We are going to be talking about today Change
We're not going to get through everything that
I want to say about it tonight, so I'm just warning
you so We can take as much time as is profitable
to discuss explore converse about anything that
we Talk about tonight one of the I read two books
recently one sanctification one on transformations
and The one on transformation had a big long
section at the beginning of the book on Anthropology
what is a man and I you know for the life of
me. I Just couldn't understand why we had to
spend so much time talking about anthropology
neuroscience psychology, psychiatry, and all
the rest of that. It wasn't until I guess this
afternoon when I was thinking about what we were
going to say when it occurred to me that the
reason that the discussion starts there is because
whatever change God promises, it's not just to
affect one small part of us. And so however it
is that we define who or what a human being is,
the intention of the gospel in Christ Jesus is
to transform the entirety of a man. And that's
really, I think, if you just read our Bibles,
some of you are on a reading schedule, but as
we read, that's usually the way that the Bible
addresses us, is just as a whole being. It doesn't
talk about if you want to change the physical
part of you, or if you want to change, you know,
what all is involved in the physical part of
man. It just says that it's going to change us.
You, you are going to be changed. And so I just,
that's really as far as I want to get on anthropology,
what it is. If that's an interesting subject
to you, then you can... certainly study that
out in your Bible. You can see what the Bible
has to say. The Bible tells us we're two parts,
but it consistently addresses only the two parts
together as a whole, and so it discusses the
whole man. So that hopefully is encouraging to
you. I don't suppose there's anything that is
more... intimidating for us than when we think
about change. In one of the books there was a
survey of psychiatrists and psychologists, counselors
in general. And there is no, in that realm, of
course we shouldn't be surprised, but in that
realm, the realm of the world, there is no definitive
definition for change. Back and forth here and
there hopefully we can affect this person in
this kind of way or in that kind of way one person
described his experience as a expert and professional
at counseling as a Rider on an elephant running
through the jungle not on a path now You can
see and why is that? Because they're both in
the same boat Neither the counselor has not achieved
everything that he is telling the person that
he's counseling what he can't achieve. And when
you're bringing only the wisdom of the world
then we have what is that called? The blind leading
the blind. You have a blind man leading another
blind man. It's not like that in Christ. It's
not like that in the church. It's not like that
for Christians. we look at things much more positively.
One other quick note of introduction is that
it seems that the best and the most successful
programs in the world are modeled after Alcoholics
Anonymous. And what is unique about Alcoholics
Anonymous? It's a whole group. Now, that should
tell us something about the human psyche. That
should tell us something about who we are as
people. And one of the things that we are as
people is we are created to be in relationships.
And I don't sure what the resonativism is in
Alcoholics Anonymous, but within the church,
in other words, in this community of people that
have something in common, we ought to expect
change. Now what is it that the church has in
common? We don't have in common what an Alcoholics
Anonymous meeting would have. What? They all
have the problem with drinking too much alcohol.
That's what they have in common besides their
humanity. But what is it that the church has
in common? What is the church? Okay, the church
is the Christians, right? And they have in common
Jesus Christ in whom we all are and in whom we
have fellowship. Also in Christ, what do we have
collectively? the same calling and the same purpose.
Whatever we say about change and how it is accomplished,
right off the bat I just want to say that it
takes place mostly in the context, well it takes
place completely in the context of relationship.
The Christian has how many relationships to find
in the Bible? Common to all. The first one is
what? Our relationship with God. What's the next
one? Close personal relationship with other Christians.
Maybe one other Christian. The Bible has a lot
of things to say about the benefits of friendship.
About the benefits of being in a relationship
with someone else where complete honesty and
total trust exists. That's the second and what's
the third relationship common to every Christian?
The church. That's the third relationship that
every Christian in the Bible has. Your relationship
with God and God is what or God is who? Father,
Son and Spirit. You have a relationship or you
should have a relationship with other Christians
on a very personal level and then you should
have a fellowship with the entirety of your local
church. And it is only in that type of a relational
structure that any positive change is going to
come to your life. Any just cursory reading of
the Bible ought to convince you of that and it
ought to convince me of that. The question is
how does the New Testament lay out the process
of change and expectation. And that's really
what we want to explore. So I'm just going to
ask these a few questions. Is change spontaneous
and dramatic or is it minimal? Gradual? Both.
