Security in Our Relationship with Christ

Welcome to this weekend's in touch podcast with Charles Stanley It can feel like something new every day is trying to steal our peace. But for the believer, there's a deeper reality, one that is unchanging and unmovable God has promised that no matter what we see around us, we can rest in the eternal things that cannot be shaken What would it take to shake your faith You may have been a Christian a long time or a short period of time. What would it take to shake your faith in God Well, for some of you, it may take A great deal before your faith could be shaken But for others, maybe it wouldn't take quite so much In fact, A whole lot of difficulty, a whole lot of heartache, and maybe you'd begin to say, Well, God, where are you? And what you thought was an absolutely unshakeable faith, you may begin to question. Well there are a lot of things in this world that are being shaken up And God is behind some of that shaking and some of it he's not behind. someome of it is to the devil When it comes to shaking your faith and attempting to shake your faith, that certainly would not be of God But there are other things that are going on around us that certainly are The result of God shaking up A sense of fault security shakaking us at the very core of our life at the core of our nation, the core of this world Because we put so much dependence upon material things and not upon God God certainly is in the process of doing some shaking. And I want you to turn, if you will, to Hebrews ook of Hebrews and in this particular book, the last part of this particular book in the twelfth chapter, God tells us exactly what He's going to shake. And I give you a little background of what's happening here as you turn to this thir twelfth chapter of Hebrews. And we're going to read beginning in verse twenty five but beginning in verse eighteen and through those verses that follow He's comparing Mount Sinai, where the Ten Commandments were given. to Mountain Zion where we find Jerusalem and We compare the laws of God versus the grace of God. And so in that discussion he finally ends up by saying in verse twenty five. See to it that you do not refuse H Who is speaking For if those did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth muchuch less Shall we escape? or turn or escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven And his voice shook the earth then, but now he is promising, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens And this expression yet once more denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as of created things, in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken Let us show gratitude by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe For our God is a consuming fire God is God, and He absolutely will not tolerate being ignored, nor will he tolerate man building anything that is supreme enough, super enough that man can live without God because all down through those centuries Men were searching for God, seeking God. They had hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of gods bowing down to their gods, oftentimes losing faith in their gods, looking for something else. And what was God doing? shaking one civilization, one nation after the other And so you and I could go through history and see how God has shaken nations after nation after nation. God is the absolute sovereign of this universe. He will not tolerate being ignored by nations or by individuals So as you and I look back, we can see how God has certainly shaken This whole earth physically shakaking it materially. That's the past And so as we look to see how he's worked in the past and he certainly has shaken up many things, we look around us today and say, oK, well, how does this apply to today? Is God shaking up anything today? Yes, he is. He's still in the process of shaking nations As he prophesied out in the Old Testament, prophesied in the New Testament, He is indeed shaking them up. That is, he's causing nations to tremble. When you think, for example About the nations of the earth today, where is there real peace? Where is there no revolution? Where is there real contentment? Where is there adequacy of anything? Because in spite of everything that man has done, in spite of all of our attempts and all of our abilities and talents to put together all kinds of economies and all the things that anybody would need in a give a nation, every single nation is troubled Every single nation is trembling to some degree. And when people are accumulating material possessions and they look at that and say, this is part of my security, you know how fast you can lose that? just that fast And today the stock market is one thing. tomomorrow next week is something entirely different People can be happy today over their material possessions and sad tomorrow Let me ask a question. What is it that you own? What is it that you possess? What is it that you have What is it that you dreamed about? What are your plans? What are your goals? What is it that you have that's solid, immovable, unchangeable, absolutely rock solid, You can't lose Not a living thing materially on the face of this, Eth, notot a thing. You know why becausecause God's in the process of shaking it up Well, you say, my goodness, if my finances aren't secure. Relationships aren't secure And all my material possessions are up for grabs and I could lose it all, then what have I got? Well, that's what I've been getting ready to talk about What is it that cannot be shaken? Look Let's see what this verse says. Notice what he says. He says now in verse twenty seven And this expression yet once more denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken as have created things in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. So let's think about something for a moment Let me tell you what every single one of us believers has that absolutely cannot be shaken. Allmighty God our Father God the Son? God, the Holy Spirit, the three persons of the Trinity absolutely cannot be shaken. You said, what you mean can't be shaken? Well, first of all, God is sovereign. He is omnipotent He has all power. He is in absolute control of every single solitary thing How does anything less powerful than God move God? It cannot. You can't vote to move in You can't crow to move him. You can't fast and make him move. Somebody says, Well now can't we move God by prayer? We talk about moving God by prayer. You don't move God. He has listened That means if you move God, that means that he was here and happy here and you're going get him over here. No. You know what prayer does ultimately?ayer does not move God. Prayer gets me in a position whereby God who has already willed and chosen to do something in my life