All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose, a truth perceived intuitively rather than solely through experience. The sermon illustrates this by recounting a near-drowning experience and contrasting it with spiritual salvation through Jesus Christ, who bore the sins of humanity. It emphasizes that salvation is found in the person of Jesus, not just in knowing the facts of the gospel, and that true rest comes from Him by ceasing from one's own works. Ultimately, the Christian life's goal is to be conformed to the image of God's Son through the renewing of the mind by beholding His glory in Scripture, leading to a transformation that reflects Christ to the world.
Restored with Diffio
Audio restored with Diffio. Diffio processed the original archive recording to reduce noise and produce a cleaner listening version; the original stays available.
Speech quality score (model-estimated, SCOREQ): before 2.04 → restored 4.55
Certainly there's a delight to sing about the name that God is exalted above every name. It was a time in my life when I didn't understand the meaning of the name Jesus. Many years ago in Fort Worth, Texas, I was lured into deeper waters by some older boys that I knew, and they said, come on out here where we are. They were on a concrete pier out in deep waters, and they knew that I could not swim on the top of the water.
I could swim for long distances under the water, but I could not swim on top of the water. So I waited out as far as I could go, and after their intent coaching and luring and Beckoning me to come, I took a deep breath and launched off toward my destination. About halfway between where I could last step to the bottom and still breathe from the top, and my desired destination, I started sinking. I struggled with all of my life.
And one of my friends that lived next door to me back home came into the waters and tried to rescue me from drowning. And I was later told I almost drowned him. A grown man, an adult, seeing what was going on, raced over to the edge of the waters, dove in, and swam to where I was. But this time I had already gone under two times, and my lungs were beginning to get filled with water. And it started down the third time when they said he'd reached the pier, dove off, and in one big movement, I later learned that in rescue usually you jump in, but good thing he didn't, he never would have reached me.
He dove and had that much momentum, went under the waters, grab me and pull me out to safety. They had to get the water out of me, and it was an experience that I never shall forget. When you fight for your life, it marks your mind. To this day, I could not tell you that man's name, but I remember the experience. It was very real as a lad of a boy, because I just knew The end had come. Later on in life I learned of a different situation.
That day I was drowning and physically dying. It was only later that I learned that in a spiritual sense I was drowning in my sins and dying. And the man that rescued me has the name Jesus. He did not dive into the waters, but he was plunged into death. The man who rescued me physically was very much alive. He did not have to die to save me from drowning, but the Lord Jesus had to go into the waters of death. And none of us will ever know just what it was that he tasted When there on the little hill, on the northwest corner of the city of Jerusalem, he was nailed to a tree, bearing the darkness and vileness and all of the wickedness of my vulgar and awful sins.
For you see, it was there that God made him to be sin for me. He who knew no sin bore my sins in his own body, on the tree. And tonight I love to hear the name of Jesus. Sort of glad we sung that song, and I really kind of forced my way into the group and sang with them, you know. But I enjoyed it. They came up for practice, and I slipped up there and got in with them. Sometimes my voice won't allow me to sing very much. Years ago I used to have a fair voice. I did a lot of solo work, but I've sort of ruined my voice in outdoor speaking and preaching. Sometimes my voice sounds about like a rooster going through puberty.
It really does crow a little. So I usually try to pick a part where it won't be so evident and enjoy singing that hymn. Would you open your Bibles tonight with me to the book of Romans chapter eight, where we left off this morning? Romans chapter eight. I'm not going to make any very big bold statement in saying what I'm about to say, but it has been at least my finding and my experience that wherever I open the Word of God and try to teach or preach, that eventually I wind up in Romans, either turning directly to it or giving something that is in every way connected with it.
Romans is a very paramount book of the New Testament. It is the fundamental book of the New Testament. I would urge you to get a good grip on the Book of Romans. If you can grasp the Book of Romans, you'll have a tremendous knowledge of the Word of God. In the eighth chapter, we were looking at three verses this morning, and we noticed that the writer at this point had indicated we know. There are a lot of things we know, but The one thing he's stressing here is that we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are the call ones according to his purpose. And in saying that he is making us clear in our minds and our thinking and our rationale that we do not understand all things or know all things by experience, but we perceive that all things that God allows in our lives do work together for good.
