Metamorphosis

I heard the end of Mr. Permar's sermon, and him talking about going forward, now that we've completed the Days of Unleavened Bread, and we look forward to the Feast of Pentecost that's upcoming. And the springtime of the year is always a wonderful time. Even in Florida, you can kind of tell the change of seasons, and you can begin to look around and see just the difference in the atmosphere and the way things are, the way the plants begin to come back to life, even after maybe not so dormant winter.

And there's an event that occurs every spring, some places in the summer, depending on the climate, that we all remember, or we will remember back from the time that we were young. And we learned about it in elementary school science, and it's a very interesting phenomenon that takes place in nature during the springtime. And after all these years of studying this phenomenon, you know, scientists still don't understand fully exactly what goes on during it. I'm not going to tell you just yet what it is, but in the springtime, there are some eggs that are planted or that are laid on some plant leaves.

And quite a bit, quite a bit of these eggs are planted there. And scientists, I don't know how they come up with percentages, so I just quote them and assume that they have some way of knowing this happens. They say of all these little eggs that are planted on leaves, plant leaves, 95% of them hatch. And when they hatch, people who are really, really looking at their plants become a little bit alarmed because they begin to see these little caterpillars that are crawling around on their leaves, and the caterpillars begin eating those leaves.

And you know where I'm going with this. The caterpillars, that's what they do. They eat a lot. The reason those eggs are laid on their leaves is so that when they hatch, they're right there. The food source is right there immediately for them. And during their little, we might say, short lifespan, they do an awfully lot of eating. That's what they do. Some scientists say that they eat up to three times their body weight a day. And you know the little caterpillars. In a way, they're kind of cute. Some people find them scary. I don't know why. But you look at a caterpillar and you see it kind of crawling around, and you might wonder, you know, what, when we're young, this fascinating little creature.

But they eat and they eat and they eat. And as they eat and eat, they gain strength. Because they have this little life cycle that lasts a few weeks or so, and then something happens to them that's unique in a way. They kind of grow back into themselves. And there's another stage of life where they grow back into themselves, and then they emerge. That stage is called the chrysalis, or the cocoon. We all know what cocoons are.

And then out of this cocoon in a few days, something that's of the same life cycle, of the same thing, emerges that is totally different than the little creature we see crawling around on the leaves. Just a few weeks before. A butterfly emerges. A beautiful butterfly. One of the things that make us smile when we look around in our garden and our backyard and you see a butterfly going from plant to plant.

It's a kind of a unique, beautiful creature. And from the beginning of a little egg that grows into a caterpillar that can't do any bit more than just crawl. Crawl on a leaf. What emerges from that life is a butterfly that flies. You know, I know caterpillars can't think. But if we were doing a cartoon, and we had a caterpillar thinking, he might think, what a meaningless little life I have here.

All I do all day is crawl around on a plant that I eat. And maybe they don't have any idea that they were thinking species. What the next phase of life is. That one day they're going to be free from that little body that does that. And then they're going to have this life that they couldn't ever possibly imagine. And you know that little caterpillar, when it kind of grows back into itself and it emerges from the cocoon, boy, it needs all the strength.

All the strength that it can have. If it doesn't have the strength to do that, it's just never going to emerge into its next phase of life. It'll never realize what God had created the end result of that creature to be. Scientists say that we might look at one of these cocoons in our backyard and kind of see that butterfly trying to emerge. But if anyone tries to help that butterfly out of the cocoon, it'll die. It cannot have any help. It has to do it on its own. And if it doesn't do it on its own, it's doomed. And so that happens in the spring of the year, later on in the summer in some parts.

But it's a fascinating metaphor, metamorphosis, the process is called, to go what goes on with a butterfly. These little caterpillars who may look like they're coming to the end of one life, but really the next life, the epitome of what they were created for, is about to emerge. They may. That species may be unique in nature, but the process itself isn't unique in nature. Turn with me back to John. John 3. In John 3, we have Nicodemus coming to Jesus Christ, and Christ is saying some things to him that he just can't grasp about life.

