Have you ever wondered what should come between salvation and heaven? How does God want you to live in the in-between?
Our heavenly Father designed a unique plan for you before you were even born—and He wants you to pursue it with anticipation and confidence. In this message, Dr. Stanley points us toward the principles God established for abundant life as we seek His will, learn His ways, and engage in His purposes.
Dr. Charles Stanley: I was
twelve years of age.
I always sat on the second row
and the first seat there on the
aisle.
On this particular Sunday, a
lady was preaching.
And I don’t exactly remember
what she said.
In fact, I don’t remember
anything she said except when
they gave the invitation, it was
about seven steps to the altar.
I went straight to the altar,
got on my knees, and asked the
Lord to save me.
And before I knew it, I had five
of my Sunday School buddies
around me praying that I’d get
saved.
But I remember thinking, “Okay
now, Lord, I’m saved.
Now what?”
And nobody ever said another
thing to me about–anything
about the future, nothing.
Then I began to think, “Well,
Lord, You saved me.
What did You save me for
anyway?”
And then I began to think and
pray about it, and I thought,
“Well, Lord, maybe You have
something for me to do.”
Wasn’t very long before I
realized and learned and reading
the Scripture, God has a will, a
plan for all of His children.
And if you will turn to
Colossians for a moment, and I
want us to begin reading in this
ninth verse and read through the
twelfth verse.
And I want you to listen very
carefully to this message.
In the ninth verse, Paul writes
to the Colossians, “For this
reason also, since the day we
heard of it, we have not ceased
to pray for you and to ask that
you may be filled with the
knowledge of His will in all
spiritual wisdom and
understanding.
So that you will walk in a
manner worthy of the Lord, to
please Him in all respects,
bearing fruit in every good work
and increasing in the knowledge
of God; strengthened with all
power, according to His glorious
might, for the attaining of all
steadfastness and patience,
joyously giving thanks to the
Father, who has qualified us to
share in the inheritance of the
saints in Light.”
Filled with the knowledge of His
will.
When is the last time you ever
thought about that God has a
will, He has a plan for your
life.
You probably were saved at some
point in your life and thought,
“Well, that’s it!
And you got baptized and joined
the church and you’ve just sort
of been living out your life.
Has anybody ever told you that
God has a plan for your life?
What is His will?
Listen to this.
I want to be sure you get it
clearly.
That which God approves of and
determines to bring about.
It concerns God’s choices of
what to do and what not to do in
our life.
God has a will and a plan for
your life.
It doesn’t make any difference
how old you are, where you came
from, what the situation is, God
has a plan for your life.
Don’t ever listen to someone
tell you, “Well, you’re not
important.”
Any time anybody looks at you
and tells you that you’re not
important, you look at the cross
and say, “I’ll tell you why I’m
important.
He died for me.
He not only died for me, but He
died for everyone, but
everybody’s important.”
So, have you ever thought about
the fact that God has a will for
your life?
He knows all about your
background.
All the things that you would
bring up and say, “Well, God
couldn’t use me.
He couldn’t do this, He couldn’t
do that.”
He knows all about you.
He knew about you before you
were ever born.
He has a will and a plan for all
of our lives.
The tragedy is that most people
will never think about that.
They were never told that.
They never thought about that,
that God had a special plan for
their life.
Yes, He does.
Well, what’s God’s plan for my
life?
Have you ever asked Him?
And what I want to ask you to do
is to listen carefully, because
there are three aspects of His
plan.
And so, think about it in this
light.
First of all, there’s God’s
predestined will, and that means
He’s referring to those things
that He will do.
His predestined will will
happen, and nothing can
interfere with it.
No matter what’s happening in
the world, He has a predestined
will.
Those things He will do.
This is–or His overriding
sovereign will by which He
operates in the world in general
and in our lives personally.
It is irresistible,
unchangeable, and unconditional.
That is, His predestined will
cannot be changed.
No matter what happens, who it
happens in, through cannot be
changed.
And a good example of His
predestined will is the cross.
