Knowing and Growing – Being transformed – what is the believer’s part?
Vern Peterman · Jun 25, 2017
Knowing & Growing, No. 24
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492660542186

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

So we have this. Remember, we've had this pattern here, four weeks of being conformed. And our usual pattern for the first three weeks is to talk about, especially as we're now into the second topic, transformed and they're different things being. We talk about being conformed or transformed and just defining what is it, what the scriptures say that it is. Secondly, to say what is God's part. And then in this third week of looking at being transformed, what is our part in it? And one of the points we make is that we lay out our part in it because That's only done after, first of all, understanding what is this? Secondly, knowing what God's part is, so that we're neither assuming that God will do something that's not His part, or figuring that our part is all that there is. Being transformed, what is the believer's part?

So the central passage will return to that, 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. So what we've done in each case is to bold the part that is, like in last week, God's part.

And then this week, our part in the passage, which is, we all with unveiled face beholding as an Amir the glory of the Lord. So, let's take a look at each part of the sentence here, okay? So, we all with unveiled face. So, what's this we all thing? Is that some South, you know, Southern US expression? We all. We all, y'all, and all those, all y'alls, right? So why does he say we all?

As a matter of fact, as we look at the pattern, he says that a couple of times in 1 Corinthians chapters 8 and 10, Ephesians 4.13, and the book of James 3.2, this we all expression comes together. In every case it refers to believers. So when he says we all, he's referring to believers in each instance.

Okay, so then the next part there says with unveiled face. Now what does the unveiled face mean? Does that mean you have your makeup on and so you're not worried about it or you don't worry about makeup and so you just Yeah, so what's unveiled face talking about?

Basically salvation, isn't it? In the context, remember what earlier in the passage we referred to previously, the veil was over whose face initially? Moses, right? And at the first part, he had the veil on for what reason? Yeah, it was just like, hey, Moses, get something over you, I can't quite look at you, right? And it was too painful to look at, and so he put a veil on for that. After time, however, something else was going on that caused him to put the veil on.

It was fading, right? It was fading, so it covered the fading. Now we've got covering the fading. This is interesting, why is the glory fading? Why is the glory fading? It was interesting, the Bible doesn't say explicitly except that we observe that the glory was fading and it was fading under the introduction of the law. But what we see is, and this is where we mentioned last time, a figure of speech.

Paul uses a figure of speech to talk about something that is increasing. Glory to glory means one level of glory to the next. He uses similarly faith to faith. He also uses with the Corinthians life to life, death to death. So when something is changing and particularly increasing, He'll use that figure of speech.

So for the believer, is it a fading glory? It is not intended to be a fading glory. And then one more thing, Moses had the veil on first for the purpose of hiding the intensity and protecting the people from the intensity, next from seeing the fading character of the glory. But then where did the veil shift to in 2 Corinthians?

The heart. So it shifts then over the heart. Today when the law is read, the veil goes over their heart. So this is very interesting. It's no longer on Moses' face. This is over the heart. And Moses' face was veiled regarding the law and the glory of the law, one individual. Now, with it over the heart, is it over one individual?

All who hear and read the law. So it's almost like the law is the veil. Yes. And let's ask this. Am I bad-mouthing the law? No. No, it is not. So what's the problem with the law? Is the problem that the law is bad, bad, bad? No. And why would we say, no, the law is not bad, bad, bad?

Because it shows the perfection of God? Yeah, here is the Apostle Paul, he's talking about the Law, he's writing about it in Romans, and he says it's holy and righteous and good. Is not the Law of Moses completely inspired by God? It is a part of Scripture. It is revealed, as we've seen here and we'll see, revealed by angels. This is a passage out of Galatians. This is a passage out of Hebrews. I mean, is Hebrews 2 too? And we'll see it. Stephen himself makes this statement. Here we have something that was revealed through the mediation of angels. And so this is inspired by God. This is something God intended us to have.

We're not bad-mouthing the law. What's the problem with the law? And with no bad mouth being intended. It reveals sin and most certainly does that, does that make it bad? No, it reveals sin which is bad, right? And it reveals it in terms of it defines sin, it allows sin to be measured and accounted. Oh, adultery, three times, right? Lying, five times, right? So it allows sin to be measured, recognized, and accounted, right?

So the law does that. Is that a problem? Yeah, there's one thing and that people often get this wrong and the Jews got it wrong. The law can't save anybody. Why not? Yes, it's dependent upon us and through the law, how many people are going to get saved? Zippo, none, nada. So it does not have the capacity to save. It does, however, given man's state, have the capacity to condemn.

