Imagine floating in a river. Which way does the current take you-upstream or downstream? Of course, the answer is downstream. Only by actively swimming against the current will you arrive at the headwaters. Likewise, no Christian has ever drifted closer to God, only further away from Him and deeper into the ways of our fallen world. In this message, Dr. Stanley addresses the dangers of neglecting the foundational practices of our faith: communing with God, fellowshipping with other believers, praying, and reading His Word. But though we are all susceptible to wandering, there is hope to rekindle the close intimacy with Jesus He died for us to have. Find encouragement to go against the flow of this world and keep pursuing God’s heart each day. For more messages from Charles Stanley, including this week’s broadcast, go to www.intouch.org/watch
[Music]
timeless truths a collection of classic
sermons from dr charles stanley today’s
selection recorded in 1999
a warning against spiritual drifting
[Music]
it’s a very discomforting feeling to
realize that you’re not where you ought
to be in your relationship with the lord
and not where you want to be
but it’s even more discomforting to
realize that you just don’t even know
how you got where you are
you certainly did not make a decision to
choose
to disobey god
walk away from him and start living in
sin
and so when you begin to realize that
something’s not right you probably
recall
the past when
you had peace with god and peace with
yourself
when you were daily meditating upon
god’s word he was feasting your soul
when
you were
enjoying answers to prayer
when you were confidently sharing your
faith generously giving to the lord’s
work and serving him joyfully but
something happened what happened
how is it that now you could have
drifted so far away
what caused that to happen how did it
happen why did it happen
how can you recover from all of that to
get back where you want to be well
that’s what i want to talk about in this
message and i want to talk about a
warning against spiritual drifting and i
want you to turn if you will to the book
of hebrews
and i want us to read just a few verses
of this uh second chapter of hebrews
the first four verses of this chapter
which is a very clear warning from god
about drifting
from him and his truth and so
he begins by saying for this reason
which we’ll explain in a moment
for this reason we must pay much closer
attention to what we have heard lest we
drift away from it
for if the word spoken through angels
proved unalterable that is unchangeable
and every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompense that is a
fair reward
how shall we escape
if we neglect so greater salvation
after it was at the first spoken through
the lord it was confirmed to us by those
who heard
god also bearing witness with them both
by signs and wonders and by various
miracles and by the gifts of the holy
spirit according to his own will
now there are many many people who used
to be in church
used to have a relationship with the
lord he used to have a good relationship
with him but today they’re out of church
because they’re out of fellowship
out of god’s will
wasting their life their days their
months the years of their life trying to
fill it with something
or some kind of relationship to
something or some person which will
never be able to take the place of a
personal relationship with god
now how did they get there well that’s
what i want us to look at here and i
want us to look first of all the very
foundation of this whole idea
of drifting away from god and why this
warning is so very important
now you may be one of those persons who
would have to say well just to be real
honest yes i used to go to church
i used to read the bible every day
i used to pray every day
i used to give to the lord’s work and
there was a time when i sang in the
choir taught sunday school i should
worked on hospitality or something but
somewhere along the way i just sort of
got tired of that or something happened
in my life can’t figure out what
happened but today that’s not where i am
well if it’s not where you are what you
have to ask is where ought you to be
and so that’s what i want us to consider
here and i want to ask you to be honest
enough
to look at yourself
and to look at your life
in relationship to the god who created
you
the fact that he has ordained a purpose
and plan for your life
and that he’s chosen to give you his
best
how does that line up with the lifestyle
that you’re presently living and notice
what he says here
he says for this reason we must pay much
closer attention to what we’ve heard
lest we
drift away from it now there are two
terms here that are that are used in
nautical ways sea going ships and so
forth when he says for example
the second one first
he says lest we drift away
that word certainly refers to and was
used of ships
that would drift away from harbor or
drift by their harbor
he says for example we must uh pay much
closer attention to
that phrase was used in terms of
something that was anchored to a thing
and so therefore what he’s saying here
is this
lest we drift away
from our relationship with our lord
unless we drift away from an intimate
relationship with him unless we drift
away from those things that we know to
be true
he says we must pay much closer
attention
to
what we’ve heard
now
when i think about i think about that i
think about
in proverbs 4 verse 20 what the writer
of proverbs said
