Welcome to the InTouch podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, November 14th. Psalm 139 tells us that God paid close attention when he created you. Just imagine how much he has planned for the rest of your life. Join us now for more on God’s loving desire for you. I don’t know all of God’s will for anyone else’s life, but this I do know that God has certain desires for your life and my life.
And that is the theme of this message. And the title of the message is this. God’s loving desire for you. And I want you to turn if you will to First Timothy. And in First Timothy, the second chapter, Paul is talking about worship in the church and praying. And in the midst of that, he tells us something here concerning God’s desire for us that I think it would be helpful if you and I understood this because it’ll make a difference in how we see ourselves, how we see God, how we look at life.
So he begins by saying in chapter 2 verse one, first of all then I urge that in treaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all men for kings and all who are in authority in order that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life and all godliness and dignity. 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.
But there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony born at the proper time. And for this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle. I’m telling the truth. I’m not lying. as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth. Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without wrath and dissension.
And so Paul in the midst of this admonition to Timothy concerning worship says that God has two desires for you and for me. He says, “Who desires all men to be saved and to come, listen, he says, and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” So there are two parts to this. First of all, he desires that we all be saved. And second, he desires that you and I come to the knowledge of the truth.
Now, the knowledge of the truth about what? Well, first of all, the knowledge of the truth about our salvation. You know why many people are saved and before long you don’t see them. One of the primary reasons is this. They get saved and no one instructs them and explains to them what happened.
God, listen, wants us to understand, to come to a knowledge of the truth what he did for us. And so many people get saved and it’s like you get saved and we say, “Well, do the best you can.” That’s like putting a baby out on the steps after they’re born and say, “Well, just grow up the best you can.” And that is exactly what’s happened to a lot of people.
Now, when you and I were saved, so many things went on. It’s absolutely fascinating to discover it and to think about it. But let’s think for just a moment. When you were saved, the Bible says that you received the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior. You and I responded, listen, we responded to the Holy Spirit’s conviction who brought us the conviction about our sinfulness and then brought us also to a knowledge that Jesus Christ died for our sin and by receiving him by faith as our personal savior, we’d be saved. So you see, we
responded to salvation. But what really went on? There’s so many things that went on. Let me mention just a few. When you were saved, the Bible says that you were forgiven. You were redeemed. You were reconciled. You were sanctified. You were justified. You were glorified. All of these big terms that talk about all the things that God saw.
No more guilt. Reconciled. Brought back into fellowship with him. Sin debt paid in full. Set apart unto him for his service. Glorified in the mind of God. All these things happen sealed by the Holy Spirit in the day of redemption and on and on and on we could go of all the things that were transacted in the mind of God the moment all you did is receive him by faith as your personal savior.
But you see if you don’t understand that then what happens? You say well I just trusted Jesus as my savior and he saved me. My friend there’s so much that went on when you were saved. So many things happened in the mind of God that had happened 2,000 years ago that brought you to the place of salvation.
