Biblical Counseling

Okay, we have this word, along with a nice picture, of taproot sins. We use that term, taproot sins, because it's the idea of a sin that is deep-seated, tough for a believer to deal with, get rid of, and be free from. And some of the other terms that come up are a besetting sin. That's kind of an older term, but also you might find it used. That's a sin that troubles a believer persistently. Sometimes a taproot sin, not always, will have the character of an addiction. We'll talk in kind of the second half here about what's an addiction and what's the difference.

The truth is practically any sin can be a taproot sin. That's why we've got a separate appendix on biblical lists of sins. And why could any sin be a taproot sin? Why could any sin be deep-seated and besetting? Why is that possible? Because of the all-sin nature. That's right. The all-sin nature tends to play favorites. Right? The all-sin nature tends to play favorites.

And what happens is While the sin nature very frequently does not reveal itself to be as bad as it could be, it's never good. It just isn't. It can't be. And because it is separate from the Lord and does not acknowledge or rely upon the Lord, it just doesn't get any better.

And the inclination is for the sin nature in a particular individual to center around one or two or three as a collection of sins. That's a pattern that the sin nature tends to have. And so, you may have noticed it in your own self, that if you're not walking with the Lord, boy, I always go this way. Or, if you may have noticed it in others, this person has this or that tendency, and it seems to pull hard on them. It's the sin nature pulling towards the favorite sin. The term that I've heard used, it's kind of almost a funny one, a stylistic adjustment to sin. Going off in a particular style or pattern, as the sin nature is prone to do.

One of the things we have here is, what are the important issues? Every sin, including every taproot sin, has its source in the sin nature. That's where it comes from. The presence of the sin nature of the believer has been discussed in our Biblical Anthropology class many moons ago. This was back in March, pages 25-33, if you ever care to look that up.

The main thing we want to look at here is that it is not God's intent to counsel, placate, manage, adjust, or medicate the sin nature. You're not going to do anything to manage, adjust, or medicate, placate, anything, the sin nature, so as to solve any taproot sin problem.

And this is something the world doesn't understand. And this is something that Christian counselors, I put that in quotes, who don't understand this will be pulled into and off track by it as well. If they try to use the world's perspective and the world's techniques to manage and massage and placate the sin nature, they also, even though they may be believers and even though they may use the term Christian counseling, that also will fail. Because it fails to address the true problem. God intends for the believer to deal with the sin nature in a very specific way.

Romans 6.6, the sin nature is no longer the singular reigning monarch in the life of a believer and has been put out of business in that role and cut loose, much like a deposed monarch.

Some years back, the The country of the Philippines was ruled by Marcos. His wife was famous for all the shoes. And after Marcos was deposed as a dictator, he still lived and was still around. And he still kept making lots of noise and trying to order people around from offshore. and still with high profile and making the headlines and everything else, but he just wasn't, he didn't have the command that he used to. Made lots of noise, still kept, you know, making lots of ruckus and showing up in the media, even to the point where we are quite aware of Imelda's shoes. But with all that, He was not the reigning monarch anymore, was he?

None. Same thing with the sin nature. Sin nature makes lots of noise, calls, screams, yells, hollers, demands in the extreme. Paints itself up as if it had the command and the control. In fact, it does not. The next one, the believer is to consider reckoning himself dead to the sin nature and alive to God. Go ahead and take two of them there. And then the next one. Yielding as bodily members to God. There's the second part there in Romans chapter 6. And then the believer is specifically warned against trying to overcome any sin, and that would include a taproot sin, by sheer force of will.

Romans 7.7 and much of the rest of the chapter says that.

Galatians 5.17 says it in half a verse. You cannot will victory over the sin nature. Maybe you've been through this experience. Maybe you know of other believers who have as well. But I'm trying real hard not to do this. You just get pulled like a magnet over to it. He just says flat out, you cannot will the sin nature to behave. It's not going to do that.

So Paul just says flat out, with further explanation in Romans 7, with brief statement in the last half of Galatians 5.17, that it is not the place of the believer to will the sin nature around. That the Lord has given us a place of willing, that's not it. The willing is who's in charge, not telling the sin nature what it's going to do. All right. The approach to dealing with taproot sins for many individuals is to attempt victory by sheer will, where scripture says we cannot do.

