I want to begin by talking about what is one of the great realities of life. And when we think about that, there are perhaps a lot of different things that we might be able to say that are indeed things that everybody experiences. But I would make this observation as I begin this morning, and that is that life is in a constant state of flux. In other words, it's always changing. And in fact, in some ways, you might be able to say that the only constant in life is the fact that it is constantly changing. And that's the great paradox, that as we go through life, we can anticipate that every moment of our lives is going to be things that will change. And I think that in our physical existence, we appreciate that, but sometimes, I think in our spiritual existence, we have a little bit more time, a little bit more trouble understanding that that is indeed a reality that should be characteristic, particularly of a life of a Christian, that there has to be this continual change that is going on. And what this change is called in the Bible is transformation.
Over in the book of Romans, in the 12th chapter, in the first two verses, which I know that everybody, the first thing that you see when you see this concept of transformation, is people run to this text. And it says here in Romans 12, beginning in verse one, "I appeal to you, Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and what is perfect." And then another passage that I would also share with you is found over in the Ephesian letter. In Ephesians chapter four, where it speaks about the same thing, but perhaps a little bit different phraseology, as it uses different metaphors. And so here in Ephesians, chapter four, beginning in verse 17, he says, "Now this I say and testify to you in the Lord that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of their heart, they have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt and deceitful through deceitful desires and to be renewed in the spirit of your mind." There's that phrase again, that Paul used in Romans chapter 12, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds and to put on the new self created after the likeness of God and true righteousness and holiness. Transformation. What is transformation? What do we talk-- what is the Bible talking about when it uses that phraseology, transformation. When we read things like be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Or, as we have seen here in Ephesians chapter four, where he says, Put off the new self, or put on the new self, created after the likeness of God, or as he does again in the Colossian letter, in Colossians chapter three and verse 10, "to put on the new self, which is being renewed in the knowledge of the image of its Creator." Just exactly what does that mean? Well, that's what we're going to be thinking about as we think about this concept of transformation. (I think, Okay, I'm confident it was up there.) This idea of transformation that we're going to be talking about.
And let me say to you, as I begin, first of all, just some brief personal things, I am very thankful for the invitation to come and to be here with you guys. I've heard of this church ever since I've been preaching, and I've been preaching for 50 years now. So, I've known of you. This is the first time I've ever been able to actually be in your midst. And some of you have come up to me and have talked to me about my twin brother Tim, who I think when I believe David Thomley was preaching here at the time, my brother Tim and his wife, Allison, were attending here, and he's, we are identical. We may not look as much alike as we once did, because we've gotten older and things have changed a little bit, but some of you have come up and said, Well, you can't deny your brother that would be true, because we do look an awful lot alike. And I'm thankful that my sister Jean has come over from Athens, and I'll tell you, it's been one of the great joys has been, as we got to spend last evening with Kenny and Beth. Mike and Bailey came over. And I'm telling you, you folks, people don't know you up in Kingsport, but they don't like you. And the reason why is because is you took Mike and Bailey from us. Actually, University of North Alabama took Mike and Bailey from us. Where are you guys? Mike? Oh, there you are, back there. And he was at East Tennessee State University, and he got the call from UNA, and he decided he'd make the trip back down here, because, of course, this is his home. We were all upset about that, still are, so we'll forgive you, but it was such a great joy to see them. Roman was actually born up in Kingsport when we were there, and so it was a real privilege to see this little guy as he's grown to where he is right now. And he's going to be a hoss. He's, he's a cute little guy, and it's so good to be with you all. I just appreciate so much the invitation to be here with you.
