Kenny Moorer - Be Transformed_ A Few More Thoughts

7:00PM Nov 10, 2024

Speakers:

Kenny Moorer

Keywords:

transformation process

spiritual transformation

new life

obedience to gospel

sin no longer

live for Christ

all things new

perspective change

influence others

ambassador for Christ

seek above

righteousness walk

life change

baptism significance

transformation journey

All of you know my reticence to comment on a sermon that was just preached. When we have our lectureship, when the man gets up, and when he delivers his lesson, when I get up to either dismiss or whatever I'm doing, I don't re preach that sermon. First of all, I can never do as good as he did. And second of all, you've already heard it. Why would I want to repreach it? And so last week, when Tom was here for Saturday and Sunday, I thought he presented some outstanding lessons, and apparently you did too, because the comments that I've heard about the lessons he gave were very, very good. But it may shock you today that I want to share a few more thoughts about that. Okay, now notice I'm doing it in a sermon. I'm not doing after a sermon, so I'm doing it in another sermon, and I'm not doing it because I thought Tom did a poor job, or because I didn't think that some of the things he said were right. None of that would be true, but Imma tell you what happened while he was presenting those lessons. This happens to me an awful lot. If I'm if I'm able to hear somebody else preach, as I'm hearing them preach, and they may say something and it, it kind of gets my mind going a different direction, and in just a minute or two, I'll kind of get back in with them, but it causes me to think about some things for myself. And much of what happened last week was when he would turn to passages that if I were preaching on transformation, spiritual transformation, I would have turned to, probably most all of those same passages that he used over the course of those four lessons. And so what it allowed me to do is while he was preaching, that he'd say something, or I'd be reading something on the screen, or I'd be hearing what he said, and it would cause me to think about something else. And so that's really why I wanted to present this lesson, because it was fresh on my mind, and I felt like it would be fresh on your mind. So let me this morning, just add, if I may, a few more thoughts.

One of the things that he stressed in every lesson was that transformation is a process. It's not an event. It's not something that happens and then we forget it. It's something that is a process. And the reason that we know it's a process, not just because Scripture tells us that, but we know it's a process because most of the New Testament is about that process. Think with me for a moment, how much of the New Testament is really about the event that puts you into Christ? Now there are some things that relate to that, but most of the New Testament is not about you, understanding who Jesus is, not in the sense of just believing that He's the Son of God, believing in that, repenting of your sins and being baptized into Christ. Most of the New Testament is not about that. I don't mean it is unimportant. I mean it is significant. It is very much important. Without it, you cannot be in Christ. So don't misunderstand me, but most of the New Testament is about what happens once you're in Christ. Most of the New Testament is about what an individual should do and even Jesus himself said in the Sermon on the Mount, he said, This is what a citizen of my spiritual kingdom looks like. And he gave what is included in three chapters in the book of Matthew. Matthew five, six and seven. And he says, this is, this is what transformation looks like for a person who's willing to accept my authority, who's -- for a person who's willing to put my yoke on himself or herself and say, This is how I'm going to live my life. But most of what's in those, as we call them, 27 books, it's about how your life is changed.

And so this morning, I would just ask you, initially, is your life changed? Or maybe the better question, Is your life changing? Is your life changing from when you obeyed the gospel initially, when you had your sins washed away when, when God saved you because he took care of those sins, and you were penitent of that and and your sins were washed away, is there any difference in you spiritually now than there was then? I mean, that's, in my judgment, that's what Tom was trying to help us see and remind us about. It's got-- it's a process that takes your entire life. And you need to see, and I need to see some evaluate. We need to evaluate so that we see some progress in that as we move forward in our lives. I've heard some people saying, you know, I'm not much different than I was when obeyed the gospel 20 years ago. Really? Really? There's not much, doesn't appear to be much, transformation in that statement for someone to say, you know, I'm really not changed an awfule lot.

