WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.519 Alright, we're going to invite you to take your Bible and go to the book of Colossians, chapter 3, Colossians 3. 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:10.560 We're continuing in our Imago Day series, The Image of God. 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:16.559 And last week we started something that I said we couldn't finish that evening. 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:18.879 And we laid a foundation. 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:47.920 We laid a foundation about how God takes the image that was originally given to us as we were created, that was lost in its purity in the fall, that's had its implications even in this fallen world, and that is displayed to us in all of its glory in Christ Himself and how that's renewed in us in salvation. 00:00:48.159 --> 00:00:52.560 And so last week we began to look at that, and tonight, hopefully, we'll finish it. 00:00:52.719 --> 00:00:54.000 Last week we laid a foundation. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:58.320 Today, hopefully, we can build the house and even put a roof on the top of it. 00:00:58.399 --> 00:00:59.840 So we'll see how that goes. 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:08.879 And not to repreach what we talked about last week, but we looked at three different aspects of how God renews the image in us. 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:12.079 And first, we said that the people of God are a new creation. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:15.439 If anyone's in Christ, the old is gone, the new is come. 00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:21.120 And we said that God doesn't ask a dead man to act like he's alive. 00:01:27.120 --> 00:01:33.519 We said the purpose of God for every believer was to bring us into conformity with the image of God. 00:01:33.680 --> 00:01:44.879 It says in Romans chapter 8, verse 29, that we who were predestined have been predestined that we would be in the image of Christ Himself. 00:01:45.120 --> 00:01:49.760 And so that glorious chain of redemption, which we'll look at a little bit later, is there. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:57.280 And then we talked about the means of that transformation by looking at 2 Corinthians chapter 3. 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:09.520 And there we saw that as we gaze upon the glory of God in the new covenant, that the Spirit is operative to transform us from one degree of glory to the next. 00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:15.759 As we gaze at Christ, we find ourselves being made conformed to that image. 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:18.639 And so we looked at the process. 00:02:19.039 --> 00:02:22.639 Um sorry, we looked at the initiation of it. 00:02:22.879 --> 00:02:26.159 We also looked at God's intent and the means of it. 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:30.000 And so this evening, we have three other points that we're going to look at. 00:02:30.159 --> 00:02:42.319 We're going to look at the process of how we're brought into the image of Christ, the power that works within us, and then also the completion of that transforming work. 00:02:42.800 --> 00:03:00.000 And so tonight we're going to close the loop that the God who made us alive is the same God who is reshaping our daily life now, that he's the God who sustains our transformation throughout our life, and that one day he's going to complete what he has started. 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:05.599 And that every step along the way in that journey is fueled by the grace of God. 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:12.159 And I think it's going to be a very wonderful and helpful perspective as we look at God's word this evening. 00:03:12.240 --> 00:03:13.759 So let's pray together. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:39.520 Father, as we come into this time in your word, we want to acknowledge you to know that what you're doing is real, that the power that is being worked within us is not ours, but yours, and that we might do so with a great degree of encouragement, that the completion is certain because it's your determination. 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:48.639 And Father, I pray that we might hold all these truths together, that we wouldn't lose one of them and find our walk with you exhausting. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:59.759 But as we see these things, to know that you who began a good work within us is the same God who not only sustains it, but will bring it to completion. 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:06.400 And Lord, we look forward to that day and give you praise for it already in the name of Jesus. 00:04:06.719 --> 00:04:07.360 Amen. 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:14.240 All right, so let's begin by looking at the process of God by which he brings us into conformity with Christ. 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:21.839 And so we're here we are in Colossians chapter 3, and I want you to look bring your attention to verses 9 and 10. 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:31.920 He says there, do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self. 00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:36.639 You're being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. 00:04:37.439 --> 00:04:47.360 Now hold your hold a finger or a ribbon or whatever you need there, and go back just a few pages to Ephesians chapter 4. 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:49.759 Ephesians chapter 4. 00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:57.279 And there I want us to look, beginning in verse 22, at something that is very, very similar. 