In Touch Ministries

Dr. Charles Stanley: And in God's almighty, omnipotent hands, He has reached out to you and me, and He has given to us every single promise in this book. And He says they are magnificent promises. That is, every single promise is a mega dose of God's grace to you and me. Any of you deserve any other? Not a one. Any of you ever seen a promise of God that came up short? No. Any of you ever seen a situation, a problem, a heartache, a burden that God was not more than sufficient? And many of us have been through deep, deep, deep trials and heartaches in our lives.

Guest (Male): Jesus said, you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. So, to fully experience the freedom that God offers, Christians need to understand and embrace the truth. Welcome to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Today, you'll hear how the faithful application of God's Word results in a life of liberty that transcends our circumstances. Let's listen in to Dr. Stanley's message.

Dr. Charles Stanley: Would you turn to Second Peter chapter 1, and we are in a series, How the Truth Can Set You Free. And our primary passage is in John chapter 8, verse 31, when Jesus said, "If you abide in My word or continue in My word, then are you truly My disciples, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you or set you free."

And you recall, we mentioned the fact that there are three categories of attitudes we have to deal with in our life. One of them being insecurity, inferiority, inadequacy. And from those three things come all kinds of problems, of frustration, worry, doubt, fear, and all the rest. And even though you're saved, know that you're saved, no question in your mind about it. Why is it we do not enjoy living the Christian life with the confidence, and assurance, and success, and triumph that God wants us to have?

So, just to refresh your memory for a moment and remind you that there are three truths in the scripture, they encompass all of these problems that you and I have about our attitudes. And that is, first of all, that we have a position in Jesus Christ, a position that does something for us. For example, a man becomes the president of the United States. He has a position. With that position comes tremendous power.

When you and I were baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ Jesus, which happened at our salvation experience, with that new position came a whole new perspective. So, our position is the first truth. And that is, our relationship to Christ. Secondly, who we are in Jesus Christ. That is, we were brought into this new position. He says, this new position, this new relationship, also would bring to realization, who we are. He says, we're His saints, we're His ambassadors. And we went through a whole series of what God says about who we are in Christ Jesus.

And then the third perspective is what we have in Him because of this relationship to Him. So, we're talking about our position, our person, and our possessions. Now, when you think about what your position is, and who you are according to what God says, and what you and I possess now. We're not talking about what we're going to have when we get to Heaven.

We're talking about what we have here and now according to the Word. When you and I put those three things together, our position, our possession, our personage. That is, who we are on the basis of this relationship. My friend, there is no real legitimate basis for feeling insecure, inferior, and inadequate. So, here we are on this particular message talking about our possessions in Christ.

You recall last time we said, we had several possessions. First of all, he said in Ephesians chapter 1, he says that God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ has deposited in Heaven to our account everything we'll ever need on the face of this earth, so long as we live. He says, likewise that you and I have become the joint heirs of the inheritance that God is providing for us. And thirdly, he says not only that, but we have access to this inheritance here and now, not when we get to Heaven, but here and now.

In Second Peter chapter 1, and these two verses, and these two verses are just loaded about what we are talking about as far as what we have in Him. So, let's begin with verse 1 and read down through verse 4. "Simon Peter, a bond servant or a slave and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord."

Now, listen. "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these, by His own glory and excellence, He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them, you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust."

Now, that may sound like a lot of jargon for just a moment, but I want us to look at those two verses in the light of our security, of our worthiness, and of our adequacy to meet any and every circumstance of life. So, the first thing he says in this passage that you and I possess, listen, that is on the basis of the cross, the baptism of the Holy Spirit of our lives into Christ Jesus, making us one in Him and Him living within us, we become the children of God.

Now, he says, one of our possessions as a result of that relationship is this, that you and I have every single thing we will ever need on this earth to live a godly, successful, triumphant, victorious Christian life. Now, listen to what he says and the impact of this promise. "Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence."

