Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
When you preach the cross, he says to sum it's foolishness,
But unto us what who understand the meaning of the cross?
The cross is not a symbol that somebody hangs.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
On their wall.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Once we grasp the message of the cross, we will
see it as a symbol of the power of God
to redeem us from our sins and to deliver us
from what we were before we met the Lord Jesus
Christ as our savior.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Welcome to in Touch The teaching ministry of doctor Charles
Stanley and the beginning of his series The Encouraging Message
from the Cross? Does God love everyone the same? Does
it change anything if you're living in sin or unbelief?
The first encouraging message from the Cross will cover is
that God's love for us is unconditional.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Whenever you see a cross on a church people.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
What do you think? Whenever you see a book with
a cross on the cover, what do you think?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Whenever you walk up to someone and you see a
cross around their neck?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Most people's understanding of the message of the cross is
a small fraction of what God.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Intended for us to understand.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
If you ask the average person, what does the cross
mean to you, they would say, the cross means to
me that my sins have been forgiven.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well what else? Well, you know, what else do you need?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Man?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
If his sins are forgiven, that's it.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
But that's only a very small part of what transpired
at the cross.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And so I want us to look at the first.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Message of the cross, and a very encouraging message, and
that's this. The message of the Cross is that God
loves you.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
And me just the way we are.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
And if you recall some things that Paul had to
say about the cross, look if you will, in Galatians
chapter six for a moment he said on one occasion
in this sixth chapter and the fourteenth verse, knowing that
he was of the tribe of Benjamin, a tremendous heritage,
in his background, great position, everything that a man could
ever want a leader among his people, Paul said that
(02:17):
he discovered in life that there was only one thing
that he had ever discovered that he could brag about,
only one thing he could glory in, only one thing
that he could boast of.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And this is what he said. It is verse fourteen.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
But God forbid that I should glory in anything except
the cross.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
He says, by whom this world has been crucified to me,
that is, the world has lost.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Its pull and tug.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And secondly he says, an eye unto the world.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
If you will examine.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
The preaching and the teaching of the apostle Paul, it was.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
All centered around the cross.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Read the Book of Galatians, Read the Book of Philippians,
Read the Book of Ephesians, read the Book of Colossians.
The Cross of Jesus Christ permeates and saturates every single
thing Paul had to say, because he was able to
grasp but the gift of the Holy Spirit, the work
that God did at the cross, more than forgiveness, much
(03:19):
more than forgiveness that is there. And I believe the
first message that He's sent out of the cross is
this that God loves you and me just the way
we are. That is, listen to care for now less
you misunderstand. There is absolutely nothing you can do that
(03:39):
will ever cause God to love you any more than
you are loved already. But man's response to the love
of God, if it is the wrong response, will deny
him and cheat him and deprive him out of all
that God's gracious and wonderful love has provided for it.
One of the most diff diffical things the believers have
(04:02):
to learn is that God loves them with no exceptions,
no butts, and no is Now I want you to see,
first of all, he had a description of the people
whom God loves unconditionally all through the scripture. He tells you,
But look in Romans chapter five for a moment. Look
if you will. Beginning in verse six, he says, for
(04:27):
when you and I were yet yet without strength, that
means we were absolutely and totally helpless. You said, well,
I've never felt that a way. Well, my friends, you
cannot forgive yourself of your sins. God must forgive us
of our sin. There is a sense in which we
must forgive ourselves after we receive the Lord's forgiveness.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
He says. But when you and I were without strength, that.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Is, we were helpless to do anything whereby we could
become acceptable to God. He said, when you and I
were down and counted out, what did he do? In
due time? Christ died for the ungodly? He said, He
loves the helpless when they have been counted out. Secondly,
(05:11):
he says, his love is expressed toward the ungodly. Now,
what does the word ungodly mean. It doesn't mean just
one a person who refuses or cannot perform godly acts.
But you recall in the Bible, the scripture says that
you and I were created in the image of God.
But sin at the very beginning destroyed what God intended
(05:32):
for man to have, and that is the image of God.
So this word ungodly here means listen, that the image
of God has been defaced in every single one of us,
so that we don't radiate God until something happens in
our life. He says, he loves those who are helpless
to help themselves. He loves those who are ungodly. And
(05:53):
in verse eight he says, but God commended his love,
told us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Bros. Now listen. A sinner is one.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Who is rebellious toward God. A sinner is one who
has transgressed the law of God, that is, he stepped
over the boundary of what God allows. A sinner is one,
the Scripture says, who has fallen short of the glory
of God. A sinner is one who is living according
to the dictates of self of the flesh. God says
(06:26):
he loves the helpless. God says he loves the ungodly.
