Join us for today’s episode of Investing in Eternity, where we explore the pivotal role believers have in sharing the gospel. Charles Stanley delves into why the message of redemption is essential not only for individual salvation but for the transformation of societies globally. Discover how Jesus’ unique sacrifice bridges the gap between God and humanity, offering everyone the chance of eternal life if they accept His sacrificed as their own.
Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, December 31st. Jesus solved the problem of sin through His death on the cross. Believers need to be serious about sharing that message. Here’s part two of Investing in Eternity.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, what I want to talk about in this message is why should I be giving to send some missionaries somewhere else when we have our own problems in this country? Well, that’s a reasonable question. But the answer to that is very simple. The answer to that is not somebody’s opinion. The answer to that question is a very clear biblical statement. And that’s what I want us to examine because the truth is, every believer has a responsibility to sharing and spreading the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. So, I want you to turn, if you will, to First Timothy. And Paul writing to Timothy here in this first epistle, In the second chapter, I want us to read these first eight verses, and especially three of these verses I want us to notice. And what he begins doing here is challenging us, encouraging us to pray for those who are in authority over us. And so he begins in this manner. First of all, I urge that in treaties and prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all men. for kings and for all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior. Now listen to this. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Here is the truth that most people overlook. Holy God versus sinful man. How does God, on the basis of being a holy God, accept sinful man to begin with? And this is what He says in His Word. There is one God, one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all the testimony given at the proper time. Now, he says Jesus Christ gave himself a ransom for many. Well, first of all, what’s a ransom? A ransom is something you pay to free someone else. That is, you set them free by paying that ransom. And he says that Jesus Christ paid the ransom for all of us, which simply means this. Because holy God desires you and me to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. What did He do? In man’s helpless, hopeless situation, there is nothing that sinful man can do to save himself. Because it took the sinless Son of God, shedding His blood on the cross, so when Christ came, the sinless, virgin-born Son of God, He went to the cross on purpose to be your substitute and my substitute that so when He died, His death was so powerful that He took upon Himself the sin of all mankind, and when He died, He made it possible Because of His sinless death, it made it possible for anyone, everyone, anywhere, everywhere, who was willing to accept His death as payment for their sins, surrender their life to Him, listen, to be saved, to be rescued, to be delivered, to become a brand new person in Christ Jesus. And 1 Peter says that in several different ways, in several verses. And he says, for example, in the eighteenth verse of the first chapter. Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile ways of life inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. Listen, it’s very clear, the only way sinful man can face holy God and be acceptable in His sight is through the death of Jesus Christ, not being good, not doing this, not doing the other, through the blood of Jesus Christ. In the second chapter, for example, in the twenty-fourth verse, he says, And He Himself, Jesus, bore our sins in His body on the cross so that we might die to sin and live righteousness for, listen, by His wounds you and I were healed, we were saved. Jesus’ death on the cross is the only event that has ever taken place in all of human history that makes it possible for sinful man to be accepted from the eyes of God. And the reason people don’t believe that is they don’t understand who God is. The reason people don’t believe that is they have no comprehension whatsoever of who God is. God is absolutely holy beyond our comprehension. He cannot accept sin. He cannot, listen, a person who says, well, I’ve not been too bad and so when I die, I think God’s going to take me in because I’ve been as good as others. Your goodness compared to other people has nothing to do with getting to heaven. It’s only by the blood of Jesus, it’s only by acceptance of that sacrifice that you are made acceptable in the eyes of God. Everything else is to no avail. Somebody says, yeah, well, but, but, but, but, but, and they give me all these buts. And the truth is, here’s what you have to decide. You believe this book or you don’t believe it. You see, now watch this. If you don’t accept the Word of God, all I’ve done is read you the Scripture. If you don’t accept the Word of God, As the basis for our relationship to Him, all you have is your opinion. Your opinion has absolutely no basis whatsoever. Because what that means is His opinion is as good as His opinion, and her opinion is as good as her opinion, and they have no authoritative basis. It’s the Word of God. This is what God says. I’ve sent My only