Being conformed - not conformed to this world

We are finishing up this series on conformed, being conformed, this month. And matter of fact, in the middle of the first page on the handout is what we have scheduled for next month, talking about being transformed. We're going to be kind of turning a corner that includes being transformed this morning. So it's a combination of conformed and transformed, the two different topics. So it'll be the end of one and the introduction of another. We have three passages that lead off the study this morning.

One is Romans 8.28-30, which we've been looking at previously.

We know that God causes all things to work together for good for 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. Therefore I urge you, brethren, 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, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. And then 2 Corinthians 3, 17 and 18, Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit.

These words translated conformed and transformed in the Greek New Testament are used rather rarely So when they are used they're used deliberately there's one form versus the other and So these two words are not used as synonyms that is they don't mean just the same thing But rather in contrast to one another as in Romans 12 1 and 2 and And then we have the listing for March, where we'll be covering being transformed and different aspects of that. Today we're going to be looking at how the two words are defined and contrasted, and how believers are warned not to be conformed to this world. Romans 12, 1 and 2. So first we've got to look at the word, this world. How many different ways do we use the word world? Several. Yes, there we go. Several. Yeah, that's a good way to summarize it.

The word world is used in the Bible in actually a few different ways, maybe even several, right? And the one we're going to take a look at here which is the one that Paul refers to in Romans 12, 1 and 2, is also defined for us in Ephesians 2, 1 through 3. By the way, when I read Ephesians 2, 1 through 3, every time I see more things.

It's really kind of cool. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins. By the way, when you're in something biblically, what does that mean? your nature, and you are part of and identified with. In other words, it's an identification statement. So we talk about being in Christ, and we say, that's really cool. But guess what?

The unbeliever is what? Dead in their trespasses and sins. They are identified with them. See, unbelievers will think, oh boy, got away with that one. And they think they're moving on. They're dead in them. They're identified with them. They're stuck with them.

In which you formerly walked. That word formerly is used by both Paul and all the other New Testament authors consistently to refer to the way the believers were before they were saved. So that word formerly. You'll see it twice here. It shows up twice more. Ephesians chapter 2, but you formerly walked according to the course of this world Let's talk about this word walked real interesting. It's a Jewish word The Greeks understood it, but the Jews used it consistently and The reason for my saying that, the Bible says we studied in Genesis. What does the Bible say about Enoch and his relationship with God? He did what? He walked with God. How about Noah? Noah walked with God. So it is not just a Jewish word, but it's an old, ancient Jewish word. The Jews have used it for a long time. Yes? I believe so.

The Greek word is peripateo, and walk about. And something else, the walking is individual when that word is used. It's each individual person's walk. There's an interesting thing that goes on in Galatians 5. Walk in the Spirit is individual. Towards the end of the chapter, he also talks about walking And it's a different word, it's for a group of Roman soldiers marching together.

Isn't that interesting? So there is an individual walking that this is referring to, in which you formerly walked, ordered your life step by step, okay? According to, that word according to means consistent with, yes. Yes, it's ordering your life step-by-step, but it's also a walk based on fellowship. Fellowship with God. Noah walked with God. It doesn't mean that Noah just walked side-by-side, but his life was ordered step-by-step based on a relationship with God. Walked according. This word, according, when you see it, especially in the New Testament, Put in there, if you're wondering, what does that mean?

Consistent with. In other words, there was a consistency to the walk. The walk was consistent with the course of this world. Now, when we say the course of this world, what do we mean? Yeah, in other words, there is a pattern, there is a direction of sin. The fall of Adam put human beings in a consistent pattern of individually walking in these trespasses and sins and also had them walking consistent with the world. So in other words, the individual walked in these sins because that was his nature and the rest of the world was in harmony with that discordant walk. Yes. Yeah, now that was different. And why was it different? Let's ask why it was different.

It appeared to be that God showed up in a way that Adam could see And here, that's the impression we get reading Genesis chapters 2 and 3. And even the absence of that fellowship with God underscores it. Here was a change. Notice that what did Adam do thinking he could get away with it in chapter 3 of Genesis? He hid. So apparently it wasn't like, you know, we think, well, can I hide from God? Well, no. But Adam felt that he could. Mistaken, but he felt that he could.

