Alright, turn back with me to
Romans chapter 12. I could not preach a more needed
message, a more vital message, considering the times that we're
living in. These are perilous times which Paul spoke of. 2 Timothy 3 is a description of
the day we're in right now. Last latter times. Dangerous
times. Very dangerous for everyone,
especially our youth. I'm glad there are so many young
people in here this morning. I hope you'll pay close attention,
this is a matter of life and death. I feel that strongly about
it. Let's read verses 1 and 2 of
Romans, chapter 12. I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service. And be not conformed to this
world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed. The word transform is only used
twice in God's Word. It's used when the Lord went
up on that mountain with three of his disciples and it says
he was transfigured before them, changed into a glorious being
of light. He was not changed himself, but
appeared to be changed. All he merely did was remove
the veil of flesh that he was wearing so that they might see
who he really is. Light. God. But it's used only
twice, and this is the second time. Transform. The word transform
is the same word, and it means this. And I'm not trying to impress
you with anything. But the very word is metamorphosis. Metamorphosis. You young people
have studied this in science, biology and so forth. Metamorphosis. It's a drastic change that comes
over something. It turns it from something into
something else. A drastic, a radical change. It's something that the thing
does not do to itself. It's too drastic. It's too amazing. It's supernatural. Metamorphosis
is a supernatural thing. And I'm going to give you an
illustration of that in a little while. Turn with me to John,
chapter 3. The Gospel of John, chapter 3. He says, Be not conformed, but
rather transform. The fact of the matter is, everyone
in here is born with certain physical and mental characteristics,
and you cannot change them. You cannot change them. All of
you are like your parents, like it or not. Generally, we have
most of their bad traits, do we not? But we are born with
certain physical and mental characteristics. Science calls these genes. That's just a fancy word, meaning
that you're like your mama and daddy. You're just like them. The Lord said this would be that
way. He ordained it to be this way.
In the creation, you remember, after he created everything,
what does it say? such and such a thing after its
kind, after its kind. Everything would reproduce itself
after its kind. Are you with me? All right. We cannot change ourselves. That's
what I'm trying to say. You cannot transform yourself. John chapter 3, our Lord said
this to a religious leader who was ignorant of this, verses
3 through 8. He says, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee, except a man be born again, born from above, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. He can't see it, he can't be
in it, except he be born from above, born again spiritually. Read on. Nicodemus said, How
can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time
into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, or of a truth of a truth, I say unto thee, except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. And that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto you
must be born again. Read on. The wind bloweth where
it listeth, and you hear the sound thereof, but canst not
tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is everyone that
is born of the Spirit. Salvation. This transformation. It is a transformation. It's
being a new creature. This metamorphosis or change
is the change of a son of Adam into a son of God. It's a radical
change. The scriptures calls it going
from darkness to light. It's so radical. From darkness
to light. The scripture says it's like
being brought from death to life. Being a dead person, to a living,
breathing, talking, acting, reacting human being. It's that radical. And it requires something supernatural. You can't do it to yourself.
We didn't give birth to ourselves. Someone else birthed us. Our father sired us. Our mother
travailed in giving birth to us. We were passive in the thing.
Totally passive. So it is in salvation. Why do
I say this? Why do I say this? Because God
gets the glory for that. God must get the glory. He does.
He's the Father. Christ is the one who prevailed
to give birth to his people. The Holy Spirit's the one who
conceived the seed. The Holy Spirit is the one in
time who takes the seat. And I'm getting ahead of myself.
Salvations of the Lord. The Scripture says this over
and over again. Born of God. Well, John 1. Born of God. Born from above,
he says here. Born from above. Somebody else
gave birth to it. Born of the Spirit, it says there
in verse 8. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the ones who
do this radical transformation or metamorphosis. How does it
happen, this change? Look here in the same chapter,
John 3. The Lord said in verse 5, Except
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into
the kingdom of God. Water. He says that which is
flesh is flesh, but Spirit is Spirit. There are two things
he means here. Two things. Number one, you're born on this
earth. You have to be born the first time. You have to be born
the first time in order to be born again. When a child is born
into this world, what happens first? The first thing that precedes
the birth of that child is what? The water of the womb breaks
open and the child literally comes out by water. You understand? That's what he
lives in. He lives in that embryonic fluid, amniotic, embryonic, whatever. You tell me, but it's water. But then you've got to be born
from above, spirit. That which is flesh is flesh.
