La gracia: El nuevo estilo de vida de Dios - Gracia para estos tiempos, Pt. 6

The Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Therefore, go around the world teaching and preaching the gospel to every creature, to the last of the earth. En Contacto, the biblical teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Today on En Contacto, Grace, the new lifestyle of God's life. He invents his own rules to be able to discipline himself, and when he realizes it, he violates them. And in a certain way, he criticizes himself harshly when he is not up to his own norms or his own expectations. He feels distant from God when he does not serve Him and when he does not do things that he would consider spiritual. And he feels close to Him when he does something that he considers religious or spiritual. And I wonder if at times he feels driven by phrases like these in his thinking. I must. I should. I have to. I also wonder if he has accusing feelings like, I don't know if I'm safe, I don't know if I've done the right thing, those feelings that make him feel insecure, incompetent, and insecure about his salvation. If that is the case, it is possible that if this is the lifestyle he has, and so he has a lifestyle that God never wanted, because you see, Christ spoke of a new lifestyle. He called it a new covenant. And that's what I'm going to talk about in this message of grace, the new lifestyle of God's life. Please join me in Luke chapter 22. And if you remember Luke chapter 22, in this part it talks about Christ and his apostles in the high place, where they celebrate the Holy Supper, the Last Supper.

And we'll start reading in verse 19 and we'll also read in verse 20. And Christ here, when he broke the bread, said, And he took the bread and gave thanks, and he broke it and gave it to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same way, after he had eaten, he took the cup, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. A new covenant in my blood. What it says to them is this. Something new is about to happen. They grew up under the law of the Old Testament, and the system of sacrifices and everything else, and now Christ says that something new is about to happen. And as for the new thing that will happen, he says, Here I am establishing a new covenant. The next day this happened. The next day Christ was crucified, and when he shed his blood, he established this new covenant between God and humanity. That is to say, that sin would be forgiven forever, on the basis of his crucifixion and the shedding of his blood, because he was the lamb. Look, prophesied in the Old Testament, in the blood shed of all lambs and others. All this was a foretaste of the coming of Christ and his crucifixion. And when he said, I establish a new covenant, there would be a new way of life, a whole new way. When Christ spoke of a new covenant, what did he mean? He meant a new relationship, based on a whole new idea, and he also meant a new personal relationship that we could all have with him. The Bible says that we have all been saved by the grace of God.

By grace, the undeserved favor of God, his goodness, favor and grace towards us. Not for our worth or merit, and in spite of what we deserve. God acted towards us by grace. By the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, he made it possible for God to remain just and holy, and at the same time to work among us as sinners, in such a way that God sees us in an absolute and totally redeemed way from sin, past, present and future. It is a pure act of grace. It has nothing to do with what we deserve. So when we speak of grace, the new way of life of God, we speak of the way in which God treats us today. And so, instead of being slaves, I don't know if I please God, and I don't know if God loves me today, and I don't feel it. Sometimes I feel it, and sometimes I don't. The majority of believers, I'm afraid, the majority of believers, have serious questions about their relationship with God. How do I know when I please Him? How do I know if I've done enough? How do I know if I've prayed enough? If it is a matter of rules and norms and living according to an impossible and invisible standard, you will never have peace and you will never know if you have pleased God and you will not have contentment in your life. It is to live under the old covenant, not in the grace of the New Testament. Well, what are we talking about? I will give you seven words that I consider that summarize and condense this life that we call a life of grace, and the first is acceptance. In the Old Testament, the acceptance of God was based on the works, it was based on complying with the rules and norms. When they did not comply with those rules and norms as they should, then they felt rejected by God, and then they lived under the slavery of the law. The offering of sacrifice was absolutely essential to have the acceptance of God.

