The Mirror is the Answer

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. This is Patrol one. Come in Headquarters, Headquarters. This is Patrol one. Please come in, Patrol one. This is headquarters. Go ahead. Yes, I'm at the First Baptist Church and we have made a horrible discovery. We have found three hundred dead bodies. Patrol one. This is headquarters. Can you repeat that one more time. Yes, I'm at First Baptist Church and we have made a horrible discovery. We have found three hundred dead bodies. Patrol one.

0:51 Please stand by. Okay, Patrol one, this is headquarters. We have talked to some experts. Here's what you need to do. Find a mirror somewhere in the building. Find a mirror. Bring the mirror back to where you found the bodies. Do you copy, Headquarters. This is Patrol one. Did you say mirror like you want me to find a mirror? I mean I have dead bodies. You're telling me to find a mirror. Yes, Patrol one, find a mirror. It is imperative that you find a mirror. Headquarters. This is Patrol one. I copy looking for a mirror now, Headquarters.

1:40 This is Patrol one. We have found a mirror. What are we to do, Patrol one, this is headquarters. Here's what you need to do. Take the mirror and put it in front of the face of each dead body. This will solve the problem. The dead bodies will come a lot, and then well you can well go get some donuts or something. Okay, okay, waits, that's probably not nice. Okay, I'm making a joke. But I'm also trying to give a very important illustration because we've been talking about dead bodies a lot, not actual dead bodies. This is being somewhat used as an illustration as a metaphor. If you haven't been with us, you're way, way, way behind. But we've been talking about this concept that as a Christian, our bodies are dead. And while we think we have found the solution, ladies and gentlemen, the solution is a mirror.

2:35 I know it may not make any sense. I will explain everything right after I do this. Welcome everyone. It is Wednesday, September the twenty fifth, twenty twenty four. It is currently ten twenty eight am Central time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio located right here. In Albilene, Texas. Now, if you just tuned in, you probably have no idea what's going on? Wait, who's patrol one? Who's headquarters? It sounds like the same person. Yeah, it's all me. I'm playing all the parts. I wasn't gonna sit there and try to change my voice or anything. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm not that committed to the acting role. But you get the idea. The idea is someone is at a church and they find all of these dead bodies.

3:18 And the reason we're using this illustration is because we've been looking at a book entitled Six Secrets of the Christian Life, and they put forth a hypotheses. They put forth kind of an idea to try to help us understand the Christian life because we can all agree. Well, Christians kind of talk out of both sides of their mouth here, they're not very consistent. But Christians should be able to agree that the one thing that is true of your life in my life is that we continue to sin, and we sin, and we sin, and we sin and we sin, and we struggle with certain sins, and we struggle with big sins and small sins, but we sin. Nobody can be perfect we live in sin and this can be discouraging, This can be frustration, frustrating.

4:00 You can feel defeated, you can feel discouraged, you can feel depressed. So what is the answer. Well, someone wrote a book called Six Secrets of the Christian Life, and they put forth a hypothesis to help us understand this problem. And here I'm going to break down their hypotheses. Are you ready? Number one to their hypotheses, the Christian body, you as a Christian, as a believer, your physical body, your body is dead to any spiritual stimulus, any any any anything coming from the spirit. Your body is dead. Your body is just dead. Nothing from the spirit, nothing from God. Your body can't react to it. It's just incapable.

4:47 It's unable. It it locks. It's there's an inability to the body to respond to anything spiritual because your body is still dead. All right. So that's their first kind of major point in the hypotheses is that the Christian body is dead. Number two, the nature internally inside of you, your nature, your heart has been completely transformed. Internally, you are a new creature in a very real way. The old is gone. Everything is new internally, you are a new person, new heart new. Everything internally right. Your body is dead, but inside everything is different, everything is changed.

5:30 Number three, the body can't respond to the new nature. So you have the new nature, you have everything is right on the inside, on the inside. Remember a lot of times I will put forth that, hey, the call is coming inside of the house, that the problem is inside of you. Well their argument is no, no, no, no, there's no problem inside of you. Inside of you is good to go. The problem is your body can't respond to that new nature. You may have the spirit inside of you. You may have a new nature and new heart, but your body just it's incapable. It's it can't do anything right. So the issue is this dead body. So then what is the answer. Well, the answer is a resurrection of the body. Now must happen. You need to experience a resurrection of the body now here on earth.

6:23 Because once you experience the resurrection of the body, then the body can respond to the new nature, and then therefore you can live a victorious Christian life. That was their hypothesis. But we were left with a very troubling problem. Well, how do we get this resurrection to occur? What do we do to cause the resurrection? So now that my body can respond to my new nature. Well, we were told you can't do anything. You can't do anything. You cannot bring this about. It's not by works, it's not by effort. God has to bring about the spiritual resurrection of the body, and then the body can respond to the new nature, and then therefore you'll have a victorious Christian life. I mean, basically, to me, what they're making an ultimate what they're going to lead to is if you just logically follow this, if my body has been completely resurrected, my nature is completely transformed, well then perfection should be the next stop. Now that I haven't said that yet, but that would be the logical inference that you would you would get to. So we've been left with, well, then how do we get the body? How do we get the body to be resurrected? What? What? What if God does it? Is there something that will activate it?