You know it is said of Mark Twain that he said this about church. He said, "church is good people, encouraging good people to try harder to be good people." And I really like that kind of an expression, because it characterizes what is a gross misunderstanding of what church is all about. Is the biblical trans -- the biblical concept of transformation, is it something that centers in the idea of good people, encouraging good people to simply try to become better people, to try harder to become good people/ In thinking about this idea of biblical transformation, the first thing that we need to do is we need to understand what it is, and we need to understand what it is not. And that's going to be the purpose of this first lesson, this first session that we have here this morning, to try to nuance that, flesh it out a little bit, to understand what this idea of biblical transformation really is all about. And I think that in understanding the concept of biblical transformation, the first thing that we have to come to understand is that it is not simply about being a better person. The gospel is not about moralism. In other words, it's not simply a message of moral improvements. Now that doesn't mean that people aren't going to become better moral people. That's not the idea, and I hope that that's not what you are understanding me to say, but that is not the gospel message. It's a teaching that is going to indeed have profound effects upon the way that we live our lives. But it is not simply the idea that we become good people. That's not the inherent concept within this idea of transformation. Again, it's going to help us improve our behaviors. At least I would hope that would help us to improve our behaviors. But that's not really what it's all about, at least not initially. That's not what it's all about. The Gospel message is something that I would submit to you is much bigger and it is something that is much richer. It is a fuller message than simply becoming good people.
And so this morning, we're going to be thinking about what transformation is, and then we're going to follow that up with the second session in which I'm going to suggest to you some things in the form of questions. I'm going to suggest some things to you that I believe can help us to determine whether or not we can see evidence of transformation actually happening in our lives. And then tomorrow, we're going to talk about what is a very frustrating problem for a lot of people, and that is the problem of when our transformation seems to have slowed down, or maybe in some cases, it's even come to a screeching halt. And that is a problem that a lot of people have. In fact, I would submit to you, it's a problem that probably every Christian has experienced at some point in their life. And then we're going to follow that up with the final lesson in this series, where we're going to talk about how we can actually achieve successful transformation, how it can be accomplished. And we're going to go to a passage out of Second Peter that I think is one that normally people don't run to that text, but that's where I want to go. But we'll save that for Sunday night and we'll unpack that at that time.
Okay, so there are three things I want to suggest to you in this first session about understanding what biblical transformation is. And the first one is this, and that is the transformation starts with new life. Let me get that up there. It is something that starts with new life. If we are ever going to be truly transformed in the way that the Bible speaks of transformation, then this has to start with new life, new life that can be only provided by Jesus. You know, the heart of the Christian message, it simply revolves around the concept of change. But it is not simply the idea of change in the idea of like we're turning over a new leaf. Or, in other words, it's not, I'm just going to do better with my life. That's not what the Gospel message is all about. And in fact, the gospel message of change as it is revealed in the Bible is new life itself. And I think that that is something that is so critically important to understand, because it is this new life that we achieve that helps us to become better people. It helps us to be transformed in the way that the Bible speaks of. Over in Second Corinthians in the fifth chapter, in verse 17, the apostle Paul says that, "if you are in Christ, you are a new creation." And then he goes on to say, "old things have passed away, new things have come." If you are in Christ, you are a new creation. You are a part of the new creation already. So the question, then, that I think is begged in that, at least for me, as I was preparing this and thinking about this, is, why? Why is it that we need new life in order to be transformed? And I would make this observation, and I think that this is the biblical answer, and that is because, prior to new life, every human being is spiritually dead. They are separated from God because of the problem of sin. All human beings who are accountable before God are guilty of sin. Romans, chapter three and verse 10 teaches that there is none righteous. No, not one. And in Romans three, verse 23 he says that, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And what this means, then is that, spiritually speaking, we are dead. Again here in the Ephesian letter in Ephesians, chapter two, where he begins in verse one, Paul says, "and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked according to the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience." And then there is that familiar text in Isaiah, chapter 59 verses one and two, where it says that "the Lord's hand is not so short that it cannot save, neither is His ear heavy that it cannot hear." But he goes on to say, "but it is your sins that have separated you from your God. God does not hear. His hand is not reached out," as Isaiah is speaking, particularly with respect to the nation of Israel. And the reason for that is because of your sin. Your sin has separated you from your God and folks, we can't fix that problem. We experience the problem, but we can't fix the problem, although we often try to fix this problem, and the way we try to do that, at least, it seems to me, is that we attempt to become better people. We want to become better people, living better moral lives because of the fact that we know we need to be living differently. All this does, I would suggest to you, is lead to frustration. It leads to a very unsatisfying sort of a life, because it doesn't matter how good, it doesn't matter how moral we might be prior to the new life, I am still dead in sin, separated from God.
