20260304 Change in the Life of a Christian Wednesday Bible Study Dave Dickmann

We are going to be talking about today Change

We're not going to get through everything that

I want to say about it tonight, so I'm just warning

you so We can take as much time as is profitable

to discuss explore converse about anything that

we Talk about tonight one of the I read two books

recently one sanctification one on transformations

and The one on transformation had a big long

section at the beginning of the book on Anthropology

what is a man and I you know for the life of

me. I Just couldn't understand why we had to

spend so much time talking about anthropology

neuroscience psychology, psychiatry, and all

the rest of that. It wasn't until I guess this

afternoon when I was thinking about what we were

going to say when it occurred to me that the

reason that the discussion starts there is because

whatever change God promises, it's not just to

affect one small part of us. And so however it

is that we define who or what a human being is,

the intention of the gospel in Christ Jesus is

to transform the entirety of a man. And that's

really, I think, if you just read our Bibles,

some of you are on a reading schedule, but as

we read, that's usually the way that the Bible

addresses us, is just as a whole being. It doesn't

talk about if you want to change the physical

part of you, or if you want to change, you know,

what all is involved in the physical part of

man. It just says that it's going to change us.

You, you are going to be changed. And so I just,

that's really as far as I want to get on anthropology,

what it is. If that's an interesting subject

to you, then you can... certainly study that

out in your Bible. You can see what the Bible

has to say. The Bible tells us we're two parts,

but it consistently addresses only the two parts

together as a whole, and so it discusses the

whole man. So that hopefully is encouraging to

you. I don't suppose there's anything that is

more... intimidating for us than when we think

about change. In one of the books there was a

survey of psychiatrists and psychologists, counselors

in general. And there is no, in that realm, of

course we shouldn't be surprised, but in that

realm, the realm of the world, there is no definitive

definition for change. Back and forth here and

there hopefully we can affect this person in

this kind of way or in that kind of way one person

described his experience as a expert and professional

at counseling as a Rider on an elephant running

through the jungle not on a path now You can

see and why is that? Because they're both in

the same boat Neither the counselor has not achieved

everything that he is telling the person that

he's counseling what he can't achieve. And when

you're bringing only the wisdom of the world

then we have what is that called? The blind leading

the blind. You have a blind man leading another

blind man. It's not like that in Christ. It's

not like that in the church. It's not like that

for Christians. we look at things much more positively.

One other quick note of introduction is that

it seems that the best and the most successful

programs in the world are modeled after Alcoholics

Anonymous. And what is unique about Alcoholics

Anonymous? It's a whole group. Now, that should

tell us something about the human psyche. That

should tell us something about who we are as

people. And one of the things that we are as

people is we are created to be in relationships.

And I don't sure what the resonativism is in

Alcoholics Anonymous, but within the church,

in other words, in this community of people that

have something in common, we ought to expect

change. Now what is it that the church has in

common? We don't have in common what an Alcoholics

Anonymous meeting would have. What? They all

have the problem with drinking too much alcohol.

That's what they have in common besides their

humanity. But what is it that the church has

in common? What is the church? Okay, the church

is the Christians, right? And they have in common

Jesus Christ in whom we all are and in whom we

have fellowship. Also in Christ, what do we have

collectively? the same calling and the same purpose.

Whatever we say about change and how it is accomplished,

right off the bat I just want to say that it

takes place mostly in the context, well it takes

place completely in the context of relationship.

The Christian has how many relationships to find

in the Bible? Common to all. The first one is

what? Our relationship with God. What's the next

one? Close personal relationship with other Christians.

Maybe one other Christian. The Bible has a lot

of things to say about the benefits of friendship.

About the benefits of being in a relationship

with someone else where complete honesty and

total trust exists. That's the second and what's

the third relationship common to every Christian?

The church. That's the third relationship that

every Christian in the Bible has. Your relationship

with God and God is what or God is who? Father,

Son and Spirit. You have a relationship or you

should have a relationship with other Christians

on a very personal level and then you should

have a fellowship with the entirety of your local

church. And it is only in that type of a relational

structure that any positive change is going to

come to your life. Any just cursory reading of

the Bible ought to convince you of that and it

ought to convince me of that. The question is

how does the New Testament lay out the process

of change and expectation. And that's really

what we want to explore. So I'm just going to

ask these a few questions. Is change spontaneous

and dramatic or is it minimal? Gradual? Both.