He says he loves the sinner. But if you'll notice
in verse ten, For if when we were en himies, listen,
while we were enemies, we were reconciled unto God, how
by the death of his son, much more being reconciled,
we should be saved by his life. Now what does
(06:48):
he mean by an enemy? If somebody who says, well,
wait a minute, I was saved when I was twelve
years of age, I not even thought about being an
enemy of God. But now here's the thing that you
and I have to remember. And this is why so
many people do not understand the truth.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Of the Gospel.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
When the Bible says the heart of a man is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, God looks in
the heart of that lad as well as a forty
year old man.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
The difference is this, the.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Twelve year old boy has not been thrust into the circumstances,
has not lived into the situation whereby all of that
deceit and desperate wickedness has had the opportunity to express itself.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
But it is all there. We were born with a
bent away from God. And here's the man.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Who's lived to be twenty five or thirty five or sixty,
and all that was there comes out. It comes out
in all different forms. So we look around and say,
how good people are? God says, the heart is deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
So when you look at these four.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Descriptions, he says, God has commended. God has shed his
love abroad in the heart of those who are helpless
to say themselves ungodly in their nature, transgressing, breaking, violating
the law of God, falling short of the glory of God,
rebelling against God, enemies of God. But look, if you
(08:13):
will turn over to chapter three in the Book of
Romans and listen, here's how he describes the unbeliever. Verse
ten says, as it is written, there's none righteous, no,
not one. There's none that understand it. There's none that
seeketh after God. They're all going out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, No,
not one that is within a man's self. He cannot
(08:36):
do anything good enough to be saved. Goodness is not
within mankind by his innate ability and character.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Look in verse thirteen.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Their throat is an open seplica, that means it's full
of death.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
With their tongues they have.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Used deceit, and the poison.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Of snakes is under their lips.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Whose mouth is full of cursing and biddeness their feet
us script to shed blood, destruction and measuring their ways
and the way of peace?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Have they not known? Look in Titus, if you will slip.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
On over to first and two Timothy and Titus right
before Fillyma and Hebrews. There Titus chapter three and verse three.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Look at this verse.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
For we ourselves also were sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
that is, being bound by enslaved by various kinds of
lust and drives and pleasures, living in malice and envy,
hateful and hating one another. But after that the kindness
and the love of God, our Savior, toward man appeared.
(09:39):
Now all of these verses I give something to say
when somebody asks what kind of people is it that
God loves? I just read your description of them.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Not any of us want to be like any of that.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
But the truth is all of us have been and
if you take the spirit of God out of our lives,
any one of us, we will all resort to some
form of the same kind of sinfulness and wickedness we
just read about. God's viewpoint of the human heart is
we are helpless sinners, ungodly enemies of God, full of filth,
(10:13):
junkie stuff, spiritually trash. He says, unrighteousness like filthy rags,
and all these specific sins, living by the desires of
the flesh, driven by the drives of the human nature,
living for the five senses. He says, that's the way
humanity is. And he says the message of the Cross
is that Almighty God looked down at this world and
(10:33):
saw all the wickedness and the sin and the vileness
of humanity. And God said, I love every single one
of them, unconditionally and eternally. And you see, somehow, until
the people of God are able to receive and accept
and grasp that Almighty God's love is unconditional, it is unmerited,
(10:58):
it is unlimited. Until we're able to grasp the fact
that He reached down and loves you when there was
not anything, listen, anything in you that caused motivated.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
God to reach down and love you not a thing.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
God reached down and expressed his love to you andto me,
not because of what he saw with than us, but
because it is his nature to love, and because his
love knows no limits and no boundaries, and no exceptions
and no conditions.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Listen, God loves.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Every single human being on the face of this earth,
knowing that the vast majority of them will reject him
all the way to the grave, he still loves them.
What do you and our quote been quoting all of
our life for God so.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Love the world. But what we believe is do we
take that word world? And you know what we do?
