, what about
so-and-so?" Anything you name, Jesus did not
say, nor anywhere in the Bible, "Am I to be forgiving, except
for the following things." And so, we make bad decisions
because we don't ask what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. And that's exactly what he did. He acted in anger. And he failed to consider the
consequences. Decision-making is serious
business. It's serious every day, because
sometimes we make decisions that look insignificant and look sort
of mild, but they're not. Some decisions that people make
last a lifetime. Some decisions are very
expensive. Some decisions are very cruel. Some decisions never leave you. So, let's think about what will
happen when we stay in step with God. So, I would ask you to think
about this first. As you look at your life this
morning, would you say that as best you know you're walking
in step with God? Now you could say,
"Well, sure I am." Well, how--on what basis do you
make a fast, quick answer? I'm not saying that you're not,
but to say are you walking in step with God? That is, are you walking in the
will of God? Are you in agreement with
God's plan for your life? Or have you decided to sort of
live it out yourself the way you want to do it? And so, when I look at that and
say, "Living and walking and staying in step with God,
reminds you of this." That God's going to provide
everything you need. And so, when we think about
decisions that we make, every day we make decisions. Are we convinced that God's
going to provide our needs? He says, "My God shall supply
all your needs according to--" listen to this--" according
to His riches in glory." Not according to how better
I can make things--His riches in glory; that is, God is
inexhaustible when it comes to His riches and His provision
for us. And think about this. When you and I come to God about
something--watch this carefully--when you and I come
to God about something, we're not in a group. We're in a personal, intimate
relationship with the God of this universe who controls every
single thing on the face of this earth. That's who you and God
are in this relationship when you come to Him. It's not a group session. It's between you and holy
God and you're asking Him for direction. He doesn't seek direction from
anybody else. He's willing to tell you exactly
what to do if you will ask Him. And so, when I look at this
passage and realize when we stay in step with God, He's going to
provide everything we need. And He'll give us specific
directions. Somebody says, "Well, I'm--you
know, I've tried and that doesn't work." Yes, it works. Let me tell you why you don't
think it works. Because you cannot live a godly
life, or make wise decisions, or become the person God wants you
to be and live with a closed book in your life. You can't do it. This is God's Holy Book,
His pathway through every circumstance of life. You cannot ask a single question
about life for which there's not an answer somewhere in
this Book. And many people talk about how
they pray and ask for God's guidance and so forth, and how
many times have I talked to people who've said, "Well, I've
prayed about it." You have? Well what else did you do? "Well, I prayed and prayed and
God hasn't answered my prayer. Well, if He loved me, He'd
answer my prayer." So, I know exactly what's
happened when they tell me that. They talk to a God they don't
know. And the reason they don't know
Him is because--watch this--they've done all the
talking and have not asked Him to talk back. This is the way God speaks. God speaks through His Word. And when I'm willing--any
question you have spiritually, morally, whatever it might be,
you consider--the answer's in the Word. And so, oftentimes people make
decisions and wonder why they just get themselves more and
more entangled in the circumstance because they do not
ask God what His will is. My God shall supply all your
needs. He'll give direction and
guidance in our life, whatever it might be. Moses didn't ask God about
anything. He just killed the man. knowing what he was doing
because he's--the Bible says he looked to see if anybody
was looking. He knew it was wrong. Have you ever found yourself in
that position? Doing something that you knew
was wrong and hope nobody knew it but you? The Bible says what? Be sure of what? Your sin will find you out. So, God will provide everything
we need. He'll give us specific direction
in our life if we're willing to ask Him. Where do you get direction? Not just praying. Well you say, "Well, you've
preached all these sermons on prayer; are you telling me that
just praying won't answer it?" No, it won't. Because--watch this--you and
I only know so much. And none of us know what's going
to happen tomorrow. We may have a few things on the
calendar we hope will work, but that's not the issue. None of us know what tomorrow