Yeah? So, in essence, God's glory and the law are the same. God's glory makes people uncomfortable. The law does the same thing. So let's go through this. The definition that we put out last week still holds. Glory is the radiant essence of who God is. We're going to see that in the main service here. Glory is the radiant essence of who God is.

And so what could be wrong with that? The difficulty is that the law through human beings has a fading glory. It cannot continue to be expressed as the radiant essence of who God is because of man. Not because of God, but because of man. So when we get into this passage, we all with unveiled faith, what does that tell us?

OK, what one is we're face to face. We don't have anything on the way. Right. OK, so this is one great point. The next thing, what does it tell us? We're not under the law. In other words, if the law is there, it creates you have this veil. Right. We all with unveiled face went under the law.

Why don't we just say, you know, hey, we've got to have some, maybe the ten, maybe ten plus one, a little bit tweaked to change it from Sabbath to Sunday. We've got to add tithing in there. What does that do? Putting us back under the law, you know, the veil is coming over again.

Right, and so we don't need mini law, micro law, okay? We don't need micro-law, and we don't also need micro-grace. We don't need some cut-back version of grace. Full on, full out, eternal grace, the grace that you and I will never catch on to as long as we're here on this planet, because He's going to show it to us, not ad nauseum, but infinity on into the ages to come. We need it all, and how much law do we need? We need zero law.

That's the provision that the Lord has made for us in the body of Christ. Now, in the Millennial Kingdom, will they be under the law? The Jews will be, but how is God going to answer the common need that we have along with the Jews, even though it's differently. They'll have the law written on their heart. It'll be by the universal, continuous indwelling of the Holy Spirit who will give them knowledge of the law and give them the enabling and empowering of the law.

The central passage of that New Covenant is Jeremiah 31, 31. Nice to have two numbers that square up together. But there are actually almost a dozen passages, and some of them fairly lengthy, in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Those three books have reference to the New Covenant.

So they will be enabled, empowered, and energized by the Holy Spirit to know and live out the law. We, however, are enabled, empowered, and energized to live apart from the law entirely. So mix and match is not what God had in mind. Yes? Would they still be able to not keep the law? Would there still be that condemnation? So here's the problem. The difficulty with the law now is that man is not up to it.

So in the Millennial Kingdom, the Jews, especially I would say those entering, because they'll all be believers, those will all be empowered to know and live out the law. And it's interesting, we don't have any indication that somehow there's a failure in that, but it's also only among the Jews, and each individual, as the Millennial Kingdom continues on, who is born, will have an individual choice to make. Yeah, at least initially the indication is that there will be universal knowledge and ability to live out the law. And some of the details on that were not given, but I'm sure the Lord will make it quite apparent as to explaining things that aren't explained to us.

So what we have here though, Whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. What does he mean turns to the Lord? Whenever a person turns to the Lord, was that true back in Isaiah's time? Was that true back in the time of Daniel? No, it was true since when?

Christ and the church was begun as we've been saying in Acts chapter 2. So you have a truth here that applies whenever a person turns to the Lord and is therefore a part of the body of Christ, the veil is taken away. So those who still have the veil, the sons of Israel, their minds, their heart are the ones who are not in Christ. have not turned to the Lord. When he says, we all with unveiled faces, does that include him? Paul? Sure seems like it, right? As you read it, right? And we all, right? Otherwise he just said, y'all. Y'all, yeah, yeah. You guys, you Gentile guys, right? So specifically, this is Jew or Gentile, we all, right? Yes.

Christ is working through the church right now. So if a Jew would have to become a Christian in this day and age to become saved. So he would have to have the veil removed, just like us, to be saved. And so let's ask this, if you have a group of Jewish Christians and they're trying to follow the law, is that what God has in mind? It doesn't work any better for them than it does for us. No, and then let's say you have non-Jewish Christians who are trying to follow the law, how well does that work?

It doesn't matter. So the reality is this is talking Jew or Gentile, either one, right? Either one. So here's Paul, the Pharisee, trained under Gamaliel, says, we all with unveiled face. Amazing. Rather astounding. 2.15, Jesus said, by abolishing units of flesh, the law of the commandments and ordinances.