Speaker 1 (11:56):
We lose ourselves in this vast host of seal humanity,
and somehow we see ourselves as is just one little
greater of sand on these beaches. And what am I
amidst God's love? And I want to tell you something,
my friend. You look in the Bible. When God is
talking to somebody, he's talking to individuals.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
He loves you and you and you and you and
you and you and you.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
And I want to tell you something this morning, and
I want you to hear it clearly, because I want
to tell you that I'm going to be misunderstood. God
loves every single one of us the way we are,
and he loves us that way. Listen, if you never improve,
and I want to tell you something else, you.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Are not going to improve. You can't improve.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
You know why, because you can't improve old self. That's why,
Almighty God sin is only begotten son. One of the
messages of the Cross is not only that he loves us,
but he delivered us. How did he deliver us by
coming in the Holy Spirit to live within us, to
dwell through us because he knew we could never be
any better. We were never do any better. And you
(12:57):
can't improve self. Listen, God loves you just the way
you are, and he knows you don't have the slightest
chance in the world of improving you.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
And I'm gonna prove that real simple. Just about the.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Time you've got some area improve, what happens, He just
lets the devil pool the road gap mone you. To
show you, friend, there's not one single area of your
life you have victim about Jesus Christ, not a one.
And that's the kind of folks he loves. And how
has he demonstrated that love to you and to me?
He's demonstrated in so many ways. Look, I want you
(13:33):
to look at two words here. Look if you will,
First of all, in verse six, for when we were
yet without strength and due time, Christ died for the ungodly,
for scarcely for.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
A righteous man. One dot.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
He said, for example, hardly for a good man. Will
anybody lay down his life, yet peradventure for a good man,
some would even dare to die.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
He says, No.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Look, you're gonna find somebody every once in a while
who has enough valor and courage, who has enough love
to lay down his life for a good man, But
who would lay down his life for his most vicious aenemen,
he says, God in his son Jesus Christ, listen, he
didn't wait until you improved.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
He died for your sins and my sins. He says.
He's died for people who were ungod while they.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Run God sinners, while they were sinners. We while there
we enemies, while they are still anemy. He's not waiting
for us to improve. Jesus Christ died on the cross
out of his love for you and me, while we.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Were still in the pits. He died for you and me.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Listen, God, in his love, reaching down to mankind, demonstrating
how in the way that has.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Never been exceeded.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
The incomparable demonstration of God's unconditional.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Law for you and me was the Cross.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Anything else God could have done would never I have
said what the Cross has said, because the truth is
that God himself and all of his holiness and all
of his righteousness came down in his son Jesus Christ,
into a world that he knew would persecute him and
eventually cause him to experience the worst death a man
(15:16):
could ever experience, crucifixion. You're going to tell you how
much God loves you. God loves you and me enough
to have sent his son to the cross, knowing that
his son, who had lived in everlasting and eternal fellowship
with him up until that time, was going to experience
what he had never experienced before, what God didn't want
(15:37):
any man on earth to ever experience. He sent him
that the world may not have to experience it. He
sent him to deliver us from experiencing it. He sent
him to the cross to die on the cross. And
the thing about the Cross that best demonstrates the love
of God is not nails.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
In his hand.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Listen the crown of thorn's hurt, and the nails tore
his ligaments and his tendons and his muscle, and the
bone and the blood, and it ate and it pained.
And every time he tried to breathe hanging up on
that cross, it was painful. And the dryness of his lips,
(16:17):
the parching of his tongue, the difficulty of breathing.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Moment by moment he died. But that wasn't the.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Thing that demonstrated God's love. What demonstrated God's love is
that God Almighty turned his back upon his only begotten
son and let him pace death for every man. That
is the greatest demonstration of God's love. With all of
his omnistions and all of his knowledge in the wisdom
of Almighty God, God said, what can I do that
(16:47):
will best demonstrate to my enemies, to the ungoded, to
the sinners, to the unrighteous.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
What can I best do to.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Demonstrate the world so they'll never forget how much I
love them? He sent his only begotten son to die
on the cross.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
You know why Pauls has only had one message, and
it's the cross.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Because everything God has ever done for you, and everything
that he'll ever do for you, and everything that'll ever
come your way from God will come through the cross
of Jesus Christ to your life. The message of the
(17:32):
Cross is that God loves you just like you are.
He'll take you just like you are. He'll forgive you
of every sin in your life. And some of you
have been saying, well, I want to be saved and
I want to get right with God, but there's some
things I have to correct.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I want to tell you something.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
This is what Jesus said. I'm not come to call
the righteous. I've not come to call those who improving themselves.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
You can't improve yourself.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Everything you have, everything you are, every single hope you
will ever.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Have comes through the cross of Jesus Christ. And he's
saying to.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
An unbelieving, doubting, frustrated, hurting, lonely world, God, the Father, God,
the Son, God, the Spirit loves you just the way
you are. And I want to ask you today, have
you ever asked the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you
of your sins based on what he did at the cross.