he said my son give attention to my
words
incline your ear to my sayings do not
let them depart from your sight
keep them in the midst of your heart for
their life to those who find them and
health to all to listen and health to
all their whole body
here is an admonition
and here is a warning from the book of
hebrews concerning this whole idea of
drifting now
nobody ever drifts into a holy life
no one ever drifts into sanctification
no one ever drifts into godly living
no one or ever drifts into
obedience to god
that is always running against the
current of the world we live in a fallen
world everywhere you turn there is sin
and disobedience and unrighteousness and
untruth and evil and wickedness and lust
and all the things that go with the
world system which he warns us about
now he says beware lest you find
yourself drifting into all of that
drifting from the truth that you know
and so it’s dangerous to drift because
listen you do not drift upstream but
downstream you never drift toward god
but away from god you never drift toward
strong beliefs you drift away from
strong beliefs this is why he says how
shall we escape if we neglect so great
of salvation now
somebody says well why are you drifting
away what what causes people to drift
well more than likely if i should say to
you why don’t you come up with some
reason why you have ever drifted and
more than likely all of us could come up
with something but i want to just begin
with a very basic reason people drift in
their relationship with the lord
drift away from being the persons god
wants them to be drift away from god’s
best in their life why do they do it
one there lots of reason i’m going to
give you several number one
just simple neglect
neglect of reading god’s word
neglect of spending quality time in
prayer with him
and neglect of corporate worship
you know what if you don’t if you’re not
spending time with him
if you’re not in his word i don’t mean
you have to have some big time bible
study with three or four dictionaries
and commentaries and i’m not talking
about that but at least reading god’s
word and said lord speak to my heart
lord speak to my heart you realize this
you’ve got the same holy spirit in you
that i have in me he can teach you the
truth of his word
and so therefore this excuse well you
know i just don’t understand it the only
way you’ll ever understand it is to get
in and read it and then god will teach
you what it means
you neglect his word you neglect prayer
you neglect corporate worship you are
drip you will drift away from god
he didn’t listen he didn’t give us this
just for our enjoyment but for our
safety
and not listen not just save us once
back young and experience but to save us
continually from wrecking and ruining
our life
he says my word is he says thy word is a
lamp unto my feet and a light unto my
path
so one of the primary reasons people
drift
no time for god’s word
no time for prayer or if it’s just a
little bit of this or something just to
sort of set up your conscience and
and so therefore you know just move on
with life
and listen i can you know what i can do
just like you can i can stand here and
sing a hymn and think about a lot of
things
never even think about the words
i can read the script and be thinking
about something else just like you can
and isn’t it true that you can be
talking to god in prayer and thinking
about something else absolutely
so when we’re talking about drifting if
the only kind of praying is you’re doing
you’re doing is think about something
else while you’re talking to him and
reading the scripture and think about
something else while you’re reading it
and sitting in worship and thinking gosh
you know what’s going to happen and not
listening you’re already drifting
so we’re talking about quality we’re
talking about giving god your genuine
attention listening to what he has to
say
god what are you speaking what are you
saying to my heart today apply this to
my heart god what do you want to say to
me lord through all of this
well
certainly one of the reasons is just
pure leg the second reason is this and
there are lots of them
and that is
a lack of sense of direction for your
life you know what if you don’t have a
sense of direction for your life
if you’re not interested in god’s will
for your life you’re going to drift if
you don’t have a sense of direction then
then listen god’s course for your life
his choice for your life his purpose for
your life
his his goals for your life if they’re
not even meaning meaningful enough to
you to to seek god’s direction then
you’re going to drift because what’s
life all about if you’re not on his
course in his path you don’t have a
sense of direction for your life and
you’re just sort of living day to day
week of the week and one of these days
out you understand why you’re going to
die and maybe go to heaven you see
you’re going to drift because you’re not
directed toward anything
what is god’s cause for your life he has
a course for every single one of us so
one of the primary reasons is that
oftentimes we lack sense of direction
another is the influence of other people
and that is
we drift
listen we drift because
we latch on to
someone or
we watch someone else
and what happens is
we pick up on what they say what they do
think about all the negative things that
are going on in the world think about
all the negative talk that you hear on
the radio the television negative
negative negative negative negative
how many people are talking about god
talking about the lord jesus christ if
you allow yourself to listen to and be
influenced by people around you you will
drift away from god by following them
they’re not going to come to say please
leave your god and follow me
no it’s that subtleness that satan uses
things that they say
and people get involved in this involve
that next thing you know
what they’re involved in takes
precedence over their relationship to
god the next thing you know they’re in
real serious trouble why do people drift
lots of reasons one of the reasons is
they’re unsure about what they believe
it’s the person who gets saved nobody
ever teaches them the truth nobody takes
time to instruct them to disciple them
and so they come along and they get hit
situations and circumstance or fall into
temptation maybe over something and get
into grief and and uh and discouragement
and guilt and don’t know how to work
through all that and how to get
forgiveness and so forth they just think
well lord you know it’s not working and
so i just might as well give up and stop
praying and stuff because it’s not
working anyway and so because they don’t
understand the scripture don’t
understand what they really believe and
how it works uh they just begin to drift
away from god
which leads me to say one of the primary
reasons is that people begin to doubt
you when people begin to doubt god
they’re going to start drifting you
start doubting god next thing you’re
going to know well if you doubt him well
why read it when i don’t understand it
and i’m not sure this is really true
anyway
and i hear that there are lots of
mistakes in the bible and so they begin
to doubt what happens they begin to
drift
well
i think one of the primary reasons
people drift is this
in some area of their life satan finds
their weakness and they begin to be
tempted and they keep on falling in the
same temptation keep on being defeated
over and over and over again the same
temptation they finally say you know
what christian life’s not what it’s
cracked up to be it’s not working i pray
and look at me now and i promised god
and swore to god and and told god i
wasn’t going to do this again and now
i’ve done it again something’s wrong so
you know what i might as well just
forget it because it’s just not i’ll go
to church god and i’ll pray
and i’ll read you at word but lord
there’s just i don’t understand this and
so they begin to drift away from god
next thing you know not doing any of
those things
satan’s found the weakness and he’s hit
him with it
and so there are lots of reasons people
drift and and you probably have thought
about some of those yourself now here’s
the big question now watch this
carefully
how do you recover
how does a person restored from this
drifting maybe you you’ve gotten
yourself in the biggest mess you’re so
ashamed of yourself you’ve got guilt and
anxiety and frustration and fear and
you can tell your hearts begin to be
like heartened about things of god and
you don’t like it this way you don’t
want it this way you want to have peace
with god you want to have peace with
yourself you want to read the bible
understand you want to pray you want to
have fellowship you want to be with
god’s people yes yes yes i do oh how do
i get back
well now remember what we said now
listen very carefully
remember what we said
where people drift they drift into all
kinds of things how listen how far can a
person drift
how far can you drift you can drift so
far that god’s chastising hand upon you
will seem almost unbearable to bear it
do you get that
you can drift so far that god’s
chastising hand can can be so painful
it’s almost unbearable for you
but
you
cannot drift so far
that you drift beyond his love
beyond his forgiveness
and beyond his restoration
he’s there
waiting for you my friend and the only
reason he sends pain and emptiness and
frustration and anxiety is because he’s
trying to rescue you
well how do you get rescued
how do you get restored how do you get
back where you are the four simple
listen four simple steps i didn’t say
they were easy
very essential steps to being restored
and what’s the first one
acknowledging
that i’m on the drift
acknowledging that i’ve been drifting
confessing to god that’s what’s going on
in my life lord as you as you warned us
here you warned us against drifting and
god that’s what i’ve been doing
so you confess it you acknowledge it
you recognize that’s what i’ve been
doing
the second step
is very simple but very important it
listen the acknowledgement of drifting
must be followed by genuine repentance
repentance is not just feeling sorry
repentance is not crying
repentance is not feeling guilty all
three of those things would be a part of
it that’s not what repentance is
repentance
is a decision
repentance is a change of mind
i don’t want to continue this way this
is not god’s best this is not god’s will
i don’t want i don’t i don’t want this
kind of life i don’t want the
consequences and i don’t want to miss
god’s best it is a change of mind it is
a change of mind that’s going to result
in a change of direction and conduct
a person cannot repent of their sin and
keep on doing the same thing they’re
doing they can feel sorry for it they
can confess it they can weep they can
feel guilty they can moan and groan and
go to all kind of revival meetings and
do all kinds of things and run to
counselors and tell counselors over and
over and over again oh this is what’s
going on in my life and that’s not
repentance and let me make something
