Welcome to the InTouch podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, June 16th. The Bible tells us that every person is uniquely created by God. and formed with a distinct need for him. Here's more on how God reveals himself and how you can respond. Of all the opportunities and privileges that you have been afforded in life, What privilege stands out above all the rest?
Somewhere along the way, all of us could probably look at some privilege and say, this stands out above all the rest. But how does the privilege of knowing God compared to those others. Knowing the God of creation. Knowing through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Knowing this God who created you, Who has saved you, who has a purpose and a plan for your life, who loves you unconditionally?
Where does that understanding and that knowledge compare to all the rest?
Well, I believe if you and I think about it carefully and accurately, we'll say the greatest privilege in life is to know God. through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Now there are lots of people who do not. There are lots of people who don't even want to. There are lots of people who give it absolutely no thought whatsoever. What they do not realize is this: the greatest tragedy in life. Is to live your life without the knowledge of God and to die without a knowledge of Him and to spend eternity eternally separated from God.
Somebody says, well, I just don't believe that's the way it is.
Well, you know what? Your denial of the truth does not change the truth. And that is one truth that many people will never be able to accept. that the denial of the truth does not change the truth. And so when I think about how much God has shown us about Himself, how much you and I can know, and yet how we oftentimes have allowed sin to corrupt the truth of the knowledge of God in our life.
That's what I'm going to talk about in this very, very, very important message because God has diagram. He has outlined. He has made it so crystal clear what happens when people turn away from the truth about himself. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Romans chapter 1. A very important chapter in the Bible.
In the book of Romans, Paul gives us about all the theology that you and I will ever be able to understand and far more. And he begins in this very first chapter dealing with this whole issue of the knowledge of God.
So, I want to begin by simply saying, first of all, that God has certainly provided a knowledge of Himself. He certainly desires that you and I know him, and because he desires that you and I know him, he's made it possible for man to know God.
So, I want you to begin, if you will, in verse 18 of this first chapter of Romans. And Paul says. For the wrath of God.
Now the wrath of God is God's punishment. Toward sin and evil. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness because. That which is known about God is evident within them. For God made it evident to them.
For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, speaking of the whole creation, so that they are without excuse. Listen to God's indictment. Against those who refuse the knowledge, the true knowledge of God.
Now Our Heavenly Father has revealed himself to us. In four ways. That is, He has given us knowledge of Himself in four ways. God desires that you and I know Him. And I want to remind you of what he says about his desire.
Jeremiah chapter 9, verse 23. Thus says the Lord. Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom. Let not the mighty man boast of his might. Let not a rich man boast of his riches.
But let him boast of this, that he understands and knows me. That I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth. For I delight in these things, declares the Lord. He says, I delight. That people know me.
So it is the will and purpose and plan of God that we know Him.
So now how has God chosen to make himself known?
Well, if you'll notice in this passage in Romans, he says, He has chosen to make himself known, first of all, through natural revelation, that is, the creation of the world.
Now notice what he says here. He says in verse 18, The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. For what reason? Because they suppress the truth in unrighteousness. That is, they are motivated by their sin to suppress the truth of who God is.
Because that which is known about God is evident within them, He made it evident to them. How did He do that? Since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes His eternal power. and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. What is he saying?
Simply this God says that he created this world, and in the creation itself He says, there is enough knowledge. God has revealed Himself enough in nature, that is in the creation itself, thereby He could render man totally inexcusable for His unbelief in God. God in His awesome creation. He created this world, this universe, and all that's out there. And what was he doing?
He was proclaiming, he was shouting, he was declaring to mankind: I am God. I have created all of this. And if you'll think about David for a moment, as he was a shepherd boy out there under the stars at night. Under the moon, during the day, in all kinds of weather. Go back, if you will, to Psalm 19 for a moment.
And he says different things in different ways about creation. But this is just one verse I want you to notice here. 19th chapter of the Psalms. Listen how he begins this first verse. He says, the heavens are telling, the heavens are singing, the heavens are shouting the glory of God, the greatness and the power and the might and the beauty, the majesty, the transcendence, and all of this about God.