It's never going to be anything but flesh. But now that which
is spirit, God puts it as something new, a new creature. All right,
the second meaning, I believe, he means of this. is the water
of the word of God. 1 Peter 1. Go over there. 1 Peter 1. Go over there with
me. Stay with me, please. Ask the
Lord, all of you, young and old, ask the Lord to give you ears
to hear. This is faith cometh by hearing. Life begins through
hearing. We need to hear this. Words of
life. 1 Peter 1. The Lord said, except you be
born of water and of spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom
of God. Water being God's word. God's word is called the water
in Ephesians 5. He said that. He cleansed his
church by the water of his word. But here in 1 Peter 1, verse
23, it says this. Read on. Verse 23 through 25. Not of corruptible seed, that
is, not of human seed, but of incorruptible by the word of
God, which liveth and abideth forever. All flesh is grass. The glory of man is the flower
of grass. The grass withereth, the flower
thereof falleth away. That is, flesh is going to die.
Whatever is flesh is going to die. It's not going to last. But now, this incorruptible seed,
the word of the Lord, this new creature endureth forever. And this is the word, this is
the seed which by the gospel is preached unto you. Nobody
knows when conception begins, humanly speaking. I mean, I know
I'm not going to go into all the artificial conception and
all that, but Basically, when this thing of a child is conceived
by two parents, nobody really knows. Parents don't know when
that seed actually is conceived into a life. They don't know.
God only knows, right? And He's the one who decides.
He's the one that decides when. and who gets light. And so it
is in spiritual life. Nobody knows. Preacher doesn't
know. No preacher's ever saved anybody. Ever. And he doesn't
know when it begins. He knows when it begins to be
revealed. It becomes pretty clear. Like,
you know when a child is born. is born comes out, there it is. And so it is spiritually speaking. No one knows but God when this
actually takes place, when God Almighty takes the Word, whatever
Word he's pleased to use. But it's the truth. It's the
gospel. But whatever message, whatever part of God's Word,
nobody knows but him when He plants this in a dead heart. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
So as everyone is born of the Spirit. You don't know when.
You hear it. You hear the sound, but you don't
know who's going to get it. It's God's Word. It's God's will.
It's God's choice. He decides, right? He gets the
glory. He gets the glory. Salvation
life is in him. But we do know how God does this. We do know that there is one
way, one thing God uses to create this life. That's what Peter
just said. The word of God. And this is
the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Would you
go with me to so many places? 2 Thessalonians. Go over there real quickly. 2
Thessalonians 2. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. Go over there with me. This is
one of my favorite places. 2 Thessalonians 2. Let's read
verses 13 and 14. He says, we're bound to give
thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord.
We thank God for you. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't
for God's sovereign purpose and will. And we thank God for you
because God had from the beginning chosen you to save you. We thank
God. We're bound to thank God always
for you. You're here. Now you're here
because God Almighty chose you to be here and chose to save
you. You're not here. Because you
chose to be. I know you. I remember. Don't
we, Jill? Had it been left up to you, you
would not be here. So it is with everybody in here.
Not just you. I just happened to call on you.
It's the same way with Stan. Everybody in here who's here,
who believes. Read on. God hath from the beginning
chosen you through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth. The Holy Spirit. Like our Lord said, that blows
where it listed. You were brought in here by God's
sovereign will and purpose at a certain time. I'm going to
just stay with you, all right? Started picking on you. And you
heard several messages, didn't you? But the Holy Spirit and
God in the fullness of time, the Holy Spirit set you apart
to call you by the gospel. give you this faith in Christ.
