Well, what a joy it is to be able to minister the word of God to you again this morning. So if you will take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter three, if you have not been with us, we are making our way verse by verse through this epistle. And this morning, we will be looking at Second Corinthians three, beginning in verse 17. Ultimately, we're going to go through verse six of chapter four, but it's going to take a few times to do that. So I am starting, probably it will be a two, maybe a three part, series on beholding the glory of the Lord.

Now before I read the text, and we begin to look at it closely, I know that that many of you are frustrated, you're frightened as we continue to watch what's happening in our country. It's as though America is in a freefall of anarchy and immorality. The diabolical and clearly stated Marxist agenda of the Black Lives Matter movement is even being embraced by many so-called evangelicals. That movement, by the way, is really rooted in a Hegelian Dialectic, a material worldview. It's a philosophical worldview. Hegel was a, a German philosopher, Marx picked up on that. And ultimately, they believe...that philosophical view believes that there's no such thing as absolute truth. That truth is always evolving; that new truths come up and has to replace the old truths. You see that, by the way, in the fight over the Constitution. It's kind of like, well, that's outdated. We've got no truth now. So let's, let's do things differently now. And ultimately, that's at the root of what's going on with the Black Lives Matter movement. Marx took that to an extreme. He believed that you had to have a revolution to get the new truth to come forward. And obviously, these people reject the Bible, the Word of God, as being the authoritative source of truth. And for them, you worship the state, you don't worship God. And of course, Biblical Christianity cannot coexist with that kind of a system. It's frightening communist regimes that have embraced this type of thing historically; have killed over 100 million people. So I don't want you to be naive as to what's really going on here. The Black Lives movement is committed to something way beyond racial justice, social justice, social equality; they’re committed to Marxism. They believe that they must, for example, disrupt the nuclear family.

I was reading some of their website and their positions. They say, "we disrupt the Western prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families,” end quote, "villages that collectively care for one another, especially our children." That translates into government control of your children and their education. They want to end private education, have the community control the curriculum, you know, abolish the police, reparations for black people, redistribution of wealth, and certainly one of their big things as the advancements of their sexual agenda--the LGBTQIA plus movement, they've added IA plus, that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual.

I read an article last night in the Wall Street Journal. It's entitled "The Abolition of Man and Woman." It's written by Crawford and Hanby. I would encourage you to read it. They are condemning the Supreme Court ruling in Bostock versus Clayton County. The ruling holds that sexual orientation and identity are included in the definition of sex under the title seven of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Just very briefly, the underlying assumption in the ruling is that a man who identifies as a woman might really be a woman. That to be a woman is a mental state, not a biological state. Gender has nothing to do with our embodiment at birth as a male or female. It's arbitrarily determined by a subjective sense of quote, "identity." That's at the core of what they're saying here. The author's arguing against that say, quote, "If each of us is defined by a," quote, "gender identity related only arbitrarily to sex, we are all transgender now." Folks, this is Romans 1:28--"And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper." Well, certainly the movement that we see out there, especially with the Black Lives movement, and the Antifa movement, this is at the core of all of this. And so now, we have angry mobs of Marxists seeking to take control. They say they want justice; they say they want equality. But what they really want is privilege and power, they want reward without responsibility. You know, if you see yourself as oppressed, then that gives you the right to go take things from other people, and so forth. And what they want is way beyond big government, what they want is a totalitarian regime. If you'll notice, by the way, most of the quote "protesters" are white, educated, millennial women, who are grief stricken over their white guilt and their white privilege. Folks, these people need our love, they need our prayers, they need the gospel, and we need to give it to them. We need to be bold and give it to them. And where's the church and all of this? I've had several people ask me, can you be a Christian and support the Black Lives Matter movement, for example? And I think the answer is well, yes, you probably could, but you would have to be seriously misinformed; seriously lacking in biblical discernment. You would have to be the worldly Christian, that Paul spoke about in First Corinthians three, controlled kind of by your flesh, immature babes in Christ. But folks, most of the church today is not Christian. You must understand that most of the church today consists of pseudo-Christians that are Christian in name only. Jesus warned about this, for example, in Matthew seven, they have no spiritual discernment. They've not been born of the Spirit, they're still spiritually dead.