(18:29):
Are you willing to accept the unconditional love of God.
I don't care what you've done doesn't make a difference
where you've been. Do's make a difference how deep down
into it you are. I want to tell you that
Almighty God loves you, and he has a place for
you and a plan for your life. And what He's
asking of you today is to accept His son, Jesus Christ,
(18:51):
because you see all that.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
God has comes to the Son.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
And order for God to be able to give to
you and to me all that the Son has, we
have to come to the cross acknowledging our sinfulness, our wickedness,
our unworthiness, and by.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Faith receiving Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
I want to encourage you, my friend, to accept Jesus
Christ as you save you and do it right now
by faith trusting in Him. And I want to encourage
you who believe us listen to me, carefully, listen.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
God knows I wish how to get this into your mind,
your heart, and your spirit.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
You'll never be able to grasp the total message of
what God wants you to understand until you are able
to sense within your spirit that all mighty, loving, righteous, holy,
merciful God loves.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
You today, yesterday, and every day, just the way you are.
He'll make of you something you cannot make of yourself.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
But he loves you the way you are. You'll never
be able to merit it. He wants you simply to
accept it and to live by his grace.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
As you heard in doctor Stanley's message, God loves you,
and he sacrificed his son to make it possible for
us to have a relationship with him. When you believe
in Jesus Christ, trusting him to forgive your sin, you
receive his gift of salvation. To listen again, click today
on radio at in Touch dot O RG, and that's
(20:26):
where you'll find more information about what it means to
be a Christian. And if you'd like to have a
copy of doctor Stanley's complete message, you can order it
from our online bookstore. The title is God Loves You
Just as you are.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Or order our.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Teachings at the Encouraging Message from the Cross. Our web
address again is in Touch dot RG or call one
eight hundred in Touch. You can also write to us
at in Touch Post Office Box seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia,
three zero three five seven. Being patient and trusting God's
(21:04):
timing can be difficult, but it's rewarding. Today's moment with
Charles Stanley is just ahead the.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Cross was not something that God gave us as upon
of decoration. The Cross is the message of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
But what is it about the message of the Cross
that can transform you every day of your life. In
his new book, The Gift of the Cross, Doctor Charles
Stanley walks us through scripture to show us how to
see the Cross in a new light. The Gift of
the Cross Order yours today at InTouch dot org slash store.
In Touch Plus is streaming on Local Now featuring all
(21:44):
the best of doctor Charles Stanley.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
We had to have strong convictions based on the word
of God. He's working out things that you and I
would never know about in our future.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
In Touch Plus your streaming network for a quality Christian
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Speaker 5 (22:08):
Each month you'll find encouragement from doctor Charles Stanley's personal
letter from the Pastor's Heart. Each letter features valuable biblical
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Pastor's Heart called one eight hundred in Touch, you're.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Listening to in Touch. The believer who waits for God's
perfect timing likely represents him. Well, here's a moment with
Charles Stanley.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
When you and I are patient, we see God work
in our life. When we're patient, we don't jump ahead
of God and we do exactly what he says. What
happens is we begin to see how He works things out.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Then what we do we.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Compare how we were going to work it out versus
how God works it out.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
And here's what you'll conclude.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
You'll conclude every time God's way is the best way,
he always has a better way. So one of the
first things that happens is we see God at work
in our life. A second one is this the strong
testimony we have of God's faithfulness to other people.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
When you and I are patient.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
In very difficult circumstances, people watch.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
They watch how you respond, They watch about what you say.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
They watch how you not only respond, but the way
you act to what other people. If you blame God,
if you get bitter, if you get resentful, if you
get hostile, if you talk about what should have been,
what could be, or do you faithfully patiently wait for
God to correct the situation or whatever it might be
in your life. But we have an awesome opportunity to
have a strong testimony.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
You'll find help with maintaining a strong Christian life at
in touch dot org. And if this program has encouraged
you to let Jesus be more visible in your life,
please tell us your story. Next week on in Touch,
the Cross of Jesus Christ proclaims God's love for us
next week ends. Encouraging message from the Cross is that
(24:05):
you can be forgiven. I hope you'll join us then
for in Touch the Teaching ministry of doctor 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.
When you preach the cross, he says to sum it's foolishness,
But unto us what who understand the meaning of the cross?