holds. We serve a God, we love a God,
we say we believe a God, and this God has everything under
control. He knows all about tomorrow as
well and better than we know today--and He knew yesterday. And we wonder why we get
ourselves in a mess--because we don't stop to ask for His
direction and guidance. And where do we find that? You're going to find it in the
Word of God. Now, this is when your daily
devotional life comes to play big time. If you don't read the Bible, and
just this week, just this week, I had this occasion to say to
somebody who was telling me, well, I've been praying and
praying and praying, they gave me all this very convincing
decision making process that they went through. And I said, "Let me ask you
this, did you read the Word of God?" "No, but I prayed." I said, "Well, how did you know
what to do?" "Well, I just prayed and asked
God." Let me tell you something, you
will not know the Will of God if you absent the Word of God
from your life because it's the Word of God. The Word of God is the light to
our life, direction for our life. That's why your personal,
private devotions, you're reading the Word of God. And I said to someone, someone
else this week, I said you just need to get into
the Word of God and ask God what to show you to do. Most people, watch this
carefully, if this stings you, sorry. I love you in spite of it. You will not live a Christian
life closing the Word of God and only opening it on Sunday,
you won't. You can't. It won't happen. You'll find yourself, as you
probably do already maybe, making decisions in your life
and saying, I pray and pray and pray and, and listen to how many
times I've heard this, but God hasn't said anything. Well, you prayed and prayed, did
you ask God to show you something in the Word of God? Did you ask the--? "Well, no, but I prayed." Watch this, none of us, me
first, not any of us are capable of making wise decisions
continually, living a godly life, walking holy before God
with a closed Bible, it's not going to happen. And one of the reasons
people get in trouble, all kinds of trouble, is they--
I don't question they pray, you know what I hear people say? "Well, I prayed about it." They're not even saved and
they know they're not Christian. "Well, I talked to God
about it." Well, what did He say? Well, they give me something
I know God didn't say. And so, the issue is this,
if I ask Him about something or I fear something, I find that
verse in the Bible, that's why you've got an index. That's why you've got
a concordance. If you don't know much
about the Word of God, you can find the Scripture that fits
your situation and ask God to show you what to do. Now, the primary reason a lot of
folk, people don't read the Bible, because the Word of God
will convict you of sin. The Word of God will convict
all of us of sin. No one, no preacher, no saint,
no pope, nobody who's ever lived can live a godly life and ignore
the truth of God's Word. We're just not made that way and
the Christian life is not-- it's not built that way. It's built on the Word of God. And so, when I think about that
and I think about how we make decisions and how willing
God is to show us what to do. And I can go through my Bible,
and I'm sure many other people can and I look at all the times
I've written a Scripture down or have put a date down by it, and
maybe a word or two to talk about what I was facing at
that time. It's very encouraging to flip
through your Bible, to look back and see all these dates and a
word or two about what I was praying about and see how
God answered this, God answered that. So, when I have question or a
doubt or some fear, I just go to the Word of God and see here's
what You said before, and that's what You did. Here's what You said and that's
what You did. Here's what You promised, that's
exactly what You did. Thank you, Jesus, You're going
to take care of this. You know what you do? You build your own diary. Now if you just read the Bible
and close it, never make any notes, think about what you're
doing. You're living in a world that's
against you. You are a follower of
Jesus Christ and the world isn't happy. You have the Word of God, His
direct--you say, "Now wait a minute, but I don't always know
how to interpret it." You read it, the Spirit of God
who is within you, knows your heart, that you want to do
what's right, He's going to show you what to do. You build your own diary. Here's what you do, you build an
account of your life. And so, this is why praying's
not enough. Reading the Word of God, finding
that verse, making a note, write a little note down, this is when
I was troubled with temptation or troubled with
doubt or troubled with fear, whatever it might be, then the
next time you face one of those things, what do you do? You find that verse in the Word