begotten Son to the world, that those who believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life. The gift of eternal life is just that. It isn’t being good and being bad. It isn’t doing these things and doing these things. It’s believing. It’s trusting. It’s surrendering my life to Him because He is the only One. Now, I want you to look at a verse here. Listen, and this verse is the most stinging verse to people who don’t want anything to do with Christianity. This is the one that just absolutely tears them up on the inside. And here’s what he says. Verse five of this chapter, second chapter, I Timothy, verse five. There is one God and one mediator, also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Now, think about all the other religions in the world. They all have some kind of a Savior or some kind of a prophet or something. God says there’s only one mediator, that is, there’s only one person that that mediates our salvation between us and God, and thus Jesus Christ. Think about it. All the rest of them have died. All the other gods have died and all the prophets have died. Not a single one of those prophets or gods has ever risen from the grave. Not a one. There’s one mediator. There is only one person that stands between sinful man and holy God and makes it possible for you and me and the whole world to be made acceptable in the eyes of God. The world hates that message. They don’t, you know what they say? They say, you’re narrow-minded and we say yes. We’re as narrow-minded as God said. Listen, He said there’s one mediator between God and man and I either have to, listen, I have to do one of two things. I have to say, you know what? Forget it. I cannot believe the Word of God and think that there is more than one way to get to heaven. So therefore, a person who says, well, I’m, here’s how I’m going to get there and I believe this and God wouldn’t do this and God wouldn’t do the other, the truth is, What does God say? How much more could God do than to send His Son? Listen, the one mediator between God and man is the person of Jesus Christ. And so, when somebody says to you, well, that’s very narrow-minded, here’s what you say to them. Right, because He only had one Son and one was adequate. One was sufficient. It’s the only way. And so you might say to someone, if you think there’s another way, who’s your mediator? Who is standing between you, a sinful human being, and holy God and making it possible for you to be made acceptable in the eyes of God? Who is your mediator? They cannot answer that question. They have to go back on their own goodness and righteousness, which the Bible says is as filthy rags in the eyes of a holy God. It’s our lack of understanding of His holiness and His righteousness. Read the book of the Revelation. What’s happening in the presence of holy God upon His throne? The reason He sent Him is to die for your sins and mine so that, listen, we could be rescued from the guilt of sin, rescued from the penalty of sin, rescued from the power of sin, and ultimately rescued from the very presence of sin by eternal life in heaven. God desires that you and I be saved. God desires that you and I come to truth. And God has made the provision for you and me to be saved by simple placing our faith, our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen, the Lord Jesus Christ who went to the cross, the sinless Son of God, laid down His life willingly. He said, no man takes my life from me. I willingly lay it down. He came for the purpose of dying and laying His life down for you and me. If you want life eternal, you have to deal with the Word and you have to deal with the Son of God who is the only mediator between you and holy God. And that takes place by your acceptance of the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He went to the cross, laid down His life, paid the penalty, and God had you in mind also. When He did it, and the moment you accept Him as your personal Savior, He seals you forever as a child of God. You’re indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, and you are forever a child of the living God. But there’s only one way through one person, and that is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Listen, that’s the reason. The second reason. You and I have a responsibility to tell other people. There are people, listen, you think, well, maybe anybody who lives in America has heard about Jesus. No, that’s not true. There are millions of people who’ve never darkened a church door. They don’t know anything about Jesus. So we have a responsibility. He says, first of all, listen, it’s my desire that people be saved. And I want them to come to the knowledge of the truth. And I’ve made provision for that through My Son, Jesus Christ, that the most sinful, vile human being can be saved by the grace of God. And the third reason, the third reason He says we are to tell it, because He has commissioned us to do so. Now, why do you think Jesus said, I’ve made you like salt and light? Listen, any darkness you send light into does what? Drives away the darkness. Anything you place salt on is going to change the flavor and change the taste. That means that your very presence where you work and where you live ought to be making a difference. Now, for some people, they meet you and you’re a wonderful Christian and they love you and you start talking about Jesus, your light suddenly becomes salt. Mmm, they don’t have to tell me about Him. Well, they don’t understand why you’re happy, why you have peace, why you have joy, why you have confidence, why you have assurance in life. They don’t understand the joy in your life and the spirit that you have. They need to know that it is Jesus within you. And think about what is the mission of the church? What’s the church all about as far as the world is concerned? Well, here’s what he said. He said, as you go, make disciples of all nations. Don’t just tell them, but teach them the truth. Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all the things that I’ve commanded you. And I’ll be with you, listen, in your office, in your home, when you’re playing, around the world. I’m going to be with you as you’re sharing the truth of the gospel. He says in Mark, that sixteenth chapter, He says, go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. That is, He involves everyone. He cares about everybody. In Luke He says, listen, that repentance of sin is to be preached in all the world. And then He says, for example, in John, the twentieth chapter, Jesus said, As the Father sent Me, so send I you. Tell them what you’ve seen. Tell them what you’ve experienced. Tell them what you’ve heard. You and I have a personal responsibility to get the gospel to other people. Everybody, every one of us knows someone. You know some people, and you may be one, who does not know Christ as your Savior. You know some folks who are unsaved. And here’s what Jesus said, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. So, we’re either going to have eternal life or we’re going to end up one of these days and die without Christ and stand before the judgment and be rewarded for our sinfulness and be separated from Him for all eternity. Your unbelief will not stop the judgment of God. And I’m saying that to you out of pure love. He says He desires that you be saved. He wants you to know the truth. He’s made it possible for you to be saved through the death of His Son. He wants you to know. And not only that, He wants us to tell everybody else, not keep it to ourselves. We have a responsibility. It’s in obedience to God. He said, we’re to get the gospel to the world. possible way we can. And think of all the wonderful ways He’s given us to do it. And the Internet, for example, is an awesome gift of God. If somebody’s got a computer, I don’t care where they are, you know what, they’re going to hear the gospel and people are hearing the gospel all over the world. They’re not just behind some curtain, whether it’s bamboo or iron or stone or whatever it might be. People are hearing the gospel and you know what’s happening? They’re getting saved. Lives are being changed. But as I’ve said before, we can do that and we are doing that through In Touch, the radio, the television, and magazines, and all the things, the internet, you name it. But just like in any warfare, you’ve got to have the air force, but you’ve got to have ground troops. You’ve got to have missionaries. You’ve got to have pastors who are teaching people individually and helping them to grow in their relationship to God. And that’s why we send missionaries. That’s why we go. That’s why we give. That’s why we pray. Because it isn’t enough just to get it in the air. How do we invest in eternity? We invest in eternity. Watch this. We invest in eternity by doing what? By sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with another person. Seeing them coming to a saving knowledge of Christ, the forgiveness of their sin and salvation. That’s an investment in eternity because that person is going to live eternally. Investing in eternity, listen, there’s not anything else you and I can invest in with such a sure thing. Secondly, nothing that lasts eternally except the soul of someone else. You cannot make a wiser, greater, more everlasting investment than in somebody’s soul. Now, how do we get it out there? Well, you can pray for other people. You can give that they may go. We can send them as they volunteer. There are different things we can do. But I want to ask you first of all this. What about the people you work around? You say, well, in my office, we’re not allowed to talk about Jesus. I understand that. If I owned a business, I’d want you to talk about Him. If they tell you you can’t talk about Jesus, I do understand why they do that. But one thing they cannot keep, they can’t keep you from living it out. And as you live it out, here’s what’s going to happen. As you live it out, somebody’s going to say, well, You know, I know you’ve been through a hard time. You seem to have real peace and what is it? I don’t hear you moaning and groaning and complaining about things and what is it about you? And you can say, well, you know what? I will be tickled to death to tell you about it. Listen, you want to share your testimony, I guarantee you God will open the door. The reason we say invest in eternity is because that’s what God says. He says it’s His desire that people be saved, come to knowledge of the truth. He’s made it possible through the sacrificial death of His Son. And now it’s our responsibility to get the truth to them and help them to understand by their saving faith that God grants to them, they can be saved, forgiven, and have the gift of eternal life forever and ever and ever a child of God.
SPEAKER 01 :
Thank you for listening to Investing in Eternity. 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 InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
