The Riches of God's Grace - Part 2

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Monday, January sixteenth. Every believer in Christ is enormously wealthy. Open God's Word to identify the many spiritual treasures that are yours in Christ. Suppose the day you were born, somebody deposited to your account a hundred million dollars Social Security numbers on it, so no question about who it belongs to. Well, somewhere along the way, you live out your life and when you get to be thirty, somebody says, well, I think there's ten thousand dollars to your account.

Oh, well, good. And suppose you get to be sixty and somebody says, didn't they tell you? Tell you what? That the day you were born, they deposited a hundred million dollars to your account.

I'm going to tell you something. What I'm about to share with you, a hundred million dollars, you can't take it with you. You'd probably have a hard time spending it and you'd spend a lot of your time worrying about how to keep it. And so, what I want to share with you that you already possess as a child of God is more valuable to you than a hundred million dollars. Listen, if they could put that much in a casket, you can't take it with you.

Because you see, the only thing that you're going to take with you is what you send ahead. You've never seen a casket full of a body and a lot of money. You've never seen it because, you know what, because we know that when it comes to death, every hand is wide open. So, what I want you to see is this, that what I'm about to share with you is what you as a believer already possess. Not I think you do, I am absolutely certain by the Word of God you absolutely possess it. And many people will die and never recognize what they have as a result of being a child of God. They think, well, I have eternal life. When I die, I'm going to heaven. Well, what about between now and then?

There's a whole lot that happens between now and then, we hope. So, I want you to listen very carefully, and I want you to jot these words down. Because they're just going to be brief phrases in the Scripture. And every single one of these things you possess now. The moment you trust that Jesus is your Savior, you possess these things. So, let's think about this in Romans chapter eight. Look what he says in Romans chapter eight about our relationship to Him. And a very important part in this seventeenth verse. Listen to what he says in verse sixteen. He says, well, this is verse fifteen.

Why don't we go back to verse fourteen, how about that? For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you've not received a spirit of slavery, leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we crowd our Father. The Spirit Himself, the Holy Spirit, testifies with our spirit that we are the children of God. And listen, and if children heirs, also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, we're going to be glorified with Him. Now, what does that mean? When you and I trusted Him as our Savior, adopted us into His family, became the children of God with joint heirs with Jesus Christ, you say, well, what do I have coming? More than you could ever imagine and more than you could ever describe. I wouldn't even attempt to describe what it's going to be like because my mind can't comprehend that much. You know why? Because you and I are earthbound.

No matter how smart a person may be, that you and I are earthbound to some degree. What do I mean by that? For example, when John in the book of the Revelation began to write this, these tremendous things about what heaven was going to be like, and he used terms like gold and silver and emeralds and jewels and diamonds and all this. Do you think heaven's going to be walking around on gold?

I don't think so. But why did he use those words? Because it's the highest form of worth and value he could possibly conceive of as a human being. And so, God spoke to him in those terms. Is it going to be much greater than gold and silver and jewels?

Absolutely. Why? Because we're talking about the mind of God. And for example, when you think about, you have a telephone right now, probably in your pocket. Don't turn it on. You have a telephone right now. You can pull out and punch a button. You can tell where you are.

You can tell what the temperature is. You can tell a whole lot of things without even talking to anybody. When you think about how awesome God is, when you think about what man is able to create and God in heaven has provided for you, you're a joint heir with Jesus Christ, He says, of all that He has.

When did that happen? Listen, the moment you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, your name was in the will, on the will at that moment. You said, but He chose me in Him before the foundation of the world.

That's right. Became a reality as far as the grace of God the moment you trusted Him as your Savior. Do you know what you already own? What money can't buy and death can't take away. How foolish to live in a materialistic world and be caught up by it. Well, that's just part of what He's provided for us. So, let's look at something else here. When I think about Jesus' death on the cross and how much He provided, for example, let's look, if you will, at this whole idea of our citizenship.

Now, look in Philippians, if you will, for a moment. And it's a very precious thing to be a citizen of the United States. And as we can tell, there are millions of people who will do anything to get here to be a citizen of this country. Well, all of us who believe it's a dual citizenship, because the moment you trusted Jesus as your Savior, what happened?