And of course, Jesus Christ knows the end from the beginning. He knows what mankind was created for, what our potential is, what the stages of life is. In John 3, verse 3, after Nicodemus asks a question, Christ answers and says to him, Nicodemus, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And Nicodemus, scratching his head, said, well, how can a man be born when he's old?

Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born? And Christ answered, said, most assuredly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Unless he's born of water and the Spirit, baptism, receiving God's Spirit, his life ends in a stage short of what God had hoped and had planned that mankind would be.

He goes on to say, that which is born of the flesh is flesh. That's what we are today. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.

When God calls, when we repent, when we are baptized, and when we receive his Holy Spirit, then God begins working in us in a different way. We become a new creation, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5.

Little caterpillar goes back into himself and then he emerges as a butterfly.

And the first part of our existence were flesh. But that's not the end result. When we die in the flesh, it's not the end of what God has planned for us. We may look at life and say, it's over, when we take our last breath.

That's not the way God looks at it. He has something far greater in mind for man than just this physical existence that we're in right now. Over in Romans 8, we find this contrast of the two types of life that we have. Let's pick it up in Romans 8 and verse 5.

Romans 8 verse 5, Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.

They're worried about the material things. They're worried about their comforts. They're worried about their bank accounts. They're worried about their health. They're worried about whatever it is. Not that we shouldn't be paying attention to those things and working with them, but that's what their primary interest is. Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Just remember that thought, and in a little bit we'll come back to that. For to be carnally minded or naturally minded is death. Without God's Spirit, death is the end result. For to be carnally minded is death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the natural mind is enmity against God. It's not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. Without God's Spirit, we simply cannot live by God's law. The prectors are too great. We don't have the strength to stand against the tide. The lessons of Israel and Egypt and the lessons of Israel coming out of Egypt and the Old Testament teach us that. We know ourselves that without God's Holy Spirit, we simply couldn't do what God wants us to do.

So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.

If you have been called, if you have responded to that call, if you believe and have faith, if you repent, truly repent, if you are baptized, or when you are baptized and you receive the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit is in you, then God sees you on the road to a metamorphosis, a changed way of life. Verse 9. Now, if anyone doesn't have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. So those of us who are here today, we know this. We know this. We know that God is working with us, and we know that when we receive His Holy Spirit, He calls us to a life of change. He's not looking for us to just be the way we always were. When we let God's Holy Spirit be in us, then lives begin to change, attitudes begin to change, the way we look at things begin to change, the things we think about begin to change. Not overnight, but it's a process that occurs throughout life as we go through what nature would call metamorphosis. Now, metamorphosis comes from the Greek word metamorpho-o. M-E-T-A, metamorpho, M-E-T-A-M-A-P-H-O-R-O-O. Not a metamorpho-o, but metamorpho-o, the Greeks would say. Now, what metamorpho-o means is that there's an inward change. Something changes of the essence of the being. The caterpillar is in one form, but it is totally changed. It's still the same being that began life on that egg, on that leaf, but it's gone through a total inward change. It just doesn't look different. It is different. Who would think a caterpillar could fly? Who could think a caterpillar, chubby little caterpillar, calling on a leaf, would one day be have the wings, the thin wings, and fly around and mesmerize people? It's the total inward change part of the same life. In the Bible, we find that word metamorpho-o four times in the New Testament. Four times. It means, again, an inward change. Something that changes of the essence of us. Something that changes on the inside. A new creation, but still part of the same life that we began with. Four times we find that word in the New Testament, but there are other words, and where it's translated, it's translated, transformed. In one other word, I'll give you in a little bit. Now, there is another word in the Greek that's translated, transform, as well. And the word is so long, it begins with M, I'm not even going to begin to try to pronounce it, but it's the Greek word, it's strong, it's number 33, 33, 39. And that word translated in the Bible, when it says transform, it means a change in appearance. You know, I can come in to you one day, and I can have my hair a different color, shave this off, or have a mask on. And you would say, oh, he's transformed, he's done something to his hair, he's lost weight, he's gained weight, he looks different than he did before. And that would be a transformation, but it's an outward transformation. It's not anything of the inside that's there. When God uses the word metamorpho, it's something that he's looking at, we change on the inside of us. We become different people. We don't just look different, we behave differently, we think differently, our minds are open to things.