And then we have a second according to. According to the prince of the power of the air. So here we have each individual is ordering his steps. Okay? Each individual is ordering his steps. one step after the next, walking, consistent with two things, consistent with this world system, and consistent with the Prince of the Power of the Air. The Prince of the Power of the Air is orchestrating things in this world system. And the unbeliever walks, individually, consistent with those two things. That's what according to means.

Of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Do you have a spirit working in you? You have the Holy Spirit working in you, don't you? But guess what? The unbeliever has a counterpart. It's a rather shocking and alarming counterpart. He has a spirit at work in him. as well, and it's not for good. Now working in, and this is an interesting term, the sons of disobedience, it shows up here, it shows up later on in Ephesians, and it also shows up in Colossians. Those three places have this term sons of disobedience.

What does it mean to be a son of? To share the characteristics. Right, to be like in character, and what else? Yes, I think it's helpful that this is a principle you can if you can hang on to it It'll help you understand a lot of scripture from the Old Testament into the new to be a son of in the Old Testament and the New Testament if it's not a literal son of To be a son of means to be like in character and close in relationship to. Like in character and close in relationship to.

So you take that here, it's sons of disobedience. Disobedience, they're all like in character. How are they like in character? All disobedient. It's a consistent pattern. and close in relationship. That disobedience is not a thing apart that they happen to drift into. They're close to it. We are called, as believers, sons of God. What does that mean? Like in character and close in relationship. Now that's a whole lot better. I would suggest to you that being a son of God is a whole lot better than being a son of disobedience.

Okay, among them we too all formerly, here's this word formerly again, in other words it's describing, when you see that word formerly in the New Testament, I have not found any exceptions. The New Testament authors always use it to describe the believer before they were saved.

Formerly lived, that word lived is different from walk. Walking is your individual walking. In other words, how you live out your life. This word for lived is interactive living. So now it's not just my individual, this is how I do things, I, me, myself, but this is how we do things between one another. See that? So Paul covers the basis. He says each individual walks this way, and as an unsaved person, the interactions between us are this way too. Formerly lived where? Here's a positional thing again, in, right? The interactions between us are where? Are of what kind? They're in what? What does it say there?

Pardon? in the lusts of the flesh. So, interestingly, from this passage we get dead in the trespasses and sins and our interactions are also positionally in the lusts of the flesh. Wow, that's intense. Indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind. By the way, this word for mind is the active mind. They're actively indulging. They're not just passively letting it soak in. They're actively indulging the mind of the flesh. And we're by nature, that's close in relationship to it, like in character, right?

Children of wrath. The children of statement is very close to the son of statement. children of wrath. Why wrath? Who's wrath? God's wrath. And what's the problem? Didn't Christ die for the sins of everybody? That's the word of officiation, because Christ died to satisfy the anger of God. So the anger is wrath, right? Well, yeah, and think about this. Think about this. If Christ died for everyone's sins, what's the problem? Why would there be wrath? They don't believe it. One of the examples I've used, and I think this helps a lot.

Imagine, here is everybody, and we're all in prison. And we owe this massive debt. I mean, give it a number like four trillion bucks. Each person knows four trillion bucks is like, you know, that's hopeless. You know, not even Warren Buffet is going to get out, right? So, huh? No, it's okay. I'm being silly. Okay.

Now, So four trillion dollars, and then somebody comes into the prison where all these people are, and you kind of hear this noise and ruckus, and you find out this guy's handing out checks. And each check is made out for four trillion bucks. And he's passing them out to everybody. And he's saying, you know, all you got to do is take the check, turn it over, sign it, hand it at the exit door, and you're out of here.

And some people say, man, woo, and they're signing as fast as they can and heading for the exit door. And other people, I don't believe it, they're ripping it up. No, I don't want that, you know. They're stomping on it. Somebody else, ah, maybe later, put it in their front pocket. It's a matter of the debt is paid, the money is in the account, but do you believe it, right? Do you believe it? So that's the point. I mean, it's a crucial insanity. Here is the unbeliever who is by nature a child of wrath. And God has paid the entire price at his own expense for this phenomenal debt that we can never even hope to touch.

And people, nah, I don't want that. Rip up the check. I don't want that. Maybe later. I'll think about it when I get old." And they stick it in their pocket. Don't do anything with it. Yes. It also seems like a hard fear because, you know, once you're out, then what do you do? Yeah. You sort of have insecurity in prison. What is life like outside the door? What is life like outside the door?