He predestined the death of
Jesus before the world was ever
created.
He makes no mistakes.
His predestined will we can’t do
anything about.
We’re just here.
Then there’s His moral will.
Now, watch this.
This applies to every one of us,
and let’s go back to Exodus
chapter twenty, and you know
what this says.
Listen to this, “You shall not
murder,” period.
“You shall not commit adultery,”
period.
“You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false
witness.
You shall not covet your
neighbor’s house,” and
belongings.
That’s just part.
That’s just part of His moral
will.
And then I’ll turn to First
Thessalonians chapter four, and
this is a part of His will also,
His moral will.
Now, listen to this.
“Finally then, brethren, we
request and exhort you in the
Lord Jesus Christ, as you
received from us instructions as
to how you ought to walk and
please God, just as you actually
do, that you excel even more.”
And then listen to what he says.
This is His moral will, “For you
know what commandments we gave
you by the authority of the Lord
Jesus Christ.”
Listen carefully, “For this is
the will of God, your
sanctification,” to live a holy
life, “that is, that you,” to be
specific, “that you abstain from
sexual immorality; that each one
of you know how to possess his
own vessel in sanctification and
honor, not in lustful passion,
like the Gentiles,” unbelievers,
“do who know not God.”
Now, this is a part of God’s
moral will.
We have the Ten Commandments
and, specifically, he identifies
in this chapter of
Thessalonians, “This is the will
of God, your sanctification,
that is, that you abstain from
sexual immorality.”
That is the law of the Living
God.
It doesn’t make any difference
what you think.
Doesn’t make any difference what
group you belong to or where
you’re from or whatever it might
be.
And it is a moral law of God for
which all of us will give an
account for by the way we
respond to it.
And we have people today who
want to–they want to defend all
kind of things.
The Scripture says, “Abstain
from sexual immorality,” that
each one of us should know how
to handle ourselves, “not in
lustful passion, like the
Gentiles,” like the unbelievers,
“who do not know God.”
Every believer knows God through
Jesus Christ.
We live under the moral law of
God to abstain from sexual
immorality, which is a major,
major, major cause of sin,
wickedness, vileness, and a lot
of other things in this country.
And people can reason all they
want to.
When you go back to the Word of
God, it is absolutely crystal
clear that it is a sin against
Almighty God, a sin against His
moral law.
Then, of course, there is one
other, and that is God’s desired
will.
Now, we say His predestined will
cannot be changed.
His moral law is a law we should
live by.
God’s desired will is this,
listen carefully, those things
He desires for us: salvation,
baptism, the fruit of the Spirit
in our life, service, giving,
forgiving, loving, praying about
everything, many decisions in
our life.
That is, there are three parts
to His will.
His predestined will, which
cannot be changed.
His moral will for which we are
responsible.
God’s desired will is for our
whole life.
Somewhere in this, you are
today.
So, let me ask you: where are
you in light of the will of God?
You say, “Well, I’ve never
thought about it.”
Well, you need to start thinking
about it today because you’ll
have to think about it today
because I’m reminding you of it.
You’ll have to think about it.
That the Holy God, Almighty God,
before whom all of us will stand
one day and give an account for
our life.
Read First Corinthians, we’re
going to give an account for our
life.
And some people will die having
only known the Lord a few days
or a few weeks, sometimes a few
minutes.
So, you say, “What about
so-and-so and so-and-so, and–“
You know what, forget so-and-so.
You think about your life.
You’ve heard the gospel.
You’ve had opportunities, you’ve
had awesome opportunities.
Maybe you didn’t have too many
opportunities.
Maybe you’ve never felt loved in
your life.
God loves you, He has a plan for
your life.
You say, “Well, what about this
at this point in my life?”
Listen carefully, He’ll pick you
up right where you are, right
where you are.
He’ll start today in this
minute.
If you said, “God, I never
thought about this before.
I want to do–I want the rest of
my life to be in Your will.
Lord, whatever it takes, here I
am.”
