Charles Stanley - God's Loving Desire for You
Do you realize that God has a very specific plan for your life that He has not just left you here to flounder through life and wander around trying to figure out what you're going to do or how you're going to spend your life? You see most of us have the idea that God is God of this great vast universe and how in the world could He be personally interested in any one of us? But if you'll recall in the Sermon on the Mount what Jesus said. He said, "For example that even the sparrow that falls the birds of the air that He provides for", He says, "Aren't you more important than sparrows than birds"? Then He said, "For example take the lilies of the field and the grass of the field if God takes care of them, does He not also take care of us"?
And all through that passage in the sixth chapter He is talking about His personal interest in us and that we don't have to worry because God is genuinely interested in whatever concerns us. Well, I don't know all of God's will for anyone else's life but this I do know that God has certain desires for your life and my life. And that is the theme of this message, and the title of the message is this, "God's Loving Desire for You". And I want you to turn if you will to I Timothy and in I Timothy the second chapter Paul is talking about worship in the church and praying. And in the midst of that he tells us something here concerning God's desire for us that I think will be helpful if you and I understood this. Because it will make a difference in how we see ourselves, how we see God, how we look at life.
So, he begins by saying in chapter 2 verse 1, "First of all then I urge that entreaties and prayers petitions and thanksgivings be made on behalf of all men for kings and all who are in authority in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a ransom for all the testimony borne at the proper time. And for this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle, I am telling the truth I am not lying, as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Therefore I want the men in every place to pray lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension".
And so, Paul in the midst of this admonition to Timothy concerning worship says that God has two desires for you and for me. And I want us to think about what those two desires are as you think about God being a personal heavenly Father. He is not simply some force out yonder in the universe somewhere. God is a personal heavenly Father. And He says He has two desires for us. The first one is if you'll notice "Who desires all men to be saved". Now if I should ask you "What is salvation"? You would probably give me an answer as best you know how. Let me give you a very specific clear answer to the question "What is salvation"? Salvation is God's work of deliverance from death to giving us or endowing us with the gift of eternal life. That is Salvation is the work of God whereby He delivers us from eternal death and endows us with eternal life. That's the gift of God, eternal life. That's what salvation is all about. It is the gift of eternal life.
Now the question comes why does God desire that you and I be saved? That is why does He desire to deliver us from eternal death and give to us the gift of eternal life? Why does He do it? Well, somebody says "Well because He loves us". Well, I want you to turn to Ephesians chapter 2 because there are three reasons that God desires to save us. That is to deliver us from eternal death and to endow us with eternal life. There are three reasons and of course the first one is love. He says in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4, "But God being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us". And then he talks about saving us. That is God because He loved us has desired to save us.
Now think about this. He didn't look within your life and my life and see anything that motivated Him to save us. No goodness, no righteousness of ourselves, but rather the Bible says that He chose to save us because He loves us. It is the nature of God to love you and me and to love everyone. So, the motivation for saving us is loving us. That is His nature.
The second reason is that God desires to save us in order that you and I may be trophies of His grace which He can point to for all generations to come. That is then for all eternity. That is God will point to us in eternity in heaven for all eternity as trophies of His grace as a proclamation of His demonstration of grace on earth.
Look in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 7. He says having saved us, "In order," verse 7, "in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus". You see fallen angels could never experience the grace of God. Those that did not fall will never experience the grace of God. Only we have experienced the grace of God. And He says what He wants to do, one of His desires for saving us is that He will be able to point to us for all eternity. Out yonder in eternity future when time is as we know it has ceased God will see us as His eternal trophies of grace. When in this life He demonstrated His awesome incomparable grace that is beyond our understanding, loving sinful, wicked, vile men who did not deserve it... We will be demonstrations of His grace for all eternity.
But there's a third reason He desires to save us and that is this that in us by saving us we might work the good works and in so doing men may see the goodness of God and bring glory to God. That's why He said that you and I are to so let our light shine here on earth that men may see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven. And He says in this same chapter, chapter 2 of Ephesians verse 10, that we were created unto good works which He foreordained or predetermined that you and I should walk in them. So not only does He desire to deliver us from eternal death and to give to us to endow us the gift of eternal life but He desires to do that for three reasons. First of all, He loves us. And He demonstrated that in a way that is unequaled by anything that has ever happened on the face of the earth. Secondly because we will be trophies of His grace and thirdly because He will be glorified in the good works that you and I perform in this life as a result of being saved.
