God's Gracious Gift

Welcome to this weekend's In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley. When it comes to living the Christian life, do you find yourself trying hard and just doing the best you can? Hear the liberating news that as a believer, your ability to be godly doesn't depend on you. Now we said the life that wins is not a life of sinless perfection. It is the life of God helping those who help themselves. The life that wins is Christ living his life in and through you and me.

It isn't something we work up, it is something that God gives. Then you recall we said the life that wins is a life of the indwelling Holy Spirit whose primary responsibility it is, not just to help us, but to release the life of Jesus Christ through us so that it is His life and not our life. The life that wins is a life that wins over worry. It is a life that wins over bitterness. It is a life that wins over hatred. It is a life that wins over anger. It is a life that wins over the desire to quit and give up. It is a life that wins over fear. It is a life that wins over everything that would defeat the child of God. It is a life that wins over the strongest and most intense of God has not left us down here to struggle and to do our best He says it is expedient for you that I go away if I go away the Comforter will come he'll be in you with you and upon you Releasing the life of Christ in and through you and me now you see here's the problem We are self-oriented people.

That's the natural fleshly way. Well, I can't expect God to do it all brother I've got to do something don't tell me that salvation is all of God none of me because that's just not my way Surely I must do something and you see it is amazing how many people are saved and then they begin a life of failure because they feel I've got to trust the Lord to save me by grace but then I've got to paddle my own wagon out here somewhere in order to keep in the good graces of God and you don't Paddle anything to keep in the good graces of God listen He says as you what as you therefore have received him So walk ye in him The problem is we want to help God keep us nowhere in the Bible as it say saved by grace kept by what works No, that's not what he says saved by God's unconditional love kept by your own paddling. No, we're saved by grace Therefore we're to walk in that grace. Now.

Here's the problem. Look if you will in 1st Corinthians chapter 1 for a moment because you see he says in verse 29 of 1st Corinthians chapter 1 He said in the verses previous to that God uses the weak in order to confound the mighty he says in verse 29 that no flesh Should glory in his presence But of him are you in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification Redemption that according as it is written he that glories let him glory in the Lord now watch this God has arranged the Christian life so that we are saved by what let me ask you this What did you do in your own? Strength in your own power in your own energy in your own might in your own knowledge in your own wisdom to be saved Zero absolutely nothing. What did you do you by faith which was the gift of God? Did what you only did one thing? You don't even have to lift your hand you didn't have to bat your eye you can close your eye and never move a muscle and Receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior you exercise your will to do what to believe him and therefore to receive him That's all you did You you believe the witness of Scripture by an act of your will you said I do believe I do receive He says so as you what as you received him so walk in him as I was reading in the past week or so The biography of George Whitfield the greatest preacher in this nation back in the 1740s I want you to see something that happened to him and John Wesley two of the greatest preachers the world has ever known Now this is over 200 years ago.

These men are in the process. They're already belong to religious group They're out preaching about I want you to notice what happened to George Whitfield Searching to deserve Searching to work for his salvation already in seminary already out preaching. Listen God only knows how many nights I've lain upon my bed groaning out of the weight I felt and bidding Satan depart from me in the name of Jesus in a sense of utter desperation in rejection of all self-trust I Cast my soul on the mercy of God through Jesus Christ and a ray of hope a ray of faith granted him from above assured me I would not be cast out and Therefore he was born again That's just one little paragraph of paragraph after paragraph after paragraph how he sought in his own effort He finally withdrew from all of his friends. He did everything he possibly could in order to merit and deserve salvation Then listen to John Wesley who had already been through school had his education and listen to what happened to him Wesley had gone to Georgia with one supreme purpose.

He came over here when it was a colony. He says quote my chief motive He had then declared is the hope of saving my own soul But he returned to his homeland of England with these hopes shattered He was in bitter dejection for the whole person was shaken by the realization that salvation was not to be gained by any program of human Effort now he knew that he must be changed inwardly and confessed. What have I learned?

