The Process of Spiritual Transformation

1
The Process of Spiritual Transformation

• Part Two
• Receiving the Son Finding Peace with God

2
The Central Problem

• Because God is holy, just and righteous, he must
  punish sin.
• Because God is loving and compassionate, he
  desires to show mercy to sinners.
• How can he do both?

3
Derivative Problem

• How can a holy God restore his ruined Image in
  the life of a sinful human being?
• The answer to both lies in how God deals with sin

4

• What is sin?
• ...sin is transgression of the law (KJV)
• ...sin is lawlessness (ESV) (I Jn. 3.4)
• ...sin is lawlessness, (the breaking, violation
  of Gods law by transgression or neglect being
  unrestrained and unregulated by his commands and
  his will (Amplified Bible)

5

• Sin is any lack of conformity to or transgression
  of the law of God. (Westminster Shorter
  Catechism, Q 14)
• Today, we have a very shallow view of sin

6

• Historically ...an organic network of
  compulsive attitudes, beliefs and behavior deeply
  rooted in our alienation from God (DSL 88)
• Since 19th century ...conscious, voluntary
  transgressions against known laws (DSL 88)
• Today errors, mistakes, oversights

7

• Gods holiness cannot tolerate sin and reacts
  against it with wrath.
• God must punish all sin
• Sin alienates us from God
• There can be no fellowship with God until our
  sins are forgiven and we are reconciled with him

8

• No spiritual transformation is possible as long
  as man is dead in sin and alienated from God
• That which is born of the flesh is flesh...
  (Jn.. 3.6)
• You were dead in your transgressions and
  sins...(Eph. 2.1)

9

• Mans dilemma he cannot make satisfaction for
  his sins or make himself spiritually alive
• God took the initiative by offering forgiveness
  and new life as a gift
• Salvation is by grace (free, undeserved
  kindness), and can be received through faith
  alone (Eph. 2.4-5, 8-9)

10

• However, a holy God still must punishing our sins
  to remain just
• Jesus, Second Person of the Trinity, the sinless
  Son of God, who is of infinite value, willingly
  took upon himself human form and bore the
  punishment due for our sins

11

• ...all have sinned and fall short of the glory
  of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift,
  through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
  whom God put forward as a propitiation by his
  blood to be received by faith (Ro.3.23-24)

12

• This was to show Gods righteousness, because in
  his divine forbearance, he had passed over former
  sins. It was to show his righteousness at the
  present time, so that he might be just and the
  justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Ro.
  3.25-26)

13

• Propitiation means removal of wrath by the
  offering of a gift or sacrifice.
• Jesus offered his life as a sacrifice to satisfy
  God the Fathers righteous demands and turn away
  his wrath against our sin

14

• What is Saving Faith?
• Saving faith begins with knowledge of God and the
  good news of Jesus Christ
• Faith involves a firm belief /conviction that
  Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that he died for
  our sins and that he was raised from dead
• Faith also involves personal trust in Christ
  himself to save us

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• When we awaken to our sin and place our faith in
  Jesus and his payment for our sins
• Gods wrath against our sin is satisfied
• God places our sin on Jesus Christ
• God places Christs righteousness on us
• God proclaims us justified in his sight
• We are reconciled with God and born of the Holy
  Spirit

16

• Core Issue One is resolved
• The holy God is able to forgive sinful people and
  still remain just
• Gods righteousness is satisfied and his mercy is
  extended.

17

• Core Issue Two
• How can a holy God restore his ruined Image in
  the life of a sinful human being?

18

• Gods declaration of the sinner as righteous
  (justification) not only brings peace with God
  (reconciliation), but also inaugurates spiritual
  rebirth (regeneration) and the process of
  transformation (sanctification).
• Rebirth and transformation are the work of the
  Holy Spirit

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• Therefore since we have been justified by faith,
  we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
  Christ....Gods love has been poured into our
  hearts by the Holy Spirit, who has been given to
  us (Ro. 5.1, 5)

20

• Through the Holy Spirit we have union with
  Jesus Christ.
• For if we have been united with him in a death
  like his, we shall certainly be united with him
  is a resurrection like his. (Ro. 6.5)
• Our old nature is crucified with Christ and
  Christ lives in us by his Spirit

21

• We know that our old self was crucified with him
  in order that the body of sin might be brought to
  nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved
  to sin....So you must consider yourselves dead to
  sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus (Ro. 6.
  6,11)

22

• When the Holy Spirit implants new life in the
  soul, he breaks the bondage of the will to sin,
  weakens the old nature and makes godly obedience
  possible.

23

• But this does not obliterate the old, fallen
  nature, which Paul calls the Flesh
• The flesh (sarx) is humanity is characterized
  by a complex web of thoughts, desires, values and
  actions that are in opposition to Gods intended
  plan for us. (EDBW, 284)

24

• The flesh, though seriously weakened, still seeks
  to dominate our life.
• A complex network of ideas, values, attitudes,
  desires, passions, urges, compulsions and
  ingrained habits does not disappear overnight.
• John Owens view
• We must kill it , lest it kill us !!!