And it's the same with every person in here. The next verse
says, Whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. This salvation he called
you to by the gospel. This is what God uses. The preaching
of the gospel. Now, the world calls it foolishness. Most of the world is not the
same. But this is what God is pleased
to give you. This is what God is pleased to give you. We have
this treasure and it's an earthen vessel to it. Poor, pitiful men
who make what seem to them to be pitiful attempts at declaring
this unsearchable riches of Christ, yet God Almighty takes it. by
his Holy Spirit, and takes a word and sees it, and sends it like
an arrow to the heart of whoever he chooses. And it's like God
Almighty, it is God Almighty speaking to them personally.
Saying, I've chosen you, I've called you, you're mine, you're
not your own, and so on. By the gospel. And that gospel,
that gospel is not That gospel is simply a declaration of who
God is. The gospel is a declaration of
who God is, holy, just, sovereign, mercy, love, grace. That gospel
is a declaration of who Christ is, the Christ. The only mediator
between God and man, the only blood sacrifice, the only Lamb
of God which taketh away sin, the only high priest, the only
intercessor, the only way, the truth, the life, the only way
to God. Salvation is in Him and Him alone. The only righteousness that God
will accept. The gospel is simply a declaration
of Christ, who He is. our salvation. And what he did,
he saved his people, went back and ever lives to intercede for
them. The gospel is a declaration, simply a declaration of what
we are. Grass, worms, not able to do anything, helpless, hopeless,
sinful, unacceptable to God, not pleasing to God in ourselves. It's just simply a declaration. The preaching of the gospel is
not asking people to do anything. It's not begging people to do
anything. It's a declaration of that message. Who God is. Who Christ is. What man is. Our
Lord told Isaiah, get up under the rooftop and say unto them,
all flesh is grass. Don't ask anybody. Don't beg
anybody. Don't plead with anybody. It's not up to your pleading. Just tell them. You're grass.
The grass is withering. God will set fire to the grass.
There's no goodness in it. And then tell them, Behold, your
God. Behold, your God. Look unto me and be ye saved.
All ends of the earth. Tell them, Behold, God's servant.
God's elect. He's the one that saved grass. That's the gospel. And the Holy
Spirit takes this. Who's sufficient for these things? I preach what I thought was the
best message you could be preached, to no avail, to no effect. People
sleep through it. And I preach what I thought was
the worst message that shouldn't have been preached at all. People
are weeping during it. Who's sufficient for these things?
The wind bloweth where it listeth. You can hear the sound, but you
can't tell where it's coming or where it's going. And so it
is with this work of God. But this is what He used. And
we'll keep doing it. At times, I sit there and I look
out and I see people that I would love so much to be able to convince
them. I would love so much to be able
to do something to them. At times, I wish I was one of
the apostles where I could actually lay my hands on them and they
receive the Holy Spirit. Lord, save them. I can't do that. But I know what does. So I'm
going to keep doing it. I'm going to keep shooting the
same arrows. Everybody in here has heard everything
I've said up to this point a hundred, maybe even a thousand times over.
But I know this was the arrow that hit this old dark heart.
When I was 18 or 19 years old, this is what got Almighty. No,
20 years old. This is what got Almighty. I
heard it, heard it, heard it, heard it until one day, an arrow
hit me. I wasn't there because I wanted
to. I wasn't there because I chose to. I was there for all the wrong
reasons. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love,
wherewith He loved this worthless rebel, quickened me by this quickening
word. So I'm going to keep doing it.