I remember a number of years ago, when the Purpose Driven Life book first came out, I read that and I thought to myself, and I know I shared it with many of you, I thought, this is one of the most clever satanic deceptions that I have ever read. Because it says so many wonderful things, about how we can be happy, we can have purpose in our life, but it never tells you how because it never gave the gospel. It never explained how we have violated God's holy law, his wrath abides upon us, we are utterly unable to save ourselves. It never explained what sin really is. It never explained repentance. It never explained God's wrath. It never explained hell or any of those things. And so what happens is many people rush through in hordes, they rush through the wide gate, start traveling down the broad way that leads to destruction. People fill up churches that are not born again. And like so many of the seeker sensitive new movement, they see people that come to church as consumers. And the gospel is the product. And the pastor has to be the salesman. And so you have to make the product appealing to the people. And so you've got to do things to it, kind of massage it, so everybody's gonna like it. Of course, that is just blatantly unbiblical. And you see what has happened now. So ultimately, Jesus died on the cross to save us from our unhappiness. So it's no surprise that so many professing evangelicals believe and buy into and support some of the things that we're seeing today.

Again, before we look at the text, I just want to remind you of something. In first Corinthians 2:14, we read a "natural man." In other words, an unregenerate man, a person that has never been truly born again, "does not accept the things of the Spirit of God." Does not accept them, "for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot,"-- not that he will not--"he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." That term "spiritually appraised"--"anakrino," it was a judicial term, it was used to describe a judicial investigation. It meant to examine, to scrutinize, to discern, to evaluate. People apart from Christ cannot do that. They have no capacity to render a decision because they cannot discern the facts. Why? Because they're bereft of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is not dwelling within you, you're not going to be led into truth and holiness. And so they are bereft of illuminating grace, if you will, and are therefore utterly incapable of spiritual discernment; and that's much of the church today. Finley says, quote, "The unspiritual are out of court as religious critics. They are deaf men judging music." Powerful. So you wonder why so many ostensibly evangelicals embrace so many of these crazy things that are out there, things that God forbids? Because they're not saved. They're of the world and the world loves its own. "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him," First John 2:15. They belong to their father, the devil. They're "Christian" in name only, Matthew seven. Jesus said in John 8:47, "'He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason, you do not hear them, because you are not of God.'" Of course, Jesus said in John 10:27, "'My sheep hear my voice,'" and what do they do? "'They follow Me.''"

So whenever I listened to the incoherent and irrational and emotional rants of the progressive leftists and the unbiblical babble of liberal evangelicals that support them, I'm reminded of so many things, but especially this last week, I was just reminded of Proverbs one and verse seven. "The fear of the Lord," is what? It's "the beginning of wisdom." That's where it has to start. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 18:7, "A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul." So I thought about this, I looked up biblically, the concept of a fool and here's what you will find. I won't give you all of the references. But fools biblically, are without the knowledge of God, they deny God, blaspheme God, mock sin, hate knowledge and wisdom, die for a lack of wisdom. They feed on foolishness, display their folly, produce folly, make sport of mischief, walk in darkness, hate to depart from evil, their worship is evil to God. They're described as corrupt and abominable. They're self-sufficient, self-confident, self-deceived, mere professors of religion, full of words given to quarreling, slanderers, liars, slothful, angry, contemptuous, proud, they come to shame, they destroy themselves by their speech, companions of fools, will be destroyed. The lips of a fool is a snare to his soul, they will cling to their folly, worship idols, trust in their own hearts. When they hear the gospel, they will not obey it, their mouths pour out folly, and to honor them is unbecoming. God has no pleasure in them, they shall not stand in the presence of God, and believers should avoid them. The other thing I always think about when I contemplate these things is, were it not for God's grace, I would be in a fool's paradise, just like all the rest of them, and so would you. And therein we celebrate the gospel. And folks, this is why people need the gospel. And I hope you are burdened for these people. I hope you're praying for them. Titus three and verse three, the apostle Paul says, "For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope, of eternal life." And its to this gospel that we now turn, all right? It's to this glorious gospel that we turn, as we examine the words of the Apostle Paul here in Second Corinthians three.

Now, let me remind you that here we are learning from the beleaguered apostle that has been slandered so severely by false apostles that have been come into the church at Corinth, preaching a false gospel, trying to mix old covenant with new. And some of the dear people that he loved had bought some of their lies, and he's trying to defend himself. These are vicious wolves devouring the sheep. And here in this particular section of Scripture, we learn how the apostle Paul, and I might say millions of others, were able to endure seasons of great sorrow, and great danger. And frankly, we're in that today, and I fear it's gonna get much worse. Let me ask you, if somebody came to you and say, Alright, you know, I'm a Christian, you're a Christian, I'm curious. What do I need to do to find joy and sorrow? How can I find strength in weakness? How can I find peace in peril? How can I somehow triumph over trouble? What would you tell them? Well, obviously, it's the gospel. Well, yes, I believe the gospel but what else should I do? Well, the apostle Paul is going to answer that. And ultimately, the answer is in the title of my discourse to you. The answer is, we do this by beholding the glory of the Lord, by looking at the face of Christ as he is revealed in his word in the Bible. This is what Paul did, and this is what we must do. We don't look to our political leaders; we need to look to Christ. And we see him in the Word of God.