Nancy and I knew a gal. We were quite close to the to this couple. Nancy was one of her bridesmaids. When Nancy and I would travel, once in a while we would leave our kids with them. But this gal, she knew the gospel and she knew that she had to believe it to be saved.

But she actually told us she's standing outside the door. At the door, but right outside it. She died of cancer a few years ago. Outside the door. Which is really sad. She had the check in her hand. And it's like she's standing right near the window where you could give them the check and they'd let you out.

It's like you said, not sure quite what does it mean if I go outside the door here. She never did it as far as we know. Yeah, this thing's got a one-way valve on it, right? You go out, but you're not going back in. Yeah, excellent point. The debt's paid. If you come up to the door, they're saying, you don't belong here. Your check's been cashed. Your debt's paid. Yeah, you don't come back in here. Yes.

But it's not totally up to the believer, is it? Because it says in Hebrews that God draws, passage up here where it says that you were called, and foreknew, and predestined, and there's a lot of it up here. Okay, there are a couple of things. One thing is that foreknowing doesn't mean that that's predestined. They're different words. Let me give you a for instance.

Have you ever heard, you know, like car tires screeching, and you'll hear a screech, bang. Have you ever heard that sound? It's possible you've even been there at the site of that happening where you see, you know, some, you know, all of a sudden you hear screech and you look over and they're heading for, I mean, you foreknew that they were going to hit, right? Does that mean you did it? Does that mean you made it happen? No. So foreknowing is certainly a knowledge. It doesn't mean that you caused it. because you knew. So that's part one.

The other thing that's interesting here, what is the direction of predestination in Romans 28-30? To be conformed to His image. So that's interesting. It doesn't say you were predestined to be saved. It says you were predestined to be conformed. That's a very interesting contrast there. So I think as we look at some of these terms, it's important to look at them carefully recognizing that foreknowledge doesn't mean that everything's all, you know, like God's got this big machine or that even being predestined means that the next breath you take and the next move you make is all something that God's got programmed in this big machine and you have no choice.

Now there are places that talk about us being, you know, elect and chosen. I think even some of those have been turned too hard towards some sort of a logical system. Here's what's interesting. I was showing Nancy just this last week. There are several places in the Old Testament where God pairs up the words love and chose. When it says that God chose us, is that this big kind of mechanical, logical election process? Or does it mean that He loves us?

Hmm. I think that just kind of backing off away from sort of a hard-line position on those things. Poor knowledge doesn't mean that God determines everything. Even predestining, you've got to look carefully at what's predestined. And even chosen, is that to be just a logical, like a mechanical thing? He chose you and not you. Sorry, you're going to heaven. Nah, you go to hell.

Does that mean that? Or does it really express that He loves you? And I think the Old Testament consistently puts those two words together. Yes? So then, if I got this right, then it's a mutual happening, because it's in Hebrews that he draws, and then you're saying that it's a matter of believing.

So, God draws, and then it's up to the individual to either accept the drawing or not. Yeah, I think the reality is that God in scripture does not resolve to human logical satisfaction what appears to be a paradox. How can God be electing and choosing and drawing and we choose to?

That may well be something that when we walk through heaven's gates we'll get a little better understanding. It's a little bit, I could make a comparison, you know, when I went through engineering school, there were problems you couldn't solve with certain levels of math. You had to go use different math for that. And I think a part of the problem we have here on planet Earth is there's some mathematics here and the way God does things that we don't, it's just not in any of our textbooks. how God draws and elects and chooses and predestines, and how our choosing goes along with that, Scripture doesn't entirely resolve it. But because they're both in Scripture, I need to believe them both. Right? I have heard of people who have decided they're not going to choose to believe because they're not sure if God allows the freedom to do that.

So, anyway. Alright, now let's take a look here, page 2. Top of page 2. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked. I'm going to skip past this because I basically talked about this set of things here. So let's go to the second paragraph on page two.