I have a friend, a gal at work, who converted to Jewish faith. So she obeys all the ordinances and all that stuff. I've never asked her why. She would want to do that. But she feels good about it. So I figured, you know, she's a bunch of Jewish Christians. And they obey all these, I don't know about the commandments, but they do all the rituals and stuff. And I'm thinking, well, they don't sacrifice or anything. But I go, what's the point in all that? And I figured, you know, why argue with her?

It's not going to change. She wants to live in Israel once she retires. Israel was a phenomenal place to visit. I don't think I'd like to live there though. There will be a time I will be there. We all will be there. This is the we all, right? It's interesting to see the attraction to the land. My attraction is a little different, I would say. So anyway, looking at this here, let's take a look at page 2.

So, Beholding as in a Mirror the Glory of the Lord. Here is a mirror, and by the way this is a Corinthian mirror, at the British Museum. They've got several Corinthian mirrors on display there at the British Museum. Corinth was famous for its mirrors.

Its mirrors are not like today's as we have with a glass surface, smooth front and back and clear glass. And a second surface mirror it's called where the actual reflective surface is on the back of it. The mirrors in those days were made of metal and there was often enough tarnish that a lot of them would come with a polishing cloth of some kind on it in order to polish up the mirror each time. Because they would quickly become tarnished and then you could polish it up and make it clear enough so you could see yourself in it.

So anyway, so here's a Corinthian mirror. And interestingly, in both letters, Paul brings up mirrors, ones in 1 Corinthians 13. And in this case, beholding as in a mirror is actually one word. We have to multiply English words, but it's one word in the Greek, translated from just one Greek word. This word is used for looking into a polished first surface mirror that is not through glass that reflects on the back. So this explains why Paul, in both of his letters, would include reference to mirrors. In the first case, the noun mirror, and in this case, the verb beholding is in the mirror. So James, Jesus' half-brother, also made reference to mirrors.

So prove yourselves. This is James 1, 22 and 24, middle of page 2. But prove yourselves doers of the word, not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror. For once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was." So in each of the three passages, one in 1 Corinthians, here in 2 Corinthians, and the one in James, the mirror refers to the word of God.

So we have these bullets on the bottom of page two. Let's look at them. So the glory of the Lord is the radiant essence of who God is. Christ the Lord is deity and one person of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Next, all glory is derived from God, even if the glory that we see is impressive from a human perspective.

John made two mistakes towards the end of the book of Revelation. As the Lord gave him visions, he began in two instances worshipping angels. So the angels said, yeah, keep it up, right? In each case, what did the angels say? Don't worship me. You know, you get the wrong idea. And part of the problem, think about it. Here's John. He's on this heavenly scene. His perspective is not calibrated.

How do I tell the difference between the glory of this angel and the glory of the Lord? The reality is that the angel has glory from the Lord, and the Lord, by the way, if you think about this, does the Lord share his glory with us? Yes he does. We all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed He shares His glory with us. We, like the angels, but in different ways, are a secondary or reflected glory. It is from the Lord Himself. John 17 would be another example. Yes. Yes. Yes. And so, this glory thing is amazing. The Lord is concerned about it, concerned about That's something that we behold, that's something that we're transformed with, that we have a growing in. Yes?

I've noticed that through reading through even the Old Testament and the New Testament that God's glory is terrifying to believers. Daniel himself just cowered to the ground and almost fell dead. Mary was just terrifying. The two Roman soldiers at Jesus' tomb, for unbelievers, it's just so terrifying that they passed out. But even for believers, it's terrifying that we don't pass out.

Well, and let's look at it. Here's the Apostle John. Imagine, he's roughly 80-ish. Here's the Apostle John. He's on the Isle of Patmos. He sees the Lord glorified for the first time in over half a century. He has not seen the Lord for half a century. And all of a sudden, he's looking at the Lord and what does he do? He says he falls down as a dead man. He just is overwhelmed by it. Even a believer can be overwhelmed by this story. So you'll see a similar kind of response even among believers. Just overwhelming.

Now, one of the things that we point out here, glory in 2 Corinthians 3, teen speaks of glory, but not as a commodity. We can't go up to the counter and say, hey, give me five pounds of that there glory stuff and wrap it up. This is a gift. You can't do that, can you? It's not a commodity. You know, buy it and trade it on the open market. I can't, you know, pass it on.

This is something... Because why? It's the radiant essence of who God is. It's personal. It's personal. Mike has pointed out that grace is not a commodity either. Yeah. And as I was saying, when you look at the character of God, there is nothing about God's character that is a commodity. And why is that? Why is there nothing about God's character that's a commodity? Pardon?