This results in discouragement and disappointment. Hadn't we just studied that the last couple of weeks here? Disappointment. The approach of counselors who are not believers or of Christian counselors who do not seem to understand scripture is to try to convince, persuade, and otherwise manage the sin nature. Both human willpower and unenlightened counseling will still end up with the sin nature calling the shots. What you're trying to do is get the sin nature to make better choices.

Good luck. It'll just become self-righteous. Yeah, good luck. If it has some guise of, oh, I have victory over this, it'll be prideful in it. It will still be dependence upon self. Let me ask you this. If the sin nature does something that looks better, is God happy?

Not so much, right? Yeah, not so much. That's not God's intent. It is not God's intent that the sin nature behave more nicely. It's not understanding what sin is. That's right. It's a complete misunderstanding of what sin is. It's a complete misunderstanding of what the true character of the problem is.

Okay. Scripture has some additional insights that will offer real help for the believer seeking a path away from taproot sin, and for the fellow believer who is offering counsel to his brother or sister who is caught in such a quagmire. Let's take a look at the top of page 122. I have a little twist on words there. Idleness is the devil's playground, okay? Not idle, I-D-L-E, but I-D-O-L, okay? Idleness is the devil's playground, okay?

Earlier times, and it's still around now in parts of the world, Idols were a competition for the attention of God's people. These idols were typically represented by physical objects made of metal, wood, stone, that kind of thing. And they were the creation of human hands. So the place of the idols were this. One, the idol draws upon the devotees emotions and passions. What does that have to tell us about if it feels so right? Oh, if loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right. Yeah, if loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right. How can it be wrong if it feels so right? Trust your feelings, Luke.

All these messages that come out of the world and have come out... Basically, by the way, that's a message that's been growing and prominent since about the end of World War II. That just happens to be a turning point in the selling of that philosophy. Uh-oh, I'm going to blow up. Okay, here we go. It demands intense and repeated attention as a character of an idol.

The Jews, when they were drawn away from the Lord and drawn to idols... Hey, good to see you, Chris. When they were drawn away from idols, They didn't just go to an idol once and then were done, right? The idol kept pulling them back and away from the Lord. And that's the way idols are.

They demand intense attention. They demand repeated attention. They demand action from the devotee first, including sacrifice, then a return from the idol. What's that? Action you have to act first and then the idol or God delivers? That's law. It depends on what you do. That's law. Grace says God acts first, and we respond to His grace. Law is what the idol works by. The next one demands priority obedience to its call and requirements. Given a choice, the idol calls the shots. Given a choice, the idol says, I'm first.

Some years back, Nancy and I were living in Carson City, which is a tiny one by comparison, but the capital city of Nevada. And there at the legislative building, they brought in the Vietnam Memorial Wall. And it was kind of a smaller scale replica of the one in Washington. And I went up to it, and of course I had, you know, friends and whatnot that went to Nam and some of them didn't come back.

I saw the wall and I just burst into tears. I just was really grabbed. But one of the interesting things, they had a display there by some Christian vets who were dealing with soldiers that had come back and had various kinds of emotional and psychological things that were grabbing them. And the point that these guys made is that what these vets were really struggling with was an idol. It seems, boy, what do you mean? Yeah? What happens is the collection of emotions and mindsets that come out of these various obviously intense battle situations frequently are an idol.

They're calling the shots first. They're demanding your repeated attention. They call upon a behavior that isn't from the Lord. And so they had an excellent point. And these guys were not guys who were standing hypothetically apart and, you know, pointing fingers. These were guys who had been in the battlefield themselves and been through it. So they're not condemning finger. They're pointing to an insight.

And interestingly enough, it was that observation that also helped me in dealing with what for me, because I didn't go to NAMM, but what for me as someone who was not of that, I didn't go to NAMM, I didn't fight in the battles, but in my dealing with workaholism, it was an idol. And so interestingly, their insight into the guys who had been in the battlefield helped me. because it was a recognition. Ah, the idols, that's the problem. This kind of describes religion as a whole.