Same old errors, because this is the error that hit me. This
is the error that hit Henry. This is the error that hit Roberta,
isn't it? This is the error that hit young Samuel. This is the
error that, well, used to be young. when he was young, said
me. This was the era that hit all
of God's people. I'm going to keep doing it until
I die, up until you live. We're born again by this Word. God sends the Word, the gospel,
the Holy Spirit gives ears to hear, and it's a radical transformation. It's a radical transformation. It's a metamorphosis. It's a
change that's wrought in a person. A new creature. Scripture says
a new creature. Something that's never been there
before. A new creature. Like a baby that's
born. Every baby that's born on this
earth has never been there before. It's brand new. There's never
been another one like it. Similar, yes, but not just like
it. Brand new. And so it is in this thing of
salvation. A new creature. Old things, he
said, pass away. All things become brand new.
Once dead to God, here's a 19, 20, 21, and on and on, sitting
in the pew, wishing the preacher would quit. But then one day,
according to the working of God's Holy Spirit, they don't want
him to quit. They can't get enough of what
he's saying. Now, that's a change. That's a radical change. Once
dead to God and alive to the world, absolutely rip, roar and
snort and alive, go get it, grab the gusto, get everything you
can, do it until it kills you. Alive to the world, but dead
to the things of God. No matter what anybody says to
you, no matter what you hear, no matter what your parents say
or what the Word says, no effects at all, whatsoever. Dead. Might as well not even have ears
when it comes to this. But then one day, a drastic change. I'm going to kill myself if I
stay that course. I'm going the broad road that
leads to destruction. God have mercy and save me or I perish. It's a radical change. Death
to life. No taste whatsoever for the word.
No taste whatsoever. Nothing about it that appeals
to that natural person. Nothing about it. Nothing he
can say has any appeal to it. All of a sudden, a hunger and
a thirst. Can't get enough. An insatiable desire. Hunger and thirst. Feelings. No feelings whatsoever. Dead.
No feelings. Preacher'd laugh, no laughter.
Preacher'd cry, no crying. Preacher'd whatever. Nothing
could move that deadened heart. And then one day, weep when he's not weeping. Laugh
when he's not laughing. Feelings. It's life. A new creature has never been
there. Old things pass away, Paul said, and all things become
brand new. Old things pass away. Old thoughts begin to think new
thoughts. You begin to think 180 degrees
different from what you used to think. Old opinions, old principles,
or lack of them. Didn't have any. Now you have
some, all of a sudden. New thoughts. Begin to think
like God thinks. Well, this is right, isn't it?
God is right, isn't it? God is true, isn't it? Old new
ways. Oh, I want to walk. I want to
do that. New friends. Well, you all can go on and do
that if you want to. I got some new people here that
I want to associate with. New family. This change is radical. It's a metamorphosis. Transformation. Now, though it's radical and
it is a change, it's not complete. It's not immediate in person. I mean, you don't see it an immediate,
total transformation. It's like Lazarus. Remember Lazarus
when the Lord called Lazarus from the grave? No, it was a
change. It was an obvious change from
death to life. But he still had grave clothes
wrapped around him. And the Lord told his disciples,
unwrap those. Just keep unwrapping them. So
it is in spiritual life. Dead, then come forth by the
Word of God, but they're still grave clothes. And all our lives
we're unwrapping these. Through the preaching of the
gospel, these grave clothes are being unwrapped. We see a little
more, see a little more, feel a little more. Right? Like a
child. A child that is born bears a
resemblance to its parents. It bears a striking resemblance
to its parent. Characteristics of the parent,
yet not completely, right? They have to grow up into an
adult. So many of you, but Steve, let
me pick on Steve there. That's Joe Parks. There's times
when I look at him or I call him on the phone and I have to,
I'm startled. He's his dad. Isn't it? But he wasn't when
he was six months old. He couldn't even talk. He had
those characteristics, but they had to be developed until finally
he's a grown man. But it's not there yet, are you,
Steve? You're not Joe Park yet. Oh, man, that man was way up
there. He's got a long way to go. Yeah, I feel the same way. You think people tell me, you
know, You sound just like your dad. I thank you. Thank you very much. What a compliment. But I'm not
even close. And so it is with God's people
who are being conformed to the image of Christ. When they're
born, they're complete in Him. They're whole. They're in Christ.
