In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: It is the blood of Jesus Christ that has wiped us clean. He says we have been made holy, blameless, and spotless before Him because the righteousness of Christ is the robe of our life. And when He looks into your life, I do not mean He condones sin. Sin grieves His heart, but I want to tell you something. The thing that grieves God is because He knows what sin does to us.

He sees us suffering because of sin. He sees us failing because of sin. He sees us stumbling because of sin. He sees us failing to match up to what He has provided for us.

Guest (Male): The way we think directly affects how we behave. So, we need to pay close attention to what we allow into our mind. Today on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley, we will see that our internal programming leads us to right and wrong responses. Here is part five of our series, How the Truth Can Set You Free.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Would you turn to John chapter 8? And we have been talking about our position in Christ, and we are talking about who we are in Him as a result of our relationship. And you will recall in that 31st verse of John chapter 8, he says, "If you abide in My word," and that is the condition. "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

But the truth making us free and liberating us from the shackles that bind us and hinders from becoming the people God wants us to be, achieving the things that He wants us to achieve, is our failure to abide in His word or continue to absorb it and apply it to our life.

And we have talked about these areas of our life that keep us from becoming that person God wants us to be, and that is the feelings of insecurity that we have, the feeling of being inferior to someone else or situations, the feeling of being inadequate in a given situation when we are required to do something.

And so many people go through life feeling like that they are unworthy, they are undeserving, full of guilt, full of worry, full of tension, full of stress, full of strife, never quite being able to break out and ever begin to enjoy or taste the real delights of being a child of God.

And I believe in this scripture, when He says the truth will make you free, I believe as I search the word of God and examine what He teaches, and what He says to us in so many areas, there are three major truths that will set us free to become that person God wants us to be.

First of all, to understand what our position is in Him, which we have said, that by God through the power of the Holy Spirit baptized in us into Jesus Christ and put us into union with Him, making us one with Him in that relationship.

Now, what about this matter of who we are? We have said before in these previous messages that the Bible says that we are saints. Has nothing to do with how we feel, has nothing to do with how we act, that is not the issue. The issue is that we have been deemed, we have been characterized as saints in the eyes of God.

Likewise, He says we are His workmanship. He is the one who has created us in Christ Jesus. We are a new creation in Him. He is in the process of conforming us into His likeness. He says we are the temples of the Holy Spirit.

And today, I want to deal with three more areas of who we are in Christ Jesus. And if you will turn to Ephesians chapter 1, He says, beginning in verse 3 of Ephesians chapter 1, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ." Now, listen. "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love, He predestinated us to adoption." Now, watch this.

He says that you and I are chosen people. So, who am I in Christ? In Christ, He says you and I have been chosen. Now, here is where the big hangup comes and I want you to listen very carefully. He did not choose you and reject you. He is talking about the fact of His choice, not His rejection.

God is not in the habit of rejecting, rejecting, rejecting, rejecting. Jesus said, "I am come into the world not to condemn the world, not to reject the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." And so often we see God as this God of judgment up in heaven, rejecting and condemning. And even after we are saved, and even though that we have been forgiven, what happens? Our image of God is so programmed from childhood that if we violate any principle, He is just going to chalk us off, erase our name in the Lamb's Book of Life, and that is the end.

But that is not the word of God, that God is going to judge sin. God is going to condemn wickedness, and He is going to condemn the wicked one of these days, but condemnation is not God's attitude toward believers. He says therefore, "If any man be what, in this relationship," watch this, "If any man has been positioned, if any man be in whom, in Christ Jesus, what? There is no condemnation."

God Almighty has made a commitment, a divine, everlasting, eternal commitment that once the Holy Spirit baptizes you into Christ Jesus, seals you into Him, and that is your position, you cannot ever be condemned by God. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ.

Do you know how God sees you? He sees you what, clothed in the righteousness of His son Jesus. You see, it is the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross, the cross. It is the blood of Jesus Christ that has wiped us clean. He says we have been made holy, blameless, and spotless before Him because the righteousness of Christ is the robe of our life.