Yes. And a whole lot of churches in the Christian side. Yes. You catch what he's saying? Religion as a whole is frequently like this, can have this character. Even if it's under the title Christendom. and falls under that umbrella can frequently become this instead of grace, instead of the Lord himself, instead of intimacy with Christ who has done things such that grace is the reigning principle. They can easily try to copy this model that is really the model of an idol.

Yeah, good point, good point. This is why at the very end of 1 John, John is really big on making brief and simple profound statements. In his last statement there at the end of his letter, little children, guard yourselves from idols. Recognize them for what they are.

Not always the things with wood and metal and stone and glass and such, but the things that do what you see here bulleted. that make demands upon us, that make legalistic demands. Mike? But isn't that idol just something that feeds the self? Oh, certainly so. And really, the root is the self on the throne. The sin nature is happy with idols. Why? Why is the sin nature just happy as can be with idols? draws us from God. Yeah, it draws us from God and it ultimately says that the way to deal with life is self. I got to do it. I got to go and this idol is demanding I do this. I can do that. I got to do something. So the sin nature is just happy as can be with idols and really doesn't care how many. One will do, of course, but more is even better as far as the sin nature is concerned.

The bottom half of that page is titled, Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. I was about to say iron curtain, but that's not right. This is typical of taproot sins. Taproot sins will frequently pose themselves as something else and hide what's really behind it all. Especially if what's on the surface looks socially acceptable. Kind of like the man behind the curtain on The Wizard of Oz. That's right. Just like that. Pay no attention. Don't look at what's really calling the shots here. Just pay attention to the thing that's on the surface.

Taproot sins will tend to draw us to superficiality. Not real relationship with the Lord. Just go through the motions. Taproot sins will oftentimes put a focus on more what it looks like than what it really is. Is this okay with other people and everyone else, or at least me? And it really doesn't take a look at, what does the Lord think of this? Taproot sins are frequently just happy as can be with superficiality. What's it look like on the surface? Case in point, when I went in, was that June of 89? I resigned as an elder at the church where I was at. The other elders couldn't believe that I was resigning. What's the problem? You're a fine elder. I said, guys, you don't understand.

This is really, really, really awful. It looks good on the outside. Down deep, it's sick. The superficial appearance might look, for a taproot sin, might look just fine. But once I started looking at the curtain, I said, this is ugly. This stinks. Taproot sins are often deliberately superficial and fight to keep the superficiality. It's the nature of it.

Here's a for sure thing, second paragraph, that taproot sin is wrapped up in the guise of one or more lies. The taproot sin is wrapped up in the guise of one or more lies. Promises upon which the sin nature can never deliver with completeness in reality and permanence. I'll give my own instances as an example. On the outside, I had all these elders fooled into thinking, man, Burns is just a great elder. One guy even said, Burns is the elder of elders. Underneath it all, I said, man, this is really ugly. This stinks.

But what drove me was a horrifying fear. That's right, fear that I might not measure up. So I would spring awake at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning, instantly awake with a jolt of adrenaline and a cold sweat. Oh no, I might not measure up. I'd better get going.

Boy, that's bondage. You got that right. Optical illusions can be lots of fun. You've seen them. I think they're great. But spiritual illusions turn out not to be so much fun. Optical illusions, lots of fun. Spiritual illusions, not so much fun. Big difference between the two. So that's where we need the insight from God's Word, to tell the difference between the two, to see things as they really are. In the end, we want to see the One with whom we're seated because that is true transformation. transformation from the inside, not illusion on the outside. Big difference. Let's take a look at page 123.

Addictions. Taproots on Ferris wheels. Addictions are tap roots on Ferris wheels. Wow, what's Vern talking about? The tap root is a deep-seated sin. I use the image of the Ferris wheel because you keep going around and around and around to the same point. Around and around and around to the same point.

There was a very nice Victorian building not too many blocks from where I used to work there in Carson City. And it was called the Ferris Mansion. And it had been the home where the guy who invented the Ferris wheel had grown up. His father had lived there and raised this fellow after whom the Ferris wheel was named. But the Ferris wheel goes around circles and keeps bringing you to the same point.