And if you'll notice in this passage what He says. He says that He desire to save, listen, He says He desires to save all men. Here's how He has provided for that and this is what he is saying. He says, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a ransom for all the testimony borne at the proper time". What does he mean? Simply this, the Bible says there is one God and one mediator. There is one person who is between you and God and only one. It is not the virgin Mary. It is not some priest or some pastor or any cult leader or anybody else. There is only one person who stands between you and the sovereign God of this universe and that is the person of Jesus Christ, one mediator, the man Jesus Christ, one God. And Jesus Christ is God, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Not three Gods but one God that make up the Godhead and He is God incarnate.
That is, He came into this world in order, He says, to give His life a ransom for all. And so, the Bible says that Jesus voluntarily came and laid down His life, substituted Himself for us. Now think about this. That is, He didn't die for good men. He died for wicked, sinful, vile humanity. He didn't look into your life and see anything that motivated Him to save you. He looked into your life and recognized that you were absolutely helpless and hopeless under the condemnation of death because of sin and disobedience and rebellion in your life and loving you He reached out to you and desires to save you. Well so how are you saved? You can't get any better when you're living in sin.
What do you do about your sin debt? You see this is why I always say to you not just the fact that Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sin. He paid our sin debt in full. We lived our lives disobeying God. We racked up a sin debt. How do you pay for sin? That is how do you cancel out a sin? If you have a financial debt, you cancel out that financial debt with money, paying it off in some fashion. How do you cancel out a sin debt? You say, "Oh by being good". Well, let me ask you this. What are you going to do about the sins you continue to commit while you are paying off the past sin debt? Well, my friend, first of all, you don't pay off a sin debt by being good. Secondly you can't be good enough, and thirdly and most importantly the Bible says the only price that pays for the debt of sin is blood.
Not just the blood of lambs and bulls and goat and sheep not somebody else's blood because you see all of us have sinned against God. And the reason God the Father sent His only begotten Son is He is the only one, listen, He is the only one not only in creation but eternity past, eternity future, in existence who could pay your sin debt and mine because He's the only one who was sinless. He paid your sin debt and mine in full. He took our place. That's what the whole Bible is about, redemption, salvation, the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ promised in the third chapter of Genesis, demonstrated and pictured through all the sacrificial system of the Old Testament and finally consummated outside of Jerusalem on a cross nailed there by the Romans, plotted by the Pharisees and the Sadducees, but predetermined by Almighty God Himself in eternity past.
You see to be saved is the desire of the heart of God for every single one of us. And no matter what you may do in life nothing will match the desire of the heart of God like being saved. He says that is the desire of God's heart: who desires that all men and women whoever they may be might be saved. But there's a second thing He desires according to the Scripture. Listen to what he says. He says, "Who desires all men to be saved and to come". Listen, He says, "I am to come to the knowledge of the truth". So, there are two parts to this. First of all, He desires that we all be saved. And second, He desires that you and I come to the knowledge of the truth.
Now the knowledge of the truth about what? Well first of all the knowledge of the truth about our salvation. When you were saved the Bible says that you received the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. You and I responded, listen, we responded to the Holy Spirit's conviction, who brought us to conviction about our sinfulness, and then brought us also to a knowledge that Jesus Christ died for our sin and by receiving Him by faith as our personal Savior we would be saved. So, you see we responded to salvation. But what really went on? There are so many things that went on. Let me mention just a few. When you were saved the Bible says that you were forgiven, you were redeemed, you were reconciled, you were sanctified, you were justified, you were glorified.
All of these big terms that talk about all the things that God saw. No more guilt, reconciled, brought back into fellowship with Him, sin debt paid in full, set apart unto Him for His service, glorified in the mind of God. All these things happened sealed by the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption and on and on and on we could go. Of all the things that were transacted in the mind of God the moment all you did was receive Him by faith as your personal Savior. It took a transaction of grace. It took a transaction that happened at the cross to bring about redemption and forgiveness of sin and to bring me back into fellowship with God. That's what salvation is all about. So first of all, He wants us to come to a knowledge of the truth of what happened to us. The second thing He wants us to come to a knowledge of the truth about is who our identity is in Christ.
Now he says, "Who desires that all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth". What is the truth about our salvation? We just talked about that. Salvation is deliverance from eternal death and then to be endowed with eternal life. And it is all those things that happened in the mind of God ultimately transforming us into a whole new person. Now what is our identity? If I should ask you "Tell me, who are you"? If I should ask you that you would probably tell me your name, where you live, who you are married to, your children, and your job, and maybe where you go to church. But you know that's not who you are. That's not really who you are.