And when He looks into your life, I do not mean He condones sin. Sin grieves His heart, but I want to tell you something. The thing that grieves God is because He knows what sin does to us. He sees us suffering because of sin. He sees us failing because of sin. He sees us stumbling because of sin. He sees us failing to match up to what He has provided for us, to reach up to get what He has given to us.

So, He is grieved, He is not condemning us. And so, He reaches down into your broken, disturbed, guilty heart and He says, "But I love you. You are endearing to me and I want the best for you, and I am going to give you the best. Just listen to me."

But as long as I feel like I am unworthy, I do not deserve it, God just never will do this and that for me. I want to tell you, my friend, that is why He says, "If we abide in the truth, if I abide in the truth, if I am saturating my mind and heart with the scriptures, if I am absorbing the truth, if I am refocusing my mind, if I am renewing my mind with the word of God, then I will cease to think in error, and begin to think about my life the way God sees it."

He says, "You have been chosen." God has given us a commission. And what I want you to see, He has some very specific reasons that He chooses us, and God's choice is always, and the next two things I want to talk about answer that. So if you will turn to Matthew chapter 5. Who we are in Christ Jesus.

All right, in the Sermon on the Mount, if you will look beginning in verse 14, I want to take the second one first and then the verse 13. But look in verse 14 and 15 and 16. Now listen to what He says, "Who we are." He says, "You are the light of the world, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel." You do not hide it.

He says, "It gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Now, look at this. He says, "You are the light of the world." You will recall when Jesus ascended, He said to His disciples, He said, He says, "It is expedient for you that I go away. If I go not away, the Comforter will not come, but if I go, I will, He will come and He will glorify Me."

Now, all of us who have received Jesus Christ as our Savior, have Him living within us through the Holy Spirit. He is our life. Listen, Jesus Christ is our life. He that has the Son has life. He says, "By the Holy Spirit we were baptized into Christ Jesus." He says, "I in you and you in Me." We have Christ living within us. Therefore, we have life. If we have divine life, we have light.

Now, Jesus left this world, seated at the Father's right hand. The Holy Spirit living within us. When He left, the light left. When He came back at Pentecost to indwell the believers through the power of the Holy Spirit, the light began to shine in this world. And the light of life is living and shining through the life of believers.

Now, He chose you and me for a specific reason. One of those reasons was, He said, He chose us that we may be lights in a darkened world. Now, notice what He says in the scripture. He says, "A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." He is one of His secret disciples. "Neither do men light a lamp or a candle and hide it." Now, let me ask you something. Where is the best place for light to demonstrate its power? Where? In darkness.

The purpose for light is to drive out what? Darkness. He said He has redeemed us by taking us out of the kingdom of what? Darkness, and placing us in the kingdom of what? Light. He says He has put us in this world, He that is within us is greater than He that is in the world. He has placed us here and He says, "You and I have been named, singled out as the light of the world." That is not what I say, that is what God said.

That you are the light of the world. That means you are somebody very special because God says, "Your life is going to brighten the way for somebody who is walking in darkness." He says, "You are the light of the world and put the light up on the candlestick where it can be seen."

You say, "Isn't that pride?" You have not read the last two verses. Now, stay with me, watch this. He says that we are a light unto the world. For example, tomorrow morning, if you feel like, well, you know, I just do not match up and I feel so unworthy in my business, tomorrow morning you just walk in, brother. You walk in with your shoulders back, smile upon your face because you just carried light in that place.

God says, "I have sent you in as a light into that office, into that building, into your schoolroom in order that your presence there will make a divine difference." We have no legitimate reason for feeling inadequate, inferior, down in the mouth, and worthless and insecure.

Because God says, "I have chosen you and ordained you and put a circle around you." And He says, "I have labeled you light of Jesus Christ, light of the Gospel, light of God, light of truth." He has sent us into a darkened society that that society may be changed by our presence.

It is in the twinkle of an eye. You see, you can look in somebody's eye, they may be beautifully dressed, but if they are sad, you cannot tell by looking at their shoes. You can tell they are sad by looking at their eyes. In fact, if you cut out everything else in their body except just that one little bit, you can look at somebody and tell if they are sad or they are happy.

