La gracia transformadora de Dios

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 all creatures, to the end of the earth. En Contacto, the biblical teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Today on En Contacto, the transforming grace of God. God says that He has predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son, which means that the will of the Almighty for each believer is to conform to the image of His Son. He begins that process initially when we are all transformed by His grace in the experience of salvation or new birth. There begins our conformation to the image of Christ. And for the rest of our lives, God moves us, guides us, and helps us go in that direction. Many things influence our life and also the changes that occur in it. For example, our inheritance through parents, grandparents, the way we grow up. And then, of course, there is the environment in which we grow up. Then there is our formation in school and so on. And there are also our decisions. We are an amalgam of those things and something like the sum of all that, of our inheritance, the environment, the formation, and all our decisions. But the most powerful influence in the life of the believer is none of that. The most powerful influence in the life of the believer is the grace of God, the transforming grace of God. And when we live day by day by His grace and in His grace, we can say with the apostle Paul, By the grace of God I am what I am. Join me in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. This message is titled, The transforming grace of God. Something that has happened to everyone and every believer.

And God continues to work in our lives. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the apostle Paul is a good example. And I would like to use it as an illustration of this whole idea of God's power to transform our personal life from what it was to what it is. And of course, to what it will be. Thus, in this chapter 15, which is his most complete exposition of what resurrection consists of, he begins to speak of what the gospel is. And how Jesus Christ appeared to him and in the process of speaking about it, he says in verse 9, For I am the youngest of the apostles, that I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and the grace has not been in vain for me. Before I have worked more than all of them, but not I, but the grace of God with me. Because whether it be I or they, that is how we preach, and that is how you have believed. The apostle Paul says that the grace of God was not given to him in vain, that is, it did not remain sterile in him. Something happened as a result of the grace of God in the life of the apostle Paul. And what happened to him, God wants it to happen to all of us. And I would like us to see his life as an illustration of this principle of the transformative grace of God that has already occurred in his life, if you are a believer. And the first thing we notice here is that the transformative grace of God transformed the apostle Paul from sinner to saint. And when he says in this passage, His grace has not been in vain for me. Listen, all those who have heard the gospel of Christ

and have rejected that gospel, have rejected the love of God, the forgiveness of God, the goodness of God, the generosity of God, all those who have rejected it by rejecting their son, in essence have made vain the grace of God towards him, that is, empty. Because he has not accepted Christ, nor has he accepted his grace, nor has he accepted his forgiveness, nor has he accepted his goodness, and so the expression of the grace of God towards that person has turned out to be in vain, it is empty. Nothing happened because of it. But Paul says, It did not happen to me, says the grace of God. His grace, he says, has not been in vain for me. Something wonderful happened. When this transformation occurred, see what he says, I went from darkness to light, and I went from death to life. I went from the current of this world to the current of the kingdom, he says. There was a radical change in my life, it was so radical, that he said, now I understand that I am a new creation. in Christ Jesus, all who experience the grace of God in salvation is a new creature, says 2 Peter. We are participants of his divine nature. And you see, a transformation implies a change of nature, a change of condition, a change of character, and it can be, of course, a change of appearance. Listen carefully. There is only one way to be accepted before the eyes of God. If good works and being kind and being religious made us acceptable before the eyes of God, the apostle Paul would never have written what he wrote. In Philippians chapter 3, it talks about what used to depend on being acceptable to the eyes of God, and it says, although, verse 4, although I also have to trust in the flesh, it is the confidence in God that God would accept it based on his personal human nature, his good works. It says, although I also have to trust in the flesh, if anyone thinks that he has to trust in the flesh, in his good works and his good nature, it says, I more. Then it talks about how he lived, it says, circumcised on the eighth day, like a good

