Welcome to the In Touch podcast with Charles Stanley for Wednesday, April 15th. Ephesians chapter 2 tells us that when we enter this world, we come as sinners, by nature separated from God and deserving his wrath. That's a sobering diagnosis. a desperate condition. but thankfully, it's not a permanent one.
When you yield your life to him, his transforming grace changes your story from wrath to mercy. from death to life, from hopeless to redeemed. God says that he has predestined you and me to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, which means that God's ultimate will for every single believer is to be conformed to the likeness of His Son. He begins that process initially when you and I are transformed by His grace at the experience which we call salvation or the new birth. That is the beginning.
of that conforming us to the likeness of Christ. And so all the rest of our life, we are moved and directed and influenced in that direction.
Now there are a lot of things that influence our life and influences the changes in our life. For example, our heredity. our parents, our grandparents, the way we come along. And then of course there's our environment, the kind of atmosphere in which we grow up in. Then there's the training that we have in school and so forth.
And then of course the decisions we make. We're all the composite of all of those things and we're sort of the sum total of all that, our heredity. and our environment, our training, and the decisions that we've made. But the most powerful influence in the life of the believer. It's not any of those things.
The most powerful influence in the life of the believer is the grace of God. the transforming grace of God. As you and I live day by day by His grace and in His grace, you and I can say with the Apostle Paul, by the grace of God, I am what I am. I want you to turn, if you will, to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and this title of this message is The Transforming Grace of God.
something that has happened to every single believer and God keeps on working in our life. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, the Apostle Paul is a good example. And I would like to use him as the illustration of this whole idea of the power of God to transform a person's life from what they were to what they are and what of course we are going to be.
So in this 15th chapter, which is his most complete exposition of what the resurrection is all about, He begins early talking about what the gospel is and how Jesus Christ appeared to him. In the process of talking about that, he says in verse 9, For I and the least of the apostles. who am not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And His grace toward me did not prove vain.
But I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed. The Apostle Paul says, the grace of God was not given to him in vain. That is, it did not remain barren.
Something happened as a result of the grace of God in the life of the Apostle Paul. And what happened to him, God intends to happen to everyone. And so I want us to look at his life as an illustration of this whole principle of the transforming grace of God, which has happened in your life already, if you are a believer. And the first thing I want you to notice here is the transforming grace of God transformed the Apostle Paul from a sinner into a saint. And when he says in this passage, his grace toward me did not prove vain.
Well listen, everyone who's heard the gospel of Christ and who has rejected that gospel, who's rejected the love of God, the forgiveness of God, the kindness of God, the generosity of God. Every person who has rejected that by rejecting His Son has in essence made God's grace toward them in vain. That is, it's empty because they've not accepted Christ, they've not accepted His grace, they've not accepted His forgiveness, they've not accepted His goodness, and so the expressing of the grace of God toward that person has resulted as being in vain. It's empty. Nothing has happened as a result of it.
But Paul says, that didn't happen to me. He says, the grace of God, the grace of God, he says, toward me did not prove vain.
Something miraculous happened. And you'll recall he said before we lived in darkness, but he says something happened. When this transformation took place, what happened was he says, I moved from darkness into light. I moved from death into life. I moved from the course of this world into the course of the kingdom.
He says, something radically changed in my life. It was so radical. He said, now I realize that I have become a new creation in Christ Jesus. Anyone who has experienced the grace of God and salvation is a brand new creation. He says in 1 Peter, we have become partakers of His divine nature.
And you see, the idea of transformation means a change in nature, a change in condition, a change in character, and can be, of course, a change in appearance.
Now listen carefully. There is only one way to be made acceptable in the eyes of God. If good works and being good and being religious would make you acceptable in the eyes of God, the Apostle Paul would never have written what he's about to write. And in Philippians chapter 3, He's talking about what he used to depend upon to get him accepted in the eyes of God. And so he says, although, verse 4, although I myself might have confidence in the flesh, that is, confidence in the flesh.
in God, that God would accept him on the basis of his personal human nature, his good works. He says, although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh, if anyone else had a mind to put confidence in the flesh, in his own good works, and in his own good nature, he says, I far more. Then he talks about how he used to live. He says, I was circumcised the eighth day. as a good Hebrew boy, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, and as to the law of Pharisee, couldn't have gotten any higher in his nation.