7:40 Is there a passcode? I mean, what can I do? Because without the body being resurrected, well then I've got a new nature. But the body can't respond to the new nature. The body is just literally incapable. There's an inability, it's unable. Whatever words you want to use, so then you're like, well, you're you're stuck. Like inside, you're like I want to do good, I want to live for God, but the body, just the body just will not respond to anything. So this leads to a very defeated, discouraged Christian life where one way you want to and the other way you can't. I mean, that's nobody wants to live that way. So how do we get this resurrection? Well, yesterday we reviewed a sermon on Romans eight ten through eleven.

8:28 Remember this is the verse that they are using. It seems like a lot of Christians go with this ideaman, but the book Six Secrets of the Christian Life, they are very much using this verse Romans eight ten And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. The body is dead, but inside there's life. There is the spirit, there's a new heart, there's a new nature. So there's this duality, this conflict. The body can't do it anything, but inside you've got all of this life, this power, this newness. So we got to get the body to be changed so that we can then have a perfect harmony between body and the internal part. All right, So but how do we get this to happen? Well, yesterday we listened to a sermon that the sermon we reviewed was of not of any help. It also quoted Romans eight ten through eleven. Remember I've given you a challenge to listen to as many random sermons as you can on Romans eight ten through eleven. All right, so what do we do? What do we do? How do we get this to work? Well, again, go back to my poor acting skills. This is Patrol one. Come in headquarters.

9:43 Patrol one. This is headquarters. Go ahead, Yes, I'm at the first Baptist Church. We have made a terrible, horrible discovery. We have found three hundred dead bodies. Patrol one. This is headquarters. What you need to do is find a mirror. The solution is a mirror, all right. That is what the book offers, as at least I guess the beginning of the solution is, we need a mirror. If we find a mirror, then everything is good to go. But it just got to be the right mirror, and we need to see the right things within that mirror, and then everything will be I don't know. This is where it's gonna get kind of confusing. But we're gonna try to figure this out. So we're gonna go to the book Six Secrets of the Christian Life, and we're gonna go to chapter two. And chapter two is entitled God's Marvelous Mirror. God's Marvelous Mirror. The mirror seems to be being put forth as a solution to the dead body.

10:55 Now is it a solution to the dead body? Is this going to be consistent or is about to get very convoluted, confusing, frustrating. We're about to find out now again, I told everyone to go purchase the book Six Secrets of the Christian Life by Zaine Hodges. It's only three dollars for a for the kindle app or for a kindle four dollars for a physical copy. It's only like fifty five pages. You can read it in probably a very short amount of time. And I'm not saying we agree with this, obviously, you're already hearing me challenge this dramatically. But if we're left in chapter one kind of like you know, a cliffhanger, right, Oh, what's going to happen?

11:37 We've got dead bodies. Tune in next week, same bad time, same bad channel, and we'll see what will happen with these dead bodies? Right, like, what's going to happen? Well, here we go? Are you ready? Again? I'm only I'm going to be skipping around a lot in this in this chapter. Again, my goal here is not for we the whole chapter. Well, my goals to get you to read the book, but it's the goals to really just try to pull from the book their basic argument and then we take the argument apart. So are you ready? Here we go? Here is their first sentence in chapter two. The Christian life is lived by the supernatural power of God.

12:25 The Christian life is lived by the supernatural power of God. Now that sounds good, But in chapter one they made the argument that even though we have the supernatural power of God inside of us, it's of no value until the body is resurrected because the supernatural power in us can't do anything because the body can't respond to it, which again is somewhat confusing, because you would think the supernatural power within us would be able to then animate, bring the body to life, and get the body to do what it wants to do. So it's already somewhat confusing even from their own hypotheses. But if we forget their own hypotheses, that statement preaches good. If I stand behind the pulpit, the Christian life is lived by the supernatural power of God, everyone in the pew will say amen.

13:20 But if I would stand in the parking lot and to wait a minute, I heard you saying amen, let me talk to you. You live your Christian life by the by the supernatural power of God. Well, yes, well, then you're perfect. Right. Well no, wait, I'm confused. If the life is lived by the supernatural power of God, why are you not perfect? Why? Why are you why can't you obey to some of some of the simple laws? Be e holy as God is holy, you should be perfectly holy, because that's a law. And if you're living your life by the supernatural power of God, you should be able to obey that. In fact, yesterday we heard in the sermon that we can all keep the law, even though oh he then admitted that nobody's keeping the law, which was really confusing. So if I'm living my life by the supernatural power of God, then perfection should be expected, right, they say, Well, we live our life by the supernatural power of God, but we can resist the supernatural power of God. But why wouldn't the supernatural power of God overcome my resistance? It's supernatural. When we speak of the power of God, we're speaking of an omnipotent power, right, So I'm a little bit confused here, all right. It says according to Romans eight ten through thirteen, which we just read a little bit of. As we have seen, living this life requires the resurrection of a spiritually dead body.

14:53 God's spirit alone can perform this miracle. Okay, So, hey, the only way for us to have this life, right, to live this life, If we're going to live this life, it requires a resurrection of a spiritually dead body. My body is dead spiritually. God has to resurrect my body. And the only way this can happen is that it is performed by the Spirit of God. God spirit is the one that performs this resurrection of your spiritually dead body. All right, So at least they're acknowledging. Hey, the Christian life is lived by a supernatural power of God. But the only way this happens is for a resurrection of your dead body, and the spirit is the one who does it. Right now, If the spirit is the one who does it, and every Christian is un dwelt by the Holy Spirit, Then why wouldn't the Holy Spirit then resurrect everyone, every Christian spiritually dead body, and so then the spiritually dead body would now be spiritually alive, and you would have a perfect new nature, a perfect heart, and so then you should just be perfect right, all right?