Turn with me to one Scripture where the other strong 33, 39 word is used. It's used over here in 2 Corinthians 11 and a few other places, but this is a notable one. 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 14 talking about Satan. And Satan, we know, can appear differently to people. 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 14. It says, no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it's no great deal if his ministers all transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.

Now, he can look different to us. He can be this angel of light or look like an angel of light. He can look like he's got all the answers. He can look like he's your best friend. He can look like, you know, if you follow me, this is the way that it's going to be best for you. But we know Satan doesn't change. Satan is still Satan. He has one mission in mind, and that's to take God's people away from him. So he may appear and transform himself to look different, but there isn't the change on the inside. Is that what God is looking for in us? So, we'll see four times that the word transform is used. The only four times in the New Testament where you see metamorpho-o talking about an inward change. It doesn't mean that every time you see the other Greek 33-39 that it's bad, but it's not the same thing of what God is talking about. Let's go back to Romans 12 and see one of the times that metamorpho-o is used in the Bible.

Another familiar verse. Romans 12 and verse 2. Don't be conformed. Paul writes. He writes to the Romans then. God's preservative for us. He says to us as well, don't be conformed to this world. Don't look around and say, I want to be just like society. I want to do everything that they do. I want to look like them. I want to behave like them. I want to be accepted by them. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Be metamorpho-o'd by the renewing of your mind. Don't become part of the world. Don't have that as your goal, but rather be transformed, be metamorpho-o'd by the renewing of your mind. Now, a couple of things that we can notice in those words. First of all, it's not us that does the metamorpho-o-e. It's not us that does the transforming. It's not us that has the power to do that. Paul speaks in the passive voice here, be transformed. Let God transform you. It's like we read in Philippians 2, verse 5, let this mind be in you, that is in Christ Jesus. Let God transform you. It's Him that provides the promises. It's Him that provides the tools that we need to go through the complete cycle that He wanted man to experience and to be part of. So we let God do it. It's by His power that it's done. If we take matters into our own hands, it's not going to work. But we let Him do it. Be transformed by the renewing, He says, by the renewing of your minds.

How do we renew our minds? What does He mean by that? Let's go back to Colossians 3. In Colossians 3, we have a chapter where Paul is talking about the new creation that God is working in all of us. And in that chapter, we can find some of the keys to how our minds are renewed. Colossians 3 and verse 1.

If you're His, if you're following Him, if you've committed yourself to Him, if you believe in Him, if you believe everything the Bible says and you believe this is the Word of Truth, seek the things that are above. Make that your overwhelming goal. Seek God's will. Seek what He wants. Let your mind make that a priority. Not that we don't have physical lives to live, not that we don't have other things to do, but we seek the things which are above. Verse 2. Set your mind on things above, not on the things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ who is our life appears, He says, you will appear with Him in glory. Think on these things, Paul would say to the Philippians, think on the higher things. Set your mind on Him.

Now, there's a man by the name of Earl Nightingale. Some of you will remember him back in the 1950s. Eloquent voice. You can kind of just listen to him talk and get lost in the words that he said. And he had a million, million-selling record, probably more than a million, whatever they call gold records or whatever. And the title of that record was, You Become What You Think About. And in that, he was talking about how if we think of these things, if we always have our minds in the gutter, if we always have our things on minor things, that's what we're going to be. But if we think on higher things, if we exceed to a higher level, if we program our mind on positive things rather than negative, our lives will go better. Now, we played off of Proverbs 23, verse 7, that says, As the man thinks, so he is. So when we renew our minds, when we come into the truth, a lot of us have all these other things on our mind. How am I going to move up the next step in the corporation?

What's the next house I can move into? I want a better car than what I have today. How do I get it? I have these health issues. Where can I go? What can I do to make myself better? Or whatever it may be that consumes our physical life.