One is if He gives it, He gives it freely, okay? Good point. And what else? Alright, so it goes along with gives it freely, can't be bought and sold, right? We have people who exchange huge amounts of money based on buying and selling commodities and commodity futures and all sorts of things. You can't do that with any of the attributes of God.

It's essential to Him. I can't slice off a chunk and put it in a box. And it's personal. It's essential to who He is. We can't take it and give it to somebody else. Only He can give it. So He has designed a means here, that we're looking at here, for us to share His glory, but it's not as a commodity. It's His personal sharing with us. His personal growing with us.

So on the top of page 3 we have, so now progressing from permanent relationship or position to ongoing fellowship with Christ or condition is by the written word of God. So our relationship to the word of God is intended to be personal. See, a lot of people, they'll look at the Word of God and, you know, it's something... I mean, think about it, my hard drive is really, really spiritual, right?

It has all kinds of Bible stuff on it. But it really can't be canon. And why not? My hard drive is not being conformed to the image of the Son. Or transformed, and it can't behold the Lord. The fact that my hard drive knows a lot of things about the Lord doesn't do anything spiritually either, does it? Yes, so it's a personal, it's personal, that's one aspect of it, it's personal, And the other thing is it's family, but it's not family like I was talking about last week. I really enjoy studying genealogical things and going back into decades and even centuries past. Nancy and I seem to be the keeper of family memorabilia from times past, and that's kind of cool.

But the reality is God has no grandchildren. God has no nephews. So it's a direct birth? We have direct relationship or no relationship at all. We have direct relationship with the Lord or no relationship at all. There isn't a descended relationship.

As I look back and I say, this is really great I've got my great-great-great-grandparents buried down in Colorado Springs. His name was George Washington De La Verne, born the year after George Washington died, named after him. So that's really cool, right? Yeah, it is in earthly terms.

But heavenly, there is no such, you know, my great-great, there is no great-greats, there is no nephews, there is no any of that. But we all have a direct relationship with the Lord, in terms of the family. We are Christ's brethren. So that's different. As interesting as studying genealogies and family histories might be, this is radically different, and it's different forever. Let's ask this question.

Is this beholding the Lord through his word, Is that an imperative? We all, with open face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed. Is that an imperative, as it's written? Is it stated as an urging? I urge that you... Is it stated that way? I think he's telling how it happened. OK, he's telling how it happens. What if it doesn't? Yeah, it's an interesting thing.

Even with there is no command be conformed. And there is no command, you know, behold. You must behold, you better get doing it, right? There isn't any command in that. Yeah, Jessica? Yeah, I would say it's not written as an imperative, but if you don't do it, then it doesn't happen. So that's why I said yes, it's an imperative.

So as we look at conformed and transformed, and they're different things, they're actually entirely different processes. They're both in the direction, as we pointed out last week, they're both in the direction of being made into the image of Christ. But they are accomplished by very different means. And one, being conformed is predestined, being transformed is not. So very interesting contrast between them.

Yes? Being conformed is an imperative, isn't it? Actually, no. Actually, no. So interesting, neither of them are stated as an imperative. And so when we come into this, hmm, so does that mean that the beholding happens automatically? It just happens? No. So here's a very interesting thing. It's not an urging, it's not an imperative. Paul seems to be describing what happens, but let's ask, are every single one of the Corinthians being transformed all the time, every time, no exceptions? Well, let's say, suppose this is we all with unveiled face.

What if I go in there and, you know, yeah, I like these laws, especially this 10. Is that going to improve or inhibit my being transformed, or is it neutral? I think it would inhibit. Yeah, the indication we get from the passage is it's inhibiting. So working really hard at keeping the ten is not transforming.

It's putting on a veil I don't need to put on. Yeah, as a matter of fact, that's something we'll be looking at even in this morning's message, that quenching the Holy Spirit, real interesting, it shows up, Paul writes to the Thessalonians, at the same time he also writes, let's see, I'm trying to think, that's out of Isaiah, is also quenching the Holy Spirit. So, real interesting. But in a New Testament context, it appears to be a quenching or rebellion, that's the Isaiah context, a quenching of the Holy Spirit's ministry for us to say, no Lord, don't worry, I got this. I'm going to pull it off and you'll just be real impressed with how I do.

