Standing Before God’s Open Door - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, October 6th. Are you investing the one life you've been given in things that really matter to God? Here's part one of Standing Before God's Open Door. This is the most exciting time in human history to be alive and serving the Lord. When I think about the awesome unparalleled door of opportunity that stands before us, to make an impact on the entire world for the gospel of Jesus Christ, I cannot be more excited. Every single believer should be excited about the possibilities of becoming involved in the most important thing in all the world.

That's what I want to talk about in this message entitled Standing Before God's Open Door. What do we find? What do we see?

What do we feel? Standing Before God's Open Door. First Corinthians chapter 16.

Let me give you a little background of what's happening. Paul has just finished describing the resurrection of Jesus Christ and its impact. And not only that, but also what will happen to us and our bodies when we die, when we are resurrected. Then in the 16th chapter, he begins with telling us some of his plans. He comes down to verse 8 and he says, speaking of where he has been writing this epistle from, he says, But I will remain in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

A wide door of effective service has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. Now Paul uses this whole idea of door as a figure of speech for opportunity. For example, he says something similar to that in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 12. He talks about how the Lord has opened the door for him in Troas.

And then in Colossians, that fourth chapter, a few verses there, he talks about asking the Colossians to pray for him for an open door for the truth. And so when we think about that and think about the fact that that's what an opportunity is, it's an open door. An opportunity is a favorable time in your life and mine to either participate in something or to accomplish and achieve something. And you and I know that opportunities are not static. They don't just stay there.

They come and they go. In fact, every single day of our life, you and I wake up every morning to new opportunities. Opportunities in our spiritual growth, opportunities in our vocation, opportunities in our relationship. Every day is filled with opportunities.

Now whether we take advantage of them or not is up to us. So when I think about what is implied in the very idea of an opportunity, certainly when I think about it from God's viewpoint, what is implied is the fact that God has a plan. That is, if God has provided an opportunity, that means that God has planned something. The second thing that's implied is this, that God has already gone on before because he is the one who opens the doors of opportunity for us. The third thing it says to me, the implication is that God is interested in accomplishing something in our life or through our life. And the fourth thing is this, that whatever door of opportunity he opens, it means that he's already committed to enabling you and me to walk through that door and achieve whatever God has in mind. Now all that leads me to think in terms of what the Apostle Paul said here and the awesome opportunity that stands before us.

Because if you'll notice what he said, he said there is a wide door for effective service that is open to me and there are, as he says, many adversaries. So I want us to think about this whole idea and it'll be rather easy for you to listen to this message and say, well, that's out yonder, that applies to someone else, so that's just talking about church. No, every single one of us has a responsibility because God opens doors for each of us individually. Then each one of us has a responsibility because, you see, God has a plan, a personal plan for every individual. That plan involves opportunities for us to grow spiritually, opportunities for our families, our friends, our vocation, our finances, whatever it might be. There are always opportunities there.

God is at work in your life and my life. And so when I think about this whole issue of opportunities, I'd like for us to think about it this way. And that is the open door that stands before us, the open door that stands before us today, the most awesome door in the history of humanity.

The most awesome door in the history of the church. Now, why would I say that? Simply this, because it is an unparalleled door of opportunity for the church. How do I say that?

Why? Because the most important thing going on in the history of humanity today, the most important thing in the mind of God, the most important thing that he intends for us to be on our mind is God's redemptive plan. That's the most important thing in the mind of God. There's nothing more important in the mind of God than the redemption of mankind.

It is the most important thing. And therefore, because it's the most important thing, certainly he intends for every single one of us to be involved in it. When you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal savior, you became involved in God's redemptive plan because you became a part of the body of Christ, a member of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, a part of the kingdom of God. And what is the work of the kingdom? The work of the kingdom, the work of the church is, he said, as you go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things that I've commanded you.

And he says, lo, I'll be with you all the way even at the end of this age. That is the mandate and the mission of the church. The mission of the church is not to be a social organization, though there is social functions that go on. It is not simply to be some organization of denomination, though there are organizations and denominations.

It is a body of people who are committed to the Lord Jesus Christ for the purpose of doing the most important thing in the history of humanity. The most important thing in the mind of God is the redemption of mankind. God is establishing and building his kingdom and he's building his kingdom not with organizations.