of God, you read it, you think about how God took you through
it last time. What does it do? It builds up your faith. So, watch this, one situation,
circumstance in your life, going to God, listen, it gets
you ready for the next time you face that. You don't have to look in the
index, you flip through your verses, favorite verses, maybe
you make them some place in your Bible or write that
particular verse, God has given you the way to live, what to do,
how to do, when to do it, you have it in your hand. He wants it in your heart, in
your mind, and following Him. Then, of course, God will remove
our fear if we will come to Him--when we come to decisions. All of us have faced decisions
that were frightening. If you haven't, you haven't
lived very long. Because some decisions are
very frightening. And even when you know that
you're doing the right thing doesn't meant that sometimes
we'll not fear even though God has confirmed you're doing the
right thing. It's something, maybe, that you
haven't done before, or something that you know you
can't see the consequences and you can't see what the outcome
is and so you're afraid to make that decision. Now God will remove fear from
our life because He says He's not given us the spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of a sound mind. We can make very difficult
decisions without fear if we are seeking the mind of God. Here's the reason you have fear
in making decisions. You want to know? Because you don't know what the
Word of God says. How many times does He say fear
not, fear not, fear not, fear not, fear not? Based on what? Based on my understanding and
my relationship to Him. If my relationship to Him is
right, I will not fear. Then of course, we'll see God
work out in unusual ways, situations, and circumstances in
our life if we're willing to trust Him and wait for Him
to work. One of our problems is we don't
want to wait. If we ask God, we want God
to answer our prayer today. And if He doesn't answer it
by next week, we'll give Him a break. We'll give Him two weeks
or three weeks but thirty days, it's all over. And so, what happens? On the thirty-first day,
He'd planned to tell us. Listen, you can't--how can you
get impatient with God? If--here's what I've learned. If God does not answer
your petition, God is-- are you listening? Say amen. If God isn't answering your
petition, it's because number one, He knows you're not ready
to listen to Him. You won't hear Him. He knows that you're not ready. He knows that the time is
not right. It doesn't mean He's not going
to, but God is not on a timetable to suit us. He's not in heaven waiting to
just pounce back and do what we want Him to do. There is a time that God answers
our petition. It's the time that's best
for us. It's back to the Word of God. What would God have us to do? We experience His power in our
life when we wait upon Him, we trust Him, read His Word. He does not expect us to make
decisions apart from the Holy Spirit. He doesn't expect us to make
decisions apart from prayer. He doesn't expect us to make
decisions apart from His Word. That's the way God--
listen--that's the bottom line of our operation with God. This is why He gave us the Book. Now you think about Moses and
lot of grace, because there was no Bible. If you read those early chapters
of the Scripture when there was no Scripture as we have it, and
they had to listen to God. And they had to be very
sensitive to the voice of God, and today, we have the
Word of God. We don't have to wonder. There is not a single spiritual
question that you have for which there's not an answer somewhere
in this Book. And so, when people get
themselves in trouble and wringing their hands and don't
know what to do, I know what's happened. They've asked somebody. They thought about it, what they
think they ought to do. What about what God says? Here's a perfect lesson of a man
responding quickly, reacting, not asking the right questions. Now, he didn't have the Bible
you and I have, but he knew what he was doing was wrong or he
wouldn't be looking to see who was looking. We'll see God's power at work in
our life in unusual ways and we'll learn God's ways. One of the greatest lessons you
and I could learn are the ways of God. You say, "How do
you learn that?" By choosing to obey God and
watch Him work. That's the way you learn how
God operates. You choose to obey Him the best
you know what obedience is and watch Him respond. He'll respond this way here,
this way here, this way here but always--listen--
God will never respond in any fashion that is a contradiction
to the Word of God. He does not. Listen, you want to know what
God thinks? And all of us should be
acquainted with the Word of God enough--I don't mean we should