And this is the character of addiction. You keep going back to the same spot. And addiction is a habit or practice that is to the degree of enslavement was the element of compulsive repetition. I must go back to the same place again and again and again. People can get addicted to all sorts of very strange things and also very common things. What are some of the things that you've heard people have been addicted to?

Chocolate. Chocolate, yes. And there's a reason for that. Alcohol. Alcohol is a biggie. Drugs. Drugs, okay, and both abuse of legal drugs, illegal drugs, yeah, yes? Pepsi. Pepsi, okay. And what is it about that that can be a combination of sugar and caffeine, right? Do diet pips. Yeah. Yeah. And it turns out that's only halfway helpful. Yeah. Yeah. He's got problems. Yeah. I used to go around when I was doing the workaholic thing. I got a half liter beer stein and that was my coffee mug. And I chugged at least one of those an hour.

Other things people can get addicted to. Exercise is even a possibility. Exercise is a good thing, right? It's a good thing, but is it too much of a good thing? Yeah, it itself can also be something that people get addicted to. So is moderation good? Well, I think the point is moderation by itself is not the answer. The sin nature can do that. That's not ultimately the answer. Just changing the amount isn't the fix. There are other things. Of course, we've got this article here.

It's the appendix item 12 on addiction to pornography. There's one I mentioned earlier and I'll mention it again. It is one that is very common these days. Roughly half of adult men have some problem with pornography, and that's particularly with the introduction of internet pornography. It's available not only on computers and things of that sort, but cell phones these days with their graphical capabilities and the ability to download things. So a big issue. So anyway, that's one I'd bring to your attention. It's again not one that I would leave around for the kids to look at. That sort of thing. I don't think cadence is a risk yet. But anyway, do be careful.

Addiction can be physiological, at least in aspect. There can be a physiological aspect to it. What do I mean by that? There can be a physical side of the addiction that has most often to do with substances. And that is not to be ignored. The physiological side of it is something that is real and, depending on what it is, may need to be dealt with and may even require a healthcare professional to deal with it.

Yeah, Mike? You know, this ADD's a big thing with kids today. Ritalin? Yes. And it calms them down. I don't understand that, but how that works. Well, Mike's bringing up the fact that Ritalin is essentially speed. It's the street name for the drug. What happens is if kids are younger, there's a kind of reversal of effect that changes as they get older. And so, like I heard of one kid, they just had to take coffee breaks. at intervals and it seemed to be just as effective.

But, yeah, that's the nature of it. It's because of the reversal. It's not the only thing that's given for ADHD. And that gets into another subject. But, yeah, and it's also something that a lot of the kids are turning around and selling. So, yeah, it's got issues.

But anyway, I think it's important to recognize there are some things that have physiological aspects. Sometimes the physiological aspect is intense. Other times it's of a significant but secondary influence. One of those that has a physiological aspect, and I won't explain it because the paper does, is pornography. Pornography actually does have a physiological aspect to it is not just psychological and spiritual. But nonetheless, it's not to be ignored. I mean, I think it's helpful to understand that and to get that insight. Obviously, what we're looking at here more significantly for our purposes is the spiritual and psychological aspect.

It may have to do with a substance and can be from a substance in the human body. Adrenaline is, for example, one, and that was mine of choice. Adrenaline is one that people for various motivational purposes and by different means can end up becoming addicted to. In the cases addressing addiction that is spiritual, biblical counsel and pursuit of spiritual growth by the believer with the addiction is the answer. That's what scripture lays out.

What part of a believer's person can be addicted? Or parts, I'll put it that way. What part or parts of a believer's person can be addicted? You mean the soul? Well, that's part of what I'm asking. Let's step our way through it. Can a believer have an addiction that has at least some physiological or body aspect? Yes. A believer could fall into that. Secondly, let's ask this. Is the new nature ever addicted?

No. And this is a keen distinction. It's one of the reasons why it's very important for believers in seeking a solution to these problems, which can be really serious, not to overlook the spiritual distinction. A great many of those who are so-called Christian counselors don't understand this distinction and are trying to use the world's methods to deal with these problems, these kinds of problems. And so they don't recognize the new nature in the believer is never addicted, ever. That's not where the problem lies.