So with that background, let me read the text to you, Second Corinthians three beginning in verse 17. "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. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the hidden things because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond servants for Jesus sake. For God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts, to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

This is such a precious, it's such a practical passage of scripture that speaks to our hearts. And here we see the power of seeing Christ, learning of Christ, knowing Christ as we look at him in the word of God. And certainly this was Paul's great concern for the believers there in Corinth because they were being led astray by these false teachers that were having them look to the law, rather than looking to the new covenant that reveals Christ. So it's a very, very important passage of Scripture. He wanted them to look to the Lord. In the old covenant, people could only see a tiny portion of God's glory, but the veil is lifted in the new covenant. That's Paul's argument here. And when the blinding light of God's shekinah glory encompassed Saul on the road to Damascus, later became Paul, he suddenly saw the light of the glory of God revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a magnificent scene that would have been. And suddenly he realized that all of his law keeping was for naught. All that mattered was the glory and the grace of Jesus.

The new covenant lifted the veil of God's glory from his eyes, we read about this for example, in Hebrews one beginning in verse one. The writer says, "God after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." Now none of us have had a Damascus Road experience, at least not to my knowledge. I haven't been blinded by the shekinah glory of the living God. But you know, we're all still able to see the glory of Christ, as he is revealed in his word. That's the power of the word. That's where Paul was going in this argument.

And what we see here in Second Corinthians is the importance of seeing Christ in Scripture. And I've broken it down so that there are basically five amazing realities in the life of a believer that occurs when you see Christ in scripture. We're gonna see five things. Number one, seeing Christ in scripture reveals the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, it transforms believers into the likeness of Christ. And those are the two that we're going to deal with today, okay? But let me give you the other three. Seeing Christ in scripture emboldens believers to stand firm in their faith in Christ. It motivates believers to renounce sin, pursue holiness, and proclaim the truth of Christ, and it dispels the darkness of sin and ignorance concerning the person and work of Christ. If you just look at the verbs there, seeing Christ in scripture reveals, transforms, emboldened, motivates and dispels. What a magnificent set of truths these are.

So let's be reminded again of the context here. If we go back to verse 16, Paul was saying that whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, suddenly a person will be able to see that the Old Covenant law is over, the New Covenant of the Spirit, it has begun. Then in verse 17, he summarizes this, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." And indeed, it is the Spirit's work of regeneration that causes us to be born again, as he said, in verse six of chapter three. He is the one that takes away the veil that obscured the glory of God in the face of Christ. We're going to see this in verse 16. And when this happens, truly, there is liberty; we suddenly see the liberty of saving grace, we see the liberty from the bondage of sin, the liberty from the condemning tyranny of the law that we could never ever keep. We see the liberty from Satan's dominion, liberty from the fear of death, and so forth. And then in verse 18, he says this, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord," I want to stop there. This brings us to the first little point in my outline, number one, seeing Christ in Scripture reveals the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, let me explain the background here. Remember, after Moses had been in the presence of God, he had to wear a veil over his face, in order to prevent himself from just terrifying the Israelites when they saw the glory of God emanating from his face, it was a terrifying glow. But whenever he would return, to talk with the Lord, he would take the veil off. He would remove the veil. And what Paul was saying here is that because of the new covenant, all believers can do the same. We can all take off the veil now, we can all see the glory of God; we can all enter into the presence of God with an unveiled face, so to speak, not only to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, but also to experience some measure of that same transformation. One that will ultimately result in our glorification. What does John say on First John three, verse two? "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be." And he adds this, "We know that when He appears, we will be," here it is, "like Him,"--"like Him, because we will see Him just as He is." Moreover, beholding the Lord Jesus Christ in Scripture is like looking in a mirror, where we have a visible representation, or a reflection of our own image. And when we look in a mirror, we can take our time, we can see all the specific aspects of our reflection and some of those things aren't all that great. Every year I have to go to the skin doctor to have certain things frozen, precancerous things from being in the sun so much over the course of my life. And I'll always ask her "What about this brown spot?," "What about that?" No those are okay, that's just part of it. So in other words, he's just gonna have to live with it right? Or wear makeup. And no, I will not wear makeup. So anyway, the point here is, now we can see Christ in Scripture, but we're not going to be disappointed because we're not going to see any blemishes. But there's an intimate view here. Now think about it. How did you come to know Christ? Well, somebody gave you the gospel. Somebody gave you the Word of God, John 5:39. Jesus said, The scriptures "testify of Me", we would never know really who Christ is apart from his word. Acts 18:28. Paul, it says, vigorously "refuted the Jews publicly showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ." And Paul reminded Timothy, that it was, quote, "The sacred writings that are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus," Second Timothy 3:15. And in First Corinthians 15, three, Paul says, "For I delivered to you as a first importance"-- In other words, here's the priority--"what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures." So we see Christ in Scripture, it revealed his glory.