What does it take for you and me to live the Christian life in a way that God desires that we live it, and secondly, in a way that is fulfilling for His purpose for our life? Well, first of all, for me to live that life, I need the truth. He says, He's granted to us every single thing we'll need. Forgiveness, yes, on a daily basis. He says, "The power of the Holy Spirit in our life, we need that." We need faith. We need understanding. We need truth.

Every single thing we need, He says, listen, "Seeing that His by His divine power, He has granted to us everything that pertains to life and godliness," that is, a living a godly life in Christ Jesus. I want you to notice two things here. First of all, how did we get it? He says, "He granted it to us by His divine power." Now, the word granted here, in the tense it is, in the perfect tense, passive tense, which means that in times past, God executed something. And having executed in the past, He is continuing in our life what He executed in the past, so that, now watch this word.

Notice what He says. He says, "He has granted to us." That word means more than just the fact that He gave it. The word means that a that a large hand of generosity. It was a large hand of generosity that gave to us everything we'll need, which means that God Almighty Himself has given to us not just a little bit, but He says, He granted to us the day we were saved, He placed within us at our at our disposal everything we would ever need.

He says, He granted it to us, that is, a wide, bountiful, generous hand from God, gave to us everything we would ever need in order to live successfully the Christian life. Now, it's one thing to have it. It's something else to be told that I have it. It's something else to know how to put it into action. It's something else to claim it for myself. It's something else to execute it in my daily life, but God says, He has given to us every single thing we will ever need to live a godly life in Christ Jesus.

If God allows or puts a place or whatever you want to say, you remember this, He has done that only after He has placed at our disposal that which we need to live victoriously the Christian life. Let me show you what that means. What He's saying is this, that God has given to us every single thing we need to live a godly life in Him. That came through our knowledge, our saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. And He says that God appealed to us in this manner, that when you were saved, God made His appeal to you through His own glory and excellence. And here's what that means.

That God makes His appeal to lost men today, not on the basis of hellfire and damnation. But He says, "I'm appealing to you to give me your life. I'm appealing that you will respond to my gift of goodness and grace to you." He says, "I'm appealing to you on the basis of my love and goodness and mercy and generosity. I'm appealing to you on the basis that I am God and you need to be saved. I'm appealing on the basis that you can become the person you that I have equipped you to be."

And so, He says, "I make My appeal to you on the fact that I'm willing to accept you as a sinner as you are. I'm willing to accept you, redeem you, reconcile you. I'm willing to make you a brand new creation." That's God's appeal. Listen, how can you turn down, my friend, when Almighty God is saying to you, "I'm willing to accept you just like you are. I'm willing to change you step by step. I'm willing to move into your life and forgive you of your sins. I'm willing to take you right where you are, in your self-condemnation, in your rejection, your inadequacy, your inferiority, your sense of insecurity, your sense of worthlessness that you don't belong. Everything that is as you absolutely clouded and smothered and choking the very life out of you."

God says, "Look, don't try to correct anything. I'll take you just the way you are. If you're willing to accept, ask Me to forgive you. Willing to accept Me as your Savior and Lord. Willing to yield your life to Me. I'll turn your life around and make you a new creature."

What He says in this passage is that Almighty God, when you are saved, you are equipped with everything it will ever take to live it victoriously. But you need to be informed about what you have. You need to be taught about how to get this into your life, execute it in your life on a daily practical basis.

Verse 4. Something else He says we have because of this relationship to Him. "For by these," that is, His glory and excellence, His appeal and what that appeal has brought, our salvation, "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 this world by lust." Now, listen.

He says, "He's granted it to you," that is, "out of these mighty hands of God, out of these mighty omnipotent hands of His." He says that He's reached out to you and He said, "There, there's everything you will ever need to live the Christian life, godly, successfully, triumphantly. Everything you'll ever need in these godly, omnipotent, all-sufficient, ever adequate hands of Almighty God." Now, let me ask a question. If that's true, what in the world are you worried about?

