God’s Great Purpose: Living with Christ within Us

SPEAKER 02 : 0:01

welcome to the in touch podcast with charles stanley for tuesday september 23rd many christians believe they’re saved by faith alone yet feel responsible for living the christian life themselves let’s learn to lean on the lord for all things as we continue our study of the book of books why did god give us this book we call the eternal word of god this infallible

SPEAKER 01 : 0:25

Inerrant, eternal word of the living God, penned by some 40 men over a period of almost 1,600 years, from different vocations in life, from three different continents, and yet, even though written for some 1,600 years, no inconsistencies, no contradictions whatsoever, one central theme from Genesis to Revelation is, absolutely inexhaustible in its depth of meaning, and absolutely indestructible in its presence, and always on the bestsellers list in the marketplace no matter what. Why did he give it to us? Well, that’s what I want to talk about in this message, and I want you to turn, if you will, to 2 Timothy chapter 3. 2 Timothy chapter 3, the apostle Paul writing to Timothy tells us exactly why he gives us his word. And so he says to Timothy here, beginning in verse 13, “…but evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. You, however,” speaking to Timothy, “…continue in the things you’ve learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them.” and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness or training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” The primary and first reason He gave us the Scriptures is to lead us into salvation. The primary and first reason He gave us the Bible is to lead us to salvation. So let’s think about this for a moment. Without the word of God, you and I would never have discovered that we are sinners separated from God. Here’s what he says in Romans 3, verse 23. He says, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. In 623, he says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. In Hebrews 9, 27, he says, it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this, the judgment. Everything we know about salvation, all of our security is wrapped up in the fact that you and I believe the testimony, the infallible, inerrant testimony of the living Word of the living God. The first reason God gave us this book is to do what? lead us into salvation. First reason, most important reason, because this book is all about God. It is all about the person of Jesus Christ. Now, what is the second reason for which he gave us this book? The second reason for which he gave us this book is to lead us into a godly life. When a person is walking and living a godly life, they’re walking in the will of God for their life. Does it mean, for example, they’re always right on target every moment? Does it mean they never sin? No. But it means that, listen, it means we have trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior. We desire to be obedient to God. We will have our moments of weakness and failure, and that’s when we confess our sins and go back to the cross to realize that, listen, even our forgiveness isn’t based on my confession, but it is based on the work of Jesus Christ at Calvary. When he shed his blood, he shed his blood for all of our sin. The reason that you and I can come and confess it to him and accept his forgiveness is what he did because that is the power of the cross of Jesus Christ. Therefore, How would I know any of these things apart from the teaching of the Word of God? So when the Bible says and speaks of living a godly life, in fact, he says, if you live godly in Christ Jesus, you will suffer persecution. You and I live a godly life, we will suffer persecution. The second reason for which God has given us this book is that you and I may live a godly life. I don’t know of anything that makes me want to weep more as a pastor as this. When I think of the millions of people who go to church week after week after week, they listen to sermons. They never hear. They never grasp the principles. They hear, don’t do this and do that and do the other and so forth. But most Christians will go through their whole Christian life. They will never hear the principles that make the Christian life work for them. Now, let me give you an example. I was saved when I was 12 years of age, and I was taught to do good and do the best I could, and I was taught that if you sinned, you could be lost. Well, that is a horrible, horrible way to live, and it’s not biblical. And so I did the best I could. Went to college, did the best I could. Did I always do the best I could? No. Went to seminary, tried to learn, do the best I could. In my first church, taught the Bible, preached the Bible the best I could, the best I knew. Second church, same thing. Third church. Began to read the scripture and began to study and ask God. God put a hunger in my heart that I didn’t even understand what it was all about. I remember I prayed, I fasted, I cried, I did everything imaginable. God, what in the world are you trying to say to me? And I was preaching through the book of Galatians, and I was coming to that fifth chapter of Galatians about the fruit of the Spirit, and I was a little worried coming up, and I thought, Lord, that’s not true of me. Now, on Sunday, I feel the fruit of the Spirit, love, peace, joy, goodness, all these things. But, Lord, what about Monday through Saturday? I’m not doing too well. What am I going to be able to say? I mean, if you’ve got to get up in front of everybody else and tell them something, and you know in your own heart it’s not working for you, that’s a disaster. It was in that context that I learned that The key principle in the whole Christian life. What is the basic bottom line key principle to live in the Christian life? And my friend, if you don’t understand this, you, listen, your Christian life will be one frustration, one failure, one question, one doubt, one insecurity after the other. What is it? Real simple. Here’s the key principle. The key principle of the whole Christian life is this. It’s just this simple. Christ in