Paul says, renew our minds. Begin thinking the way God would have us think. Let his mind be in us. Start thinking and understanding what it is that he would want us to be like. Let's go on here in verse 5. Put to death your members which are on the earth. And then he lists all these things that at least one of those were part of our past life before we were baptized. Down in verse 8. And he says, put, now you yourselves are to put off all of these anger, wrath, and these other elements of a past life. Don't lie to one another in verse 9, since you have put off the old man with his knees, and you put on the new man who was renewed in knowledge.

The new man who was renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. How do we become renewed in knowledge? We study and we eat of the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. The knowledge we need is in that book sitting on your lap. It's the word of truth. The only source of complete truth in the universe or in the world is that book sitting in your lap. That little caterpillar, when he's in his first stage of life, he eats and he eats and he eats and he eats. And he's making himself stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger because if he's not strong, he's not passing through. He'll never find or experience the realization of what he was ultimately created to become. Likewise us, if we don't renew our knowledge, we all come into the truth, we all come into the church, and we have all this knowledge. We've gone to high school, we've gone to college, we've done the things on our job, we know skills, we know trades, we know how to live life, we know all the things of the flesh. We have to renew our minds and feed it with the truth. We have to know what God wants us to know. And we grow in that day by day, year by year. We don't read the Bible for once and say, that's all we need to know. Every time, and you all know this, every time you read the Bible, you learn something else, you learn more about what life is. Renewed in knowledge. Put on the new man, Paul said, who is renewed in knowledge.

Now, you can give me a whole lot of verses that would talk about Bible study. Now, we hear you here, it talked about quite a bit. You know, one of the people we can look at is David. King David made some huge mistakes in his life, but when they were called to his detention, he repented. He turned his life around and he became the man after God's own heart. What are some of the things that David wrote about a lot in the Psalms? In Psalm 119, the longest chapter, if you will, in the Bible, what does he talk about?

He says, in one section there, and he repeats it many times, Oh, how love I thy law. It is with me always. I meditate on it day and night. It is always with me. When I wake up at night, that's what's on my mind. When I get up in the morning, that's what's on my mind. David did what Paul is telling us to do, renew his mind. He knew that if he was going to walk with God, he couldn't be the way he was before. He couldn't be the way he was that led him to do the things that he did with Bathsheba and to Uriah. That was the type of man he was in the flesh, but in the Spirit, his mind had to be renewed. It had to be fed. It had to eat good, solid, nutritious food.

You know those little caterpillars? They eat those leaves that they're born on. They walk around on those leaves, and it's got exactly what they need to make them strong. If those little caterpillars were feasting on Twinkies and potato chips, guess what? They wouldn't have the strength that they need to come out of that cocoon and emerge as a butterfly. Likewise, we need to pay attention to what it is we're eating. Christ said, man doesn't live by bread alone, but by lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Can't stress enough the Bible study that we need to do. Philippians 1. Philippians 1 and verse 9. Peter also said, grow in grace and grow in knowledge.

Philippians 1 and verse 9.

This I pray, Paul says to the church of Philippi, says to us today, this I pray that your love may abound still more and more. That your love may abound still more and more. In knowledge, see that? May abound more and more in knowledge and in discernment. That you know what is right and what is wrong. That you can, because you're skilled and because you're feeding on the Word of God, you can pick out what's right and what's wrong. You can follow the path that really is following Jesus Christ. And that someone who looks like they may have the right way, you know where it is. Because you know His voice, then you hear His voice.

Grow more and more, or abound more and more, in knowledge and all discernment. That you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense, till the day of Christ.

That's what we do in this life. We grow. We allow God to change us. We allow God to lead us.

We make the choice to study His Word. Or we make the choice to ignore it for a day, or two, or three.

If we were mindful of what God is working, if we had a vision in our minds always of where God is taking us, then what He sees about us, maybe we wouldn't neglect Bible study so much. Maybe we would be very interested in letting God renew our minds so that that internal change, that metamorpho, that metamorphosis, could occur in us. Because if it doesn't occur in us, if we don't let God do it, we'll never realize what He's opened your mind and my mind to know. And that would be a shame.