Now the sin problem, and those of us who are Christians understand this; this sin problem has been solved by Jesus. He came to this earth for the purpose of paying this price of sin. In other words, he came as a sacrificial offering. He came to die, and through his death, he has made it possible for all people to be brought back into a right relationship with God, as Paul speaks about this within the context of his ministry in serving as an apostle and specifically dealing with the work of reconciliation, he says in Second Corinthians, chapter five, beginning there in verse 18, "all this is from God who, through Christ, reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ. God, making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Now there's a lot that's contained in those verses, but what I want to suggest to you that the thing that we need to get from this is this concept in which God is reconciling the world to Himself through Christ to bring people back into a peaceful relationship with Him, that has been-- that is this, this relationship of enmity has been created by the problem of sin. We have become God's enemies. And Jesus came for the purpose of making it possible for us to be reconciled. And so, as John wrote over in First John, chapter two and verse two, he said, "He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the whole world." So Jesus has made it possible for people to come back into a right relationship with God, and those who come to God through Jesus now receive new life.
And in fact, in John's gospel, in the first chapter of John, which reads as it begins, very much like the concept of creation. And I believe that that is by design. That John is writing this letter as he brings to mind the concept of creation that is spoken about in Genesis.Chapter One, "in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." John one, "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." As God created in the beginning, God is now recreating in Christ, Jesus. And what's the purpose of all of that? Verse four, "In him was life." That is, in Jesus was life, "and the life, he says, was the light of men." Later on in John's gospel, in the fifth chapter of John, beginning there in verse 39 Jesus said, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. And It is they that bear witness of Me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life." Life is only found in Christ. The new life is only found in Jesus. Again, that passage in Second Corinthians, chapter five, verse 17, "if you are in Christ, you are a new creation." All things, old things have passed away. All things have become new. And it is in Christ where we have this now, the way that one comes to God through Christ is by faith, in Jesus, by us choosing to want to be a follower of him, to become a disciple of Christ, and to do what it is that he would want us to do. As Paul said in Galatians, chapter three, verses 26 and 27 that you are "all the children of God through faith in Christ, Jesus, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ, did put on Christ." And I believe that one of the most profound pictures of this is found in Romans chapter six, where the apostle Paul is speaking about how significant it is that people who have been saved by the grace of God now are to be living the kinds of lives that demonstrate new life. And so, as he says here in Romans chapter six, beginning in verse one, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can he who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into his death, we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father," now get this, "so we too might walk in newness of life." New life that is found only in Christ when we come to God through Him in our obedience to the gospel, and because of this new life that is found in Jesus, I am now submitting to you that now biblical transformation can actually take place.
No one has new life because he has changed by improving his moral life or just simply living a better life. Nobody has life for that reason. That's moralism. In fact, I would tell you that that's salvation by works. And we know that the Scriptures teach that no one is saved by his works. As the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians, chapter two, verses eight and nine, "For by grace, have you been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast." And so the truth is, is that by coming to God through Jesus, one now has the capacity of changing. And I would go so far as to say, one now finally has the reason for changing, the motive for changing, and that is the new life that we have received in Jesus Christ. And it goes back to what Paul said then in Ephesians, chapter two and verse 10, when he said, "for you were created," the idea is recreated, "in Christ, Jesus, unto good works." We are saved by grace, through faith that while we have been created in Christ, we have new life in Christ for the purpose of manifesting good works. Now let me give you a biblical example of this that I think that we're all familiar with. It's over in John chapter three, and what this is talking about is the encounter that Jesus had with a man by the name of Nicodemus. Now I'm not going to read this text. It's a rather lengthy text, so I'm not going to take the time to read it. I'm assuming that most of us would be familiar with it anyway. But I do want to point out some things that I think are pertinent to what it is I'm addressing here, when it comes to this concept of new life, and how it is that new life is something that is fundamental, if there is ever going to be a transformation that takes place, at least a biblical transformation. Jesus is approached by a man who Jesus knows needs transformation. He needs to change. Now, when you think about Nicodemus, and as we're familiar with this text, we understand that Nicodemus, when you-- when you just look at it from a superficial, just a very shallow look at what you see is that Nicodemus was a man who, first of all, had the right pedigree. He was a Jew. He was a man who also had the right spiritual training. And in fact, Jesus refers to him as a teacher of Israel. And he was also a man who had the right position in society. He is identified early in the text as one who is a ruler of the Jews. And I would suggest that, most likely, he was a moral man, if watched The Chosen, you know, that's the way they portray him as a very moral man. And I would also suggest to you, in fact, I don't believe there's any question about this, that he was a religious man, and yet, even though that was the case, even though he had all of those qualities, what did Jesus say to him? He said, You need to be born again. You need to have new life. Here was a man who had to learn the truth that rules and regulations do not bring about lasting spiritual change in any individual's lives.
