Making Him Known – Dr. Charles Stanley

There are three questions that haunt the minds of people everywhere. Sadly, even many people who are in church each week wrestle with knowing who the one true God is, what He is like, and understanding how to have an intimate relationship with Him. For more messages from Charles Stanley, including this week’s broadcast, go to https://intouch.org/watch

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male announcer: In Touch,
the teaching ministry of

Dr. Charles Stanley.

Next on “In Touch,”
“Making Him Known.”

Dr. Charles Stanley: There are
three questions that everyone

needs to be able to
answer correctly.

The first one is this.

Who is the one true God?

Secondly, what is He like?

And thirdly, is it possible to
have a personal relationship

with Him and if so, how?

That is the question.

Those three questions are
three questions that haunt many,

many people around the world.

Who is the one true God?

What is He like?

And can you have a
personal relationship with Him?

And if so, how can
that be possible?

The more I travel to
other countries in the world,

the more I realize that those
three questions are haunting

questions in the
lives of many people.

While they have
their different gods,

their different
places of worship,

their different
forms of religion,

deep down inside there is still
an abiding hunger to know who is

the real God, what
is He really like,

and is it possible to have
a personal relationship

with this God?

I’ve seen that over and
over and over again as

I’ve talked with people.

Deep down inside those
three questions are yet

to be answered.

And not only that,
in also the mail,

the internet, the
letters we read from In Touch,

it’s the same story.

If you analyze those letters
over and over and over again,

it’s the same story.

Now tell me, how can I–well,
how can I really be sure who is

the real God?

Why I’ve been taught this,
or this is the god I’ve been

worshipping and I’ve heard
about this god and that god and,

after all, these gods are all
different and they seem to be so

distant and so far away.

Who is the one true God?

What is He really like?

And can I have a
personal relationship with Him?

But you see, the tragedy is
that’s not only true of people

who live in other
countries of the world.

There are people who go to
church in this country every

Sunday, Sunday after Sunday, and
they listen to sermons and they

go through their ritual
or whatever it might be,

however they worship.

And when they come away,
if you ask them who is

the one true God?

What is He really like?

How can you have a
personal relationship with Him,

with Him?

Many of those people could
not answer those questions.

They would say, “Well,
oh, I believe in God.

And I believe in the
God of the Bible.”

Well, what is He like?

“Well, I don’t know
exactly what He’s like,

I just know I believe in Him.”

Well, can you have a
personal relationship with Him?

“Well, I’m not sure,
I think you can.”

Some people say they can.
You’d be shocked.

If you took a little personal
survey yourself of people that

you know, not necessarily people
who attend church but

some who do.

If you said to them, “Could
I ask you three very

simple questions?”

And they’re not
difficult to answer.

All right, how would
you answer this question?

Who is the one true God?

What is He like?

And can you have a
personal relationship with Him?

And if so, how,
how can you do that?

You may be shocked at the people
that you know who cannot answer

those three questions.

And if somebody walked up to
you today and said to you,

“I want you to answer
these three questions for me.

Who is the one true God?”

How would you answer that?

And then they’d say to
you, “Describe Him for me.

What is He like?”

How would you answer that?

Well, these are the same
questions that the Apostle Paul

faced when he arrived in Athens.

He’d been in Philippi,
for example,

and you know the story of the
Philippian jailer and so forth.

And then he was in Thessalonica
and then he was in Berea and

then he came to Athens.

And when he was in
Thessalonica and Berea,

he did what he normally did.

The scripture says that he was
in the synagogues reasoning

with them about the scriptures
about who Jesus was and

the Resurrection.

So, I want you to turn if you
will to the seventeenth chapter

of the book of Acts, and I want
to talk about this whole idea of

making Him known.

The Apostle Paul in Athens.

He arrives in Athens and Timothy
and Silas remain there in Berea

and so coming on the scene he
does what a normal person would

normally do when they
first arrive in town.

What does he do?
He takes him a tour.

He takes a tour of Athens.

And if you’ll notice
what happens here,

beginning in verse sixteen: “Now
while Paul was waiting for them

at Athens, his spirit was being
provoked within him,” that is,

he was agitated and
irritated what he saw,

“he was observing
the city full of idols.

So he was reasoning in the
synagogue during the days

with the Jews and the
God-fearing Gentiles,

and in the market place every
day with those who happened

to be present.

And also some of the Epicurean
and Stoic philosophers were

conversing with him.

Some were saying, ‘What would
this idle babbler wish to say?’