So we renew our minds by gaining knowledge. And we know there's other things we have to do as well. Just studying the Bible is important, but just studying the Bible isn't all that's required in renewing our minds. I won't expound, but you know that it takes prayer and communication with God. Have to pray, have to have communication with Him, open communication. Where His Spirit and the Spirit He puts in us, in one way, I'll use the word, speaks to us, directs us, guides us. We know what we should do, shows us the things that need to be changed, how we need to amend our lives, adjust our lives, adjust our thinking in the ways that need to happen. Renewing our mind. And the other thing that He says to do, of course we meditate, and we fast and we use the other spiritual tools, is that we must fellowship with one another.

You know, you can't read the Bible and not see that God intended that His people would know each other, that they would speak with each other, and that they would assemble with each other regularly. In Leviticus 23, when He talks about the Sabbath, He calls it a commanded assembly. In Hebrews 10, He says, don't forsake the assembling of yourselves together. In Malachi 3, verse 16, when He talks about the book of life, and the book of remembrance is the people who speak with one another. Because we gain strength from one another, we encourage one another. He's called us to be part of a body that grows together. Renewing our mind, allowing Him to do the things to us and inside us that get us ready for what He has. The rest of our lives, really the rest of eternity, to unleash the potential that He put in you and that He put in me. And it's all because of the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit, none of it is possible. And of course, that was all made possible by Jesus Christ and His willingness to come to earth, to live, to die, a horrible death. God resurrected Him, gave Him the hope of eternal life. He is the first of the first fruits, the one who was flesh and blood, who became the one who sat at God's right hand.

1 Corinthians 2 We need the Holy Spirit, and without it, none of the things I'm saying here today makes any sense at all. And we know the process of transformation, of metamorphosis. Paul clearly says that in Acts 2.38, Repent, believe, be baptized, receive the Holy Spirit. Without it, no possibility. Without it, no possibility of eternal life, no possibility of being in the Kingdom of God, no possibility of knowing what the next phase of life is.

1 Corinthians 2, verse 6 We read about the Holy Spirit, and again we see the distinction between the knowledge of the flesh and the knowledge of the Spirit. However, verse 6, Paul says, we speak wisdom among those who are mature. Yet we don't speak the wisdom of this age. We don't quote from the encyclopedias, and I'm not going to just sit here and tell you all the scientific facts and all the scientific theories. There's a lot of wisdom out there about how the physical universe works.

A lot of things man has learned, a lot of things man is unable to do. They know how to cultivate the earth, they know how to capture the airwaves. So we have TV and radio, and somehow we have an Internet that communicates with each other across the world, and has all these things in it that we can't understand.

It's all built in the physical universe. Man knows how to do that. Paul says, but that's not the wisdom we're speaking to you of. And we're not speaking to you of the wisdom of the rulers of this age who are coming, notice, to nothing.

All the wisdom of the world, all the wisdom that's out there, all the great pontifications about this is the way to peace, this is the way to solve this problem. If we just did this, everything would be okay. It's the wisdom of the world. It will come to nothing. Paul says, we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew.

Now he's speaking about the people in his day and time. Because if they knew of this wisdom of God, they wouldn't have crucified the Lord of glory. Because they didn't know, and all their wisdom, as they thought, if they just do away with Him, their lives go on. Had they had the Spirit of God, they never would have done what they did. But as it is written, verse 9, I hasn't seen nor your heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. This little caterpillar, again, humanizing him a little bit, he doesn't have a clue that in the next stage of life, he's going to be flitting around, flying around, and he's going to be this beautiful creature that everyone loves to see.

Likewise with us. We're in one state now, and God says it hasn't even entered into our minds what He has prepared for those that love Him. And you know what the definition of love is. Christ said, if you love Me, you live My way of life, you keep My commandments, you do the things that I say, and don't just call My name. Hasn't even entered our minds what it's like. But God has prepared it and God has ordained it before the world began.

And that's what He wanted mankind to become. First in one stage, flesh, but then to be born of the Spirit and to experience everything that He wants us to experience. Verse 10, God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. You understand the words I'm saying. It makes sense to you as you read those words because you have God's Holy Spirit. If I went out of the street corner and started saying this, people would pass by and say He's lost His mind.