He's building his kingdom of people, people like you and me. So that the most important thing that's happening is God's redemptive plan. And because you and I have trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior and because we want to see that happen to other people, we are involved in the most important work in all the world. So, when I think about this dual of opportunity that Paul speaks of here in Corinthians, it's the same one he was referring to. It is an awesome dual of opportunity because that opportunity is the opportunity to involve people in the kingdom of God. That is to bring them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ whereby their life is transformed, their whole future and their whole destiny is changed. That's what God is up to and that's the thing in God's mind that's the most important thing going on in the history of humanity.

No matter what you watch on television, no matter how things change, no matter what new invention, new discovery, new event, what projections there may be, the most important thing going on today, tomorrow and until Jesus comes is the redemption of mankind, the salvation of man and the bringing man to the truth of who God is and what He's about in this world. An awesome door of opportunity. We have never had such a door of opportunity open to us. The second thing I want you to notice is Paul uses this term as a figure of speech. It is also a door of obligation. That is, we have an obligation. Not just to stand before that door, we have an obligation to walk through it. I think about what Paul said in Romans chapter 1.

Turn there for a moment. Romans chapter 1, he begins this whole epistle by talking about who Jesus is and his understanding of Him when he says in verse 4 that He was declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead according to the spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name's sake. Then, here's what he says, looking at His culture, looking at His background, seeing what that culture had contributed to Him and how God had worked in His life. He says in verse 14, I am, he says, therefore, under obligation both to Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.

So for my part, I'm eager to preach the gospel to you who also are in Rome. Then he says here, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, he says, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. He had this awesome sense of burden and sense of obligation.

Why? Because the gospel had reached him. His life had been transformed.

His whole destiny had been changed. He felt this obligation. So when I think about the awesome door that is before us, the wonderful opportunity, listen, the church of Jesus Christ has never, has never in its history ever had the possibility and the potential and the open door of opportunity to impact the entire world, no matter where they are on the face of this globe.

We have never had the opportunity we have at this particular time. We have an awesome obligation. Now listen carefully. When I think about this obligation and I think about what the scripture says in a particular song that we're going to look at in just a moment, this obligation is intensified in my mind when I read this passage. So I want you to go back, if you will, to Psalm 78 and I want us to look at a few verses here. And if you are a parent or if you are a grandparent or if you ever intend to be one, I want you to listen very, very carefully to this particular passage of scripture because as I think what the scripture says concerning our obligation and I think about what Paul felt in his own life and how God was working in his life and what motivated him, his love for the Lord Jesus Christ, the lost condition of mankind and the fact that God had commanded him, commanded him to preach the gospel, I think about what God has commanded each of us to do. All of us are on the personal obligation to share the truth that transforms men's lives and brings them out of darkness.

Listen, you can live in the brightness of this nation with physical light and the sunshine that God gives us and be walking in darkness every single day unless you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. So when I look at what God says here, look at the 78th Psalm. Let's begin the first verse. He says, Listen, O my people, to my instruction. Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable and I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known and our fathers have told us. Now listen carefully to this passage. We will not conceal them, that is these truths from our children, but we will tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord and his strength and his wondrous works that he has done. For he established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should teach to their children that the generation to come might know even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments and not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Now I want you to think about something. Every single society is only one generation from total paganism, because if each generation does not propagate the truth, if each generation does not instruct their children and their children's children, if they are not taught the truth, it will only take one generation for a nation to become totally pagan. It is the lack of that teaching and instruction that has caused us to be where we are at this time in history in the life of our own nation. We see disintegration morally everywhere. We see the effects in leadership. We see the effects in every aspect of our society, though there may be tremendous evidences of progress in so many ways. Morally, we are declining. Morally, it is very evident what's going on.

Why? There was a time, for example, in villages and cities all across this nation that children were carried to Sunday school. Their parents took them to Sunday school. There was a Bible on their table in the home. They instructed their children.

They took the Old Testament commands as well as the New Testament commands as an authoritative word from the living God to instruct their children the ways of God. And so what happened? They got busy. Parents began to be busy.

They began to be affluent. They sent them to schools. They sent them to nurseries.

And so what happens? Children are now growing up. They're not going to Sunday school because their parents do not go. They do not go to Bible study because their parents do not go.

They go to public schools and public colleges. They hear nothing, almost nothing, absolutely about God, Jesus Christ, or His Word. No sense of conviction about sin, but a very demoralizing kind of do what you please, when you please, as you please.

Criticism of the church, criticism of God, criticism of the things of God. And so what are we doing? We are raising up that generation that God has warned us that if we do not instruct our children and our grandchildren the ways of God, we will become a pagan nation. As we become affluent, what have we done? We have accepted as a lifestyle.

