Charles Stanley - My Assurance: God Is in Control - Part 4
When is the last time you stopped and just meditated about your life and just thanked God for saving you? Or have you taken that for granted all these years? And let me ask you a question. Were you saved because you first approached God and told Him you wanted to be saved? How do we reconcile the fact that the Bible says, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," then we turn right around and read, "Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world"?
How do you reconcile that? Likewise, if God already knows who's going to be saved, why should we be sending missionaries and having a missionary enterprise? Why should we be trying to send missionaries all over the world to preach the gospel if God already knows who's gonna be saved anyway? Well, I want you to turn, if you will, to Psalm one-o-three. And this is our fourth message in the series, "My Assurance: God is in Control". And we've talked about His being in control of all the difficulties and hardships and troubles and trials and suffering and death and all the rest and answered prayer and so many ways He promises us in His Word and shows us that He's in control.
What about our salvation? "Is God in control of that or how much rights or how much privilege do I have in all of that"? So, I want you to turn, if you will, to Psalm one-o-three. And this is the passage that we read just to remind us over and over and over again of who is in charge. In Psalm one-o-three verse nineteen says, "The LORD has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all. Bless the LORD, you His angels, mighty in strength, who perform His word, obeying the voice of His word! Bless the LORD, all you His hosts, you who serve Him, doing His will. Bless the LORD, all you works of His, in all the places of His dominion; bless the LORD, O my soul"!
When he says that He has established His throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all, what do we mean by His Sovereignty? Simply this: It means that God exercises His supreme authority and power and control over all the universe and over every single person who is in it, that every single thing and every person's in His mind, before His eyes, in His grasp, in His presence, in His power and under His control. God is in absolute control of every single thing.
So, when we think in terms of that, we ask the question, "Well, how does this relate to the whole idea of my salvation? Was this something that God thought up or was it that I came to a point in my life where I realized that I needed God and so it was my idea to come to Him and ask Him to save me and forgive me of my sins"? Well, first of all, what I'd like to do is to define clearly salvation because many people who will listen, because many people who will see this program are not really clear about what salvation's all about. You hear people talking about it. You hear pastors talking about it but what is it that we talk about when we talk about salvation?
Salvation is that experience whereby God rescues us from the guilt of our sin, the penalty of our sin, and the punishment of our sin. That is, He deals with and rescues us from the penalty, the guilt, and the power of sin in our life, the alienation from God that is a result of all of that, the wrath of God which is a result of all of that, and eternal death which is the lot and the ultimate destination of every single person who refuses to receive Jesus Christ as their savior.
Think about this. Salvation is rescue. Salvation is deliverance from the guilt of sin and the penalty and the punishment that involves our alienation from God, and all the rest that goes with the wrath of God, and eternal death. But it's rescue from that and rescue to what? It's rescuing us, listen, to what? Rescuing us to a relationship with God the Father, rescuing us with a relationship that whereas we were enemies, we've become the children of God, rescuing us to begin to experience the love of God, to begin to experience the help and the hope of God, and most of all, to have the gift of eternal life.
So, if you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your savior, do you understand where you are? Living under the guilt and the penalty and the punishment of sin, the wrath and the alienation and eternal death, when you can have hope and love and life everlasting. That is the promise of Almighty God. Well, you say, "How do I know that God would save me? Because maybe I've been a bad person, maybe I've not been so bad. How do I know that God will save me"? What I'd like to do is I'd like to give you two sets of scriptures and I want to show you something.
And I want to begin, if you will, with Matthew chapter eleven verses twenty-eight through thirty there and here's what Jesus said. He gives a general call. And all through the scriptures there is that general call to lost people and to those who are going through difficulty and hardship. But here's what He says in the twenty-eighth verse. He says, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for ye shall find rest unto your souls". Then if you'll notice what Jesus said, He said in the twelfth chapter of John the thirty-second verse, He said, "And I, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men to Me".
In First Timothy, which may not be quite as familiar a passage, if you'll look in First Timothy, for example, in chapter two, and you'll recall when Paul is writing to Timothy here and encouraging him to pray for rulers and those who have authority. Then he moves into saying this, in verse three, "This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men or all peoples to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, one mediator between God and men, and that's the man Jesus Christ, who gave Himself as a ransom instead of, a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time".