He says, and their expanse is declaring the works of his hands. God in his creation has declared to us who he is. God in his creation has demonstrated to us what he can do. For example, in the eighth Psalm, look in the eighth chapter of the Psalms and verse 1. O Lord our Lord, how majestic is Thy name in all the earth, who has displayed Thy splendor above the heavens.
God has given us a creation, and in this creation He has demonstrated not only His power, but God in this creation has certainly given us knowledge about Himself.
So that he says this, God has given enough knowledge about himself. That God's verdict is this. God's verdict is man is inexcusable for his denial of the fact that there is a God. God created this world to bring glory to Himself, and He crowned His creation with the presence of man. He created man to crown his creation.
And he intends for man. To know him.
So, when those people talk about the fact, well, where did it come from?
Well, out of nowhere, out of eternity, we had this big explosion.
Well, What kind of law caused the explosion? What exploded? And where did what exploded come from. And one of the interesting things is that more and more scientists are beginning to say. There is no adequate explanation without a designer.
without a god. That God certainly created the heavens and the earth. And so, what I want you to see is: listen. even without a Bible. Even without a Bible.
Now listen carefully what I'm going to say. I'm not saying that creation is an adequate Sufficient Complete revelation of God, adequate for man to be saved simply because he believes in nature. No, I'm not saying that. But that creation Is an adequate testimony. To the reality and the presence of God, that man is inexcusable for his unbelief in God.
That's what he says. He says, therefore, he says, Verse 20: For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, wisdom, love, beauty and order. He says his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. If you believe the Bible, you have to believe that man is inexcusable for his unbelief in God. He's inexcusable.
Why? Because God says he's inexcusable, and the truth is. When you look around, You have to close your mind and believe something so microscopically that you cannot see out yonder beyond this to believe there is no God.
Now, the Apostle Paul dealt with this a couple of times, many times in the scripture, but look back, if you will, to. Acts chapter 14 for a moment. Look in Acts chapter 14. And in chapter 14, these first few verses here, the Apostle Paul has healed this man. And um As a result, naturally, every time they do something like that, they stir up the Jews and this Gentiles and everybody gets all stirred up and fired up and they want to throw them out of town.
So anyway, but this time what's happening, they want to make gods out of them. In uh verse uh 11 and 12, This man is healed and so They said, the gods have become like men and have come down to us. And they began to call Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes, which were two Greek gods. But in verse 15, Paul and Barnabas said, Wait a minute, what's going on here? And so they said in verse 15, Men, why are you doing these things, trying to call us gods?
We are also men of the same nature as you, and preach the gospel to you in order that you should turn from these vain things, these Greek gods, to a living God who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that's in them. Then you recall the 17th chapter. He again dealt with this whole issue again. 17th chapter, he's in Athens and walking through the streets, and of course, they're there always talking about all different kinds of philosophies and so forth, and they love to talk philosophy. And so, Paul comes upon the scene in verse 22.
Paul stood in the midst of the Oropagus and said, Men of Athens, I observe that you're very religious in all respects. Watch that. They believed in gods. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription to an unknown God. They had so many gods for fear that they would leave out one, they had an altar to an unknown God.
What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you: the God who made the world and all the things in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, neither is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gave to all life and breath and all things. And he made from one every nation and so forth. Paul dealt with the same issue. And that is men searching for truth. And so he says again and again: God in nature has revealed himself to mankind so that we are without, absolutely, totally without excuse for believing in God.
Now man's concepts of God are different and we come into that. But what I want you to see is that God's revealed himself. And so that's one way he has. Made it possible for us to know him. We can know certain things about him.
The second way. That God has revealed Himself so that we can know Him is through our conscience.
Now, look at, I want you to look at two verses. Look, if you will, back in this first chapter. He says Verse 19, because that which is known about God is evident within them. He's placed within man something that says there is a God. For God made it evident to them.
Then I want you to turn to the second chapter and look, if you will, beginning in the 14th verse. Paul is talking about the law of God and how it affects our lives and so forth. And so he says, For when Gentiles, that is, he considered the unbeliever, who do not have the law of God, do instinctively by nature the things of the law, These not having the law are law to themselves. He said, You know, when people abide by the law, that is, they do the things that are written in the law, they adhere to certain man-made or self-made laws. He says, in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternating, accusing or else defending them, here's what he's saying.