You became a dual citizen. Listen to what He says in the twentieth verse of the third chapter of Philippians. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also, listen, we eagerly await for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into the conformity with the body of His glory by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself. And the reason for that is, look, you and I are physically limited. We can only be in one place at one time. We can only see things so far.

We can't pass through doors and this, that, and the other. He says when you and I get to heaven, He says when He resurrects us, we're going to have a body that's like His body. That is, it's beyond any human power or hindrance or handicap.

It's going to be like His body. You and I, listen, we're going to be a part of the heavenly citizenship. We are children of God. And that citizenship cannot be tampered with by the devil.

Somebody says, well, but suppose, say, He can't do anything about that. Listen, you cannot lose what God gave you by grace that you didn't deserve and you didn't merit. You didn't work for it.

You didn't earn it. It's the grace of God. That is part of His awesome riches for His children. One of the riches of His grace is what? The awareness that you and I can have that my God is caring for me no matter what, no matter where, no matter what circumstance, because He said He's working all things together for good to those who love Him, to those who call upon His purpose. He has us in His mind. That is, we're cared for by this awesome sovereign God. And I wonder how often you and I think about how we care for people or don't care for them. God cares for us. If you care for somebody, what's happening?

Think about it. If I really care for you, I want to know what's going on with you. I want to know how I can help you. I want to know if I can serve you in some fashion.

If I really care for you, I've got you on my mind. Then, of course, one of the riches of His grace is what He calls sanctification. Now, I want you to look at this sixth chapter of First Corinthians for a moment.

Notice something interesting here. He says in verse nine, writing to the Corinthian church, which carnal as they can be, He says, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you, talking to the Corinthian church, but, such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God.

Now, I want you to do something. I want you to look at that ninth verse again. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.

Now, watch this. Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, homosexuals, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, swindlers, and some of those words as Jesus interpreted them. Is there anybody here who is not guilty of any of those things? Right. You know what that means? We've all sinned against God. And what does that mean? We don't deserve it.

We can't earn it. And what happens? We are all the objects of what? In His plan, redeemed, justified, forgiven, reconciled, in other words, all these things, they're the gift of God's awesome grace for us. And when Paul, writing to the Corinthians, I love what he says, when he says all those things, then he says, but.

Some of you acted like, this is where you used to live, but you were washed what? By the blood of Jesus Christ, reconciled, sanctified. So, when we come to that verse, we come to this whole issue of sanctification. What does sanctification means? That is, if God has sanctified us, what does it mean? It means two things.

Now, watch this. Number one, it means this, that the moment you were saved, God the Father set you apart as one of His children for His purpose. Listen, He set you apart for His purpose in life, to fulfill His will for you and His desires for you.

And many people think, well, I'm just born and it's just up to me to do my thing. When you trusted Jesus as your Savior, set you apart. You're sanctified.

It's an act. You now have this spiritually judicial standing of being set apart by God for God. That's why He keeps us here once He's saved us. We're here to serve Him, to live out His will and His purpose and His plan. How selfish to think that God just saves us so we won't go to hell and just so we'll have a good time in life. We're set apart for the purpose of God.

Now, watch, that's the first part. The second part is this, sanctification is not only a one-time act by God, but it's a process. It's a process by which He is continually cleansing us from these things in our life that we're allowed to crop up and we confess them and repent of them.

That's part of the process. That's part of what sanctification's all about. Listen, He doesn't just want to set us apart. He wants to keep us clean. You know why He wants to keep us clean? So He can pour out His love lavishly, abundantly upon us.

Why? Because He's a loving God. Because He wants the best for us. Because He's ready. He's prepared for us.

He's deposited to our account. And I think about how many people are not enjoying what is already theirs because they don't trust Him. And because they've chosen to live their life according to themselves, their own personal plans, and ignoring the awesome plan of God. You can never fail walking in the will of God. You never, somebody says, but suppose I miss this and suppose I miss that. Let me tell you something.

I've been a lot of places, done a lot of things, and I'll tell you something. I haven't ever missed anything by being obedient to God. Never.

You know why? Listen, that's not the kind of God He is. He's going to bless you. Listen, He's going to bless you. He's going to be good to you when you've got enemies. He's going to protect you in dangers. He's going to provide for you.

That's who He is. And I don't know how we got this God that He's this judging God who's always looking at this and looking at that. He is an awesome God, more loving to you than a godly mother could love. More loving toward us than a godly father has the capacity to love us.