Very good. Is it visible or invisible? Oh, it's

a 50 -50. Be brave. Both. Is it deliberate or

is it accidental? What's that? Okay. Is it lasting

or fleeting? Or we could say is it permanent

or is it temporary? What's that So you're saying

it's lasting but it's fleeting it's permanent

but it's temporary We're talking about the change

of a person into the image of Christ that's what

the Bible tells us It's both it's both permanent

and it's temporary. And why do we have these,

especially on this lasting or fleeting or permanent

or temporary? Why is that? Anybody got any guess?

Are you talking about heaven? Eventually, you

know, this change that you've made as a being

on earth that's going to be completely finished

when you get to heaven. So that's one principle.

We call that what? The already and not yet. We

are already saved. But we are not yet saved in

the final sense because we are not yet in heaven.

We see those things because God works in us.

God does a work in us. But also we progress on

in our faith and in our knowledge of God. It's

visible and invisible because what? There is

a change within us. If you're not expecting God

to change your desires, if you're not expecting

God to change your knowledge of Him, if you're

not expecting that, then it's not going to happen.

If you're not asking Him for that, then it's

not going to happen. If you have watered down

your Christian life to a simple keeping of rules,

then that's the Christian experience you'll have.

One of frustration. One of relapse over and over

and over. Who is in charge? This is really, I

think of all the things, this is the one that

has just blessed me the most. Who's in charge?

Who has the authority? Come on. Particularly

who has the authority? Jesus has how much authority?

Now, when we usually talk about that, it's in

what context? He's going to provide for me, right?

Maybe we think about, or we're going to go out

and we're going to do some missions work. We're

going to declare the Gospel. We're going to be

ambassadors for Christ. And we say, He rules

in that place. I can move about free in the space

that He's given me as long as I'm doing His will.

and I can leave the results to him because he

has the authority. But let's make it personal

because there's no limit to his authority and

there's no sphere or realm in which he doesn't

reign. Does Christ Jesus reign in you? And the

answer is yes. If I'm a Christian, Christ Jesus

reigns in me. Do you acknowledge that in the

way that you think about change in your life?

Is there somebody who can give you deliverance?

Is there somebody that can help you, that can

change your mind? And the answer is yes. Unequivocally.

And if you don't think about that type of, if

you don't look at your future, if you don't look

at your person, If you don't look at your mind

with that kind of optimism, then you're never

going to see God accomplish in you what He could

accomplish in you if you were to look to Him

in faith and trust Him in faith and walk in His

way. So, I give you that by way of introduction.

Alright. Here's a, and I think this is a pretty

good, personal change definition. If you want

to write this down. Now, this is from Gary Miller.

He has it all backwards, so I put it in the right

order for him. Nonetheless, I'll give him credit.

Personal change involves permanently reshaped

character. Do you long for that? Permanently

reshaped character. I should say, do you long

for that defined expression in the way that you

think and in the way that you live? It also involves

modified thinking, choices, and decisions. That's

a big one. You expect to work change in your

life. You expect to see progress. You're going

to have to have modified thinking. You're going

to have to make choices. Life is nothing if it's

not a series of one choice after the next. I

mean, in everything. How am I going to get to

work? What route am I going to take? What am

I going to eat? That's just the basics, right?

What time am I going to go to sleep? Everything

that we do in life is by choice and a choice.

And you're going to have to make decisions. It's

not just going to happen. You're going to have

to say, this is what I'm going to choose this.

I have these two options. I'm either going to

go down the same road that I've been down a million

times, or I'm going to go down another road.

A choice. Only the Christian can make that choice.

And then finally, it results in what? Decisively

altered behavior. In other words, when you get

your thinking right, when you make the right

choices, Because you have a reshaped character,

it's evident in the way that you live. You can't

mask or hide that. It comes out inevitably. You've

heard me say it, that a changed life is the inevitable

result of grace. It's not possible. It's not

possible to be stagnant if grace is in your life.