And if you ask most people well, "Tell me about yourself. Who are you"? Most people tell you what they do in life. What is our true identity? Now listen carefully to this. This is very important. What is our true identity now that we are saved? Well first of all we are children of God. That's who we are. We are joint heirs with Christ the Bible says in Romans chapter 8. That means that everything that Jesus Christ owns and possesses, you and I as brother to Him now that we've been saved, we are also participators in and partakers in the wealth that is in heaven. We are joint heirs with Jesus Christ. The Bible says that we are saints. Not sinners, saints. A sinner according to the Scripture is one who is living in disobedience to God, who has not received the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
We were sinners. We have been transformed into saints. That does not mean that we do not sin. It doesn't mean that we don't act like we used to, but we are saints because a saint is one who has been saved by the grace of God and set apart for the purposes of God. Hagias, we are holy persons. We might not always act holy but we are. You see that is who we are. Your children, you may say to them "Listen! You're not acting like you are part of this family". Because you have a certain image of the way your family ought to act. Well, being a part of the family of God we don't always act like we are part of the family but that's who we are. We are the saints of God. Not only that the Bible says that we are a new creation in Christ. We aren't what we used to be. We have, listen, we have been born again by the Spirit of God and are being conformed into the likeness and the image of God through His Son Jesus Christ.
We are new creations. That's who we are. That's who you really are. You're a brand-new creation. And the Bible says not only that but you are a follower of Jesus Christ. And the Bible says that you have a new name and your new name is what we call ourselves, Christians. And not only that He says you and I have a new life. We have the life of Christ within us. So, who are we? We are saints. Listen, we are saints transformed into a new creation by the grace of Almighty God provided at the cross of Calvary. That's who we are new creations in Christ followers of Jesus Christ. He's given us a new name because we have a brand-new life. What we once had was physical life and spiritually dead. But now we have the life of Almighty God within us, the person of Jesus Christ through the presence of the Holy Spirit. That's who we are.
Now He says I want you to come to the knowledge the full knowledge of what? Of your salvation experience and secondly your identity. Thirdly your position. You see with that kind of identity what kind of a position do I have with the Lord Jesus Christ with God the Father? Well first of all as a child of God we have access to God. Instantaneous access to God at any moment. How many of you have instantaneous access to the president? None of us. But, listen, you know what? I don't need access to him if I've got access to God. You have instantaneous access to the Sovereign God of this Universe, who is personally interested in you and has made it possible for you to get on your knees prostrate before Him ride down the express way, sit behind your desk, no matter what you are doing and talk to Him.
You have instantaneous access to God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ who is the one mediator between you and God. Instantaneous access that's what your position is. What a tremendous position. Not only that you have authority with God. You say, "I can't command God". I didn't say anything about commanding Him. I said you had authority with Him. What's the basis of that authority? The basis of that authority is this He has made a whole lot of promises in the Word of God and God does not lie. Therefore, when I bring a petition to Him that, listen, that falls within the confines of the will of the Father and I ask Him to do something I don't have one single solitary reason for believing He won't because He says, "Ask and it shall be given you". Who is going to do the giving? God. "Seek and ye shall find". Who is going to show me? God. "Knock and it shall be opened unto you".
Who is going to open the door? God. And you could go through promise after promise after promise after promise. He says, "I'll never leave you nor forsake you". "God, I need to be aware of Your presence". And I have no reason to doubt that God is not going to answer the petition of my heart. We have authority with God. When He says, "I want you to come to the knowledge of the truth," He wants us to come to the full knowledge of the truth. Not only that our position is we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit the Bible says unto the day of redemption. So that our salvation is eternal. It isn't on today and off tomorrow. Our position, listen, our position is... and you see, this is why all of this runs together. Our position is that we've been sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, why? We're children of God. How did we get to be a child of God? We got to be a child of God by the atoning death of Jesus Christ.
Listen, it has nothing to do with conduct, nothing to do with behavior, nothing to do with performance. We are children of God on the basis of Christ's behavior, Christ's performance, Christ's crucifixion. Does not mean that I'm not to live a godly life but my motivation for doing so should not be fear but gratitude and thanksgiving. Look who we are. Sin doesn't fit who we are. Sin doesn't fit our identity. Sin doesn't fit our position. We are the sons and daughters of the living God. We have access to heaven. We have authority with God. We've been sealed, the Bible says, unto the day in which He calls us by the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. That's our position. Eternally secure.
When is the last time you thanked God that you don't have to wake up and wonder if you died if you were going to heaven or hell? Not only that he says our position involves more than that. He says our position involves also what He says. He says that He identified us... Here's our position. Here's what God says. When Jesus Christ was crucified two thousand years ago here's what God saw. Watch this. When Jesus was crucified God said Romans 6, He said when He was crucified, God the Father saw every single one of us individually in His infinite mind to be able to do so. Individually crucified with Him, buried with Him, risen with Him to walk in newness of life. That's why He talks about the power that is at work within us. That is the power of the Holy Spirit Jesus Christ living His life through the Holy Spirit on the inside of us. He says we've been crucified with Him. We died with Him, buried with Him, risen with Him.