He doesn't know what He's talking about. They don't get it. Without the Spirit of God, you cannot understand what the Bible says. God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yet the deep things of God.

For what man knows the things of a man except the Spirit of the man which is in him? We understand the way the physical universe works. We understand that if you throw a ball up in the air, it's going to come down. You're not going to have it stay up there forever. We understand those physical properties because God has given us that intellect, that logic, that reasoning that mankind alone has to understand the universe around us.

What man knows the things of a man except the Spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. No one knows except the Spirit of God. A hidden mystery. A hidden mystery, and God has reserved for a few called firstfruits in this lifetime to know that truth. Later, all of mankind will. One day, he will open the minds of every man, woman, and child who ever lived, and they will understand the things that we're talking about today. But today, there's been a few. And not because of our intellect, and not because of anything we know, not because we're so smart and because we have some insight, but because God for some reason looked down and called you and me and opened our minds.

No man can come to Jesus unless the Father who sent him draws us. The only way it happens.

Verse 12, Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. We can understand. We can look ahead. We can understand what the Bible tells us is in our future.

The little caterpillar can't see it. The caterpillar doesn't know until it emerges as a butterfly what that next stage is. You and I can see in the pages of the Bible what that next stage is, but we still can't imagine it, as it says here in 1 Corinthians.

The Holy Spirit gives us the power of understanding, gives us the Spirit and the power to love as Jesus Christ loved. Gives us the power to have that internal change that God is looking for. Gives us the power to understand His will. Gives us the power to say no to our own will and our own desires. And gives us the power to say yes, even when yes means it may have some hurt involved in us. It even gives us the power to resist temptation, which without God's Holy Spirit, pretty tough. Pretty tough, if not impossible, to resist temptation. Gives us the power to overcome anything that is in our lives, if we rely, if we believe in Him and that power that He gives us. Let's go over to James 1 for just a second. James 1 and verse 12.

Now, let's pick it up in verse 13. Let no one say, when He is tempted, I am tempted by God. And notice what it says, For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor to see Himself tempt anyone.

He can't be tempted by evil. We can still be tempted by evil, can't we? We all have those things that are allure to us, things that are difficult to say now. But as through the months and the years and the decades that we have God's Spirit working in us and living in us, by and by those things that may have used to cause us to slip up and fall down, no longer are appealing. And as we see that, as we think back on our lives and think, you know, I used to be this way. If someone would say this to me, or as I saw it on a news clip, when someone used to take the parking place I'd been waiting for, I would get really upset. Today I just go on and find another parking place. That anger no longer rises. That temptation no longer rises. I never give in. I don't give into it as much. Can't say never, as long as we're in this flash. The power of God, the transformation, the metamorpho-o going on as He changes the way we think, changes the way we act, changes our conduct, changes the way we do things. He can't even be tempted.

Let's go back to 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 3. See another place, that metamorpho-o. The second place, that metamorpho-o is used in the Bible. 2 Corinthians 3.

2 Corinthians 3. Let's begin in verse 14. Verse 14. Paul here is talking about Israel, the Jews, the fact that they can't understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he says in verse 14, Their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlisted in the reading of the Old Testament. If all you read is the Old Testament, if that's all you put your stock into, you're not going to understand the plan of God. You're not going to get what the ultimate is. And people who only believe in the Old Testament, they just don't get it. They don't know. The rest of the story. Until this day the same veil remains unlisted in the reading of the Old Testament because the veil is taken away in Christ. It's with Him that we understand. It's with Him that the Holy Spirit came. It's with Him that that understanding comes that helps us understand the Bible from front to end, from beginning to end. That we can begin to see the plan of God and understand what it is He's working. Even to this day, verse 15, when Moses has read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

But we all, with unveiled faiths, the veil has been taken off of us. God's Spirit has given us that understanding. It helps us to see the truth of the Bible. It helps us to understand the purpose of man, what God is working below. But we all, with unveiled faiths, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed, are being metamorphosed, are being metamorphosized into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. We are being metamorphosed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. That's what's happening in our life as we yield, as we submit, as we are led by God's Holy Spirit. And without His Holy Spirit, there is no future. Without Him putting that in us and us yielding to it and allowing Him to transform us, metamorphosize us, metamorpho-o us, there is no future. This is all it wrote. If we don't allow God to do what He wants to do with us. We are being metamorphosed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. Let's go over to 1 John 3. 1 John 3.