The cross is not a symbol that somebody hangs.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
On their wall.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Once we grasp the message of the cross, we will
see it as a symbol of the power of God
to redeem us from our sins and to deliver us
from what we were before we met the Lord Jesus
Christ as our savior.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Welcome to in Touch The teaching ministry of doctor Charles
Stanley and the beginning of his series The Encouraging Message
from the Cross? Does God love everyone the same? Does
it change anything if you're living in sin or unbelief?
The first encouraging message from the Cross will cover is
that God's love for us is unconditional.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
Whenever you see a cross on a church people.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
What do you think? Whenever you see a book with
a cross on the cover, what do you think?
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Whenever you walk up to someone and you see a
cross around their neck?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
What do you think?
Speaker 1 (01:14):
Most people's understanding of the message of the cross is
a small fraction of what God.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Intended for us to understand.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
If you ask the average person, what does the cross
mean to you, they would say, the cross means to
me that my sins have been forgiven.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Well what else? Well, you know, what else do you need?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
Man?
Speaker 2 (01:33):
If his sins are forgiven, that's it.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
But that's only a very small part of what transpired
at the cross.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
And so I want us to look at the first.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Message of the cross, and a very encouraging message, and
that's this. The message of the Cross is that God
loves you.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
And me just the way we are.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
And if you recall some things that Paul had to
say about the cross, look if you will, in Galatians
chapter six for a moment he said on one occasion
in this sixth chapter and the fourteenth verse, knowing that
he was of the tribe of Benjamin, a tremendous heritage,
in his background, great position, everything that a man could
ever want a leader among his people, Paul said that
(02:17):
he discovered in life that there was only one thing
that he had ever discovered that he could brag about,
only one thing he could glory in, only one thing
that he could boast of.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And this is what he said. It is verse fourteen.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
But God forbid that I should glory in anything except
the cross.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
He says, by whom this world has been crucified to me,
that is, the world has lost.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Its pull and tug.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
And secondly he says, an eye unto the world.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
If you will examine.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
The preaching and the teaching of the apostle Paul, it was.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
All centered around the cross.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Read the Book of Galatians, Read the Book of Philippians,
Read the Book of Ephesians, read the Book of Colossians.
The Cross of Jesus Christ permeates and saturates every single
thing Paul had to say, because he was able to
grasp but the gift of the Holy Spirit, the work
that God did at the cross, more than forgiveness, much
(03:19):
more than forgiveness that is there. And I believe the
first message that He's sent out of the cross is
this that God loves you and me just the way
we are. That is, listen to care for now less
you misunderstand. There is absolutely nothing you can do that
(03:39):
will ever cause God to love you any more than
you are loved already. But man's response to the love
of God, if it is the wrong response, will deny
him and cheat him and deprive him out of all
that God's gracious and wonderful love has provided for it.
One of the most diff diffical things the believers have
(04:02):
to learn is that God loves them with no exceptions,
no butts, and no is Now I want you to see,
first of all, he had a description of the people
whom God loves unconditionally all through the scripture. He tells you,
But look in Romans chapter five for a moment. Look
if you will. Beginning in verse six, he says, for
(04:27):
when you and I were yet yet without strength, that
means we were absolutely and totally helpless. You said, well,
I've never felt that a way. Well, my friends, you
cannot forgive yourself of your sins. God must forgive us
of our sin. There is a sense in which we
must forgive ourselves after we receive the Lord's forgiveness.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
He says. But when you and I were without strength, that.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Is, we were helpless to do anything whereby we could
become acceptable to God. He said, when you and I
were down and counted out, what did he do? In
due time? Christ died for the ungodly? He said, He
loves the helpless when they have been counted out. Secondly,
(05:11):
he says, his love is expressed toward the ungodly. Now,
what does the word ungodly mean. It doesn't mean just
one a person who refuses or cannot perform godly acts.
But you recall in the Bible, the scripture says that
you and I were created in the image of God.
But sin at the very beginning destroyed what God intended
(05:32):
for man to have, and that is the image of God.
So this word ungodly here means listen, that the image
of God has been defaced in every single one of us,
so that we don't radiate God until something happens in
our life. He says, he loves those who are helpless
to help themselves. He loves those who are ungodly. And
(05:53):
in verse eight he says, but God commended his love,
told us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Bros. Now listen. A sinner is one.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
Who is rebellious toward God. A sinner is one who
has transgressed the law of God, that is, he stepped
over the boundary of what God allows. A sinner is one,
the Scripture says, who has fallen short of the glory
of God. A sinner is one who is living according
to the dictates of self of the flesh. God says
(06:26):
he loves the helpless. God says he loves the ungodly.