And listen to what He is saying. He is saying, "I have sent you with your smile and your countenance." And when you are down in the dumps, nobody has to ask, it is written all over you. In other words, nobody has to ask. He says, "I have sent you as a light." That means that not only are we important, but the way we shine is important. Now listen.

Notice how He says this because here is the crux of the matter. "Let your light so shine before men in such a way that they may what? They may see what? See you? No. See your good works." That is, they are attracted by what you are doing. But they are attracted to whom? Jesus Christ, the living Lord. He says, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, but what? Glorify your Father." Now, listen.

If they are glorifying us, we have missed it somewhere. There is something wrong with the lantern carrying the light if they are glorifying us. I want to tell you something, God has so made you that you know that you cannot have a power failure. The power is within you. Everlasting, eternal, unending, no storm in the world can knock the power out of your life.

The only thing that can knock the glow, the power will never leave. The power is always there. Storms do not make any difference, they do not make any difference. Nobody can plow up your yard, cut the line in two, does not make any difference. The power is within you, but the glow of that light is diminished by sin and disobedience to God. It is our willful disobedience to God that diminishes the light. But the light is there and God says, "I have chosen you. You are the light of the world."

But listen to this. Go back to verse 13. He says, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore except to be thrown out and trampled on the foot of men." Now, let us think about something.

You know what He is saying? We Christians back up and say, "You know, we do not want to cause any waves. We do not want to rock any boats." Listen, you and I are under divine command by Jesus Christ and you and I have been so created by God and so commissioned. He says, "We are like salt boxes."

Wherever we go, the flavor ought to change in our society. Listen, we are not disobeying God by getting involved in everything that affects society. We are obeying Almighty God. He says, "You are to be the salt of your society." That means, "Change the flavor of it."

And the reason we are in the mess we are in now is because too many salt boxes have been closed up, or we have lost our tang somewhere along the way, and we do not see ourselves as vital citizens in a land who have been commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ to flavor that whole society.

If you work among people who are unsaved, you are not to be critical of them. You are there to make a difference because you are, you may be the only salt there. We are to change the flavor. Secondly, He speaks of preserving. He says, "You must keep on flavoring, and keep on preserving the society which you are in because you see, once God takes the body of Christ out of this world, the judgment of God is coming upon this world."

And those who do not like our influence, and those who do not want Christians around, who do not want us to bear witness, who do not want us to testify, who want to live like they choose what they do not understand is, once God takes us away, they will be absolutely and totally annihilated by their own wickedness. So, they are living in blindness, they are living in darkness. And so, those of us who are the light must step forward to shine forth and radiate the truth of the Gospel.

He did not put us here for our health, He put us here to change our society. Likewise, He said, "Salt heals." And let us face it, we are living in a sick world, and there is only one message that brings healing, eternal healing, and that is the message of the cross of Jesus Christ. That God the Father looking down in this old unbelieving, wicked, vile, helpless, desperate, hurting world, sent His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, that you and I may be forgiven, pardoned, reconciled, redeemed, justified, glorified, that we may be given the capacity to become everything God wants us to become.

Now, think about this for a moment. Insecure, inadequate, inferior, think about this. He chose you. He chose you. He says, "You are the light of the world." He says, "You are the salt of the earth." He has called you a saint, His workmanship, the temple of God.

God Almighty sees us in the most beautiful light. And my friend, I am simply saying this to you. When you and I begin to see ourselves as God sees us, listen, not only are the shackles that hinder you going to be dropping off, but there is going to become a delight and a joy and a power to become what at the present moment, you are unwilling to believe God for. I have told you what God says about every one of His children.

Chosen on the basis of pure love. Sent into a world to shine where there is so much darkness. Sent into a world to flavor, preserve, and heal where there is so much hurt, anxiety, frustration, and fear. Now, listen. Can you think of any legitimate reason today for feeling insecure when you have been wrapped up and bound eternally to the person of Jesus Christ?