Then of course there's that passage in Second Peter chapter three verse nine that says, now he says that it is not My will that anyone should perish. So, when I look at all these passages of scripture and ask myself the question, well, now, Lord, here are all these general calls. And then of course in Ezekiel chapter thirty-three he says God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. So here are these calls that He sends out. "If I be lifted up, I'll draw all men to Me". He says, "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you rest". Paul says, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved".
So it's clear in scripture that God is continually issuing a call to salvation. And so that's very clear, and stating very clearly that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Now you and I could think about some historical characters whose wickedness and whose vileness and whose absolute inhumane attitudes and actions and behavior, we would say, "Well, why wouldn't God take pleasure in the death of those people"? Because that's not the character of God. He says He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked and issues these calls.
Now, I want to do something that looks like it's absolutely opposite and then we want to talk about it for a moment. Let's start, if you will, in Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one, I want us to look at the beginning in verse three. We've just read these verses, "Come unto Me, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, whosoever shall call upon Him and these invitations, so to speak, I be lifted up I'll draw all men". Now look at this passage, if you will, in Ephesians chapter one verse three, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ," watch this: "Just as He chose us in Him, that is, in Christ, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to 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 on us in the Beloved".
Now, we may come to ask the question, "All right now, I see exactly what He's saying here. He says that He's in control of our salvation and that all these verses indicate that this is soemthing God has chosen". Now, so here comes the question. How do we bring these two ideas together and reconcile them? First of all, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. "Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest". How can we say, when Jesus says, "And I, if I be lifted up I shall draw all men to Me," and then we turn right around and He says, "Before the foundation of the world, I chose to save you in Christ Jesus"?
Chosen in Christ, chosen in Christ. How do you think Paul reconciles those two things? He doesn't. Now, there are some solutions that people oftentime give, one of which would be this: There are those who would say that here's what God did (and you know, this could possibly be true in some life) that God looked down through the corridors of time, even before you and I were born, knowing that we were gonna be born knowing our circumstances, knowing how we would respond, being omniscient, knowing all things, past, present, and future, and looking at us in our future circumstances, and saw what we would do in certain circumstances, that some of us would choose Jesus Christ as our savior.
And looking at what we would do, then He chose to save us. Well, the only problem with that is on the one hand that can imply that God saw something good about what we were gonna do and therefore He chose us. That would make our salvation to some degree based on what we were gonna do. On the other hand, we can also say that God can also foreknow what we're going to do without making us or causing us to do it. But he said He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. So, it's not my purpose to reconcile something that the Apostle Paul, who had a greater insight in the scripture than any man who's ever lived, did not chose to reconcile. He said chosen before the foundation of the world, whosoever will may come.
What was he doing? He was extending God's awesome invitation to all men because Christ Jesus, Christ, died for all men. And at the same time saying, "Listen, you know what? The truth is your redemption and my redemption is the work of Almighty God". There's not a single one of us who can take any credit whatsoever. For by grace are ye saved through faith, that not of yourselves. Listen, not even our faith is of ourselves. That is the gift of God. Not works only but not even our faith is of ourselves, it's the gift of God. Listen, if God didn't give you the faith, you couldn't trust Him. If the Spirit of God didn't convict you, you wouldn't even know what kind of position you were in.
If the Spirit of God didn't work in your heart and absolutely crack through that hardness, you wouldn't even recognize the sinfulness and the wickedness of your heart. And proof of that is when a man says, "I do not need God," it says he is absolutely so totally blind to the worst sin of all which is pride, he doesn't even realize he needs God. Well, look, if you will, in Matthew chapter seven. Here's somebody who says, "Now wait a minute. I do not believe that if I'm a good moral person and I serve the Lord and I do good works in the church and I give my money and I help the church along and I try to be a good person, you mean to tell me that I've got to receive Jesus Christ as my personal savior"?
Well, let's just see what Jesus said. Here's what He said. In the seventh chapter and beginning, if you will, in verse twenty-one, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father, who is in heaven". And Jesus said on another occasion "the will of My Father". What's the will of the Father? To believe in Him. "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your'", listen, prophesy, preach, declare, "'in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'" You know what Jesus's response to that was? "Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'"
You see, He says, "I never knew you". What does He mean by that? It doesn't mean that He was not aware of a person, but it means, He says, "I never knew you as one of Mine. I never knew you as a child of God. You were never one of Mine". Because the only way to be a child of the Father as He says, listen, back in Ephesians chapter one, He says "chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, predestined to", what? Predestined to adoption. That is, that God the Father took us out of as it were Adam in our old sinful nature and placed us as it were into Christ, a new relationship. And it's because we have been adopted, listen, adopted sons and daughters of God, adopted into the kingdom, transformed by the grace of God, transformed by the love of God, the work of the Holy Spirit.