16:06 So what's the question question? So we've got questions there? But how does this happen? Are you ready? Here's the next part? But how does the spirit of God do this? All right? Okay, that's what we want to know. How does the Spirit of God do this? How again? Let me just put forth their entire hypotheses. Is the reason we struggle is because we have a new nature, but a body that is dead spiritually. So the body cannot respond to the new nature. So we're trapped. We have this, I want to but we can't. So the answer is the body has to be resurrected. And how does this happen? The Spirit of God does this? All right? How does he do this naturally? There's one answer? By his power?

16:55 So how do we get this resurrection? We need? The resurrection? The resurrection is as accomplished by the Spirit, not by our work. And he does it by his power. But how does he bring this power to bear upon a Christian individual? This question leads us to another vital secret of the Christian experience. All right, so the way the body is resurrected is by the power of the spirit. But how does the spirit bring this upon the Christian individual? How does he bring this power to bear upon you and upon me? All right, here we go. Here is the supposed secret. Are you ready? Here is the supposed secret.

17:48 Here is the second secret. So the first secret is your body is dead. The second secret is this. Are you ready? I'm going to read it? All right, go to Second Corinthians. Well, we'll all read it. I was just gonna read it, but to be more dramatic. But instead of being dramatic, let's just dig in. All right, we're done with a little bit of the you know, doing a little bit of the acting, trying to set aside, set up this metaphor and this hypothesis. Now we're going to dig in. So go to Second Corinthians, Chapter three, verse eighteen. Here's the second secret. So secret number one, we have a dead body. That's the simple idea. Now there's all those different parts to it, but you have a dead body, and this is all of your problem.

18:33 So here is the second secret, are you ready Second Corinthians three eighteen. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord. Now they quote it from a different translation. But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror. Now the King James uses the word glass. This is where the word mirror shows up. So let me read it again. But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror. The glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord. So they're saying that the answer, the way we get this bodily, our dead body, to be resurrected, is by looking into a mirror. See if you'll look into the mirror, bavoom resurrection. Now your body can respond to your spiritual nature. So now therefore again going to just walk into the inevitable logical conclusion where you should be able to be perfect. I mean, what would be

20:05 keeping you from perfection? Then you have a new nature. You have a new heart, you have the spirit in dwelling you, empowering you, and you have a resurrected body. Ladies and gentlemen, there's no way to get out of the argument that perfection would be forget possible or even probable. It would be reality. So how do we look into this mirror? This is where it's going to get really confusing. All right, are you ready? I mean, this whole concept everything, When Christians talk about all of this, it's maddening. It's just insentive looks to go. Listen to the review we did yesterday. That was one of the most convoluted, complicated mess I have ever heard in my life. And this, I think is about to go there. But are you ready?

20:51 Here we go. Here we encounter the rich truth of spiritual transformation. Okay, so wait, now, here we go. This is how transformation occurs. I gotta follow this, all right. So my body is dead. I'm completely changed on the inside. My body can't respond to the inside change because the body is dead. So what I need is a resurrection of the body now. And the way the resurrection of the body now occurs is by looking into a mirror.

21:34 Now back to the book. Here we encounter the truth of our spiritual transformation. Now this is where I'm confused. When they say spiritual transformation, they can't be referring to spiritual transformation of the inside because you already said that occurred. So this is if I look into the mirror, then my body begins to transform. Now, wait a minute, you said I needed a resurrection, not a transformation. A resurrection would be an instantaneous change transformation. Are you saying that this is somehow a process. Well, that's not a resurrection.

22:19 A resurrection you go from your body is dead spiritually to now it's alive spiritually. It's instantaneous. You don't have a progressive resurrection. Now they go, obviously this truth, the truth that we that we encounter. That okay, Well, obviously this truth is implied in the statement of Romans eight ten through eleven. If our frail, mortal bodies are to come alive as vehicles for God's life within us, spiritual transformation will have to occur, and if it does, the process involved will be the one in Second Corinthians three eighteen.

23:05 All right, now I am so confused. All right, so we're already transformed on the inside. So this transformation would simply be the transformation of the body. But you said I need a resurrection. Now you're seeing the transform transformation of the body is progressive, it's a process. This is now all convoluted. Again once again, whenever I don't understand why Christians cannot understand that we make literally no sense on these subjects. We speak complete, total nonsense. We speak circular reasoning. We just throw out words that sound all spiritual.

23:45 Everyone in the peuse says, amen, nobody has a clue how any of this works. So I'm I'm completely baffled by this. So what I need to do is I look into the mirror and then then I'm slowly being transformed. So now this is not a resurrection. This is a slow transformation. But it's not the transformation of the inside, because the inside's already good to go. This is transforming the physical body. So does when you say, and so we're gonna transform the body from spiritually dead to slowly becoming spiritually alive. How does a body slowly become spiritually alive?

24:28 Does it become like, so, now you're spiritually alive by five percent, ten percent. So it says we need to look at this process closely. So they start with this idea right go back to sewo Corinthians three eighteen. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass. There's this idea of the glass. Again, they say, this is looking into the mirror. So I think, I think I know where this is going. Let's see. Are you ready for this? Orright here we go possible Apostle Paul speaks and second Corinthians three eighteen of seeing the glory of the Lord, and of doing so as in a mirror.