Inadequate, when you have the Holy Spirit living within you to empower you to fulfill every obligation God has placed upon us, fulfilling the obligation to His very self. Any reason to feel inferior when God says, "You are one of the chosen. You are the light of the world, you are the salt of the earth."

You know what we do? We hear that and we transfer that to others. The only way to have a box full of salt is that all the grains be little grains of salt. Here is how Satan traps us. He says, "But what can one alone person like you do?" That is not the question. Here is the question.

What can one person reconcile unto God, redeemed, forgiven, justified, glorified, who has become a saint? God is working in his and her life. Sons of God, living in the kingdom, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, empowered by Him, chosen by Him, predestinated by Him, commissioned by Him, the power to flavor a society, to drive out the darkness, to change men's lives. That is the question. And the Bible says that every single one of us is that person.

My friend, shake off the insecurity, the inadequacy. Shake off the inferiority, the worthlessness, the feeling of being so totally immersed in past programming that has negated all the positive things. You just get rid of that. By latching on to the truth of what God says you are. That is, you just need to step out of that. Step on to a higher plane that God has for every one of us who is willing to believe. Listen, who is just willing to believe what He said about us.

You cannot ever be the same once you believe what God says about you because of your relationship to Him.

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. If you are a believer, you are a child of your heavenly Father, released from the power of sin and set free in the fullness of life. Head over to intouch.org where you will find resources that explain more about who you are in Christ and encourage you to live based on the truth. You can follow the link to "Today on Radio" to hear this message again.

Also on our website, you can order Dr. Stanley's entire set of messages on how the truth can set you free. All these resources and more are at intouch.org. You can call or text 1-800-IN TOUCH. If you prefer to write, our address is In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia, 30357.

Are you carrying a heavy burden you have kept to yourself? Share it with someone who can help. Today's "Moment with Charles Stanley" is just ahead.

Guest (Female): Dr. Stanley devoted his entire life to helping us.

Guest (Male): Get closer to Jesus as we all want to do.

Guest (Female): So, are you ready for the next step in your journey? It begins at The Charles Stanley Institute.

Guest (Male): You can learn how at charlesstanleyinstitute.org.

Guest (Male): You are listening to In Touch. The things that weigh heavy on your heart and mind, you can give them to Jesus. With encouragement for believers, here is a "Moment with Charles Stanley."

Dr. Charles Stanley: If you are not willing to humble yourself and acknowledge that you are burdened, and be willing to name it, and be willing to share it, and be willing to admit you cannot handle it. If you are one of those persons who says, "I can handle it. I am going to handle it, no matter what happens." Listen, man, you know, grit and grind, "I am going to make it happen."

There are burdens in life that no person in their own strength can bear successfully. Why do we continue to run hither and yonder in every new possible fad we can find? What is it we are running from? We are running from burdens that we cannot escape because they are on the inside of this mind of ours, they are in our heart, they are in our emotions, and oftentimes they are in our bodies, you cannot escape them.

You keep running to the bar, and running from one marriage partner to the other, or running to this situation, this relationship and the other, trying to get something dealt with. I want to tell you, the one place, listen, there is a one stop place for burdens, and it is Christ. He and He alone is going to be able to deal with the burden.

But first of all, I have got to admit that I have it. When He says, "Come to Me," the implication is, you admit that you have a need, and you come. But if you are not willing to share it with anyone else, you want to keep all the smiles on the outside, "Everything is fantastic. Everything is super. I mean, brother, we got the world by the tail." On the inside, you are being wagged all over the place because you cannot handle it. True humility is not only willing to admit to God in secret where nobody else hears it, but true humility is willing to share it with someone else, whom God sends into your path to help you bear what you are bearing. You see, the problem is, we are too proud.

Guest (Male): Jesus carried our burden of sin on the cross, so He is more than capable of meeting our daily needs. Learn more about the Christian's life of faith at intouch.org. Is there a do-inside you received from today's program that helps you grow in your faith? Tell us about it today. Up next on In Touch, we will hear about some of the unique spiritual possessions God has given believers, and how we can fully enjoy them. How the Truth Can Set You Free continues on In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries Atlanta, Georgia and remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.