Listen, salvation is of God from top to bottom, inside out, beginning to end. There is no glory for man and all the glory is of God. You and I cannot reconcile whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. Listen, that's a mystery that nobody will ever be able to fully understand. And yet there are all kinds of explanations, and the truth is, when you analyze all the explanations, they come up with this question: "Well, what about, what about, what about, what about"? And theologians can take all kinds of views and prove all kind of things.
The truth is that the Apostle Paul didn't reconcile it. It he didn't I'm not gonna try to. The only thing that matters is we're saved by the grace of God, eternally secure in Him, know we are and have a responsibility to get that message to the whole world. That is our responsibility. And so when it comes to salvation, just like everything else in our life, He is in absolute control. If you're saved today, you can rejoice in the Lord. You can thank God. You certainly should have a sense of humility in your own heart and thanksgiving and praise to Him because you cannot take any credit whatsoever, not one bit.
And if you'll notice in all these verses, our salvation is always related to Jesus. Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. And Paul says, "I'm preaching that you may obtain the salvation in Christ Jesus. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life". And so this is the work of Almighty God. And so somebody says, "Well, why should we go out there and do that"? Well, let me give you four reasons. And they're all the same in one essence and you know most of these by heart. Here's what Jesus said. Now listen to what He said. He said, "Those whom the Father gives to Me, they're Mine. I'm gonna raise them up the last day. Absolutely Mine".
What did He say to His disciples? "As you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things that I've commanded you, and lo, I'll be with you all the way, even to the end of this age". Then He said in Mark, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the entire creation," the whole creation. He said in Luke chapter twenty-four that repentance and the forgiveness of sin shall be preached in all the earth. Jesus said, "As the Father has sent Me, I'm sending you". He said in Acts chapter one, "You shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you equipping you to do", what? "Equipping you to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the uttermost parts of the earth".
Why did Jesus Christ send, why did He give, listen, why did He say to His disciples over and over and over again, in a different way, the same thing? Proclaim the gospel, preach the gospel, proclaim the truth. Not proclaim sinners, not talk about sin. Proclaim the gospel. Listen, tell the whole creation about the good news of the saving grace of the Son of God. Jesus didn't die for a handful or some, He died for the whole world. He died to make it possible for all men to come to a saving knowledge of Christ. And so He sent them out. And that's the commission He gave the church. He gave the church the commission to go and share the gospel to the whole world.
Now, somebody says, well, look, if you will, back to Second Timothy for a moment. We looked at this passage a few moments ago and I want you to notice something that Paul says here and the way he says this. Here he's talking about his own hardship, trials, and difficulties. Now, this is the Paul who said, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved". This is the Paul who said, "Chosen in Him before the foundation of the world".
Now look at this. Verse nine of Second Timothy chapter two. He says, for which, speaking of the gospel in verse eight, the gospel, "For which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned". "For this reason I'm suffering," he says, "for this reason, I endure all these things for the sake of those who are chosen, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory". Here's a man who said "chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Why am I undergoing hardship? Why am I suffering as a prisoner? Why am I going through all these things? For the sake of those who are chosen that they may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory".
What is my responsibility and yours? You say, "Well, you know, I'm saved". Right, you say, "Well, you know, if God's already chosen to save some folks how do I know who's gonna be saved and who's not"? That's not our business. That's not my business to figure out who is and who is not. It is our business to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ person-to-person where you live, where you work, where you play. It is our responsibility to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ as far and wide as God will give us the privilege.
And as a fellowship, this is our mission: to learn His truths, to be encouraged and challenged and stimulated in our own hearts. In order to do what? To be equipped to walk into a world of lost people and say to them, "I want you to know that you need Jesus Christ as your personal savior, and I want you to know you can be saved. And I want you to know that Christ died for you, and I want you to know that you have the awesome privilege of becoming a child of God, your sins being forgiven, the alienation that you're experiencing, the punishment that you're going to experience, the wrath of God, eternal death. You can escape that by simply placing your trust in the living Son of God".