But will you notice another astounding truth here at the end of verse 18. Let me just read the whole verse. "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." What an amazing statement. All believers are being changed into the likeness of Christ. It's absolutely astounding. The likeness of Christ as we see him mirrored in Scripture. This means that seeing Christ in Scripture, not only reveals the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, but secondly, it transforms believers, into the likeness of Christ. The word "transformed," in the Greek its "metamorphoo." We get our word "metamorphosis" from that. It means to be changed in an outward appearance. And in this context here, unlike the fading glory of Moses, believers have an ever-increasing glory, because of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us; who is progressively transforming us into the image of Christ. And grammatically, this transformation is in the present tense, meaning it is an ongoing, it is a continuous, it is a a progressive, transformation.

But now, here's where it gets really, really exciting, what is it that facilitates this gradual metamorphosis? What produces this ongoing change? And the answer is "beholding as in a mirror." Really fascinating, "beholding"-- "katoptrizo" in the original language. And here, grammatically, is what we call a present participle, making it the means by which we are continuously, progressively, being transformed into the image of Christ. This is what some define as, quote, "transformation by vision." In other words, the more we behold the image of Christ, as he is revealed in Scripture, the more we become like him. Absolutely astounding. And one day, this transformation will be fully and finally accomplished. Boy, I'm looking forward to that day, I know you are as well. It will no longer be a gradual, progressive change. It will be instantaneous, and it will be complete. First Corinthians 13, verse 12, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then,"-- in other words, when we see Christ, --"I will know fully just as I also have been fully known." And in chapter 15, verse 49, "Just as we have borne the image of the earthly, we will also bear the image of the heavenly." Oh dear friends, the glory of the gospel, the glory of it all. I mean, think about this, at regeneration the process begins when he makes us new creatures in Christ. He changes our desires, the process of sanctification begins, Gradually, sin loses its power over us. Gradually, we begin to manifest the fruits of the Spirit fruits of obedience. But we've got to understand this in light of Paul's argument, he's making a contrast here, he's making a contrast between Jews who only saw a tiny portion of the glory of God, emanating from the face of Moses. Remember, Moses could only see a tiny portion. And then he comes down off the mountain, and he's glowing so much that he has to cover his face. But yet, still, they're only seeing a tiny portion of what Moses saw. And so the contrast here is that Moses had to cover his face, but the glory of God, bear this in mind, now remained outside of them. The glory of God did not take up residence within them. The Spirit of God did not come to live with him permanently. There was no change of nature, they were not made new creatures in Christ, so to speak. But because of the Spirit's internal work of regeneration under the New Covenant, he causes us to be born again. He raises us to walk in newness of life. And now we can behold the glory of God in the face of Christ, by seeing his radiance in Scripture.