God is going to progress you on. Now that's our

theory, if you want to put it that way. In our

study here, are we going to find that those things

are true? And I would say to you that they are

not only true, but they're obvious. And one of

the reasons this will take longer than I anticipated

was that the Bible is full of it. If you just

look at the Bible in terms of change, or what's

the Christian life about? You could you have

to go through the whole New Testament before

you would explore every Every Avenue and every

slight nuance in the discussion It's not silent

at all it is extravagant in the expectation and

it is Explicit in the way that that change takes

place Why is change hard Well, first of all,

does anybody think that changing is hard? Let's

raise our hands if we think it's hard. Who's

a teenager? Just you two? Okay, even you teenagers

think that change is hard, huh? Who thinks that

change is possible? Now, in the world, there's

two groups of people that think that change is

probably not going to happen. Take a guess at

what two groups of people those are. Teenagers

and old people. Now the Christian is not that.

So if you're a teenager here and you think that

you've got it all figured out, you know everything.

There's no reason for me to change. I know everything.

Then humble yourself before the Word of God and

reckon yourself to be those people that have

a whole lot to learn. and anticipate that in

the learning there's going to be lots of changes.

You haven't achieved, you haven't arrived. And

us old people, one of the most encouraging things

to me as a pastor was to watch a certain person,

even in their old age, change. I saw lots of

growth there. So I'm anticipating that God is

not too weak to change an old guy like me. So

us old people who are here, maybe that's just

me and my mom and dad. I guess we'll throw a

share over there. We can still change. God can

still do stuff for us. He can still do stuff

in us. And we can still look forward to a better

tomorrow. But it's hard. Why is it hard? Right

off the bat, why is it hard? Okay Okay Well,

what what's the first thing that has to happen

before we decide we're going to change Okay Now

that's foundational and fundamentally the most

difficult thing What does that require? That

requires humility it requires some information

outside of myself. If you're trying to evaluate

yourself according to your own mind and your

own imagination, you're always going to come

to the same conclusion. What's that conclusion?

I'm pretty good. It's only when that voice comes

from outside of you and when you submit yourself

and you listen to that voice that you realize,

I'm not really all that good. There are some

changes that need to happen in my life. I've

been doing some things wrong and I've got to

make some changes The question is whose voice

are we going to listen to? Sometimes change comes

from changing circumstances. That's beyond your

and my control think about it in your life You

got bored think about something new that you

decided to do It wasn't that you just decided

to do something new. It was that you got bored

with what you were doing. Now that comes from

outside of you. You don't control that. You can't

work that up. Maybe it was a broken relationship.

I am who I am. I've always been this way. It's

just part of my personality. And all of a sudden

you're in a relationship and boom. That person

is like, whatever you are, I'm done. And you

realize maybe it's not all the other person.

Maybe I have to examine myself and look at myself

and say, I've got to do some changing. Because

it's not an excuse that I am who I am. That's

outside of you, you see? Until that happens,

you don't realize it. And you can't work that

up. Well, there's all kinds, a crisis in life,

parenthood. I mean, which of us who have been

parents anticipated the amount of change that

was going to take place in our life before we

had kids? None of us. But if there's one thing

outside of our relationship to Christ that will

change us, it's kids. Our whole lives are in

upheaval. All of a sudden, we've got all these

extra responsibilities. All of a sudden, we've

got all this extra stuff we've got to think about.

All of a sudden, I've got to learn that my hobbies

or my interests have to become secondary to the

interests of my kids and my family and my wife

and my responsibilities. That affects change.

If you've ever known an older person that was

never able to have kids, you can tell. They don't

relate to what it is to be a parent, because

they were never parents. It's not a bad thing

sometimes God gives us children sometimes he

doesn't But you can see the change and none of

us said I think I'm going to change so I'm gonna

have some kids Did anybody ever say that? So

that's all outside of ourselves right, but God

does use those things to change us How about

this one it's complex and it's unpredictable

Have you noticed that when you try to change?

It's not always that easy. Well, for one thing,

because I think it was Brian that said, we're

still in the flesh. We're still in bodies. We

still have bodies. Bodies still making their

demands on us. We've been set free from sin,

but we still live in these bodies. So we've got

to what? In the midst of crisis or in the midst

of this just gradual progressive change, we've

got to see our thinking change, and that's hard.

What we know about God, what we believe about

God, what we believe about my relationship with

God and what He intends for me, that may have

to change as I read the scripture and I understand

it. And that's not easy. There is a real physical

aspect to change. When you think about the way

your brain works, the way your brain thinks,

the way your brain experiences happiness, the

way your brain experiences sadness, that's real.

And that's different for me than it is for you.