Rules and regulations can modify behavior, but it is only Jesus and it is only the gospel message that can give life, and it is only when new life is received by an individual that then true transformation can actually take place people who think that they can change for the better without the new life that is found only in Jesus, I am suggesting to you, they're only going to become frustrated and they will become very unsatisfied with their lives. Because the fact is, there is no satisfaction in merely a new way of life. There is no satisfaction in merely turning over a new leaf. It's only a new life that satisfies and it is only a new life that facilitates and enables a new way of life created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness, as Paul said in Ephesians four, verse 24. So let me say to you right from the start of this, this whole thing that we're involved in these next few days, let me make this observation to you, that if you have not yet received the new life that is found only In Christ, and you want to change your life, you first of all need to be transformed by acquiring the new life that is made possible by Jesus Christ. If you want to be transformed into a new person, I am submitting to you that the only way that that can be successfully achieved is when you have the new life in Christ that facilitates it and makes it possible to happen in the first place. So that's the first observation I would make with you, is that transformation, as it is unpacked through the biblical account, is telling us that it starts with new life.
Here's the second point that I want you to see, and that is the transformation is a process. It is not a destination. The word transformed is an interesting word in the, both in the in the English is but especially in the Greek text. The English word that has been translated transformed by the Greek word Metamorpho is only found four times in the Bible. The first two times it's found in the Gospels. And that is in Matthew chapter 17, verse two, and also in Mark chapter nine, verse two. And there it's talking about the Transfiguration of Christ. As you read through that text, you'll see it says that Jesus was transfigured. That's the word Metamorpho. That's the word transformed. And when you think about that, you know, you think about man, what in the world did they see when Jesus was changed? What did they see? I don't know what it was like. It describes it as being such a bright light, brighter than the sun. I mean, it must have been a magnificent epiphany that they had experienced. But nonetheless, what it's doing is it's telling us that Jesus changed. He changed from whatever the physical image that he had into this glorified image that you see in the account of the Transfiguration. So those are the first two times that word is used. The other two times it's used is with respect to the characterization of the way a Christian's life is supposed to be. Romans, chapter 12 and verse two is one of those accounts, and then the other one is found over in Second Corinthians in the third chapter, in verse 18, this is the last time that the word Metamorpho is found in the biblical text. Second Corinthians, chapter three and verse 18, he says, "and we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the spirit." This Greek word Metamorpho speaks about the idea of changing.