Moreover, the radiance of God's glory, on the face of Moses gradually faded, right? Gradually faded. But the glory of God that now resides in the believer, by the power of the indwelling Spirit is reflected in the life of the believer, and it gradually increases in brilliance over time. This is Paul's argument. What a brilliant, Holy Spirit inspired argument it is. It's just overwhelming. And the more you gaze upon Christ in Scripture, the more you become like him. The more you contemplate his glory, his person, his work; the more you become like him, and the more his glory will emanate from you, the more your life will redound to His glory. Folks, that's why it's so important to study the Word of God, to meditate upon the word of God, to know it, to live it, to pray it, to preach it. In regeneration we’re instantly justified forever. Our sanctification is a progressive process. An ongoing transformation that is affected by, quote "beholding, as in a mirror the glory of the Lord." The Greek grammar helps us understand that. This happens until our final and complete glorification at the consummation of all things. I don't get too excited about a lot of things, at least externally, but let me tell you, in my heart, I am really excited. Okay? I hope you can see that. And I hope you share that. Again, I go back to the end of First John three, "We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, that's just overwhelming to me, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is." And then in verse three, he says, "And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." Beloved, don't miss this. At salvation we're raised from spiritual death to spiritual life. And this transformation of the inner man occurs immediately. All right? Just like that. However, over time, we're gradually going to become more like Christ, but only in proportion to our willingness to behold the glory of Christ as he is revealed in his Word, the Bible. The reason so many Christians today don't look much like Christ is because they don't know very much about him. Well, they might have a head knowledge. But even at that it's weak. Colossians 3:10, Paul says "Put on the new self, who was being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him." And this is why Paul even likened his passion for ministry to a woman who was about to give birth to a child. He said in Galatians 4:19 "I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you." And folks, this is why our number one priority in life should be to run "toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus," Philippians three. And what is that prize? What's the ultimate? It's Christ likeness. May I ask you? Is this the goal of your life? Is this the priority of your life to become more like Christ? If not, why not? Can you not see that by beholding Christ in Scripture, not only will you begin to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in ways that you never have before, but also by doing that you're going to be transformed more and more into his likeness.

I want to camp on this a bit more by taking you to Romans chapter 12. And we'll stay here for the next few minutes until I'm finished. In Romans chapter 12. I'm just going to kind of hit the highlights here. In verse one, Paul urges believers, "to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." And then he tells us how to do this. Very, very important. If you wonder, well, how can I do that? How can I present my body living in a holy sacrifice, which is my spiritual service of worship? Well, here's at least one of the major themes to help you understand that. Verse two, and "do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." In other words, this is how we give our mind to him; our way of thinking, our disposition, our manner of thought, our attitudes. He says, "Do not be conformed,"-- "syschematizo" in the original language. It was a term that came to mean a masquerade or a mask, playing a role, putting on an act according to a script, a schema. And "syschematizo" is a term that refers to assuming an outward expression, or a form that does not accurately reflect what is on the inside, that does not come from within. It does not reflect an inward reality. It's the idea of being something on the outside that you're not on the inside. And as we look at the term exegetically, the prefixed preposition "sun," S U N, dds to the meaning of the verb that is the idea of assuming an expression, or assuming a form that is pattern after something, namely the world. And so what he's saying here is, do not allow something on the outside to shape you in such a way that it does not accurately reflect who you are on the inside, your inner nature. In other words, don't be something on the outside, that you're not on the inside.

By the way, who are we on the inside? We're a new creature in Christ, we've been clothed in the righteousness of Christ, we saw a little glimpse of the glory of Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, a glimpse of the glory that we will one day share. Now, what's fascinating in this text, is that the verb is passive, it's not active. So in other words, the shaping, this conforming, this molding, if you will, is not something you will choose to do. But it will be something that you will allow to happen to you, really without even knowing it is going on. And what's that? The world is going to shape you into its image. This is what Satan does all the time. He provides a world system that shapes us into his image. And what is the world this term "age"? Well, it's this world system dominated by Satan, all of the things that he does to thwart the purposes of God. So he's saying here, if you're going to present yourself as a living and a holy sacrifice that's acceptable to God, do not let the world shape you into its image, stop allowing yourself to be shaped by Satan, stop masquerading, therefore, in the garments of this world; adopting its styles, its habits, its attitudes, its mannerisms, its speech and so forth. I like the JB Phillips, famous translation, "Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold." Boy, it's so easy to do, isn't it? Linhart says, quote, "What madness it is to join in this puppet show, which is displayed on a tottering stage. Christians have been introduced into the life of the world to come. What a tragedy then, if they conform to the perishing world they have left." And remember, Satan orchestrates this world system in an effort to destroy you, to destroy your family, to destroy your marriage, to destroy your kids; make monsters out of your children, to destroy your testimony, to destroy your power, to destroy the church. And this has been going on for millennia. Think of the ingenious ways he has of doing that. He provides just a myriad of ways to deceive us. And in fact, our minds, especially through media, through those little cell phones, these little screens, television, music, pornography, false teachers, worldly philosophies on and on, and on it goes. All you have to do is listen to the news today and you will see one satanic deception after another, they just pile up on top of each other.