It matters not what it is. And when he says we know, he uses the word oida, meaning to know by perception. It is intuitive knowledge. It is not experiential knowledge. There's another Greek word for that. Here it's intuitively or perceptively. We know that all things work together for good. When I look at God's dealing with the nation of Israel, at God's dealing with the man Joseph, at God's dealing with the man Abraham, Elijah and others, regardless of what happened to their lives. I know by looking at that that all things do work together for good, to those who love God, to those who are the called ones according to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow.
He also did predestinate. The word predestinate comes from the root word, orezzo, meaning to mark out or set a bound, to set a limit. to make a mark. And then it's prefixed and confounded by a word that means before. So when you link up before with marking a bound, God beforehand had marked out a boundary. And that's what he means by predestinate. That is, he says, now here is a limitation. Here is a boundary line. Here is a mark. And he says, I want you to be marked out beforehand And I have marked you out beforehand.
I have set you as that particular mark. Therefore he could say he also did predestinate those of us. Those of us he foreknew. He also did mark out beforehand that we would be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, then he also called. If God had marked me out beforehand to be conformed to the image of His Son, but never called me, it would have been an eternal tragedy. I never would have come. He called me. Oh, hear His voice.
He says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Did you notice the personal pronoun? I. Salvation is not a plan. Please forgive me if I'm offensive. I don't intend to be. It is not of Lent, notwithstanding all the expressions that we hear like that. Salvation is a person. Simeon of old was holding the Lord Jesus in his arms. His mother had given him to Simeon there in the temple. And he says, Now, Lord, let us thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation. Looking right in the eyes of the Lord Jesus.
Salvation is a person. that you have the person. A lot of people got the plan. They could snap it off like that. I know people that could tell you how to be saved, in three minutes they could tell you how to be saved, or less. They could give you verses of Scripture, but not save. I remember a dear man years ago, a little place called Vastai, Texas. I guess it was named after Queen Vastai. First place that I ever preached is a as a pastor of a Baptist church. I used to be a Baptist pastor for about eight years. This man, shortly after going there to be the pastor of that church, I learned was not a Christian.
He came to the meetings. He was regular with his wife and his only child, a daughter. He came to the meetings, sat there, listened, and I remember preaching, and there were times when I'd be preaching and I'd see the tears streaming down that man's face. One morning I told my wife, we lived forty-two miles away from where I was preaching at the time. We lived down in Decatur, Texas. And I told my wife, I said, you know, we're going to rise early in the morning. We're going to go early to the Vax Tide because I said, I want to go by and see Virgil Deweber. I've got to talk to him. It's on my heart. God's burdened me to go by and see him before the meeting. I said, now after I talked to him, he may not come, but I must go. So we rose up early Sunday morning, earlier than usual, got our two oldest children ready. We only had two at the time, drove out to their home.
knocked on the door, we were admitted. And I sat down beside Virgil Deweyver and began to open up the Word of God, said, Virgil, you know, this really is a concern to me that you come time after time, you hear the Gospel, you know what it is to be saved, you've indicated this, but now I don't understand, you're not saved. I can't figure that out. And finally, in the course of time, I found myself on my knees beside His rocking chair, opening the Word of God and pleading with that dear man to be saved. And He sat there and actually physically shook. The tears streaming down his face. It wasn't saved. He had got up one night in training union and gave a part of that particular training union program of speaking, public speaking, on how to become a Christian.
Can you imagine someone? I mean, things were really done weird sometimes in those churches. I didn't have anything to do with that. Giving an unsaved man a part of telling how to be saved. But someone had given him a part and he got up and was giving it and shook. Tears were streaming down his face. It wasn't saved. Oh, other people know how to be saved. They can give you the plan, but the problem is they don't have the person. My good friend Leonard Lindsted, whom you know, was telling me about a young lady that was a friend of his that had evidently purposed to get married, and had been some time since he had seen her, and after a good lapse of time they crossed sails once more, and he asked her, said, Are you married?
She says, I've got a house. Oh, that's wonderful. Where is your house? And she began to tell about it. And he says, but are you married yet? She said, I've got my dishes. Finally, when he asked the third time, are you married? She said, I've got my furniture. And she started to cry. She wasn't married. You know why? She didn't have a man. She had the house. She had the furniture, she had the dishes. She had all those things. But, dear friends, she didn't have the husband. She didn't have a man. She wasn't married. She didn't have all the facts of the gospel. I'm convinced that most of the people in our little town know the facts of the gospel.