As the zeal, a persecutor of the church. As to the righteousness which is in the law, that is trying to keep the law, found blameless. But whatever things were gained to me, those I have counted now as lost for the sake of Christ. He says, all of those things that I used to depend upon, and I want to say this again, I don't know how to set it in this strong, but listen to me carefully. If you are depending on anything, Anything about how good you are, how much money you give, what a fine citizen you are, what a good husband, what a good wife, what a good parent, what a good child.
If you're depending on any single solitary thing in all of life, you name it. If you're depending on anything to get you accepted in the eyes of God except the grace of God, my friend, it cannot happen. It will not happen. The only way any of us are made acceptable in the eyes of God is that we accept by faith the death of His Son at Calvary as the full payment for our sins. And when we receive His Son, we have Him.
And to do otherwise is to base our acceptance on something within us. It cannot happen, it will not happen, it has never happened, it won't happen, it absolutely is impossible to happen. And when I think about the millions and millions of people who ignorantly but genuinely believe that they're going to be accepted in the eyes of God based on how good they are, I'm going to tell you, my friend, it grieves my heart to think that you will live your whole life and die in ignorance and blindness, having been deceived by Satan and by false doctrine that has been taught you, that you're going to be accepted in the eyes of God because you've been good. If there's any illustration of that whatsoever, Here it is in the life of the Apostle Paul. Because he says, all of those things that he counted here in the Philippians, all those things that he counted as valuable and would make him accept in the eyes of God, he said, he had an experience whereby he realized that could never be.
And this is why this man... who was the worst enemy. of the Church of Jesus Christ in his day became their greatest promoter, their greatest asset, their greatest instructor, their greatest teacher, their greatest motivator, their greatest inspiration. The man who was their worst enemy became their dearest friend. How did it happen?
Well, the Apostle Paul says something absolutely fantastic happened. And I want you to turn to Acts chapter 22. In same accounts found in Acts 9, but usually we read that one. Let's read this out of Acts 22. Paul here is defending himself.
on an occasion. And I want you to notice what he says, first of all.
Well, let's look at verse 3. I am a Jew born in Tarsus of Cilicia. But brought up in this city, educated under Gamalia, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. Then verse 4 and 5 tells us something about his attitude. before he became a Christian.
And I persecuted this way, speaking of the Christian way, to the death. binding and putting both men and women into prison. as also the high priest and all the council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brethren and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there into Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.
Now here's a man who is the enemy of the church.
Now I want you to think about this. Because there's a lot of truth I want you to evaluate for just a moment. Here's the man who's absolutely committed to the destruction of the last vestige of anything that even reminds you of Jesus Christ. Here he is. Verse 6, and it came about that that as I was on my way approaching Damascus about noontime, A very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me.
And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, Saul Saul. Why persecutest thou me?
Now watch this. Remember what Jesus said? Inasmuch as ye have done it under one of the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to me. I want to say something to you. If you're one of those persons who is opposed to the church, You attack the church.
You attack Christians. You don't like Christians. You don't like what we stand for. You don't like the Bible. You're against all this religious bit.
You hate all this stuff. It reminds you of judgment and condemnation. You don't like any of that. And so you're absolutely opposed to it. And you oftentimes criticize the church and criticize Christians and criticize Jesus.
I want to remind you of something. My friend, no matter who you may be pointing your finger at, Almighty God says you're pointing it toward him. Jesus said, in as much as you treat one of these who is one of my children in a certain way, he says, you're doing it to me. You put yourself under the condemnation and the judgment of God to attack and fight against the church which is the body of Christ. And this is exactly what Paul was doing.
He says, Verse 8, And I answered when Jesus said to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? I answered, who art thou, Lord? And he said to me, I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting. And those who were with me beheld the light to be sure. but did not understand the voice of the one who was speaking to me.
And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Arise and go to Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do. But since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus. And a certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who were there, came to me and standing near it said to me, Brother Saul, Receive your sight. And at that very time, I looked up at it.
The Apostle Paul had no interest in Jesus. Though he believed in Jehovah God, the God of the Old Testament. No interest in Jesus. He hated the name of Jesus. I want to show you in a few moments.
He said he blasphemed that name and not only that, he tried to get other people to blaspheme that name under the threat of death. Here's a man who hated everything Christianity stands for.
Now here he is on his way to Damascus with papers from the high priest to bring more prisoners back, beat them, imprison them, or murder them, trying to get them to blaspheme the name of Jesus. when all of a sudden with no warning, this light, this brilliant light shines from heaven so brilliant it blinds him. He falls down with the rest of his men. And they take him to Damascus, and Ananias comes and visits him. Let me ask you a question.
