We're in Romans 12 verse 1 and
2, and we have worked our way into verse 2, and I want us to
go back to verse 2 and do a little bit of development of verse 2
so that we can be prepared for verse 3. In your outline, we've
broken these 20 verses of chapter 12 into four categories. The
first category was to present our bodies. We dealt with that.
And we are moving from the presentation of our bodies into the next set
of imperatives given to us in verse two. An imperative, if
you don't know, is the command from the master. Whenever the
master tells us to do something, that's an imperative. And the
next set of imperatives are given to us in verse two. After that,
he has told us to continue presenting our bodies. In other words, The
way Romans 12 one opens up is that it is an assumption that
the people that are listening to him are worshipers of God.
They serve God, they honor God, and they are such as presenting
their whole lives to God. That is the verb form there.
And he says, continue to do that, which is your reasonable or logical
or Bible-based service. And then he opens up verse two
this way, and be not conformed to this world but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. You guys see that? And I think
I called your attention to that last week as we were dealing
with that imperative. It's important for you to know
that it's spoken in what is called the passive, the passive verb
form, the passive verb form, which means it's not something
that you actively do, but it's something that's done to you.
When it says be not, What he is not saying is conform yourselves. That's radically different. That would have been in what
is called the active verb form. An active verb form or an active
imperative is when God tells you to actually do something.
But when he talks in the passive, he's saying, see to it that this
is your experience. I was talking to our ladies about,
I think, our prayer group about the whole Concept of the Beatitudes
in the gospel of Matthew you guys have heard the Beatitudes
is in the gospel of Matthew and in the gospel of Luke and in
the gospel of Matthew's it says blessed are they that mourn blessed
are they that are persecuted blessed are they that Are of
a pure heart blessed are they that are this that the other
thing and if you are not careful what you will think is that Jesus
is Encouraging or advocating that you do something in order
to be blessed That's not what he's saying. The B attitudes
are just that B attitude, not do attitude. And it's critical
to understand that that whole foundation actually needs to
be more fully developed because what it's saying is, if these
are the things that are taking place in your life, then you
are blessed. So for the listener or the auditor,
the objective with passive imperatives is simply to examine yourself
whether or not these things are so. And that's what's going on
here, too. I'm looking forward to preaching
out of the Beatitudes in a couple of months from now to see if
we can explain that better. But what the Lord was saying
in that whole series of messages from Matthew 5, all the way through
Matthew's chapter 8 is that the nature and character of the kingdom
of God would be this way. And men and women now have the
opportunity by virtue of his exposition of those things to
examine themselves to see whether they are such as are blessed
according to what Jesus said. So here is the same thing too.
We're going to develop the concepts here a little bit more in a much
more technical way, the idea of being not conformed. Now,
you'll notice the proposition in your outline after present
your bodies. Here's the proposition. Prepare
your mind. You guys see that? Prepare your minds. The apostle
Paul knows exactly what he's talking about, because what he's
saying over in verse two happens to be the arena of the warfare
and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your what? Right. And so in the first passive
imperative, he says, be not conformed. And we talked about that last
week. That term conformed is the Greek
verb schema schema from which we get the term to scheme. You
guys know that right to scheme. It actually has a suffix. uh... suits schema kids i and actually
the stand here is the bird form do not be put into the world's
mold that's another very loose translation do not be put into
the world's mold that i'm going to take you to a couple of passages
so that we can kind of get an idea of what that means so that
you'll have a clear understanding because paul knows what he's
getting at as he talks about it. But I don't think we would
if we didn't carefully examine how the concept is used. But
I'll say it again. He says, do not be conformed
to this world. And last week I said this world
is not the Greek term cosmos. The Greek term cosmos has to
do with the physical universe. the arrangements of the galaxies,
the arrangements of our solar system, and the things that are
in our physical biological world, that's cosmos. But he's using
the Greek word aeon, do not be conformed to this world's system. Do not be pressed into the mold
of this world's system. System go with me to Galatians
chapter 1. I want you to see what I'm talking
about verse 4 I'm gonna develop this as we work through so that
we can get now a little bit of a clearer understanding of what
the Apostles objective is as he uses this phraseology that
you've heard a lot. You've heard it a lot I'm not
so necessarily sure that we are real clear on what he means and
what he's warning about in But in Galatians chapter one, the
apostle Paul talks about the effects or the efficacy of the
gospel when it comes into the life of the believer. You know,
when God saves you, something happens. Do you believe that
when God actually saves you, something happens? And it's very
important for you and I to examine ourselves whether or not that
salvation experience is something that we ourselves are aware of
and are Under the influence of and there are many passages that
underscore what we call the efficacy or the power of the gospel That's
why Paul said in Romans chapter 1 verse 17 his initial Gauntlet
being cast down before the Romans. He says I am NOT ashamed of the
gospel And then he says, because the gospel is the dunamis, the
power of God unto everyone that believes to the Jew first and
then also to the Gentile, because therein is the righteousness
of God revealed from faith to faith, or as it is written, the
just shall live by faith. And so Paul said the gospel does
something for you when it comes in power. And the last thing
you and I wanna do is hear the gospel and not hear it in power. So here's what Paul says in Galatians
chapter one as well. He opens up, I'm gonna read verses
one through four and then you'll see it in verse four. Paul an
apostle, not of men, neither by men, but by Jesus Christ and
God the Father who raised him from the dead. And all the brethren
which are with me unto the churches of Galatia. Grace be unto you
in peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. Now watch verse four, who gave
himself for our sins. Do you see it? Now this next
clause, that is what we call a purpose clause. In order that
there is a purpose for which he gave himself first and foremost
for our sins in order that he might what? One of the categories
are the offices that we have been looking at in our theological
class, along with several other offices, is the office of deliverer. Is God a deliverer? Is Christ