What are the facts of the gospel? Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and he was buried, and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Our little town is very religious. I don't know if you've ever been to it or not, Atlantic Iowa, the west side of Iowa. Very religious. Matter of fact, a young man recently was expelled from high school for smoking. There's some very strong moral principles there in the school. I'm not saying it is a Sunday school. I'm just saying that it's a very religious place. And most of the people of the town are hoping to be in heaven. When I meet him, we made it a practice for three years in a row to go to every door in the city. A little town of about eight thousand, to knock on every door systematically before a series and during a series of gospel meetings.
Sometimes we go four straight weeks in the gospel. And I found people all over that town that told me they hoped they're going to be in heaven. And I said, well, you know, I'm a stranger up here in a way. I'm living here, but I'm sort of a newcomer, a Texas transplant. And I said, the word hope down home may have a little different connotation than what you give it up here. I said, now down home where I was raised and farming out in West Texas, I could say, I hope it rains on my wheat crop tomorrow. Is there any guarantee that it will? Oh, no. No guarantee. I say, I hope that the mud dries up in the next thirty minutes so we can get in the field. Is there any absolute guarantee it will?
Absolutely not. The old car used to drive had about nearly a hundred and thirty thousand on it. And I said, I hope that old car will start when these meetings are over, and I get ready to go home. Any guarantee? No, it's a Ford. It may not. Please, no offense to anyone that drives it over. I tried to get a new Ford this time, but I couldn't afford the cost. They just wouldn't get the cost down, so I went and bought a nose mobile. What I'm saying is this. Hope is no guarantee. I say, well, you know, where are you going to spend eternity? Where do you be a million years from today? Oh, I hope to be in heaven. Wonderful. What's the basis of your hope? Look at me like a cash turn in a new gate.
You know, what do you mean? Basis of your hope. Well, what are you depending on? What's going to determine you are going to be there or not going to be there? Oh, well, you know, and then they go into the same old song and dance routine, you know, do good. Be good. God says there's none that do it good. No, not one. Chapter III. We may feel that we're good. We may be appraised and assessed by others as good. But God looks down into our wicked hearts, and the Scripture still says, The heart is deceitful, above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? And the next verse says, I the Lord. I the Lord.
God knows the heart. I notice that there's a screen up here. I have to pull down that screen. and ask for volunteers, who would volunteer to allow their heart to be revealed up there? Suppose I said, okay, I'm just going to appoint someone. I'm going to pick you out and I appoint someone to reveal your heart. You know what had happened? There'd be a new door in this building. Somebody would be leaving in a hurry. You know good and well, that's true. And anybody that says it's not true is either dumb or dishonest. Our hearts are terribly wicked. God says that I believe it. The wonders of salvation are summed up in this, that the infinite God, the God of all grace and the God of all mercy, sent forth His Son to take all those vile, dark sins and bear them in His body.
And not only to deal with our sins, watch now. to deal with sin itself, and there is a unique difference we need to distinguish between sins and sin. Sin is the parent, sins are the offspring. Sin is the root, sins are the fruit. Sin is the disease, sins are the symptoms. One fosters the other. One is more deadly, more heinous than the other. Jesus did not forgive sin. He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. He dealt with it. He grappled with it. He went into the very darkness of death and once for all settled the sin question. And incidentally, the sin's question.
I noticed that our brother Stuart indicated nothing that defiles is going to enter that blessed place that we'll call home. Because you see, he forever has dealt with it. Those sins, having put away our sins, he dealt with them. Having forgiven us all trespasses is the idea. Now we'll notice. that salvation is a person and in a person. Here he has said in chapter eight of Romans in verse thirty, moreover, whom he did predestinate them, he also calls. So the Lord Jesus is himself salvation, and he calls us to himself. And you can hear his voice, if you read Matthew eleven, when he so pleadingly could say, Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
take my yoke upon you and learn of me." And the word learn is the same word as disciple, only in the verb form. "'Learn of me,' he said, "'for I meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.'" The word rest is a very interesting word. It is, you know, English is a language that's borrowed from several languages. One of the most foundational languages in our English language is the Greek language, much to the surprise of some people. Some people say, well, a lot of it came from Latin. Well, let me tell you, as much or more came, I believe, from Greek as it did from Latin. Some of it's Germanic. There are various other languages that are woven in, the old Anglo-Saxon, and many languages seem to have flowed into what we call English today.