I want you to turn your Bibles, if you would, to a passage this morning. I'm really going to just look at three passages. The first one's found in Romans six. I know in the in Randy's class you're studying in the book of Romans, if you're in the auditorium class, and you may be in Romans six, I'm not exactly sure where you're at, but I'm not going to read all of Romans six, although I thought about it. Okay, I'm just going to tell you I thought about it, but I thought better, because I feel like you probably most in this audience, understand something about Romans six, and I think I can make my, I think I can make my point without going and reading all of Romans six, but I want you to listen and if, if you'll follow along. I prefer you to. I don't have I don't have these verses on the screen. I prefer you to follow along. I'm going to begin reading let's say in verse six. I'll be in verse six of Romans six, "knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away, that we should no longer be slaves of sin." Now what I want you -- let me stop. I should have said this before I start reading. I want you to as I'm reading and as you're reading, I want you to think about this transition and this transformation. That's what I want you to do. I want you to think about what are the words that he says here that have something to do with here's what you were, and here's what you're going -- what's going on, and here's where you need to be. Those are the kind of words, those are the kind of phrases. Those are the kind of ideas I want you to think about. Verse seven, "for he who has died has been freed from sin. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead. Dies no more death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, He died to sin, once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead, indeed to sin, but alive to God. In Christ, Jesus, our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lust, and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace."

Now there's a lot in there. I want you to pay special attention to verse 13. "Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead." I want you to think about one word present. He mentions it twice in the verse. He says, You don't present this way, but you present this way. I want you to imagine yourself after you've been baptized into Christ, you've been raised into this newness of life. The old man's gone, the new man's here, and now look what he says. Look at, look at the word. It's the idea of, I present myself to God. That's what he says. You present yourself to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness. To God. It's as if, it's as if, every day in my life, I'm coming before God, and I'm presenting myself to him, and I'm saying, Look, evaluate me. Am I being transformed like you want me to be transformed? And what I like about all of this, all of what Paul would say here in Romans six is, this is, this transformation, I want you to think about this, this is a transformation that happens, as he says in the first part of the chapter, when we're buried with him in baptism. We're raised to walk in newness of life. Now, something has changed, but it's not like we go to live with Him forever, right then, right? And I mentioned that to you in times past. There's a part of me that would like to be baptized, have my sins washed away and just go to heaven. That's not what happens. My sins are washed away, and I'm raised to walk in newness of life, and I live my life. And what Paul says is, you live your life so as to present yourself before God every single day as a person who lives in holiness and righteousness. That's a strong statement, I think. And when I look at my life and think about my life from that perspective, it is a it is a game changer. I'm raised, I have new life. Sin doesn't reign, and I bring fruit to holiness. That's kind of the summation of what this transformation is really talking about.

So I want to go to the second passage. It's a passage that Josiah read for us. Second Corinthians five. I love this, and I can never read these verses, and I'm about to read to you, again, I can never read these verses without coming away with something that I've not thought about. And that's what I did. That's, I don't know if "funs" the right word. It's fun to me. As I thought about this lesson, and as I thought about what I had announced to you Wednesday night, about what I wanted to do today, I've been -- every day when I've come into my office and I've sat down, and I've just sat there, and I've thought about and I looked at some of these passages again, like this passage in Second Corinthians five, and I said, Look at all that's in here, and I want to share it with you. Paul would say, "for the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus that if one died for all, then all died, and he died for all that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. Therefore from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh. You let him. We know him no longer. Therefore, if anyone's in Christ, he's a new creation. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things become new now. All things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now, then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God." You notice I get closer and closer to that screen while I'm reading, and I'm going to be like this in a couple of weeks.

Okay, I want you to think about what he says with me for just a moment. The first thing he says is verse 15. He says, "that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again." You know what that tells me? What he's saying. He wants us to do is hard. It's difficult. You know why it's difficult? "That those who should live." Okay? Who is that? That's us. What's happened to us? We've been raised with Christ. "That those who live should live no longer for themselves." How you doing on that? How's that coming for you? How's it coming that you should no longer live for yourself? I'm not talking about you split time. I'm talking about you don't live for yourself anymore. When we obey the gospel, we don't live for ourselves anymore. How is that doing for you? You doing well with that? And I, what I would say to you is that's a very difficult process. He says, You don't live for yourself, but you live for him.

And look at look at these verses. I think I've highlighted these verses, verse 16 "from now on", "yet now," verse 18, "now," verse 20, "now, then." Yu see, see all those passages are saying, now because you have been raised and now because you had your sins forgiven. Now, this all changes. Everything about that changes, which really brings me to the second point that I want to make. He says in verse 17, "behold, all things have become new." That strikes me. I'm going to tell you that I hope, I hope that strikes you. What changes? You ready? Everything. He doesn't say a few things become new. He doesn't say some things become new. He says, Everything now becomes new. If you're raised with Christ, everything. "Behold, all things have become new." The idea of behold is look, pay attention to what I'm about to tell you. "Behold all things become new."