In God's eyes, that's a son of mine. He needs to grow up, doesn't
he? And to the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ. And this comes the same way as
life comes. You know it? This growth, this
development. Steve became like his dad by
listening to his dad. Right? By observing his dad. By watching
his dad. By walking with, talking with
his dad. Right? Studying, learning. And
so it is with this thing. of being conformed to Christ
in it, being transformed. Faith cometh by hearing. Life
cometh by hearing. So does growth. Same way. Hearing, observing, learning,
walking. Back to Romans 12. Go back to
Romans 12. Why does the text say, Be ye
transformed? Why does it say that? Be ye transformed. It doesn't say transform yourself,
does it? labor the point that you can't
take something out of context. You need to know what it said
before. Verse 1 says, Therefore, I beseech you, therefore, brethren. There's a whole lot said before,
I swear. He's talking to those who are
called to be saints, those beloved of God, those who are justified
by His grace, those who justified by faith, those who are crucified
with Christ, those who are alive under God, those who receive
the spirit of adoption, and on and on. But he says here in verse 1,
now stay with me a few more minutes, he says, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God. I beseech God that he will show
mercy on someone here this morning who is not a brother who's not
a believer, who's not yet been operated on by the Holy Spirit. I beseech God for that work. I beg him, I plead with him,
from the minute I sit there, well, long before that, that
God would use this word on somebody it hadn't been used on before,
young or old. That we beseech you, he says,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies. present
yourself to be transformed. Do you understand? There's the
key. We can't transform ourselves. We can't do it. We try, don't
we, Debra? Oh, I'm going to quit that. I'm going to do better. Well,
maybe for a while. It seems like the harder we try,
the harder it gets. One baby step forward, two giant
steps back. Is that the way you feel? I do.
I do. But present yourself unto God. Transform me, Lord. Change me, and I'll be changed.
Turn me, and I'll be turned. And I beseech every person in
here, young and old, that you ask, seek, and knock. To everyone
that asks, He'll receive. Everyone that knocks, it'll be
open. Everyone that seeks, they'll
find. Listen to me. If you don't, you're going to
stay dead and die with the dead. If you don't ask, you won't receive.
If you don't seek the Lord, you'll not be found out. If you don't
knock, it's not going to be open to
you. If you don't say, Lord, help
me, you'll perish. But you said a while ago, preacher,
that we can't change this yet. I know that. But the Lord said, ask, seek, knock. And that's
not a one-time thing. Not a one-time thing. It's a
continual thing. I say this to everybody. Everyone,
ask, seek, knock, present yourself, transform me. Here am I, Lord,
change me. And you know, here's the thing
about it. The person who does that, the person who does ask,
seek, and knock, the person who presents himself to the Lord,
comes to Christ, has been already. Life has begun. Well, stay with
me now. Let's look at this in closing.
He says in verse 2, Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Be not conformed to this world. Be not conformed. Let me give
you some examples of the world. Listen to me. Everybody, especially
the young people, because you've got a whole life ahead of you. Maybe. Maybe. I pulled my best friend
out of the basement dead of fixation. He was 15 years old. And he was
a mess at 15. He was a mess. He killed himself. My brother at 21. Maybe you've
got a life ahead of you. Maybe not. You don't know what's
going to happen tomorrow. But listen to me. life or death,
okay? The world—the thoughts, the opinions,
the ways of the world—is opposite of what God says. Absolutely,
completely opposite. You go with it, you go down with
it. You listen to it, you'll die
with it. You conform to it and follow
it, You'll get what has come to it by God. It's either so
or it's not. God's ways, God's word, what
God says is exactly opposite. He said, My thoughts are not
your thoughts. My ways are not your thoughts.