When Jesus Christ went to the cross, he established once and for all the basis of our acceptance. Our acceptance before God is not based on behavior or conduct or performance, but is based on a condition, and that condition is that when Jesus Christ died in Calvary and took all my sin, and I, when I received him as my Savior by faith, he established once and for all and forever the very basis of my acceptance before the eyes of God. It has nothing to do with conduct or behavior, but a condition. You and I are now children of the living God, not because of our goodness, justice, promises or hopes, but based on the work of Jesus Christ when he died in Calvary. His death resolved once and for all our acceptance. What is that for? It is because when we wake up and start the day, we do not have to think, I hope to do enough and pray enough and have read the Bible and have not said anything bad, God, I do not want to kneel next to my bed tonight to pray and wait for God to love me, look, loved forever. Through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, he paid all his debt of sin and will never be free from slavery, the fear of wondering if he did enough, wondering if he has lived up to the standard, wondering if he has lived up to the standard, what is the standard? Look, God says it is grace, the undeserved and unworthy favor of God, because listen, the truth is that we cannot deserve what God has done, you cannot, listen, if you cannot and he has already foreseen it, you can rest, it is acceptance based on him, it is the perfect lamb of God who died to remove the sin of the world, his and mine. What is the life of grace? The life of grace is this, that God has accepted me on the basis of what his Son did for me, not for anything that I can do for him, this is the problem, our pride, I must do something to deserve it, no, you cannot, look, so in the flesh, you will never be able to deserve the love of God, it is acceptance based on what Christ did on the cross, the second word is security. Security, what is the basis of our security? The basis is what he says, by grace, unworthy love of God, his grace and kindness to us, the forgiveness of God, based not on what we deserve, by grace you are saved, by means

of faith, and this not of you, not by works, he says, so that no one may be glorified, and so many believers are not sure of their salvation, and I would like to tell you all this, and I say it with all the love that I can, to those who were taught that they can be saved today, sin at night, and go to hell tomorrow, hear that there is no peace in that, nor do I enjoy it, and I will ask you a question, what happened with grace? That is, if grace is the unworthy favor of God, unworthy, if it is something that God does for me that I cannot, what happened with grace, the love of God, spilled, spilled and spilled over his children, listen, by means of his son, he suffered the punishment of my disobedience, he suffered the punishment of my doubts and frustrations and anxieties, I do not have to suffer the consequences, you see, we forget that this is the most important thing that Almighty God has done, to have given us his son, well then, the word is security, the third is availability, think about this, in the whole of the Old Testament, only the High Priest could enter the Most Holy Place and be in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant, which symbolized the presence of God, the other priests could not, but think of the people who were outside, the hundreds, thousands and millions who could not approach it, Christ said, I come to establish a new covenant, and the next day, when that veil was torn from top to bottom, it was as if God opened the door and said, hello, new relationship, a personal, warm and close relationship with Almighty God, not only with Jesus. But God, the Omnipotent, who roars from the Sinai, who sends lightning and clouds and thunder and roar and power, but a loving and tender Heavenly Father. It is the difference between grace and law. And we all here have the wonderful privilege, look, when Christ came and died on the cross, the Bible says that he came to live within us. What did he do? He came to make it possible that we all live in this wonderful and close relationship with him and the Father. That is why it says, with courage, with confidence, come to the throne of God and say, make your requests there

and you will find mercy, and you will find grace and mercy for the timely help. Look, the God to whom we serve is not so distant out there, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, it's all that. But in Christ, see what he said. He said, the one who has seen me has seen the Father. How did Christ act? Do not come near me, or you will fall dead. Go away. I am the only Son of God. Beware of the lightning, the thunder and the roar. He sat on a boat to go fishing. He sat to laugh with them and had fun with them. As a friend he said, I will not call you slaves. He said, you are my friends. We see God as a friend or as an enemy. Look, the majority sees him as an enemy, a judge, a just, a condemner. What about the loving and tender Heavenly Father? And Christ said, if you have seen me, you have seen the Father. Because if you have seen me, I am like him, and he like me. And what was he like? He was tender, loving, kind, compassionate, generous, sensitive. That is the Father. And you see, the life of grace is a different perspective of God. It is a life of acceptance on the basis of what Christ did, not me. It is a life of security based on what Christ did, not us here.

It is a life of availability for God because Christ paved the way with his blood in Calvary. It is also a life of sufficiency. It means that in the Old Testament they fought. They did it with their strength. But in Pentecost, something fantastic happened. And you will remember that the disciples strived to do what they had to do, but they kept failing over and over again. And Christ said to them in the chapters 14, 15 and 16 of John, As they spent a long time talking to them about the Holy Spirit, he said, When these things happen to you that I tell you, do not dare to leave Jerusalem, nor think about it. And he said, Stay here, because something will happen. In this new relationship of covenant, something will happen, and this will happen. I will send you the Holy Spirit, part of the Trinity. It will not be just something external that comes and goes from time to time, as in the Old Testament, but it will endure and live there forever. And he will supply you with everything you need. You will never have to do anything with your strength, nothing with your power. I will do it through the Holy Spirit. It is not so funny that God does not expect us to do anything without counting on his Spirit. And when I hear someone talk about, Have you received the Spirit? When one receives the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Savior, he receives everything.

