Join us as we explore the path from isolation to a heartfelt connection with God. Charles Stanley addresses the need for every individual to reconcile with God, emphasizing the transformative power of becoming a new creation in Christ. This episode highlights the journey of spiritual growth and renewal, encouraging listeners to embrace the love and grace offered through a life aligned with the divine.
Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, February 4th. Have you ever tried to help someone and they refused? Many people do that when it comes to God’s offer of salvation. Today, we learn how to avoid that mistake.
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rejection, isolation, alienation, all of these are emotions that none of us like. In fact, we’d all like to avoid all of them, all of our life if we possibly could, but we cannot. Because we live in a fallen world, we’re going to experience those kind of emotions. And it’s one thing to experience them between us and some other person. But when I think about separation, rejection, alienation, isolation, and a person’s relationship to God, how absolutely empty and futile life must be. To feel that somewhere, somehow, there must be a God out there, but you don’t feel any relationship with Him. No personal relationship. He’s sort of that invisible force out there. And something inside of you wants to relate to God. Something inside of you desires a relationship with someone who’s greater than you are and someone who’d love you. But somehow, it just never has happened. The worst kind of alienation is alienation from God. And that’s what I’m going to talk about in this message entitled, From Alienation to Reconciliation. And I want you to turn, if you will, to 2 Corinthians chapter 5 in one of the most powerful passages of Scripture in the Bible when it comes to understanding what God has been up to in all of our lives, what He’s up to in the world, and what He’s going to be up to until the day the Lord Jesus Christ comes. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, and I want us to begin reading. in verse 14 and read through the rest of this chapter, the 21st verse. For the love of Christ controls us or constrains us or motivates us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died. And he died for all that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf. Then he says, therefore, from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know him thus no longer. He says, you know, I used to know him as just another man, but now I know him as the Son of God. I don’t know him just in the flesh. Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. Now, all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them. And He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made him, that is Christ, who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. It is beginning in verse 17 through 21, which is a tremendous passage of Scripture. In fact, there is no way that anybody, no matter who they are, could ever begin to adequately deal with this passage of Scripture in either one sermon or a whole lot of sermons because this passage of Scripture is the heart of the gospel. It is all right here in one single passage of Scripture. And what I want us to talk about in this idea from alienation to reconciliation, I want to talk about, first of all, the fact that there is a tremendous need for everyone to be reconciled to God. So I want to just define a couple of terms here. When we talk about alienation, we are talking about being separated from something. And that alienation may be… an unfriendly relationship. It may be a relationship that you’re against someone, but there is a separation. There is a division. And so when there is an alienation between a person and God, that person can never, never, never, be what God intended for them to be. Because God created us to walk in oneness with Him. He created us to be a part of Him. And so therefore, when we talk about alienation, we’re talking about separation. When we talk about reconciliation, we’re talking about bringing that which was alienated and separated back into a relationship. So a reconciled relationship is one that has been brought back together and is now one. Now listen to what he says, and I want you to turn to several passages of Scripture here, beginning in Romans chapter 1. what is it that the bible says about mankind that says everyone needs to be reconciled to god because everyone born to this world came into this world with a sinful nature and recognizing now that little children little babies uh… who do not understand right from wrong and so forth they’re not in the condition of being lost their condition of being innocent until they reach a certain age what is it nobody knows until they reach an age of accountability, whereby from that moment on, God holds them accountable for their life. So we eliminate that age group for just a moment, and we’re talking about everyone else. Listen to what he says in Romans chapter 1, verse 18. He says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Now, the wrath of God is not some little attitude of anger that God comes up with. The wrath of God is the judgment of God and the punishment of God. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that God will punish His children. He disciplines His children because discipline is an act of love in order to correct something. Punishment is God’s vindication, listen, of Himself because of disobedience and rebellion. He punishes the wicked. He punishes the lost. He punishes those who have rejected Him. He disciplines His children. Now, I want you to turn, if you will, to another passage of Scripture that oftentimes is a controversial passage to some people. But in the 10th chapter of Hebrews, look at this verse. Very important series of verses here that I want you to notice. We’re talking about God’s viewpoint, my friend, of you. If you have rejected Him as your Savior, you may feel like that you’re a good person. You may think about all the good things that you do. What we’re talking about is God’s viewpoint. Listen to what God says. Beginning, if you will, in the 26th verse of Hebrews chapter 10. give you time to find that because this is a very important passage Hebrews 10 verse 26 listen he says if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth now he’s talking about lost people who hear the gospel truth who hear the truth of the crucifixion of Christ and his atonement for their sins He says, if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. Now, here’s what he’s saying. He says, if you hear the truth and you understand that it is the salvation that comes through the cross of Jesus Christ and you reject that. There is no more sacrifice for sins. That is, there’s no other place to turn. If you turn away from the Lord Jesus Christ, there’s no place to turn. The only place you can turn is to yourself and good works. And he says our good works are like filthy rags. And he says not by works of righteousness which we’ve done, but according to his mercy he saved us. So that’s what that means. Keep reading. But a certain terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Then he says, anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy in the testimony of two or three witnesses. He says, for example, they’ve known the truth, they turn it aside, and so he’s referring to Old Testament. Then look what you, if you will, in verse 29. How much severer The punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled upon foot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace? He says the punishment will be much severer For those who have trampled underfoot the Son of God. What does that mean? Here’s what it means. It means that somebody tells me the truth about Jesus. Somebody explains to me how I need Him. And I say, well, I heard that, but forget it. Because I’m not interested in that. He says, you have trampled underfoot the Son of God. Not only that, He says… But you have regarded as unclean, a thing unimportant. Doesn’t make any difference. That old blood of Jesus Christ, who in the world is interested in the blood of someone else? He says, you’ve considered that unclean. And not only that, he says, what you’ve done, you’ve insulted the spirit of grace. How in the world could a person be saved when they turn, when they continually reject the wooing of the Holy Spirit? So when a person rejects the Lord God, what they don’t realize is they’re not just turning up their nose at a believer. They are saying to God, I do not want you. I do not want you in my life. Somebody says, oh, no, I haven’t said that. But my friend, it isn’t what we say. It’s by our conduct. If I reject the Son of God, he says, having heard the truth. He says, having heard the truth, I trample underfoot the Son of God. I consider His blood a thing unclean and worthless. And not only that, He says, I insult the Spirit of grace. There’s not a single person who’s ever been saved who wasn’t saved as a result of the Spirit of the grace of God. That is the Holy Spirit of God. wooing them and convicting them of their sin, exposing to them the truth, helping them to understand and bringing them to a saving knowledge of Christ. That’s why when you reject the Son of God, you reject your only possible hope of eternal salvation. And here is a loving Father who’s reaching out in reconciliation to bring us back to Himself, and He says, this is what happens. But let’s keep reading. He says in verse 30, For we know who said, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, and again the Lord will judge His people. Look at this next verse. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. It is a terrifying thing to be lost. To reject the Lord Jesus Christ and to fall into the hands of a living God. He said, well, I’m not going to fall into his hands, my friend. The moment you die, you will fall into the hands of the living God. And you will face him having done what? Having trampled underfoot. Having trampled underfoot the Son of God. Having insulted the only grace that can bring you to God. And having looked upon the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ as an unclean thing. He says it’s a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of a living God. So when somebody says, well, why do I need to be reconciled to God? Because God says that you’re ungodly, that you’re a sinner, that you’re without strength, you can’t do anything for yourself, that you’re an enemy of God, under his wrath, facing his judgment, for which there is absolutely no hope because the only hope is the cross of Jesus Christ. And if you go on sinning, having heard the truth and rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no more sacrifice for sin because no one could die in your place because everyone other single person on the face of this earth has sinned for themselves. Well, here’s what I want us to see in this passage, because this is what the apostle Paul does. He explains to us here what happens. Now, I want you to notice, if you will, beginning in verse 17. And if you’ll notice in verse 16, verse 17, and verse 20, he says, therefore, therefore, therefore, therefore. Therefore is always based on something that just happened. And what he just said, on the basis of what I just said, you can expect the following. So he says in verse 17, therefore, if any man or woman is in Christ Jesus, he or she is a new creature. Old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. Now, here’s what happens. God’s desire is to reconcile us to himself. And to do that, he says, he places us in Christ. To be placed in Christ is a spiritual relationship. When you and I trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior, what happened was he brought us into a new relationship. Here’s what Paul said. He said, look, he says… He is a new creature. Old things passed away. Behold, new things have come. Now, when he says, behold, this is Paul’s way of saying, look, he says, when this happened to me, he says, when you are born again, when you become a new creation in Christ Jesus, he says, behold. New things have come. Old things have passed. And he said, things are different now. Things look different. Things feel different. You have a new master. You have a new sense of direction. You have a new purpose in living. You have a new eternal destiny. Everything begins to change. Now, listen to what he says. He says, watch this. He said, now… Old things past. And what he’s saying here is this. He says, in one given moment of time, an aorist tense in the Greek, which means something happened. He says, old things past. The moment you and I trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior, in that moment, he says, we died to our old way of life. Christ came into our life. We began a brand new life. Then he says, if you’ll notice, now… new things have come so uses a different category which means new things have come they’re still there and they’re going to keep on going and it’s eternal and it’ll never cease that is god has set us in the progress of being conformed to his likeness now let’s go back to this verse a minute somebody says no wait a minute it says that when i became a christian old things passed away behold new things have come why do i still act the way i used to act sometime well what is that passed away Physical body didn’t pass away. Five senses didn’t pass away. Desires didn’t pass away. But some things changed. Whole perspective on life changed. New desires in our heart, new sense of direction, new purpose. Here’s what that passage means. It does not mean that when you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, that everything in your life that was bad is gone forever. That passage is referring to the new position we have. Before we were enemies, sinners, ungodly, and without strength under the wrath of God. Now we’re in Christ Jesus. Now we are indwelt by the person of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. Now we do have the power to live a godly life. But because we live in a godless world, surrounded by godless things and circumstances, because we do have our naturalness, that is, there’s some parts of me that I wish had gone, didn’t leave. That is, I still have the capacity to sin against God. We just like to unclothe all this stuff and just get on with pure sanctification. Salvation, the new birth, is a one-time event. Sanctification. is not only a one-time event in which God, at the moment of salvation, set us apart from Himself, but it is a progressive thing. It goes on and on and on, so that when you and I trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior, He said He predestined every person who trusts Him to be conformed to the likeness of His image. To be conformed to the likeness of His image is progress. That is, it is a process that goes on. So that today, we would all like to believe and feel in our heart and know in our experiences that there are some things that don’t bother us today that used to. Some things are not temptable to us today that used to be. We’ve moved along in our Christian life. We understand who God is, what’s going on in our life. And so we’re moving along in our spiritual growth. So when He says, old things passed away and these things have become new, if you notice the next verse, He says… He says, now all these things are from God. That is, these new things that come into our life are from God. New perspective, new destiny, new relationship, new interest, new desire to serve God. All of these things are from Him. And so we do have a new relationship. There has been a tremendous change in our life. Here’s what I want you to see. Listen to this carefully. He’s talking about position, not practice. I wish he had been talking about practice. Amen? But he’s talking about position. Things have changed. Now, as a result of this new position of being in Christ, my practice and my behavior will change. But that is as I submit to the Spirit, yield to the Spirit, learn to walk in the Spirit. It will be radical changes, more radical in some people’s lives than in others. So this is what he’s saying here when he talks about practice. This idea, and I don’t want people to have a false impression, that if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, that you’re not going to ever have a desire to sin again. Yes, you will, because your humanness is still there. And now you have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of you to enable you to live, listen, to live a victorious life. Does it mean you’ll never sin? No, it doesn’t mean that. Does it mean that you won’t still have difficulty and hardship and trials and temptations? Yes, you will. But now we have Christ living on the inside. You see, here’s the difference. Before salvation, we were alienated. We were having to face all this ourselves. But now, what happens? Being reconciled to our Lord, we have Him. Listen, we have Him on the inside of us. And so when something comes along, the Lord Jesus’ presence is there. And so we have the power of God. Doesn’t mean we’ll be perfect, and Paul certainly never expressed that in his own life. And so, what he’s talking about here is the position that we have that something dramatic indeed has happened in our life. And so, therefore, as a result of that, we can expect a change, but it will not be a perfect change all of a sudden.
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Thank you for listening to From Alienation to Reconciliation. 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.