25:10 This is a remarkable figure of speech that invites careful attention. The context of this statement makes it clear that the mirror here is the scriptures, specifically the Old Testament. And they say to look at Second Corinthians three twelve through sixteen. Second Corinthians three, starting in verse twelve. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech, as not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolish, but their minds were blinded, for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away. And the reading of the Old Testament, which a veil is done away with in Christ. So they're like, hey, this is this this mirror in verse sixteen. But we all with open face beholding as in a glass that this is looking into the scriptures. All right, we gotta follow this, all right, So again you may want to write this down. We gotta, we gotta, we gotta, we gotta really follow this. Okay, I'm gonna go back and read all of that carefully. Right, So let's put their hypotheses together, right, So, the Christian body is dead. The nature and heart of a Christian is completely transformed. The

26:43 body cannot respond to the new nature. Our resurrection of the body must happen. This resurrection of the body is actually a transformation that happens puggres yessively, and the way it is achieved is by you and I looking to the scriptures. I don't know how this is a secret. You know what this is turning into. It's turning into the standard thing. You gotta read your Bible, you gotta study your Bible. You've got to memorize your Bible. It's going to just turn into I mean, we've heard that a million times. I don't know why this is being marketed as a secret. Now I'm going to read it and then all together the apostle Paul speaks in two Corinthians three eighteen of seeing the glory of the Lord, and of doing so as in the mirror, in a mirror.

27:41 This is a remarkable figure of speech that invites our careful attention. The context of this statement makes it clear that the mirror here is the Scripture, specifically the Old Testament. Of course, the New Testament was still being completed as Paul wrote these words, But the New Testament is also scripture, and the fullness sense of the term, the spiritual dynamic that the Old Testament possesses is possessed as well by the New Testament. It follows that the Bible as a whole is the instrument that the Holy Spirit uses to change us. So to speak, God's word is his marvelous mirror. So it says we need a resurrection. So here's the thing. The more I look into the Bible, then I guess, slowly but surely, it transforms my body. The inside's already transformed.

28:27 So this is where it's confused. I'm confused. It's just transforming my body into what from death to life? And as it transforms my body, then I can respond to the spiritual stimulus of the internal nature more and more and more, and I can become better. I guess at least this tries to see the problem they made. Their mistake was they should have said. They should have said, we have a dead body, and what we need is a transformative process to bring that body back to life. That's what how they should have described it. But they said it we need a resurrection. What they're saying is we need a slow reviving of the body. Right, it's to revive the body as a process. Is basically now what they're putting forth. And guess what, but they said it it's not anything we do. They say, it's something God does. But it's the If it's me looking into the Bible that produces it, then it's going to require me to do the reading and the study. But wait a minute, what's going to motivate me to do the reading and the studying. You say, well, the spirit will motivate you to do the reading and the study. But my dead body does not respond to that spiritual stimuli.

29:45 So then what's getting me to read and study the Bible? According to their own hypotheses, this makes no sense. If my body is dead to any of the spiritual prompt any of the spiritual pushing and prodding and motivation. If my body cannot respond to it at all, well, then what's gonna get me to look into the mirror? What's gonna get me to read my Bible? What's gonna get me to study my Bible? Something is going to have to motivate me to do it. You've already said my body is dead to all of the spiritual motivation. So then what is getting me to read and study the Bible?

30:28 Something is nih all got to get my because this requires my body to take this in, right, my body's going to be motivated to do something spiritually right, read, study, meditate. So this whole thing is confusing, all right. So they talk all about the scriptures and you know, looking to the scriptures and what the scriptures can do. Okay, I'm gonna go. I'm just going to skip down here comprehending the scripture. Okay. So these are the words which I speak to you while I was with you. All things now must be fulfilled written by the Moses and the prophets.

31:13 Okay uh. He opened the understandings that they might comprehend the scriptures. Comprehending the scripture therefore requires seeing them as a reflection of Jesus Christ. They are like a mirror that the Holy Spirit holds up to the person and works and the work of God's Son with a perfection of divine inspiration. The scriptures capture the glory of our Lord and Savior with all its countless facets, and they reflect that glory back to those who have eyes to see it. When this process occurs, spiritual trans transformation takes place. So basically, the Bible is wonderful. The Bible is awesome. If you'll just open the Bible, read the Bible, look to the Bible, comprehend the Bible, study the Bible. Boom, you will be transformed. But they've said now less times, it's not what we do. Now I know how they would argue, what, it's not what you do. The spirit's doing it. But yeah, but I have to be the one to read and study. What's going to get me to read and study? Would that not be a spiritual prompting to read and study? Would be would be my would be the spiritual part prompting me hungering for God's word and then my body is responding to that prompting.

32:26 You're saying that the body is to respond to the body can't respond, But the body on its own is just going to say, I'm going to read and study my Bible today. I mean, you're you're utilizing all of your body. You're you're disciplining yourself to do that. What's more, there's no explanation to exactly how that happens, because your Their argument is the body is completely dead spiritually. All right, So then they break this down a little bit part They say some more here. Uh so let's skip down to this. They kind of go through the idea of they spend a lot of time looking at the phrase our unveiled faces, and they go back to the Old Testament.