The body can be addicted, the sin nature can be addicted, the new nature is never addicted. So, where is the answer for the believer in dealing with an addiction? to see that he's already been delivered. Yeah, to look to what has the Lord done when you were saved? Who are you in Christ? That's the ultimate answer.

Because, I mean, the body, you may need to do something medically to deal with either the driving cause physiologically or the consequences. In my case, it was consequences. of sitting there chugging, you know, a half beer, you know, a stein full of coffee every hour or more often and driving myself on adrenaline. And there are consequences to that. And those have to be dealt with. But the new nature, so here's Vern running around chugging coffee and driven by this adrenaline addiction, the new nature was never addictive.

At times you will hear somebody come up and like a lot of these 12-step groups, you know, I'm an addict or I'm an alcoholic or some such thing. Guess what? I'm not. I'm not even a workaholic. How do they figure that that works though? I mean, if you're in the AA thing, everybody goes around, hi, my name's Mike, I'm an alcoholic. Yeah, well, basically what they're looking for is some honesty, and I have to give them a checkmark for that. The problem is that it doesn't have discernment and insight. It lacks the understanding.

It lacks the understanding of the difference between the sin nature and the new nature. That's what it fails to see. Presumably you'll always be unable to return to... Yeah, I mean, because it doesn't see the distinction between the sin nature and the new nature, okay? And instead of appealing to God, who is revealed in scripture, it appeals to some higher power, whatever, whoever, whatever that is, right? So there's an appeal to this vague nothingness and a failure to discern if this person is a believer, Hey, he has a sin nature and he's got a new nature and the new nature never is, never was and never will be addicted. That's the only place there's answers. The sin nature isn't going to help and you're not going to be able to do anything to fix it.

If I was an unbeliever, It might be valid to say, let's say I had a drinking problem. I hadn't had a drinking problem, I hadn't had a drink for 10 years, to still say I'm an alcoholic? Well, I suppose you could say that. As a believer, who am I in Christ? I come to realize I'm not a workaholic anymore. Matter of fact, in Christ I never was. And so it really comes to a question not of coming up and taking 12 steps or 13 or 59 or 2001. It's recognizing I am in Christ. It's recognizing that in Christ and who He has made me to be, I'm not that behavior. And never was and never will be.

Yes? transformed and conformed, and we talked about that in Mike's viral study. Yeah, yeah. And what the difference between the two. We've made reference, we've made reference here, matter of fact here, I'm glad you asked. Let's go to the next page, page 124, okay? Because those are some key verses. I'm jumping to point two here.

Over time, the answer for the addictive taproot sin problem will be for the believer to grow spiritually away from the sin. Got that? To grow spiritually away from the sin. You grow out of the issue. It's spiritual growth that comes out of it. And that's the neat thing. I look back, not only as I look back on it, Not only am I, I don't sit here and stand up in front of you and say, you know, I've been dry of workaholism for, you know, 19 years. But it's not only that, but I also now recognize the truth is, in Christ I never was addicted. That's who I am.

And it's spiritual growth that will grow us away from that, not some treatment. not some program, but it's spiritual growth that is God's means of dealing with that. Now, to get back to your question here, Romans 8, 28 and the first part of 29, and we know that God causes all things, and these are the circumstances, to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of his Son. The circumstances conformance. Now the other half of your question here, I'm going to jump ahead to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. That's on the same page.

2 Corinthians 3.18, but we all with unveiled face, that is by grace and not by law, beholding as in a mirror, which is God's word, in the three times that mirror is mentioned in the New Testament, it's God's word each time.

The glory of the Lord, in other words, the radiant essence of who God is, are being transformed, different from the word conformed, being transformed into the same image, the image of Christ, His Son Christ, as in Romans 8.28.29, from glory to glory, growing justice from the Lord the Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ, by means of the Spirit, does that. That's what it means from glory to glory is a growing, changing, and growing glory. As we behold the Lord through his word, we are transformed.