As unbelievers, we lived right in among the rest of the unbelievers in this position, walk, and spiritual domain, the world. The word for lived conveys the interactive living among and between others, as opposed to the individual walk. The lust of the flesh, the sin nature, is expressed through the human body, indulging the desires and passions of that flesh and of the active mind of the fallen person. Right alongside the other unbelievers, when we were not yet saved, we were by nature like in character and close in relationship to those other unbelievers who are and will be under God's wrath. It's the Ephesians 5, 6 passage that also speaks of the sons of disobedience are subject to God's wrath. Okay. Now we have the not conformed to this world. The reason for taking the time to bring clarity to the biblical meaning of the term world is so that we have clarity when Paul warns us as believers not to be conformed to this world.

Do you remember we used a picture some weeks back of being conformed. We showed a piece of sheet metal. And on the top of a round piece of wood, there was kind of a bowl-shaped indentation on the top of the piece of wood. And so they would take a flat piece of sheet metal and sit there and tap with like a ball-peen hammer. Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. And they would keep tapping it hundreds of times until the sheet metal finally had this bowl-shaped conformity to the indentation on the top of the piece of wood. So it was being conformed one tap at a time.

And so that's one of the things we talked about. We are being conformed as believers now, being conformed one tap at a time. And some of those taps are in the physical realm, sometimes it's circumstances around us, sometimes it might even be in this body on the physical side.

There's also a number of things that God is working together for good on the spiritual side. So God is using all those things. We gave as an example, we use Hal's one page list of here's all the ministries of the Holy Spirit. Those include ways in which God is working to conform us.

And so we use this example, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. All the things that are happening, and people go, oh I don't like this, I don't want that, but there's this tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. And the conformity is to what? In God's process. To the image of God's Son, right? But this warning here is a conformity to what? So what's interesting is the world has a conforming process and the Lord has a conforming process. Very interesting.

Between Romans 8.28-30 and Romans 12.1-2 we gain several valuable insights into Biblical conformity. First bullet, God has predestined us who believe to be conformed to the image of the sun. That ultimate conformity to the image of the sun will not be thwarted. And notice I say ultimate conformity.

Why won't it be thwarted? Why can't I say such a thing? Because it will happen. It will happen. It is something, remember we talked about God's will? This is something that God has put in His sovereign will. It will happen. Yes, Stan, you had your hand up? Yeah, okay.

Ephesians 2.10 says, He's prepared good works that we might walk in them. And then several places in the rest of Ephesians, the exhortation is, okay, now that God's prepared all the good works for you to walk in, now here's the exhortation to walk in them. Okay, next one. There is an alternate conforming to the near term that is not to the image of the sun, but to the world.

So how's that? Here's, you know, you're being formed this way, and then there's this other conformity going that way. Whoo! I mean, that's pretty wild. What kind of shape are you in? You can try to be painful. Yeah, I mean, if you think about it, bouncing between one conformity and the other, I mean, you can wonder, boy, what's happening to me?

And so I think that's one reason why in this one book to the church at Rome, he made it very clear. He made it very clear. He says, look, you've got this conformity or that conformity. Pick one. Ultimately, God's will will not be thwarted, but along the way there's this other conformity, and what kind of weird shape are you going to be as some kind of a composite? So you've got two possible conforming processes going on. One is ultimately predestined and will not be thwarted. The other one is a matter of choice at this point in time.

Yes? Christ's world would be conforming us to the devil? Yeah, and conform to this world, it is a system that the devil is in charge of. The devil orchestrates. Let's think about what that would be like. In what ways can people be conformed to the world? Yeah, even the way people choose to dress can be a matter of conforming to this world. So does that mean we should never buy anything at any of the stores? What does that mean?

It shouldn't be a controlling factor. That's one thing. Is it controlling you? It's a modern psychology. It's a human system. Yeah. Yes? It says in the Old Testament, one of the big things for the prophets was that they didn't know their God. So it's a mental thing for your mind. So I think if you start off with a baseline, then you make your decision relative to that. Yeah.

How about what you value? What do people value? It is a matter of do I have a heavenly conformity or a worldly conformity. What do I value? See, people in the world get excited about certain things. Oh, and by the way, there are billions of dollars being pointed to you to conform you to this world.

You know, if you buy this car, regardless of how much debt you take on, if you buy this car, then, of course, everybody's going to just really think you're cool. And that gal who's sitting in the seat in the car in the ad, you get her too, or at least that's the implication. So they'll have that kind of thing. They'll have somebody appearing to be really smart and admirable or feeling powerful. all those things.