In other words, He says, He's already granted it. Now, watch this. "For by these, He has granted to us His precious promises." Now, watch this. He didn't say you're going to get His promise. He didn't say you're going to have a promise. He says that in times past, Almighty God executed something. God Almighty granted to you and me in the past, every single promise that Almighty God in His omniscience could come up with. He has granted that to us. Having executed that, all of them have been available to us from the moment we've been saved.

He didn't say you're going to get a promise. He said they're already yours. They have already been deposited to your account. Listen, "For by these, He has granted to us." Now, watch this, two words. He didn't say, "God's promises." He said, "Magnificent, precious promises." Now, precious means, watch. Precious means, and you see, Peter didn't write this. He penned what God wrote and put it in his mind to write.

God said on the basis of His judgment, this isn't man's judgment, this is God's judgment, on the basis of divine judgment, on the basis of omniscience, knowing everything. God says those promises are tremendous in value. He says, "Not only that." And the word He uses here for magnificent is tremendous. The Greek word is megas. Now, what is a mega dose of something? A mega dose of vitamins is an extra large dose. A megaton bomb is one that has a lethal effect far more destructive than a regular one.

So, He didn't say that God's just given you and me some promises. He said He has, listen. What'd He say? That these great mighty hands have given to us, now watch the full meaning, have given to us already in the past. They are in our present possession here and now. And that word granted means in our present possession, no strings attached. It's a work of grace. In God's almighty, omnipotent hands, He has reached out to you and me, and He has given to us, we have on our account every single promise in this book. And He says, "They are magnificent promises." That is, listen, it's like God's capsules, and they're mega doses of God's grace. That's what He's saying.

Every single promise is a mega dose of God's grace to you and me. Any of you deserve any other? Not a one. Any of you ever seen a promise of God that came up short? No. Any of you ever seen a situation, a problem, a heartache, a burden that God was not more than sufficient? And many of us have been through deep, deep, deep trials and heartaches in our lives.

Has God's remedy ever come up short? He says, "They are mega doses." They are magnificent, magnificent mega doses, mega capsules of God's grace, listen, and they are what? They are designed and fitted and programmed just to meet your particular need at that time. And what I'm saying to you is that all of us have every single promise God's ever given. We have it.

He says, He's already given it to us in the past tense. He says, "Perfect passive." He gave it to us. He executed it. We have it now, and it is God's purpose to so work in your life and my life that our life is an ongoing experience of doing what? Continuously claiming the promises of God, claiming His health, claiming His healing, claiming His wisdom, claiming His direction. How can I? You say, "Well, how can you claim all that?"

Because, you see, here's the problem. Here's what God wants us to do. He wants us to look at His word. So, what does He do? He wants us to take every need we have and stack it against the word. Did you know that God isn't sitting in Heaven biting His fingernails, worried about you coming up with something He can't handle? That's not the way God is. Listen, according to this passage of scripture right here, God's just sitting on ready because, listen, He says, "For by these, He has granted to us," those big generous hands, "He has given to us His precious mega doses, magnificent promises of God." Listen, every single one of us is already in possession of.

Watch this. You know one of the primary reasons that God allows us to get down in the in the valley sometimes? I'll tell you why. If you've never got in the valley, you never got in the temptation, you never had any hard times, you never had any trouble, you never got sick, you wouldn't know what God would do. Friend, don't shun off all the difficulties. Some of those are the most precious, revitalizing, re-energizing times of our life when we get just one new glimpse of what God is like.

Well, here's what He said. "For by these, He has granted to us His precious, magnificent mega doses of grace, in order that what? By them, you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that's in the world by lust." So, He says, "There's a third thing that you and I have." And the third thing we have in this passage is that you and I have victory over sin in this life. Listen.