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:18.079 It says there, to take off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God's likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:31.839 Now, when you look at these two passages of Scripture, and knowing that Ephesians and Colossians hold a lot of commonalities, it might sort of conjure up in your mind this idea that Paul is saying exactly the same thing. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:36.160 Maybe a little change of words, but he's basically saying the exact same thing. 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:44.560 But if you look at it very carefully, there's some nuances and some layers there in there that are different, and the differences do matter. 00:05:44.800 --> 00:05:46.480 And so I want us to look at this. 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:51.040 So let's look at the Colossians one first, and then we'll go back to the Ephesians one. 00:05:51.439 --> 00:06:01.199 And when you look at Colossians there, in verse 9, there's a verb that's translated there, and you can see it in the CSB. 00:06:01.759 --> 00:06:06.720 It tells us, since you have put off the old man. 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:16.800 And that word since speaks to us about something that's already done, that it's a completed action, and that it's decisive. 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:21.600 This is already taken off. 00:06:23.279 --> 00:06:28.879 And in the Greek there's a prefix to it that intensifies it. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:39.839 So this taking off of the old man is not a loosening of your tie or maybe just a slipping off of your jacket. 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:48.879 This is talking about somebody who's taking a garment and just ripping it right off and casting it aside, and it's not going back on. 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:51.360 It's that kind of idea. 00:06:51.680 --> 00:06:54.879 It's talking about something that's already happened. 00:06:55.920 --> 00:07:04.079 At conversion, at the moment of your union with Christ, you were ripped out of the old self. 00:07:04.319 --> 00:07:08.480 You were taken out of Adam, and you were put into Christ. 00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:21.519 You were brought into a whole new realm, taken out of the kingdom of darkness, brought into the kingdom of light, transferred into the kingdom of the Son that God loves. 00:07:21.759 --> 00:07:25.759 This is that kind of decisive movement of your person. 00:07:26.639 --> 00:07:34.000 And so Paul here is not commanding the Christians to do something that they haven't yet done. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:43.439 He's reminding them of something that's already been accomplished since you have put off the old man. 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:47.040 Now, take a look at verse 10. 00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:52.480 And there things shift a little bit to what's happening in the present. 00:07:53.360 --> 00:08:00.000 It tells us there, you are being renewed, and I've skipped a little bit, and I hope you notice that. 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:15.199 So the decisive action is past, but there is an ongoing process in the present. 00:08:16.240 --> 00:08:24.079 Now I want you to notice what I passed over, that you have put on the new self. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:30.959 That too is a decisive action that's already happened. 00:08:31.199 --> 00:08:46.320 And so, sandwiched in between this having put off the old man and in having put on the new self, there is within the middle of this an ongoing process of renewal. 00:08:47.679 --> 00:08:49.679 And notice how that happens. 00:08:49.759 --> 00:08:58.799 It's stated with this beautiful precision: it is toward the full knowledge, according to the image of the one who created it. 00:08:59.120 --> 00:09:03.600 Now, does that not resonate with our Imago Day series? 00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:06.799 We're going right back to Genesis chapter one. 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:10.639 We're going all the way back to that moment of first creation. 00:09:11.279 --> 00:09:20.559 This image that we've talked about has been fractured by the fall, distorted by sin, is now being restored. 00:09:20.799 --> 00:09:39.519 And it's not being restored by human effort, it's being restored by God's divine activity, in which He's progressively bringing us into the full knowledge of God, into the image of what humanity originally was meant to be. 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:44.960 Now, with that in mind, let's go over to Ephesians for a second. 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:50.240 I wish I could stay there longer, but we can't. 00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:53.759 Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 22. 00:09:54.879 --> 00:10:09.759 There are three infinitives there, and I know I'm causing some of you to remember the bad days of your English grammar lessons there, but they describe the same sort of condition. 00:10:09.919 --> 00:10:24.080 First of all, the putting off of the old self, decisive, the putting on of the new self, decisive, but in the middle again, standing there is the engine of the whole process. 00:10:24.639 --> 00:10:28.480 Be renewed in the spirit of your mind. 00:10:29.759 --> 00:10:37.840 No longer decisive and done, but now continuous and ongoing renewal. 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:43.600 The putting on and the putting off are positional realities. 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:47.360 You have put off, you have put on. 00:10:47.919 --> 00:10:51.120 They are the grounds of your conversion. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:11:00.240 And the renewal is the daily progressive outworking of what is already true about you in Christ. 00:11:00.559 --> 00:11:07.039 You might remember last week I talked about a lady who grew up in a commoner's home. 00:11:07.360 --> 00:11:13.200 She was unused to the courts, separate from the things that were happening there in the royal house. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:16.559 She had no understanding of its ways and its manners. 00:11:16.720 --> 00:11:21.759 And the prince comes out of the castle and he finds her and he marries her. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:29.039 And as soon as she said, I do, and he said, I do, she is now a princess. 00:11:29.519 --> 00:11:33.840 She doesn't know the manner of the court, she doesn't know the ways around the castle. 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:36.000 She doesn't know the language. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:39.039 All she knows is the way she grew up. 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:42.159 And yet she is someone completely different. 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:44.320 She is now a princess. 00:11:44.799 --> 00:11:46.879 She is part of the royalty. 00:11:47.039 --> 00:11:53.519 And the rest of her life is learning how to take on what she already is. 00:11:53.919 --> 00:11:56.720 She's learning to be that princess. 00:11:57.039 --> 00:11:59.440 And this is what this is talking about. 00:11:59.679 --> 00:12:08.159 We have been moved away from the old man, the old self, the in Adam, the kingdom of darkness. 00:12:08.320 --> 00:12:14.480 And now we've been brought into the kingdom of light and the kingdom of love, the kingdom of Christ. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:18.399 We have been put into Christ, the new man. 00:12:19.679 --> 00:12:23.200 And so here we find ourselves being renewed. 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:28.399 Now I want you to notice with close scrutiny just how precise this is. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:30.559 Look at what it has to say. 00:12:30.960 --> 00:12:39.440 It tells us here that we are to be renewed in our minds. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:46.080 The spirit of your minds, the attitude of your minds. 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:49.759 This is the place of the battleground. 00:12:50.080 --> 00:12:54.399 This is the theater, if you will, of transformation. 00:12:54.879 --> 00:12:57.360 This is where it happens. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:04.159 It's the mind that still operates according to the old patterns of thinking. 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:13.919 And as they're confronted by the truth of God, begin to take on the new patterns of thinking into the realm in which we've now been placed. 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:25.519 It is in the mind that the deceitful desires of the old kingdom still ring, and our ears, sadly, are too attuned to what it used to tell us, and we would listen to. 00:13:26.159 --> 00:13:29.679 And there it is, crying over the walls into the new kingdom. 00:13:29.840 --> 00:13:36.399 And he's saying, Tune your ears to the knowledge of God in your mind. 00:13:37.679 --> 00:13:41.200 The process of sanctification starts there. 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:47.039 It's not behavioral modification by simply practice this and then you'll do it. 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:51.759 It's about spiritual renovation that begins in our thinking. 00:13:52.559 --> 00:14:03.679 It is the Spirit of God through the Word of God in the interior thoughts and understandings and mindsets of the believer that were changed. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:10.720 This is why Romans chapter 12 says this: Do not be conformed to this age. 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:19.679 Don't be pressed into its mold, but rather be transformed by the renewing of your what? 00:14:20.799 --> 00:14:21.440 Mind. 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:22.960 Your mind. 00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:28.320 So let me give you just an echo out of the Old Testament. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:35.279 We don't need to turn there, but in Zechariah chapter 3, there's one of the most striking scenes in Old Testament prophecy. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:43.440 Joshua the high priest is standing there before the messenger of the Lord, and right next to him is the accuser. 00:14:43.679 --> 00:14:44.000 Okay? 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:45.679 Imagine that. 00:14:46.000 --> 00:14:52.240 The high priest standing before the messenger of the Lord, and the accuser right next to him. 00:14:52.799 --> 00:15:00.879 And Joshua the high priest is standing there clothed with filthy clothes, it says in verse 3 of chapter 3 of Zechariah. 00:15:01.919 --> 00:15:07.840 And that word filthy is not like you got some spaghetti stains on your shirt. 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:18.799 It is a rather vivid and disgusting image because what the filthy clothes are are excrement. 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:27.600 He is soiled with excrement all over his high priestly clothes. 00:15:29.120 --> 00:15:44.000 This is a comprehensive defilement and is an image to represent the people of God represented by the high priest that are covered with the overt smell and appearance of their sin. 00:15:44.879 --> 00:15:46.480 It's odious, right? 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:49.840 And what does the Lord tell him to do? 00:15:50.720 --> 00:15:52.480 Uh, here's a tissue. 