a deliverer? And this is what he says will
happen when the gospel comes in power. He gave himself for
our sins in order that he might deliver us from this present
evil age. It's the same Greek word. See
the word world? It's age. Now, God's physical
universe, his biological universe is not evil in itself. It's corrupt
because of sin, but it's not evil. The physical world is not
evil. The universe is not evil. What's
evil is the way humanity operates in this world under the influence
of demonic powers that are contrary to the glory and sovereignty
and purpose of God. Does that make some sense? That's
what he means by evil. And so the believer has to understand
that though he lives in his father's world, also in his father's world
are aliens, are enemies of God's glory that oppose God and oppose
God's people. So God's people have to understand
that there is yet something to be delivered from. And this is
what he's saying, to deliver us from this present evil world
according to the will of God and of our father. So this is
the idea of the age. Now, I want you to turn with
me to 1 Peter 1, because in 1 Peter 1, There will be a passage given
to us there that will help us understand what he means by not
being conformed. First, Peter, chapter one in
first Peter, chapter one, Peter talks about this in verse 14. I want to start at verse 12. Let me see here. I'll start at
verse 10 and go through verse 14. I want you to see this, because
this is actually getting into the issue of making sure that
we don't get brought into the mold or the scheme of this world
system. He says, of which salvation the
prophets have inquired, verse 10, and diligently sought who
prophesied of the grace that should come to you Searching
what or what matter of time the Spirit of Christ which was in
them what this means is the prophets always spoke in the Old Testament
by the Spirit of Christ They spoke by the Spirit of Christ
about Christ and here are the two subject matters that they
Explored and they prophesied his sufferings and his glory
That's what the text says notice what he says of which salvation
the prophets have what inquired Then they searched diligently,
who prophesied of the grace that should come to you, searching
what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in
them, did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of
Christ. How did the Spirit of Christ
in the prophets in the Old Testament testify of the sufferings of
Christ? Give me one example. How about
the lamb? How about the ark? We talked
about that last week, right? Noah built the ark. It was overwhelmed
with the flood. That flood beat upon that ark,
right? In the Old Testament, there were many symbols and analogies
of the sufferings of Christ typified in the sacrifices. The temple
gave sacrifices or ordained sacrifices morning and evening. Every sacrifice
that was offered pointed to the sacrifice of Christ. Whenever
the saints in the Old Testament suffered, it pointed to the sacrifice
of Christ. When Cain killed his brother
Abel, Abel pointed to the sacrifice of Christ. Whenever the prophets
were persecuted, the prophets who were persecuted pointed to
the sufferings of Christ. Now, am I stirring up your mind?
See, you got to know how to read the Old Testament with New Testament
eyes. If Jesus says, Lo, I come in
the volume of the book is written to me, you got to know how to
go back there and see him coming, because it's the spirit of prophecy
testifying to the person and work of Christ in the Old Testament. And this is what Peter is saying
they did. They spoke about his suffering and they spoke about
his glory. How did they speak about his glory? Every time somebody
was delivered, it represented the glory of Christ. Every time
somebody was raised from the dead, it represented the glory
of Christ. Job spoke to the sufferings of Christ and the glory of Christ.
Am I making some sense? When David was persecuted upon
the mountains by King Saul, it spoke of Christ's sufferings.
And yet when David took the throne, it spoke of Christ's exaltation.
See what I'm getting at? So the Old Testament gave us
emblems and shadows and representations of the sufferings and the glory
of our Savior. And this is what the prophets
are declaring. And notice what it goes on to say. Unto whom
it was revealed that not unto themselves, but unto us they
did minister the things which are now reported unto you by
them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost
sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look
into. The angels can look physically
with their eyes upon this scheme of redemption. But they have
no way of entering into in an emotional, in a psychological
or in an experiential sense as to what God has done in that
he has saved sinners by taking on a human nature and becoming
part of the human race. In that sense, this is totally
outside of the scope of angels to comprehend. That's why David
said in the psalmist to echo the angels. What is man that
thou art mindful of him and the son of man that you should visit
him? You made him a little lower than
the angels. Yet you crowned him with honor and glory. You made
him to be the head over everything. This is what blows the angels
mind. So they just figure when you think about God and all of
his glory and you think about little man and all of his foolishness,
why would God even waste his time? Ah, but that's the mystery
we learned. That's God's nature. God's name
is salvation. God's name is gracious. God's
name is merciful. He's got to save somebody that part of who he is. So now listen,
after having said that, here is the exhortation that I want
you and I to consider. Wherefore, now when you read
wherefores in the Bible, we call those purpose clauses. In order
that is what we call, I'm sorry, wherefore is what is called conclusions
or conclusive clauses. In order, that's our purpose
clauses. That is the in order that explains what has gone before
where fours are drawing conclusions. They're saying to you where for
as a result, gird up the loins of your mind. Do you see that?
Here's our conclusion. After having heard what the prophet
said, gird up the loins of your mind. The idea of girding up
means to strengthen. The idea of girding up, the analogy
is the girdle put around the loins to help gird up or reinforce
the midsection. This was a term used for the
military man or for the soldier. When he went into battle, he
put on a girdle. Some of you ladies know what that's like.
You used to. Y'all don't wear them anymore, but you used to.
Put those things on and all the blood rushed to your head. You
can't breathe. You know what I'm talking about, right? I remember
years ago watching those black and white films, and they used
to have this lady, I guess she was in the circus, you could
tighten it so tight, I guess her waist was about what, 12
inches, 16 inches around? I said, man, I bet all the blood
is just at the top of her head. The girdle has to do with strengthening
the mind. We're getting ready to get into
that. Because this here, if you look at your outline, this is
where the battle is. Prepare your minds, this is where we
lose the battle. So wherefore gird up the loins
of your mind, be what? That's hard in these days. Now
watch this, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that
is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
So he's giving you a duration, but he's also giving you an assignment.