Very good. Is it visible or invisible? Oh, it's
a 50 -50. Be brave. Both. Is it deliberate or
is it accidental? What's that? Okay. Is it lasting
or fleeting? Or we could say is it permanent
or is it temporary? What's that So you're saying
it's lasting but it's fleeting it's permanent
but it's temporary We're talking about the change
of a person into the image of Christ that's what
the Bible tells us It's both it's both permanent
and it's temporary. And why do we have these,
especially on this lasting or fleeting or permanent
or temporary? Why is that? Anybody got any guess?
Are you talking about heaven? Eventually, you
know, this change that you've made as a being
on earth that's going to be completely finished
when you get to heaven. So that's one principle.
We call that what? The already and not yet. We
are already saved. But we are not yet saved in
the final sense because we are not yet in heaven.
We see those things because God works in us.
God does a work in us. But also we progress on
in our faith and in our knowledge of God. It's
visible and invisible because what? There is
a change within us. If you're not expecting God
to change your desires, if you're not expecting
God to change your knowledge of Him, if you're
not expecting that, then it's not going to happen.
If you're not asking Him for that, then it's
not going to happen. If you have watered down
your Christian life to a simple keeping of rules,
then that's the Christian experience you'll have.
One of frustration. One of relapse over and over
and over. Who is in charge? This is really, I
think of all the things, this is the one that
has just blessed me the most. Who's in charge?
Who has the authority? Come on. Particularly
who has the authority? Jesus has how much authority?
Now, when we usually talk about that, it's in
what context? He's going to provide for me, right?
Maybe we think about, or we're going to go out
and we're going to do some missions work. We're
going to declare the Gospel. We're going to be
ambassadors for Christ. And we say, He rules
in that place. I can move about free in the space
that He's given me as long as I'm doing His will.
and I can leave the results to him because he
has the authority. But let's make it personal
because there's no limit to his authority and
there's no sphere or realm in which he doesn't
reign. Does Christ Jesus reign in you? And the
answer is yes. If I'm a Christian, Christ Jesus
reigns in me. Do you acknowledge that in the
way that you think about change in your life?
Is there somebody who can give you deliverance?
Is there somebody that can help you, that can
change your mind? And the answer is yes. Unequivocally.
And if you don't think about that type of, if
you don't look at your future, if you don't look
at your person, If you don't look at your mind
with that kind of optimism, then you're never
going to see God accomplish in you what He could
accomplish in you if you were to look to Him
in faith and trust Him in faith and walk in His
way. So, I give you that by way of introduction.
Alright. Here's a, and I think this is a pretty
good, personal change definition. If you want
to write this down. Now, this is from Gary Miller.
He has it all backwards, so I put it in the right
order for him. Nonetheless, I'll give him credit.
Personal change involves permanently reshaped
character. Do you long for that? Permanently
reshaped character. I should say, do you long
for that defined expression in the way that you
think and in the way that you live? It also involves
modified thinking, choices, and decisions. That's
a big one. You expect to work change in your
life. You expect to see progress. You're going
to have to have modified thinking. You're going
to have to make choices. Life is nothing if it's
not a series of one choice after the next. I
mean, in everything. How am I going to get to
work? What route am I going to take? What am
I going to eat? That's just the basics, right?
What time am I going to go to sleep? Everything
that we do in life is by choice and a choice.
And you're going to have to make decisions. It's
not just going to happen. You're going to have
to say, this is what I'm going to choose this.
I have these two options. I'm either going to
go down the same road that I've been down a million
times, or I'm going to go down another road.
A choice. Only the Christian can make that choice.
And then finally, it results in what? Decisively
altered behavior. In other words, when you get
your thinking right, when you make the right
choices, Because you have a reshaped character,
it's evident in the way that you live. You can't
mask or hide that. It comes out inevitably. You've
heard me say it, that a changed life is the inevitable
result of grace. It's not possible. It's not
possible to be stagnant if grace is in your life.
God is going to progress you on. Now that's our
theory, if you want to put it that way. In our
study here, are we going to find that those things
are true? And I would say to you that they are
not only true, but they're obvious. And one of
the reasons this will take longer than I anticipated
was that the Bible is full of it. If you just
look at the Bible in terms of change, or what's
the Christian life about? You could you have
to go through the whole New Testament before
you would explore every Every Avenue and every
slight nuance in the discussion It's not silent
at all it is extravagant in the expectation and
it is Explicit in the way that that change takes
place Why is change hard Well, first of all,
does anybody think that changing is hard? Let's
raise our hands if we think it's hard. Who's
a teenager? Just you two? Okay, even you teenagers
think that change is hard, huh? Who thinks that
change is possible? Now, in the world, there's
two groups of people that think that change is
probably not going to happen. Take a guess at
what two groups of people those are. Teenagers
and old people. Now the Christian is not that.