So Paul is saying in order to present your bodies a living and a holy sacrifice acceptable to God, do not be conformed to this world. Don't allow the world to shape you into its image without you realizing this. Beloved, we must guard our children against this type of stuff. We must guard ourselves, what fellowship has light with darkness, as we read earlier today. But here's the contrast in verse two. "Be transformed." There's that word again. "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Again, transformed from the word "metamorphoo." We get our word "metamorphosis" from that. It connotes, as I said earlier, a change, an outward appearance that reflects an inner nature. I mean, that's what happens when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, that kind of concept.

Matthew used the same word to describe Jesus' transfiguration. He said in Matthew 17, two, "He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun and His garment became white as light." And you will recall how the effulgence of Christ's glorified inner nature suddenly blazed forth from his person in ways that we cannot understand. A manifestation of the glory of his inner nature. You might say, a preview of coming attractions for us, right? But the key here is understanding that this transformation is also in the passive voice. It carries the idea of allowing ourselves to undergo a radical, thorough change, where we become on the outside who we are on the inside. When it says "Don't be conformed," that's referring to, don't be on the outside who you're not on the inside. To be transformed, is saying, become on the outside who you really are on the inside. Where our outward conduct reflects our inner. Our transformed, redeemed nature that will one day shine forth with the same ineffable glory that we could see in our mind's eye that occurred when Christ transfigured himself on the mount.

Folks, how does this happen? Again, it's in the passive voice, not the active, you're not the one that is going to make this happen. It happens by the renewing of your mind. It's the renewing of your mind. Renewing means to cause something to become new and different with the implication of becoming superior. And this is what Paul is saying here, Second Corinthians 3:18, "Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord." It's the word of God once again, that causes this transformation to occur. He is the sanctifying one who works within us. He is the agent of regeneration and transformation. By his word he animates the outward transformation that has already occurred because of an inward transformation of our mind, by our thinking and that continues to develop as we look into the Word of God.

So indeed, back to Second Corinthians three, verse 18, "We all, with unveiled face, beholding us 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." Beloved, please hear me. You will never be able to present yourselves as a living and holy sacrifice to the Lord our God and be a person that is acceptable to him, not in a saving way, but in a sanctifying way, apart from the renewing of your mind. If you allow yourself to be conformed by this world, you're going to rob yourself of blessing. And you're going to diminish your ability to glorify God. It's only when your mind is saturated with the Word of God, will you automatically do the will of God? Paul spoke of this often in the New Testament Colossians 1:28. "We proclaim Him admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ. Chapter three, verse 16, he tells us to, "let the word of Christ richly dwell within us, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in our heart." And we've got to understand that there is both a moral and an intellectual component to this transformation; this continuous process of renewal that occurs through the word. Jesus prayed to the Father, in John 17:17. "Father, sanctify them in the truth, Thy word is truth." So again, is this a priority for you? I pray that it is. You see, we don't just automatically drift towards holiness, do we? We automatically drift in the other direction. There's always this conflict between the Spirit of God and the flesh. That's why we have to treasure the word of God, as David said in Psalm 119:11, "Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against you."

And then finally, here. Notice the result, the end of verse two, Romans 12, "that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." To "prove," it means to put to the test, to approve. The renewed mind can know and live the will of God and thus prove it. It can demonstrate it, and thus, give glory to God. And his will is, isn't it interesting, it is good, it is acceptable, and it is perfect. And folks, when his will becomes our will, at that point, our lives will be a living and a holy sacrifice to him.

Back to Second Corinthians 3:18, "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." And Paul is essentially saying to the people there that are being deceived--folks, the days of all of the rituals, and all of the ceremonies and of all the law keeping are over. Christ has satisfied the demands of the law, he paid the penalty that you never could, that we never could. He has paid that penalty. We have been justified by his blood. And the indwelling Spirit is now sanctifying us he is transforming us. And ultimately by that same power, he will glorify us. And we see all of this in the new covenant.

Well, when I was contemplating these things in my study, even this week, as is so often the case, my heart went to a hymn. Don't you find that happening a lot when you're studying the Word of God, all of a sudden you just break out in a hymn. I couldn't remember all of the words; my wife Nancy knows all the words to all to hymns. So I said, "Honey, do you remember it?" She immediately started singing it. It always amazes me. And we're going to sing it just a moment. But in light of all of this, here's what came to my mind, a hymn called "One Day." I used to say it was a little boy. "One day when heaven was filled with His praises. One day when sin was as black as could be. Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt among men. My example is he.” and the refrain goes, "living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sins far away." "Rising he justified, freely forever. One day he's coming. Oh, glorious day." How many of you know that hymn? (Audio cut off, end of transcription not available)