Others, ‘He seems to be
a proclaimer of strange

deities,’–because he was
preaching Jesus and

the resurrection.”

Now you say, “What
happened to the cross?”

Well, he wouldn’t be preaching
the Resurrection if he hadn’t

been describing the cross.

So, he was
preaching Jesus, His death,

His resurrection.

“They took him and
brought him to the Areopagus,

saying, ‘May we know what this
new teaching is which you

are proclaiming?

‘For you are bringing some
strange things to our ears;

so we want to know what
these things mean.’

(Now all the Athenians and the
strangers visiting there used

to spend their time in nothing
other than telling or

hearing something new.)”

That is, they weren’t
necessarily trying to make

a commitment about something,
they just loved to talk about it

and this is what’s going on.

And so, Paul was delighted to
be able to have them as his

audience because he knew
that he had the truth.

Now when you look at this
message that the Apostle Paul

preached, and you ask
yourself the question,

well now, how did he approach a
group of people so diverse in

what they believed?

Well, the Apostle Paul was
very adept at reasoning.

And you see, one of the reasons
he was is because his Damascus

Road experience had so
absolutely transformed his life.

And he had already begun to see
in his short years of ministry

how God had worked in
the lives of other people.

And he knew that
these people were empty.

He knew they were walking
and living in darkness.

He knew they had no answers
because they were known for

reasoning and talking about
this and talking about that and

talking about the other, and
trying to discover what is the

highest good in life?

And you know what
they were looking for?

They were searching for
the same three answers.

Who is the one true God?

What is He like?

And is it possible to have a
personal relationship with Him?

And they were so
committed to their philosophies,

of course, when they
heard the Apostle Paul,

the scripture says one
of three responses they had.

Number one, they
sneered at him and said,

“Well, this is
absolutely preposterous.”

Secondly, part of
them said, “Well,

we’re going to–this
is sorta interesting.

We’re gonna hear
about this again.”

And the third were
those who trusted,

that is, those who
believed the Bible says.

And so for, when Paul
had finished his message,

the Bible says he walked away
knowing that he had done what

God called him to do.

Not to convert
them, but to do what?

To answer those three
ultimate questions,

he knew haunted these people.

Now, let’s think
about this for a moment.

It is the will of God
that every single person have

a correct answer to
those three questions.

It is the will of God
that every person

have the correct answer
to those three questions.

And if you’ll think for a moment
what Paul said to Timothy in

that first epistle,
and the second chapter.

He had just finished talking to
him about encouraging them to

pray for their leaders and
then he said: “This is good and

acceptable in the
sight of God our Savior,

who desires all me,” and women,
“to be saved and to come to the

knowledge of the truth.”

Not some, not most, but all.

Now, when He gave
the Great Commission,

what did He say?

As you go, make
disciples of not some,

not most, all nations.

He said, for example, go into
all the world and preach the

gospel to the whole creation.

He said repentance and faith
shall be preached to all men

in all nations.

So that it is the will of God
that the very truth that you

have known a long time, that
you know today is the truth the

world desperately needs to hear
and does not understand and

does not know.

You think about all the
religions out there and the

millions of people that
make up these religions.

They live in fear,
they live in uncertainty,

they live in darkness,
they live in anxiety.

They worship their gods.

They bow down before
things that are stone,

wooden, things created by man.

And I want you to think
about this for a moment.

Suppose you walked in here on a
Sunday and this was your form

of worship.

You came in and
before you was a–let’s say

that it’s a brass or silver
or gold statue of something.

Maybe it looked like somebody.

And so we sang a few songs and
then we took up an offering and

brought it and laid it at
the foot of this altar

of this statue.

And then we sang a couple
of songs and you went home.

Let me ask you a question.

What would you have
carried home with you?

What assurance would you have?

What real blessing
could you have defined?

What would you have
been singing about?

Could you have any
joy, peace, happiness,

contentment, assurance in
this life or the life to come?

No, you could not.

Because you would have
bowed down to something that is

lifeless that cannot hear
you, speechless, cannot speak;

no eyes, cannot see; no
feelings; therefore no

compassion, no love, no
forgiveness, no kindness,

no gentleness, no
mercy, none of that.

I want you to
think about something.

What you enjoy every single
day of your life as a believer,

most of the world has absolutely
no concept of it whatsoever.

Some of their gods are
walking on four feet.

Some of their gods are stationed
at a place where people bow down

and worship.

Some of their gods are things
that would be dangerous

to even touch.

They’re looking for
the one true God.

They want to know what He’s like
and they want to know can I have

a personal
relationship with Him?