And those things, those of us who were converted

later on in life have got a whole bunch of wires

that are crossing our brains. Now that's just

the truth of it. You cannot hide from that and

we will not try to paint that as though it did

not exist. But God is able to overcome that.

Do you believe that? Am I submitting that to

the Lord? And am I asking Him, rework this in

me? Because I want to have my will completely

consisted in whatever your will is for me. That's

where I want to be. And God does that. He changes

our desires. He changes the way that we think.

How about this one? We're in the middle of, we're

saying, okay, I see this, I've got to change

it. Something has to be done. I cannot go on

like this and we embark down the road of change

and Before too long all that we realize what

it is that we've set out and the cost of what

it's going to be Has anybody here ever experienced

that? And what seems to happen The price that

it's going to cost me to bring to see change

here is not is way more than what I thought.

And it seems to way outweigh the benefit. Now

that's appearance. That's the way we sense it.

That's the way we feel it. That's the way we

experience it. Or that's the way our flesh cries

out. It makes it hard. What's another reason?

Well, we'll just use the example of the crisis

in relationship. So I say, okay, I've got to

change. It gets to be really hard. I start thinking,

you know what? Maybe it was that other person's

fault. Maybe there's somebody else I can blame

besides myself. Or maybe that just is part of

your decision making process when you're trying

to evaluate if you need to change. How much blame

am I going to put on the other person? Am I going

to take all the responsibility? It's a lot easier

if I can just point the finger and blame. How

about this one? I expected that by now, after

all this effort, this thing would have been changed

and I'd be over it. Has anybody ever experienced

that? Reality just doesn't meet your expectations.

I thought that, I mean I've prayed, I've done

everything that I'm supposed to do. And yet,

I'm still waiting for the change to happen. And

it's also difficult, why? Because it takes sustained

effort and difficult choices. Consistently. Sustained.

You can't we don't make one choice and then change

appears rarely But consistently when confronted

with this choice, I'm going to make the right

decision I'm not going to think about it doesn't

matter to me. I I've thought about it ahead of

time I thought I knew the cost but even if I

don't know the cost This is the way that I'm

going to go and what I'm going to do that by

faith. I'm going to trust But then each occasion

a decision has to be made a choice stands before

you and you have to make a decision and You have

to make that decision over and over and over

and over again in your life And this is a this

is another one why is change hard it's because

of the of the relationships that are required

If you're not in Christ, then you're just You're

without power. You have no authority. You're

just you're being drug around But for the Christian

he does have that But how hard is it to be open

to be honest? To be completely trusting in a

personal relationship with someone else What's

the difficulty of that it's hard But it's required.

And then you've got the whole difficulty of living

honestly before the church. Again, it's hard.

Am I willing to invest the time that's needed

for the people that I worship with that are on

this road with me together to really know me?

Am I going to avail myself of the opportunity

to learn from them? To be used by them? To be

useful to them? That's not easy. But the Bible

holds out consistently that change happens within

that framework. These people who are in Christ,

who have friends, and what's a friend? A friend

is somebody that is willing to to tell you the

hard truth. What's the proverb? The strike of

a friend. I can't quote it. Anybody? No. Okay.

The strike of a friend is better than the kiss

of an enemy. But what? That can't come. That

blow from a friend can't come if he doesn't know

you. That's a friend. A friend knows you. So,

are we fostering that type of relationship? What

is it that the relationship that the world looks

for? Is this working? Well, if I'm an alcoholic,

what type of relationship am I looking for? I

want to change that. What's that? But I want

to change it. Now where do I go? I find a whole

bunch of people who are just like me. In this

day and age with this, you have this segmented

society that we have. What? If I have any type

of problem or I perceive myself as a victim in

any kind of way, then what do I seek out? A whole

bunch of people that think the same way and have

the same problems as me. And I just immerse myself

in that type of relationship. And what do I get?

I get affirmation. What the world will tell you

is, yeah, it's OK. Look. Look around the room

here. We're all in the same boat together. We

can't all be that bad. Just is what it is. That's

what we are. And what does that do? Just makes

it a hundred times harder to see the necessity

of change and to break free from those type from

that relationship To get outside of that relationship

so that something positive can happen in your

life So whatever you do stay out of those bubbles

the bubble that you want to be in is this bubble

right here You don't need somebody to give you

affirmation that you're okay the way that you

are You don't need to look around and say well

look at all these every world. Well. I guess

just my life is just a life of struggle Everybody

around me and everybody that I see everybody

with whom I have a relationship has the same

problems as me I Don't see anybody else making

progress Let's be okay So we don't want that.