Why? What I of all the least of suspect what should have suspected that I who went to America to convert others who myself Was never converted here are two men who studied the scriptures day and night, but listen they missed the Central truth of the Word of God that man is saved by none of his efforts Here are two men two men who gave themselves to the ministry Wesley seeking to give of himself and to suffer even unto death He said in a paragraph in order to merit salvation while we say well sure they knew better than that But let me tell you something my friend what they did and later discovered Of course, it was all of grace and none of themselves They had an absolute desperation to throw themselves upon Almighty God and ask him to do for them What none of their preaching none of their intellectualism none of their service none of their ministry None of their privations whatever merit for them that salvation is the unadulterated gift from Almighty God to man and all man does is to believe the witness of scripture and to Receive by faith Jesus Christ as Savior and then as you have therefore received him so walk ye in him if Jesus Christ saved you and me on any other condition except the fact that He chose by his unconditional love to reach down and expose us to the truth grant us to the faith to believe and Forgive us of our sins if it were anything else It would be partially earned and partially given and he says for by grace his unmerited Undeserved love are you saved through faith that not of yourselves? It is the gift of God not of works lest any man should boast now That being true. He says in Colossians As you have received him, how did you receive him? You just said Lord. I believe the witness of Scripture I do repent of my sins.

What is that? Listen you some and wait a minute How do you fit repentance into this if it's all of God listen? Repentance is not works Repentance the Bible teaches us is a change of attitude Which will if you change your attitude about anything you're gonna have the different results. It is that watch this carefully Repentance is the change of attitude repentance isn't me going over here and stopping my drinking Stopping my stealing stopping my lying stopping my loss.

That's not repentance Repentance is a change of mind repentance says I do Acknowledge the witness of Scripture. I do believe what God says about his son Jesus Christ I do surrender my life to him. That is all an act of my will I do believe I do surrender the different direction and the different actions and habits and attitudes are going to be the result of A whole different perspective of who Jesus Christ is now watch this He says as you have received him, how did you receive him? You received him by faith?

trusting him So walk ye in him Which means listen? Who was totally responsible for our salvation? Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone as you received him by faith surrendering your life to him So walk ye in him. What was salvation a gift? What is the Christian life?

It is a gift. Listen It is not the exercise of works. The Christian life is a gift equally to the gift of salvation He says watch this passage go back if you will to Colossians chapter 2 that three words. I want you to notice in verse 6 He says as you have therefore received him received Christ Jesus So watch this walk watch that word walk ye in him verse 7 rooted and built up in him Here's the key. First of all, you must be united with him. That's the salvation experience Uniting with him then he says what chapter 15 of John rooted into him and then what? Walking in him.

So then what does he do? He brings us into oneness with Christ roots is in him and what he teaches us in order that you and I may walk In his spirit in his energy in his power in his wisdom in his knowledge And he says the Spirit of the Living God who is within us is doing what energizing us Teaching us Comforting us if you'll read 14 15 16 chapters of John you'll discover that the Christian life is the gift of God Almighty when Jesus Christ comes into our life He does through us, but we'll never be able to do for ourselves. It is a gift now. Here's the problem if you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Then you have the idea somewhere along the way you get the idea that you've got to keep it You're gonna be miserable.