All things, he receives everything. Every person who has been saved is dwelled in the Holy Spirit, the living God. Because he says that if he does not have the Spirit, it is not his. He cannot be saved without having his Spirit. Listen, that is grace, it is God who equips us, who trains us, gives us a teacher, and gives us a guide, and gives us direction in our life, assuring us, guiding us, and supporting us with his Spirit, so that we can do all the things he asks of us. That is the wonderful thing about grace. We should not do anything without the Holy Spirit. When a friend or another pastor tells me, Well, Pastor, look, I would love to be willing to serve the Lord, but I am incapable and poorly equipped. Right? It seems to me that I cannot, right? If I felt more capable, I would. No. We do not want people who feel capable. We want people who feel incapable and extremely impotent if they do not have the living Spirit of God. And this is the wonderful paradox. We are stronger when we feel weaker. And we are all more valuable to God when we feel useless and impotent. Because then He is completely free to work. Look, that is grace. Unlike what was believed in the Old Testament. It is the supernatural power of the living God, and so, if he lives in the grace of God, he has the privilege and the right to accept the presence, the power, and the abilitation

of the Holy Spirit so that he can do everything that God has asked of him, whether it be changing diapers for a baby or being the president of his corporation. There is no difference in the eyes of God. To that mother who gives love to that child, touches that child, loves that child, the Spirit of God allowed her to transmit that wonderful and devout maternal love to that child. This man who is president of his corporation, gives testimony and asks for the divine guidance of God through his spirit and the ability to give direction with a spirit typical of Christ, requires the same to change a diaper, change a diaper in a devout way as to be president of a corporation. You see, the life of grace is not to do things on our own, it is the life of God that sustains us. The next word is abundance, because look, Christ said, I have come that you may have life and that you may have it in abundance. What is abundant life? I will tell you what it is. Look, it is abundant life in the highest plane. Abundant life is the life that Christ lives in and through me. Abundant life is the life that God wanted us all to live and that is why he sent Christ so that it would be possible, not in our strength, but in the presence of Christ in us. It is abundance. He will tell me, look, I have sought the abundance of God, listen, see what he said. He said that he deposited in our account everything that we may need, right? I must trust in him, and by trusting in him, everything will go well for me. And look, some say, look, I want God to sustain me, listen, grace has done this. By grace, God gives wealth to the poor, gives strength to the weak, gives purity to the impure, gives health to the sick, gives comfort to the afflicted. In his abundance, he has provided everything. Think about it. If you have the wisdom of God and know his ways, when God works in your life and there is a deep and constant pleasure and friendship with him, I assure you that there is no amount of money in any part of the world comparable to that.

And in addition to that, you will have to leave your money here, but what we have, we take it. They leave everything, not us. We are much richer than they are. And the Bible says that we must be rich in the things of God, rich in the word of God, millionaires in it. And Christ came, listen, to live in our interior, and by his Spirit he came to do what? To teach us the ways of God, to know how God works, to know how God thinks, to know how to interpret his word, to know how to walk in his ways. And look, when he begins to live in grace, he will discover this. There is no valley, there is no summit, there is no difficulty, no hurry, no problem, no trial, no tribulation, nothing that discourages him. Do you know why? Because he will understand that this, this is part of the ways of God to mature him, to conform him to his likeness, to improve. And he will see. He says he came to free us, to free the captives. And we have the abundance of God. That's what grace is about. Look, I don't think I deserve that. Right? Listen, you will never deserve it. The Christian should remove that word from his vocabulary. It's not deserving, it's what? Grace. Say it. Grace. It's not deserving, it's grace. Next word, permanence. Permanence. You should see it that way, the most beautiful way that Christ could have described it.