33:09 All right, but let's jump down to this because we're just trying to follow this kind of understanding. I think we're just going to get very frustrated before this ends, or I'm going to get very frustrated. So they say this a couple of pages later. It seems evident therefore, that Paul understood the Christian the Christians transforming encounter with God's mirror as an encounter with God with the God of scripture. Going to the Word should be like going into the presence of the author of the Word though the scriptures. Through the scriptures, so to speak, we see face to face with the Lord, as Moses did on Mount Sinai. So that talks about the unveled face. So hey, we're when we look into the scriptures, we're looking into basically the face of God. And this should be transformative, all right, and utilizing the Well then they talk about the believing heart. Uh, okay, they go here, Okay, here we go. Uh all right, so here we go. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore, is a prerequisite for beholding the glory of the Lord. As a result, is also a precondition for experiencing the spirit's transforming power. The point is a crucial one. It only takes a moment of faith to be to believe in Christ and be eternally saved, but we need to continue to believe in Him to experience the process of growth and change. This is why Paul tells us in another passage that the life which I now live in the flesh, I live

34:40 by the faith and the Son of God. Our faith is our faith in Jesus Christ is fundamental to God's transforming work in us. Very simply stated, we must always approach God's mirror with faith in Jesus. Now Here they talk about the transforming work in us. This is what it's now just got even more confusing. They're a basic hypothesis. He says, We've already been changed on the inside. There's nothing to change on the inside. If I have a new heart, new nature, and the spirit of God has taken up resident and inside, I'm a new creature. If all of that is true, inside, there is nothing to be transformed on the inside. You can't say we're already transformed on the inside and then come back and say I need to be transformed on the inside. There's no transformation required on the inside. You've told me that the entire problem is my dead body, not my not anything internally.

35:34 So what you're saying is I need a transformed body that then can respond to the transformed nature. All right, So now you're kind of backtracking on that. They go on to say this all right, or already this is a little bit confusing, But then they go on to see this we must learn one further truth from Paul's rich teaching, Christian transformation does not take place all at once, all right, So here we go. All right. Remember the whole argument was you're completely transformed on the inside. That happened instantaneously. But yet they're saying the transformation does not all take place at once. This Christianity, I'm telling you, it's it's like a ball of yarn. It's just all tangled together. And Christians look at it and think, oh, that makes perfect sense. It's a tangled mess, all right.

36:29 So on one hand, Christians teach if anyone's in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things passed away, all things have become new, and they teach that as being true practically. At the same time, Christians will say we're being transformed progressively. Wait, there would be no progressive transformation if I've already been transformed. I am I eyeing a new creature, the oldest gone, and everything is new. You can't tell me, on one hand, everything is changed. On the other hand, you're telling me things are progressively changed. Either I'm changed or I'm not changed. Either I'm transformed or I'm not transformed. Can you make up your mind? And remember the entire argument in chapter one was you're dead, your body is dead inside everything is good, and so you just need a resurrection of the body. Now they're saying, no, you don't need a resur Now they've thrown out the term resurrection. You notice that they're not using the word resurrection anymore. So now it's a complete change of language. And now it's like, no, you don't need a resurrection, you need a transformation. The transformation is progressive and it happens based on how much you read and study your Bible. But wait a minute, what's going to motivate me to read and study the Bible.

37:53 You can't tell me. What's going to motivate me to read and study the Bible is my internal nature because you've already argued that the body is dead to any of the promptings of the spiritual nature, So then why am I going to read and study the Bible. They go on to try to explain this to some level. Unlike the experience of eternal salvation that is settled foreverment any moment of time, the Christian's involvement with the mirror of God's word is lifelong. As other scriptures also teach, Christian living is a process of growth. The goal, of course of spiritual maturity. Let it be said, however, that the process of Christian growth is not automatic. Peter's command to grow is accompanied by a warning against basically retrogression by regressing. From the perspective of Tewod Corinthians three eighteen, the goal is nothing less than increasing conformity to the likeness of Jesus Christ. Beholding as in a mirror. The glory of the Lord has precisely this effect. Paul describes it this way. We are being transformed in the same image, from glory to glory. Now again, what is being transformed?

39:05 According to their own hypothesis, the only thing that needs to be transformed is my physical body. Are you telling me if I read and study my Bible, my physical body is going to go from spiritual death to spiritual life? That I don't understand this weird dichotomy that they have created, that inside everything is good. Everything is my body's fault. But if I just read my Bible, the Bible is really not changing me internally. It's changing my physical body from being spiritually dead to being spiritually alive. Wouldn't it be transforming my mind? Wouldn't it be transforming my We usually say that the Bible transforms us internally. Right that the Bible transforms me internally, which then has an impact on me externally. They've flipped the script. I'm already transformed internally, the Bible transforms my body. This makes no sense. I don't get it. This is truly This is a truly inspiring concept of the Christian life. As we move towards our ultimate goal of full likeness to God's Son, God's Spirit moves us onward towards that final glorification, from one stage of transformation to another, from glory to glory. This developing likeness in our Lord and Savior is precisely what Christian growth means. I will never understand the contradiction in Christianity.