As the Lord uses circumstances in our lives, we are conformed. Both of those have the impact of bringing us to the image. The question ahead says circumstances conform us, so that's being conformed to the image of Christ. Circumstances conform us to the image of Christ.

Consider that conditional truth? This is conditional truth. It is a matter of, by faith, understanding. I might look at it and say, oh, I'm going through this terrible experience. It might be a terrible experience, but I can have the confidence as a believer, in the midst of that experience, that He's using that to conform me to the image of the Son. Being transformed. Maybe you may have interpreted this wrong, but is transformed a positional truth? Well, transformed is also a matter of change, right? Both of them are a change. The positional part of it is the image of Christ.

That is the direction towards which we're being... Yeah? Weren't you saying, though, that the conforming was external? That's right. The conforming was God's use of external circumstances to conform us. Okay? The transforming is God's use of His Word, as we behold Christ through His Word, that transforms us.

So those two processes come from different places. The conforming is because of the circumstances that He uses to conform us to the image of Christ. The transforming is an internal change. Both of those are miraculous. The one miracle is that God works all things together for good. The other miracle of transforming is that God uses His written word where we behold Christ and He changes us inside out miraculously. Transforming comes through the Word of God.

Let me give you an example that I've been referring to repeatedly. Here's Vern, dyed in the wool, workaholic from what anybody can tell if they see underneath the surface at all. By the way, where I was working, the three board members called me into a board meeting And each one of them read me out for being a workaholic at their place. While the board secretary took notes. Each one of the board members took turns reading me out for being a workaholic at their place of work. They saw it. They saw what was going on. The Lord put me through some horrific circumstances. that finally brought me to, whoa, what am I doing? The Lord used circumstances there as a part of the conforming process.

Then, as I read God's Word, God's Word also changes me. What's the direction of the conforming and the transforming? Both of them are in the direction of growing me towards the image of Jesus Christ. One is by external means, the other is by internal means, using the Word of God. God uses both. The ultimate end, the positional part, is the image of Christ. The image of Christ, that's the position towards which we are being grown. Sometimes maybe interpretations are not there.

2 Peter 3.18, to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. Think about this. Grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where do you get knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ? From the Word of God. Where do you find grace? from the Word. Largely that passage is focusing upon the Word.

And one of the reasons, and we see at the bottom of this page, one of the reasons why we know that is because that word grow is used once in 2 Peter and once in 1 Peter. In 1 Peter 2-2, like newborn babes long for the pure milk of the Word that by it you may grow. Isn't that interesting? 1 and 2 Peter are perfectly consistent.

And he uses the exact same word for growth, and tells you where the growth comes from, that he's talking about there, is his word. That is the transforming kind of growth. We have conforming kind of growth, and transforming kind of growth. God intends to use both. And he will use both of those to deal with his taproot sins, and to deal with addictions. Conforming by external circumstances, transforming by the use of his word. And by the way, how did his word come to us? Who was involved in seeing that it came to us in the right form? The Holy Spirit, okay. And who involves you? The Holy Spirit.

This is the work of the Spirit, and that's why the end of 2 Corinthians 3.18 gives the Holy Spirit to credit as the instrument. So these two words, are they logical imperatives?

Actually, in Romans 8.28 and 2 Corinthians 3, they are not imperatives in either one. they are telling us objectively about the process that God's using. 1 Peter 2 and 2 Peter 3, as the bottom part of that sheet shows, they are imperatives there. They are imperatives there.

So it's interesting. God's going to be the one carrying out the conforming process, isn't he? God's the one who does the transforming. We don't do those things. But the one place where we do have a focal point that comes out of 1 and 2 Peter is God's Word. And that's consistent.

And that basically dovetails with 2 Peter 3.18. It's not our part. I can't transform myself. Everybody tried that, right? Transforming yourself doesn't work. God does the transforming. God does the conforming. But I have a place of coming to His Word so that the Lord can use it in my life. Okay? Does that help? Yeah, yeah. And I tell you, that drew us right into the passages we need to take a look at there. There's one other I want to jump back to. Romans 12, 1 and the first half of verse 2.