He’ll pick you up right where
you are and He, watch this, He
will enable you to do your best
the rest of your life.
But what He needs and is waiting
for is your willingness to
surrender to His will.
Because watch this, He always
has the best.
Does that mean the same?
No.
I don’t understand why He
allowed some people to suffer
the way they suffer.
Don’t understand why people grow
up the way they have to grow up,
situations and circumstances,
but God knows.
And all of His judgments will be
according to His perfect will.
He knows our opportunities.
He knows the things that people
are plagued with.
And He knows the opportunities
He’s given us.
So, the issue is this, not
what I’ve–have I done or what
have I missed?
But, God, beginning today–maybe
you never thought about the fact
that He has a will for your
life.
And you see, watch this, you
don’t know what kind of
influence you have.
Some of you’ve had tremendous
influence that you’ve not even
thought about.
And some of you have thought
about it.
You have an opportunity.
You have influence.
You have testimony.
You have the privilege of living
a life with God if you
choose to.
Now, watch this.
If you had never heard before,
if you’ve never heard before
that He has a plan for your
life, what does He do?
I’ll say it again, picks you up
right where you are, begins to
show you His will from this
point on in your life.
“Lord, I never knew You had
a will.”
Yes.
“Well, Lord, I’m–I want to know
what Your will is.”
Yes, He’ll show you.
“Well, Lord, what is Your will?”
He will begin to put people
around you, in your path,
something you read, something
you hear, message you may hear,
that you begin to realize,
“Well, God, I never thought
about You having a will for
my life.
Well, Lord, I want to surrender
my life to You that whatever You
have in mind for me, Lord, here
I am.”
Watch this, that’s always the
place to start.
God, He knows what opportunities
you’ve had and have not had.
And He knows that He’ll take you
wherever you’re willing to
surrender yourself to Him.
He will begin right there and do
what?
Work out the best in your life.
You don’t ever give up.
You never quit, because God
doesn’t give up.
He doesn’t quit on you.
He’ll take you right where you
are.
Some people are brilliantly
brilliant in many areas.
Some people have little of that.
You know what?
God takes them both right where
they are, and when they stand
before them, they will not be
judged on the basis of how smart
or how ignorant they were.
They’ll be judged–we will all
be judged on the basis of what
did we do with what we knew and
what we had.
That puts us all in the same
category.
The smarter and those who are
less fortunate, whatever it
might be, God has a will for
your life.
And when I look at this, He says
that we, “May be filled with the
knowledge of His will.”
Which means that God, He,
listen, He’ll give you whatever
you need to begin today if you
ask Him, “Lord, I missed it
somewhere back yonder.
Please forgive me, but I’m
surrendering myself to You today
that whatever You want to do in
my life, God, here I am.
I probably messed up, Lord, but
here I am.”
Will He forgive you?
Absolutely.
Do you have to beg Him to?
No.
All you have to do is surrender
your life at this point.
“Lord, I, from this point on, I
want whatever You have for me.”
The issue is, have you ever
thought about it?
Have you ever thought about the
will of God for your life?
And so, when I think about that
and I think about the fact that
He will show us, it’s consistent
with the character of God to
show you His will.
In other words, We’re talking
about beginning right now.
We can’t change the past, but
here’s what we can do.
We can say, “God, I blew it.
If I’d-a had another chance, I
may have done something else,
but I’m asking You to forgive me
for my failures, forgive me for
my ignorance.
Maybe I didn’t pursue it, Lord.
Asking You to forgive me.
And Lord, just enable me from
this point to walk in Your
footsteps and to follow Your
will.”
Listen, all of us have had
second chances, third, fourth,
fifth, sixth, how many chances
all of us have had, the grace of
God.
The love of God.
Listen, God isn’t up there
trying to judge you.
God wants to live His life in
and through you, and He’ll take
you wherever you’ll surrender
yourself to Him.
You can’t do better than having
Jesus, the Lord, the second
Person of the Trinity, living
His life in you and picking you
up where you are and taking you
on to what He had in mind to
begin with.