me. That is the whole key to the Christian life. It’s not a life that I can live, but a life that Jesus lives on the inside of me. That when I’m saved, I surrender my life to him. I give myself to him. He comes to live on the inside of me. And to begin to live his life through me and to express himself through me. So that your life and my life as a Christian isn’t, listen, we are living, walking expressions of the life of Christ. When sin comes, the reason we get convicted, because what we’re doing at that moment doesn’t fit who we are. We are born again. We’re the new creations in Christ. We’re the children of the living God. It is Christ in me. Christ through me. Christ, it is His life. What did Paul say when he said, I’ve been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live yet, not I, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Paul understood that. Listen, all of Paul’s theology can be wrapped up in that simple phrase, Christ in me, Jesus in me. Now, I’d been a pastor. I was in my third church before I understood that. And you know what? Most Christians will live and die. And here’s what they’ll believe. That they’ll be accepted into heaven, not just because they trusted Jesus as their Savior, but because they have been pretty good at doing what they tried to do as a Christian. And why do so many people die uncertain of their salvation? Because here’s what they do. Never having been instructed in the things of God, not understanding the principles of Scripture, they die believing and hoping and crying out to God, maybe, maybe my good works have outweighed my bad works and maybe God in His goodness will accept me. Let me ask you a question. How in the world do you live? How do you live, friend, if you’re not eternally secure? If you’re not eternally secure, you’re not secure. You say, I’m daily secure. That won’t work. You know why? Because things hit us every day that make us feel insecure. We have eternal security. God intends that you and I live a godly life. It isn’t enough to understand the basic doctrines about God. You see, here’s the problem. We look at this book and most people, most Christians, they say, well, here’s the word of God. And we don’t say this, but we act as if man, listen, man is the main character. Man’s not the main character. God is the main character. Hey, listen, this book is about God and how I’m to relate to him and how he relates to me. God is the main character, not man. so what happens if i don’t understand if i’m not instructed in the ways of god for example how do you deal with temptation how do you deal with fear how do you deal with doubt how do you deal with persecution how do you deal with an unforgiving spirit how do you deal with an unforgiving spirit toward a parent maybe who has died and gone on and now you have all this conviction and all this remorse and grief and sorrow and regrets and you’d like to be able to bring them back and say Please forgive me, but you can’t. And so people live with that and people live with burdens of guilt and heartache and regret and pain in their life because they don’t know how to deal with it. Nobody’s instructed them. Nobody’s taught them. This is what God says. This is how you can deal with these things in your life. Instruction in righteousness. So many aspects of our life. How do people get over habits in their life? Well, it’s all here. And so what does he say? First of all, he says the first reason that God gave us His Word is to lead us into what? Salvation. The second reason God gave us His Word is to lead us into what? A godly life. The third reason God has given us His Word, listen, is to lead us into fruitful service. Lead us into fruitful service. Listen to what he says now in this passage. He says, verse 16, “…all Scripture is inspired by God.” profitable, for teaching, for reproof or conviction, for correction, for training in righteousness, teaching us how to live the life, that the man of God, a woman of God, may be adequate, equipped for every good work. Now, listen carefully. Most people will read the Word of God, and most of the time, they are looking for something for themselves. Because we’re sort of self-centered. And we’re sort of problem-oriented. And we’re emotionally focused. What can I find to help me? And there’s nothing wrong with this. I’m not saying there is. I need direction. But here’s what he says. One of the purposes for which he gave us this book is that you and I would be adequately furnished as sons and daughters of God to serve God. Now, how do we serve God? Well, I can’t. Listen, even by my giving, I can’t throw it up. He catches it. How can I serve God? There is only one way to serve God. That’s by serving other people. Listen to what he says. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works for the purpose of good works, which he pre-prepared beforehand and ordained beforehand that you and I should walk in them, which means our lifestyle should be a lifestyle of serving the living God. I want to tell you, my friend, there is no escape. We are the servants of God. You say, well, I feel inadequate. So do I. I don’t feel I can do some things. Neither can I. You know what? Listen, there’s some things we don’t have to do because he didn’t gift us to do some things. If you and I have been foreordained by almighty God, and one of the purposes for which he gave us this book is to serve him, I want to ask you, are you in the will of God? And what are you doing to serve the living God? You can’t get away. There’s no escape. Now, I want you to listen to this last thing right here because this is so very important. The Bible teaches there’s going to be two judgments. The judgment of the great white throne is the judgment where the lost people will stand before God. The Bible says the books will be opened and they will be judged in the books according to their works. Okay, that’s lost folks. So, let’s forget that for a moment. The judgment seat of Christ that Paul mentions in the first Corinthians chapter three, don’t turn that quite yet, just listen. The judgment seat of Christ is the judgment which you and I will stand before him and give an account. Now listen carefully. The issue and the only issue in the judgment of the saints is our works. It has nothing to do with salvation or you wouldn’t be there. Because we have been saved, we stand in our judgment seat of Christ as his children. What is it? What’s the issue in the judgment that you and I are standing? It’s our works, our service. Now, turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 3. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. Listen to what he says. Now, this ought to get somebody’s attention. Listen to this. Somebody says, well, if I, you know, just as long as I get there, that’s all that matters. If you listen to this verse, that’s not all that matters. Look at this. Let me tell you what’s happening. Paul’s talking about his responsibility as a servant, Apollos’ responsibility as a servant, other pastors in his days, their responsibility. And he talks about how one has one responsibility, another, another. So here’s what he says. Verse 10, according to the grace of God, which was given to me as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation. That is, he established these churches, taught them the truth, and another is building upon it. Someone else coming along and instructing the people and building them up. But let each man be careful how he builds upon it. Now watch this. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now watch this. When you were saved, you have a spiritual foundation, which is Christ. From the moment you and I trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we began by our life, the life we began to live, we began to build on this foundation some kind of a spiritual house. Now listen carefully. If you’re going to build a chicken coop, you don’t need much foundation. If you’re going to build a hundred-story structure, you need a very strong, deep, deep, deep foundation. Every single one of us who’s a believer has the foundation of Christ. So we’re building on it. Now look at this. Verse 12. Now, if any man builds upon the foundation with gold, silver, precious stone, wood, hay, stubble, that is our good deeds, right motive, being obedient to God, gold, silver, precious stone. Wrong motive, sloppy, lazy, indifferent, careless, failure to do what God calls us to do, wood, hay, stubble, combustible things. One match will do it. Look at this. Each man, verse 13, each man or woman’s work will become evident, revealed. For the day will show it, the day of judgment, because it is to be revealed with fire. And the fire itself will test the quality of each person’s work. And if any man or woman’s work, which he has built upon it, remains, they shall receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, they shall suffer loss, but he or she herself shall be saved, yet so is through fire. Now, what in the world is he saying? Here’s what he’s saying. Look at this. In the judgment seat of Christ, the issue is our service. The issue is our works. And he says, here’s what’s going to happen. You know what he says? He says, he gave us this book for three reasons. He gave it to us to lead us into salvation. He gave it to us to lead us to a guided life. He gave it to us to lead us into a, listen, to a life of service for him. So with all that in mind, I want to ask you a simple question. What are you doing to serve God? That’s why we’re here. What are you doing that one day you’re going to come to the book and this is the book that’s going to be opened and there’s not going to be any arguments in his presence? What are you doing to serve the living God? Would you not? Have I told you the truth? Say amen. Absolutely. And we have said that God gave us this Bible that you and I may be saved. He gave us this Bible that we’d learn how to live a godly life. And he gave us this Bible so he’d lead us into fruitful service for him. That’s why we have it. So how can it lead me in a fruitful service? Because when I begin to understand the principles of Scripture, here’s what happens. I know that my service is independent upon me, but God who is within me. Not my strength, but the work of the Holy Spirit in me. You see, we learn the principles, and once we learn the principles of the Word of God, then you have courage to serve God. You have a sense of confidence to serve God. You know that your adequacy is in Him. God begins to do the most amazing things in your life. Why? Because you’ve learned the principles. But I want to ask you a question. Number one, are you saved? Here’s the book. Are you at least attempting to live a godly life? You may fall and falter and fail, but your heart’s bent toward God. That’s where your heart is. Is there anything going on in your life that looks like it is service to Almighty God? Well, there’s no book like this book. I want you to listen to this. This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable, that is, unchanging. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, practice it to be holy. It contains light to direct you, food to support you, comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler’s map. the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s charter. Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, and hell disclosed. Christ is its grand object, our good its design, and the glory of God its end. It shall fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure. is given you in life will be opened in judgment and remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the highest labor, and condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents. And my friend, I hope you love this book. And I hope you have a greater love for it now than you did before you started listening. This is the eternal living Word of God. And I want to encourage you to receive the Savior of this book. Surrender your life to Him and let Him live inside of you a godly life. And give your life to serving the living God.

SPEAKER 02 : 19:36

Thank you for listening to part two of God’s Great Purpose. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our 24-7 online station. And 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.