40:40 Sermon after sermon, you are a new creature, the oldest God. Everything is new. You have been transformed, you have been changed. You have a new heart, you have a new nature. You can keep the law, you can say no to sin, you can say yes to God. You have been changed, and there will be a change. And if there's not a change, then you were never saved. And then, sir, after sermon is however we have to it's a progressive change. Wait a minute, was I changed or was I not changed? Now, if you state it positionally completely changed and transformed in my position, that has no bearing on me at all, internally or externally. Now in the Christian life is trying to progressively live out practically what is true positionally, and it will never be perfect, and it will always be messy, and there will always be sin. Well, that's a completely different concept than what they're selling. What they're selling is your body is completely dead and it needs a resurrection, and then magically we get to the next chapter. Well, no, it doesn't actually need a resurrection. It needs a slow, progressive transformation that may or may not happen. Yet it's the spirit that's driving it. If it's the spirit driving the progressive transformation, then you would think it would be perfect.

42:08 The transformation Paul is describing is not our work, but the work of the spirit. When steed by, it's not there's nothing you do. Well wait a minute, it would be something I do. If the spirit's doing it. It's the It requires me to open and read and study the book. That the entire transformation is dependent on how much time I am looking into the mirror. The more I look into the mirror argument would be the more I transform, the more I'm transformed, the more I'm transformed. Now we know this is not true just from a practical standpoint. There are people who read and study the Bible all the time who fall into great sin, who show a lack of transformation. So then what's the problem there?

42:54 Now again some Christics, well they were never saved. Well that's the answer to everything. Anytime someone doesn't do anything we don't like, we just throw them out of the Kingdom of God. It says only the spirit of the Lord can create resurrection life and our spiritually dead bodies before we are physically raised or changed at the coming of Christ. So now they go back to the resurrection concept. So God is the So are they separating the transformation from the resurrection? Are they saying that we can experience a transformation by looking into the Word even before we experience the resurrection? But they say the resurrection is needed in this life. This gets really confused. How can I be transformed if I haven't been resurrected. The experience of the two disciples on the Amais Road provides us with a prototype of the Christians experience with God's Word. All right, that doesn't really help me at all. And it says we let it be repeated, we do not change ourselves.

44:16 He changes us. We do not change ourselves. He changes us. So if God is the one who changes me, and I don't change myself, any lack of change would be on God, not on me. If God is the one who does the change, it's completely his work. Then any lack of change is because God hasn't bothered to change me.

44:56 So if any lack of change leads me to commit a great sin, then it's God who didn't change me to prevent that great sin. Now, remember in chapter one, dead Body, we need resurrection. In chapter two, this is how they summarize it. I'm calling the second secret is the mirror. They're referring to it. It's the miracle of transformation. We need a miracle of transformation. Well, I thought we needed a miracle of resurrection. That is, God does more than just enable us to live a resurrected life. He also miraculously changes us. So God enables us to live a resurrected life. You haven't really demonstrated. And when this happens, when do I get the resurrected life? And then he miraculously changes us. As a result, our words and actions increasingly reflect Jesus Christ as are reflect Jesus, our Savior.

46:04 I I don't know what to do with chapter two, ladies and gentlemen, I don't know what to do with chapter two. All right, So let's break this down. I'm going to go back to my notes. All right, So here we go. I know that's all confusing. I know it really is. And you say, well, you're not really articulating it very very clearly, because I'm trying to articulate that which is unclear, and I'm trying to clarify that which is unclear. But it's inherently unclear because it inherently seems to be contradictory and it makes no sense from our practical standpoint. So their position is this, the Christian body is dead spiritually boom the end, number two. But the Christian's nature, their heart, has been completely transformed. They are a new creature. Internally, the old is gone. Everything is new, and the call coming from inside the house is a perfect call. They went in, took the serial killer, drug him out of the house. Everything's good on the inside.

47:08 Everything on the inside is good. So the only thing coming out of you from the inside is all good. But the problem is all of that good can't get to the outside because your dead body, this is number three, can't respond to the new nature. So what do you need? You need a resurrection of the body. That's when it needs to happen. Now, if you'll get the resurrection of the body, the body then can respond to the new nature and then boom. Logically they haven't said this, but logically then you should be perfect because you'd have a resurrected body and a new nature. So they said that that's what we need. So then they kind of reworded this and said, so how this takes place is you need a transformation, and the way you get the transformation is by looking into the word of God. Now that don't really articulate how much I have to look into it?

47:58 Is it reading? Is it studying? Is it memorizing? Is it meditating? Is it all of this? How much do I have to read? How much do I have to study? But the more I read, the more I study, then boom, boom, boom transformation occurs. Now again, let me ask, according to their own hypotheses, my body doesn't respond to the internal nature. So what is going to motivate my body to engage in Bible memory, Bible study, Bible reading, Bible listening. What is going to get you say, well, the new nature desires the word of God. But yes, it desires, but their argument is that the body is dead spiritually, so it's not going to respond to that desire. So already there we have a problem. And then the next issue is wait a minute, you said I need a resurrection.

48:53 Now you see it's a progressive transformation. But wait a minute, what is being transformed? Because you've already made the argument that I'm already transformed on the inside. So now you're saying transformation amounts to making my body that is dead spiritually, slowly but surely come alive. How is my physical body? So this gets all confusing. How is my fleshly body now going to come alive spiritually? Because don't we would say that my fleshly body is driven by my mind and my heart and my desires. So all of a sudden, my fleshly body is like, I want to I want to do what the New nature says because I've been reading and studying the Bible. Now my body says yes, to the nature. This gets really it just like it doesn't.