He's saying, gird up the loins of your mind and hope to the
end. Hope is a characteristic of faith. Faith and hope are
two sides of the same coin, but they are not synonymous. Faith
and hope are two sides of the same coin, but they are not synonymous. Now when we define faith in its
biblical terminology, Hebrews 11 verse 1, now faith is the
substance of what? Things hoped for. The evidence
of things what? However, faith fundamentally
is trusting in what God has done. Hope is looking for what God
will do. Hope looks forward. Faith looks
backwards. So when we say believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, we're not saying believe on the Lord to
come. We're saying believe on the Lord
Jesus who came and died and rose again on the third day. Believing
is the verb form of faith, which is the noun form. They are two
sides of the same coin. They are synonymous. When you
call a person a believer, he's an individual who has faith.
When you say I have faith, that means you believe. You guys understand
that? But what we believe is what God
has done. And what we hope in is what we
do not yet see. That's Romans chapter 8. For
hope is not seen. For if hope was seen, why do
we yet hope for it? Am I making some sense? So now
what Peter is saying is, see to it that you keep a proper
perspective on the reason for which God saved you so that you
don't find yourself stopped living by hope. see to it that you maintain
a proper perspective and maintain a biblical view as to why God
saved you so that you don't find yourself having stopped living
by hope. Peter also says in first Peter
chapter one around verse three and four. Blessed be the God
and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has begotten us again
unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
In other words, when God saved us, he saved us and planted in
our heart a hope for glory. Which means the believer lives
forward thinking. Upward thinking future thinking
he does not live downward thinking present thinking now We're thinking
am I making some sense And you can get yourself off the track
of glory and of future and of hoping by getting caught up in
this world system by being trapped by the conforming principles
of this schematic thing that the scripture says be careful
of this world system, this evil world system. This evil world
system will trap your mind and it will cause you to think carnal
thoughts and worldly ideas and you will plant your stakes in
this life and you will essentially live as if you have no hope for
glory whatsoever. Am I telling the truth? So, here's
what he says. I want you to watch it now. We're
making our way there. Wherefore, gird up the loins
of your mind and be sober and hope to the end for the grace
that is brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Because
he's coming. Jesus is the personification of grace. Jesus is the personification
of grace. He's the personification of everything
about our salvation Whenever you talk about your salvation
in any respect in any aspect of it in any doctrine of your
salvation You can sum it up in these two words Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is our salvation Personified you guys got that
so when we talk about hope Christ is our hope when we talk about
grace Christ is our grace and When we talk about salvation,
Christ is our salvation. When we talk about redemption,
Christ is my redemption. When we talk about sanctification,
Christ is my sanctification. Am I making some sense? The word
Jesus Christ encompasses it all. Salvation is a person. And a
relationship to that person is your hope for glory. Got it? And this is eternal life, that
they might know you, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent. Now watch how this goes. As obedient
children, mark that down, you need to circle that. As obedient,
because he's not talking to the unbelieving. He's not talking
to the folks that are outside of the body of Christ. He's not
talking to the folks that's not in the true church. See, I told
you the exhortation of the book of Romans and primarily the scriptures,
let me say this as a rule. Primarily the scriptures, particularly
in the New Testament, is written to the church. The exhortation
and the encouragement and the promises and the imperatives
and the commands and the warnings are given to the church. Very
little of what's said in the epistles is given directly to
the unbeliever. There can be on some occasions
application given to the unbeliever to let them know they're on the
outside. They might very well be window shopping, but they
haven't bought the goods yet. And so long as they haven't bought
the goods, Much of what's said doesn't have anything to do with
them. This has to do with the people of God. This will help
you understand concepts like Christ died for our sins. Because
again, we're talking as if Christ died for every everybody's sin
in the whole world. Absolutely every single individual.
And there's no Bible basis for that. So when you hear the phrase
Christ died for our sins, it's as if I were the apostle Paul
and I was speaking to us. I'm not talking to the world.
I'm talking to the church. Am I making some sense? And you
who are true believers can say subjectively and experimentally,
yes, Christ died for my sin. Now, there are many people out
in the world for whom Christ did die, but until they come
to know him, they can't say that. Am I making some sense? They
can't say Christ died for their sins. And so when you hear those
passages, read them in their context, this is the encouragement
to the church. Christ died for his sheep. He
died for his bride. He died for his body. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Christ died for sinners who own their sin. There ain't many folk
you can find that's owning their sin today. That's why he didn't
die for. He didn't die for the righteous.
You know there's some folk Christ didn't die for, right? He even
said that. I didn't come for the righteous.
You meet somebody that's righteous in themselves. Christ didn't
die for them. See what I'm getting at? So you got to be very careful
about that terminology and read it in its context. So it is here. The apostle Paul says as obedient
children. Now watch this. The term obedient
children can be understood this way as children who listen to
God. Got it. The first principle of
obedience is what? Hearing. The first principle
of obedience is hearing. The first principle of obedience
is hearing. This here is a paternal relationship.
Parents, you know, when your children get out of line, you
say, boy, didn't you hear me? Isn't that right? Girl, didn't
you hear what I told you? And they'll look at you like,
oh, well, they didn't hear. They didn't hear. I know what I'm talking about.
Faith comes by what? And hearing by what? And only
God's children are listening to God. My sheep hear my voice. See what I'm getting at? Now,
as obedient children, watch this next part is simple. Not fashioning
yourselves. Do you see that phrase? That's
the same word conform here. Not fashioning yourselves. not fashioning yourselves, not
fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance. Am I helping you now? Now, this
is in what is called the active verb form, so it's active, but
it's the same Greek word, schematizo, but he's saying here, do not
fashion yourself according to your former what? Lusts. Now let's work with that for
a moment, because this is the same thing that Paul is dealing
with. When mankind fell into sin, terminated by death, he
ruined his relationship with God in that first and pristine
sense, and God sent him out of the garden, right? And God said,
in the day that you eat of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, you shall surely, what? So, you and I are in a spiral
downward. Death has seized our bodies.