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:55.440 Uh, could you clean yourself up before you come in here? 00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:57.440 Does he tell him to do that? 00:15:57.679 --> 00:15:58.799 Not at all. 00:15:59.279 --> 00:16:08.799 He doesn't tell Joshua to clean himself up, he doesn't hand him a basin and a towel and saying, here's where you need to go get things changed. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:15.360 He tells him this in verse 4 take off your filthy clothes. 00:16:16.799 --> 00:16:42.720 And then he speaks directly to Joshua in that same verse and says, This I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with festal garments, wedding dresses, wedding attire, the celebratory whiteness of celebration and enjoyment. 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:53.039 And moments later in verse 5, a clean turban is put on his head, and he is clothed while the messenger of the Lord is standing by. 00:16:53.679 --> 00:16:59.360 There's that putting off, putting on picture right there in the prophet. 00:16:59.919 --> 00:17:14.640 Now notice it was God doing it, removing the stench and the sight of the filthiness of sin, and giving him the clothes that were right for being in the presence of God. 00:17:15.519 --> 00:17:19.200 In the early church, this imagery was actually practiced. 00:17:19.440 --> 00:17:30.720 In ancient baptistries, and they found this in an excavated baptistry in Ephesus, archaeologists had found robing chambers right next to baptismal pools. 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:45.279 And what would happen is baptismal candidates would literally take off a robe and then step into the water of baptism and then come out of the water and be clothed with a white robe. 00:17:45.920 --> 00:17:46.559 Right? 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:50.000 And the architecture matches that. 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:55.440 They would have the dressing rooms, the baptismal pool, and the robing chamber. 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:58.480 There they found that in archaeology in Ephesus. 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:05.920 So when Paul is speaking here, I wonder if that practice wasn't already in place during the New Testament era. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:25.519 If it was, these people would have really understood exactly what Paul was saying, having already put off the old man and having already put on the new, now that I'm dressed in the white robe, I'm learning to live according to the dress I have. 00:18:28.079 --> 00:18:29.839 And here we are tonight. 00:18:31.680 --> 00:18:35.279 Some of us know that that old garment has been removed. 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:37.680 We are a new creature in Christ. 00:18:38.319 --> 00:18:47.759 But we also know that when Tuesday arrives, there's the possibility of those old patterns of our life reasserting themselves. 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:54.079 We get on the road, we're headed to work, and that guy cuts us off. 00:18:54.160 --> 00:18:59.680 And we've got a few words we're used to saying, and they come rushing to our head. 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:12.640 The old ways of thinking, the old reflexes, the old anxieties, the old self-reliances, they surface. 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:15.920 And when they do, you wonder, am I changing? 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:20.160 Is this process actually happening? 00:19:23.359 --> 00:19:25.039 Think about it this way. 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:32.480 A patient goes in and they have a major surgery, and they've had a hip replacement. 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:47.440 And the surgeon is already done to work, the old joint has been removed, a new joint has been put in, the surgery is done, and the surgeon is saying it's a success. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:55.519 And as soon as you stand up, you will go, Oh, that hurts. 00:19:56.960 --> 00:19:59.039 What is it that's happening? 00:20:00.079 --> 00:20:04.960 The muscles haven't learned to cooperate with the new joint yet. 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:11.759 They're still used to trying to compensate with the weaknesses of the old joint. 00:20:12.400 --> 00:20:17.599 But now that the surgery is there, it's done. 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:20.880 And that old limp reasserts itself. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:30.400 And it's not because the surgery hasn't happened, it's because the muscles need to be trained to move according to the new joint. 00:20:31.839 --> 00:20:42.240 And so the physical therapist said, Let's get you moving, let's get you walking, let's get those muscles attuned to the new you. 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:47.039 That's sanctification, if I can use that as an analogy. 00:20:47.759 --> 00:20:50.480 The decisive acts have been accomplished. 00:20:50.720 --> 00:20:52.559 You've been united with Christ. 00:20:52.720 --> 00:20:54.960 Your old self has been stripped away. 00:20:55.200 --> 00:21:00.880 You've been brought into the new self, who is Christ, and the renewal is ongoing. 00:21:01.119 --> 00:21:07.680 It's daily and it's sometimes painful, but it's always the purpose work of the Spirit. 00:21:11.279 --> 00:21:17.519 He is conforming you to what is already true about you in relationship to your position with Christ. 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:35.839 And the implications of this is not simply the Christian life waiting for a future deliverance from sin, or a matter of pretending that the struggle with sin doesn't exist, but it's a matter of seeing that renewal as it's already underway. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:48.079 So if you're a new believer, you shouldn't be surprised by the gap that you know of what's true of you and what you're going to experience in your daily life. 00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:53.680 There's a lot of new renewal of your mind that is going to be taking place. 00:21:54.640 --> 00:21:59.759 And that gap there is not an evidence that you're not converted, it's the evidence of what God. 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:04.480 Is bringing you into more and more each day. 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:26.400 If you're a mature believer and you feel kind of stuck or stale, or perhaps feeling like renewal isn't actually happening, don't think of it like regression, but God making it aware that he is drawing you further than where you're at. 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:33.920 That he loves you just as you are, but he loves you so much he won't keep you as you are. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:37.279 He will bring you into conformity with Christ. 00:22:37.519 --> 00:22:49.039 And so he calls us to press into the scriptures, to allow the word of God to adapt and to change us, to confront those settled patterns. 00:22:49.599 --> 00:22:55.200 And so what you can do is get into the word and pray this. 00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:59.279 May the word have its transforming effect in me as I read it. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:02.319 May it renew the spirit of my mind. 00:23:02.720 --> 00:23:12.319 May it give me new desires and increased inclinations and a longing to be drawn more and more into the likeness of Jesus. 00:23:13.039 --> 00:23:15.119 Now that is the process. 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:18.799 Now we want to talk about the power that is there. 00:23:19.039 --> 00:23:21.359 So let's go to Galatians chapter 5. 00:23:21.599 --> 00:23:23.440 Galatians chapter 5. 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:39.599 If the renewal of our mind is the engine of sanctification, and the putting off and putting on describes the daily shape of our Christian life, then where does the power come from? 00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:42.400 That's the question we're going to answer. 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:48.880 And one thing we need to know is that information alone is not transformation. 00:23:51.440 --> 00:23:55.920 Merely knowing something doesn't change us, and we know that. 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:02.480 But look at Galatians chapter 5 and verse 22. 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:14.559 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 00:24:15.359 --> 00:24:19.119 Against such things there is no law. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:27.359 Now, before we go any further, I want to draw a contrast here by taking a look at verse 19. 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:36.799 Paul there, which he has just finished talking about in these verses, lists what he calls the works of the flesh. 00:24:37.200 --> 00:24:39.839 Now, do you hear a difference there? 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:54.400 Works of the flesh, plural, multiple, fragmented, disjointed acts of rebellion, and they're listed there. 00:24:55.599 --> 00:25:05.039 These are produced actions, works, effort-based, scattered, disjointed. 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:14.559 But when Paul turns to the what the Spirit produces, he does not say fruits of the Spirit. 00:25:15.359 --> 00:25:19.680 He says fruit of the Spirit. 00:25:20.799 --> 00:25:25.920 One unified, organic, interconnected reality. 00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:40.160 This is not a list of nine separate qualities where you could say, you know, my self-control's doing pretty well, but my goodness, my gentleness needs some help. 00:25:42.000 --> 00:25:43.519 He's not saying that. 00:25:44.000 --> 00:26:00.640 What he's saying is, this is the fruit of the Spirit with nine expressions, but it's one action because you don't get love without joy, and you don't get patience without gentleness, and you don't get self-control without faithfulness. 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:02.720 They all come together. 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:07.680 They grow together because they come from a single source. 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:10.480 And that source is not us. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:23.279 The source is the Spirit of God dwelling within us to produce his own life in display of the character of Christ in our daily experience. 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:26.640 Now feel the difference between the two. 00:26:27.039 --> 00:26:32.480 The flesh works and it produces sin. 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:42.880 The spirit produces fruit, something that grows organically from a life that is not our own. 00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:51.519 The difference between works and the fruit of the spirit are like the difference between a factory and an orchard. 00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:52.400 Right? 00:26:52.640 --> 00:27:03.359 You go into a factory and you labor in the still mill and you go behind a machine and you stamp out the products, and you come out of there exhausted. 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:05.519 And the products are your sin. 00:27:06.640 --> 00:27:11.599 But you go into an orchard and you don't make the fruit happen. 00:27:11.839 --> 00:27:20.000 Yes, you might tend the soil and water the roots, but the life of the tree is what produces the fruit. 