So if you're a teenager here and you think that
you've got it all figured out, you know everything.
There's no reason for me to change. I know everything.
Then humble yourself before the Word of God and
reckon yourself to be those people that have
a whole lot to learn. and anticipate that in
the learning there's going to be lots of changes.
You haven't achieved, you haven't arrived. And
us old people, one of the most encouraging things
to me as a pastor was to watch a certain person,
even in their old age, change. I saw lots of
growth there. So I'm anticipating that God is
not too weak to change an old guy like me. So
us old people who are here, maybe that's just
me and my mom and dad. I guess we'll throw a
share over there. We can still change. God can
still do stuff for us. He can still do stuff
in us. And we can still look forward to a better
tomorrow. But it's hard. Why is it hard? Right
off the bat, why is it hard? Okay Okay Well,
what what's the first thing that has to happen
before we decide we're going to change Okay Now
that's foundational and fundamentally the most
difficult thing What does that require? That
requires humility it requires some information
outside of myself. If you're trying to evaluate
yourself according to your own mind and your
own imagination, you're always going to come
to the same conclusion. What's that conclusion?
I'm pretty good. It's only when that voice comes
from outside of you and when you submit yourself
and you listen to that voice that you realize,
I'm not really all that good. There are some
changes that need to happen in my life. I've
been doing some things wrong and I've got to
make some changes The question is whose voice
are we going to listen to? Sometimes change comes
from changing circumstances. That's beyond your
and my control think about it in your life You
got bored think about something new that you
decided to do It wasn't that you just decided
to do something new. It was that you got bored
with what you were doing. Now that comes from
outside of you. You don't control that. You can't
work that up. Maybe it was a broken relationship.
I am who I am. I've always been this way. It's
just part of my personality. And all of a sudden
you're in a relationship and boom. That person
is like, whatever you are, I'm done. And you
realize maybe it's not all the other person.
Maybe I have to examine myself and look at myself
and say, I've got to do some changing. Because
it's not an excuse that I am who I am. That's
outside of you, you see? Until that happens,
you don't realize it. And you can't work that
up. Well, there's all kinds, a crisis in life,
parenthood. I mean, which of us who have been
parents anticipated the amount of change that
was going to take place in our life before we
had kids? None of us. But if there's one thing
outside of our relationship to Christ that will
change us, it's kids. Our whole lives are in
upheaval. All of a sudden, we've got all these
extra responsibilities. All of a sudden, we've
got all this extra stuff we've got to think about.
All of a sudden, I've got to learn that my hobbies
or my interests have to become secondary to the
interests of my kids and my family and my wife
and my responsibilities. That affects change.
If you've ever known an older person that was
never able to have kids, you can tell. They don't
relate to what it is to be a parent, because
they were never parents. It's not a bad thing
sometimes God gives us children sometimes he
doesn't But you can see the change and none of
us said I think I'm going to change so I'm gonna
have some kids Did anybody ever say that? So
that's all outside of ourselves right, but God
does use those things to change us How about
this one it's complex and it's unpredictable
Have you noticed that when you try to change?
It's not always that easy. Well, for one thing,
because I think it was Brian that said, we're
still in the flesh. We're still in bodies. We
still have bodies. Bodies still making their
demands on us. We've been set free from sin,
but we still live in these bodies. So we've got
to what? In the midst of crisis or in the midst
of this just gradual progressive change, we've
got to see our thinking change, and that's hard.
What we know about God, what we believe about
God, what we believe about my relationship with
God and what He intends for me, that may have
to change as I read the scripture and I understand
it. And that's not easy. There is a real physical
aspect to change. When you think about the way
your brain works, the way your brain thinks,
the way your brain experiences happiness, the
way your brain experiences sadness, that's real.
And that's different for me than it is for you.
And those things, those of us who were converted
later on in life have got a whole bunch of wires
that are crossing our brains. Now that's just
the truth of it. You cannot hide from that and
we will not try to paint that as though it did
not exist. But God is able to overcome that.
Do you believe that? Am I submitting that to
the Lord? And am I asking Him, rework this in
me? Because I want to have my will completely
consisted in whatever your will is for me. That's
where I want to be. And God does that. He changes
our desires. He changes the way that we think.
How about this one? We're in the middle of, we're
saying, okay, I see this, I've got to change
it. Something has to be done. I cannot go on
like this and we embark down the road of change
and Before too long all that we realize what
it is that we've set out and the cost of what
it's going to be Has anybody here ever experienced
that? And what seems to happen The price that
it's going to cost me to bring to see change
here is not is way more than what I thought.
And it seems to way outweigh the benefit. Now
that's appearance. That's the way we sense it.
That's the way we feel it. That's the way we
experience it. Or that's the way our flesh cries
out. It makes it hard. What's another reason?
Well, we'll just use the example of the crisis
in relationship. So I say, okay, I've got to
change. It gets to be really hard. I start thinking,
you know what? Maybe it was that other person's
fault. Maybe there's somebody else I can blame
besides myself. Or maybe that just is part of
your decision making process when you're trying
to evaluate if you need to change. How much blame
am I going to put on the other person? Am I going
to take all the responsibility? It's a lot easier
if I can just point the finger and blame. How
about this one? I expected that by now, after
all this effort, this thing would have been changed
and I'd be over it. Has anybody ever experienced
that? Reality just doesn't meet your expectations.
I thought that, I mean I've prayed, I've done
everything that I'm supposed to do. And yet,
I'm still waiting for the change to happen. And
it's also difficult, why? Because it takes sustained
effort and difficult choices. Consistently. Sustained.
You can't we don't make one choice and then change
appears rarely But consistently when confronted
with this choice, I'm going to make the right
decision I'm not going to think about it doesn't
matter to me. I I've thought about it ahead of
time I thought I knew the cost but even if I
don't know the cost This is the way that I'm
going to go and what I'm going to do that by
faith. I'm going to trust But then each occasion
a decision has to be made a choice stands before
you and you have to make a decision and You have
to make that decision over and over and over
and over again in your life And this is a this
is another one why is change hard it's because
of the of the relationships that are required
If you're not in Christ, then you're just You're
without power. You have no authority. You're
just you're being drug around But for the Christian
he does have that But how hard is it to be open
to be honest? To be completely trusting in a
personal relationship with someone else What's
the difficulty of that it's hard But it's required.
And then you've got the whole difficulty of living
honestly before the church. Again, it's hard.
Am I willing to invest the time that's needed
for the people that I worship with that are on
this road with me together to really know me?
Am I going to avail myself of the opportunity
to learn from them? To be used by them? To be
useful to them? That's not easy. But the Bible
holds out consistently that change happens within
that framework. These people who are in Christ,
who have friends, and what's a friend? A friend
is somebody that is willing to to tell you the
hard truth. What's the proverb? The strike of
a friend. I can't quote it. Anybody? No. Okay.
The strike of a friend is better than the kiss
of an enemy. But what? That can't come. That
blow from a friend can't come if he doesn't know
you. That's a friend. A friend knows you. So,
are we fostering that type of relationship? What
is it that the relationship that the world looks
for? Is this working? Well, if I'm an alcoholic,
what type of relationship am I looking for? I
want to change that. What's that? But I want
to change it. Now where do I go? I find a whole
bunch of people who are just like me. In this
day and age with this, you have this segmented
society that we have. What? If I have any type
of problem or I perceive myself as a victim in
any kind of way, then what do I seek out? A whole
bunch of people that think the same way and have
the same problems as me. And I just immerse myself
in that type of relationship. And what do I get?
I get affirmation. What the world will tell you
is, yeah, it's OK. Look. Look around the room
here. We're all in the same boat together. We
can't all be that bad. Just is what it is. That's
what we are. And what does that do? Just makes
it a hundred times harder to see the necessity
of change and to break free from those type from
that relationship To get outside of that relationship
so that something positive can happen in your
life So whatever you do stay out of those bubbles
the bubble that you want to be in is this bubble
right here You don't need somebody to give you
affirmation that you're okay the way that you
are You don't need to look around and say well
look at all these every world. Well. I guess
just my life is just a life of struggle Everybody
around me and everybody that I see everybody
with whom I have a relationship has the same
problems as me I Don't see anybody else making
progress Let's be okay So we don't want that.
Let's get ourselves in the relationships that
God has given for us. In Him. Friendship. And
in the church. Alright. Any questions? Discussions?
Anybody want to add anything to that? Have I
missed something? Have I exaggerated it? Is your
experience different? permanently reshaped character,
consistently modified thinking choices and decisions,
and decisively altered behaviors. What do you
want to say, anything? Oh. Spontaneous and dramatic
or minimal and gradual. Visible or invisible.
Deliberate, accidental. Okay. Lasting, fleeting,
permanent, temporary. It's accidental in the
sense that sometimes the circumstances come from
outside of us. It's always deliberate in the
sense that we make choices. Maybe it's not expressed
exactly right. Okay, so what when we talk about
transformation or change, what What are you guys
used to hearing as a term that describes that?
Anybody? Sanctification. What is it? Sanctification.
Okay. And probably if I had my way, we would
understand sanctification as a one -time thing
and talk about something else. I think more and
more I'm starting to think it's glorification.
Paul does tell us we're changed from glory to
glory as we look into Christ. When we think of
glorification, what do we think? We think of
heaven So I'm not trying to rewrite history In
what we what I say here tonight, we've always
taught here that sanctification is both a one
-time act of God on you and an ongoing process
of being changed into the likeness of of his
son and that's fine as long as we understand
that it takes both of those things. In the history
of the church, what are the three main horrible
teachings that have affected the way that we
think about change and the way that we think
about ourselves as Christians? The first one
is the holiness movement and that comes from
who? It all originates back to John Wesley. And
what did John Wesley believe? Kind of. He was
doing very good at expressing it. Sinless perfection
in this world. Is that? It's not. So when we
think about that, what is our goal as Christians
in this world? Is that your goal? Or are you
satisfied with just kind of, maybe if I can just
get rid of a few sins here and there? I'll call
it a day or I'll call it a career. So if you
don't have that as your goal to be perfect in
this world while I'm in this body, I want to
be perfect, then you're setting your sights way
too low. All that you've done is given yourself
an excuse for all kinds of things. And that's
exactly what Wesley was trying to protect against.
He didn't want somebody to think, well, I'm in
Christ, I'm a Christian, but I can just have
this stagnated life that's full of sin or maybe
minimal or no progress at all. But he went too
far. We always have to be careful of that. We
see wrong teaching. But what we want to do is
not try to balance the scale. That's kind of
the way I think we think. Well, this guy is going
way too far this way, so I have to go way too
far this way, and then the middle. What do we
do as Christians? We're not interested in balancing
the scale. You got this arrow over here, but
all I want to do is walk right down that balance
beam and teach whatever it is that God tells
me. And if more people believe this, that's their
problem. But I'm not going to overreact to try
to compensate for this wrong teaching. I'm simply
going to study the Word and believe that. So
there's one, and that's a problem. If you say
that it is going to happen, then there's never
been a Christian on this earth that has achieved
that. Their personal experience has not matched
up with an unreasonable expectation and it never
will. I don't think so, no. How could he? Right.
What's the inevitable result if you believe that
God has called you to sinless perfection in this
world and you haven't achieved it. And eventually
what? Maybe I'm not a Christian. Yeah. If the
point of salvation is to bring me to sinless
perfection in this world and I'm not there, I
guess I'm not a Christian. That's the danger.
But that doesn't remove from us the command of
God to have as our goal to be like His Son, which
is what? Sinless perfection. So we set that as
the goal, and we don't settle for anything less.
What's the second one? How about this one? Some
of you came out of Pentecostal churches. What's
the big teaching in Pentecostal churches regarding
being changed? What do you need for that to be
accomplished? To have this gradual change into
the image of Christ. You gotta have a second
work of the Spirit. You gotta have the second
blessing. Yeah, the Spirit's at work in all people
to come to faith in Christ. But if you really
want to progress on in your knowledge of Christ,
if you really want to progress on in your change
and transformation of your thinking and of the
way that you act, then you're going to have to
have the second work of the Spirit. Now, that's
just as wrong as sinless perfectionism. And it
leaves a whole lot of room for a whole lot of
people to say what? Well, I'm just not in that
class of Christians that has the second work
of the Spirit. So I guess I'm doing pretty good
just the way that I am. I believed in Jesus.
I still believe in Jesus. I'm trusting Him. That's
good enough. If God wants me to go further than
that, I'm going to have to have the second blessing
of the Spirit. Since I don't speak in tongues
or I don't have any evidence of it, since I don't
see it at work in my life, that I've never had
it, I guess I am what I am. Or you have people
going the other way. And the only thing that
they think about, the only thing that they pray
about, the only thing that they want is the second
blessing of the Holy Spirit. Their whole life
revolves around this thing. It's wrong. It's
unscriptural. It's nowhere found in the Bible.
The third thing is prosperity. Oh, and as a corollary
to that, you have the carnal Christian idea.
I think that comes right from the same place.
Yeah, they don't chalk it up as you don't have
the second work of the Spirit. They just chalk
it up to your own personal will that you haven't
yet taken Jesus as your Lord. You've only taken
Him as your Savior. So you can live however you
want. So instead of you waiting on a second work
of the Lord in you and name it the second blessing
of the Spirit What you see is the Lord waiting
on you to make a second decision to follow him
as your Lord But they both come from the same
place and they both result in the same thing
These people who think that they're Christians,
but they're powerless These people who think
that they're Christians, but there's no change
in their lives. The third thing then is the whole
prosperity thing. And how does that fit in? Well,
what are they telling you? Jesus is what? He's
like the cure -all. Poor? Boy, you need to become
a Christian. If you just become a Christian,
Jesus will take care of all of your money problems.
Struggling in some kind of way? You need to come
to Jesus and He'll take care of that too. Oh,
you have a sickness? Well come here, we'll take
care of it. What's the anticipation in the prosperity
gospel? What's the expectation? What do they
hold out as the promise? A life of cross bearing?
A life of dying? A life of following Christ and
suffering? Is that what they hold out? Everything's
going to be fine. The only reason you're suffering
in this world is because you don't have enough
faith. Oh, you haven't been cured of your broken
leg? You haven't been cured of the cirrhosis
of your liver? It's because you don't have enough
faith. God doesn't want you to struggle. God
doesn't want you to suffer. That leaves a person
what? Completely introspective and without hope.
Everything is my fault. Everything is dependent
upon me. Now we're not those people. Hopefully
we... I know you've never heard any of those
teachings. Hopefully you've never gotten any
inkling of them. Hopefully they've been so far
away that you've never even considered it could
be true and that's right. You'd be perfectly
right to think that way and I hope that it is.
One of the things unquestionably that God uses
to affect change in our life is what? suffering.
Now until we settle down in that, until we're
ready to, what does it take to suffer in faith?
What do you have to believe? That's hard. This
is the place. This is the life experience. This
is where God has put me. This is God's sovereign
power in my life expressed and it has brought
me to trial. It has brought me to suffering.
But God has a plan in all this. This isn't random.
Now this goes back to what I believe and what
I know. What do I have to know in order to live
in that trial? I've really got to believe that
God is sovereign, that God is almighty, and that
God has so coordinated events in the entire history
of the world to bring me to this place with this
problem and to have this trial in my life. God
is disciplining me in some kind of way for good.
But if I don't know that about God, I can't be
there. If I have somehow bought into the whole
idea that God has given the devil some kind of
autonomy, and it's the devil that's bringing
this to me, and there's no God, it's not God's
plan, and God doesn't have any authority here,
then all I'm going to do is what? Kick and scream
and be resentful. I'm going to kick and scream
and give up on God. So our thinking has got to
be right and the prosperity gospel has got to
be wrong because it is anti the entire teaching
of the New Testament. That the Christian will
suffer, that the Christian is intended to suffer
just the way that our Savior Jesus Christ suffered.
And it's a laying down of our life consistently.
Jesus said what? It's real love to lay down your
life for your friends. Love one another. How
hard is that? Is there room in your thinking
for self -love and loving one another? Do you
anticipate that you're gonna be able to love
other people with the extra that you have left
over after you've loved yourself? That's what
the world says, right? Well, you can't go help
people unless you first help yourself Because
that's not I mean that's what the world says
does it Let's cure up the way that you think
about yourself. Let's take care of your insecurities
Let's take care of this. Let's take care of that.
Let's do whatever it takes to get you where you
need to be and then Then you can go become an
influencer and you can tell everybody else how
they could be perfect and great But that's not
the way it is in the Bible In the Bible we're
taught to just forget about yourself and pour
yourself into the work of God and whatever That's
going to cost you personally. That's okay because
it costs Jesus everything He left it behind in
heaven to come down here to minister and serve
people that hated him. He came down here to be
humiliated and to suffer real physical pain,
mental anguish. And when he suffered all that,
so what? So he could get to the tree where they
were going to hang him. If you anticipate that
your life ought to be better than that, or should
be better than that, or is going to be better
than that than you're looking in the wrong place.
But what you'll find in the struggles and in
the trials and in the walking with God is what?
You're going to find God. And you're going to
find out that the struggle, that the resisting,
that the consistent effort that's required is
met with just the closest and sweetest relationship
with the God who loves you. I don't know if you
ever thought about this. How did Jesus teach
us to pray? What's the first two words? And then
when he prays, what does he say? Father, did
you notice that? What does that tell you about
yourself? You make your requests to God in the
same language that Jesus did. What does that
tell you about your relationship to God? You're
a son. Because we are sons, God sent forth the
Spirit into our hearts to tell us that God loves
us. And you are what relation to Christ in that
context? A brother. How much did God the Father
love God the Son? Completely. We can think of
some superlatives that we can say. But Jesus
taught you to talk to his father the same way
that he does Now you could probably live the
entirety of your life and just think in those
terms of trying to wrap your head around that
But that's your ally God is for you God tells
you come to come to me tell me what you want
Tell me what you need. I've given you an advocate.
I've given my spirit to you. Come and address
me as a son. I love you. I intend good and purpose
good things for you in this world. I intend for
you to live in joy. I intend for you to live
in a way that makes the world go what? So the
next time, and I'm not going to teach here until
we get back, so I would, if you think about this
and you have questions, maybe your imagination
has been served, write them down. The next time
we're going to talk about regeneration, sanctification,
justification, and glorification as accomplished
acts, something that has been accomplished by
God in the Christian. We're going to see some
New Testament. Here's the reason that I'm going
at it this way. What the New Testament tells
us, you can think about this too, is you are
this. You've been made alive by the Holy Spirit.
We call that regeneration. Your problem of sin
has been dealt with in Christ Jesus. You've been
declared innocent. That's what? Justification.
You've been cleansed by the blood of Christ and
you are holy and pure That's called sanctification
You are glorified in God's from God's perspective.
The glorification has happened. It's inevitable.
It cannot be stopped It doesn't matter what happens
to you in this world. Nothing can separate you
from the love of God and Christ Jesus It's already
happened. What the New Testament tells you then
is what? Live like that. This is who you are.
Now go and express that in the way that you live.
Go demonstrate that it's true that you have a
new heart. That you've been, your sin problem
has been taken care of. You're covered in the
righteousness of Christ. You've come near to
God. You are pure. You are holy. You are set
apart for this specific reason. And your end
is sure. It's not in doubt. It's not in question.
Now just live like that. Guided by the Word.
Submitting to the Spirit. With father son and
spirit in communion with you in that type of
relationship in the context of a church And with
some good friends who are able to help you straighten
out your thinking what it needs to be done Go
and be that but if we don't know what we are
If we're living in this world thinking that I'm
going to become somehow more acceptable to God
if I can just Be more righteous in the way that
I live. If I can be more holy in the way that
I live, then I can draw nearer to God. Then you're
going to be frustrated. Because it's just not
going to happen. You're not going to work your
way into a better relationship with God. You're
not going to feel better about yourself because
you were doing better today. The better you do,
the more you realize there's more work to be
done. And yet, and still, in my current... condition
because I am in Christ. I am holy, I am pure,
I am righteous, and I don't have a sin problem.
I am God's person in this world, and I am called
to be in relationship with Him. And the maintenance
of that relationship is all tied up in Christ.
So that's how we're going to approach it. What
are we? We've got to know what we are. And then
we've got to know how God intends, what means
He intends to use to change us gradually, all
at once, gradually or dramatically, and positionally
in this world. All three of those things. We're
changed positionally, we are changed gradually,
and then there are times in our life when we
see a dramatic change. At conversion, for sure,
but even then throughout our lives, God does
occasionally bring that type of dramatic change.
And that's the way we'll handle it. So think
about that, see how that sparks some questions
in your minds, and we'll press on from here when
we come back. Any questions? The plan's clear.
Okay.