Hebrew child, of the lineage of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew of Hebrews, in terms of the Pharisee law, he had reached the highest in his nation, in terms of zeal, persecutor of the Church, in terms of justice, which is the law, that is, to comply with the law, irrepressible. But how many things were for my gain I have estimated as loss, for Christ's love, says, all those things I depended on, and I must say it again, I will say it with more emphasis, listen carefully, if you depend on something, something like how good he is, how much money he gives, what a good citizen he is, what a good husband, what a good wife, what a good father, what a good son, if he depends on one and only one thing in all his life, whatever it is, if he depends on something to be accepted in the eyes of God, except for God's grace, listen, he cannot achieve it, he will never do it. A reason why the apostle Paul said, the only thing I can glorify is the cross of Jesus Christ, was because Paul understood that there is no acceptance in the eyes of God apart from the death of Christ on the cross. Christ paid all our debt of sin. He did not choose to save us because he saw something in us that deserved to be saved, his salvation. He did not look forward to the future and said, I like him and also her, he will be a good man and she will be a good servant, so I choose them. The only way in which we are accepted in the eyes of God is that we accept by faith the death of his Son in Calvary as payment for our sins, and when we receive his Son, we have it. And to do something else is to base our acceptance on something that is ours. It cannot be, it will not happen, it has never happened, it will not happen. It is absolutely impossible for it to happen. And I think of millions of people who, out of ignorance but with sincerity, believe that they will be accepted in the eyes of God based on how good they are. I would like to tell you that it afflicts my heart to think that he will live all his life and die in ignorance and blindness by being deceived by Satan and the false doctrine that they taught him that he will be acceptable in the eyes of God for being good. If there is any illustration of this truth, it is the life of the apostle Paul, because he says that all those things that he told, the Philippians say, all the things that he considered valuable and that would make him acceptable in the eyes of God, he says that he had an experience in which he realized that it was not so. And for that reason, this man, who was the worst enemy of the Church of Jesus Christ at the time,

became his greatest promoter, his greatest asset, his best instructor, his best teacher, his best motivator, his best inspiration. The man who was his worst enemy became his best friend. I will ask a question. I have here a terrible mistake that people make. Listen to me carefully. Many people say, I would like to be saved, but there are things in my life that I have to fix. God will not accept me as I am. When I look back at my past and see how much sin, disobedience, and transgression of God's law, I have violated everything in the Bible. Does that mean that I should only approach Christ and be accepted by God? Look, when I clarify some things and order my life, then I will become a Christian. I will ask you something. How much did the apostle Paul clean in his life? Not a single thing. Do you know why? Listen, think about this. Do you remember what Paul said in Ephesians chapter 2? He said, when we were, time passed. How did he say we were? Dead in sin and crime, I will ask you something. Have you ever seen a dead man take a bath? Have you ever seen a dead man or woman doing nothing because they are dead? Look, a spiritually dead person cannot clean anything. He has no power to clean it. The next time you feel a little proud and think how well you are doing, just read Ephesians chapter 2 again. There is no dead man or woman who can find something in their own being that makes it acceptable to the eyes of God. It is the love of God, the grace of God, the goodness of God poured into our hearts. And Paul says, here he says, For the grace of God I am what I am, and he says, The only thing they will see me glorify is the cross. Because that is what happened to him. Christ paid his debt of sin.

And what did God do? Not only did he transform him from a sinner to a saint, he transformed him from a servant of sin to a servant of the living God. Let's go to Romans chapter 6. We will mainly see two verses. Verse 16, let's look at the beginning. Do you not know that if you submit to someone as slaves to obey him, you are slaves of him to whom you obey, whether it be sin for death or obedience to justice? That is, if he lives in sin, he becomes a slave of sin. Verse 20, When you were slaves of sin, you were free from justice. That is, he cannot live a just life if he lives in sin and is a slave of sin. Well, Paul says that that was him. He was a slave of sin and he expressed his evilness and slavery as a persecutor. Now we will see two or three passages here because I would like you to listen to his words. What he says, and let's go back to Acts 26 and then let's move on to, let's look at Acts 26 first and then 1 Timothy. Acts 26, remember what he says in this passage. Here again he defends himself against the king Agrippa and says, Verse 9, it says, I certainly had believed my duty to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. I would like to tell you again, if it is a person who for some reason, perhaps something has happened, and this is the reason, it may be of those people to whom something happened in the past, and that has made him angry with God, be hostile to God, and unleashes that hostility and that anger on the people of God. Listen to this passage, I certainly had believed my duty to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth,