Not your way. The world says pride is good. The world says pride is a good
thing. Be proud. God hates it worse
than anything. Hates it. He said it goes before
a fall. There's a verse of scripture
that says God has purposed it. To do away with every one and
thing that's proud. A proud look. Women are so proud. Well, men and women are so proud
of the way they look. Their beauty. Young girls. So proud. struttin' around,
struttin' us up. God hates it. Absolutely hates
it. Absolutely hates it. And he's
going to snuff it out. People are proud of their intellect,
proud of their wisdom. The only reason we're not vegetables
is the mercy and grace of God. The only reason we're not born
mentally is the mercy and grace of God. I'm not so sure that,
well, I kind of believe that all the so-called mentally retarded
are God's elect. You won't find them being puffed
up with their own whys and their own conceits. That's mercy, I believe, for
them. The world says pride is good.
The world says ambition, game, go after it, get what you can,
walk over whoever you can to get it. God says it's covetousness, and you're going to be killed
for it. The world says sexual expression. You need to sexually
express yourself. So God gives them over to the
diet of every disease imaginable because of it. God calls it perversion. God
warns over and over against sex outside of marriage. He said
if you do it, you're going to reap the results of it. Maybe
a child out of wedlock and you're going to be miserable the rest
of your life. Unless God has mercy on you, the child, and
your husband if you've still got one around. And every disease imaginable
is going around because of it. God says don't do it. The world
says do it. Do it! God says, don't do it! The world says, express yourself. God says, you're going to die
because of it. And it happens. And these fools can keep on and
they die in their sin. Don't you do it. You're listening
to me this morning. Young people, you're listening to the Word
of God this morning. I hope. It's the reason I say only God
can give ears to hear. The world says attitude is a
good thing. Attitude! God calls it rebellion. God says submit to those who
have authority over you, whoever it is. The world says question
authority. God says you'd better not, because
all authority comes straight from God. Don't listen to God? You'll
go down with all rebels. God's going to snuff out all
rebels. Don't be conformed to this world now. The world says
alternative lifestyle is good. Diversity is good. God calls it homosexuality. He
calls it sodomites. He's going to kill them all.
Unless he saves some of them. And when he does save them, he
gets them out of that. Cleans them up. Let's get into religion now.
Religion says traditions are good. God calls it vain conversation. Religion says works of righteousness.
We need the works of righteousness. God says it filthy rags. Look
it up what that means. Filthy rag. Religion says, oh,
I highly esteem this man or that man. He's won so many. This person,
this religion, it's an abomination to God. these people getting
glory themselves. It's absolutely abominable. Holiday,
holy day. The world esteems holy day. God
hates it. He doesn't accept it. He says,
it's a stench in my nostrils, your holy days, your new moons,
your Sabbath day. That's Isaiah 1. He said, away
with it. It stinks. All this pageantry
in religion once a year or twice a year. God hates it. The world says salvation is by
man's decision. God says salvation is of the
Lord. Salvation is by my Son dying for you. Salvation is by
my Son living for you. Salvation is in Christ and Christ
alone. The world says, yeah, but. God
is going to kill every but. Every goat that buts. God says salvation is in my Son.
You better look to Him and Him alone. The world says, yeah,
but. Okay, you're going down. The world says there's many faiths.
It's all, everybody's sincere. They're all going to God. God
says there's one faith, one way, one Lord, one baptism, one hope
of your calling, one. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. The world says that's too narrow.