Death has seized our minds. We are physically dying. Is that
true? From the moment we are conceived,
we are dying. The everything in biology tells
us this. That's what God said would happen
when we sin. Now I want to talk about this
for a moment because I want you to understand what Peter is dealing with and
what Paul is in an elliptical way. He didn't state it, but
here's the battle that you and I are fighting. You and I are
fighting the same battle that our first parents engaged in
and lost for which the whole world now is dominated. Our first
parents were tempted by the instigator called the devil. He was at that
time symbolized by a serpent. You guys know that, Genesis 3.
The devil came along and he instigated Eve's curiosity toward the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil. Isn't that right? What
he inspired in her, which in turn was inspired in her husband,
which was passed down to the whole human race, was lost. You guys got it? Lust. What he
instigated in her was lust. I want you to get it now. This
is why he's saying, Peter is saying, don't fashion yourselves
according to your former lusts. Now, you guys remember what first
John chapter two, verse 14 and 15 says, don't you? All right,
you better go there. I just go to go to go to go to.
All right. First John. Keep your hand at
Peter. I'll come back there. I want
you to see it in First John. I'm in First John chapter two. I
want us to recognize what's being said. Actually, it's going to
start at verse 15 and go through verse 17. First John chapter
two, 15. If we're there, let me know.
All right. Verse 15. Listen to what John
says. Love not the world. Got it. Neither the things that
are in the world that means love not the world system first John
chapter 2 Verse 15 love not the world neither the things that
are in the world if any man love the world Here's what we call
an axiomatic statement Be sure of this if you love the world
the love of the father's not in you The two are mutually exclusive
Got it? The two are mutually exclusive.
Very important that you see that. One of the things that's going
on in the Christian church today, and I guess it's been going on
since the beginning of time. In fact, I know it's been going on since
the beginning of time in the first century, is this. Here's the
issue. Can I have God in this world too? Isn't that true? And this is the struggle that
you will find in many professing Christians. Can't I have God
in this world too? American Christianity loves to
try to fit this world into the gospel and tell the Christian
they can live in the lap of carnal luxury and still have the approval
of the true and the living God. But the text tells us this is
not so. What the text tells us here is
a love for this world system is mutually exclusive to a love
for the Father. In other words, if God should
have planted His love in your heart, there will be, from that
moment on, an enmity between your love for God and your fallen
sinful nature's love for this world. Am I making some sense? When God saves you immediately,
He creates in you Holy conflict that's Romans 7 Which won't allow
you to easily and naturally continue in that same course of lusting
Because that's what we are as long as we're outside of Christ.
We're lusting now listen to what he says Love not the world neither
the things that are in the world if any man loved the world The
love of the Father is not in him Four, all that's in the world
is the lust. Got it? All that's in the world
is the lust. I want to emphasize that word
because the idea is this. What happened at the fall was
man was left with an insatiable vacuum. What happened at the
fall was the human race was left with an insatiable vacuum. What
happened at the fall was that the human race was left with
an insatiable vacuum. That vacuum is a need. So we come out of the womb needing,
longing for, desiring, hungering for something that would have
never happened if sin didn't enter into our world. At the
fall, what happened was mankind was put into a vacuum psychologically,
emotionally, spiritually, biologically. So we come out of the womb with
a lust for satisfaction. Isn't that true? And our whole
human experience is circumscribed around this discontentedness
with who we are and what we have. So we're driven to pursue some
means of self-satisfaction. This is what has opened the door
up for a myriad of morbid human expressions. Morbid human expressions. That is, you don't even think
about it. You're just simply led by your
lust. And so, as we have become harder and harder and more brazen
and brazen in our culture, feelings become dominant as a basic mode
of operation in our life. If it feels good, do it. In fact, feelings become equal
to truth in our culture today. I'm going to help you a little
bit. And this is really quite interesting,
too, because I've been fighting this battle and watching it for
the last 30 years. and it's escalating, and it'll get to a point in the
apostasy, we call it the apostasy, the departure from the true and
the living God. The further away you get from God, the more violent
you are about satisfying your lust, and the more hostile you
are against those who tell you your lust is a danger. But what
human beings do who don't know the true and the living God and
have not entered into the satisfying nature of grace, is they actually
function out of their lust. And here's the danger. You begin
to equate your essence with your lust. You begin to view yourself,
your ontology, your nature according to your lust. And in fact, the
term nature has been morbidly twisted to identify with this
is just the way I am. This is the way I do it. Isn't
that right? That's because your lust, your
passion, that thing which you are trying to fill up runs so
close to the core of your being that you can't hardly make the
distinction between your mere sinful nature and his craving
to be satisfied and the essence of who you are as God's creature
made in his image. the proximity between who you
are having been created in the image of God and the sin nature. We'll talk about that in our
theology class when we get to hermetology. Hermetology is the
doctrine of sin and anthropology and the connection between who
we are as having been created in God's image and therefore
designed to have our satisfaction only met in God. But because
our sin nature is such a major proponent of our existence, we
find ourselves yielding to it and basically owning it as our
nature when in fact all it is is a principle that is affecting
our volition and affecting our thinking of which we have to
battle. And when God gives you grace for regeneration, I'll
talk about that when we get to be transformed, He allows you
to step outside of that matrix where you are so engulfed in
your lust. Now you can see your lust for
what it is and you can go to war against it. You see what
I'm saying? But until then, you are so connected
to your lust that it's impossible for you to distinguish or discern
between who you are and what it is. This is what's so important
about gospel preaching because only gospel preaching brings
to light immortality and life. Only the gospel brings clarity
to these mysteries of the scripture. I've talked to us before about
the several mysteries that are in the Bible. The mystery of
the kingdom of God, the mystery of godliness. There is also what
is called the mystery of iniquity. Second Thessalonians chapter
3 and what it has to do is how what is what it has to do with
is how sin? surreptitiously in a very subtle
covert way has worked its way into the human race and has been
able to control every aspect of our faculty and This is why
Jesus said he that continually commits sin is a slave of sin
I had to use that verb for him. And this is what Paul meant when
he said in Romans chapter 6, you used to be slaves of sin,
but now you are slaves of what? Which is equivalent to Christ.