That is our responsibility, that's our privilege. There's not a single verse in the Bible, not one single shred of a verse that says, "Because God already knows, relax". But rather what? He's saying, "Go! As you go, make disciples, spread the Word, repentance, and faith to all mankind". "As the Father had sent Me," Jesus said, "I'm sending you out, proclaiming the gospel". And Paul said, "I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ," he says, "because here's what I've learned. It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes". He says, "Listen, the Jew, the Greek, no matter who they are, Gentile, the gospel of Jesus Christ is powerful enough to save them all".
Here's what I want you to see: God's in absolute control. The only thing you and I can do about salvation, the only thing you and I can possibly do about salvation is to get on our knees before Almighty God in absolute, total humility and thank Him and praise Him for reaching down and saving us out of our sinfulness and our vileness and in His mercy and grace and goodness and love, making us one of His children, writing our name in the Lamb's Book of Life, and for so ever, for so ever and ever and ever and ever secure us as a child of the living God. There's not a single one of us who deserves anything and there's not a one of us who can boast of anything.
Our redemption, the Bible says, salvation is of God, period. And what is our responsibility? To get the message of hope and forgiveness and the grace and love of God to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, as clearly as possible, listen, as irrefutably as possible, as irresistibly as possible, so that when they hear it the Spirit of God can attach Himself to their heart, bring them conviction with the realization they, too, can be forgiven of their sin.
Now let me ask you a question. How many of you know, without a shadow of a doubt, you can look back at a time in your life and you say, "I know that at a point in my life I realized that I was separated from God, that I was a sinner. And the Spirit of God convicted me of my sin, and I understood that Jesus Christ went to the cross and died for my sins, and I placed my trust in Him as my Savior and my Lord. And I know that I'm forgiven and I'm heaven-bound"? How many of you really and truly can say, "I know that's happened"? You say, "Well, how do I know that God would save me even if I wanted to be saved"? Try it, just try it.
Remember what Jesus said? "He that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out". Do you think that God the Father would send His only begotten Son and have Him nailed to a tree and suffer the awful judgement and pain and hurt of persecution in order to save you and then you come to Him and ask for salvation, and He says no? That is not the God of the Bible. That's not the God I know anything at all about. And when I look at the scriptures from Genesis to Revelation, here's what I discover: this awesome, wonderful, indescribable, infinite God who is absolutely a god of love, who has done everything in His, listen, in His omnipotent power to save this world, other than to ultimately override a man's free will to some degree, with exception.
Do you think that He's going to reject you when that's what He died for? Oh no. You say, "Well, but you just don't know what I've done in life". Let me ask you this: Have you tried to destroy the church, persecute the church, murder? Have you tried to do all the things equal to what the Apostle Paul's done? No, you have not. And you know what? God didn't ask him anything. He just struck him down and said, "I've chosen you. I'm going to getcha, I gotcha, and I'm gonna use you, and I'm gonna make you a chosen vessel".
What did He say to Ananias? He said, "I want you to go see this man. He is a chosen vessel, chosen before the foundation of the world, chosen from his mother's womb, heh, chosen to preach the gospel and give us the most awesome explanation of truth that we will ever discover as long as we live". When I think about that, I just want to get on my face in the mud and say, "God, I'm unworthy to even think about grace and love and mercy and goodness and forgiveness".
But that's what kind of God we have. Therefore, when you reject the Lord Jesus Christ, you reject His Son, His love, His attempts, His pleas, and His awesome preparation of heaven for you. That's what you reject. You will never be able to stand before Him and say, "Well, now let me tell You the reason I didn't". No, not gonna be any excuses in the judgment. You've heard enough gospel in this message alone to save you and it doesn't take but one experience of salvation to save you forever.
You say, "Well, but suppose I sin again"? Yes! Every single one of us has. That's what grace is all about. Grace is God's, listen, not only does He forgive me, not only does He forgive us of our sin once and for all and pardon our iniquity and our guilt, listen, but the forgiveness of God is ever flowing toward His children. He doesn't call us adults, He calls us His children because we're still growing, still growing up in the Christian life, still learning to walk His ways. Therefore, you are inexcusable to reject the Son of the living God who chooses and offers and provides and loves you all the way.
Father, I pray the Holy Spirit will use this message to bring such deep conviction, such penetrating, irresistible conviction that every single person who sees it, every single person who hears this message would sense immediately a need of Christ, a desire for Christ, a need for forgiveness and a willingness to ask for it, placing their trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, for we ask it in Christ's name, amen.