If we tell the world our God
is a God of unconditional love.

That He will love you,
forgive you of your sins,

that He’s kind and
gentle and loving.

That He’s merciful,
that He’s just,

that He cares about you,
compassionate for you,

interested in every
single affair of your life.

No matter what’s going on He
is personally interested

in your life.

It’d be hard for them to believe
because they have been taught so

many erroneous things about this
God whom they cannot identify.

They may put a name on
him, but he cannot speak,

he cannot hear, he
has no compassion.

He has no love,
and he has no power.

He’s absolutely useless.

It’s the same thing Paul faced.

Things haven’t
changed a whole lot.

If you had to walk in on a
Sunday morning and worship that,

I wonder how
often you would come.

There’d be no reason to come.

It’d be an absolute
waste of your time.

Paul said, “This unknown
god that you’re worshipping,

what can he do for you?”

And I’m sure he stirred them up.

Now think about
this for a moment.

What do we mean when we say
that it’s the will of God that

everyone know Him?

Now watch this.

The word “know”,
there’s more than one-word,

Greek word in the
Bible about for knowing.

One of them is just to
know just like I know this,

know this fact.

But then there’s the word, and
this is what Paul is using here.

The word that means
to know intimately,

to know in
personal relationship.

And what Paul is saying here,
“I want to tell you how you can

have a personal
relationship with Him,

and it comes through the
repentance of your sins

and faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ.”

You can ask a lot of people,
“Well do you know God?”

“Oh yes.”

And here’s how you can tell
whether they know Him or not.

Well, describe Him for me.

And you know what?

They say, “Now look,
don’t get personal.”

That’s their way of
defending their ignorance.

Now you don’t go
tell them, “Well,

I want to tell you
that you’re ignorant.”

Don’t–Paul could do that but
you shouldn’t tell ’em that.

But they’re ignorant.

If you ask somebody to describe
this god you believe in and they

can’t describe him?

Let me ask you something.

How can you love someone
you know nothing about?

How can you genuinely, you see,
one of the reasons that God sent

His Son, well the primary reason
of course is to die on

the cross, but He wanted Him
to reveal to us the kind of God

He is.

And in the New Testament, we
get a concept of God the

Old Testament, they didn’t
quite have that full concept.

And so Jesus sent His only
begotten Son to save sinful,

lost, blinded, helpless,
hopeless mankind

from their sins.

And He wants us to know
Him because He loves us.

That’s why He created us.

And He wants us to
love Him in return.

How can you love
someone you don’t know?

When somebody says,
“Well, I love God.”

Describe Him for me.

If you can’t describe Him,
you can’t tell me that you love

somebody you know nothing about.

You may love some
figment of your imagination.

You may love an idea,
you may love a concept,

but to love God, to love
the Lord Jesus Christ,

you must know Him.

There must be–listen, it’s not
just know some facts about Him,

but to know Him personally, an
intimate relationship with Him

that comes through the
acceptance of Jesus Christ as

your personal Savior.

That’s when the Holy Spirit
comes into your life.

That’s when you
begin to know Him.

The Spirit of God will–listen,
will open the eyes of any

unbeliever walking in darkness
who desires to know the truth.

Their eyes will be open to the
truth if they really and truly

want to know the truth.

The issue is, have
they ever heard?

And I don’t believe the issue in
the world of missions today is

that all of these people
out there are rejecting

Jesus Christ.

They’ve never had the
opportunity to hear.

There’s a world of people out
there who desire to know Him,

but they’ve never heard.

So let me ask you a question.

How content can you and
I really and truly be?

And this is not to put
a guilt trip on anybody,

this is just a hard cold fact.

How content can you and I be
as believers when we have

all of this truth?

From Genesis to Revelation,
the Revelation of God.

When we know who
the one true God is.

We know what He’s like and
we know that you can have

a personal relationship
with Him, and we know how.

How can you and I be content
when there are multiplied

millions and millions, even
in the billions of people,

who have never heard the truth.

Not one time has anybody
ever said the one true God

is Jehovah.

The God of the Bible, He
is the creator of the ends

of the earth.

He is the God who created all
things and sovereignly rules

over all things.

He is the God who
so loved sinful,

darkened, lost mankind that
He sent His only begotten Son,

Jesus Christ, born of a virgin.

Came into this world
to reveal the Father.

And ultimately for the purpose
of going to a Roman cross,

laying down His
life voluntarily.

And when He did so,
He took all of your sin,

all of your darkness,
all of your guilt,

placed it upon Himself.