So whereas I was led by sin, which has its foundation in lust. We'll see this when we go to
James. It told me and dictated and informed me how I should
conduct myself. And this is what Peter is saying
when he says do not obedient children, those who listen to
God, conform yourself, fashion yourselves according to the world.
So John says, for all that is in the world is the lust of the
flesh, that is our fallen nature, and its desire to be fulfilled,
the lust of the eye, that is the curiosity and cravings that
we have for the things that are seen, and the pride of life. That is our desire to aspire
to positions of prominence as a means of seeking self-worth. Did I lose you on that? Good. I'll develop it a little bit
as you go back to Peter, because I want you to see something in
Peter. Go back to Peter. Here's what I mean by the lust
of the flesh. The lust of the flesh is what
I've been describing for the last 10 minutes. Remember the term
flesh, sarkos, is not referring to our physical bodies. The term
flesh circles in the New Testament is not referring to our physical
bodies. This is quite interesting. Let
me say this. This will help you. Again, like I said earlier, it's
very important for you to be able to distinguish between the
idea of the physical, biological universe and this world system
by which men and women are governed under the principalities and
powers of darkness that inculcate into our thinking worldviews
that are hostile to the true and the living God. That's your
evil world system. Am I making some sense? The distinction
between the two is this. I can enjoy this world. I can
enjoy the physical things of this world. I can enjoy God's
creation. I was made to enjoy creation.
You were too in the context of being informed by the God who
made both creation and me. Did I make some sense there?
But it's very important that as I deal with this world, I
deal with it through the prism of biblical truth so that I might
know how to enjoy this world and not sin against my God. Well,
it's the same thing with the body. This physical body is just
a servant. See it? I'm telling it what to
do. Now, if I'm governed by the lust
of my flesh, I will tell my members to do something that's contrary
to God. But my physical body is not my
flesh in the technical sense. My flesh is my fallen nature.
Sarkikos is the Greek term, my nature. I find a law in my members
which brings me into captivity to the law of my mind which is
called the law of sin and death. So I'm driven to do something
not because my physical body is saying I gotta have it, my
body gotta have it. No, my mind is governed by flawed principles
engaging my volition or my willfulness or my inclination or my propensities
to do something and my body simply obeys. That's Romans chapter
6. Yield not your members to unrighteousness
to obey the lust that's on the inside of it. Got it? So you
got to distinguish that too because our physical bodies are made
by God. It's under the curse of sin But the curse of sin is
distinctly different from the evil principle of lust. In other
words, you can glorify God in these bodies, which are His.
You know what the Bible says? So it would be mutually exclusive,
too, to on the one hand says, because my body is so sinful,
there's no way that I can get it to do what's right. On the
other hand, the Bible says, know that you have been bought with
a price, the precious blood of Jesus Christ, therefore glorify
God in your bodies, which are his. God's not going to contradict
himself. So then there has to be a principle that is strong
enough to tell my body what to do so that my body then honors
God. That's actually where we are.
And the metaphor of the physical body being brought in subjection
by the believer who is under the control of the Spirit is
actually aiming at the larger metaphor of Romans 12 concerning
the body of Christ. That's what Romans 12 really
is about. The body of Christ being brought into subjection
by the Spirit to yield itself collectively to do the will of
God. You guys got that? And so notice
what he says here in Peter. I'm going to move on from here.
As obedient children, not fashioning yourself. That phrase fashion
again is schema and it means to form or to mold or to shape. It's like taking clay and shaping
it into an image that you want. And the idea also means to retain
that image. to retain it and so the ideas
of fashioning. So in the physical dimension,
we talked about this last week and I intentionally talked about
the physical dimension last week. Remember we talked about the
idea of covering up as opposed to uncovering and the fact that
the Old Testament warned about nakedness not because the physical
body of itself is such an evil thing. but because what's operating
in that physical body is a soul whose mind is not girded up to
be able to view this world without being driven to flawed thinking
and bad practices as a consequence of our nakedness. Did I mess
that up too? You guys all right, right? Because
I want to make sure that as we get into verse 2 & 3 that we
understand this if God opens your eyes to this Then you'll
know how to fight this battle. Do you know I'm gonna be marrying
a young couple tomorrow Oh, by the way, so fellas, there's no
men's meeting tomorrow Be sure you know that no men's meeting
and all the guys that are not here that you know No men's meeting
tomorrow. No men's meeting Y'all who are married, y'all can stay
home, take your wife out, or you can stay home with the kids,
let your wife go out, you know, gain you some brownie points. Do something for the missus,
OK? Do something for her. Remember her. I know it's Memorial
Day for the fellas, but remember her. The first sanctioned institution
given in the Bible is called marriage. Genesis chapter 2 the
Bible says around verse 22 through 24 21 through 24 God put man
into a deep sleep He took from his side a rib and from that
rib built he a woman He brought the woman to the man. He told
her this is woman He the man named her woman and said this
is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh Therefore she shall
be called woman because she was taken from man names mean something
is what we've been learning Then the Bible says for this cause
shall a man leave And we'd be having trouble with
that in the 21st century don't that I'm so glad I have four daughters
at first, you know, because my daughter's getting married next
month, and she already gone. I'm happy. But somebody told
me, look, it ain't no, you know, you're not sure. They might show
up a month later or six months later, the way the economy is
going. But the idea is this. For this cause shall a man leave
his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife and the
twain shall become one flesh. Now, who am I talking about?