That's what baptism is all about. That's our position. What is our position? Our position is hey, when He died, I died. When He was buried, I was buried. When He arose, I arose. We are the crucified buried risen children of God who have access to the Father. We are the saints of God sealed by the Holy Spirit of redemption. That's what our position is. And we have authority with Him as he says. Not only that He says we have become partakers of His divine nature. That is, you have the life of God on the inside of you. That's what your position is. You're not somebody floating around just physical life. You have, listen, You have the life of God on the inside of you. In your spirit abides the life of the living God. What is your position? Your position is that you are abiding in Him. That you are living in Him. You want to know what your position is? If I could draw one picture on a canvas to say, "Here is your position".
Here's what I would draw. I would draw a grapevine. I would draw the vine and the branch the stem and the grapes and the sap running through the vine into the branch because Jesus said, "I am the vine you are the branch". His Spirit running through Him into us the Holy Spirit producing, listen, producing the grapes. We don't produce them He does. And so, as a branch is a part of the vine as He says abiding in living in, we have been grafted into the vine so that the life of Christ is now coursing in your life and my life. We are inseparable with Christ. We are abiding in Him and He is abiding in us. That's our position. And the Bible says not only that, he says but you and I have been hidden in Christ with God. That is if you want to find where we are in the mind of God, He says you're in Christ, Christ is in God, we're in God. He says not only that but we are seated in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians chapter 2. What in the world do we have to worry about? That is our position seated with Him. Hidden with Him, abiding in Him, access to Him, authority with Him, sealed by Him. That is our position. There's one other thing He wants us to know and that is what our mission is. To come to the full knowledge of our salvation of our true identity, come to the full knowledge of our position and what our mission is. What is our mission in life? Here it is to show forth the life of Christ. To show forth the life of Christ. That is, we're to so live that other people will see the life of Christ within us. The only place you're going to see Jesus in this life is in the face of another saint. He says our mission, listen, now that we've been saved by the grace of God, now that we know who our true identity is and here is our position, now our mission in life is to show forth the life of Christ, live it out.
How do we do that? We allow Jesus Christ to live His life through us. We just keep on cooperating and keep on agreeing with Christ on the inside of us who says "Do this. Now do this. Now do this. Now choose that. Choose that. Make this decision. Do this. Follow here. Go there". What are we doing? We're just following Him. We're just obeying Him. What's happening? We are showing forth the life of Christ by living in obedience to Him. And secondly, we are to share the life of Christ by telling about it and talking about it with someone else.
Let me ask you "What is your favorite subject"? In the light of the truth of the Scripture what Jesus Christ has done for you and me, listen, what in the world could be our favorite subject other than Christ? Jesus Christ our favorite subject because He’s our life. But I know some Christians who are far more intelligent about the sports world than they are the Scriptural world. They know more about some people who are stars in some form than they do Jesus Christ who is the eternal bright and morning star. What is our think, how is our thinking so confused and mixed up? I'll tell you why. We got saved and sat down. He says, "I want you to come to the knowledge of the truth of your salvation experience, your true identity, your position in Christ, your mission in Christ".
And I want to tell you something my friend God never established His church for spectators. Think about this. You see you know why we have so many spectators? Because folks don't know what happened to them at salvation. They don't know what their identity is. They don't know what their authority is with God their position nor do they understand what their mission is. The problem used to be ignorance but it's not any more after this morning. You cannot justify anything else than, listen, showing for the life of Christ and sharing His life. The desire of the heart of God is that you and I would be saved. Most of us seated here are. The second part of that desire is that you would come to the knowledge of what happened to you at salvation, your true identity, your position in Christ, and your mission.
Now listen. Once you come to the realization of that then you start living out what you know. If you're not ashamed of your mother and you would introduce her to me, would you introduce her to a stranger? You would. Or your father or your children? What I want to ask you is this what did Jesus do to make you so ashamed of Him that you won't introduce Him to someone? What did He do? Did He do something I don't know about? I'll tell you what He did. He died bloodied beaten and just about naked on a cross to save you. Surely you couldn't be ashamed of that.
Father, we love You and praise You this morning. We pray the Holy Spirit will strike in our heart with conviction that we say so little about the most important person who ever walked on the face of this earth the only person who has made it possible for us to be acceptable in your sight, the only person who has made it possible for us to die and go to heaven. The only person who has made it possible for our body to be resurrected from the grave. The only person who has given us promise of life beyond this one. And the only one who has given us the hope and the promise and the assurance of everlasting and eternal life. Thank You dear God for having such great desires for us. And I pray in Jesus' name that those who are listening, and those who are watching, those who are seated right here who have never trusted Jesus as their Savior might recognize He's their only hope and be wise enough to receive Him as their Savior and their Lord. In Jesus's name I pray it, amen.