He says he loves the sinner. But if you'll notice
in verse ten, For if when we were en himies, listen,
while we were enemies, we were reconciled unto God, how
by the death of his son, much more being reconciled,
we should be saved by his life. Now what does
(06:48):
he mean by an enemy? If somebody who says, well,
wait a minute, I was saved when I was twelve
years of age, I not even thought about being an
enemy of God. But now here's the thing that you
and I have to remember. And this is why so
many people do not understand the truth.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Of the Gospel.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
When the Bible says the heart of a man is
deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, God looks in
the heart of that lad as well as a forty
year old man.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
The difference is this, the.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Twelve year old boy has not been thrust into the circumstances,
has not lived into the situation whereby all of that
deceit and desperate wickedness has had the opportunity to express itself.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
But it is all there. We were born with a
bent away from God. And here's the man.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
Who's lived to be twenty five or thirty five or sixty,
and all that was there comes out. It comes out
in all different forms. So we look around and say,
how good people are? God says, the heart is deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
So when you look at these four.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Descriptions, he says, God has commended. God has shed his
love abroad in the heart of those who are helpless
to say themselves ungodly in their nature, transgressing, breaking, violating
the law of God, falling short of the glory of God,
rebelling against God, enemies of God. But look, if you
(08:13):
will turn over to chapter three in the Book of
Romans and listen, here's how he describes the unbeliever. Verse
ten says, as it is written, there's none righteous, no,
not one. There's none that understand it. There's none that
seeketh after God. They're all going out of the way.
They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, No,
not one that is within a man's self. He cannot
(08:36):
do anything good enough to be saved. Goodness is not
within mankind by his innate ability and character.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
Look in verse thirteen.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Their throat is an open seplica, that means it's full
of death.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
With their tongues they have.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
Used deceit, and the poison.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Of snakes is under their lips.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Whose mouth is full of cursing and biddeness their feet
us script to shed blood, destruction and measuring their ways
and the way of peace?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Have they not known? Look in Titus, if you will slip.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
On over to first and two Timothy and Titus right
before Fillyma and Hebrews. There Titus chapter three and verse three.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Look at this verse.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
For we ourselves also were sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving
that is, being bound by enslaved by various kinds of
lust and drives and pleasures, living in malice and envy,
hateful and hating one another. But after that the kindness
and the love of God, our Savior, toward man appeared.
(09:39):
Now all of these verses I give something to say
when somebody asks what kind of people is it that
God loves? I just read your description of them.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Not any of us want to be like any of that.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
But the truth is all of us have been and
if you take the spirit of God out of our lives,
any one of us, we will all resort to some
form of the same kind of sinfulness and wickedness we
just read about. God's viewpoint of the human heart is
we are helpless sinners, ungodly enemies of God, full of filth,
(10:13):
junkie stuff, spiritually trash. He says, unrighteousness like filthy rags,
and all these specific sins, living by the desires of
the flesh, driven by the drives of the human nature,
living for the five senses. He says, that's the way
humanity is. And he says the message of the Cross
is that Almighty God looked down at this world and
(10:33):
saw all the wickedness and the sin and the vileness
of humanity. And God said, I love every single one
of them, unconditionally and eternally. And you see, somehow, until
the people of God are able to receive and accept
and grasp that Almighty God's love is unconditional, it is unmerited,
(10:58):
it is unlimited. Until we're able to grasp the fact
that He reached down and loves you when there was
not anything, listen, anything in you that caused motivated.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
God to reach down and love you not a thing.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
God reached down and expressed his love to you andto me,
not because of what he saw with than us, but
because it is his nature to love, and because his
love knows no limits and no boundaries, and no exceptions
and no conditions.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Listen, God loves.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Every single human being on the face of this earth,
knowing that the vast majority of them will reject him
all the way to the grave, he still loves them.
What do you and our quote been quoting all of
our life for God so.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Love the world. But what we believe is do we
take that word world? And you know what we do?