I remember when I became a Christian. I remember the event. I was in my teens. I told you this story, but I -- I obey the gospel. I was baptized a night when a man was holding a meeting, and there, I think there were nine of us who obeyed the gospel that night, and I was one of them. And I got home afterwards, and my dad and I were talking, and he said to me, he said, how you feel? I said, I feel good. He said, Why do you feel that way? I said, because my sins have been washed away. And I said that in the best way I could. And he I think he knew that, I knew that I could answer that question. And I can remember him saying, so now, now what happens? And I'm thinking, I'm sure what I thought it was, I just keep doing what I'm doing. I'm thinking, I go to church all the time, because I go with y'all all the time. And I keep listening to Bible classes. I keep going to Bible classes. And I think about all this, and I keep thinking, you know, that's what. And he said, what changes, Kenny? Wat's going to change with you? And I knew he was asking me the question, but I wasn't -- I was giving him an answer, but I wasn't giving him everything he wanted. I remember that very vividly, and he was just trying to teach me something on that occasion because of whatI had done. And I don't think he quoted Second Corinthians, 5:17 to me, but what he was basically trying to help me understand is everything changes. I don't want to minimize at all what puts us into Christ. I'm not. I'm not. I hope you will not come away with that this morning. But for people who believe that Jesus is a Christ, having their sins washed away is easy. What I did, when I did it was easy. But when I went back to school, when I started running with those boys that I ran with all the time, when I started doing, going to those places and doing some of those kinds of things, I'm not saying that they were bad boys. I'm not saying they were bad places. But I'm going to tell you what it was different. Now I think we I think we emphasize so much about being baptized into Christ, and I'm all about that. But my friends, it is a transformation. It is a way of life that develops over the course of time, and we need, oh, let me tell you something. I think we need to make sure our young people understand that I'm not minimizing anything else, but all of us, young or old when we're baptized into Christ, it is a life changer. It is a point at which we say to God, I will allow you to transform me. I will allow you to change me. I will allow everything in my life to be directed by what you would say. And that's hard. I don't care how old or how young you are, that is hard. And I think that's why Paul talks about it so much. I think he talks about it in almost every epistle. I would venture to say he does talk about it every epistle, about this change that takes place. Sometimes he talks about it just like we're talking about here in Ephesians or Second Corinthians five.

But everything I do when I obey the gospel then has got to be looked at through the lens of Jesus. Every relationship, every decision, every action, everything. And let me say something to you if you're not ready to do that, my friend, don't obey the gospel. I don't mean that it's not a process. I don't mean that when you obey the gospel, everything is going to be just like it ought to be. I'm not saying that, but what I'm saying is take this transformation business seriously, because I think God does. He's not saying you won't sin at all. He's not saying that at all. Matter of fact, that's clear from Scripture. We all did it. We're all going to continue to. What he's saying is that's not what your mindset is, that's not what you -- that's not what you've made the change in order to do.

I think sometimes, and I want to be careful how I say this, I think sometimes we stress the act of obedience so much that we de-emphasize what needs to happen after the fact. That's why, that's why so much. That's why it needs to be talked about so much. That's why I'm glad Tom brought those lessons, and that's why I hope that maybe a few things I'm saying this morning will just maybe continue to help us think about that. But the question in my judgment is, are you ready for after the fact? Are you ready for after the fact? You ready for life, after what you've done to be in Christ? Are you ready to do that? And do you understand that that takes time, I understand, but that commitments got to be there. Everything changes.

Thirdly, same text, verse 18. "Now all things are of God." You see this word all popping up. So now the perspective. "Now, all things are of God." When I read this passage, and when I let all this sink in, see all again, when I let it sink in a little bit, now, it tells me, now the perspective changed. Now, all things are of God. Every single thing I do, my perspective is God first. First thing I think about. Am I going to take a job? Yes. What's the first thing I ought to think about? God. Why? Because all things are of God. I'm going to marry this person. What's the first thing I ought to think about? God Why? Because all things are of God. I'm going to engage in this activity. What's the first thing I ought to think about? God Why? Because everything relates to God. Everything finds its origin in God really. Do you do that? Do I do that with everything I do? All things are of God. You see when I do that, it changes everything about my life. That's what he wants. We'll look at a final passage in just a moment that says that very thing. Our constant perspective should be everything about my life is God, and everything has to go through that lens of God for me to make the best decision I can to be transformed into His likeness and in His image. And that's a really hard thing to do. It's a hard thing to do.

