Welcome to the InTouch podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, July 8th. Do you recognize when you're hearing the truth or when falsehood flips in? Today's podcast emphasizes the importance of knowing what you believe by clearly identifying the core Christian beliefs. Does it matter what you believe? It certainly does because it affects every single area of our life.
Now the problem is most people sort of know what they believe about some things or maybe most things, but being able to express what they believe and being able to share it with someone else is oftentimes different. For the simple reason that they're not exactly sure what they believe. And oftentimes people will say, well, Yes, I do have my set of beliefs, but I'm not even sure exactly what I ought to believe. There's so many ideas about the Bible and so many ideas about the Christian life and who God is and who Jesus is and the spiritual gifts and so forth. What am I to believe?
How am I to believe it?
Well in this message, here's what I'd like to do. I want to talk about this whole idea of a belief system, and I want to give you a pattern of a belief system. That is, I want to give you a list of things that certainly should be a part of your belief system. That is, what you believe. those things that govern and guide your lifestyle and how you operate.
So what I'd like to do in this is simply to give you That which I believe in the scriptures, but also A comprehensive grasp of what the Bible says about the major issues. Each one of these should be a part of your belief system. Let's begin with the Bible. The Bible is the unfolding revelation of God of Himself. Through his spoken word, And as he intervened in history and in nature, and finally coming into this world as the God-man.
Therefore, when we think in terms of the scripture, we think in terms of the Bible being the Bible says it is inspired in 2 Timothy chapter 3. What does he mean by inspired? Inspired means it was God-breathed. What does it mean God-breathed? It means that God chose individuals.
He chose these men according to their spirituality. He chose them according to their background, where they were, and what God wanted to say at this particular time in history. And when the Bible says that these words that God breathed, it means that God spoke to them. They wrote the words that God spoke to them. And what we have in the scripture is the word of God.
When you and I think about what we hold in our hand, we hold in our hand the word of the living God, the self-revelation of God, which He gave through these men.
Now, what was His purpose for doing so? His purpose for doing so, according to the Scriptures, is this: that you and I may grow in our relationship to Him. The Bible says that we may practice righteousness. That is, this is God's instruction book. God has given us this book as an instruction book.
That is, it is our final authority for our faith, what we believe. It is the final authority in our life for how we are to carry out our life.
So in conduct and faith, this is the final authority.
So the Bible is the unfolding, it's the record of the unfolding revelation of God of himself. The second word is the Godhead. What do you mean by Godhead?
Well, there is one God. But that one God Expresses himself. In three ways, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. That is three distinct persons of the Trinity. And that is what we call it, the Trinity.
If you'll recall, for example, in Genesis chapter 1, verse 2, the Spirit of God is hovering over the creation. In the 26th verse of that first chapter, the Bible says that God said, Let us make man in our image, who is us. It certainly is not angels, angels are not creators. It is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. You'll recall, for example, in the Great Commission, the Bible says we're to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Certainly they would not have been there if they were not also God. You'll recall that Jesus said in the 14th chapter of John, in the eighth verse, he said that the Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, Jesus mentioning all three persons of the Godhead. And so when we think in terms of God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit making up the Godhead, each and every one of those, the Father, Son, the Spirit, are equal. All their attributes are the same. All of them are divine.
So it's not a matter of having three gods. It is a matter of having one God who is an expression or exists in three persons. And that is God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, all three of whom have all the same attributes. Third word. The third word is God the Father.
Our belief system should not only include what the Bible is and the Trinity, but also God the Father.
Now, for example, in Ephesians chapter 4, the Bible talks about one Lord and one God over all. And you'll recall, for example, in Genesis chapter 1, verse 1, the Bible says, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Who is this God? This is God our Father. You'll recall also in Matthew chapter 6, in the Sermon on the Mount, when the disciples were asking him to show them how to pray.
What did he say? He says, This is the way you are to pray. Our Father who art in heaven. Jesus came to reveal the Father.
Now, who is this Father? This is the God of the Bible, the Father of the Bible. He is eternal. He is unchangeable. He is absolutely perfect in his justice.
He is absolutely holy. He is the God of goodness and love and mercy and kindness and grace and forgiveness. He is the sovereign God of this universe, which means that he is in absolute control of every single thing. God the Father is in control of everything that happens in this universe. When you and I come to Romans 8, 28, the Bible says that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who call according to His purpose, who is it that is executing, who is it that is overseeing all of these things to make them good?
God the Father, our Heavenly Father watching over us.
So that when we think in terms of what is the relationship of our God to the Son, Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. God the Father is his Father. And so each one of us who has trusted Jesus Christ is our personal Savior, we too are the sons and daughters of God, so that therefore you and I can call God our Father. Our Heavenly Father. That is the way Jesus said you and I are to address our prayers.