or your life, we get ourselves in a position in prayer whereby He can do what He chose to do, what he wants to do, what he predetermined to do. and we simply get ourselves in a position whereby he can do it And there's certain laws that God goes by Certain principles he goes by. And so when we are following His principles, we get in a position whereby then we make request of God, God acts in response to our desires, which first of all, were H desires to begin with We're not changing God and moving God. Somebody says, Well, you know, does prayer make a difference? Yes, it does. But it is God. in his sovereignty, in his omniscience, knowing all things. God doesn't change hisis mind. God's not affected by what we do. God is going to move. He is going to sovereignly have his will no matter what Another thing that you and I have that's unshakable is what you've got in your hands And that's the Wd of God. abbsolutely unshakable. Turn, if you will to Isaiah, chapter forty and look if you will in verse eight Isaiah chapter forty verse eight And this is a scripture you might need to mark in your Bible at some point He says verse eight The grass withers. flowers spay, that means time comes and goes Things change the grass with us, the flower fades, but listen to what he says, but the worord of our God stands forever There is nothing in this world that's going to destroy the Word of God There's not anything That's going to shake the Word of God because what is it The worord of God is the revelation of God. The Bible is God's revelation of Himself. That simply means that God has allowed us to take a glimpse of who he is He's pulled back the veil to show us what he's like. You think about all the other religions in the world and how they operate Their gods are the result of somebody's imagination That's why so ofttenimes they allow things that our God would never allow. Why becausecause it's man's imagination. They had to come up with it. And so that wasn't sufficient. So then they had to make some idle bow down to it Now, which one of those idols rose in the day, not a one Which one of those ols that's ever spoken, ever heard, ever answered prayer, ever helped anybody? notot a single one And when Jesus came upon the scene back in his day, the religions of the world of that day They were in such a state of flux and change and God was shaking. Wh? becausecause people were finally fed up They trusted, they believed all these things, and somehow it was not working out And I want to tell you my friend, no matter what you're believing in No matter what God you may profess to believe in, there is only one true God That is the God of the Bible. He says the grass is going to wither, the flower fades, but the Word of our God shall stand forever. Now think about it This Bible has been around a long time In fact, When you think about how long it's been around, the truth is what's in these pages? Now this book right here and the leather and the paper and the print hadn't been around all that long. But you see, that's not the it's what's in this This is the Word of the living God So that what's in these pages and what's between this leather here is the revelation of God. Now when we talk about revelation, that means this is God's unfolding revealing of Hself So we see how he's revealed himself in history We see how he's revealed himself in poetry We see how He's revealed Himself in prophecy, in narration and all of these things. We see how God's revealed Himself. So what do we have? We have the living Word of God This is God's holy Word This is the word that God has given us as an instruction book. This is how we're to live He gives it to us so that we'll understand what he's like, what he's about He gives it to us so we'll understand how we're to live now It's interesting that all back down through the centuries, haaven't always had all this at the same time And now we have it from Genesis to Revelation. We have God's full revelation of all that He wants us to know and all that we need to know And you know what? It's been criticized for centuries People have rationalized it away and said it cant it can't be some revelation of some God because it's got all these errors in it. So that's one way they've said it. They've criticized it and said, Well, you know, it's full of myths. And besides that man wrote it. If man wrote it, man makes mistakes and therefore because man makes mistakes, you can't put your faith in it And therefore the liberalists said, Well, you know, this doesn't mean this. The first eleven chapters of Genesis are all myth. The book of Revelation is a mythology of John. so therefore you can't put your faith in that. And it's interesting to me that the people who don't believe it and can't live by it are not happy. They don't have any contentment and no security. They certainly don't have any eternal security. And what do they have? They don't have anything One thing about this book, you can't shake it. Listen, they burned it. They've criticized it. They've rationalized it They've tried to mythologize it, you name it. You know what? here it is. still doing what? still saving people's lives, still bringing us into a right relationship with God. It's still the living Wd of God. It's going to be here when every atheist and every agnostic and every unbeliever and every so called destroyer, when they're dead and gone, it's still the living Word of God. When you and I get to heaven, it'll still be The unshakable living W of the living God So there's something else that I have in this life. And if you'll just think about this at your house, you may live in a beautiful home with the finest of furniture, I mean, you may have a house that's absolutely on it. justust knock your eyeballs out. You know what Let me ask you a question. Let's look at your house Air all put all the furnch in your house together, how beautiful it is. Let me ask you this. When you get ready to die, what difference is that going to make? Not one bit. How many chairs are you taking with you Not any How many beds you taking with you? How many dresses you taking with you? What about all that silver that you've saved up and you won't let your kids use? Because you want to keep it shinine and polished and don't touch this and I never have figured that out Why do people save and save and save as if they're gonna take you with them? Listen, when they put your body in the casket, to my knowledge, I'll never have seen any silverware, any money, or anything in there. You know why we'll do a bit of good? The only thing you and I own physically on the face of this earth that will never change, cannot change is the living Word of God So we can say thank God There's something not going to be shaken. What is it? My God's not going to be