00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:24.319 This is the fruit of the Spirit. 00:27:24.559 --> 00:27:27.119 It's not a product of our discipline. 00:27:27.519 --> 00:27:34.000 It is the evidence that God's life is flowing through us, and He is producing His fruit. 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:36.799 Now, hold on to that thought. 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:41.200 Let's go just a couple pages away from Philippians chapter 2. 00:27:41.519 --> 00:27:43.119 Philippians 2. 00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:50.799 Verse 13, 12 and 13. 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:56.960 And Paul gives here us the theological architecture that holds this together for us. 00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:08.000 Therefore, my dear friends, just as you've always obeyed, so now not only in my presence, but even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 00:28:08.160 --> 00:28:15.599 For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his own good pleasure. 00:28:16.400 --> 00:28:20.880 This is one of the most carefully balanced statements in all of Paul's writings. 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:25.359 And if you lean too heavily one way or the other, you're going to distort it. 00:28:25.440 --> 00:28:27.519 It has to be held in balance. 00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:37.119 And what we find out here is that there's genuine human responsibility, that we are to be active in working out our own salvation. 00:28:37.680 --> 00:28:46.720 Salvation and sanctification are sanctification, it's not passivity, it's not quietism, it's not sitting in your chair waiting for God to do something to you. 00:28:46.960 --> 00:28:55.279 And it's certainly not what I heard in a church in Southern California where someone said, God put him in a trance for three days and he came out sanctified. 00:28:56.880 --> 00:28:59.279 It's not that passive. 00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:12.240 But when it comes to the ground and the foundation and the reason for that imperative for us, we are told this for it is God who is at work in you. 00:29:13.839 --> 00:29:19.519 That energy that leads us is God's. 00:29:19.759 --> 00:29:25.359 And what that energy does is it produces the willing and the working. 00:29:51.680 --> 00:30:04.559 When you stop and you sit with someone and say, Let's pray now, that prompting is God's active working in you for his own good pleasure. 00:30:05.200 --> 00:30:37.759 When you say, I want to change this action or this habit or this thought or this pattern in my life, even if the change feels slow, even if it feels like failure more than success, the very desire and the movement toward that is God working his work in you to both will and to work according to his good pleasure. 00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:42.720 This energy is God's. 00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:55.200 We're not told to walk by the Spirit in order to get the Spirit. 00:30:55.359 --> 00:31:04.559 We're told to walk by the Spirit because the Spirit already lives within us, and the life is already flowing into our life. 00:31:04.880 --> 00:31:09.519 And so the Christian motivation is not one of guilt, it's not one of fear. 00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:20.880 It's taking on board this breathtaking truth that God's life is active within us, that He is doing something, the transformation of our person. 00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:28.400 So let me just sort of bring us into a couple places. 00:31:28.640 --> 00:31:43.519 If we're a parent, exhausted, feeling a little thin, aware that you might have been a little short with your children this afternoon, in a way that didn't reflect the fruit of the Spirit. 00:31:44.480 --> 00:31:47.440 The Bible doesn't say try harder tomorrow. 00:31:50.319 --> 00:31:58.880 It says God is at work in you, both to transform your desire and to give you the strength. 00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:04.559 Your job is not to manufacture patience within you. 00:32:05.039 --> 00:32:22.079 Your job is to remain connected to the vine, to walk in step with the spirit, to return to Christ when you've wandered, to trust that the fruit is growing when you don't see it. 00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:49.519 If you're a young person and you're trying to figure out who you are, what your identity is, caught in the middle of comparison traps that social media has weighed down upon your conscience, and you're measuring yourself against those curated images that aren't even real about the people that are there in front of you, you're not left to simply construct an identity. 00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:52.480 You've already been given one. 00:32:52.880 --> 00:32:56.000 You are in the kingdom of God. 00:32:57.200 --> 00:32:59.119 You are in Christ. 00:32:59.680 --> 00:33:03.279 And if you are in Christ, the Spirit is at work within you. 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:23.920 And if we're here tonight and we're in the middle of a season of difficulty or perhaps even suffering, when it feels like the fruit is absent, when it feels like the joy is dim, when it feels like the peace has gone, let me say this. 00:33:24.559 --> 00:33:27.279 Fruit grows in those seasons too. 00:33:28.559 --> 00:33:35.680 Yes, just as we have now in spring, blossoms, but there are also seasons of dormacy. 00:33:36.799 --> 00:33:43.200 There are seasons in which it looks like the tree is dead, but that tree is not dead. 00:33:44.319 --> 00:34:00.559 The roots are still drawing water, the life is still present, and in God's time, that tree is going to blossom and it is going to bloom and it is going to grow and produce glorious fruit. 