Then of course there is God the Son, God the Father, God the Son. Who is God the Son? This is the eternal Son of God, Jesus the Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Born of a virgin, according to Luke chapter 1, who existed in times past even before he came into this world, because John chapter 1, verse 1 says, In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. And that word was there simply means this: that from the beginning of time, when you start the beginning of time, before that, Jesus Christ was, that is, he was in existence then.
He was in a face-to-face relationship with God the Father.
So, when we talk about this whole idea of Jesus coming the world, who is it that came? Who came was God the Son, that is, God incarnate. Jesus Christ came into this world, sent by the Father, He says. He sent Him into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Therefore, Jesus Christ came into this world for the primary purpose.
He says, I came to seek and to save that which is lost. I came that men might have life and have it more abundantly.
So, He came for some very specific reasons. He came to die on the cross for your sin and mine. What He did on the cross is the cross. The cross was that he fulfilled God's requirement for justice against sin. And the penalty of sin is death.
Someone had to die for sin who was absolutely sinless. And so Jesus Christ, who is the virgin-born sinless Son of God, came as the Lamb of God to lay down his life on the cross of Calvary in order to pay your sin debt and mine in absolute and complete fullness. Therefore, When we think in terms of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we think in terms of Him as our Savior, our Lord, our Master, our King, and our reigning King who will reign forever. And so you and I have God the Father, God the Son. Then there is God the Holy Spirit.
Who is this Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is a person of the Trinity, as divine, with the same attributes that God the Father and God the Son have. And The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit, in the second verse, the first chapter of Genesis, was hovering over the creation. He oftentimes in the Old Testament would come upon individuals and anoint them for the work that they were called to do. Oftentimes you'll hear people refer to the Holy Spirit as an it.
The Holy Spirit is just as much a person as God the Father and God the Son. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came to do what? To baptize the church or to place the church into the and make them the body of Christ. He came at Pentecost to indwell every single believer from that point on. In the Old Testament, he would come and he would go in people's lives.
Beginning at Pentecost, he came to anoint and he came to indwell every single believer. He came to glorify the Father. It was the beginning, as we say, of the church. And so, when the Holy Spirit came, he came for that very specific reason.
Now, the Holy Spirit has many ministries. And if you'll think in terms of the ministries of the Holy Spirit, what you'll discover is this. You'll discover that as you and I look at our lives and in each area of inadequacy in which we find ourselves, we find that the Holy Spirit, who is indwelling every believer, is there to meet our need. He's the one who regenerates. Listen, he's the one who brings about regeneration or salvation in our life.
The Bible speaks in terms of the Holy Spirit as a person, as one who is involved in our salvation. For example, Jesus said in the 16th chapter of John, He says the Holy Spirit will come, He will come for this reason. To convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. What does he mean by that? That he will come to convict the world of their sinfulness, that he will convict us of the righteousness of Christ as the only thing and the only person who is adequate to die for our sins.
And thirdly, he will come to convict us of the judgment of God which is to come. Every single believer indwelt by him. Every single believer gifted by him. Every single believer. Enabled, listen, anointed and empowered by the Holy Spirit to do any and everything God would call us and would have us to do.
That is the work and the ministry of the Spirit. Then the next part that you should have, the next word you should have in your belief system is creation. The Bible says in Genesis chapter 1: In the beginning God created. And what I want you to remember is this: that God created everything directly. He created directly by his power.
The Bible says he created man in his own image. He created the heavens and the earth. And in Genesis, chapter 1 and 2 is God's account of how he created all things. And no scientist has ever been able to discredit one single verse of chapters 1 and 2 in the way that God said he created all things. And if you'll recall one of the key verses in that, he says, And each thing, listen, multiplied or reproduced itself after a very important phrase, after its kind.
Which means that God's creation was direct and personal. God is the one who created this universe and everything in it, and He's the one who is in absolute control. And the scripture said in Colossians chapter 1, also that Jesus Christ was in a part of that creation, and He's the one who sustains it and keeps it together. The next word you to jot down is this, and that is man. What about man?
Well, the Bible says that man was created in the image of God, Genesis chapter 1, verse 26. Man is created in the image of God. And God created man for what reason? To love him, to have fellowship with him, and to be glorified in man, and for man to serve him.
Well, what happened? The Bible says in Genesis chapter 3 that man fell into sin in the Garden of Eden. Tempted by Satan, man disobeyed God. When man disobeyed God, something happened to his relationship.
Something happened to his very nature. The sinless, perfect nature that man had in the very beginning in the garden, he lost it. When sin entered his life, his whole nature became corrupt. And that corrupt nature separated man from God.
So that every person today that is born of this world is born of this world with a sinful nature. This is why little children at the age of two and three, who know nothing about sin as such, nothing about God as such, will absolutely, deliberately look you in the eye. And as soon as you turn your back, they will do exactly what you said not to do. Why? As loving and as sweet as your children as grandchildren are, they have a poor, sinful nature.