But our English word, P-A-U-S-E, is the word rest in Matthew If you'd like to look at it, we'll get back to Romans in a moment because we're going to deal with transformation. Matthew chapter eleven, and it's there that the Lord is giving us an invitation to come. Verses twenty-eight, twenty-nine and thirty, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And the word rest there is our English word pause. It's the Greek word pause A. And it's compounded.
Now go with me to our imaginary chalkboard. Is that a chalkboard here? We write up the word P-A-U-S-E. And we prefix it. That is, we put another little word before it and join it together. We glue it together. We compound it. And that's what... The Spirit of God did when He took those two words. And the first one, the one that precedes the prefix, the compounding part, is the word anna, meaning up. So it's anna-poise is the word. And literally it's resting up. Get the picture. Jesus says, Come unto me, are ye that labor and are heavy laden? And it's a picture of someone who is under the load of his or her sins going through life.
And Jesus said, You come to me. And I'll give you rest. What? I'll lift the burden up. She was lifted up on Calvary, beloved, on that hill. But, you know, Calvary couldn't save anybody. It was on the person. Don't forget it. Not Calvary, but Christ. It's on the hill called Calvary. But there on the Christ of God, there on the Son of God, the Lord Jesus, our sins were laid. You see, the way that He can offer us rest and cause us to pause in a realistic way is because He has lifted the burden up. They've been laid upon Him. They were taken off of us. And to that agrees, the word of Isaiah, in chapter fifty-three when He says, He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we're healed. All we lack sheep have gone astray. We've turned everyone to His own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. That's how we can rest. The burden has been lifted up. In the book of Hebrews chapter four, the same Greek word is used for rest there, but it uses the opposite preposition. Rather than anah, meaning up, it's katar, meaning down. And there he says, the way you get your rest in that context is cease from your works. God's already accomplished it. If you're trying to work your way to heaven, if you're trying to be good in the sight of God, if you're trying to display something that will catch the eye of God to merit heaven, forget it.
He says, lay it down. That's the way you'll rest. Christ has already done the work. See, no one, no one can please God in the flesh. And we're born with a soul, natural flesh. And so the Lord Jesus offers rest. He lifts the burden up. For those who have really seen the truth of salvation, our rest is ceasing from works, laying our works down. We can't bring our works before God and say, Look, God, what I've done, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast. Then, of course, we notice now back in our passage in the book of Romans, in keeping with the promise of this morning that we will continue our study, we will notice now.
He said in verse thirty moreover whom He did predestinate them. He also called in whom He called. Then He also justified. And we went into justification just a little bit this morning, just touching on the subject by way of definition of term, and whom He justified them. He also glorified. And the word glory is the word doxa. Doxa is very hard to define. You can say glory, but what have you said? And you can give more synonyms, but what have you said? The idea that in the Old Testament it captures my mind in defining this particular word, trying to find an expression in Scripture, and I believe Scripture will interpret Scripture if we let it, is back in the account in Genesis when God is creating. And in that first chapter you'll find that God will do something in a creative way, and then he will say, and it was good.
That's your word, glory, estimation, and declaration. God did something and behold it was good. And the evening and the morning were the certain day. That's the idea of glory. So when he says, glorified, it's God's estimation of something. Very high. Jesus could cry out, Father, glorify thou me with the glory which thou had with thee before the world was. It was that high and lofty estimation of intrinsic value and radiance that came forth from the person of Christ. That's glory. Now, someday we're going to be like Him.
But now back to verse twenty-nine, the middle verse of those three. And there's where we want to zero in. I was trying to point out this morning that justification and glorification are brought forth in this little three-verse context. And sanctification is not mentioned because the author of the book, humanly speaking, Paul, has been laboring intently on the area of sanctification. Back in chapter six, seven, and on into chapter eight. And so, fitly, it does not mention the word because that's the subject and the tune he's been singing. Looking, if you will, now at verse twenty-nine, for whom he did, for no, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son. The ultimate of the entire Christian life is to be conformed to the image of God's Son.
And here we're noticing it is not the word schema, meaning outward form. Form that is outward and apparent and it seems to fit together and to join together, but rather another word. It's another word for form. It's Morphe, meaning intrinsic form. God wants us to be like His Son, but we're not physically going to look like Him here. We don't even physically look like one another. And that's, I think that's a good thing. You know, God is the God of diversity, not division, but diversity. Aren't you glad you don't look like me? No comments, please. The God of diversity. He wants us to be conformed to the image of His Son. How can this be accomplished?