And I think that the best way that we can actually try to understand how this works is how it is used with respect to the biological terminology, the terminology that we use when you think about a caterpillar that is going through the process of changing into a butterfly. It's called a metamorphosis. And of course, what happens is that there's this caterpillar. I'm not a caterpillar fan, so all caterpillars are ugly to me. But be that as it may, you might find caterpillars to be quite attractive, but it's a caterpillar, it's a worm, and then it spins a cocoon, and then eventually what blossoms from that cocoon is this beautiful butterfly. That's the process of metamorphosis, the change that a caterpillar goes through to become a better-- to become this butterfly is mysterious. When, when Pat and I were teaching our children back many years ago, when they were little, we found a cocoon, and we thought, oh, this will be a good learning experience for them. So we broke the stick off and we brought it into our house, put it in a jar, and after a period of about four or five days, they got to see the cocoon split, and they got to see this little butterfly come out of it. And it was a wonderful learning experience for them, and a good teaching experience for for us, to be able to teach them about this. But what was going on inside that cocoon? What was happening? I don't know. I'm not sure people still know yet, really what is going on. It's kind of a mysterious thing that takes place and it takes time. Now, my point in using this illustration is simply to help us recognize that there is a mystery that is going on here. There is mystery and there is time in a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. And I'm suggesting to you that there is also a mystery, and there is time that has to take place in Christians who have received new life in Christ, to transform into the image of Christ. And in fact, that's the way Paul characterizes it in Second Corinthians three and verse 18, when he says, You are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, and the idea of you are being transformed screams at us that this is an ongoing process. It's a process that takes time, and I think from a practical perspective, what we need to understand then is that we need to be patient with ourselves, as we have experienced the new life and as we are being transformed into the image of Christ. We need to be patient with ourselves. We need to be patient with one another as God's Holy Spirit is working in us to transform us into what he wants us to be. And I would also suggest to you another fact that confirms this, and that is that the new life that is to develop as a result of the new life that we have in Christ is one of constant growth and maturity. You see this sprinkled throughout the entire the entirety of the biblical record, particularly in the New Testament. And I think perhaps the most succinct statement is found over in Second Peter, chapter three and verse 18, as Peter is concluding his letter, and he says, "there but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, Christ." It is for the very reason of continual growth and maturity that Jesus gave the different works that he gave to a local congregation in service to each other. And you see that like, for instance, in the Ephesian letter in Ephesians chapter four, where, beginning in verse 11, he lists some of these, where he says "he gave apostles and prophets, evangelists and shepherds and teachers." For what reason Paul? "To equip the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the Body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature and the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning and by crafting craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head that is into Christ." And so Paul is telling us that this is the reason why God has given the gifts that He has given to a local church in order to be able to help us to grow and mature. The fact is, nobody ever gets to the place of being everything that God has called us to be this side of eternity, nobody. And that's part of the reason why I would say that we long for eternal life, that we long to finally be there where we have been fully transformed into the image of Christ Himself. Our lives as Christians, our lives of growth and the transformation that we go through because of the new life that we have in Christ is how God, then, is shaping our lives, as Paul said here in Second Corinthians, three and verse 18, being transformed into the image of Jesus from one degree of glory to another. Transformation, folks, is a lifelong process, and it will never be complete in this life, but it will be finally when the new ages come and we take our place in the new creation, which we are already a part of, by virtue of the new life that we have in Christ, Jesus. So that's the second observation I want to make. The transformation is a process. It is not a destination.
And then the third one, and the last one that I want to suggest to you is this and that, that is that transformation is a difficult process, requiring us to put off the old self and putting on the new self. That takes us back here to this. Ephesians four passage. Ephesians chapter four, verses 17 through 24 and I'm not going to read that again, but Paul is talking about this idea of putting off the old man and putting on the new. Now, when you think about going back to the illustration of the change of a caterpillar into a butterfly, as this caterpillar is changing into this butterfly, I don't know if you've ever watched the process. Again, we had the opportunity to do that, and I haven't been, you know, running around, looking for these little changes, these cocoons, to see what happens. But I did witness this one, and that is, as that butterfly was coming out. It was a struggle. They had to work at it. And I have read that if you were to feel sympathy or empathy for that particular creature, and you were to cut that cocoon to allow it to have an easier way of getting through, it would die. It has to struggle, and that's what I'm submitting to you is true about this concept from a biblical perspective, and that is that it is a difficult thing. And I think to understand that, I want to take a minute to define the old self versus the new self. The old self or the old man, how I would characterize that is that it is the disposition of human beings which is found in Adam. In other words, it is the sinful self, with the old self, sinful ways being spiritually dead, leading to spiritual death, eternally. And that's again, how Paul describes the condition of the Gentile peoples in Ephesians chapter two, beginning in verse one, when he said, "and you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work, and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were, by nature, children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." He also describes it that way in Ephesians chapter four, in the passage that we've already noted. So that's the old self. It's the man or the person who is found in Adam. But the new self, or the new man, is the disposition of human beings, which is found in Christ, that is having received new life, truly created in God's image, manifesting righteousness and holiness, leading to eternal life becomes the result, and that's what he goes on to say in Ephesians two, in verse four, But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace, you have been saved and raised us up with Him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ, Jesus, so in the coming ages, he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ, Jesus." So in responding to the call of the gospel, what we have done, then, it seems to me, is that we have decided we want new life, and we have received the new life. And now, as a result of the reception of that new life, God expects for us, and He empowers us to be changed, to be transformed. And in fact, I would submit that this is one of the things that Peter was trying to get his readers to understand in First Peter, chapter one, where in verse 14, he says, obedient, "As obedient children do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. Since it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy."