And He died as your substitute
so that you would not have

to die in your sin.

And the moment you
accept His death as a death,

a personal commitment to Him
through your faith in Him,

you say to Him, “I’m confessing
my sin and I’m receiving You

as my personal Savior.”

In that moment your
eyes are gonna be opened.

You will understand what it
means to be forgiven

of your sin.

Your name will be written in the
Lamb’s Book of Life and forever

and ever you’re eternally a
child of the living one true God

who has prepared a
place in Heaven for you.

And until He comes to get
you, He’s gonna be living on the

inside of you and enabling you
to live out this godly life and

to become the person
God wants you to be.

Friend, that, I just gave you
the message the whole world

needs to hear.

And, they’re not hearing it.

They’re hearing it
by small degrees,

but not the way
they need to hear it.

And I simply want
to ask you this.

You know these things.

You hear them week
after week after week.

You can go to Bible
studies and prayer groups

and you can go to Sunday Schools
and you can come to worship

service and you can have
somebody expound the truth of

God’s Word to you.

You know the truth and you know
it and you’ve heard it and

heard it and heard it.

And there are hundreds of
millions of people out there

who’ve never heard it
once who want to hear it,

who desire to hear it,
who long to hear it,

who hunger to hear it.

Listen, I’m gonna show you in a
few moments who risk their life

just to hear it one time.

How satisfied can we be?

How happy can we be about the
Christian life and satisfied

with what our life is, how we’re
counting when we know that there

are absolutely several
billion people who do not know,

not because they
don’t want to know,

but because they’ve never
had the privilege of knowing.

So let me ask you this question.

As you look at your life
today, what is it counting for?

What are you living for?

Is your primary
interest your future security,

your present pleasure, your
goals that you’ve set for your

life without even asking God?

Is your primary
goal in life money,

marriage, acceptance, or some
other form of pleasure in life?

Or could you say today, “My
primary interest in life is to

do the will of God,
whatever that is.”

I think about all the young
people who are growing up under

the teaching of God’s Word.

And all of you who are single
and you’re working and making

a living and sometimes it’s hard
and difficult and you look at

your life and some of you,
you want to get married,

that’s your primary objective in
life and you’re waiting for the

right one to come along.

Let me ask you this.

Are you willing to tell God
you’re willing to lay down all

of your dreams because what you
want most of all is you want the

will of God to come along?

You want what God
has for your life.

You want your life
to count for Him,

and trust Him to give you the
things or the person God may

want you to serve Him with.

But you see if you
put other things first,

you may miss the most awesome
opportunity of your life.

You say, “Well, I’m
fifty years of age,

I’m sixty years of age.”

You know what?

There’s nothing in the Bible
about serving God at

a certain age.

The question is this.

You’re gonna live
and you’re gonna die.

You’re gonna leave
behind nothing except

something material, or a
legacy, a spiritual legacy.

You’re gonna leave behind,
you’re gonna leave behind

a message that’ll keep on being
born again and again and again

and again in the hearts of
multitudes of people and the

ripples of your life will
never be able to be counted.

How can we be happy and
satisfied when people are

willing to lay down their
life just to hear the truth?

And you and I’ve heard it
over and over and over again.

I just want to
ask you a question.

Is Jesus Christ worth,
is His message worth,

is what He’s done for you
worth you bowing before Him and

saying, “Father, Lord Jesus,
everything I am and everything

I have I owe it to You.

I give You myself
without reservation,

without hesitation.

I don’t even want any promises.

I just give myself to You
and ask You to use me any way,

anywhere, anyhow,
no matter what.”

Do you have the
courage to ask Him?

Do you have the
courage to tell Him that?

Think about your life.

It’s not yours.

Your life belongs to the living
God and He has given you skills

and opportunities and abilities
and talents and all the rest.

And sometimes it’s
something so simple you can do.

For example, in the Philippines,
as a result of the program

of “In Touch” in the
Philippines and the radio,

the television and
the printed magazine,

when people get the
magazine and they listen,

what happens often times a
pastor will carry to a village

copies of the magazines if they,
if we receive e-mails or letters

from those people.

Did you know that as a result of
people just listening and God in

His wonderful way in all these
villages putting people together

who’ve been listening and they
begin to talk to each other,

they’ve started over
a hundred churches?

Who is the true God?

What is He like?

And how can I have a
personal relationship with Him?

Think for a moment.

What are you willing to do
to help somebody answer

those three questions?

Because their eternal destiny
hinges on it and you have

the answer the world
is searching for.

♪♪♪