Sorry about that. They have a sinful nature. and if you do not discipline them, they'll grow up and break your heart. And so what happens is that man was born with a sinful nature, and therefore all of us came into this world as sinful beings. Man is a fallen creature, though created in the image of God, we are fallen creatures.
And therefore, as a result of that, The result of what happened in the garden, every single person, listen, from that point on was born with a sinful nature, separated from God because God who is absolutely holy cannot look upon that which is absolutely sinful. And so what did God do? God responded, listen, not because he reacted, but knowing what was going to happen beforehand, God of course provided something for man's sinful nature and for man's sinful being.
So that man in his sinful condition is absolutely, totally incapable. Listen, he cannot merit enough, nor can he do enough works, nor can he ever get good enough to save himself. And the fallacy and one of the counterfeits and the lies of Satan is this, that if you do enough good works that outweigh the evil in your life, then surely you'll go to heaven when you die. And that kind of lie covers up and is very deceptive for this reason. The issue is not my bad works, the issue is my nature.
Man, by his very nature, is a sinful being. Man, by his very nature, has bent away from God. What redemption does is to so work in a person's life is to change their nature. This is why the very idea that when a person says, well, I look at the good things I've done in my life and I look at the evil, and surely as I look at my life, my life, I have so many much better things over here, and many more good things over here than I have bad things over here. You mean to tell me when I stand before God, He's going to ignore the good things that I've done and let me down and go to hell when I've been as good as I could be, the issue is not your goodness.
Now, listen carefully. This is very important. The issue is not your works. The issue is your nature. You are a sinful being, and until God changes your spirit, and gives you a new spirit and a new nature and a new heart, you are eternally separated from Almighty God.
That is what man is all about. Man cannot do anything to help himself in any fashion to make himself acceptable in the eyes of a holy God.
Now, if you take this God the Father and bring him down to a human level and make him to be someone who's like a grandfather who ignores and overlooks sin, you may get him to agree with that. But that is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is a wonderful, loving, heavenly Father. But he's a God of justice. He's a God of love.
Yes, he is also a holy God who cannot look upon sin. That's why He sent the Lord Jesus Christ to do for mankind, to redeem mankind from a sinful condition from which man could not in any way escape apart from the love of God and the grace of God.
Well Certainly the next word that should be in your belief system is the word salvation. What is salvation? Salvation. Is the gift of God's grace whereby He provides forgiveness for your sin and my sin. That is what salvation is all about.
Now, how did he bring this to pass? The Bible says that Jesus said it this way. He says, I've come into the world to seek and to save that which is lost and that men might have life and have it more abundantly. He said, I did not come to be served, but I came to serve. He said, I came.
How did he come? He says, he came as the Lamb of God. You recall that John down by the river said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is the eternal Son of God. And our salvation Is wrapped up in, absolutely related to, related to nothing else but the person of Jesus Christ.
He says, if I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus Christ is Lord, thou shalt be saved. And you remember what Paul says: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Everywhere you turn in the Bible, salvation is the result of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
Salvation is not good works. A person who is saved does good works. Salvation isn't believing something necessarily. Salvation is receiving by faith Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the eternal Son of God, virgin-born, conceived of the Spirit, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, believing Jesus Christ as personal Savior. That's what brings about all of our forgiveness.
There is no forgiveness in this world apart from Him. There is no acceptance before Almighty God in any form or fashion by Ignoring, rejecting, trying to get to God in some fashion apart from Jesus Christ. If that were true, then God the Father would have made the biggest blunder in all of history. That is, if He sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross to pay for your sins and mine, and that wasn't necessary, you and I could be good enough ourselves, then God made a blunder. And therefore, because He sent Him, we know that was the only way for man to be saved.
Jesus Christ came into this world to die for our sins. Salvation is the gift of Almighty God, offered to all men everywhere, those who will place their faith in Him. The Bible says, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me.
And my friend, no matter what you believe, no matter how much you try to believe it, how good you try to be, if you reject the Son of God, there's no salvation. If you reject Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord, when you die, there is absolutely no hope of salvation. There's not a single verse in this book that says that in spite of the fact that you have rejected Jesus Christ, you're going to be saved. No. What He gives us, He gives us eternal security.
Eternal security is the work of God, whereby He guarantees that salvation, once received, is forever and cannot be lost. Eternal security is the work of God whereby he guarantees that the gift of salvation once received can never be lost. That's what salvation is all about. It isn't something that I get because of my behavior. It isn't something that I can keep because of my behavior.
It is a relationship. It is not something I believe. It isn't something I attend. It is not something I belong to. It is a personal relationship with the Son of God as a result of our simple faith in Him.
Uh Thank you for listening to The Pattern for What You Believe. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