Let's get ourselves in the relationships that

God has given for us. In Him. Friendship. And

in the church. Alright. Any questions? Discussions?

Anybody want to add anything to that? Have I

missed something? Have I exaggerated it? Is your

experience different? permanently reshaped character,

consistently modified thinking choices and decisions,

and decisively altered behaviors. What do you

want to say, anything? Oh. Spontaneous and dramatic

or minimal and gradual. Visible or invisible.

Deliberate, accidental. Okay. Lasting, fleeting,

permanent, temporary. It's accidental in the

sense that sometimes the circumstances come from

outside of us. It's always deliberate in the

sense that we make choices. Maybe it's not expressed

exactly right. Okay, so what when we talk about

transformation or change, what What are you guys

used to hearing as a term that describes that?

Anybody? Sanctification. What is it? Sanctification.

Okay. And probably if I had my way, we would

understand sanctification as a one -time thing

and talk about something else. I think more and

more I'm starting to think it's glorification.

Paul does tell us we're changed from glory to

glory as we look into Christ. When we think of

glorification, what do we think? We think of

heaven So I'm not trying to rewrite history In

what we what I say here tonight, we've always

taught here that sanctification is both a one

-time act of God on you and an ongoing process

of being changed into the likeness of of his

son and that's fine as long as we understand

that it takes both of those things. In the history

of the church, what are the three main horrible

teachings that have affected the way that we

think about change and the way that we think

about ourselves as Christians? The first one

is the holiness movement and that comes from

who? It all originates back to John Wesley. And

what did John Wesley believe? Kind of. He was

doing very good at expressing it. Sinless perfection

in this world. Is that? It's not. So when we

think about that, what is our goal as Christians

in this world? Is that your goal? Or are you

satisfied with just kind of, maybe if I can just

get rid of a few sins here and there? I'll call

it a day or I'll call it a career. So if you

don't have that as your goal to be perfect in

this world while I'm in this body, I want to

be perfect, then you're setting your sights way

too low. All that you've done is given yourself

an excuse for all kinds of things. And that's

exactly what Wesley was trying to protect against.

He didn't want somebody to think, well, I'm in

Christ, I'm a Christian, but I can just have

this stagnated life that's full of sin or maybe

minimal or no progress at all. But he went too

far. We always have to be careful of that. We

see wrong teaching. But what we want to do is

not try to balance the scale. That's kind of

the way I think we think. Well, this guy is going

way too far this way, so I have to go way too

far this way, and then the middle. What do we

do as Christians? We're not interested in balancing

the scale. You got this arrow over here, but

all I want to do is walk right down that balance

beam and teach whatever it is that God tells

me. And if more people believe this, that's their

problem. But I'm not going to overreact to try

to compensate for this wrong teaching. I'm simply

going to study the Word and believe that. So

there's one, and that's a problem. If you say

that it is going to happen, then there's never

been a Christian on this earth that has achieved

that. Their personal experience has not matched

up with an unreasonable expectation and it never

will. I don't think so, no. How could he? Right.

What's the inevitable result if you believe that

God has called you to sinless perfection in this

world and you haven't achieved it. And eventually

what? Maybe I'm not a Christian. Yeah. If the

point of salvation is to bring me to sinless

perfection in this world and I'm not there, I

guess I'm not a Christian. That's the danger.

But that doesn't remove from us the command of

God to have as our goal to be like His Son, which

is what? Sinless perfection. So we set that as

the goal, and we don't settle for anything less.

What's the second one? How about this one? Some

of you came out of Pentecostal churches. What's

the big teaching in Pentecostal churches regarding

being changed? What do you need for that to be

accomplished? To have this gradual change into

the image of Christ. You gotta have a second

work of the Spirit. You gotta have the second

blessing. Yeah, the Spirit's at work in all people

to come to faith in Christ. But if you really

want to progress on in your knowledge of Christ,

if you really want to progress on in your change

and transformation of your thinking and of the

way that you act, then you're going to have to

have the second work of the Spirit. Now, that's

just as wrong as sinless perfectionism. And it

leaves a whole lot of room for a whole lot of

people to say what? Well, I'm just not in that

class of Christians that has the second work

of the Spirit. So I guess I'm doing pretty good

just the way that I am. I believed in Jesus.