which I also did in Jerusalem. I imprisoned many of the saints, having received the powers of the main priests, and when they were killed, I gave my vote. And many times, punishing them in all the synagogues, I forced them to blaspheme, as he had done. And enraged against them, I persecuted them even in the foreign cities. He was a man who hated the Lord Jesus Christ, totally deceived about what was true and false. Let's go to 1 Timothy. 1 Timothy, Paul here again, speaks of this arrogant hostility, this anger, this bitterness, this resentment, this determination to destroy everything that was Christian. You will tell me, why does he tell us that? I will tell you, listen. Verse 12. 1 Timothy chapter 1. I give thanks, I give thanks to the one who strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he had me faithful, putting me in the ministry. Having I, I quote before, blasphemed, persecuted, listen to this phrase, and insulted, and insulted, but I was received with mercy, because I did it out of ignorance and disbelief. But the grace of our Lord was more abundant, with faith, with faith and the love that is in Christ Jesus. Faithful word, worthy to be received by all, that Christ Jesus came to the world to save the sinners of whom I am the first. Look at this. I love it. But for this, although he was so evil, but for this I was received with mercy, so that Jesus Christ would show me the first of the sinners.

Jesus Christ would show all his clemency. Look at this. It says that God saved him as a demonstration of his perfect clemency, as an example of those who should believe in him for eternal life. Paul said that he was convinced that God had saved him for this. Look at this, listen carefully. Because God said, I want the world to know that if I can save him, if I can save him, if I can appear... Out of nowhere, to Paul, and to take him down, and to blind him, and to transform him. Which person can I not transform by my grace? Can I not forgive his sin? Can I not redeem him, reconcile him, and justify him? Who among us can not experience in his life the transformation, the total change, by the grace of God? Paul said, Here is the patience of God to perfection. What did he mean? That it is complete. He waited, he waited, he waited, he waited, he waited, he waited, and he waited. And here it is on the way, after killing, imprisoning, beating, and trying to blaspheme the Christians, and it got to the point where God's patience was over, and boom, that's it. I want to tell you this. Gratitude is God's generosity and kindness towards us, without considering our merit, without considering our worth, and despite what we deserve. And I want you to see this. Don't look back and say, well, I would give my life to Christ, but he doesn't know the kind of life I've led. I'll ask him something. Did he kill Christians? Did he imprison them? Did he force them to blaspheme?

Well, maybe say, yes, I've done all that. I'll tell him something. He's become a partner of a great apostle. And if he saved him, you too. You can't do anything to prevent God from saving you, except to reject it. You can't do anything to cancel God's grace, except to reject it, because God's grace is poured out on everyone. And you can be saved. You can be forgiven. He will clean your past. You'll see what he does is erase it all. He doesn't try to improve the past. He erases it. The blood of Jesus Christ erases the past. It disappears as far as it is east from west. It doesn't matter what it is. Look, we believers should be praising, thanking God, not trying to live in the past. Listen carefully. Not living in the past. And look, doing good to cover it. The blood of Christ covered it once and for all. We are all saints. It's not that we don't sin. We make mistakes and sins against him. But the blood of Jesus Christ, he says, cleanses us continuously. We are the product and fruit of God's grace.

God's grace was not poured out into our hearts in vain, but profitably and productively through the grace and power of God. What is the right attitude for a saint who has been transformed from sinner to saint? Well, there are four things. And see if they are in you. First, humility. Listen to what the apostle Paul said. He said this in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 15. Let's go back there. Paul says this in verse 9. He says, Let's look at Ephesians chapter 3. In Ephesians chapter 3, he says, first in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, he said, Let's look at what he says in verse 8 of Ephesians 3 when he talks about how God instilled in his life God's grace. Look at verse 7. Speaking of the gospel, he says, Look at this. This is a man who is preeminent. Preeminent in the world of then as a missionary and preacher of the gospel. And what does he say? He says, Let's go back to 1 Timothy chapter 1. Remember what he said?