Well, first of all, I submit, I submit that we're going to have to learn what the Lord looks like. What kind of form is the Son of God in? Looking, if you will, at Philippians chapter two, this is brought out so clearly in this particular chapter. What is Jesus Christ like? We're going to have to know what he's like before there's going to be any realistic conforming to his image. In the second chapter of Philippians we read, verse five and following, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
Notice what we've said. Who being in the form of God? Now this is the word, morphe, meaning intrinsic form. God is a spirit, or literally put, God is spirit. And yet here is Jesus Christ, a man. Who being in the form of God, the very essence of all that God is, is in the person of Christ. And we see that in Colossians. All the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in the man, Christ Jesus. who being in the form of God. In every way, Jesus truly is God. I was reading an article some good long while ago in a magazine that's very popular among Christians who gather like we do.
And in that article, a man was writing about the person of Christ, and he indicated in that article that Jesus, as a young man, as a boy, did not know who he really was, and had to read the Old Testament to find out who he was. Secondly, had to read the Old Testament to find out what his role was. And I'll tell you, if you ever want to see someone mad, that's me. I got so mad, I was on a tear. I couldn't seem to help it. And I'm not much of a letter writer, but I began to burn the line on some paper. I said, this is absolutely wretched.
For you see, if Jesus was not God, who was He? I tell you, if He wasn't God, He was a liar. And He was wicked. But, Beloved, He was, and ever shall be God. And this Scripture says, Let this man be in you, which also was in Christ Jesus, who being in the intrinsic form. What's the difference between schema and Morphe? Schema is outward form. Morphe is inward, intrinsic form. The essence of God, who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, nothing that he should smash or grab or steal. He didn't have to steal deity. He was deity. He made himself of no reputation.
One Greek word, kenosis, emptied himself not of God. There's the fallacy. So many people think that when he became a man, he emptied himself of God. And sometime later he became God once more. What a tragedy. Let me tell you, my beloved friend, that in the womb of the Virgin Mary, He was God then. He was God before. He shall ever be God. He shall never cease to be God. And if He ever cease to be God, we're sunk. Oh, my hope and aspiration is in Him. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. And if yours isn't anything else, you're sunk. Who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God?
Made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant. And where it says was made, it's Ghenomai, he became. The false witnesses of the Watchtower Society would tell us that Jesus was a created being, and they'd get mileage out of our beloved King James Version using the word made. They really capitalize on that. I've grappled with those people many times. where it says, was made. Gino-mai, he became in the likeness of men, being found in fashion as a man. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that it's the name of Jesus.
Every knee should bow. Will you bow tonight? Say, wait a minute. What are you talking about? Will you bow? That's the issue. Will you bow right now? If you don't now, And don't forget you're missing his Lordship. If you fail to bow to him as Lord, you'll face him as a lion. He's the lion of the tribe of Judah in the book of Revelation. And my beloved friend, in a kingly fashion, seated upon a throne as king of kings and lord of lords, he shall judge at the great white throne and all who have rejected him as their Lord and Savior will have to face him like that. So what is he like? Well, he's God.
being in the form of God, the very essence of God. Nothing to be snatched, to be equal with God, nothing to be robbed, nothing to be stolen. What else is he like? Isaiah said he's a man of sorrow, a man of sorrow, and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was a man who did without, foxes have holes, birds of the air have nets, gentlemen, has not where to lay his head. We're so wrapped up in a material world today, until my beloved friends, I'm wondering. We have very much real insight into what the Lord lived in in his earthly sojourn as the men Christ Jesus. Oh, help us, oh, Lord, to see the men of sorrows and to see him going through this life.
He was really not occupied so much with the material world as he was the souls of men and the will of God in redeeming them and saving them. How are we involved in going out and reaching the multitudes? Are we telling them the blessed story? Something else about the Savior we see. that he had such a high appraisal of the book, the Word. Of course, the New Testament was, what we call the New Testament, was not written then, had at that time the Old Testament, it had been written, but you'll notice that on every occasion the Lord Jesus was using the Word of God. When Satan came to him, he says, it is written. We see something of his appetite. He said, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish the Word.