So those are values that the world is throwing at us, right? And they're actually spending money throwing that value at you. In Ephesians 2 it talks about the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Basically self. When I read that I think of the self. We can come up with Well, here's an interesting thing. Who are our three enemies? The world, the flesh, and the devil. Ephesians 2, 1-3 includes all three of those.

Ultimately, the conformity warning is about being conformed to the world. But the world has two cooperative elements, and one is Satan, and the other is the flesh. So the world is the caution. Don't be conformed to this world. And then there are two cooperative elements with that, the flesh in each person, and the flesh in the other person, right? And then Satan himself. Okay. The world has a form to which it is powerfully prone to conform us.

When John wrote the book of Revelation, chapters 2 and 3 are written to the seven churches, right? And some of the churches got some pretty stern warnings, didn't they? And if you look at it, a lot of the warnings are essentially the world. And flesh and Satan are in there too. But a lot of it is the world. And so what has happened, the Lord is cautioning these churches, the world has gotten into the church. It doesn't belong there. Let's look at the next one.

Though God is predestined that we be conformed to the image of his Son, and the ultimate, in the near term, whether we are conformed to this world or conformed to the image of God's Son, is based on a decision that we are urged to make moment by moment.

Sin, nature, dependence, and abiding is consistent with conformity to the satanic world system. See that? Sin, nature, dependence, and abiding is consistent with conformity to the satanic world system. Notice all three enemies are included in that sentence there.

The next bullet down, similar to being dead to sin but alive to God, we are not just called to simply resist being conformed to the world. We are called to an alternate and by nature different conformity, transforming by the renewing of your mind. And that's what we'll be looking at this next time. Conforming is something where God works all things together for good.

To what end? That you're conformed to the image of his son. Transforming is to the same end. You're being transformed in the direction of the image of his son. But it's a different process by name. And we'll see this next month more in detail about what that's like. By examining the spiritual entities involved in the conformity to this world, the world, the flesh, and the devil, we find that believers, through their identification with Christ, have been spiritually separated from the world.

They give Galatians 6.14 and Colossians 2.20 as references, which is the domain of Satan, that's the Ephesians 2.1-3, and separated from the flesh, that is the sin nature as it operates through the body.

That's Romans 6.1-14. God has done something about our enemy entities. God has done something about our enemy entities. Be mindful of it. Be aware of it. Let's look at the top of page 3. Transformed by the renewing of your mind.

It's indeed curious that Paul does not write, and do not be conformed to this world, but be conformed to the image of the Son. Is that curious? Why doesn't he just say, pick this conformity instead of that one? We might expect him to say that, having already said that there is a conformity process aimed towards the conformity to Christ that is predestined. We might expect him to say that, but that's not what he says.

Instead, Paul prescribes a different means for avoiding the conformity to this world, which is God's intended alternate, as an as a way of resisting the world's conformity, he doesn't say instead do this other conformity, he says instead to be transformed, which that word is only used again in 2 Corinthians 3.18, which is what we'll be focusing on next month.

Being transformed by the renewing of your mind fits with the diagram we've been using to guide our understanding. What is being renewed is not primarily our physical side mind, our brain, although that's involved, but rather the spiritual side of the mind, which is in the soul, on the spiritual side of a person who is a believer. Now we are going to examine what it means to be transformed in more detail for the next several weeks or the month of March here. But for now we have seen that there is a godly conforming process and an ungodly conforming process. But there is only a godly transforming process. You see that he never says be careful about the world transforming you. Be careful about being transformed by the flesh. Be careful about being transformed. He never makes that warning. So the world has an alternate conformity, but transforming is only God's process.

Yes? So may I say that conforming has to do with material, where transforming or better No, not quite. And here's why. Because conforming can be a result of the things God does in the physical realm. Ultimately, what is being conformed or transformed is spiritual, and if that's the nature of your question, that would be the case. But in fact, the conforming process, God works all things. physical things and spiritual things to the end that spiritually we are being conformed to the image of the Son. So isn't it interesting God uses physical things God uses spiritual things to conform us spiritually on the spiritual side to look at this diagram here on the spiritual side God God uses physical and spiritual things to do the spiritual conforming. There is the warning about the world conforming. There is not a warning about the world transforming.