Christ in the church. However, you and I are reflections
of that. And the text said this. And the
two. Were naked. And not ashamed. You guys got that? and the two
were naked and not ashamed. Now, if you are carnal, all you
see are two physical bodies where people are comfortable with each
other. Well, you get that over in San Francisco. Am I telling the truth? I never
will forget walking down San Francisco one time, and I saw
this lady walking in the middle of the street, late at night,
walking in the middle of the street. And I just, I said, I
know I'm not drunk. I know I'm not drunk. This lady
is butt naked, walking down the middle of the street and it was
like nothing. I'm like, you know, that's not
what the text is talking about. Here's what the text is talking
about. The text is talking about not being sinful in the sight
of God. When we are naked and not ashamed,
It's because we are so righteous that God doesn't see anything
in us for which we should be ashamed. Am I making some sense? But so long as you and I are
sinners, put some clothes on. Got it? And that's why when Adam
and Eve fell into sin, they tried to cover themselves with fig
leaves And God said fig leaves won't work because they drop
after a while. And then there you go again.
Isn't that right? So God covered them. Isn't that what the Bible
says? The first person to execute covering
was God. And it was designed to teach
what we call imputed righteousness. The righteousness of Christ covering
the nakedness of our sin so that God can look on us and not be
ashamed of what he sees. Am I making some sense? That's
what's going on. But believe you me, while you
and I are sinners, we cannot handle nakedness. Oh, I can handle nakedness. No,
you can't. I don't care who you are. There's some aspect of your
human makeup that will be jacked up if you look upon nakedness
too long. You know why I say that? Because
that's what God said. And so what he told the children
of Israel was when you come into the land, don't do like the heathen. Because they don't mind walking
around naked because they don't see themselves as sinners, although
they are. and their very ignorance of their
sinfulness increases their sinfulness because the acts of sin are increased
because of their nakedness. Did you guys get that? Their
ignorance of sinfulness doesn't change the act of sinfulness
committed by them because of their ignorance. See, this is
what Peter said. Do not fashion yourself according
to your former lust in your what? Ignorance. So ignorant people
say, I can walk around naked. I'm fine. No, you're not. You
are provoking people. And deep down in your psyche
somewhere, you are seeking attention. Am I telling the truth? And so
that's really what's going on here. And so in the concept that
we're developing, it kind of took us a long way. We'll go
back now. In the concept that we're developing, what Peter
is saying is that obedient children will not find themselves constantly
putting on this world system, this worldview, the philosophy
of the world, the ideology of the world. The metaphor is that
of garments. Don't put on the world's views. Don't put on the world's clothes
ideologically. Don't embrace those. And it's
real simple, too, because if you just simply think about how
you were thinking prior to when you were saved, you can know
that that's bad thinking. Now, let's go back to our text.
I want to work through some things here. so we can wrap this up.
Going back to Romans chapter 12, be not conformed to the world. Do not be brought into its mold.
Do not be trapped by its system. Do not be made to look like the
world. That's an as a command given
not only to the individual Christian, but it's also given to the body
of Christ collectively. Remember he's speaking to the
church. So If the individual Christian is called upon not
to be influenced by this world system, then quite logically,
collectively, the body of Christ will not be influenced by this
world system. Does that make some logical sense?
What that means then is when the unbelieving world engages
in conversation with the believing world, the believing world will
have a radically different worldview and philosophy and approach to
life than the unbelieving world. Now, we we know their world because
we came from it so we can engage them, but they can't engage us. And one of the marks that there
is a dichotomy between the two people groups is the unbeliever
will not understand you in terms of your convictions, your values,
the things that you understand are important, the whole idea
of absolute truth. An aberration, an abhorring of
this idea of pluralism. The idea that your truth is your
truth and my truth is my truth. The believer rejects that out
of hand. because he understands the colossal error that is inherent
in that philosophy and worldview. You can't have two mutually exclusive
ideas and they both coexist in the same space without being
in major conflict. Isn't that true? So that when
the believer is sitting and talking with the unbeliever around a
cup of coffee about the world, the unbeliever is going to discover
in no time short that the believer has a presupposition or a foundation
of truth that informs them about what's right and wrong. And the
unbeliever is going to be kind of uncomfortable by those hardcore
values that the believer expresses as they talk about what they
think is right and wrong according to the scriptures. See what I'm
saying? And so if you were to read 1 Peter all the way through,
Peter is talking about the practical way in which true believers operating
by the grace of God will be led to do or not do whatever they
do. OK, so in Romans chapter 12, here's what he says. We're
going to move to the next point. Wrap this up. And be not conformed
to this world, but be ye what? Transformed. It's an interesting
concept. Transformed is a different word. It's the Greek word, and you
have heard this term before, metamorphosis. Have you heard
that term? Metamorphosis. Metamorphosis. And I want to talk about that
a little bit. Metamorphosis is not like a schema. A schema is
something that's imposed upon you from the outside in. Metamorphosis is what takes place
from the inside out. The schema is what happens when
you become the vulnerable subject of a worldview that targets you
to make it a slave of their system. The metamorphosis is what takes
place when a seed is planted in you and it begins to transform
you because it now becomes the dominant DNA. Are you hearing
me so far? This is what is called the metamorphosis,
the transformation. Now, you guys have heard about
what was called the mount of transfiguration in the gospel
of Matthew, Mark and Luke. What happened was Jesus went
to the mountain to pray. This is the Mount of Olives with
Peter, James and John. Peter talks about this. He called
it the Mount of God's excellent glory. And we saw his glory in
the holy mount. And while they were in the mountain,
I want you to see this is very interesting because we're actually
looking at ground zero for the the the reality of what Paul
is exhorting us to experience. The Mount of Transfiguration
took place with Christ and three of his disciples, Peter, James,
and John. They were going up to the mountain
to pray. That's what Luke's gospel tells
us. And while they were praying, collectively, the disciples saw
something happen to Jesus. You guys remember that? Right
before their eyes, Jesus metamorphied. He metamorphed right before their
eyes. You guys remember that? The scripture
says he changed. I want you to see this. Go with
me to Luke's Gospel, Luke chapter 9. Give me a few more minutes
of your time. We'll wrap this up. Luke chapter
9. I want you to see this. This is going to help you understand
where Paul is going. And then next week, we'll come
back and deal with the agents of change, the method by which
God sees to it that his people experience this dynamic called
the metamorphosis. I'm in Luke chapter 9. And I'm gonna start at verse
27 Jesus has just done speaking to the leaders of the church
and he told his disciples these words in verse 27 Are you there?