And verse 1.

The Apostle John is writing, and he is talking about the same thing that we've been talking about. He is talking about, behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God.

What an awesome thing to be called the children of God. Therefore, the world doesn't know us because it didn't know Him. Here was Christ living a perfect life, exhibiting true agape love to everyone He came in contact with, healing the sick, preaching the gospel. And they rejected Him. He was of the Spirit, but of the flesh, they didn't get it. They just saw Him as a threat. It was contrary to the way they wanted to be. Therefore, the world doesn't know us because it didn't know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He is revealed, when He returns to earth, when everyone sees Him returning to take the throne and to take the kingdoms of this world and make them His own, when He is revealed, we will be like Him. We will be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. We shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in himself, or who has this hope in Him, purifies himself just as He is pure, allows themselves to go through the transformation, the metamorphosizing, the metamorphosis of becoming like Him, thinking like Him, behaving like Him, conducting ourselves like Him, thinking on the things that He thinks of, and allowing His Holy Spirit to guide and direct us, gradually over our physical life to Him. We will be like Him, just as Christ said in Matthew 5.48, Become ye perfect, or become ye blameless, just as your Father in heaven is perfect. It happens through the Holy Spirit. It happens during this lifetime. It happens as we feed ourselves and as we nourish ourselves with knowledge, with prayer, as we think on the things of God and trust in Him to provide the rest. Our goal? To be like Him. Because when He returns, we will see Him as He is, and we will recognize Him at that point. The next place that metamorpho-o is used. Actually, it's used in Mark 9 and Matthew 17, but let's turn to Mark 9. Mark 9 and Matthew 17 are almost identically worded accounts of something significant that happened to a few of the apostles while Christ was on earth. Mark 9 and verse 2 and Matthew 17. We will turn to Matthew 17, but it's those places that this occurs. Mark 9 and verse 2. Well, let's pick it up in verse 1. Start right at the beginning.

In the next six days, verse 2, Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves. And He was transfigured. The Greek word for transfigured? Metamorpho-o. He was transfigured before them. They saw Christ in the next state. It's like the caterpillar looking ahead and seeing the butterfly. He was transfigured before them. He was metamorpho-oed before them. His clothes became shining, exceedingly white like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter and James and John saw this, and they were in awe at what they were seeing. They were sore afraid and afraid in the right sense of the word. They didn't. It just blew their minds what they were seeing. But Peter, when he saw it, he had this comment. Rabbi or teacher, it is good for us to be here. Wow! We had no idea. This is the epitome. We thought being a caterpillar was good. It's nothing like being a butterfly. It's nothing like the next stage that you have. It is awesome for us to be here. This is where we want to be. And he says, let's make some tabernacles for them.

Verse 7, and the cloud came and overshadowed them. And the voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved's fun. Hear Him. Hear Him. Listen to what He has to say. Believe His words. Follow Him. Hear Him.

They went through an experience that you and I haven't. Suddenly, verse 8, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves. The vision disappeared, and there they were, back in the fleshly state again, with the man Jesus Christ, who was flesh and blood as well. And Christ told them, don't tell anyone about this vision until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. Then you can repeat it to them. They didn't know what that meant at that time. Christ is the firstborn among many brethren, it says. The first of the first fruits, the one who lived in the flesh, just like you and I are living today, only He was without sin. He had the Holy Spirit. He was tempted at all points like as we were. He suffered more than any of us have suffered. No question about it.

In Hebrews 2, verse 10, you don't need to turn there. It says He became perfect through His sufferings. Perfect through His sufferings. Out of weakness came strength. And so when God calls us and when He leads us, He doesn't promise us that life is just going to be a bed of roses and that everything is going to be fine. There are things that we are going to face in life that are very difficult. Things that are painful, things that hurt.