Only God transforms. Isn't that interesting? Only God transforms. There is never a caution that that can happen any other way or that there is some alternate. The only difficulty might be that we are not transformed, not because of something God does or doesn't do, but because of our end of it. We'll see that in a bit here. Okay. The world offers nothing like it. The world does not have anything like being transformed.

And we see from Romans 12 too that the God-intended transformation process takes place through the renewing of your mind. And we'll see what that is too. Here is Ephesians 4, 20 through 24, quoted at the bottom part of page 3. And I've done some retranslation in an expanded and explained format to help bring it across.

But you did not learn Christ in this way. By the way, this word for learned is the verb form of disciple. Okay? Verb form of disciple. If indeed which is assumed to be true for the sake of logic. That's the character of that if. There are four kinds of ifs in Greek. That's this one.

You have actively heard him and have received the teaching in him. Interesting. You have actively heard him and received the teaching in him. It says the truth is in the Jesus. I'm taking out from the original language. The one singular Jesus. the unique Jesus. That in reference to your former manner of life, see the word former? It's the believer before he was saved.

Your former manner of life, you have laid aside the old self, all of who you were in Adam, which in unbelievers is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit. And that you be renewed in the spiritual aspect of your mind. See that? renewed in the spiritual aspect of your mind, and have already put on the new self, all of who you are in Christ, which is in the likeness, that's synonymous with image of God, as expressed in the person of Christ, has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Renewed in the spiritual aspect of your mind.

Notice that diagram up above there. The mind has two parts, right? Part of it's just this gray matter up here that You know, it has all this neurobiology going on. But the part he's talking about is the mind that's on the spiritual side that the doctor can't touch. So this is on the spiritual side. Yes? I have a question about the Buddha. Yes. Let's walk through this because what's interesting is both Ephesians and Colossians talk about putting on and taking off and all that. Think about that.

When you were an unbeliever, who were you in? You were in Adam, right? And you had this old self, old man, as it's translated in the King James. You had this old self, the old man, which was all of who you were in Adam. And there was an old nature, the sin nature, which is the nature inclined toward action and thinking that goes along with being in Adam. How did you get to being out of Adam and made to be in Christ.

What happened? How did that happen? Is it because you work really hard and for seven whole days you obeyed the Ten Commandments? Is that how it happened? No. What did you do? You believed. That's all you did. And then how did the rest of it happen? God did it. The taking out of Adam and being placed in Christ such that you have the new man with a new nature, but also the new man who is all of who you are in Christ, also has a new history, right? You have a replacement history.

That happened, all you did was believe. So when he says, you did this and did that, when we go back and say how that happened, we believed. That's all we did. And it's God who actually did the accomplishing of these things. All we did was believe. Does that answer the question? Yeah. All we did was believe. Yes? You said in Adam, it's all of who you were. Right. That's why I understand that. Because there was no other. There was no spiritual. That's right. Okay. So now when you're in Christ. Yes. You do have a spiritual and a physical side, right? Right.

So all of who you are is not The thing about all of who you are in Adam, excuse me, all of who you were in Adam is now taken out of in Adam and being made in Christ. The new man is all of who you are in Christ. The new man is all of who you are in Christ. This is what we covered back in January. so that the new nature is the nature, the inclination to act and think of the new man.

Why do we still have the sin nature that pertains to the old man? We don't have the old man because you're no longer an Adam, but why do we have the sin nature that still pertains We've got this physical part of our body, which is why Paul will call it the sin nature in Romans, and the flesh in Galatians. The flesh is simply the sin nature acting through this body. Until we get a new body, the sin nature is still attached to this thing. It doesn't mean that the old man shows up. It doesn't mean that there is any old man still walking around, or any part of the old man. It is simply associated with and attached to this physical body.

The reason you still have a sin nature is God would have to kill you to get rid of it. Right? So he says, no, I still have a reason for those people to be around here on planet earth, and I'm not ready to give them a new body yet. So they're going to have to deal with the sin nature, but I've taken care of it. I have given the power and the new nature and the Holy Spirit and the life of Christ so that they can deal with that sin nature.