So when we think about the old self, and we think about the new self. The old self is the old person who is found in Adam in sin, dead, but the one who is found in Christ, the new Adam, is now alive. He has new life. And so we are putting off the old self and putting on the new self. But this process of doing this is something that can really be difficult. It's a challenge. It's a challenge to all of us. And I believe there are reasons for this, which I want to suggest to you real quick. I think one of the primary reasons is because we're comfortable with what we are used to. Let me back up one here. We're comfortable with what it is that we are used to. You know, change. I would even say to you, change for good can, in fact, be difficult, because it requires that we leave our comfort zones to learn a new and a better way. I think that's at least one of the reasons why Jesus said in Matthew seven, verse 14, that the way that leads to life is difficult. It's hard. Did you know that there are still people in the United States that use rotary telephones? Probably these, these young ones they have no idea what I just even said, what a rotary telephone is. Now, those of us who are older, we know what a rotary telephone is, but we don't use them. At least, I don't think. Does anybody here use a rotary telephone? Most people don't. But there are places in the country where rotary telephones still work, and people are still using them. It is such an antiquated technology, but it still works. At least in parts of the country it still works, and there are people who still use it. And the question is, why? I mean, I suspect every one of us is one of these things. These are the bane of society, in my opinion. If you want to talk to me about that, we can unpack that a little bit later on. But you know, when you talk about these, these new phones that we have and everything like that, there are people, we have an elderly brother there in in Kingsport. He's 92 years old. He has a mobile phone like this, a smartphone, what he calls it. He gets so lost in that thing. He can't -- there's times in which he's calling me, he thinks he's calling me, he's texting me, and when he's texting me, he's calling me, and he wants to look at other things, and he can't do it. He can't find his way around. And I was up visiting with him one day, and he said, Why just can we not go back to the old telephones? Well, that's what he was comfortable with. He didn't have one, but he was comfortable with these old rotary phones. And I would submit to you, that's at least perhaps one of the reasons why it is that people still use them, and that is because they're comfortable with them. They've mastered it, and that's what they're familiar with. Well, that's the way it is for some people's spiritual lives. People are comfortable with what they know, and they are comfortable with what they have practiced over their lives. And unfortunately, what happens is that this sense of comfort can keep us from knowing Jesus better and from being transformed into His image. So I think that's one of the reasons why it is something that is so difficult.
Here's another reason why, and that is because we're often trapped. My understanding, if you want to catch a monkey, I don't know why anybody would want to do that, but if you want to catch a monkey, this is how you do it. You take a coconut, you clean it out, you drop a rock in the coconut, put it there where monkeys have the tendency to kind of pass by. And you will find a monkey will reach his hand down into that coconut, and he will try to pull it out, but he can't, because his fist is too big now. And he will not let go of that coconut. And so while he is distracted, that's when you throw the net over him. It's very easy to catch that way. That's my understanding of how you go about catching a monkey. Well, I would suggest to you that there are many Christians who trap themselves with clenched fists, holding on to their sinful pleasures, holding on to pride, holding on to jealousies and petty slights and things of that nature. They continue to hold on to these things. And these are the kind of things that can keep a Christian from the new way of life that Jesus wishes to form in us. So that's a second reason, I would suggest to you, because we're often trapped.