But I tell you of a truth there be some standing here Which shall
not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God Park it
what Jesus did was give what we call a twofold prophecy a
two-fold prophecy. He gave what we call an immediate
near prophetic fulfillment prophecy and an eschatological fulfillment
prophecy. An immediate near fulfillment
prophecy is often what he does when the Bible gives a prophecy
about things that are going to happen within the lifespan of
those who heard it. And then it gives what we call
an eschatological or an end-time prophecy of a greater fulfillment
of the same truth. Prophecy can actually fulfill
itself two and three and four times We've demonstrated this
through the scriptures the Antiochus Epiphany scenario in 333 167
BC was a former type of the Nero Titus fulfillment and of the
Antichrist world system that we're engaged in now So we have
prophetic fulfillment because that's how prophecy works It
fulfills itself several times over until it culminates in the
return of Christ. Does that make some sense? So
now watch this He said, there are some of you who will not
taste of death until you see the kingdom of God. Now the kingdom
of God cannot be seen with the physical eye. You guys know that,
right? Very important to know that.
The kingdom of God is not seen with observation. This is what
Jesus said in Luke chapter 17. I'm gonna talk about that a little
bit on Sunday, but here's what he is saying. Something is gonna
happen here shortly where a few of you are gonna see the kingdom
of God and Here's what happened Notice what it says and it came
to pass about eight days later just eight days Are we there? after these sayings He took Peter
and John and James and went up into a mountain To do what? See Jesus believed in prayer
Now if God believed in prayer, I just can't understand sinful
human beings not realizing the importance of it. So coupled
with prayer, watch what this says. And as he what? Who pray? Jesus. Watch this. What's the word there? Fashion!
That's our word. Metamorphi. The fashion of his
countenance was altered. And his raiment was white and
glistening. Do you see that? Listen. His
raiment was white and glistening. What did the disciples see? Did
they see something happen from heaven come down and engulf Jesus? Or did they see something that
was on the inside of him that manifested itself outwardly?
Are you seeing what I'm getting at? Here's what I'm getting at.
Jesus is God. Jesus is actually the glory of
God He is such Glory that if he were to have allowed himself
to become even more manifest The disciples wouldn't have been
able to contain it. So what happened was a little
bit of his deity leaked out Got it Just a little bit of his deity
He did that on purpose just a little bit of his deity leaked out just
a little bit Just a small measure. What he did was allow the disciples
to see that he was the lord of glory now notice what it says
and as he prayed the fashion of his continence was altered
and his raiment was white and glistening and Behold their talk
with him two men which were moses and elias Who appeared in what? See see what happened was at
that moment at that point in the person of Christ Glory manifested
itself Glory manifested itself now see when I talked earlier
about hope the believers hope It's for what glory? You do know
that right? Colossians chapter 127 Christ
in you the hope of what glory So what the disciples actually
saw? personified in Christ is what
every believer will experience when Christ comes again. You
guys got that? But now just listen to the language.
Behold there talk with them two men, Moses and Elias. Now you
know Moses and Elias, they're the Old Testament prophets, right?
The law and the prophets who appeared in glory. Why did they
appear in the glory? Because they went to heaven.
Isn't that right? This tells us there's no such
thing as Abraham's bosom. Abraham's bosom was a metaphor
for glory. Okay? That was an old Jewish
metaphor for glory. Abraham's bosom is that I'm not
looking for Abraham when I go to glory. I'm looking for Christ.
Hey! I'm in glory now. Where Abraham
at? I want to talk to Abraham. Abraham is a picture of God the
Father. Isn't that right? Isaac of God
the Son. And so when we get the glory,
we're actually going to be inhabited by the triune God itself. That's
Revelation chapter 22. So now listen to the language.
I want you to hear this. But Peter and they that were
with him were heavy with sleep. And when they were awake, they
saw his what? There we go. And the two men
that stood with him and it came to pass as they departed from
him. That is Moses and Elias Peter said unto
Jesus master. It is good for us to be here.
He was telling the truth, wasn't he? Let us make three tabernacles
one for thee one for Moses one for Elias Not knowing what he
said What That's right, that's that's
what Luke the doctor said Peter didn't know what he was talking
about However As we close this up, I want you to think about
it. Peter wasn't being facetious. Let me help you, because this
is important. If God wanted to, if you're born again right now,
you have in you the incorruptible seed. Christ is in you if you're
born again. You know what that means? That
means if God wanted to, based upon the finished work of Christ
on Calvary's tree. This is why it's so important
to know what happened on Calvary. This is why Calvary must be preached
and expounded and explained continually. What happened on Calvary's tree
was the God-man became the actual substitute and surety and representative
of a guilty sinner. On Calvary's tree, He satisfied
God's justice so that that sinner no longer is viewed in God's
sight as guilty of breaking God's law. Because God's wrath has
been fully vindicated upon Christ who was made sin for him. So
Isaiah says, God saw the suffering of his soul, Isaiah 53, and was
satisfied. That means God's wrath now is
completely emptied out concerning the believer for whom Christ
died. Then the death of Christ also,
because of his perfect obedience, merited a righteousness by which
Christ now can impute to that guilty sinner. That guilty sinner
now stands before God. Now listen to me. Those of you
who've been around long enough know this. that guilty sinner
stands before God not only as have never ever having committed
sin before because that's not what justification means just
as if I have never sinned I know y'all heard that before right
no justification means that you have never sinned ever you will
never sin ever and you have always obeyed perfectly past present
future Did you get that now? Let me make sure you understand
this in the eyes of God We for whom Christ have actually become
a substitute and real surety and representative We have become
the righteousness of God in him Which means Christ's obedience
is viewed in the eyes of God as an everlasting obedience.
Thus his righteousness is called an everlasting righteousness.