That's his appetite. We see his attitudes. He could look upon the multitudes with compassion. We see His action. He was going around doing good and helping those who were in trouble and sorrow. Do you want to be like the Lord Jesus? Do you want to be conformed to His image? We have to see what He's like. Notice another expression found in the book of Romans where we were a moment ago. We were in chapter eight. Now this time in chapter twelve we're going to see a very similar expression. We have had over in Romans eight and verse twenty nine. The expression conformed. We looked at that this morning and found that the word is morphe, meaning intrinsic form, and it's the word soon, meaning intimately with.
So intimately with a form. It's the most intimate word for with. Conformed is formed in a likeness of the sun so close, so intimate, that we're just like him. That's what God wants. God's very well pleased with his son. He wants us to be like him. Chapter twelve, now the book of Romans. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the compassion of God. By the compassion of God. Now this word mercy is here in our King James Version is the same word that's rendered compassion in Romans nine-fifteen. Where there in Romans nine-fifteen he says, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. And the word there is the same word that's translated compassion. And the difference between the two, their kissing cousins.
The words are very close. They're synonyms. But the difference is, and all those synonyms have some differences, the difference is, in mercy, the word elos, we see that is feeling excited by the misery of another. One night, against my best wishes, I agree with my wife to let our children go into a little swimming pool where my sister and brother-in-law were living in an apartment complex. because I had a fear that at nighttime might be a little dangerous. After a little while of conversation, everyone was supposed to be watching someone and so on and so forth, I said, where's Tracy? That's our number six child, the baby. They said, well, she's right over, oh, and she wasn't there.
And I scanned the waters quickly and saw her face down and little limbs dangling in the water. I almost lost my breath. I jumped in that pool, clothes and all. I didn't waste one second. I jumped in and grabbed her by the heel, jerked her up, and began to beat on her back. And she began to belch up the water and began to come out of her lungs. And she started breathing again. She was just as lifeless as she could be, just dangling. That is mercy. Feeling excited by the misery of another. There we were plunged in the depth of our sins, dangling into death, and the Lord Jesus in mercy saved us.
The Scripture says that, not the works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us. That's the word elos for mercy. See, what's the difference between it and compassion? The word compassion is a synonym. It is feeling excited by the misery of another and in the context of two things. An exclamation. and tears. It not only has the same characteristic of the first, but it adds two other features, an exclamation and tears. Jesus at the tomb of Lazarus. The Scripture said he groaned in the Spirit, and Jesus wept. Oh, beloved, we're told that Jesus wept another time. There he comes to the brow of the hill of Jerusalem.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that destroys the prophets and the stones of them that would come unto thee. How oft would I have gathered thee as a hymn doth gather her chickens under her wing, and you would not. The Lord Jesus has wept. No telling how many times he's wept for you. Would you receive him tonight as your Lord and Savior? Those of us who know him, look what he says to us. I beg of you, therefore, brothers, I call you to my side, therefore, brothers, by the compassion of God that you present your body to a living sacrifice. The word present is the same word that's translated in chapter six of this same book, Y-I-E-L-D. Yield. It is the word histamine, meaning to stand, and the word pariah, meaning alongside.
So he's saying here, I beg of you, brothers, to stand your bodies alongside a living sacrifice. Where do you stand alongside the Lord Jesus? He's the captain of our salvation. He wants us to report every day. God wants us right at the feet of His Son. He wants us to be occupied with Him. Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your logical service. And be not conformed to this age. And there's your word, schema, meaning outward form. So many people outwardly are going to try to look like Jesus. They miss it. Here he's saying, be not conformed to this age. Don't be trying to go along with what this age is saying. I'll never forget an expression, maybe I've wore it out, but it still hangs in my mind.
Mr. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, recognized as one of the great preachers of England of maybe a hundred years ago. And I read this article and I was really amazed, because he said in his time, the women of London get their fashions from Paris, and the women of Paris get their fashions from hell. Oh, beloved friend, God says, don't be conformed to this age. Stop, literally stop being conformed to this age. Don't try to look like this world system. Look different. Be separated. But on the contrary, look what he says. Be not conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Now, what is the ultimate goal of the Christian life to be conformed to the image of God's Son? But you say, how can I be conformed to the image? What's going to work this thing? Well, here's your clue. Be transformed, how? By the renewing of your mind. And renewing is the word honor once more. It brings in the word honor, meaning up, has the idea of something that's up. By the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Well, how can I be transformed? Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And transformation here is about the same word that we have over in the book of Romans, chapter eight and verse twenty nine. This time, It is metamorphosis, not sumorphae, but metamorphosis.