clear i’m all for counselors
we have a counseling ministry i believe
in that
but i want to tell you what many people
do
right listen when they face what’s going
on in their life
rather than repent of their sin you know
what they do they want to go talk to a
counselor
because it makes them feel good to talk
about it
now if it’s a very perceptive counselor
they’ll be able to discern this rather
quickly you just want to come back and
dump your garbage today and tomorrow
next week next month next year and
people go to councillors for years and
years and years the same counselor how
much garbage is there
you know what the problem is refuse to
repent
so most of them want to go to a council
and say
oh yes poor you
poor little thing that’s right
yes that’s right
when the truth is they need to genuinely
repent of their sin have a change of
mind and turn about and move in the
right relationship so step number one
acknowledge it recognize it’s true
confess it step number two genuine
repentance change your mind
listen decision to change to change the
way i’m going change the way i’m living
and number three
return to a life of submission to the
will and purpose of god for your life
return to a life of submission to the
will and purpose of god for your life if
you don’t go back to a submissive life
before our god you have genuinely
repented repentance is going to lead you
to a life of submission to god genuinely
return
god i choose i choose to walk in
obedience to you
choose the walk in obedience to you
and what’s the fourth step simply this
you make a decision to readjust
the priorities of your life
and the priority of your life is your
personal relationship with god through
his son jesus christ and so what’s the
priority i’m going to make bible reading
and bible study
meditation upon god’s word the priority
of my life every day
i’m going to spend time with him quality
time sharing my heart and talking to him
and getting to know him better again
i’m going to meet with god’s people and
fellowship and worship with them
you see
it’s a change of priority
no matter how far you’ve drifted
what you’ve drifted into there’s a
loving father willing to rescue you
willing to draw you back but it takes
your acknowledgement confession
repentance and submissive will and a
change of your lifestyle
in order to be recovered and to remain
there
now everything i have said
is an explanation
in lots of different ways and
illustrations of one simple sentence
listen to what he said
you want to deal with this drifting
business
we
must
pay much closer attention to what we
have
heard
just that simple
now
i don’t know where you are in your life
but i know this
i know you can be where god wants you to
be
if you’re willing to make a decision now
listen carefully
if you’ve never trusted jesus christ as
your savior you’re already drifting
you’re off course
you you don’t have the compass in other
words if you you may own a bible but
you’ve laid the compass aside you’re
already drifting
you will drift into hurt
pain
suffering heartache hardship
ultimately without christ
because you have made a decision
that you’re going to have it your way
one of these way listen one of these
days
you will drift into
death
and an eternal future
for which you will spend eternity being
sorry
don’t know when you’re going to die
no one knows that
and that is the decision that god makes
if you let your life drift up to that
moment
and you move into eternity without
christ my friend you will be eternally
separated from everything eternally
separated from everything that is good
that you wanted in life that you wished
for that you tried
that you tried to squeeze out of this
life
far more than you and i could explain
if you’ve never trusted jesus as you
save you you listen you’re floating in a
dangerous river every day you may have
lots of money lots of friends lots of
this good health and all the rest but
remember god does not sit idly idly by
and watch people rebel against him
disobey him without consequences in this
whole book from genesis to revelation
from genesis to revelation here’s what
it says one of the things it says is
this
the soul that sinneth it shall die
the wages of sin is death whatever you
sow you’ll reap what you sow more than
you sow later than you sow he says every
single sin transgression and
disobedience will receive a just fair
reward
it is spiritual suicide
to live your life
and disobey
and rebel against almighty god i want to
encourage you to ask you to ask god to
forgive you of your sins
ask him to cleanse your heart and tell
him you want to get on his course
in his path you want his word to become
the compass of your life
you don’t want to miss anything else
good god’s got for you you want to
change you want genuine repentance today
a decision now change in lifestyle god
will change that the moment you
willingness said to him
trusting you as my savior
i want your best for my life
everybody knows where they are
no no they don’t everybody doesn’t know
where they are
you see we said unintentionally
blindly slowly gradually we
just drift and so i want to encourage
you today
if that’s been going on in your life
when you get home or where you stand or
whenever it happens
remember
you acknowledge it very important
that’s where it all starts
if you will do that
genuinely repent of it
submit yourself to him
change your lifestyle your schedule your
priorities you’re going to be back in
fellowship
where the loving living god
desires that you be
you