We've accepted as a way of life. Sin, disobedience, and rebellion toward God. And God says those yet to be born are to be instructed in the ways of God. That is not an option that is a divine obligation of every single parent who is alive to teach their children the truth of God's Word.

He says that the generation to come might know even the children yet to be born that they may arise and tell them to their children. We teach our children. They teach their children. They teach their children. That's the way the gospel of Jesus Christ has been propagated down through these centuries.

One telling one, parents telling their children, children telling their children, their grandchildren, their great-great-grandchildren. That's the way the gospel of Jesus Christ is penetrated in our society. But now we've become too busy.

Now we've become so affluent. Now we don't have time to instruct our children. Now we don't have time to talk to our grandchildren. Now we don't have time to spend time with our children opening the Word of God. Well, we let the preacher do that. Listen, there is no preacher, no pastor in the world who can take, listen, the place of a father and a mother, a granddad or a grandmom who can teach their children the ways of God first by their life, second by instruction, thirdly by simply saying to them, here's what God has done in my life.

Giving the illustrations of God's work in your life. You cannot give that responsibility to someone else. We have a divine obligation. And when I read that passage of Scripture, the intensity of what is said here, that is, what is God doing?

He's hammering away to them. You are responsible, listen, you are responsible for the next generation. You're responsible for what they know, what they hear, their instruction. You're responsible that they understand the truth of the gospel.

Let me ask you a question. As a parent, when is the last time, or if ever, have you ever sat down with your children and said, I want to explain to you what it means to be a believer in Jesus Christ? I want to explain to you what it means to trust Jesus Christ as your Savior. I can tell you, my friend, most church members send their children to someone else if they even go consistently, or will say to them, well, you know, you need to listen to your teacher, you need to listen to the pastor. I want to say to you, Dad, you cannot under God give that responsibility to someone else. This passage is an intense command of God to remind us that the generations to come are our responsibility when it comes to instructing them in the ways of God. You cannot pass that off. And I say to you, if you're so busy in your work, in your play, in your recreation, in your relationships, that you do not take time to instruct your children in the simple things of God.

You are sinning against God, you're living disobediently to God, and you cannot give that responsibility to anyone else. Listen, how many times have you heard me refer to my grandfather? What did he do? Listen, in just one week, he instructed me. He gave me simple truth.

He illustrated out of his life. He taught me some scripture. He said some things to me that, listen, has awesomely affected my life.

He took the time. He didn't have to do that, but one week of his life, he gave me that entire week just to listen to me and just to talk to me. Did it pay off? Was it wisely invested?

You better believe it was extremely wisely invested. I will be indebted to him for the rest of my life and all eternity. He set the very direction in the course of my life.

He took the time to spend time to me to tell me, here's what God has done in my life. And I say to you that we're responsible. And when I look at that passage of scripture, and he says the generations that are to come, what happens? Why are we where we are? Because of failure to instruct our children. Parents before us, and listen to what he says in this passage. He says, this is the problem.

Look at this. He says, beginning in verse nine, he uses Ephraim as examples. The sons of Ephraim were archers equipped with bows, yet they turned back in the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant of God and refused to walk in his law. They forgot his deeds and his miracles that he had shown them. And having forgotten them, what did they do?

They forgot to tell their children. And what do we have? We have a generation of adults today, a generation of adults, listen, who have become so busy, we have forgotten the main business. The main business is the redemption of mankind. The main business, listen, is the redemption of our children and our grandchildren, that they in turn may be able to be a part of the witness of God to their friends who live in non-Christian homes. And every once in a while somebody says, are you Christians trying to convert everybody? If I had the privilege and the power to convert every single person on the face of this earth to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, I would not hesitate, one moment, why?

Because it is the only truth that transforms a man's life for eternity and fits him for heaven and fits him for life in this time. Surely I would. Surely I would. Do we make any apology for trying to get the gospel to every part of the world? Absolutely not.

Why? Because it's life transforming and because we have seen the results of people who've walked in darkness and hopelessness and helplessness and when they hear the truth of the gospel that God is, listen, is an unconditional loving Father who will forgive their sin through the cross of Jesus Christ. When they understand that and they receive Jesus Christ with the great joy and thanksgiving that you have told them, yes, we're committed to telling them to every single person on the face of this earth. Thank you for listening to Standing Before God's Open Door. 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.