Speaker 1 (11:56):
We lose ourselves in this vast host of seal humanity,
and somehow we see ourselves as is just one little
greater of sand on these beaches. And what am I
amidst God's love? And I want to tell you something,
my friend. You look in the Bible. When God is
talking to somebody, he's talking to individuals.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
He loves you and you and you and you and
you and you and you.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
And I want to tell you something this morning, and
I want you to hear it clearly, because I want
to tell you that I'm going to be misunderstood. God
loves every single one of us the way we are,
and he loves us that way. Listen, if you never improve,
and I want to tell you something else, you.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
Are not going to improve. You can't improve.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
You know why, because you can't improve old self. That's why,
Almighty God sin is only begotten son. One of the
messages of the Cross is not only that he loves us,
but he delivered us. How did he deliver us by
coming in the Holy Spirit to live within us, to
dwell through us because he knew we could never be
any better. We were never do any better. And you
(12:57):
can't improve self. Listen, God loves you just the way
you are, and he knows you don't have the slightest
chance in the world of improving you.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
And I'm gonna prove that real simple. Just about the.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
Time you've got some area improve, what happens, He just
lets the devil pool the road gap mone you. To
show you, friend, there's not one single area of your
life you have victim about Jesus Christ, not a one.
And that's the kind of folks he loves. And how
has he demonstrated that love to you and to me?
He's demonstrated in so many ways. Look, I want you
(13:33):
to look at two words here. Look if you will,
First of all, in verse six, for when we were
yet without strength and due time, Christ died for the ungodly,
for scarcely for.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
A righteous man. One dot.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
He said, for example, hardly for a good man. Will
anybody lay down his life, yet peradventure for a good man,
some would even dare to die.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
He says, No.
Speaker 1 (13:54):
Look, you're gonna find somebody every once in a while
who has enough valor and courage, who has enough love
to lay down his life for a good man, But
who would lay down his life for his most vicious aenemen,
he says, God in his son Jesus Christ, listen, he
didn't wait until you improved.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
He died for your sins and my sins. He says.
He's died for people who were ungod while they.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
Run God sinners, while they were sinners. We while there
we enemies, while they are still anemy. He's not waiting
for us to improve. Jesus Christ died on the cross
out of his love for you and me, while we.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Were still in the pits. He died for you and me.
Speaker 1 (14:38):
Listen, God, in his love, reaching down to mankind, demonstrating
how in the way that has.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
Never been exceeded.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
The incomparable demonstration of God's unconditional.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Law for you and me was the Cross.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Anything else God could have done would never I have
said what the Cross has said, because the truth is
that God himself and all of his holiness and all
of his righteousness came down in his son Jesus Christ,
into a world that he knew would persecute him and
eventually cause him to experience the worst death a man
(15:16):
could ever experience, crucifixion. You're going to tell you how
much God loves you. God loves you and me enough
to have sent his son to the cross, knowing that
his son, who had lived in everlasting and eternal fellowship
with him up until that time, was going to experience
what he had never experienced before, what God didn't want
(15:37):
any man on earth to ever experience. He sent him
that the world may not have to experience it. He
sent him to deliver us from experiencing it. He sent
him to the cross to die on the cross. And
the thing about the Cross that best demonstrates the love
of God is not nails.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
In his hand.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
Listen the crown of thorn's hurt, and the nails tore
his ligaments and his tendons and his muscle, and the
bone and the blood, and it ate and it pained.
And every time he tried to breathe hanging up on
that cross, it was painful. And the dryness of his lips,
(16:17):
the parching of his tongue, the difficulty of breathing.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Moment by moment he died. But that wasn't the.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
Thing that demonstrated God's love. What demonstrated God's love is
that God Almighty turned his back upon his only begotten
son and let him pace death for every man. That
is the greatest demonstration of God's love. With all of
his omnistions and all of his knowledge in the wisdom
of Almighty God, God said, what can I do that
(16:47):
will best demonstrate to my enemies, to the ungoded, to
the sinners, to the unrighteous.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
What can I best do to.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
Demonstrate the world so they'll never forget how much I
love them? He sent his only begotten son to die
on the cross.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
You know why Pauls has only had one message, and
it's the cross.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Because everything God has ever done for you, and everything
that he'll ever do for you, and everything that'll ever
come your way from God will come through the cross
of Jesus Christ to your life. The message of the
(17:32):
Cross is that God loves you just like you are.
He'll take you just like you are. He'll forgive you
of every sin in your life. And some of you
have been saying, well, I want to be saved and
I want to get right with God, but there's some
things I have to correct.
Speaker 2 (17:49):
I want to tell you something.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
This is what Jesus said. I'm not come to call
the righteous. I've not come to call those who improving themselves.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
You can't improve yourself.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Everything you have, everything you are, every single hope you
will ever.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Have comes through the cross of Jesus Christ. And he's
saying to.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
An unbelieving, doubting, frustrated, hurting, lonely world, God, the Father, God,
the Son, God, the Spirit loves you just the way
you are. And I want to ask you today, have
you ever asked the Lord Jesus Christ to forgive you
of your sins based on what he did at the cross.