Listen, how many of us would have to admit man? We've broken all the commandments we fail that every single thing God isn't going to allow anybody the sense of self-security to think they can do without God He says the just shall walk by faith the just shall live by faith as you received him by faith So you walk in him that Almighty God saved you by pure grace He keeps you by grace and the daily walk is a daily walk of living out his gift Let me give an example Follow me with about four verses and I want to show you something and I want you to watch the tense of this verb See if you can pick it up go back to Ephesians chapter 2 for a moment because in these four passages each one Speaks of something that God has or is going to do for us He says in verse 8 of Ephesians chapter 2 now watch this for by grace and the Greek says have You been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God All right, if you'll turn to look in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 for a moment And I want you to notice something here beginning in verse 51 He says verse 51 behold I show you a mystery we shall not all sleep That is we won't all be dead when Jesus comes but we shall all be changed In a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump for the trump shall stand and the dead shall be raised incorruptible All right, if you'll turn to 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 and look if you will at verse Well beginning in verse 13 he's talking about the resurrection of saints He moves on over to verse 17 then he says then we which are alive and remains shall be caught up together them the clouds To meet the Lord in the air. There's one of the passage go back to Romans chapter 4 Romans chapter 4 and verse 4 He says now to him that work it is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt if we're trusting in our works He says it's debt and not grace then if you'll turn to Romans chapter 8 and listen If you will to verse 21 because the creature itself or himself speaking us Shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption under the glorious liberty of the children of God All of those passages have one thing in mind they all use the passive tense which says watch this which says we have been saved Secondly we have been delivered from this corruption thirdly we shall have been raised We shall have been caught up together the saving that breaking us out of bondage and delivering us The raising us out of the dead the catching us up at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ All of those are something God does for us we don't do ourselves How are you gonna raise yourself up on the resurrection morning? No way You didn't save yourself God saves you you can't raise yourself from the dead God's got to raise you You're not gonna jump up and fly up in the air when Jesus Christ comes he says he's going to catch us away Nor can you deliver yourself from sin on a day to day basis all of these things are the works of God And this is the key to understanding the life that wins and you see the problem is pride We say oh I can't just let God do it all I can't just trust surely I've got to have something there must be something I must do And you see the whole humanistic philosophy today says I don't need God I can do it If I want to quit drinking I'll cut it out if I want to quit drugs I'll cut them out But you see what God is doing is allowing our society to be brought further and further lower and lower To a sense of desperation that man's moral claims and that man's rejuvenation of himself And his new ideas and his new philosophies are not going to change the inner man Because man is a spiritual being and the only thing that can change a spiritual being is a spiritual being greater Than the spiritual being itself and he said to all of us he that is within you is greater than he that's in the world So the essence of what I'm saying is simply this when you receive the Lord Jesus Christ you received him by faith You received him he says in John chapter 1 as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God How did you receive the Holy Spirit? By faith he says in John 7 he said on that great day as he began to share with them The gift of the Holy Spirit came as many as received him on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached He said as many as received him received the gift of the Holy Spirit Receiving is something that you and I accept as a gift from Almighty God So that the life that wins is the life that by faith received and accepted the life of Christ as his life to be lived through us When you and I stand in the presence of God that's why he says we're going to cast our crowns before him All of our rewards we're going to give to him why because in that day as never before You and I will understand and recognize he didn't save us by our works nor have we been kept by our works Nor did we live the life of victory by our work The life that wins my friend is a life of grace it is a life of faith You say well how do you begin that life I must be willing by faith to just surrender it all to him That's an act of faith you say well isn't that works no what are you going to do it is simply a matter of faith Trusting him surrendering to him is an act of faith Likewise as you and I have received him we're to walk in now listen The biggest problem we have is pride we don't like to admit it but it's there We think well now how can I just expect God to do it all That listen I didn't say you do nothing but I said there's no work There's no human effort on our part to make it work because the longer in my life and I think it's true in your life The longer we focus our attention upon some wrong or some disobedience and some sin The more difficulty we have in overcoming it it is when we say God I can't I just I'm just having to trust you to overcome this in my life whatever it might be Then the victory comes because all victory in the spiritual life is the victory that comes through receiving by faith What almighty God has provided for us the light that wins is a gift by faith It is ours by believing and receiving what Jesus Christ has provided for you and me But until you understand that you keep on striving keep on working keep on trying keep on being defeated And wonder my God my God is this all there is to the Christian life And one of these days unless you get the message you're gonna say forget the whole thing And you'll end up another defeat when God meant it for absolute and perfect victory I want to encourage you this morning to ask God to begin to help you understand That the light that wins is a pure wonderful gift from almighty God to every single person who's willing to believe it Thank you for listening to God's Gracious Gift 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