So, where would you consider
yourself to be as far as the
will of God in your life?
Maybe you’ve said, “Well, I
never even heard about it
before.
Oh, I knew about it, but I was
too busy doing my own thing.
I knew about it, but I had
something else in mind.”
And here you are this morning
and you’re hearing about it
again.
I pray that you won’t ever have
to hear about it another time
before you surrender your life
to the Lord Jesus Christ and see
what He’ll do in your life.
God can do an amazing work in
what’s left because He loves us,
because He knows exactly what we
need.
He delights in showing us His
will for our life.
And I want to read you three
passages of Scripture.
So, let’s turn to Psalm sixteen,
and it is the eleventh verse of
the sixteenth Psalm.
Listen, “You will make known to
me the path of life, in Your
presence is fullness of joy, in
Your right hand there are
pleasures forevermore.”
Look at that, “You will make
known to me Your path of life.”
Will you have to be a certain
age or much ability, talent,
and skill?
No.
You ask Him.
So, watch this.
If you left church today, you
went home, and you got in your
bedroom, you got on your knees
or sat in your easy chair,
whatever, and you said to
Almighty God, “Lord, I heard it.
I’ve messed up badly, but today
I’m surrendering my life to You
that for the rest of my life, I
want You to have Your way in my
life.”
You will be shocked at what
God’ll do.
Let me give you another verse,
Psalm thirty-two verse eight.
And you’ve heard me talk about
this verse, probably several
times.
Listen to this verse, Psalm
thirty-two, “I will instruct you
and teach you in the way which
you should go, I will counsel
you with My eye upon you.”
Listen to that, “I will instruct
you and teach you in the way
which you should go.”
Is that by a certain age?
No.
Certain person?
No.
That’s His offer to all of us
who are willing to listen to
Him.
You may think, “Well, I’ve
really blown it in my life.
I really messed it up.
I wish I’d done better.
But Lord, today, whatever’s
left, here’s my life.
What will You do with me?”
You will be surprised at what
He’ll do.
And so, when I think about these
verses and think about how many
times–Proverbs three five and
six, for example, one of my
favorite passages, “Trust in the
Lord with all your heart, lean
not to your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge
Him,” and what’s His promise?
“He will direct your path.”
Just trust Him.
See what He’ll do.
So, there are things that often
hinder us from discovering and
doing the will of God, and I’m
going to give you a little quick
list of them, because oftentimes
we come to a place of decision
and we give God some excuse.
So, think about this.
Things that hinder us from
discovering the will of God for
our life.
Number one: self-will.
We can’t get over what we want
to do, how we want to do it.
Secondly, the influence of other
people.
We let other people influence
us.
“Oh, that won’t work.
Well, why would you want to try
something like that?”
You’re talking to God who works
the impossible.
Ignorance of the Word of God,
think about all the promises He
gives us about answered prayer.
And then doubt.
Well, I don’t think God could do
that in my life.
Listen, the God who created this
world can do anything He chooses
to do, no matter what’s been in
the past.
That’s who He is.
Feelings of unworthiness.
“Well, that may work for
somebody, but not for me because
I’ve really blown it bad.”
God is willing to love you,
forgive you, cleanse you, and
give you a new beginning.
“Well, I’m too busy to deal
with that.”
Listen, you don’t want to die
having rejected Jesus Christ.
Do you think God is going to
accept an excuse?
“Well, I would have, but I just
didn’t have time.”
There are people who are so
foolishly busy, they don’t have
time for God.
Listen, Fear.
“Well, I know that’s what God
wants me to do, but I just don’t
think I could do that.”
Probably every preacher who’s
ever stood in a pulpit has told
God at first, “Oh, I couldn’t
do that.
I couldn’t stand in front of all
those people.
Mm-mm-mm-mm-mm.”
You can’t deliberately,
willfully choose to disobey God
and be happy with your life.
And there are a lot of people
because of their money, they can
cover up a lot of stuff.
But you can’t cover up a
disobedient heart if you’ve got
millions.