For example, in every culture there's a belief in some kind of God. Whether it's the sun, the moon, the beast, or whatever it might be. Not only that, within every person, God has placed a conscience. That conscience is a consciousness of the presence of Almighty God. He says He placed it in them.
He says, for example, when people do the things that are in the law, even though they didn't even have a law, why? Because God put it on their conscience. For example, you can look in any culture in the world, and there are certain things that are absolutely forbidden. Murder. Rape, stealing.
They don't need a Bible. They have a conscience. They don't even need nature. They have a conscience. God is placed in the conscience of every single person that certain things are wrong.
Certain things strike against man's conscience on the inside. And so, not only by creation, but by the very conscience that God has given us, we know the difference between right and wrong. And the more we understand who God is, the more we understand His laws, those concepts of right and wrong become very, very confined. But listen. Creation was not sufficient?
And the conscience is not sufficient, so what did he do? God the Father. who created this world, spoke to us about himself through creation. He spoke to us about himself and speaks to us about himself in our conscience. Then he made it even clearer because then, here's what God did.
in order to make it possible for man to know him best. God Came in the Son, in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is incarnate, God incarnate. That is, God took upon Himself human flesh. And he walked among men. Why did he come?
He says, he came in order to seek and to save that which is lost. He came that men might have life and have it more abundantly. He says, I have come to reveal the Father. Philip said to him, Show us the Father. Show us God the Father.
He said, Philip, have I been with you so long and you don't know the Father? He says, If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I and the Father are one. Jesus Christ was God in human flesh, walking among men, in order to help us to understand who God is and what He's like. Loving us unconditionally, forgiving men of their sins, healing them of their diseases, teaching them about how to live, teaching them about things to come, assuring us that there is a heaven beyond this life.
He says, I go to prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a place for you, coming again to receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Jesus Christ came to reveal the Father. He came in order that you and I may know God in the most complete fashion, in order that you and I may understand we can have a personal relationship with this God, that He's not some creator out yonder somewhere, some force. There is only one ultimate force in the world, and his name is Jehovah.
That's the only force there is in the world. But that will show you, that's an illustration of what I'm going to show you in a few moments. exactly where people are and they're thinking. God the Father sent His only begotten Son that you and I may know him. And know Him fully.
That's why we, who believers, can get so excited about telling you about Jesus Christ because we know. That once you understand who Jesus is, you'll begin to understand who God is in the most awesome fashion. It'll absolutely change your life, transform your life, give you a peace and joy and contentment in your life that you will never find anywhere with anyone under any condition on the face of this earth. It is not there apart from a true knowledge of who God is. But God wasn't satisfied with that.
He gave us some knowledge about himself and creation that was not adequate for salvation, but it showed us that man is absolutely inexcusable to believe there's no God. Then he gave it to us in our conscience, but even a conscience can be warped. Then he gave it to us in the presence of his Son Jesus Christ, and then God gave us this awesome book we call the Bible. What does the scripture say? The scripture says, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path.
The Bible says, The entrance of thy word gives light. Gives light about what? If I want to know what God is like, if I want to know who He is, listen, the best way for me to discover what God is like is to open this book, which, listen, which is God's Divine Unfolding. God's divine revelation. God's divine knowledge about Himself.
And so, therefore, God has given us His written word, the written revelation of Himself, and He gave us those Old Testament characters to live out. The truth that he taught them. He gave us the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels, and then in the Apostle Paul's life, He's given us these tremendous explanations of the life of Christ, the principles that Jesus Christ intended for us to understand, so that today a person can pick up a copy of the Word of God, the living Word of God, and begin to read it. You know what happened? You begin to understand who God is.
And in the Word of God, you and I can discover how to be forgiven of our sin. We can discover, listen, how to be born again. We can discover how to have a whole new destiny in life. We can understand the ways of God, the will of God, the purpose of God, the plans of God. When you open this book, this is God's revelation of Himself because God, listen, is absolutely committed to our understanding who He is because the greatest privilege in life is to know the living God through His Son, Jesus Christ.
No privilege greater than that. Thank you for listening to The Privilege Corrupted. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online 24-7 station. And if you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