00:34:01.440 --> 00:34:03.440 The Spirit has not left you. 00:34:04.079 --> 00:34:11.920 He is working even in the difficult times to prepare you for a season of fruitfulness. 00:34:13.360 --> 00:34:15.599 And that leaves us with one more point. 00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:22.320 The process, the power, and then the completion, the perfected image and glory. 00:34:23.360 --> 00:34:25.440 So we come to this final movement. 00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:29.920 Last week we started with the people of God being made a new creation. 00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:34.320 We moved to the purpose of God so that we might be conformed to the image of his son. 00:34:34.880 --> 00:34:45.440 We trace the means by beholding that glory of Christ in the new covenant and being transformed by the Spirit as we gaze upon that glory. 00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:53.519 Tonight we've walked through the process, the renewal of our mind, the power of the Spirit, but now we end at our destination. 00:34:53.840 --> 00:34:55.119 The completion. 00:34:55.519 --> 00:34:58.800 Let's turn to first John 3 and verse 2. 00:35:11.679 --> 00:35:20.719 Dear friends, we're God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. 00:35:21.039 --> 00:35:29.039 We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is. 00:35:29.519 --> 00:35:32.719 Now notice how this builds the argument. 00:35:32.880 --> 00:35:35.760 First of all, our present identity. 00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:38.639 We are God's children now. 00:35:39.199 --> 00:35:41.760 Not we will be God's children. 00:35:42.400 --> 00:35:46.880 It's not aspirational, it's a settled present reality. 00:35:47.199 --> 00:35:51.280 You are God's child right now, at this moment. 00:35:51.519 --> 00:35:52.559 You're His. 00:35:53.679 --> 00:35:55.599 But then there's a tension. 00:35:56.960 --> 00:36:02.079 What we will be has not yet been revealed. 00:36:02.400 --> 00:36:04.239 There's something coming. 00:36:04.960 --> 00:36:19.440 Something coming that is connected to our present identity, that is real, and our future destiny will exceed the capacities that we have at this moment to fully appreciate. 00:36:20.159 --> 00:36:23.039 It's beyond what we can ask or think. 00:36:24.719 --> 00:36:28.000 However, we have some idea. 00:36:28.320 --> 00:36:35.920 Because he says, when he appears, we will be like him and we will be able to see him as he is. 00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:40.320 And there is that idea of conformity. 00:36:40.960 --> 00:36:42.880 We know that we are gods. 00:36:43.119 --> 00:36:52.639 We don't know quite all what that means, but we do know that we will be conformed to the image of Christ himself. 00:36:52.880 --> 00:37:08.320 We will bear his likeness, not partially and then not progressively, not approximately, but fully and completely and finally conform to his image. 00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:12.800 And we will see him as he is. 00:37:14.719 --> 00:37:42.639 The beautific vision to see God in his glory, something that hasn't been done on earth, accomplished in an instant, when all of that process of sanctification has been realized in its complete fullness, to see him and to be like him. 00:37:44.400 --> 00:37:46.960 Now let's go to Romans eight. 00:37:52.880 --> 00:37:56.719 Why is this not just simply a wistful thing? 00:37:57.360 --> 00:38:01.679 Well, we mentioned it last week, but we need to hear it again. 00:38:02.320 --> 00:38:04.880 In verse 30 of chapter 8. 00:38:08.320 --> 00:38:10.880 He though well begin in verse 29. 00:38:11.760 --> 00:38:28.639 For those he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters, and those he predestined, he also called, and those he called, he also justified, and those he justified, he also glorified. 00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:33.119 This is what theologians call the golden chain of redemption. 00:38:34.159 --> 00:38:44.000 It starts with God in his predestination, and it moves through God's purposes all the way to glorification. 00:38:44.480 --> 00:38:48.559 A certainty that is as certain as your justification. 00:38:55.360 --> 00:38:59.119 And there's no break in this chain. 00:38:59.519 --> 00:39:02.159 There's not a link that is severed. 00:39:02.400 --> 00:39:13.679 Every single person that has been predestined, he calls, and everyone he calls, he justifies, and everyone he justifies, he glorifies. 00:39:14.320 --> 00:39:15.920 Every single one. 00:39:16.480 --> 00:39:21.920 There's not a dropout between predestination and glorification. 00:39:22.239 --> 00:39:29.840 There's no casualties along the way, because it's God who began this work who is going to complete it. 00:39:30.239 --> 00:39:40.960 Not because we're strong enough to hold on, but because he's faithful enough never to let go, which is where Paul finishes the chapter. 00:39:41.280 --> 00:39:50.400 Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:54.480 So let's finish by looking at Philippians 3. 00:39:54.960 --> 00:39:56.480 Philippians 3. 00:39:57.679 --> 00:40:04.320 And here we'll stop because we'll see the substance of that glorification in this passage. 00:40:07.039 --> 00:40:10.639 In verse 20 and 21, chapter 3. 00:40:11.519 --> 00:40:34.800 Our citizenship is in heaven, and we're eagerly awaiting for a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself. 00:40:35.920 --> 00:40:40.559 It's not just simply a spiritual metaphor or poetic abstraction. 00:40:40.960 --> 00:40:43.920 Paul is talking about your body. 00:40:44.480 --> 00:40:49.760 You know, the one that aches, the one that ages, that one? 00:40:50.480 --> 00:40:58.400 The body that bears all the marks of the fall, disease, and disability and decay, and eventually death. 