I still believe in Jesus. I'm trusting Him. That's

good enough. If God wants me to go further than

that, I'm going to have to have the second blessing

of the Spirit. Since I don't speak in tongues

or I don't have any evidence of it, since I don't

see it at work in my life, that I've never had

it, I guess I am what I am. Or you have people

going the other way. And the only thing that

they think about, the only thing that they pray

about, the only thing that they want is the second

blessing of the Holy Spirit. Their whole life

revolves around this thing. It's wrong. It's

unscriptural. It's nowhere found in the Bible.

The third thing is prosperity. Oh, and as a corollary

to that, you have the carnal Christian idea.

I think that comes right from the same place.

Yeah, they don't chalk it up as you don't have

the second work of the Spirit. They just chalk

it up to your own personal will that you haven't

yet taken Jesus as your Lord. You've only taken

Him as your Savior. So you can live however you

want. So instead of you waiting on a second work

of the Lord in you and name it the second blessing

of the Spirit What you see is the Lord waiting

on you to make a second decision to follow him

as your Lord But they both come from the same

place and they both result in the same thing

These people who think that they're Christians,

but they're powerless These people who think

that they're Christians, but there's no change

in their lives. The third thing then is the whole

prosperity thing. And how does that fit in? Well,

what are they telling you? Jesus is what? He's

like the cure -all. Poor? Boy, you need to become

a Christian. If you just become a Christian,

Jesus will take care of all of your money problems.

Struggling in some kind of way? You need to come

to Jesus and He'll take care of that too. Oh,

you have a sickness? Well come here, we'll take

care of it. What's the anticipation in the prosperity

gospel? What's the expectation? What do they

hold out as the promise? A life of cross bearing?

A life of dying? A life of following Christ and

suffering? Is that what they hold out? Everything's

going to be fine. The only reason you're suffering

in this world is because you don't have enough

faith. Oh, you haven't been cured of your broken

leg? You haven't been cured of the cirrhosis

of your liver? It's because you don't have enough

faith. God doesn't want you to struggle. God

doesn't want you to suffer. That leaves a person

what? Completely introspective and without hope.

Everything is my fault. Everything is dependent

upon me. Now we're not those people. Hopefully

we... I know you've never heard any of those

teachings. Hopefully you've never gotten any

inkling of them. Hopefully they've been so far

away that you've never even considered it could

be true and that's right. You'd be perfectly

right to think that way and I hope that it is.

One of the things unquestionably that God uses

to affect change in our life is what? suffering.

Now until we settle down in that, until we're

ready to, what does it take to suffer in faith?

What do you have to believe? That's hard. This

is the place. This is the life experience. This

is where God has put me. This is God's sovereign

power in my life expressed and it has brought

me to trial. It has brought me to suffering.

But God has a plan in all this. This isn't random.

Now this goes back to what I believe and what

I know. What do I have to know in order to live

in that trial? I've really got to believe that

God is sovereign, that God is almighty, and that

God has so coordinated events in the entire history

of the world to bring me to this place with this

problem and to have this trial in my life. God

is disciplining me in some kind of way for good.

But if I don't know that about God, I can't be

there. If I have somehow bought into the whole

idea that God has given the devil some kind of

autonomy, and it's the devil that's bringing

this to me, and there's no God, it's not God's

plan, and God doesn't have any authority here,

then all I'm going to do is what? Kick and scream

and be resentful. I'm going to kick and scream

and give up on God. So our thinking has got to

be right and the prosperity gospel has got to

be wrong because it is anti the entire teaching

of the New Testament. That the Christian will

suffer, that the Christian is intended to suffer

just the way that our Savior Jesus Christ suffered.

And it's a laying down of our life consistently.

Jesus said what? It's real love to lay down your

life for your friends. Love one another. How

hard is that? Is there room in your thinking

for self -love and loving one another? Do you

anticipate that you're gonna be able to love

other people with the extra that you have left

over after you've loved yourself? That's what

the world says, right? Well, you can't go help

people unless you first help yourself Because

that's not I mean that's what the world says

does it Let's cure up the way that you think

about yourself. Let's take care of your insecurities

Let's take care of this. Let's take care of that.