1 Timothy chapter 1. He said, I am the first. When they are in line, I will be at the front. And you know what? Listen. You will not find pride in the heart of a man or woman who understands God's grace. You will not find it. Because that person will always be leading others to Christ. To God. Everything is God. Not us. Everything is Christ. Not us. You will not find pride in the heart of a man or woman who understands God's grace. First, the spirit of humility. The second attitude we will notice is the sense of obligation. Listen to what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15. Notice what he says in this passage. He says, rammed into him in vain. And he said, But by the grace of God I am what I am. I attribute the merit to God, Spirit of humility, and His grace has not been in vain for me. Before I have worked more than all of them. Do you know what he said? He was grateful to God,

very moved by the grace of God and the goodness of God towards him. He knew he was going the wrong way, and that is why in all his testimonies he gives faith of how terrible he had been in pursuing the Church. But look, God did this, and now this is what I do. God called him to preach, and he said in Galatians chapter 1, From the womb of my mother, he took me away from the womb of my mother to preach the indescribable riches of the grace of God. And he gave up his life traveling everywhere. And if you read the mission, if you read the end of his Bible, if you read his maps, if you read his missionary journeys, if you read the book of Acts, you will see all the agitation, the pain, and the blood, and the different difficulties and things that Paul went through. And what does he do? He praises God for the privilege. I will ask you a question. In what practical, reasonable, and concrete way do you show gratitude and action of thanks to the Almighty God for saving him by his grace? Don't say that the Church is coming. That is not enough. Don't say, I deism. No, that's enough. Look, listen.

The grace of God saved the Apostle Paul for what? To tell other people what happened. And that's what Ananias said. God wants you to tell them what happened to you. If you think about what God has done in your life, and perhaps you are going through difficulties, think about how you would be without him. Listen, if you think it's serious, think about how you would be without God. Our thanks to the Lord should be so great that we should spread it. We should share it. We should tell someone that God is a God of love, kindness, mercy, and tenderness. Yesterday I left a conference and I left the hotel to look for my car. And a tall, handsome young man was there with his black hat, dressed in the uniform they wear. And he said, Dr. Stanley, I was a member of your church. I said, that's great. And I asked, what do you do? And he said, I work with young people. And he works there in the hotel, in the hotel sector. And I said, tell me, how are you doing? And he said, well, one Sunday you were preaching. And he said, if you sit here and you don't serve God, and your life is not useful, you are living in sin. He said, that really struck me. I made the decision that day to serve God in some way. I asked God to show me what to do now.

I work with young people. I say this very often. Until when? Until each one of you gets up and goes to work for God, doing something for the kingdom. Look, there is a message to share. You cannot retain God's love for you when there are many people suffering, dying of agony, sadness, frustration, anger, hostility, bitterness, resentment, disappointment, disillusionment, depression, despair. And you have the answer. Look, if I understand God's grace, there will be a sense of humility in me. Then there will be a sense of obligation, and also a sense of dependence. Look at this. Let's go back to chapter 15. It says, but by the grace of God I am what I am. And his grace has not been in vain for me. Before, I have worked more than all of them, but not I, but the grace of God with me. Paul said, it was not me. And how many times does he say, not I, but Christ who lives in me? He says, I have not worked. I have not worked according to my own strength. And now listen to this. The same grace, kindness, love, and power of God that caused the transformation in us from sinners to saints is the same merciful power of God that works in his life and in my life every day.

That is, we do not depend on ourselves, but on our wisdom, our skills, talents, and strength. It's Christ. Look, the risen Christ. That's why Paul said, look, he said, first of all, what do I want to know? I want to know this. What do I want to experience? The power of the resurrection of Christ. I want to experience in my life the same power that resurrected Christ from among the dead. And he said, that power is the grace of God that works in me and works through me. The spirit of humility, the spirit of obligation motivated by love and motivated by the action of grace, of gratitude to God. The spirit of absolute and total dependence on God. And the last one is a spirit of absolute trust. Look at this. Verses 6 and 7 of 2 Timothy chapter 4. Because I am already to be sacrificed, and the time of my departure is near. I have fought the good battle, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. For the rest, in some place and moment, the crown of justice is waiting for me, which the Lord Judge will give me just that day, and not only to me, but also to all who love his coming. What an amazing example of the transforming power of God's grace, when he took a man who, in a hostile, furious, relentless, and ferocious manner, opposed Christ, and transformed him into the greatest missionary the world has ever seen. A man who understood God's grace like no other, and who gave himself, absolutely without any reserve, to the proclamation of the gospel of Christ.

I will ask you one last question. When you think about all the good that God has done for you, and what he is in you today, and when you think about what he does for his kingdom, apart from salvation, has God's grace been spilled into your life in vain? Has he refused to share it? Or, is there something burning within you that will not allow you to remain silent about the universal offering of God's grace?