Charles Stanley invites listeners to reflect on the higher purpose God has for every believer, far beyond merely saving us from eternal separation. This episode illuminates the path of personal holiness and spiritual growth as guided by the Holy Spirit. Learn how God’s plan since creation has been to fill the earth with those bearing His image, and how even setbacks like sin are anticipated and used to achieve His ends. Discover how to navigate life’s complexities with an understanding of God’s active role in every moment, urging us to continually strive towards Christlikeness.
Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, December 17th. God’s desire for every believer is that we grow to become more like His Son, Jesus Christ. Discover what that really means as we continue our series, The God Who Cares.
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there is so much hurt and sorrow and heartache and disappointment in the world that many people genuinely struggle with this idea that God really and truly is a God who cares and so we question whether God cares or not because our circumstances bring us doubt and frustrations and anxieties in life but the truth is no matter what you and I experience That doesn’t indicate that God doesn’t care once we understand what God is up to and allowing the difficulty and the hardship and the things we don’t understand to transpire in our life. Well, He loves us so much and He cares so much for us. The Bible says that He has revealed Himself to us. That is, He’s shown us Himself in a way that you and I would never know had He not chosen to reveal Himself. He cares for us enough. That he’s chosen to rescue us from eternal death and to save us from our sin. He cares for us enough that he wants to make and to build a relationship with us. And to think about the idea that almighty sovereign God desiring to build a relationship, a personal relationship with us. That is that he’s not satisfied just saving us. But he wants an intimate personal relationship on an ongoing basis day by day. And then the title of this message, The God Who Cares Enough to Make Us Like Himself. And I want you to turn, if you will, to three very, very, very important verses of Scripture that have to do with God’s whole great purpose for you and me and all of life. And that is in Romans chapter 8, verses 28, 29, and 30. Three very familiar verses, but oftentimes we stop at verse 28 because we want everything working out so good for us. Well, verse 28 begins, and we know, and isn’t it interesting that he didn’t say we hope, we certainly think so, but he said, “…and we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. And whom He predestined, these He also called. And whom He called, these He also justified. And whom He justified, these He also glorified. And you’ll notice He says in this particular passage, He uses this word, called according to His purpose. And if you’ll go through the epistles, you’ll find over and over and over again, God referring to His purpose, His purpose, the great pleasure of His purpose. That is, God is up to something. And what He’s up to, according to this passage, is that God is up to making you and me like Him. That is, He is not interested in simply saving us and keeping us out of eternal torment. God always has a higher purpose for us. Now, when we talk about God’s great overwhelming and all-purpose for the world and for His universe and for the church, there’s no way to talk about that without talking about His personal purpose for each one of us. And so I want us to think about His purpose for everybody, and let’s talk about His purpose for you. And he says in this passage that God has a specific purpose for each one of us. And that purpose happens to be the same for each and every one of us. So the person who says, I don’t know why I’m here, if you listen carefully, you’re going to find out. So look at this. First of all, let’s look at God’s plan. And God’s plan in the very beginning was to create mankind, having created this world, to create this earth and people this earth with men and women who would bear His image and His likeness. That is, that every single person would bear His image and His likeness. Now let’s go back, if you will, once again to Genesis chapter 1. Then we’ll turn to chapter 3. But Genesis chapter 1, you’ll recall in this passage when the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, or were discussing what they were going to do, having created the universe as we know it, they said, God then said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Now look at that. He says, man is to be created in the image of God, in the likeness of God. So in God’s original plan, that’s what he had in mind, to people this earth with those who would bear the image and the likeness of God. Now we have an interruption. Chapter 3 is an interruption into God’s great plan. If you’ll notice chapter 3, and you’ll recall that the fallen angel, Satan, came into the scene here, tempted Eve, and Eve succumbed to the temptation, and verse 7 says what happened. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. Then here comes God walking in the cool of the day, the Bible says, and asking them where they are as if He didn’t know. He knew where they were. He wanted them to know where they were. But the first thing and the most important thing that Adam and Eve lost was this. They lost their likeness to their Creator. That is, they lost their likeness and their image of God. And so this was not a disappointment to God because he foreknew it all already. It was not a surprise to God that Adam and Eve were going to sin against him and lose it. But it did not, listen, though it interfered with God’s plan, if we can put it in those terms, quote, it interfered with God’s plan, but it did not in any way cause God to change his plan, and that is of peopling this earth with those who would bear his likeness and his image. Because you see, God foreknowing what was going to happen planned ahead of time. And if you will go back again or move up to Ephesians chapter 1, and you recall in Ephesians chapter 1 what He says about us. He says that He chose us in verse 4, He chose us in Him that is in Christ before the foundation of the world. So that before creation was ever established, God made some choices. He said he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that you and I should be what? Holy and blameless before him in love. That is, that we would bear the image and the likeness of the Father, that is, of God. Then he says… He predestined us to an adoption, that is, to being sons. Adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the kind intention of his will. To the praise of the glory of his grace which he freely bestowed upon us and the beloved. That is, this was not something that God had to react to. Now, humanly we say, well, they sinned and God reacted. No, God who chose us before the foundation of the world has no such thing in his being whatsoever. as surprises and disappointments since he is omniscient and knows everything. So Adam and Eve’s fall was not a disappointment. It was not something that God had to react to and hurry up and do something about. He chose before the foundation of the world how he would respond to the fall of man which he knew beforehand. And in so doing, he provided for the redemption, for the salvation, the forgiveness of mankind. So every single one of us has been called according to his purpose, and his purpose is that you and I bear the image and the likeness of God. He says, then here’s what I’m doing. He says, what I want you to see is in your daily life, he’s sending and he’s allowing situations and circumstances, failures, sin, successes, obedience, good times, bad times, health and sickness, troubles, trials, tribulations, heartaches, joys, peace, happiness. He says, I’m allowing all those things. And he says, I am engineering every single one of them. I want you to think about something. Every single solitary thing that happens in your life and my life, God is personally involved. You know why? Because He’s got His great purpose for you in mind. And His great purpose is to shape us in the likeness of His Son. That we bear His image. And that people can meet us and meet Christ. And be with us and be with Him and sense something about us that’s more than just the earthy. And so what is he doing? He is governing every single experience in your life and my life, good, bad, evil, whatever it might be. And you know what he’s doing? He’s got one goal in mind. He’s going to use every single solitary thing to do what? To bring you and me into conformity to his son. Now, I know one of the questions you’re asking, and I’m going to answer it. Notice what he says. He says, God causes all things. Now, usually we love to quote that verse. Well, you know, God’s really blessing me. You know what the Bible says, all things work together for good to those who love the Lord. Then you get flat on your back and you think, God, what happened? Well, I’m doing what I promised to do. All things are working together for good to those who love the Lord, to those who are called according to his purpose. I’m doing what I promised to do. But God, yes, I know, but I’m still doing what I promised to do. What did you promise to do? I promised to make you like my son. And ought to make you like my son, here’s what I’m having to do to you. Not long ago, I found myself in that same situation and I didn’t like what was going on. I didn’t understand what was going on. I told the Lord that several times, didn’t bother him one bit. And besides that, it didn’t rush up his schedule one bit. So I got down one day and I was praying and I was just reminding the Lord of all this and that I was hurting and I didn’t understand. I’d heard enough and whatever it may be. And the Lord brought back to my mind. In fact, he just flashed it, the sentence on the notes that I’d prepared about two years ago for a sermon that I preached along this passage. And he just reminded me, you remember the prayer you told the folks to pray? Yes, Lord. I remember it quickly. Because this is the prayer you pray when you’re going through a difficulty, a trial, a hardship, a failure in your life, whatever it might be. God, what is your goal for my life in this experience? And as soon as I prayed that prayer, the Spirit of God just instantly spoke to my heart, personal holiness. I thought, dear God, I didn’t even have to listen. It came so quick. Personal holiness. You see, every single solitary thing, failures, successes, the good times, lots of money, no money, lots of friends, no friends, times of great joy, times of loneliness, all of it God is using. You say, well, no, wait a minute. Here’s the question I was going to answer. What about sin? Let me say two or three things. Number one, he never, never, never initiates sin. Never. Does he use it? Always. What about in the life of the believer? We can never, listen, we can never rationalize our disobedience. But all of us have failures and all of us sin at times. You know what God wants us to do? To say, Lord, how do you want to use this in my life to make me more like you? That’s the question. That’s the key. You see, because He’s going to take good, bad, evil, good times, bad times. He’s going to take it all. Listen to what that passage says. And we know that God is causing, engineering, governing, guiding all things. Listen, not some things, all things. for good to those who love Him who are called according to His purpose. All of us who love Him sin against Him. All of us who love Him fail in our life. All of us who love Him make wrong decisions. You know what He’s doing? He’s taking my wrong decision and making me like Him. My failures