25

• Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal
  bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not
  present your members to sin as instruments for
  unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as
  those who have been brought from death to life
  and your members to God as instruments for
  righteousness (Ro. 6.12-13)

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• Dont present (give) yourselves to sin
• Present yourselves to God, says Paul
• He has raised you from spiritual death to
  spiritual life !!!
• In gratitude, joyfully give yourselves to him to
  please and glorify him by living as he desires
• By an act of will, make a full surrender of
  yourself to God, for only thus will you be able
  to overcome sin

27

• Present your members to God
• Eyes What you look at
• Ears What you listen to
• Tongue What you say, talk about
• Hands What you touch
• Feet Where you go
• Genitals What you do sexually
• Brain What you think about

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• This is not mere external obedience, conformity
  to group norms
• But thanks be to God that you who were once
  slaves to sin have become obedient from the heart
  to the standard of teaching to which you were
  committed (Ro. 6.17)
• It is obedience from the heart flowing from the
  center and core of who we are into concrete
  actions

29

• ..whatever is purely mental cannot transform the
  self. One of the greatest deceptions in the
  practice of the Christian religion is the idea
  that all that really matters is our internal
  feelings, ideas, beliefs and intentions.

30

• It is this mistake about the psychology of the
  human being that more than anything else divorces
  salvation from life, leaving us with a headful of
  vital truths about God but a body unable to fend
  off sin.
• (Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines,
  p. 152)

31

• Every time you make a choice, you are turning
  the central part of you, the part that chooses,
  into something a little different from what it
  was before. You are slowly turning this central
  thing either into a heavenly creature or a
  hellish creature...Each of us at each moment is
  progressing to one state or another (CSL/MC 92)

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• The process of moral and spiritual transformation
• Sow a thought, reap an act
• Sow an act, reap a habit,
• Sow a habit, reap a character,
• So a character, reap a destiny.

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• How can I possibly obey? I know myself too well
• You cant in you own strength we need new power
  to live the new life
• The Holy Spirit leads/empowers us to obey Gods
  word and to put to death the sinful works of the
  flesh
• We begin to experience life in the Spirit

34

• Living by the Spirit is the way God conforms us
  to the image of his Son
• Those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to
  be conformed to the image of his Son, in order
  that he might be the firstborn among many
  brothers (Ro. 8.29)
• Christlikeness is Gods primary agenda for all
  his children. This is true spiritual
  transformation

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• Living according to the flesh, the old nature, is
  possible but not a viable option.
• To do so would be to show contempt for Jesus
  Christ, who suffered and died to pay our sin
  debt, and free us
• From the penalty of sin
• From the power of sin
• From the presence of sin

36

• For if you live according to the flesh, you will
  die, but if, by the Spirit, you put to death the
  deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are
  led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (Ro.
  8.13-14).

37

• The Holy Spirit leads Gods children to put to
  death the works of the flesh, producing
  progressive moral and spiritual transformation
• We cannot do it without the Spirits empowerment
• The Spirit will not do it without our obedience

38

• What must we do for the Spirit to transform us?
  Paul repeats in different words what he said in
  Ro. 6.12-13
• 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. (Ro. 12.1)

39

• A full surrender and commitment of our bodies
  (our entire selves) to God is essential to the
  process of being led by the Spirit into
  transformation.
• Have you ever made this surrender and commitment?
• If so, do you need to renew it ?
• Daily confession and renewal is essential

40

• Failure to make a wholehearted surrender/commitmen
  t to God is a major problem in the church today
• The need for it is seldom taught
• Many true believers simply do not understand this
  requirement and thus live in defeat and compromise

41

• Christ says, Give me all. I dont want so much
  of your time and so much of your money and so
  much of your work. I want you. I have not come to
  torment your natural self but to kill it. No
  half-measures are any good. I dont want to cut
  off a branch here and a branch there, I want to
  have the whole tree down.

42

• I dont want to drill the tooth, or crown it, or
  stop it, but to have it out. Hand over the whole
  natural self, all the desire you think innocent
  as well as the ones you think wicked - the whole
  outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In
  fact, I will give you myself my own will shall
  become yours. (CSL/MC, p. 167)

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• There is more to this commitment
• Do not be conformed to this world but be
  transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by
  testing you may discern what is the will of God,
  what is good and acceptable and perfect
  (Ro.12.2)
• Many believers are still living by the worlds
  values, not Gods

44

• The Spirit brings transformation through the
  renewal of the mind
• As we read, memorize, meditate on and obeying the
  Word of God
• While he illuminates, teaches, encourages,
  convicts and empowers us through it
• Holy Scripture is a key means of growing in grace
  and being transformed

45

• What about other spiritual disciplines?
• A better term is means of grace
• We learn about them from the Word and are helped
  to practice them by the Spirit

46

• Note that transformation is Trinitarian
• God the Father calls us
• God the son redeems us
• God the Holy Spirit restores us
• But the Holy Spirit is the primary active agent
  in our daily growth
• And it is to the Holy Spirit that we now turn...