He says, "Now, by these magnificent promises." One of those promises is my forgiveness and salvation. My forgiveness on a daily basis and all the rest that goes with that. He says, "That we might become partakers." That means a sharer. It's the same word in the Greek of koinonia, which is a fellowship. That in fellowshipping with Him, listen, here's the key, in fellowshipping with Him, what? In fellowshipping with Him, we escape the overwhelming defeat by corruption, which is the result of lust.

So, He says, "It is in our fellowship." Now, listen. When you and I are fellowshipping with Him, we're talking with Him, listening to Him, claiming His promises in the Word, seeking to know Him better, it is in our fellowship with Him that what happens? It is in our fellowship that we find the way out when temptation comes. It is in our fellowship that we understand more of what He's like. As God quietly reveals Himself, and so oftentimes, so simply, He can tell us the most precious, beautiful truths. And we're just being quiet, listening to Him, focusing on the promise.

God knew that you and I, all of our life, would need not His assistance, but His very life. And you see what He's saying in this passage is this, He says, "I've already given you everything you'll ever need to live a godly life." Secondly, He says, "Every promise in the book's mine. And I've given it to you with My great large hands of grace and love and mercy." He says, "I have I have already given to you every single promise, valuable, precious, magnificent promises given by God." And He says, "They're yours. And as you exercise these promises," He says, "you'll be able to escape the slimy, slick, tar-like, gluey, molasses-like carnality and fleshiness that's all over this world."

He says, "You'll be able to live your life in the grace of God, in the power of God, in the peace of God, in the purity of God, in the prosperity of God." How? Just resting on what He's already provided. You see, that's why the believer's life is a walk. It's a walk in grace. It's a walk in spirit. It's a walk in faith. It's a walk in love. And friend, I don't know who you are or where you are, but I can tell you this, until you discover by faith what I'm talking about, you're going to spend your life and wonder what's missing. And I can tell you what's missing, Jesus Christ and all that comes with having Him as your Savior, your Lord, your Master, and your life.

Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Believers are equipped with everything they need to live life to the fullest. Read and absorb God's unchanging truth and trust the Holy Spirit to help you live by faith. You can find more help exploring God's Word with the Bible study resources on our website, and jump over to Today on Radio to listen to this message again, or go to intouch.org. To order Dr. Stanley's series on How the Truth Can Set You Free, stop by our online bookstore. Again, you can visit intouch.org or call or text the number is 1-800-INTOUCH. And to write to us, address your letter to In Touch, Post Office Box 7900, Atlanta, Georgia 30357. And again, our toll-free number is 1-800-INTOUCH. Believers can experience the ever-present grace of God even in the most difficult times. Encouragement is coming up in today's moment with Charles Stanley.

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Guest (Male): You're listening to In Touch. The grace and mercy of God never fail. Here's a moment with Charles Stanley.

Dr. Charles Stanley: God is a God of grace, and mercy, and love, and goodness, and kindness toward us. And all of us who have been saved realize, we were saved by the grace of God. That means by His unmerited, that is, His undeserved love and favor toward us, as a result of sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross to die for our sin. We realize, we didn't deserve that. That is a gift of His grace. We're we're quick to understand that.

Sometimes we forget to realize that everything else that comes our way is also the result of God's grace and love and mercy toward us. You say, "Well, what about those difficult times? Those times that we don't like?" Well, sometimes those also are gifts of God's goodness and love and mercy and grace toward us. Now, we don't realize why He sends them. We don't particularly like it. We don't like the nature of it. We don't like the timing of it. We don't like anything about it. And then, as time goes by, we look back and realize, God was just loving us. He was preventing us from doing something that would have wrecked our lives. We were heading in a direction that God knew was not wise. And so, even the difficult times, those times that we don't understand, are also oftentimes acts of His love and grace and mercy.

Guest (Male): Learn more about God's perfect and inexhaustible grace at intouch.org. Next time on In Touch, how does the truth of God's Word affect your everyday life? You'll hear some inspiration and a challenge when you join us again for In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. This program is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia, and it remains on this station through the grace of God and your faithful prayers and gifts.