Well, the Corinthians had so many problems, you know, with sexual immorality and idol worship and all that stuff. It doesn't seem like they were being transformed very fast. So here, so Paul writes that here is an act in progress. And by the way, that's the way much of 1 and 2 Peter Not all of it, but much of 1 and 2 Peter, the things that we'd ordinarily say are urged or imperative, are often written in 1 and 2 Peter as an action in progress. As we're beholding, as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, we're being transformed into the same image, the Lord's image. from glory to glory increasing. This is the work of the Lord who is the Holy Spirit. So those passages where he and other authors of scripture simply use an imperative or make the action in an active voice.

Here's Philippians 4, 8, and 9 at the bottom of page 3. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, and I would point out that after whatever is true, the verbs are dropped out in the Greek. So there's actually a and what's called an ellipsis, whatever is true, whatever honorable, whatever right, whatever pure, whatever lovely, whatever of good repute, if there's any excellence or anything worthy of praise, and then it says dwell on a lot of our translations, but it's actually the same word used in Romans 6.11, consider or reckon, and so the usual reading of it, if we translate it just dwell, It kind of gives the idea that you're supposed to sit there and meditate on it and hover over it. But that's actually not the meaning of the word.

The meaning of the word, it's, to begitsimize, the same word, and it's also an imperative, an active imperative, implying an act of the will. As an act of will, draw a logical conclusion from whatever is true and right and lovely and worthy of praise. Let your mind consider and draw a logical conclusion based on those things. The things that you have learned, active, and received, active, and heard, active, and seen, active in me, practice, an active imperative, imply an active will, these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

Here's what's interesting, if you look at the word learned, In the New Testament, it almost always is an active voice. So we kind of have this mentality, teach me, and it's sort of a passive thing. Scripture does not generally refer to learning in that way. I can see it again and again. This is one of those. It's an active thing, actively learning. All right, let's take a look at page four.

And then here's 2 Timothy 2.15, Be diligent, here's another active imperative, implying an act of will, to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. There are two cultural word pictures that I'll use in this word that's translated accurately handling. A lot of times the King James has dividing, so people use that to snip up the times and the dispensations and all that. But the word actually was used among tent makers, surprise surprise, here's Paul writing to Timothy, among tent makers to describe cutting the material that you're going to make a tent of with along the pattern lines and cutting accurately.

So that when you put the tent pieces together and sew them together, you don't have gaps. You don't like those in a tent, right? And you don't have a bunch of flaps. No gaps, no flaps. But you have a good fit. Everything fits together as it ought to because you cut accurately along the pattern lines. So what happens if you don't cut accurately? Yeah, you've got something that's not quite the way it ought to be. You've got this loose flap hanging, or worse yet, the gap, right?

And so that's the word that he's using here. The word was also used by Roman road engineers, and I'm sure Paul and Timothy both walked a lot of Roman roads, right? Roman road engineers for laying out a roadway such that you had good alignment of the road and good balance of cut and fill. So accurately laying that out was another way that this word was used. So it kind of gives you some word pictures to work with that as I look at the Word of God and look at it carefully with looking at the parts and pieces that I am then able to look at it and put it together accurately handling, as the tent maker or the road builder, accurately handling the word of God, which implies something else. Is it possible to be inaccurate? Yes, it is, right? And so the intent of diligence is that you accurately assemble these things.

By the way, if I go through the book of Acts starting in chapter 6 and then continue on through the New Testament, how many the faiths are there? There is one intended meaning of scripture. One intended meaning. Ever run into a situation where different Bible scholars will have different opinions on something? Is that where God wants things to end up? No. So, the faith, one intended meaning, that's what God has in mind.

Okay, so let's take a look here at the next one, Hebrews 12, 1-3. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside, that's active, every encumbrance and thus sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run, active, with endurance the race that is set before us. Fixing, active voice, our eyes on Jesus. So we just kind of let our eyes wander and they happen to snap on to Jesus?

No, so it's an active, deliberate fixing our eyes upon Jesus. affixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary of his heart. So here's Peter, and realize Peter is not inclined generally to use imperatives. So when he does use one, he's really being emphatic, isn't he? So 1 Peter 2, 1 through 3, therefore putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, like newborn babes long for, there's an active imperative, implying an act of will, the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.

How do you grow in respect to salvation? Is that by trying really hard to be a good person? Is that by, boy, every time the church doors are open, I make sure I'm there. And if we have home Bible studies, I go to all of them. What is he intending here? It's growing into our position, everything that we already have. Right, but it's understanding our position too, right? By the pure milk of the Word. And so we understand what God's Word is, and we understand what it's saying, and it's focused on Him, Christ.