00:40:59.199 --> 00:41:04.159 That body, that body is going to be transformed. 00:41:04.559 --> 00:41:14.480 And it is transformed into the conformity of the body of Christ's glory through the resurrection and the ascension into the heavenlies. 00:41:14.880 --> 00:41:19.599 Your body will be made like his resurrected, glorified body. 00:41:20.079 --> 00:41:23.039 And notice the power that accomplishes it. 00:41:24.079 --> 00:41:26.880 The language of this will take your breath away. 00:41:28.320 --> 00:41:34.880 By the power that enables him to subject everything to himself. 00:41:36.239 --> 00:41:41.280 The power that holds the universe in its order. 00:41:41.840 --> 00:41:43.119 Did you catch that? 00:41:43.360 --> 00:42:05.599 Every single, every single element, every single molecule, every single atom, every single particle, every single subparticle that operates within the scope of God's sovereign control is the power that will transform this into the likeness of Christ. 00:42:06.400 --> 00:42:22.320 The same power that governs the motions of the galaxies and sustains the existence of everything is the power by which God will bring you into a glorified new creation. 00:42:23.920 --> 00:42:25.280 So there it is. 00:42:25.679 --> 00:42:27.199 The whole story. 00:42:27.760 --> 00:42:29.280 Genesis 1. 00:42:29.599 --> 00:42:33.199 God created humanity and his image. 00:42:33.599 --> 00:42:44.000 And here it is again, that image, now once again, whole, unbroken, and radiating with the very image of God Himself. 00:42:46.000 --> 00:42:48.000 What a wonderful thing. 00:42:49.119 --> 00:42:53.199 Sanctification is a process along the way to this movement. 00:42:53.440 --> 00:42:58.559 It's not the end of our Christian life, it's simply part of the process. 00:43:00.079 --> 00:43:10.800 And the scriptures tell us this: just as we born the image of the man of dust, so we will also bear the image of a man from heaven. 00:43:11.039 --> 00:43:14.320 1 Corinthians 15, verse 49. 00:43:15.119 --> 00:43:30.400 And in Revelation 21 and 22, the dwelling of God is with man, and they shall see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads, the image restored, and the likeness complete. 00:43:31.599 --> 00:43:36.320 So let's just sort of pull all of today together for a second. 00:43:36.719 --> 00:43:43.199 And think about a galler or not a gallery, but an artist's studio. 00:43:44.400 --> 00:43:46.880 And there is a block of marble. 00:43:49.360 --> 00:43:52.480 And the artist is standing there before the raw stone. 00:43:54.079 --> 00:43:55.840 What does the artist see? 00:43:56.159 --> 00:43:57.920 What no one else sees? 00:43:58.880 --> 00:43:59.519 The finished. 00:44:00.239 --> 00:44:01.039 Product. 00:44:02.800 --> 00:44:11.760 Before the first chip falls, that artist knows exactly what's hiding inside that marble block. 00:44:13.840 --> 00:44:16.480 And so the artist begins. 00:44:17.360 --> 00:44:19.280 She strikes with a chisel. 00:44:19.519 --> 00:44:21.360 It's not a random strike. 00:44:21.519 --> 00:44:23.360 It's not a careless strike. 00:44:23.599 --> 00:44:26.079 It's a precision strike. 00:44:26.639 --> 00:44:28.480 Every blow purposeful. 00:44:28.719 --> 00:44:31.119 Every removal intentional. 00:44:31.360 --> 00:44:35.519 Some strikes large and dramatic. 00:44:35.920 --> 00:44:41.280 But all of it operating on the stone as sections of it fall away. 00:44:41.920 --> 00:44:46.639 Other strikes are fine, detailed, delicate. 00:44:47.039 --> 00:44:51.920 And if you weren't paying close attention, perhaps even imperceptible. 00:44:53.119 --> 00:44:55.679 But the artist knows what she's doing. 00:44:56.000 --> 00:45:03.440 To the untrained eye, watching from the outside, you might look at the process and say, it's a pretty violent process. 00:45:04.159 --> 00:45:06.719 Walking away with a chisel and a hammer. 00:45:07.760 --> 00:45:15.280 But the sculptor knows what she's doing because she's already seen the finished product before she began. 00:45:16.400 --> 00:45:17.920 And she doesn't stop. 00:45:18.800 --> 00:45:25.119 She doesn't take her chisel and her hammer and say, that's close enough. 00:45:27.280 --> 00:45:35.199 Because she isn't going to finish until she obtains what she started to make. 00:45:36.880 --> 00:45:40.400 You see, God is not experimenting with our life. 00:45:40.639 --> 00:45:44.639 And he is not going to settle for where we're at. 00:45:45.119 --> 00:45:49.199 Because he has already seen the finished image before the beginning. 00:45:49.679 --> 00:45:53.280 And he's going to bring that image into full completion. 00:45:54.079 --> 00:45:56.960 That is our glorification. 00:45:57.840 --> 00:45:59.599 That is the promise. 00:45:59.760 --> 00:46:02.239 And it doesn't depend upon our performance. 00:46:02.400 --> 00:46:05.199 It's because the sculptor is at work. 00:46:06.559 --> 00:46:15.519 He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ. 00:46:15.840 --> 00:46:18.000 Philippians 1, 6. 00:46:19.119 --> 00:46:20.480 Let's pray. 00:46:25.280 --> 00:46:29.039 Father, we thank you for this eternal hope that is ours. 00:46:30.159 --> 00:46:41.440 That it is not based upon how optimistic we might be or how wishful we can utter our desires. 00:46:42.480 --> 00:46:49.599 But we can hold it with a settled confidence and expectation that what you've promised you are going to perform. 00:46:50.719 --> 00:46:54.239 And so, Father, may our heart be anchored in that. 00:46:55.039 --> 00:47:12.559 And Lord, for today and tomorrow and the next and all the days that we have, let it be that which steadies us, even though the process of sanctification might feel painful or slow or even stalled. 00:47:13.840 --> 00:47:21.360 Let it sustain us when we feel like the power of transformation is outside our grasp. 00:47:22.239 --> 00:47:25.199 To know that what you started, you'll finish. 00:47:25.519 --> 00:47:28.639 It's certain because you're faithful. 00:47:28.880 --> 00:47:30.719