and making me like Him. My moments of doubt and making me like Him. My frustrations and anxieties and fears and wonderments and making me like Him. How’s he doing that? Making us realize that we have absolutely no strength within ourselves. We cannot live the Christian life. We’re absolutely and totally dependent upon him. What does that do? It drives us in our faith to him. And whatever drives me to him and gets my focus on him is going to help make me like him. When I share with a dear friend of mine about how God has spoken in my heart, personal holiness, there was a real silence on the phone. Then he said to me, what do you mean by holiness? Holiness is absolute purity in thought, in actions, in ways, in lifestyle, no matter what. You see, God, to make us like His Son, will deal with every single thing in our life that’s unlike His Son. Every attitude of our heart, our mind, every action, every desire, every plan, every goal, every dream, anything that doesn’t fit into making us like him, he’s going to deal with it. And what he does, he just puts a big spiritual bullseye on it. And I want to tell you something, God’s never fired a shot and missed. He never has. He never will. He comes after every habit. He comes after every attitude. He comes after every thought. He comes after every deed, every dream, every, you name it. He comes after it. if it doesn’t match and doesn’t conform us in the likeness of His Son. Look, if you will, in verse 16 of 2 Corinthians 3. But whenever a man turns to the Lord or a woman, the veil is taken away. That is, we’re able to see things and understand things we wouldn’t understand before we come to Christ. Now, the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Listen to this now. Verse 18. But we all, all of us who believe us, with unveiled face, we do have understanding, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. We are being, present tense, transformed into the same image from glory to glory. That is, from one degree of glory to the other. Just as from the Lord, the Spirit. That is, that’s what He’s up to in your life and my life every day. There it is right there. We are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to the other, which simply means that we are moving ahead in our Christian life. Now, sometimes we can go backwards. We get to backpedaling it when we choose to disobey God. But he says we are being transformed. God is working in our life every day because, you see, his goal is not my ease, comfort, and pleasure. His goal is Christlikeness. the image of the Son of God. And he gave us two great assets, and I’ll close. 2 Peter 1, look at this. 2 Peter 1 says a couple of wonderful verses. There’s sort of like little flower gardens along the way. Verse 3 of chapter 1 of 2 Peter, look at this. Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness through the true knowledge of Him, that is Christ, who called us by His own glory and excellence. He says He’s granted to us everything in life pertaining to godliness. Verse 4, For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that’s in the world by lust. That is, you and I have the divine nature. We have the nature of God within us. When you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, He says, I’m going to abide in you and you’ll be abiding in me. I’m in you and you’re in me. We have Christ on the inside of us. The Bible says also we’re indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who is the one who exhibits the life of Christ through us. So that God isn’t saying, you need to go out and work at this thing of being like Jesus. Well, first of all, that would be futile. Most of us have tried that long time ago and gave up on that. So here’s what he wants us to do. He says, you want to bear the image of the heavenly? Allow my Holy Spirit who indwelt you to live out through you the life that is in you. Now watch this. He’s not asking anything from me. Listen to this. Allow the Holy Spirit who is in you to live out the life that is within you, which is the life of Christ. All I’m responsible for is walking in submission to the Spirit who will do the living, who will do the exhibiting. Because you see, the Bible says the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, meekness, faith, long-suffering, self-control. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit. So how do we become conformed to the likeness of Christ? Listen carefully. By responding to every experience and every circumstance in life. Knowing that God is behind it in one way or the other. And asking, how can you use this to make me more like you? Secondly, allowing the Holy Spirit who is within me by faith to express the life of Christ moment by moment, day by day. That’s what walking in the Spirit is. Walking in the Spirit is walking in submission to God the Spirit who is within us, whose desire it is to live out through us. You see, the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of the Christian, the fruit of the Spirit. And what happens? Then you and I begin to exhibit and to bear the image and the likeness of the Son of God. Haven’t you met people that to meet them you knew, you met somebody who knew the Lord? Whether you’re nine or ninety, that’s God’s great overwhelming purpose for your life. And I want to challenge you to make the first step. And the first step is to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. And tell Him… that you want His best. But my friend, His best is the best. And His goal for your life is to bear the likeness and the image of the Son of God. What a dramatic compliment out of heaven that He loves you and me enough to want us to be like Him.
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Thank you for listening to today’s podcast titled, The God Who Cares Enough to Make Us Like Himself. If you’d like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