So long for active imperative. So this is interesting. When you think of longing, do you think of an active imperative? To long for is an act of will. You must long for the Pyrrha Melchior word. Then 2 Peter 3, 17 and 18, You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard, that's an imperative, implying an act of will, so that you are not carried away by the error of an unprincipled man and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow, that's an imperative, implying an act of will, in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

So what's the imperative there in verse 18? grow, right? So let's ask this, do you have a part in growing, or is that just something God does? Well, it's an act of our will. Yeah, there is an act of will called for in our part, and so the question is, how do I do that?

Does a child go and, I'm going to grow, you know? Is that how they grow? Well, if they hang from a bar. And it might stretch him out pretty good, right? Yeah. So one of the things you see here, here's this rather astounding thing, grow as an imperative. But it's Peter himself, back in 1 Peter 2, 1 through 3, that points to the Word of God as the instrument for that growth. And of course, we're going to get on to the word grow as a, what's the definition?

What's God's part? What's our part? We'll get there. But just noticing that the Word of God is essential to these things and we have, though certainly, where did the Word of God come from? Did I generate it? No. But we have very clear statements in here that I, in my interaction with the Word of God, have an active part. Him having done everything that He has done and is doing.

And by the way, I can't grow by myself, can I? Even having a Bible. If I just say, here's a Bible, and here, grow. That isn't going to work, is it? You allow the words in there to change you. So there is an active point on our part, and that's what the passages we've been looking at here. There's an active point on our part for God to carry out what he has already put in place and designed and intended from the beginning. So what we have here in this approach to the written word of God and the Lord Jesus Christ that scripture calls us to so that we might behold the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and thereby be transformed.

And remember we said being conformed also has no imperative to it. You've got to be conformed. It also has no imperative to it, and it also, God works all things. The all things includes all sorts of things. In being transformed, it's specifically focused upon God's work. See the distinction there? Both conformed and transformed are processes in which the Lord's doing and His carrying these things out are absolutely essential. But they're two entirely different processes, and in both of those we have a part, but only in response and responding to what God has already done and is doing. Yes. Would you say both of them take an act of our will? Yes. And I would say especially it's clear here in beholding the Word and responding to the Word of God that there is an act of will on our part.

But it of course is entirely in the context of what he has done and is doing. But as we put it before, you know, God has done everything, all we did was believe, and from then on we're spending the rest of our lives catching up to what he already did. You know, the Lord's going to take us through all sorts of things, this is the all things, all kinds, and a lot of them I wouldn't sign up for.

We're going to see Stephen, And he's in a situation, I mean, a lot of us would think, how do I get out of this mess? And he has, he's given the opportunity by the high priest to defend himself. He doesn't. You know, so this is, here's a guy who is filled with the Spirit, says before and right at the end of the passage, he's filled with the Spirit. And he steps right into trouble.

Now why does he condemn the Pharisees? You know what I'm saying? You vile, uncircumcised, you know what I'm saying? He didn't have to do that. No he didn't. And I think that's something for us to take a look at. And is it the believer's continuous place to go around just being an instigator? To go around getting people all stirred up and ticked off at you? It isn't. So this isn't some, hey, my job is always to go around getting people upset at me.

But in his instance, very clearly the Holy Spirit had him say these things even though his life would end minutes later. Just amazing. I think as we look at this here, the Lord is doing some astounding things in us. In essence, everything is miraculous. It is by God's intervention that I'm being conformed. It is by God's intervention that I'm being transformed. Both of those are God's miraculous intervention and doing constantly. He is always doing those things and I have a place to respond actively in both of those. Really, really amazing what the Lord has designed.

And it's all designed, is it designed so that we're all done here and everything's finished and looks good here. No, that's not the case. We're ultimately to be conformed to the image of the sun, and when's that going to get finished? When we're done here.

So this is a getting ready kind of place, and I think that's a key perspective. This is a getting ready kind of place, meanwhile God is intervening in the lives and hearts of believers constantly as we respond to his conforming and transforming by responding to the Lord and loving Him through whatever is going on and as we behold the Lord Jesus Christ through His Word. What an amazing thing. And to consider both of those are miraculous interventions on God's part. Daily. It's neat stuff. It's really astounding.

Alright, let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your Word. We thank you especially as we see that you intend to use your Word to transform us miraculously, that it is one of the many works of your Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, one that you intend, and one in which the law has no enhancement to offer. And we thank you for this. It is being conformed and transformed, both by grace and grace alone. And we just thank you for these things. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.