Christ says, okay, go the broad way. Go on. That leads to destruction. There
is a way that seems right unto men, but the end is death and
destruction. Christ said, I am the way that
leadeth unto life. He's not conformed to the world. We don't conform to modern religion. We're non-conformists. We're
just not going to do it. Not going to do it. Because God
hates it. But be ye transformed. by the
renewing of your mind. What transformed? This right here. This right here. It keeps transforming. Let me
give you an illustration in closing, OK? Everyone in here has seen
or at least read, seen pictures of a caterpillar going through
this thing of metamorphosis, haven't you? This is exactly the word, metamorphosis. A caterpillar is a what? A worm. Oh, it's a pretty worm. No, it's
not. I don't think there's anything pretty about it. I think earthworms
are prettier. All those legs on a cat poop. It's not a pretty worm. It's
a worm. We call them bagworms. We burn
them up, don't we? We see them all over the trees,
we try to burn them all up, destroy our trees. There's nothing pretty,
there's nothing possible about them. Nothing. Well, that worm is groveling
around. It's the perfect illustration. It's sightless. They don't have
any eyes. They can't see. You're seeing
little ears on the fellas, little ears. Earthbound. Groveling. earthbound in the dirt, or on
a tree, or whatever. One day. Now, this is amazing. This is amazing. One day, just
one day, all of a sudden, something starts happening. A thing begins to weave a web
around itself. Until that thing is so bound
up tight and just wrapped up into a little cocoon. That's
what the word is, isn't it? A cocoon. A little tomb. It has entombed
itself. It looks, well, it's dead. It's dead. It's cut off from
the world. It's entombed. Oh, no. Hang around. And you don't know when this
is going to happen either, do you? You don't know when this happens. One day, all of a sudden, things
start popping open. Starts breaking open like a cocoon.
And lo and behold, it's not a caterpillar. These big, beautiful wings of
various colors, shapes and sizes. It's a butterfly. And he doesn't
head to the ground to get back in the dirt. He mounts up on wings and flies
as high as he can fly. Things that are higher, things
that are nobler, these now allure its sight. The worm before had
no interest in flowers. Didn't even smell, didn't have
a nose. Ah, the butterfly flits from flower to flower, gathering
nectar. It's worth something now, dammit.
What's it doing? Pollinating, spreading the seed. What a good illustration this
is. Change, a radical change is taking place. Radical. Metamorphosis. Oh, you
know, every now and then the butterfly will hit the ground.
You see them on the ground, don't you? And you often wonder, what
are they doing there? You don't belong there. As if
they don't stay there, do they? Like a hurricane, seeking a better
thing. So it is, this transformation
of a child of God into a child of God. A worm, a man's a worm. groveling in the ground. No ears
to hear the word of God. No eyes to see any beauty in
Christ in the gospel. No mouth to taste it. No nose
to smell this sweet savor. You won't know. God Almighty
begins to bind them up with the word of God. Chords of love.
Done a job. Wraps them up. Binds them up
to where they can't get away. Kills them. Crucifies them with
Christ. Just slays them by the Word.
Until they're just, they're just, I'm dead, I'm cut off. I'm cut
off! No you're not. No you're not. Life is beginning. I'm nothing,
I'm nobody, I'm a worm. No you're not. The fullness of
time. Through the same preaching. Brings
them out of that shell. Peace by believing. and mount
up on wings of eagles. Things that are higher, things
that are nobler, these have allured their sight, transformed a new
mind, a new heart, new ways, a new desire, a new everything,
a new creature. Old things passed away. Oh, he
hit the ground every now and then. He'd fall every now and
then, but he'd fall seven times at the Lord. He'd come back up
again. Don't be conformed to this world. Don't walk like it, talk like
it, look like it, act like it, or you'll get what's coming to
you. Don't follow it. Don't follow
people who are headed over a cliff. You hear me, young people? Don't
follow people who are going over a cliff. Why would you do a dumb
thing like that? Follow those that are going to
fly off into the face of the sun. Okay, what number have
you got, by the way? Number twenty-three. And let's
stand as we sing. Verses 1 and 4. Alright, first
and last verse. Let me just call your attention
to verse 2, though, okay? Stand with me. Charles Spurgeon
one time was observing the people not singing. That's not you,
but I like this story. He was observing. There were
some who weren't singing. And he said, We're going to turn
to number 23 in our hymnal and sing, Come we that love the Lord.
We're going to begin with verse 2, which says, Let those refuse
to sing who never knew our God. That's good. But children of
the heavenly King, they speak their joys abroad. Let's sing
the first and last verse. Oh, we that love the Lord, and
let our joys be known, join in a song with sweet accord in that
surround the throne. And let our song abound, and
every tear be dried. We're marching through Emmanuel's
crown to fairer worlds on high.