50:02 You can't even wrap your mind around it from a practical level, right, You're so separating the body from your own nature. You're almost like this has got this has got some problems here, right, almost becomes like a gnostic thing, right, almost maybe a little bit of gnosticism. Maybe there's some other concepts being thrown in here that I may not be able to clearly do identify at this very moment because my mind is so trying to process this. I don't want to make it. I don't want to sit there and say, hey, this problem is so impossible just because I just trying to do that, just because I'm exaggerating. I'm not trying to exaggerate it. This is a confounding and convoluted issue within the christiandom, and nobody really wants to articulate this. So I don't know what to do.

50:49 Here's what I will say, All right, well we try to figure out all of this. I'm going to just one hundred percent be dogmatic on this, right, And part of this is to correct the sermon, the sermon that we reviewing yesterday. So let's just be dogmatic about it. Here are some things I think we can be dogmatic about. Number one, no one, no Christian can keep God's law. No one can. We're in a perpetual state of sin against God's law. How do I know? Just give you a simple law. Be holy as God is holy. That is commanded. It's commanded in the Old Testament, It's commanded in the New Testament. Jesus adds to that in the Sermon on the Mount by saying, be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. You can You'll never be perfect, You'll never be holy as God is holy. Therefore you are in a perpetual state of disobedience to the law of God. The end that, I don't care what other games you want to play. You can talk all this trash you want to talk in your sermons about because yesterday double I think he said it three times. You can keep the law of God. You can keep the law of God, you can keep the But then he went around and said, what we all sin we're all sinners? Well, why are you sinners? If you can all keep the law, So we can keep the law. And it seems that most Christians put forth this argument, and we can keep the law instantaneously after solvage. As soon as we're saved, we can keep the law. But then and they'll say instantaneously.

52:22 So the number one point, there's a lot more I could go there. Let's just get this down. You cannot keep the law. You cannot keep the law. You cannot keep the law. You cannot keep the law. So that would be number two. You are in a perpetual state of sin. Those are realities. You cannot keep the law. You are in a perpetual state of sin. So then this would lead to number three. What is keeping you from keeping the law? What is keeping you from being perfect? What is keeping you from not being in a perpetual state of sin? Whatever? What is it that's keeping you from it? Is it your body or is it your nature? Well, what we're hearing is it's the body's fault. The body inside.

53:10 You're perfect inside. You can keep the law inside, you can do it all. But the reason you can't do it is because your body is holding you back. It's your body's fault. So I'm going to put forth again. You cannot keep the law. You cannot keep the law. You cannot keep the law, you cannot be perfect. You are in a perpetual state of sin. So you cannot keep the law. We'll just summarize that you cannot keep the law, you cannot be perfect. That's number one. Number two, you're in a perpetual state of sin. And so number three, what is it? And I'll put number three as a question, or I'll state number three more as a statement. Something is keeping you from keeping the law and being perfect.

53:55 Something is keeping you from it. What is it? Now? I'm to whether it's your body, whether it's your nature. Clearly we're not completely a new creature and old things are passed away and all things have become new because something is keeping us from keeping the law. Something is keeping us from not being in a perpetual state of sin. What is it that's keeping us? What is it? Is it the nature? If it's the body. If it's the body, then how do we fix the body? Well, according to the book, we need a resurrection. But now, no, no, no, no, no no no. You need a transformation. And that's progressive.

54:42 But again, what do we transform? Like, I don't understand what it means to transform the body. The best they can are the best. They didn't even try to explain it. I only think I can offer as well. The body is dead spiritually, so transformation means making the body a little bit more alive to God or alive to the spirit, so then the body can actually respond to the transformed nature. I just don't know how you measure. So my body is now five percent more alive to the things of God, Like I don't even know how. And does that body mean my mind? Does the body not mean my desires?

55:24 How does my body just say I'm now willing to respond to five percent of the new nature? Like that sounds like desire? That sounds like thinking what you said has already been transformed. I don't care. You can come up with all the systems in the world, whatever systems you come up with. If you deny the fact, if you claim that we can keep the law, if you claim that we can be perfect, if you claim that we're no longer in a perpetual state of sin, your system is flawed right out the gate. We cannot keep the law. I've already articulated it, because the law would include a command to be holy as God is holy, which would be perfect. You can't do that. If you can't do that, you're in a perpetual state of sin.

56:10 So I can clearly prove you cannot keep the law and you are in a perpetual state of sin. Whatever system you come up with, and all of this nonsense that Christians say, you're just denying those very fundamental realities that I can prove in everyone's life. Meaning then the Christian life is going to be a life of perpetual, continual sin. I don't know. Chapter two just leaves me completely perplexed and confused. This is Patrol one. Come in headquarters, Patrol one. This is headquarters. Go ahead. Yes, I'm at First Baptist Church, and we have made a horrible discus.

57:00 We have found three hundred dead bodies. Patrol one. This is headquarters. What you need to do is find a mirror. The solution is a mirror. Headquarters. This is Patrol one. We've been here now for like eight months, and I would like to go home and see my family, and I'd like to get some food. What's supposed to be happening here? Because I keep holding up this mirror to these dead bodies and I I'm not really seeing much going on here, Like, well, it's a slow, slow process. Slowly they'll go from dead to live. Well, I I thought you said I need a resurrection. Wouldn't a resurrection being it would that not be defined as an instantaneous transfer.