Why? He wants the best for us. And when He stops us dead in our tracks, it's because He wants to protect us. When He gives us something other than what we want, it's because He knows what's best.

Why? Because He is a Father. He's a loving Father who has the best. And I can remember when my son, he used to look at my pocket knife and think, oh, that's what I want, Dad, surely, surely I can have one.

At the right time, you can. Well, why wouldn't I give him a pocket knife with a blade on it about three or four inches and at the age of five? Because I love him too much. You know why God doesn't give some of you something you want? Because He loves you too much. You think, well, God, if you love me, you'd do thus and so.

He says in your ignorance you'd think that, but in your wisdom you'd know that I'm loving you too much to let you destroy yourself. Then, of course, one of the riches of His grace is the Holy Spirit. And in Romans chapter five, and there are lots and lots of verses we could turn to.

Romans chapter five, listen to what he says in verse five. And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit that was given to us. What does the Holy Spirit do? He gives us, first of all, He seals us as a child of God. And you know how long He sealed you? He sealed you spiritually as a child of God until the day God calls you home. He says, sealed unto the day of redemption when your redemption becomes a reality and He takes you home. He, listen, He seals us as a child of God.

He gives us the ability to discern truth from error. What is best? What is not best? What is right?

What's wrong? What's deception? What is real, genuine truth? He gives us the Holy Spirit. Turn, if you will, to Hebrews chapter four. One of the things He does for us is He has opened the throne of God for us. Think about this, having sinned against God and disobeyed Him, because the blood of Jesus is so powerful, what has He done?

He's cleansed us. He's made it possible for you and me to walk into the very presence of the throne of God and listen to what He says. For we don't have a high priest who can't sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who's been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, because Jesus understands us perfectly, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy, what I don't deserve, and find grace, listen, what I don't deserve, mercy, oh God, listen, I want mercy because I don't want what comes to me. I want grace, what I don't deserve, to help in time of need. Listen, you and I have, listen, what do you have to do to get in touch with God?

You don't have to dial anything, you don't have to knock on anything, and you don't have to go anywhere. All you got to do is you have instantaneous access to Almighty God. That's part of the riches of His grace. Well, there's one last thing that I want to put, I guess we could go on all day, but let's stop right here. Now, most of you are not going to believe this one. You say, well, how can that be? Well, listen, one of the riches of God's grace, I love this, because it took me a while to catch on to this, and I'm thinking, how could that possibly be? But I want you to look back at Romans chapter eight for a moment and look, if you will, in, well, let's start in verse twenty-eight, which you are very familiar with.

Let's look at this. He says, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, as we said before, before the foundation of the world, He predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, His highest goal for us. And these whom He predestined, He also called, naturally. And those whom He called, He justified. And those whom He justified, He also glorified. Now, put that word down. What does it mean that He glorified us?

Here's what it means. In the mind of God, you and I, when it comes to eternity, it's a done deal, and here's what that means. In the mind of God, He has already glorified us. He already sees us how we are going to be in glory in heaven. It's now, wait a minute now, is that what glorified means?

What I want you to notice, He didn't say He's going to. But He says already, just as He justified us, which past tense, predestined, called, justified, all past tense, He also glorified. Look at this next verse, what then shall we say to these things? If God's for us, who could be against us? He did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all. How will He not also with Him freely give us all things? That's what the pure grace of God has provided for His children. Now, one question, are you rich or are you not? Rich in Christ Jesus.

Now, one last question. How do you get that into your life? If you've never trusted Jesus, you don't have any of that. But once you receive Him as your personal Savior, you accept the truth that you just heard.

And then you begin to live it out daily. Whatever you face, whatever you're going through, whatever the needs are, you just remind yourself, Father, here's what You said. Here's what You said You had provided for me. So I want to claim it. And you and I have the right to claim our every need because of our personal relationship to Jesus Christ. So I would say to you today, if you've never trusted Him as your Savior, what do you have that you can take with you when you die? Do you have what the believer has, what money came by and death can't take away? It's yours for the asking. And if you're willing to ask Him to forgive you of your sins, based on the death of Christ at Calvary, He will forgive you, become your Savior, your Lord and your Master, and everything we've just talked about will all of a sudden be yours to enjoy. Thank you for listening to part two of The Richest of God's Grace. 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.