Titus 3, 4-7, with some retranslation and expanded and explained here. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, that is Christ, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, according to means what? Consistent with, right? consistent with His mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Christ our Savior, so that, being justified by His grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So there's this renewing going on, and we'll look more at what that's about. We're running out of time, so I am going to leave it to you to read the rest of it, except for the last paragraph, which is in the middle of page four.

As God conforms us to the image of his Son, the miracle is that God works all things together for that good end and purpose. Isn't it amazing, God can work all things, everything that's happening in the physical realm, even stuff going on in Libya, stuff going on in Washington, stuff going on over in Moscow, God can work all that together for the good that you're conformed to the image of the Son. Is everything that is happening good? Uh-uh. There's some really bad stuff happening. But that's okay in the sense that God can still use it to conform us to the image of the Son. We are free to say, you know, that's really bad. But we're also free to say, the Lord is going to use it for good. That's part one.

As God, through the Holy Spirit, transforms us into the image of His Son, the miracle is the Holy Spirit's supernatural work within us, using His written word, which is also a work of the Holy Spirit. So the miracle of conforming is that God works all things together for good. The miracle of transforming is a miracle He works in you. So what's happening is God is doing miracles all the time. For conforming, the miracle is that He happens to work all things together for good.

See that? It's the circumstantial as well as the ministry of the Holy Spirit activity that is miraculous to conform you. But when you're being transformed, which is toward the same end, that process, which the world has no equivalent to, nor Satan, nor the flesh, that transforming process is a miracle within you. See the difference there? So conforming is God working all things together for good. That's miraculous.

Transforming, God's doing a miracle within you and He's using the Holy Spirit and His written word. And that's what we're going to be looking at. Debbie? God is doing both of those things and each of us has an individual part in that. The difference is, transforming is specifically, and the renewing of your mind, is specifically centered on God's Word. And it is also specifically a result of the Holy Spirit's work.

So we'll be taking a look at that. Yes? To me that makes more sense when you can realize that that word means metamorphosis. And then when you think of the caterpillar and the butterfly, that's a miraculous change. new creation because it was a metamorphosis. Yeah, the analogies he's pointing to, conforming, the picture we get is here's somebody with a piece of sheet metal trying to make the sheet metal conform to maybe some other shape and you're going tap, tap, tap, tap, tap. The metamorphosis, that is the word that's used, for example, here's this, you know, egg to a worm to a, you know, cocoon to a butterfly.

That's the metamorphosis process. It's a different process. The end result of both the conforming and the transforming is the image of God's Son. But the processes are quite different. Both are miraculous, but in different ways. Yes? It is based on a conscious decision, and we'll talk about that.

One of the things is being transformed and being conformed, we are on the receiving end of both of those actions. God is the one who does the conforming. God is the one who does the transforming. But in each of those, we have choices to make. We have decisions to make in this virtual realm. So it's not like these are going to happen and it doesn't matter what you do. It does. But, ultimately, the conforming is a process that we are the recipients of. God does the conforming. God does the transforming. He's the one who does it. And so, ultimately, it's His to do.

Yes? So, in other words, for me, which is kind of heavy since Pat's first, it's kind of like going into surgery. Okay. In other words, you make the decision. Okay. You turn it over. Yeah. And so, you say, okay, I'm going to have the surgery. Right. And the surgeon does the work. And then even afterwards, after surgery, are there not things, oh, the doctor will say, OK, you've got physical therapy, or we've got to take this medication, or make sure you don't do this. Frequently, both before and after, there are things that we do. even though the surgery itself is, we're the recipients of the doctor's action. Similarly, we have a part in both conforming and transforming, but ultimately it's God who does the conforming and the transforming. Right? I can't say, boy, I'm going to transform myself and go, you know, nothing happened. Why? Because ultimately I'm the recipient of conforming and transforming. Yes. It's not the same word. Yeah. Yeah. He appears as an angel of light. Yeah. And all of a sudden we have a crowd of people moving towards the window. I have to cut it off. And so you can send each other happy conforming and happy transformation cards. I'm not sure Hallmark could get behind that. Okay, let's pray.

Lord, we thank you. As we get insight into this, we begin to see more and more. You are actively involved in our lives. When we see the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, all three persons of the Trinity are involved in who we have become and who we are continuing to become. And we're in awe and amazement of that. We thank you for what you're doing and we just pray for additional insights and understanding in the weeks ahead. We thank you in Jesus name. Amen.