shaken. The second thing's not going to be shaken is the Wd of God because this is his revelation. Well, there's a third thing that is not going to be shaken. listen this carefully That is to all of us who believers, one thing that's not going to be shaken is our personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ absolutely will not be shaken cannot be shaken Money can't take it away from us, Death can't take it away from us. Listen to what Jesus said John chapter ten, verse twenty seven, he said, My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give unto them eternal life. Listen, and they shall never perish. Neither shall anyone be able to shake them out of my hand. My Father which gave them to me is greater than all. I and my father are one Listen, if you have a personal relationship with God, there's not anything in this world that can shake you loose. He said, but, wait a minute now, hold it But what about my fate? I'm coming to that There's no one that can shake your relationship with Jesus Christ But first of all, let's see how you came to that relationship Well, you heard the Word of God in some fashion You believe the testimony of the book And so what did you do? You placed your faith in the testimony of God's Wd, H revelation, which said that when Jesus Christ went to the cross, he doubt on the cross for your sin and mine. And you accepted that as true and you said, I do receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. The Bible says, chapter one of Ephicians, chapter four of Ephicians that the Spirit of the living God own God, the Holy Spirit sealed you, the Bible says, under the day of redemption, which means He sealed you as His son, as His daughter until the moment He takes you out of this life and so that you are sealed forever as a child of God Now how did you get sealed? Was it good works? No Did you get sealed by your faith? No you weren't sealed by your faith? You were sealed, listen by the Holy Spirit. Who is responding to what to your faith in the death of Jesus. It is the death of Christ. It is his atoning death at Cabary that took care of my sins The moment I placeaced my faith in his death, in Him as a person, then I was se as a child of God now wasn't about works And so what can shake us looose from that? Well, go if you will to Romans chapter eight for a moment Romans chapter eight, look if you will, beginning in verse thirty five. Listen to what he says. Who shall separate us? Wh shall shake us loose from the love of Christ Shell tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine or neckedness, or peril ass sault. Now lookook at those things. I mean, this is enough to cause anybody to wonder. Look at that. What shall shake us lose from the love of Christ Tribulation and distress and persecution, famine and neckedness and perilous sword. He says for thy sake We are being put to death all day long We would considered the sheep to be slaughtered. but In all of these things, what all these difficulties, hardships, trials, persecution, distresses, faminist, nechanist, peril, soord, all of these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Christ who loved us I'm convinced that ne the death. Look at that, Neith the death. No life angels nor principalities of any clan, including Satan No things present. Nor things to come nor powers Nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing. E single thing's been created other than God be able to separate us, shake us loose from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, ourur Lord. And let me ask you something. What is it that can shake your relationship with Christ? What can shake it loose? What can take you away from God? What can snatch you out of the hand of God, not one single thing? So this unk Number one I know I have something that absolutely cannot be shaken My God Secondly, God's word, and thirdly, my relationship with Him So my friend, listen, if you're one of those persons who feels like and who believes it somehow that you can lose your salvation, then let me ask you a question. Wh is your security If you can be saved by the grace of God and then you can lose it Where's your security And you see, some people say,, well, Satan can snatch me out of God's head. That's not what Jesus said. Well, I can just choose to walk away. You can choose to walk away, but you know what you walk into? You walk into this wall of divine discipline. That's what you walk into Does that mean that God's going to cast you wh? No Absolutely not Let me ask you a question If your son, your daughter went through some difficult and hardship, and they said, You know what I don't want you to be my parents,more, I'm sorry you' my pares. I wish I'd never been born to you and walked away. Would you say, Well, good ridence for you. No you wouldnt, you know what would happen? Your heart would go after them. Your heart would seek them. You would love them, you'd be praying for them, weeping over them and crying for them to come back, Wh? Because your love doesn't change. I w to tell you something. It doesn't make a difference what happens to you God's unconditional love is like all of his other attributes, it does not change. You know what can't be shaken? You're personal relationship with Jesus Christ absolutely cannot be shaken. He says, What shall separate us from the love of God? He names everything imaginable. Death, life, princial is power, things to come, things p. I you name it. What can shake us loose? Not anything When you and I have the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and we understand who He is, listen carefful now because I'm going to say something that You may question number one But I want you to think about it If you've placed your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior, listen carefully And you're walking in his spirit Does doesn't mean you're sinless, but that your heart's desire is to be absolutely obedient to God. And you want to walk in his way and his will for your life This unconditionally loving father will be to you every single thing that you need. in every instance, in every circumstance of life, no matter how trying, no matter how difficult, no matter how painful, no matter how upsetting, no matter how disturbing. He will be to you every single thing you need every single time with no exception, so that your faith will not be shaken if you will commit yourself. to walk in obedience to Him Thank you for listening to things that cannot be shaken. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online twenty four seven station. And if you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or inntouch Ministries, stop by in touch. orgg This podcast is a presentation of inntouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia