Participants: John Lomacang
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000040
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00:19 Hello friends and welcome to another Wednesday night
00:22 Bible Study here in Thompsonville, Illinois at the 00:24 3ABN Worship Center. Thank you for tuning in and thank you for 00:27 taking the time to study with us. We are always blessed by 00:30 you joining us and we always know that by joining together 00:34 the Spirit of God will unite our hearts not only in purpose 00:38 but in study of His word. So get your Bibles, get your pens 00:42 invite your family and your friends; did not intend to 00:45 rhyme that and also if you'd like a copy of our lesson 00:48 tonight to follow along go to this website ASF.3abn.org 00:53 don't put www. Download lesson number 13, titled 00:58 The Transformed Life and then you can follow along with the 01:02 questions and the answers, as well as following those 01:04 questions and answers that will appear on your screen tonight 01:07 But before we do anything we'd like to always invite the 01:10 presence of God to continue with us so let's bow and pray 01:13 together. Our heavenly Father we thank you tonight for your 01:16 goodness and for Your word. We all need to be transformed 01:20 tonight as we study this very important topic. But You'll 01:24 speak to our hearts about how You are remaking us and molding 01:28 us and how you are shaping us to become more like Christ 01:32 So Lord take Your Word and bring it to light that we may 01:36 understand, that we may comprehend and that we may 01:40 take hold of the power to transform our lives, in Jesus 01:44 name, Amen. Before we do anything though we always like 01:48 to sing our song. The song is Victory in Jesus, and that's 01:52 the only way that we can find victory so if you know the song 01:55 or if you've heard it sung before and would like to join us 01:57 we'll sing that song right now. Victory in Jesus 02:07 I heard an old, old story How the Savior came from glory 02:15 How He gave His life on Calvary To save a wretch like me 02:23 I heard about His groaning And the precious blood atoning 02:30 Then I repented of my sin and won the victory 02:38 On victory in Jesus, my Savior forever 02:46 He sought me and bought me With His redeeming blood 02:53 He loved me ere I knew Him And all my love is to Him 03:01 He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood 03:08 I heard about a mansion He has built for me in glory 03:16 And I heard about the streets of gold, beyond the crystal sea 03:23 About the angels singing, The old redemption story 03:31 And some sweet day I'll sing up there, the song of victory 03:39 Oh victory in Jesus My Savior forever 03:46 He sought me and bought me With His redeeming blood 03:54 He loved me ere I knew Him And all my love is to Him 04:01 He plunged me to victory Beneath the cleansing flood 04:20 Amen. We are talking about transformation. Tonight the 04:26 title is How to live a what kind of life? Transformed Life 04:33 Now we've heard about transformation and transformers 04:37 and what it means to be transformed. A number of years 04:41 ago something started in America that I think may have 04:44 taken hold around the world. A toy was made, I don't know 04:51 if they're still around or not because I never bought one 04:54 Matter of fact I was too old at that time to buy any toys 04:58 but I heard about these toys called transformers 05:02 And the whole gist of it was it had two different appearances 05:07 one completely different from the other. 05:09 And the reason why I'm gonna choose to begin with this 05:12 tonight, I'm going to show you some pictures actually 05:14 If you go to the screen here's a picture of what the transformer 05:16 often looked like. It started looking like a car, a jeep or 05:22 so to speak a military style jeep but I guess obviously some 05:26 kind of machine gun on top of that. And when the car was 05:30 transformed this is what it looked like. 05:33 And it's hard to think when you look at one 05:36 how you can get this out of the other and I think of the 05:40 manufacturers, they had to be geniuses, what do you think? 05:43 I mean to be able to fit that to get that out of something 05:48 that was completely shaped, totally differently. You could 05:51 never look at this image and think that it would originally 05:55 be a jeep with a Gatling gun on top of it, it really wouldn't 05:59 make any sense. And they began to take hold all around the 06:02 world. You'd see little kids with green ones and red ones 06:05 blue ones and whatever the color of the vehicle was 06:08 that was the color of the transformer, the robot. 06:12 But the gist of the story tonight is as follows: 06:17 We don't yet appear what we're gonna look like, matter of fact 06:22 go with me in the Bible, I want you to see this just before I 06:24 go to the next slide because I have another picture of the 06:26 transformation. We don't yet appear, as a matter of fact I'll 06:30 let my television production crew, I want to go to the next 06:34 slide before I read this Scripture. I want to go to the 06:38 next slide before I read this Scripture because it's very 06:41 interesting to see how we're going to be as compared to how 06:46 we are. Here's another picture one I think we're more familiar 06:51 with. The whole process of a caterpillar to a butterfly 06:56 You go from, in some cases, a kind of odd looking, crawling 07:02 creature to a beautiful looking, flying creature and this picture 07:08 actually follows the processes. Caterpillar decides to hang out 07:11 that's how it all begins, by hanging out. Then it goes inside 07:16 puts a coat on, builds around themself and you begin to see 07:19 the process as it goes all the way through. And it's called 07:22 transformation or the real word is metamorphosis 07:26 So in other words a transformation is metamorphosis 07:31 We go through a process. We begin one way and we end up 07:35 another way. It's called transformation. So how we are 07:39 now, the good news is, we're not gonna look like this in eternity 07:44 can somebody say Amen? And the Bible says here 07:47 I'm gonna look at it right now Okay, oh, 1 John. Did I say 07:54 turn to 1 John? Yes 1 John 08:00 Ok 1 John chapter 3 verse 2 1 John 3:2 08:05 This text fits right into what we saw on the screen. 08:09 So the encouraging thing is this. You may have a family 08:12 member that just joined the church, just became a Christian 08:15 and you're wondering they have so many bad habits how on earth 08:19 are they gonna get from that to what Christ intends for them to 08:22 be. Here's the encouraging text. 1 John chapter 3 verse 2 08:26 It says, Beloved, what is the next word? Now we are children 08:33 of God. When are we children of God? The moment you accept 08:37 Christ, the moment that justification happens we are 08:40 children of God. But notice the process. 08:43 It has not yet been revealed what we shall be 08:49 but we know that when He is revealed we shall be like Him 08:54 for we shall, together, see Him as He is. 08:59 So right now, the King James Version says it does not yet 09:04 appear, or it has not been revealed. In other words 09:07 you can go home and stand in front of the mirror for the next 09:09 two years, who you see is not how you're gonna look in 09:14 eternity, am I right? Because it has not yet been revealed. 09:18 It does not yet appear, we don't even know. 09:20 So you can look at that transformer truck or that 09:23 whole process from the transformer truck to the robot 09:26 or from the caterpillar all the way to the butterfly 09:29 and the butterfly probably when it came out saw the caterpillars 09:33 crawling along the ground and said what's that? 09:36 Not knowing he used to be one of those things. 09:40 And so what happens is the Lord is saying to us as we lay the 09:43 foundation for this lesson about transformation is, 09:46 transformation is so complete and so amazingly hard to imagine 09:52 that the Lord is saying you cannot imagine what I'm going to 09:56 make you out to be. So don't get discouraged by what you see 10:01 So how we are now Larry is not going how we're going to be 10:04 eternally. Amen for that. So let's begin by diving in. 10:09 To the first question tonight: Question Number 1 10:13 Question No. 1. This is a powerful Scripture 10:23 Will you go with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and 10:28 we're going to look at a couple of verses here. 2 Cor 3:18 10:32 That's the one that's gonna be on the screen, or on your screen 10:37 and let's read this together. Since this is the first one 10:39 I'd like us to walk through it together. 10:41 And those of us who are here let's follow along as I lead 11:05 So how does the Bible describe the new life? 11:08 We're being transformed. Write that down - we are being 11:11 transformed. Now there's a certain part of the Scripture 11:14 that I want to spend a little bit of time on. And it's 11:17 actually if I go back to the beginning of the verse 11:20 it says, but we all with unveiled, what the King James 11:26 or other translations say, open face, unveiled face 11:32 in other words there's nothing covering our sight 11:38 and so what I want to spend a few moments on is to dig out 11:41 the beauty of this phrase unveiled face 11:45 Now follow along. If you've heard about the Sanctuary 11:50 the Temple, the portable Temple that was erected as the children 11:53 of Israel traveled through the wilderness. There was a Holy 11:57 Place and then there was the Most Holy Place 12:01 and between the two there was a what? A veil. 12:05 And we know, let's follow carefully what happened 12:09 when Jesus died. According to Matthew 27:51, the veil was 12:15 torn in two from top to bottom. Now the High Priest that went 12:21 behind the veil, what condition did he have to be in, or in 12:26 other words what provision did he have to make before he went 12:29 behind the veil. He had to make sure of what? 12:33 Well not a lot. He had to make sure his sins were confessed 12:37 and there was a sacrifice for his sins. Or so to speak, 12:41 an atonement. He had to go back there making sure that 12:46 before he went into the presence as we see in this text 12:50 the glory of the Lord, before he was in the very presence of 12:54 God which is the glory of the Lord, his sins had to be atoned 12:58 for. Or else what would happen? He'd die. So he couldn't go 13:03 into the presence of God unless his sins were confessed 13:06 and atoned for. So you had the Holy Place and you had the 13:10 Most Holy Place. Now when Jesus died what was the purpose 13:15 of this curtain being torn from top to bottom? 13:20 Ah in other words the earthly high priest, his job had ended 13:24 now transferred to our heavenly high priest who's who? Christ 13:28 And when Jesus left He entered into the Holy and then later on 13:36 into the Most Holy, alright? What I'm gonna point out is a 13:41 couple of Scriptures in the book of Hebrews. Go with me to 13:44 Hebrews. I want you to see the beauty of this because what 13:47 happened, Paul talks about this in Ephesians and also in 13:50 Colossians. He says, having removed the middle wall of 13:53 partition. There's a middle wall of partition that was 13:57 removed. So therefore could anyone go behind that curtain 14:01 or just the high priest? So what happened when that curtain 14:05 was removed? Was it open for all to see? 14:12 So therefore there was no need to hide what was behind that 14:15 The glory of God was now no longer hidden. 14:19 Correct? Ok, follow along. I said go to Hebrews, didn't I? 14:22 So why am I in 1 John? Here we are. Hebrews chapter 6 14:30 This is such a beautiful way of seeing this. 14:34 Ok. Hebrews chapter 6, verse 19 and verse 20 14:46 This hope we have an anchor of the soul. We have this anchor 14:55 that keeps the soul. Notice how it says, both sure and steadfast 15:00 I want to follow the hymn, steadfast and sure 15:05 and which enters the presence behind the what? behind the veil 15:12 where the forerunner is entered for us, even Jesus having 15:18 become a priest forever according to the order of the 15:22 high priest forever according to the order of who? 15:26 Melchizedek. Now Melchizedek's priesthood was not the Levitical 15:30 priesthood. Melchizedek's priesthood as the Bible speaks 15:33 about, Thou art a priest forever according to the order of 15:36 Melchizedek. It was not established in the Levitical 15:39 priesthood. It was not temporary like the Levitical priesthood 15:42 So Christ is now being compared to Melchizedek, King of Salem 15:47 And so now let's go to chapter 10. Because what's happening now 15:51 is this veil, we've gotta understand what this veil is 15:54 What is this veil that we could now see because the veil is 15:59 no longer hidden, our faces are unveiled. 16:01 We saw by faith into the Holy of Holies. But now there's 16:08 something that's been established for our faith 16:13 to be even strengthened by the removal of this veil 16:17 Let's go now, I'm trying not to give you too much. 16:20 Let me go to chapter 10 and I'll give you the last 2 verses 16:23 Chapter 10 verses 19-22. 16:30 How, what is this veil that we had an opportunity to see 16:37 This is speaking about by faith. For those who lived in the time 16:40 of Christ this is an actuality. Hebrews 10:19, Therefore 16:46 brethren having boldness to enter the holiest by the 16:51 blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated 16:56 for us, read the rest, through the veil that is His flesh 17:03 and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw 17:09 near with a what kind of heart? true heart, in what? full 17:14 assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled from an evil 17:20 conscience and our bodies washed with what? pure water 17:25 Now the last part. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16. 17:30 And then we'll put it all together. 17:37 You see, this altar, the um 17:46 where the Shekinah glory was continued to be displayed 17:51 the Ark of the Covenant was the place where because our sins 17:56 were being atoned for, the grace of God was found there. 17:59 But we couldn't go because we were not the High Priest 18:03 But now because of our brother Christ who is our High Priest 18:11 He has now become the one who removed the veil because the new 18:16 veil is His flesh. What kind of flesh does He have? 18:21 Someone tell me. 18:25 Pure, glorified. After the resurrection He made it very 18:29 clear. Pure, glorified. All power is given unto me. So now 18:34 through Christ there is no need for an earthly priest. There is 18:38 no, there's no barrier there between us and God. We could 18:42 now come into the presence of God through Christ. So after 18:45 that veil was removed, what kind of encouragement were we 18:48 given? How are we told to come into the presence of Christ? 18:54 Hebrews 4 verse 16. Ok 18:59 Well I gotta read verse 14 because you know it really fits 19:02 it all together. Because let us therefore in verse 16 kinda 19:06 completes the sentence. It says, seeing then that we have 19:09 a great High Priest. Not just a High Priest, great High Priest 19:13 who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God 19:17 Let us do what? Hold fast to our confession, for we do not 19:22 have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses 19:25 but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin 19:30 Now here it is, therefore let us come, how? Boldly to the 19:35 throne of grace that we may obtain what? mercy and find 19:39 grace to help in what? time of need. When that veil was 19:43 removed, the glory of the Lord as it says, but we all with 19:46 unveiled faces beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord 19:51 when we see the glory of the Lord what does that glory do? 19:54 it transforms. It is the transforming glory of God 20:00 that was only visible to the High Priest, but now that glory 20:05 is revealed to us through who? Through Jesus. That's why when 20:09 He was with His disciples and they said show us the Father 20:12 He said, have I been with you so long and you haven't seen 20:16 the Father. He came to reveal the glory of the Father. He is 20:21 the express image of the Father. He came to reveal that 20:24 So now there was no longer, to come into the presence of 20:27 God, what was Jesus called when they spoke of His birth? 20:33 Called His name Jesus, called His name Immanuel meaning 20:38 God with us. He bridged the gap. There was no longer a gap 20:45 Now He's our mediator between us and God but now we could see 20:48 in Christ the very express image of the very glory of 20:52 the Father. One day, now this is the good part of it, we'll see 20:55 it as we get close to the end of the lesson, if we get to 20:58 the end of the lesson tonight, but I want to make this very 21:01 very clear there's a glory that is yet to be revealed 21:04 that comes at the end of this process of sanctification 21:06 that we have not yet seen, but by faith tonight because of 21:10 Christ we can come boldly before the throne of Grace 21:13 through our Brother Christ. So now that transforming grace 21:18 is the reason why the veil is no longer there. 21:23 That veil has been removed. Christ came to remove the 21:26 partition between us and the Father and connect us 21:29 through Himself. Alright? Question Number 2 21:33 Lemme see, Question No. 2 is on the screen 21:49 And we're looking at 1 Corinthians 2:2 21:52 1 Corinthians chapter 2 and we're going to look together 21:56 at verse 2. 22:00 Through what method? 22:05 Here's what the apostle Paul says. He says: 22:17 The method of transformation is accomplished through Jesus 22:21 Christ. But not just through Jesus Christ because had He 22:26 not been crucified the transformation couldn't take 22:29 place. That's why the Devil tried to defeat Him before 22:32 the Cross. That's why he tried to defeat Him on the cross 22:35 because if that sacrifice wasn't acceptable the transformation 22:39 could not take place. So you find not only to know Christ 22:43 there are many people that know Jesus Christ but get this 22:46 there are many people that don't know the crucified life. 22:49 I want you to hear this very carefully. We talked about 22:52 carrying my cross before this The carrying of the cross 22:56 was a part of the journey to the transformation stage 23:01 Jesus couldn't say all power is given unto me except 23:06 first the carrying of the cross the crucifixion, the cross 23:12 the burial, the resurrection, the glory. 23:15 So I want you to follow the transformation process 23:20 Unless we carry our cross we cannot be crucified with Christ 23:25 If we're not crucified with Christ we're still alive 23:28 But if we're crucified with Christ, Galatians 2:20 23:31 it's no longer us who live but Christ who lives in us. 23:34 So in other words in order for this glory to be revealed 23:37 that will be revealed when Christ comes 23:40 in us, we've got to live that daily life. We have to be 23:43 willing as Paul says, how frequently do we have to go 23:46 to the cross? Somebody tell me. Everyday. When you wake up 23:49 in the morning there's still the factor that reminds us 23:52 we need to go to the cross and what is the factor? 23:56 Good, pinch it. What is the factor? the flesh. 24:01 How to live a spiritual life in what kind of a body? 24:04 natural body. So Jeff we still have this to contend with. 24:07 Even though we accept Jesus we still got this problem 24:10 right here. It's gonna be with us until we are transformed 24:14 I don't wanna go ahead of myself, alright? 24:17 We may get to it next week, but one day these bodies 24:19 are gonna be transformed that they may be fashioned like 24:22 unto His glorious body. But the glory of Christ can, and here is 24:27 here's what I want you to catch. The glory of Christ 24:35 is so powerful that He wants to reveal that glory through 24:39 human flesh. He wants to say to the world 24:46 Has anyone considered my servant Job? 24:49 He wants to say to the world, look, look, look 24:54 lot of people say, well how do you know that Jesus lives? 25:00 The best testimony you can give is a transformed life. 25:05 Somebody may say, well ok I'm not gonna tell you by facts that 25:10 Jesus lives but you knew me when? Look at me. 25:14 Somebody says, yeah that's. When I go back to Brooklyn, NY 25:18 I've gone there a few times. When I go back to Brooklyn, NY 25:21 I remember this distinct encounter I had with one of my 25:24 hangout friends that I used to play pool with. 25:27 And the club is still there and everybody's still hanging out 25:30 in front of the pool hall and as I go by and the door opened 25:33 I can hear and I can see the smoke and I can hear the music 25:35 and I can see some of the same guys in there, almost 25:38 synchronis synchronization let's try not to get too deep here 25:43 with some amazing timing Dan one of our friends came out 25:46 he says, Hey Jun Jun, that's what they used to call me 25:50 Lend me 5 bucks. I mean I know when you say lend in the city 25:54 you're not gonna get it back. And he said, Hey John you look 25:58 like you're doing good for yourself. Is that you? And I 26:00 said, well in DNA it is but No I'm not the same person 26:06 cause I was able to walk past that pool hall, walk past the 26:09 life I lived and not even have a tinge of temptation 26:13 to wanna participate in that. So the best evidence of 26:17 transformation is that the glory of Christ is being 26:19 revealed in us now and the complete, perfect image of God 26:25 through Christ will be revealed in us when He comes. 26:27 When the immortal, you know the whole thing mortal will put on 26:30 immortality and so on and so forth. So how Paul is saying 26:33 here is not enough to know Jesus Christ, that's the problem 26:37 with the Christian church nowadays. Paul didn't just 26:40 wanna know Jesus Christ, he wanted to know Him crucified 26:44 Because even atheists know about Jesus else they wouldn't 26:49 be campaigning for us to forget Him. 26:52 It's not enough to know Jesus but we need to know the 26:55 crucified life. That's where the new life starts. 27:00 Are you following? So don't minimize that text. 27:04 People say I know Jesus, what do you know Him crucified? 27:07 Is the crucified life the life you're living? 27:09 Because when you look at Romans go there very quickly with me 27:14 when you look at Romans, Romans puts it together 27:16 right like that. Romans lays it out. Romans chapter 6 27:20 it lays it out. 27:23 It lays it out, ok 27:29 Romans 6:4, this is why baptism is so important for people to 27:32 understand. People say well I want to become a member 27:34 Well membership is 1/10th of what baptism's all about 27:37 Transformation is 9/10ths of what it's all about 27:42 It says, therefore, in verse 4 well verse 3, do you not know 27:47 that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were 27:50 baptized into His death. That's what baptism is all about 27:53 baptized into that death. Therefore we were buried with 27:57 Him through what? baptism into death. The death that's talked 28:01 about is the death on the cross. That just as Christ was raised 28:05 from the dead by the glory of the Father, we just read that 28:10 in verse 18 of 2 Timothy chapter 3, by the glory of the Father 28:14 even so we also should walk in what? Newness of life. 28:20 For if we have been united together in the likeness of 28:24 His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of 28:28 His what? Resurrection. There it is. Christ crucified 28:33 Then the resurrection. He comes forth with greater power 28:37 than when He went in. What people have to understand is 28:39 baptism is so beautiful that when you go in you should come 28:42 out with greater power than when you went in. That's God's plan 28:45 To go in, as someone says, we don't fully understand what's 28:49 expected in the baptismal process we can go as a dry 28:52 sinner come out a wet sinner! and no change made 28:56 there's an intention to transform our lives. Amen 29:00 Question number 3, question number 3. 29:03 So if you've put down the answer to number 2 29:04 through what method is the transformation accomplished? 29:08 Christ and Him crucified. That's the key. 29:12 Not just knowing Jesus. I know Jesus, but are you living a 29:16 crucified life, okay? Here it is. 29:24 What difference should it make to the believer. 29:28 2 Corinthians 13:4. What difference should it make 29:33 to the believer? You know nowadays I sit down every now 29:36 and then, I'm driving or I'm on a plane or and I have so many 29:39 thoughts going through my mind Johnny that I was thinking of 29:43 and I'm always thinking but I just don't even have time to 29:45 think of other projects but I do pastor, I think of other 29:49 projects and I'm thinking of a book that starts with this 29:53 particular phrase, What has happened to Christianity? 29:56 What, with a question. What has happened to Christianity 30:01 It is now a religion that thinks less than any other religion 30:06 on the earth. It is now the entertainment religion 30:09 It is now a religion that wants to be entertained, wants to be 30:13 in other words we're entertained wants to, the least amount of 30:18 thinking possible is the new brand of Christianity 30:22 It has been, oh yeah. It is no longer intellectualized 30:25 it has now been socialized. That's the new form of 30:29 Christianity. People don't want to think and when you make them 30:32 think somehow it gets to many where they're not happy about 30:37 the fact that they must think and study the Word of God. 30:40 It was never intended by Jesus for Christianity just to be 30:43 socialized because He said, As a man thinks, what? 30:48 so is he. So now, the answer to the question what difference 30:52 should a crucified life make to a believer. Here it is 30:55 2 Corinthians 13:4. 31:19 I want you to get this. What is the weak part? 31:21 It says, for we also are weak in Him. That kinda makes you 31:24 wonder what does that mean? What does that mean, weak in Him 31:28 Ok, say it again Larry. We're weak. The Spirit is willing 31:34 but the flesh is weak. You gotta get that. If you think 31:38 that somehow your flesh is strong you're in trouble. 31:41 The flesh is the weak factor we must deal with until these 31:45 bodies are replaced. But the beauty of being weak is to 31:50 recognize, as Paul went on to say, for I know that in my flesh 31:55 for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good 31:58 thing. He understood that the flesh was weak and so there's 32:00 nothing good in it so I can't trust in it. 32:03 But even though we're weak, we're in Him and with Him 32:09 the power of God is revealed. The power of God is being 32:13 revealed through weak vessels, through earthen vessels 32:17 Now if the power of God is being revealed through earthen 32:20 vessels just imagine how beautiful we're going to appear 32:23 how much power will be resident in us when our bodies are fully 32:27 transformed. So right now the beauty of the Gospel is 32:30 in essence being said that I don't have to make them perfect 32:33 yet but my transforming grace and my daily power to live 32:39 above sin is so magnificent that I could still reveal 32:41 myself through the weakest vessel. And we've heard the 32:44 phrase, the weakest saint... can you continue it? 32:50 when the weakest saints pray not even the strongest evil 32:56 angel can cause that person to fall. 32:58 When the weakest saint draws near to God and God draws near 33:04 to him the devil cannot come into the presence of God because 33:09 the weakest saint has that instant divine protection 33:13 So even though we are weak in the flesh sense, we are strong 33:17 by the power of God through Jesus Christ. 33:20 So here's the answer: What difference should the crucified 33:23 life make to the believer? 33:27 What difference? 33:30 The power of God. The difference should be the power of God 33:34 revealed. The power of God revealed. 33:38 It can only be revealed through the crucified life. 33:44 Let's go to question number 4 33:57 We're going to the book of Ezekiel. What decision is 34:03 is involved in dying to self and living the daily crucified life? 34:08 You have to make a decision. Like you make, what am I gonna 34:11 eat today? What am I gonna wear today? What are my plans for 34:14 today? You gotta make spiritual plans, spiritual decisions 34:17 because on the heel of that decision there's a result that 34:21 awaits. But if we make no spiritual decisions, or if we 34:24 don't make any decisions at all then we cannot expect results 34:28 that have not been forethought in our own lives. 34:31 What difference, what decision is involved? 34:34 Ezekiel 18. Look at the decision that is involved. 34:39 Right, are you ready? Ezekiel 18 verse 31 34:46 The Lord says in His word, what are the first 2 words? 35:03 Do you like the way he says that? Daily we have to make 35:07 the decision to cast away the transgression and then He has 35:10 two new things for us - a new heart and a new spirit 35:14 How many of us need new hearts? David said, create in me a clean 35:19 heart, a new heart. Create in me a clean heart and renew 35:23 a right spirit or steadfast spirit. The heart and the Spirit 35:28 are interchangeable. And now why the heart? Because the 35:31 heart is the place of, the seat of affections. You never 35:33 see, whenever you see I heart you that means what? 35:37 And then kids nowadays have this thing, they go like this 35:40 I've seen this new thing, they go like this 35:43 You know they can't yell it so they make this little heart 35:45 symbol, right? and that's the seat of affection. 35:49 So if our affections are on Christ and His Spirit is working 35:54 in us that's where the transformation comes in. By 35:56 the way let me make it very, very clear. In order for us to 35:59 want to cast away our transgressions we have to pray 36:02 for God to give us the heart to want to do that. 36:05 You can't just make an intellectual decision, well 36:07 today I need a new heart and a new spirit, so I'm gonna 36:10 use my own human reasoning to cast away my transgressions 36:14 You couldn't do that because human reasoning is in harmony 36:17 with your transgressions. The human reasoning says 36:19 that's what I want to do. What should we do? Well let's do that 36:23 and then ask for forgiveness and then ask for this new heart 36:26 and new spirit. It doesn't work that way. You gotta have 36:28 in essence, a new heart and a new spirit to want to cast away 36:32 from you all the transgressions which you have committed 36:36 And the context of this simply is, the Lord is looking at the 36:39 children of Israel and He's saying to them, Look at your 36:42 past. Look how littered it is with sin and transgression 36:47 I have something that I want to do in your life. I'll give 36:50 you a new heart and a new spirit and all those transgressions 36:53 will be cast away from you. That's the only that way we can 36:58 desire to get rid of those things. 36:59 Okay, so what decision is involved? Cast away 37:03 if you want to use that phrase cast away all your transgression 37:10 Okay, let's go on. In the book of Ezekiel continually here 37:14 Question No. 5. 37:24 Ezekiel chapter 11. We're moving at a good pace tonight 37:28 We're actually down to, we're at Question No. 5. 37:32 That's amazing. We only have 16 more to do in 20 minutes 37:41 Stay tuned for Part II. Ezekiel 11:19-20 37:45 How does God desire to bless and change our lives? 37:48 Here it is. 38:18 You notice the transformation there. Something has to be 38:21 removed in order for something to come in. He takes out the 38:24 stony heart gives them a heart of flesh, and the word there 38:28 flesh means a heart that can feel. Because you know what 38:31 happens to sin, it hardens the heart. You know what happened 38:34 to Pharaoh, the reason why he continued to deny the power 38:38 of God? Because God hardened his heart. And God did not say 38:42 I wanna destroy him so I'm going to make his heart hard 38:45 but it's continual rebellion against the commands of God 38:51 was what made his heart hard. And you know what? That reminds 38:55 me of what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians, where he says 38:59 because they received not the love of the truth that they 39:01 might be saved, God sent them a strong delusion that they 39:04 will believe a lie that they may all be condemned who believe not 39:08 the truth but has pleasure in unrighteousness. 39:11 Pharaoh pleasured in unrighteousness. He enjoyed 39:15 enslaving the people of God. So God said, payback time 39:19 Let them go that they may serve me, if you choose not to 39:22 this is Plan B and Pharaoh's heart was hardened 39:25 But God desires to give us a new heart, a new spirit 39:29 and what happens then, notice the relationship connection 39:31 then there is this God and people relationship. Point of 39:38 the matter is we cannot have a relationship with God with old 39:42 stony hearts, can't. That heart has to be softened. There's some 39:49 people, I mean I cringe at some of the things I used to do 39:51 Any of you? 39:55 I told a story once and I felt embarrassed because I talked 39:59 about how I used to live and I felt embarrassed and I thought 40:02 did I actually do that? I did do that. And I talked about it 40:06 I shared it as a testimony, as an example in a sermon 40:08 and I thought why am I sharing that? That sounds horrible. 40:11 Pick another story. And what happens, we come to the 40:14 realization of who we were before this new heart 40:17 and who we are after this new heart, and then this is where 40:20 the, this is where the consciousness comes in 40:24 we have to keep in mind that if we think we are at the place 40:28 where we have become good enough then that old man comes 40:32 back to life. Not gradually, but amazingly he comes back full 40:38 strength in a time lapse that we cannot imagine. The Bible 40:42 says, 7 more demons worse than the other one can come in 40:45 So we have to keep in mind that the safety that we have in 40:48 Christ is because we desire to continue to give ourselves 40:52 to Him. Ok, we're up to number what now? 40:57 Number 6? Okay. 41:01 Well I actually, let me just give you the answer 41:04 according to the Bible where does the new heart come from 41:07 Christ's grace. 41:14 Well on the screen, just follow Number 6. According to the 41:17 Bible where does the new heart come from? 41:22 Oh on Number 5, let me give you Number 5 very quickly 41:25 How does God desire to change our lives? 41:27 The answer to Number 5, He gives us a what? 41:31 Heart of flesh, He gives us a what? A new spirit 41:35 He takes out the heart that is of stone and gives us a new 41:39 heart. Ok? Now let's go to the screen again. Number 6 41:43 According to the Bible where does the new heart come from? 41:47 Where does the new heart come from? 41:49 Go to Psalms 51 verse 10. Psalms 51, verse 10. 41:55 It's on our screen slide, I didn't include it in mine here 41:57 We'll go to that in the Bible. I just actually gave you the 42:01 answer, I quoted it didn't I? 42:05 Do we need to go there? Of course we do. Let's say it 42:07 together. Psalms 51 and verse 10 42:14 The little kids used to say, you get there first read it 42:21 Okay, are we ready? Create in me a what? 42:30 So where does a new heart come from? God is the one 42:33 that creates it. Create in me a clean heart. 42:36 Renew, I like the, the word steadfast is nice 42:40 but I like the phrase "a right spirit". Because the spirit 42:45 was wrong before that. When God came and replaced it He took out 42:50 the stony one and put in the heart of flesh. He took out that 42:53 carnal spirit and put in a spiritual spirit. So what was 42:57 wrong was made right. Renew a right spirit within us. 43:02 So the answer to Question No. 6 where does the heart come from? 43:05 It comes from God. Now Number 7. Okay, Number 7. 43:12 What happens to us if we try to change apart from the power 43:24 Jeremiah 2:22. 43:32 What happens to us if we try to change apart from the power 43:37 of God? A text you may not have read before but it's a, 43:42 it speaks to the issue. Jeremiah 2:22 reads as follows 44:00 Now what kind of righteousness is he talking about here? 44:03 The kind of righteousness that we try to get for ourselves 44:06 They go so far, no I wouldn't do this, don't try this at home 44:11 they wash themselves with lye and use a lot of soap 44:15 He says, even if you did that you could not wash away your 44:18 transgressions. So what happens if we try to remove our 44:22 transgressions apart from the power of God? 44:24 What happens Larry? Nothing. You couldn't scrub away sin 44:28 because the transformation is not external only but it's first 44:31 where? Internal. According to Psalms 51:10, first the right 44:35 heart and the right spirit brings about the external change 44:38 This is really important because a lot of times we feel that if 44:42 a person could look right on the outside they must be right 44:44 on the inside. Isn't that right? That's why we have phrases 44:48 like, well you know you look like a Christian. 44:51 I could imagine when the Lord Jesus first chose these 44:54 fishermen and these boisterous, I should call them uh 45:00 the dynamic dozen, problems galore! 45:06 You study their lives, terrible. 45:10 Fishermen. I know my brother's a fisherman down in the Virgin 45:13 Islands and I know you hang out with other fishermen 45:16 they sure don't have English degrees. 45:20 Saying it plainly. And these men struggled with some of 45:23 the same issues. You had a converted tax collector that 45:26 was at best a thief, hiking up prices just to pad his own 45:29 pockets and all kinds of replete situations. You have a guy that 45:32 couldn't talk and a guy had no faith. I mean there was so much 45:35 You had two brothers who just loved, Sons of Thunder, they 45:38 were louder than Peter but they weren't talked about very much 45:41 because I think Peter was always the pre-eminent one. He always 45:45 wanted to say something. His mind and his heart were not on 45:48 the same gear. But the change that took place on the inside 45:55 took a little while to show up on the outside. 45:59 Right? Even after being with Christ in ministry they still 46:02 denied Him during the time of the cross. 46:05 But He said to them, to Peter when you're converted, 46:09 strengthen the brethren. So He knew that the conversion was 46:12 coming later. The transformation is a gradual process 46:15 Now we're justified instantly but we have to keep in mind 46:18 as we have learned to do evil we have to now begin a whole 46:22 new life process. Sometimes people want to transfer us 46:26 or transform us overnight. 46:29 Matter of fact, not even the Lord transforms us overnight 46:31 It is we are being transformed Remember the first text, we are 46:35 being transformed. We are ceasing to do evil, we're 46:39 learning to do good, right? But the one thing that give us 46:45 courage is that, John we read earlier, 1 John 3, verse 2 46:51 says that we are children of God now while the transformation 46:55 is taking place we're children of God now Glen, we're not 46:58 going to be after the transformation is done 47:00 When you plant a seed in a plant pot is it a plant? 47:09 What is it? 47:11 What kinda pot is it in? 47:14 What kind of pot is it in? 47:17 A plant pot. Why put a seed in a plant pot if you, if it can't 47:23 become a plant? Right? My point is you see what it's going to be 47:28 long before it gets there. The Lord puts us in Him, 47:32 little seeds. He continues watering us, nurturing us 47:36 every day until we grow into that beautiful plant which is 47:39 His righteousness that's the point I want to make. 47:41 We put a seed in a plant pot, is it a plant yet? 47:44 No. We do that because we know that that's our intention 47:48 and we nurture that, water it nourish it to make sure that it 47:53 comes to the completion stage and it grows, and it grows 47:58 and one day we look back and say 48:02 can't imagine that's the seed my grandmother gave me 48:03 Look what it turned out to be. It's amazing what God can do 48:07 in our lives if we commit to the transforming process, but don't 48:11 fool yourself and try to think, try to change yourself 48:14 The reason that's important is there's a lot of people that are 48:16 watching the program and some of them may have said, well 48:20 you know when I get it together I'll go back to church 48:23 Read the text, you can't get it together. 48:26 Even if you start washing yourself now with lye and use 48:29 a whole lotta soap you can't get it together. 48:31 You gotta go back. It's like a person who's deathly ill and 48:35 says when I get it together I'll go to the hospital. 48:37 No. 911, prayer, Jesus help me. 48:41 Then He'll do the transforming change, amen. 48:43 Try not to do it yourself. Okay, number 8 48:56 What happens to us if we try to change apart from the power 48:58 of God, for Number 7 put We Fail. 49:03 You can't do it even if you just, you can't do it. 49:07 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, you can't do it. 49:10 Leopard, his spots, You can't do it. 49:20 I know you know the answer, I just wanna give you a Scripture 49:24 See Job 14:4 49:32 This is a continuation of what we just read a moment ago 49:35 That text in Jeremiah 2:22. This is a continuation of this 49:38 but this is in the book of Job everybody has a statement to 49:41 make about how we cannot save ourselves. Look at what Job says 49:44 Let's read this together. 49:57 If we gave it our best effort we couldn't do it. 50:00 Because the change needs to take place in the heart. 50:04 Can, now this will give you a kind of a deeper understanding 50:07 Has anyone ever performed a heart surgery on themselves? 50:15 We can no more change ourselves Lorraine than a doctor can give 50:20 himself a heart transplant. He could be the best surgeon 50:25 on earth. He cannot give himself a heart transplant. 50:30 Because you literally have to die to get a new heart. 50:35 Only through the miracles of medicine do they keep the heart 50:38 alive while the person is literally dead. 50:41 Now we know all the other stuff, don't get technical. We know 50:44 about the blood and all that, that's now what I'm talking 50:46 about. But in other words, when that heart is out he's not 50:49 get up and going anywhere until he gets a new heart 50:51 That's the point. In the spiritual life until the new 50:54 heart is in there, we're not going anywhere. 50:58 So that's a very simple, to the point answer. 51:00 If we give it our best effort how much change can we make? 51:04 The answer is nothing. No one can do it. 51:09 That's why it's not good, let me put a caution here 51:12 that's why it's not good to idolize any Christian and say 51:16 you know what, I wanna be like him. 51:22 I used to wanna be like Jill until she confessed one day 51:25 she had problems. Jill has problems? 51:29 Unbelievable! She said there was 5 people she didn't like 51:33 I would have never fathomed that. My point is every one of us 51:37 has problems, right? Now there's people that are really nice 51:41 I've heard people say, Oh if sister so and so prays things 51:45 happen. And everybody wants to call sister so and so like, 51:49 you know, prayers are us. God answers your prayers 51:53 He answers the prayers of those who simply say, Lord save me 51:58 If you could do that, you get results. A heart, a sincere 52:01 heart, a heart in the time of trouble, He says you will call 52:04 me and I will answer you. So let's not make man our idol 52:08 That's why it's important. Nobody is clean, nobody is 52:11 cleaner than Christ. Let's make Him the object of our affections 52:16 Number 9. We're really doing good tonight, don't you think? 52:20 This is amazing. Something's got a hold of me. 52:25 Even with a long, lengthy question no. 1 we're up to 52:29 Number 9. Okay. 52:48 Romans 8 verse 8-9. 52:54 Okay, here's the answer. 53:25 A second aspect of transformation is not just a 53:28 new heart but a new spirit. Want to spend some time on the Spirit 53:33 because you know we pray some times, Lord give me strength 53:36 today to do what's right, live right, to be kind to people 53:38 but you know we all, what we should also pray? 53:41 Lord fill me with Your Holy Spirit. 53:46 Because the Holy Spirit is the one who's the active agent 53:49 the Holy Spirit is the active power in our lives 53:52 However, when He the Spirit of Truth is come, He will lead you 53:56 and guide you into all truth. The Spirit cannot be left out 53:59 of the equation. The Father sent the Son, the Son sent the 54:02 Spirit. Jesus left, He sent the Comforter. Now day by day 54:06 and didn't Jesus say and I believe the text was read today 54:10 I think it was today, it's so nice to know that you've heard 54:15 so many Scriptures read during the week that you can't tell 54:17 what day it is or remember, isn't that good? But simply put 54:23 if we being evil know how to give good gifts, how much more 54:28 will our Father in heaven give the Spirit to those who ask? 54:32 So day by day our prayers should not just be Father 54:35 help me, but Father I'm weak I can't do it, fill me with 54:39 Your Spirit. For it is God who works in us both to will 54:43 and to do of His good pleasure. Let the power come in. 54:46 It's like a little, it's like an electric shaver praying 54:49 I need just two volts, two volts that's all I need 54:53 When all you gotta do is just plug it in, right? 54:57 Can you imagine? 54:59 We've got to connect ourselves day by day to a power beyond 55:03 ourselves. When we connect to a power beyond ourselves 55:06 we don't walk away with just enough power. We walk away with 55:10 all the power we need and then some. Because it's not our 55:15 power, it's the power of God. 55:17 The power of God unto salvation. Paul said that. He's unashamed 55:22 for it is the power of God unto salvation. That power is through 55:25 the Holy Spirit. Lot of people say they're in the Spirit 55:28 but he's not talking about jumping in the Spirit, he's 55:31 talking about living in the Spirit, walking in the Spirit 55:34 and when you walk in the Spirit Paul says in Romans 7, when you 55:37 walk in the Spirit you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh 55:40 why? Because you're not in control. The Holy Spirit is in 55:44 control, any more than a glove can pick up what it wants 55:49 A glove can't pick up what it wants. Who does the picking up? 55:52 You and the glove gets the credit for touching it first. 55:56 See, that's how it is with Christ. The glove represents us 56:01 The hand, the whole body behind it, the force behind that hand 56:05 the movement, the power all comes from the active agent 56:08 that abides in us. Christ in you, the hope of glory. 56:12 And let me see, do I want to go to 10 tonight? 56:14 No, I don't actually want to go to 10 tonight 56:16 I have about a minute and 47 seconds 56:18 I'll let you peek at it just to get your taste buds ready 56:22 for the next study. Let's just look at Question No 10 for 56:25 the night and we'll use this as a springboard into the next 56:30 lecture. Question No. 10 56:46 I think I could give you the answer. We have about a minute 56:48 or so. You want the answer? Ok, let's go to that. 56:51 Matthew 16:25. There's some people that won't get a chance 56:54 to tune in next week but will be able to get this on the 56:56 website: asf.3abn.org Here it is. How does it differ? 57:01 For whoever desires to save his life will what? lose it. 57:05 But whoever loses his life for my sake will what? Find it. 57:09 The difference is you gotta be willing to lose you 57:12 to gain Christ. And you know what's so nice about that 57:16 Just like Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac 57:18 he was able to keep his son Isaac and became the father of 57:22 a blessed nation. God wouldn't take from us what's for our 57:25 best. God would not rob us of the blessing He intends to give 57:29 us. If you really want to preserve your life you gotta 57:33 be willing to give your life. If you want to give your life 57:36 then the Lord will transform it and give you back a better life 57:40 than you gave to Him. The difference between the 57:43 transformed life is God finds us where we are but never 57:47 leaves us the way He finds us. So when people say 57:50 The Lord loves you just as you are, that's true. But does He 57:53 leave you as you are? What's the answer? Absolutely not 57:56 Continue studying God's Word and what doesn't make sense 57:59 will one day come into a sharper focus. 58:02 God bless You. |
Revised 2017-05-31