This time it's the same word we use in biology for the life cycle of the butterfly, exact same word. Now tell me, when you think of the life cycle of a butterfly, do you, do you think of somebody going out there and and outwardly working on that little egg, and then outwardly working on that little larva, and outwardly working on that caterpillar, and finally producing a beautiful butterfly? Oh, no. No, no. It comes from within. Well, you see, in that life cycle of that butterfly, we find that potential in that egg is that beautiful butterfly, and that's all working from within. Would you look now in your Bibles quickly, because our time has come and gone, Second Corinthians chapter three.
It's a key verse there. Once more the same word is used. And I do believe if we as Christians are sober in our minds and sensible in our reasoning, we're going to realize it is the will of God for us to look like the Lord Jesus. And the world is waiting to see someone that looks like the Lord Jesus. Second Corinthians chapter three and verse eighteen. Before we read, I'll mention that one time Traveling with Brother Leonard, we used to travel some and have gospel meetings together, and he was telling him about stopping at a service station and said that the attendant was at the back of the car filling up the tank of gas with gas, rather, and said he was kind of looking up over the edge of the top of the car, and he said, there goes Jesus. And he said, there goes Jesus.
And he said, there goes Jesus. Jesus. What do you mean? He said, that man in this town is the nearest man like Jesus I've ever seen. Is that what they say about us? Could they say that of us? Or we conform to his image? I mean, do we really look like him? What about our attitudes? What about our appetites? What do we really hunger for? What about our actions? Do they really reflect the Son of God? Do we really look like the Lord Jesus? Well, you say, Donald, how can it take place? How can this transformation? How can I be conformed to His image? How can I really look like it so much that someone says, boy, they look alike. They really do resemble one another.
Well, the answer is given in Second Corinthians, chapter three. It was given also in Romans chapter twelve. Maybe we didn't understand it. He said, by the renewing of your mind, be transformed by renewing your mind. How do you get your mind renewed? He says, I'll tell you. Verse is in seventeen and eighteen. We'll read those two together, please. Now the Lord is that spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is, there's liberty. But we all, with unveiled faith, open faith, unveiled, nothing over it. Beholding as in a glass or a mirror, the glory of the Lord are changed, and the word changed is the same word, morphed, preceded, prefixed by metta, or metamorphosed, transformed, conform to His image.
And here it says are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. It was said, I mentioned this this morning, but it was said of some of my kin folks years ago, and that's where I think I first heard it. I was listening to some adult conversation as just a young man, just a boy, and I'll never forget it, I guess, because I heard about two of my kin folks. They said, you know, so-and-so's live with so-and-so's so long. They look alike. And boy, as a kid, I looked. I thought, my. They need glasses. They don't look alike. I looked at them and, you know, the elderly woman who was a kinsman of mine, she looked one way, and the elderly man, which was a kinsman by marriage, he looked different. And they said they looked just alike.
And I just, you know, of course, as a kid, I thought, what on earth are they talking about? But the longer I've lived, the more I've come to sense that and see that. You see, what it was, and what they were really getting at is this, that those two people had lived together so long that their attitudes, their actions, their appetite, everything was just in synonymous agreement. They were just beautifully mated and going together in this world as one. Now, that's what God's talking about. You say, how does it take place? Well, if you missed it, let me re-emphasize it in closing. If you're willing to begin to get in your Bible and start looking at the Lord Jesus and see what He was like, God is saying to us, the more you look at Him, the more you're going to look like him.
You've got to get your eyes on him. And too often we get our eyes on everything but the Lord. The more you'll read in God's word that you'll never find some picture. Don't go looking for it. Don't pray that God will give you a vision. I don't really believe you're going to get it. God says, I've given you a picture. Here it is in the word. And if you'll get into the word of God and begin to look at the Lord Jesus, you'll find the more you look at him, the more you'll begin to look like him. And it'll be evident to those about But you know, somehow and other to us, it may not be so evident. Moses, when he came down from the mountain, wished not that his face did shine. Others saw it, and others will see it in us. Are we willing to pay the price? It's going to cost you.
You've got to get into the book, and you've got to stay on your knees before the Lord until you learn what he's like. And first thing you know, you and I will begin to look and act and think like the Lord Jesus Christ. Shall we pray?