Let's do whatever it takes to get you where you

need to be and then Then you can go become an

influencer and you can tell everybody else how

they could be perfect and great But that's not

the way it is in the Bible In the Bible we're

taught to just forget about yourself and pour

yourself into the work of God and whatever That's

going to cost you personally. That's okay because

it costs Jesus everything He left it behind in

heaven to come down here to minister and serve

people that hated him. He came down here to be

humiliated and to suffer real physical pain,

mental anguish. And when he suffered all that,

so what? So he could get to the tree where they

were going to hang him. If you anticipate that

your life ought to be better than that, or should

be better than that, or is going to be better

than that than you're looking in the wrong place.

But what you'll find in the struggles and in

the trials and in the walking with God is what?

You're going to find God. And you're going to

find out that the struggle, that the resisting,

that the consistent effort that's required is

met with just the closest and sweetest relationship

with the God who loves you. I don't know if you

ever thought about this. How did Jesus teach

us to pray? What's the first two words? And then

when he prays, what does he say? Father, did

you notice that? What does that tell you about

yourself? You make your requests to God in the

same language that Jesus did. What does that

tell you about your relationship to God? You're

a son. Because we are sons, God sent forth the

Spirit into our hearts to tell us that God loves

us. And you are what relation to Christ in that

context? A brother. How much did God the Father

love God the Son? Completely. We can think of

some superlatives that we can say. But Jesus

taught you to talk to his father the same way

that he does Now you could probably live the

entirety of your life and just think in those

terms of trying to wrap your head around that

But that's your ally God is for you God tells

you come to come to me tell me what you want

Tell me what you need. I've given you an advocate.

I've given my spirit to you. Come and address

me as a son. I love you. I intend good and purpose

good things for you in this world. I intend for

you to live in joy. I intend for you to live

in a way that makes the world go what? So the

next time, and I'm not going to teach here until

we get back, so I would, if you think about this

and you have questions, maybe your imagination

has been served, write them down. The next time

we're going to talk about regeneration, sanctification,

justification, and glorification as accomplished

acts, something that has been accomplished by

God in the Christian. We're going to see some

New Testament. Here's the reason that I'm going

at it this way. What the New Testament tells

us, you can think about this too, is you are

this. You've been made alive by the Holy Spirit.

We call that regeneration. Your problem of sin

has been dealt with in Christ Jesus. You've been

declared innocent. That's what? Justification.

You've been cleansed by the blood of Christ and

you are holy and pure That's called sanctification

You are glorified in God's from God's perspective.

The glorification has happened. It's inevitable.

It cannot be stopped It doesn't matter what happens

to you in this world. Nothing can separate you

from the love of God and Christ Jesus It's already

happened. What the New Testament tells you then

is what? Live like that. This is who you are.

Now go and express that in the way that you live.

Go demonstrate that it's true that you have a

new heart. That you've been, your sin problem

has been taken care of. You're covered in the

righteousness of Christ. You've come near to

God. You are pure. You are holy. You are set

apart for this specific reason. And your end

is sure. It's not in doubt. It's not in question.

Now just live like that. Guided by the Word.

Submitting to the Spirit. With father son and

spirit in communion with you in that type of

relationship in the context of a church And with

some good friends who are able to help you straighten

out your thinking what it needs to be done Go

and be that but if we don't know what we are

If we're living in this world thinking that I'm

going to become somehow more acceptable to God

if I can just Be more righteous in the way that

I live. If I can be more holy in the way that

I live, then I can draw nearer to God. Then you're

going to be frustrated. Because it's just not

going to happen. You're not going to work your

way into a better relationship with God. You're

not going to feel better about yourself because

you were doing better today. The better you do,

the more you realize there's more work to be

done. And yet, and still, in my current... condition

because I am in Christ. I am holy, I am pure,

I am righteous, and I don't have a sin problem.

I am God's person in this world, and I am called

to be in relationship with Him. And the maintenance

of that relationship is all tied up in Christ.

So that's how we're going to approach it. What

are we? We've got to know what we are. And then

we've got to know how God intends, what means

He intends to use to change us gradually, all

at once, gradually or dramatically, and positionally

in this world. All three of those things. We're

changed positionally, we are changed gradually,

and then there are times in our life when we

see a dramatic change. At conversion, for sure,

but even then throughout our lives, God does

occasionally bring that type of dramatic change.

And that's the way we'll handle it. So think

about that, see how that sparks some questions

in your minds, and we'll press on from here when

we come back. Any questions? The plan's clear.

Okay.