You can’t cover up disobedience
to God no matter what you have,
or who you have, or whatever it
might be.
God has a will for your life.
He loves you.
He desires the best for you.
And if you’ve missed it so far,
start today and tell Him, “Lord,
I don’t know what You can do
with what’s left over, but God,
here I am, take me like I am.”
He’ll forgive you, cleanse you.
Let me tell you something God
won’t do.
You want to hear?
Well, somebody does.
One thing God won’t do to you,
He won’t bring up the past and
say, “See there.
I told you.
Mm-hmm.
See, you, mm-mm, yeah, mm-hmm.”
He doesn’t throw up the past.
He brings up the future of what
He’s able to do and can do with
you.
It may be late in life or early
in life, but one thing for
certain, He’ll take you where
you are.
And you’ve got willful known sin
in your life, maybe.
Now, watch this one.
God speaks to your heart this
morning in the worship service.
And He already points to you.
He’s already said to you, “But
you know you’ll have to correct
this.
You know you’ll have to stop
this.
You know you’ll have to change
this.”
And you’re sitting here
thinking, “Oh my goodness, God.
What am I going to do?”
You let God take you where you
are and watch Him do what He’s
able to do in your life.
Listen, if you wait till you
figure it out, you’ll never do
it.
It takes surrender.
“God, I’m not coming to You
claiming that I’m worthy of
anything.
I’m coming to You saying, Lord,
I’ve messed it up.
I’ve blown it.
I’ve sinned against You.
No more toleration or excusing.
I’m just laying it before You,
God.
Whatever You can do with my
life, God, here I am.
Lord, whatever You want to do,
here I am.”
What do you think God will do?
He’ll amaze you.
First thing He’ll do is give you
this awesome sense of peace,
forgiven.
Forgiven, forgiven, forgiven,
and then watch Him work in your
life.
Watch this, you’re not waiting
on God, God’s waiting on you.
He’s waiting to give you His
best.
The past, He forgives and He
forgets it.
And He gives you the opportunity
to start all over again.
That’s the awesome,
indescribable, eternal will of
God for your life.
And the question is: are you
willing to be–are you willing
to say to Him, “Lord, if I’d
only known.
God, I’m ashamed.
God, thank You for giving me one
more chance, and Lord, here’s my
life.
I want to see what You’ll do
with me.”
Here’s your opportunity today.
You came to church today.
Here’s your opportunity.
Before you walk out of this
place, here’s what you can do.
You can say, “God, I don’t even
know how to confess all of my
sin, but I’m saying to You,
Lord, that I know I’ve blown it
lots of times.
I’ve sinned against You.
Haven’t taken advantage of my
opportunities.
I’ve overlooked Your goodness
and love and mercy and
forgiveness toward me.
But today, as best I know how,
I’m asking You to forgive me of
my sin.
I’m surrendering my life to You.
I probably won’t do a very good
job of it.
I’m surrendering my life to You
and I say to You, Dear Father,
forgive me, and here’s my life.
I want You to govern my life
from this point forward.
Here’s my life.”
If you will surrender your life
to God sitting right where you
are, you don’t have to give Him
any details.
He knows all the details.
All you need to say to Him
sincerely with all your heart,
“God, I’ve messed up.
I’ve blown it.
And I’m sorry, I’m ashamed, I’m
asking You to forgive me.
And Lord, by Your help, by Your
strength, by Your wisdom, by
Your grace, by Your goodness, by
Your love, Your mercy, I’m
willing to start all over
again.”
Think about how awesome God is,
that He’s willing to forget your
past and only remember the
future.
Amen?
Father, we couldn’t even begin
to describe how awesome You are,
what grace really means.
When we think about all that You
forgive us for, all that You’re
willing to do in us and through
us, we pray that the Holy Spirit
will do His work right now.
And that every single one of us
will take a fresh look at our
life and surrender ourselves
totally to You again if
necessary.
We love You and we praise You.
In Jesus’s name.
Amen.