Which means in the mind of God, because I am righteous, I must
live. You see, the reward of perfect
obedience is life. If you keep God's commandments,
you shall what? Live! And the reason why you
and I have eternal life is because in God's eyes, we have kept His
commandments, not only in this world, but in the world to come,
because our state of righteousness is an everlasting state of righteousness,
which means, can I help you with this? Which means if God wanted
to, right now, I could disappear and go straight into glory. And
I will have violated none of God's laws because in so far
as I'm concerned, I stand in the same stead as his son, Jesus
Christ. Ladies and gentlemen, this is
the reason why from the Old Testament all the way into the New, God
could do things like Enoch walked with God and just one day he
was gone. Now that wasn't just because
God wanted to put on a show. It was because Enoch was the
righteousness of God in Christ and therefore God was not obliged
to see Enoch terminate in death. He didn't have to die. Every
miracle that was performed in the Old Testament was performed
on the basis of Christ being the Lamb slain from before the
foundation of the world. Which means when God raised folk
from the dead in the Old Testament, it was based upon the marriage
of Christ that God saw would be imputed to them. Am I making
some sense? Which means When Jesus says to
us, there are some of you who will not taste death until you
see the kingdom of God. The promise that one day the
last trump shall sound, the dead in Christ will be raised and
those that remain shall be caught up together in the air. And in
a twinkling of an eye, we shall all be changed. That promise
is imminent. Are you hearing me? Let me say
it. And I know I'm way over your
head now. I've been rejoicing in this for decades. You know
what? I've been rejoicing in for decades. If God wants to,
he can just make some of his elect disappear. Poof. What happened
to brother Jesse? God just wanted him with him.
That's all. He just figured, you know, let y'all deal with
this crazy where he wanted me. He could do that. And it wouldn't
violate anything in his law. Because in so far as you are
concerned in Christ, you are perfect and you are ready to
go. The reason why he allows us to
live in this world to terminate in death and wait for the resurrection
is because the day of resurrection will be a day wherein God is
glorified for the life of witnessing that you and I have been called
to. Plus, you and I as believers are called to identify with lost
sinners from the womb to the tomb, just as Jesus did. But we don't have to. Because
of what Christ accomplished on Calvary Street you guys got that
let me say it like this I'm gonna close to if God wants to Anytime
he wants to on the basis of what Christ has accomplished for us
on Calvary He could heal us of any disease in every disease
Not just capriciously out of the merits of his power, but
on the grounds of his justice Because once Christ has accomplished
eternal redemption for us, you and I now are actually healed
in terms of the grounds of justification. For by His stripes you are what? This is, see God sees this. God
sees this, and this is why Jesus could do the miracles that he
did. It's amazing how Jesus operated. Here's the lame man that they
bore through the roof, brought him down and dropped him in front
of the Savior, and the Savior is marveling at the faith of
the men who dropped him down there. And he said to the lame
man, man, your sins are forgiven. I'm so jazzed by the way these
guys brought you to me, which is the same as preaching the
gospel to lost, hell-bound, lame, withered, dead sinners. and praying
for them, bringing them to Christ, that Christ on the merits of
the believing people of God will save a sinner, like he said to
this lame man, your sins are forgiven. Then all the religious
folks said, how on earth can this man just say your sins forgiven?
Who do you think he is? And Jesus says, which one is
harder to do? And I'll ask you in close with
this, which one is harder for Jesus to do? Now y'all been around
for a long time. I want to know y'all old folks
saying this. I want to see if some of you newer people understand
the importance of this proposition. Which one is harder for Jesus
to do? To heal that man of his withered legs and arm, his lameness,
or to forgive him of his sin? Which one was more difficult
for Jesus to do? Why? He had to suffer. He just got
beat up, that's all. And what else happened to him? And what else happened to him?
Hold on, hold on, hold on. But before he was raised up,
what else happened? What was it that? Listen, ladies and gentlemen,
the sufferings of his physical body was not the atonement as horrible as those things are
physically. Human beings have gone through
worse than that. Okay. That was just the manifestation
of the vitriol and hostility of the wicked who put their hands
on the son of God. What Jesus went through was the
pouring out of his father's holy wrath upon his soul. His soul. My soul is exceedingly sorrowful,
even unto death. when he made his soul, Isaiah
5310, an offering for sin. It pleased the Lord to crush
him. This is omnipotence crushing
omnipotence. You and I can never understand
that. But. The question still merits
considering. When Jesus offered this man the
virtue of forgiveness, Christ was fully aware of what he would
have to pay for that forgiveness that that man received. And this
is why he could say to his audience, huh, healing this brother is
nothing. So get on up, man, get on up.
And his getting up was an evidence that Christ was going to go to
the cross. and was going to die under the
Father's wrath, and was going to satisfy divine justice, and
was going to procure for us an everlasting righteousness, and
was going to go into the ground and rise again the third day,
having justified us, and was going to go to glory, and was
going to send his Holy Ghost, save us, and bring us to glory
as well. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
This is the immutable counsel of God Jesus is able to act in
his own earthly ministry on the grounds of knowing that he was
going to finish the work that his father gave him to do. Now
what we're looking at with the fashioning, the transformation,
which we'll get back to next week, is actually what Paul is
talking about in Romans chapter 12. What Jesus went through in
Luke chapter nine, Matthew 17, is what the believer is called
to go through every day in our life as we walk with Christ and
as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of him. You guys believe
that? That's what he means by be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. All right, let's pray. Father,
we thank you for this time. We thank you for your word. We thank
you for the truth as it is in Christ. Help it to sink deep
down into our soul. Take root downward, bear fruit
upward so that we might be able to do what Paul said. Know what
the riches of the inheritance of the saints in Christ is and
be able to identify with the exceeding great power wherewith
you raise our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. May these things
be more than idle tales to us. May they be realities. May they
cause our hope to abound in you. May they change our minds. May
they change our lives. Father, as we go our way tonight,
give us traveling mercies. Give us rest tonight and prepare
our hearts to worship you on Sunday. We pray in Jesus name.
Amen. God bless you.