This is cool because what he does is he puts the conforming and the transforming right together And notice there's a warning about not being conformed. Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, and by the way, mercies is plural there to emphasize the magnitude of it, okay? By the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship, and do not be conformed to this world. Why? Where are you being conformed to? Who? You're being conformed to Christ, right?

He said, don't let the world do the conforming. That's not the place. Galatians 6, you've died to the world, right? Don't let the world do the conforming. That's what quenches the Holy Spirit, so to speak. That'll help, in a negative sense. Yeah, if you look at it, Christians have three enemies, right? The world, the flesh, and the devil. Those three. When he's giving a warning about the world, the world has in mind a conforming process for you. The world has a conforming process and plan in mind for you. He said, don't let that happen, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Same word, okay, as in 2 Corinthians 3.18. What's the renewing of your mind? How does your mind get renewed? By the Word of God.

Same thing as 2 Corinthians 3.18. God's Word is totally consistent. Systematically consistent.

Right? Isn't that cool? Major cool. Yeah, Jeremy? In that passage, is it saying that either one of the two is happening? Is it saying that either you're being conformed by the Spirit the image of Christ, or you're being conformed by the world. You get his point of contrast? At any point in my life, depending on where I'm looking, am I beholding? Where's my dependence? I'm either being conformed to the image of Christ, and ultimately I will be. Come walk through heaven's gates, it's going to happen. But as a process here and now on this planet, I'm either being conformed to the image of Christ at any point where I'm being conformed to the world.

He's saying, don't let that happen. That doesn't need to happen. It shouldn't happen. It's not consistent with who you are or where you're ultimately going to be. Don't be conformed to this world. But he says as an alternative, and it's a whole lot better, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Yes? Isn't there a thought there too that it's what you're looking at rather than what you're avoiding?

I think one of the things that's really cool, and you'll see it in Paul's writing a lot, if he says, don't do this, he gives the alternate. I heard somebody say one time, I can tell when people are Christians they don't do anything. Paul doesn't operate that way. He frequently will say, if he'll say, don't do this, he gives the alternate, the positive statement, do this instead.

Don't be foolish, but be wise. And so, that's the key thing. It's not simply a matter of, I'm not going to be conformed, and stubbornly refusing to be conformed. But it is a matter of looking to the Lord. Peter puts it, you know, dead to sin, alive to righteousness. Paul puts it, dead to sin, alive to God. But it's not just the negative, you're right, it's the positive. Yeah, Jeremy?

That seems to be the opposite. such an issue in a lot of Christianity where the focus seems to be so much on the sins and what you shouldn't be doing. The more you study the Bible, if you're looking to Christ, it's not going to be a mystery how you should be acting and which things are not part of that character. At least in my life, it's so easy to focus on the negative If a believer gets caught up in defining their Christianity as not doing things, it's hard to tell the difference between a Christian and a mannequin, right? Because it's just not doing anything. Somebody started to say something here? Mike? But that's all the young believer can do until he sees the man behind the curtain. Okay, yeah, has the insight, yeah.

Well, and I think that's one of the reasons we come together here and we look at God's Word and one of the reasons we're having this class is it's not just what the pastor says or what the teacher says or something like that. We have a place of encouraging one another in these things. We have a place of assisting one another in our walk with the Lord by pointing and drawing one another to the Lord, by praying with each other. by serving and loving one another. So it's a body thing, it's a church body thing, not just, you know, it's a pastor doing his job. And that's the key thing. This involves all of us as part of the body of Christ. To direct people to focus upon the Lord.

And not just come along with the don't do this, don't do that list. Absolutely do not think of a pink elephant. No, no, no, stop it! Quit thinking of a pink elephant! You know? No more pink elephants! Right? That doesn't work, does it? Because I can tell what you're thinking. Yeah. Let's pray, okay?

We've been buzzed. Lord, we thank You as we look at these things that, boy, what marvelous truth You've laid out. And it's not truth that's just kind of handy for the time being, handy once in a while, but it's eternal truth. And Lord, what precious insights you have given to us because you love us. Pray that we would have hearts drawn into fellowship and intimacy with you. In Jesus name.