2 Cor 3:18 … are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.
Progressive levels of transformation to maturity.
Progressive levels of responsibility and authority. Servant to Bond servant to Steward to Friend. Lord to King to Son.
Season preparing us for holiness.
Season to remove stumbling blocks.
Season to prepare us to cross the threshold into the glory realm.
Don’t resist it embrace it.
Be changed from glory to ever increasing glory.
Rom 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Change = opportunity?
Change = insecurity?
Why do we struggle with change?
Fear of the unknown.
Comfortable where we are.
Sounds like hard work ‘Better the devil you know.’
Discipline is not synonymous with punishment. Discipline (Hebrew muwcar) – reproof, correct, train, warn, instruct. Proverbs 1:2 To know wisdom and instruction to discern the sayings of understanding, 3 To receive instruction in wise behavior, righteousness, justice and equity.
Discipline (Greek paideia). Instruct, train, correct, educate. 2 Timothy 3:16 Every Scripture is God breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness in holy living, in conformity to God’s will in thought, purpose, and action.
Punishment? Retribution – pay back. Suffering, pain or loss as retribution. The infliction or imposition of a penalty. Severe, rough or disastrous treatment. God does not punish people.
Why this confusion between discipline and punishment? Example of authority figures. Parents, teachers, police, magistrates, judges, church leaders. Heb 12:7 You must submit to and endure correction for discipline; God is dealing with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not [thus] train and correct and discipline.
Hebrews 12:8 Now if you are exempt from correction and left without discipline in which all [of God’s children] share, then you are illegitimate offspring and not true sons [at all]. Hebrews 12:11 For the time being no discipline brings joy but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
The love of Christ. 2 Cor 5:14 For the love of Christ motivates us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
What motivates and empowers us to embrace and endure? The mercies of God new every morning. Freedom from sin – Rom 6:16-18. Gift of eternal life – Rom 6:23. Peace with God – Rom 5:1. The grace of God – Rom 5:2. Salvation from wrath – Rom 5:9. The gift of repentance – Rom 2:4-5.
Lam 3:22 The Lord’s mercies [lovingkindnesses] indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” 25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.
Mercy checked lovingkindness. Covenant love. Covenant is a commitment, agreement or contract only broken by death. Stipulations or terms. Cut with blood and stone. Ratified by exchange.
Why did people make covenants? Love, Marriage, Mutual protection, Insurance, Mutual benefit, Contracts. Exchange or trade takes place in covenant. Coats – identity and blood.
God’s M.O. is by covenant. Adam (Hosea 6:7). Noah (Gen 9). Abraham’s seed – Isaac – Jacob (Gen 12, 15, 17). Israel – Moses (Exod 19-24). David (2 Sam 7). Jesus (Jer 31, Heb 9).
Gen 15:8 On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants (seed) I have given this land, From the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates: Gen 15:19 the Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite 20 and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim 21 and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.” Covenant Abram made with his seed (Jesus, and us in Him).
Act 3:25 It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘ AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’ Gal 3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but rather to one, “ And to your seed,” that is, Christ.
Gal 3:29 And if you belong to Christ [are in Him Who is Abraham’s Seed], then you are Abraham’s offspring and heirs according to promise. Rom 4:13 For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world.
Heb 11:9 By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; 10 for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
It is usually sealed with blood. Is a total commitment to each other. It binds each party to be committed to love one another and do good to one another. To share all they have and also to support one another to the very death when attacked by an outsider.
New Covenant is the fulfilment of covenant to Abraham’s seed. Jesus made the covenant with His own blood on cross. Jesus made the covenant with God as Abraham’s seed. Covenant is unbreakable and totally reliable.
Abraham offered Isaac, His son: a precedent was set. God offers Jesus, His son. Deut 7:9 “Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
Mercy applies the covenantal power and victory of the cross. Jesus was my substitute (he traded places with me to deal with the penalty or wages of sin): He died for me. Jesus was my representative to deal with the power of sin: He died as me. When Jesus died, I died. Blood brothers.
The Covenant Exchange at the Cross.
1 Cor 5:21 God made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Covenant of Adoption-Date of adoption-7 witnesses
What motivates and empowers us to embrace and endure? The mercies of God new every morning. Freedom from sin – Rom 6:16-18 Gift of eternal life – Rom 6:23. Peace with God – Rom 5:1. The grace of God – Rom 5:2. Salvation from wrath – Rom 5:9. The gift of repentance – Rom 2:4-5.
Lam 3:22 The Lord’s mercies [loving kindnesses] indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “Therefore I have hope in Him.” 25 The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him.
Rom 6:17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Rom 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Rom 5:2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand.
Rom 5:9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. Rom 2:4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
2 Cor 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Rom 9:23 And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory. 2 Cor 4:1 Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart,
Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, Titus 3:5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy,
Heb 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
1 Peter 2:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
God is a covenant-making God. Covenant expresses his inexhaustible and supreme love. The love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is covenant love. In giving his life for the sins of the world, Jesus entered a New Covenant in his blood with the Father. It was total commitment and self-giving without reservation on behalf of both parties.
It is stronger than death! It cannot be broken or annulled. It sustains your salvation. New Covenant: everything belonging to the Father belongs to Jesus. If you are in Christ, everything belonging to the Father belongs to you.
The basis of our transformation is God’s covenant love, his mercies. God’s mercies are motivated by His love. God’s love motivates us to change. Rom 2:4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?