all know as same as each other but we should all be acquainted
in the Word of God enough that somebody ask us a question,
we should give them a reasonable answer. But it's an answer that is in
keeping with the Word of God. God didn't give us a book with
contradictions. Somebody says, "Well, the Bible
contradicts itself." No, it contradicts the way you
live and the way you think, but not who God is. [congregation applauding] Dr. Stanley: So, God will use
our weaknesses and our frailties, to help us understand
His will for our life. Remember this, that God loves us
unconditionally. He loved Moses. He loved the Egyptian that
he killed. God loves all of us. The question is how do we
respond to His love? You say, "Well, how are you
to respond to His love?" I'll tell you the one word in my
heart that tells me how to respond to the love of God. Obedience. Obedience is the one word that
is evident, or not evident in my life if I am--if I love God,
I'm going to obey Him. Anyway, you want to lay it down,
that's ultimately it. If I don't--listen--if I don't
love Him, I won't obey Him. If I genuinely love
Him--listen--I may--watch this carefully--I may count the cost
and say, "God, oh surely You don't want me to do that." But if I love Him, I may argue
with Him. I may have all kind of
hesitation, reservation, you name it, but ultimately,
I'm going to be obedient. So, we'll learn God's ways. And when we learn God's ways,
we're happy in the Christian life even when God's ways are
very, very difficult. He'll use our frailties and
our weaknesses. He does. Let me ask you this. What drives you to prayer? Good times? Lots of money; lots of this;
good health? Fun-loving? Is that what drives you to God? No. And the reason you chuckle
because you know it's ridiculous. That's not what drives us
to God. What drives us to God is need. Whatever the need is, that
drives us to God. Well, then that means all
need's not bad. Some need it. Listen, here's what I learned. If I'm in need, if need drives
me to God, bring it on. Because ultimately, you're going
to come out the winner. If need drives--watch this--
if need drives you to God, it's good. If need drives you to
immorality, alcohol, rebellion, and all the rest, you have
turned what could have been good into something bad. But when you face difficult
times, the wisest thing to do is to look up, not look out. Look to God, not your friends. Yield yourself to Him, not look
to somebody else to give you an answer. Listen carefully. Many things in life, most things
in life, somebody else cannot answer for you. And God says ask and it shall be
given you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be
opened to you. God is willing to answer the
request of your heart, if you're willing to ask Him, willing
to be obedient. Remember this. Moses made wrong decision that
penalized him for years and years and years. You can make wise decisions if
you're willing to listen to God and to obey Him. God can accomplish more in
a brief period of time than we can in a lifetime. Sometimes we make decisions and
we make them quickly without asking, "What does the Word
of God say?" I can't say this enough to you. This is a--I think this
is the major weakness in the life of ninety-five
percent of believers. They pray, but they don't have a
quiet time in which they, before Almighty God, open His Word and
say, "Lord, speak to my heart." You say, "Well, I don't know
where to turn." I can tell you how, I can tell
you exactly what to do. When you don't know how
to--where to turn, here's what you do. What's troubling me most? What's really bothering me most? Look in the index of your Bible. Find that word, whatever it
might be, and ask yourself the question: what are the
Scriptures right here? And you find a verse and just
start reading the verses that have to do with your issue. If you really want to find out
what God thinks about whatever you're going through, ask Him. How many times have I heard
people say, "Well, I know that's what the Bible teaches, but." When you put a but behind that
statement, you're in trouble. I long to see people obey God. And I'll tell you why. Because I know what the end
result is. It's blessing and assurance and
confidence and goodness and grace and you name it. To do otherwise is foolish. So, I would just say this series
on Moses, ask the Lord, "Lord, speak to my heart
somewhere in this. If You want to do something in
my life to change my life, I'm willing to listen." Amen? Now, you may not be a believer,
a follower of Jesus, not a Christian. You've heard all this stuff and
you say, "Well, I don't even know that I know anything
about all that." Ask the Lord to forgive you of
your sins, surrender your life to Him and then God and you can
start this awesome, fantastic journey of walking together
for the rest of your life.