58:01 If I'm dead and then I'm resurrected, I go from dead to a life that's instantaneous. You've now said I need a resurrection, But now the next chapter you're saying the best I can hope for is a transformation depending on how much I read and study my Bible. Well, if you know what that should mean. Everyone who's said gone to Bible college, your seminary should be far more transformed than those who haven't, because they've read and studied the Bible, obviously more than anybody else. That's what they've been doing for four years or eight years, or demitting how many years they went to school. Well, I have gone to I have lost count. I would have to go open up the box with all of my diplomas and degrees, and I'll and I've graduated from this school and this school and this school. I've got degrees in religious education, I've got degrees in biblic studies, I've got degrees in theological studies. I've got and church history, philosophy.

59:06 I go all the different things that I have, so I should be like the most transformed person on the face of the planet. Now I will argue that all of that reading and all of that study did not change my nature, because I am arguing that the nature is still not right. Where they're arguing it's my body, and that the reading supposedly fixes my body. But it's not my body, it's my nature. Right. Didn't Jesus identify that the source of the problem is inside. It's from the heart that comes fornication, lust, conveteousness. It's coming from inside the house. They're saying. The inside the house has been completely cleared out, and it's just the body. I don't I am, I don't get it. I don't get it.

1:00:08 And the sermon yesterday did not help. So there's an hour of working on chapter two again. The name of the book is Six Secrets of the Christian Life as Ain and Hodges. Please get a copy so that you can read it for yourself. It may make more sense. Again, I keep challenging people, you don't have to like what I'm trying to do here. Write it, you write it out, how it works, Send me your explanation and how it all works. But let me state it again, if your explanation denies the reality that we cannot keep the law and that we are in a perpetual state of sin. If you deny either one of those realities, your system is flawed. Because I can prove emphatically that we cannot keep the law. Therefore we're in a perpetual state of sin by just pointing to one or two commandments. But Christians somehow acts like we're not in a perpetual state of sin. And because they think we're not in a perpetual state of sin, then they can crucify and burn someone at the stake who commits supposedly a big sin because hey, we can keep the law, so you didn't have to commit that sin. But we're all in a perpetual state of sin. So now it's just the degree of sin in which you committed. Well, now we're going to mortal venial sin. I mean we're already starting off where wait, God tells you to be holy and you're not.

1:01:38 God tells me to be holy or not, so you're in a perpetual status sin. I'm in a perpetual state of sin. But even though I'm in a perpetual stat of sin. I'm not going to judge that you committed that sin, even though you're already in a perpetual status sin. But that sin is so bad, even though I don't know how much worse can you be than literally violating a direct command from God be holy, and you're not doing it. You're already in a direct of God's very specific commandment. But hey, you broke that commandment. And breaking that commandment is far more serious than breaking that commandment. So because you broke that commandment, now we crucify you, We burn you at the stake, we burn the body, and we spread your ashes somewhere that no one will ever find them. But I've been breaking this commandment. Well, that's okay, you can break that commandment twenty four to seven.

1:02:24 Nobody cares. Nobody is ever going to be excommunicated from a church for not being holy as God is holy. Why it's an actual command Well, that's okay, you can break that commandment. Just don't break that commandment. Well why is that commandment the one that gets me kicked out? But that commandment doesn't? Well, because nobody can keep that commandment. But you can keep that commandment. But even if I keep that commandment, I'm already breaking this commandment. Can someone make any sense of it? I don't understand now. I've tried to be fair with this hypothesis. We've even looked to the hypotheses put forth yesterday, and I can't even articulate what the hypothesis was yesterday. The one yesterday was you can keep the law, but you don't keep the law.

1:03:11 But you can keep the law. Hey, but you can't be carnal or Fleshley, because there's no such thing as a cardinal and fleshley Christian. However, you can be wretched, even though the Bible talks about being Carla. Well, if I'm in a perpetual state of sin, is that not fleshley and carnal? So I can sin all the time, but not be carnal and Fleshley. So is that the level of sin that I commit? How many? Ugh, yesterday's was just as confounding and confusing. And I'm afraid that if I review another one today, I may find myself forget going to the liquor store. I'm just gonna go straight to rehab. So we've got their hypotheses, I'm just gonna remind you two basic facts. No one can keep the law. Therefore, we are all in a perpetual state of sin. Now you go ahead and pat yourself on the back, thinking you're better than those, are better than him, and better than them. Go ahead and convince yourself how good you are. You're in a perpetual state of sin, no matter how much you want to deny it. And Church history seems to indicate that the Church understood that.

1:04:25 That's why worship services began, and especially in a liturgical world, with a general confession of sin. Lord, we have sinned against you and our thoughts, and our words and and our deeds, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. I have committed these grievous sins. I have done them, I have I have chosen them, I have willed to do. It's on me. The Church knew that we show up to worship service every single time, we show up as sin, and that includes everyone in the church, from the behind the pulpit to in front of the pulpit. Christianity seems to have a hard time processing that reality because we spend most of the time saying no, no, no, no no. When you become a Christian.

1:05:17 You become a new creature. Old things to pass away, all things have become new. You're completely transformed. You're completely changed. However, here are the five steps you need to do in order to be transformed. Here's the things you need to do to actually fight against sin. Well, what am I fighting against? And what am I being transformed from? Because you just preached five minutes ago that I've already been transformed. It's it is maddening, all right. Secret two, Secret one, as you have a dead body. Secret two is you need to be transformed by looking into a mirror. You go read both chapters together and tell me what I'm missing.

1:05:57 Thanks for listening everyone, of a great day, God bless