And then here's the third reason I believe, and that is because we're afraid. As we've noted, change is the very heart of the Christian faith, and change involves a certain amount of mystery, things that are unknown. Fear of the unknown is the primary reason why people don't change. Maybe I'll become some kind of a religious fanatic. Maybe my friends will think that I have lost my mind. Maybe I'll become awkward socially because of this. Yep, that's probably going to happen. The apostle Peter talked about that in first Peter chapter four, in verses three and four, where he's talking about these people who are living these lives, these new lives, and as he said in verse three, "for the time that his past suffices for doing what Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties and lawless idolatry. With respect to this, they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery and they malign you." Okay, you better expect it. Or maybe it's one of those kind of things where you think, you know, I might lose my friends, I may even lose my family. Yep, you just might. That's what Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10, when he said, Do not think that I came to bring peace to this earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. And then he goes through and he talks about, I'm going to separate people from one another. I'm going to separate daughter from mother, son from Father, daughter in law from mother in law. There is going to be a separation that takes place. And that's what a lot of people fear. The fear of not knowing what to expect and being transformed oftentimes causes Christians to shy away from the new life that they have in Christ, and in some cases, it paralyzes them, and I'm going to talk a little bit more about that tomorrow. In some cases, it paralyzes them, preventing them from fully embracing the new life that they have in Christ.
Now I've said all of this simply to make this one point, and that is that the transformation process is difficult, but change by the very nature of what it is, it requires that we let go of something and we grab hold of something else, that we let go of the old sinful self, and we grab hold of the new self that is created after the likeness of God, being transformed into the image of Christ. But it can only happen when we have new life that is found in Christ. You know, back in 2002 there was a new television show that was introduced on the ABC television network, and it was called Extreme Makeover. Do any of you remember that show? Extreme Makeover? Okay, it ran successfully, at least my understanding of it is it ran successfully until the year 2007 and what the show did, for those of you may not be familiar with it, the show took ordinary men and women. They were frumpy people, many of them were quite homely people, and they volunteered to undergo what was called an extreme makeover involving things like an exercise regimen. They changed their hair styles, they changed their wardrobes, they got makeup on, and in some cases, it would go so far as even have plastic surgery. And what they would do is they would introduce the before picture and then they would have the after picture, and then at the very end of the show, they would put them together so you would see the before and you would see the after. And it's easy to see if you ever watch that show, it's easy to see why it was called Extreme Makeover, because it was extreme. Now I use that simply to make this point as I bring this lesson to its close, and that is the biblical transformation is an extreme makeover, and it's extreme because of what it actually is and what it finally accomplishes. We must understand that biblical transformation is not about moralism. It is not simply improving us as people, although it will do that. But I'm telling you, there are all kinds of religions and there are all kinds of philosophies that can make you a better person if that's all you want to do is just simply become a better person. Biblical transformation is about receiving new life. New life through Jesus, which then in turn spurs us on through a lifelong process of putting off the old self of sin and putting on the new self that is made in the image of God. Biblical transformation is an extreme makeover, because it doesn't just take spiritually frumpy and homely looking people and make them look good and act better. Through Jesus Biblical transformation takes people who are spiritually dead and makes him alive. And thus we are now enabled to become transformed, to live in true, righteous and holiness, and to do so to the glory of God. So what I want you to take away from this lesson is this transformation begins with new life, new life that is found in Christ. And again, as I said, if you're not a child of God, you need to think about that. Because if all you're going to do is try to make your life a little bit better by living a little bit better, you're never going to succeed. You might live differently, but you're never going to succeed, not really, and you'll be frustrated. But if you have the life that is in Christ, you are now a new life, a new creature, and now you have the capacity, and you have the reason to actually change and become a better person. Thank you.