And then finally, let me mention something he talks about in verse 20. He says, "Now, then," see, here we go. "Now, then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us." I love that idea. We are ambassadors for Christ. An Ambassador is a Resident Representative. What he said they were, we are. I am an ambassador of Christ. Where? In this, listen, in this foreign country. I'm an ambassador for Christ in this foreign country. This is not my -- this is not really where my allegiance lies. It's probably picked a bad time to be talking about that. This is not, this is not my home. This is not my ultimate home. I'm a sojourner. I'm a pilgrim. All those words that we use, right? So he says, You are an ambassador for Christ. I am a resident representative. I live here. I'm a resident here. I'm a Resident Representative. Of who? Of Jesus Christ. Dnd what Paul says, he says, I plead with you to do that. Why? Because that's, that's what people that's what people see. I guarantee you, I shouldn't say this, this never happens. But most people are not going to pick up their Bible and start reading that and go, You know what? That's what I ought to be. That's who I ought to be. I need to do what those people did. Most people aren't going to do that. They may not even know why they should be picking up their Bible and reading. I'll tell you what they're going to do. They're going to look at you, and they're going to look at me, and they may say, that's what I ought to be. That's what I want to be. He's got faults, she's got faults,but that's why you like that. Lot of people do that. What does that allow us to be? Ambassadors for Christ? Resident representatives that people can look at and say, You know what? I think he or she is trying to be what God wants him to be. Be ambassadors for Christ. When we're transformed, that will happen.

But let me tell you something. If you look like everybody else in the world who's not transformed, it's not going to happen. Your influence is not going to be what it ought to be. So just ask yourself that question this morning. When people look at you, when people look at you, can they say, You know what? Who is that? What's different about you? And hopefully it will encourage them to say, you know, I need to know something about why you're the way you are. But just be that Ambassador. That's what transformed people will do. That influence will carry, will carry even further. And that's what I think, at least partly, that's what verse 20 tells me. So I have influence when I'm transformed as well.

Let me go to final verse. This verse is found in Colossians three. It's a verse that I think is familiar to you. I love this verse, and it kind of summarizes maybe some of the things that I want to say this morning. Paul would say in Colossians three, "if then you were raised with Christ." Alright, you ready? The event. "If then you were raised with Christ," the event, "seek, those things." Process. "Seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth." Process. "For you died," event, "and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ is our life appears, then you shall also appear with Him in glory." Why? Because you transformed.

And so let me go back to -- let me go back to the passage in Romans six. Let me just, just come back that make a -- draw a conclusion. You remember Romans six. You're buried with him in baptism. You're raised to walk in the newness of life, and then you don't let sin reign in your mortal body. You become slaves of righteousness, not slaves to sin. You know what happens between the time you obey the gospel and the time you die? You're being transformed. Think about the transition, just making itself further stated when you die. What happens when you die? You make a transition, your body's transformed. Your spirit. What happens to your spirit? At some point in that process, your spirit lives with God. Well, there's no more transformation when that goes on. When we're in the presence of God, it's not going to be to get transformed. We're going to be in the presence of God because we've been transformed. So when we obey the gospel, we're raised to walk in newness of life, and then the process that ultimately finds its conclusion in heaven takes place. And it's worth it. It's worth it.

So what would I say this morning? Here's basically two things. If you've, if you've not begun that process, you remember what Tom said? It starts with new life. I love it. He stressed it every time: it starts with new life. That's exactly right. And he even said the things like I'm about to say, if you're here in this audience, and you're not a Christian, you need to begin that new life. And that's true. You can't be transformed without being in Christ. But once you're in Christ, then that transformation begins. Everything changes. Perspective, decisions, relationships, everything changes until we ultimately live with God forever. That's a great, I think, that's a great thought. I don't know whether you cared much for this lesson this morning, but I'm really glad I preached it, because it helped me. How about that? And it's what I wanted to say to you, and I appreciate you listening as you always do, you're so good to listen so carefully and attentively. And I really do appreciate that. If you're in this audience this morning, you've never begun that walk. You've never given yourself to Jesus Christ. What a great opportunity. November 10, 2024 you could say it's when I gave my life to Jesus Christ. I was willing to obey the gospel, and I began this transformation process. We can help you do that this morning. Would you come while we stand?