I don't remember anything else that said it was more perfect than this. He said, I will show you my relationship with you. He said, I am the vine. You are the pampas. And he said, now you remain in me and I remain in you. And life in the vine is now the life of the pampas. And the big, delicious grapes that hang here from the branch to refresh the spirit, the soul, and the body. What is that? It is the life of the vine that lives in the life of the branch and produces fruit. You see, the Christian life should not be a struggle, anxiety, anger, fury, effort. We have all gone through that. But how does a pampas live in the vine? It rests in the vine and depends on it for everything. People say, I received Jesus Christ and I made him a part of my life. Forget it. A part of his life? What part? If I were honest, I would say the part where I look for it in the problems. He is not part of our life, listen, He is His life. Christ is our life, look, He is our life, we do not have separate lives from Him. And this relationship of remaining in Him is for the grace of God. The last word is to give account. Say, oh, I feared that would come to that. Well, would God be a God of grace if we did not give account? Of course not. Give account, look, let's see the difference. One thing is to think of giving account of a God who judges, condemns, and takes account. No. We are talking about a loving, kind, and kind Heavenly Father to whom we give account every day.

We wake up in the morning. Father, what do you want me to do today? Who do you want me to talk to? Father, will you guide my agenda today? Because it is yours. Will you live your life through me today? You know the things I will face, although I have no idea what they are, and therefore I cannot prepare myself for them. But you can, because you can prepare me, because you know what will happen. Giving account is not bad. Well, if you die without Christ, you have a lot to worry about. But look, when we are in the court of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are before this merciful Father, in those seconds, and no one knows how long it will be, we will see Him as He is, and we will know how He sees us, and we will accept His judgment. And everything will be praise. Look, this will be the attitude of the Lord Jesus in the trial. One of my trophies, another of my trophies. He is not disappointed because He knew before we were born everything that we would undoubtedly do wrong in life, our mistakes and failures that we would have. He knew everything. You know what He decided? To save us anyway. Does He think He will be kind to us until the trial arrives, and then He will give us the blow? No. He is a merciful Father, and according to Ephesians chapter 2, verses 6 and 7, He says that we will shine forever in glory, like trophies of His great grace.

Because you see, the angels do not experience it, they do not receive the forgiveness of their sins, nor do they live in heaven forgiven. All of us do. We are trophies of His grace. You see, it is His choice. To make laws and establish rules, and to live under the domain of legalism, fear, uncertainty. I hope to be close, to be accepted, to be safe, or to live in the sublime acceptance that comes through the cross. I can live in the sublime security bought on the cross. I can live in the wonderful feeling and awareness of the availability of my Heavenly Father, who is my friend, in the abundance that He provides for His children, in the sufficiency that is ours in Him. And we can live in this incredible, relaxing, and firm relationship that is His work and not ours, knowing that when the time comes to realize our life, our loving Father will be as tender then as He is now. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever in your life recognized your evil and understood that your sins had separated you, opened up space between you and God, and that you really needed Him? Perhaps you did not know what to do. So you said, God, I hope you have mercy on me. That is not enough. To be forgiven means to recognize that you have sinned against Him and that there is nothing I can do for you.

Many people say, Look, when I clean up a few things, I will come to God. You will never achieve it. Do you know why? Because the cleaning process is His work. Listen to me. It was the blood of Christ in Calvary that cleansed everything. You cannot clean up anything. And listen, perhaps you can stop a few things, but you cannot do this. Look, clean up yesterday's sins that you will never erase from your life, from your heart, from your spirit. The guilt of years of disobedience. Cleaning up what you did today is one thing, but erasing years of guilt can only be done by the blood of Christ. And that is why to be saved, to be saved is to recognize that the death of Christ in Calvary paid His debt of sin. And that when He receives Him by faith as Savior, as personal Savior, He says to God, Father, I believe that you sent your only begotten Son

and He paid my debt of sin. I receive Him as my personal Savior and therefore I believe that my sins are forgiven. Not for what I did, but for what He did. If you are a man of faith, He declares, Son of God, based on your work, not on mine. you are a man of God. It is an act of faith. And then comes this wonderful, exciting journey of the hand, listen, of the hand of the heavenly Father, not to whom he must cling for the rest of his life, but whose infinite, absolute power sustains him for eternity. It is the life of grace, and it is available to all who invoke it. Father, we want to tell you that we love you, we praise you, we worship you, and we honor you. Thank you because we do not have to live under the yoke of rules and norms and things that we must and that we should not do, but of the loving desire to obey you, to follow you, to follow you, and to live in the love that you have provided. I ask that many people, millions of them, listen and be saved, only by putting their faith in you, the loving and perfect Father. I thank you because your word is true, and you said that it would not become empty, but that it would fulfill what you want, and what we want in the name of Christ. Amen.

Amen. Amen.