(18:29):
Are you willing to accept the unconditional love of God.
I don't care what you've done doesn't make a difference
where you've been. Do's make a difference how deep down
into it you are. I want to tell you that
Almighty God loves you, and he has a place for
you and a plan for your life. And what He's
asking of you today is to accept His son, Jesus Christ,
(18:51):
because you see all that.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
God has comes to the Son.
Speaker 1 (18:56):
And order for God to be able to give to
you and to me all that the Son has, we
have to come to the cross acknowledging our sinfulness, our wickedness,
our unworthiness, and by.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Faith receiving Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
I want to encourage you, my friend, to accept Jesus
Christ as you save you and do it right now
by faith trusting in Him. And I want to encourage
you who believe us listen to me, carefully, listen.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
God knows I wish how to get this into your mind,
your heart, and your spirit.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
You'll never be able to grasp the total message of
what God wants you to understand until you are able
to sense within your spirit that all mighty, loving, righteous, holy,
merciful God loves.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
You today, yesterday, and every day, just the way you are.
He'll make of you something you cannot make of yourself.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
But he loves you the way you are. You'll never
be able to merit it. He wants you simply to
accept it and to live by his grace.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
As you heard in doctor Stanley's message, God loves you,
and he sacrificed his son to make it possible for
us to have a relationship with him. When you believe
in Jesus Christ, trusting him to forgive your sin, you
receive his gift of salvation. To listen again, click today
on radio at in Touch dot O RG, and that's
(20:26):
where you'll find more information about what it means to
be a Christian. And if you'd like to have a
copy of doctor Stanley's complete message, you can order it
from our online bookstore. The title is God Loves You
Just as you are.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
Or order our.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
Teachings at the Encouraging Message from the Cross. Our web
address again is in Touch dot RG or call one
eight hundred in Touch. You can also write to us
at in Touch Post Office Box seventy nine hundred, Atlanta, Georgia,
three zero three five seven. Being patient and trusting God's
(21:04):
timing can be difficult, but it's rewarding. Today's moment with
Charles Stanley is just ahead the.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Cross was not something that God gave us as upon
of decoration. The Cross is the message of the Gospel
of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
But what is it about the message of the Cross
that can transform you every day of your life. In
his new book, The Gift of the Cross, Doctor Charles
Stanley walks us through scripture to show us how to
see the Cross in a new light. The Gift of
the Cross Order yours today at InTouch dot org slash store.
In Touch Plus is streaming on Local Now featuring all
(21:44):
the best of doctor Charles Stanley.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
We had to have strong convictions based on the word
of God. He's working out things that you and I
would never know about in our future.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
In Touch Plus your streaming network for a quality Christian
programming twenty four to seven Now watch this in Touch
Plus streaming free on Local Now.
Speaker 5 (22:08):
Each month you'll find encouragement from doctor Charles Stanley's personal
letter from the Pastor's Heart. Each letter features valuable biblical
insight and inspirational messages to share to receive from the
Pastor's Heart called one eight hundred in Touch, you're.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Listening to in Touch. The believer who waits for God's
perfect timing likely represents him. Well, here's a moment with
Charles Stanley.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
When you and I are patient, we see God work
in our life. When we're patient, we don't jump ahead
of God and we do exactly what he says. What
happens is we begin to see how He works things out.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
Then what we do we.
Speaker 1 (22:53):
Compare how we were going to work it out versus
how God works it out.
Speaker 2 (22:57):
And here's what you'll conclude.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
You'll conclude every time God's way is the best way,
he always has a better way. So one of the
first things that happens is we see God at work
in our life. A second one is this the strong
testimony we have of God's faithfulness to other people.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
When you and I are patient.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
In very difficult circumstances, people watch.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
They watch how you respond, They watch about what you say.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
They watch how you not only respond, but the way
you act to what other people. If you blame God,
if you get bitter, if you get resentful, if you
get hostile, if you talk about what should have been,
what could be, or do you faithfully patiently wait for
God to correct the situation or whatever it might be
in your life. But we have an awesome opportunity to
have a strong testimony.
Speaker 3 (23:44):
You'll find help with maintaining a strong Christian life at
in touch dot org. And if this program has encouraged
you to let Jesus be more visible in your life,
please tell us your story. Next week on in Touch,
the Cross of Jesus Christ proclaims God's love for us
next week ends. Encouraging message from the Cross is that
(24:05):
you can be forgiven. I hope you'll join us then
for in Touch the Teaching ministry of doctor 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.
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