And here's a terrible mistake people make. Listen to me very carefully. Many people say, Well, I would be saved, but there's some things in my life I need to straighten up. God wouldn't accept me the way I am. When I look back in my past and see how much sin and disobedience and transgressing the law of God and I violated everything in the Bible, you mean to tell me that all I have to do is to come to Jesus and be accepted by God?
Listen, when I get some things straightened out and I clean up my life, then I'm going to be a Christian. Let me ask you a question. What did the Apostle Paul clean up in his life? Not one thing. You know why?
Listen, think about this. You remember what Paul said in Ephesians chapter 2? He said, wherein in times past, this is what we were like, dead in trespasses and sin. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever seen a dead man taking a bath?
You've never seen a dead man or a woman doing anything because they're lifeless. Listen. A person who is spiritually dead can't clean up anything. There's no power then then to clean it up.
Now they can say, well, I'm not going to do this and do the other. They can't clean it up. There's no such thing as self-cleaning. Here's the man who was the most avowed enemy of the church. One moment he's on his way as a persecutor.
The next moment... This man has been converted by the grace of God. I want you to think about this. Here's the man who had no interest in Jesus, God, anything but to destroy everything that reminded him of Christ. vengeance, hostility, anger, and hatred in his heart.
All of a sudden, with no warning, This man is lying flat on his face or flat on his back. And Jesus is talking to him and he says, who art thou, Lord? You know why? Because he knew that was God speaking to him.
Now let me ask you a question. Could the Apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus at that time, could Saul of Tarsus said, no. I hate you, Jesus. No, I'm not going to listen to anything you say. No, no, no, no, no, no.
Could he have said that? Nobody has an absolute free will. There's a limitation on everybody's will. Because listen, God is still God, though some people may think they are. God is still in charge.
He is omnipotent. He's still sitting on the throne. He is in charge. God only has an absolutely perfect free will.
So we have a free will to some degree. But I do believe this. That when a person really and truly falls in love with Christ, When you really fall in love with the Lord Jesus and Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life and And somehow deep down inside of you, there's this... devotion and love, you really want to do what God wants you to do? Because of who He is in you, because of who you are in Him.
This is my own personal conviction. I do believe if you're growing in your intimacy with Him, And that growth has been going on for a period of time. And you love him and you're devoted to him. That God may require of you something. I'm not talking about salvation.
God may require of you something that you don't like. You don't want to do or you're afraid to do. You're just absolutely scared to do it. And you may have a period of absolute rebellion. God, I absolutely cannot do it.
I can't. Ultimately You cannot help yourself. If you love him, I love this song. Listen to this. Oh, love.
that will not let me go. I rest my weary soul in thee. That's the grace of God. That's the love of God poured out in our hearts. If you can just disobey Him and disobey Him and disobey Him and disobey Him and disobey Him, and you're not torn up on the inside, you need to ask yourself some real serious questions about your relationship to God.
My friend, the next time you get a little proud and egotistical and think you're doing pretty good, you just go back and read Ephesians chapter 2. No dead man or woman can find anything within their dead self that makes them acceptable in the eyes of God. It is the love of God. It is the grace of God. It is the goodness of God poured out in our hearts.
This God of patience and loving kindness, knowing that we're children growing and being conformed and being transformed into His likeness. He's patient and loving and kind and forgiving. You know why? Because listen to this. Think about this.
The God who saved us. has already seen the end. He knows what we're all going to be like when we take our last breath. Think about that. He knows what we're going to be like when we take our last breath.
He knows everything that's going to happen the rest of your life. And the reason, if I can put it in human terms, that God is so excited is... that He knows that no matter where you are, that conforming, transforming experience of changing everything about us is in process. And sometimes we may say, no God, and He just keeps doing what? He has the most profound way.
of just putting a little bit of pressure. There just becomes more pressure and more pressure and more pressure and more pressure until I say, okay, God, okay. Is that chastisement? No, you know what that is? That is the gentle love of a gracious Father.
God, listen, God wants to motivate us out of love, not condemnation and judgment. Come on. And so Paul says, He says, by the grace of God, I am what I am. And he says, the only thing that you'll ever find me glorying in is the cross. Because that's what happened to him.
Jesus paid his sin debt. Thank you for listening to the Transforming Grace of God. For more inspirational messages like this one, visit our online 24-7 station. And if you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