But through those things, we become strong. Through those things, we develop the character that we need. Remember that little caterpillar who goes back into himself and then he has to fight out of that cocoon? He has to do it on his own. The strength has to come from him. And if we trust and believe that God is leading us on the path to eternal life, if we believe that one day that He is returning to this earth and that He will make people kings and priests on the earth to reign with Him, if we believe that, then when those sufferings and trials come, they may still hurt, they would still be uncomfortable. But we would understand what God is doing. He is preparing us. He is getting us ready. He is making sure that when it is time for one life to pass and the other one to begin, that we are ready and we have the strength. No wonder Paul said in Romans, it can't even be counted worthy. The sufferings that we have in this lifetime compared to the glory that God will reveal in us. He can't even compare it if we really believe and if we know what He is doing and remember what He is doing in our lives, that He is getting us ready.

Philippians 2. Philippians 2 verse 12. Therefore, my beloved, Paul writes to the church then, he writes to us now, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Boy, we don't like to do it for each other. We'd like to pull us through this life. We'd like to be the strength for one another. But it's just like those five versions who didn't take the time to put the oil in their lamp, to have their lights shining, to have their minds renewed. We have to do it ourselves. We have to make the choices along the way to seek God, to give ourselves to Him, to yield to Him, to take the time to eat and be nourished, to take the time to pray, to take the time to do the things that God wants us to do. Verse 13, for it's God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. And like I said, some of those things aren't pleasant. Some of the trials we go through, some of the health trials, financial trials, emotional trials, relationship trials, anything else that confronts us, as God gets us ready and as He strengthens us, He says, do all things without complaining. Do them without complaining. Remember what He's doing and what He's working out in you. Do them without disputing that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom you, China's light, in the world. Christ is the first fruit, the first of the first fruits. He's passed from one stage to another. He was born of the flesh, and when He was resurrected, He was born of the Spirit, and now He is eternal, sitting at the right hand of God. The same thing awaits for us if we yield to Him, if we let His Spirit be in us and lead us and guide us. 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 22. For as in Adam all die, the first man, flesh, we die one death. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ, all shall be made alive. But each one in His order, Christ the first fruit, and afterward those who are Christ, at His coming. Those who are Christ, those who have lived the life He's called them to live and dedicated themselves to it in this lifetime. Let's stop down to verse 39.

Verse 40. There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies, but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There's one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, another glory of the stars, for one differs from another star in glory. So also, verse 42, is the resurrection of the dead.

The body, the flesh, is sown in corruption, it's raised in incorruption.

It's sown in dishonor, it's raised in glory. It's sown in weakness, it's raised in power. It's sown in a natural body, it's raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

One life in the flesh, and if we do God's will, eternal life in the spirit. Verse 46, however, the spiritual is not first, but the natural is first, and the spirit and afterward the spiritual.

The first man, verse 47, was of the earth, made of dust. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust. And as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are heavenly, or of the spiritual nature. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, the image we all bear today, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man. We will all look like him. We will all be like him. With that big word, if. And I know you can fill in the rest of the sentence. Verse 50, this I say, brethren, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. Before the return of Jesus Christ, not every single person will die. Some of us will be alive at the time that he returns. I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we will all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound that the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we, the dead in Christ, shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. It has to happen if we're going to be eternal, if we're going to experience all that God has planned for us. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then it's going to be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. Christ gives us the victory. To him is the thanks. To him we owe everything, because He makes it possible for us to pass from death unto life. And His Spirit in us gives us the knowledge of those things, gives us the power to do those things, as we yield to Him and allow Him to metamorpho us into what He wants us to be.

Verse 58, Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, be immovable, always abound in the work of God, knowing that your labor is not vain in the Lord.

Don't give up. Don't think it's not worth it. If you ever think it's not worth it, go back and renew your mind with the knowledge and the truth. Remember what God has in store. Follow it, believe it, and absolutely make it a priority in your life. Don't lose sight of where God is taking you. And if you don't understand, ask Him. Ask Him, just like the man who, when Christ was going to heal and He said, Lord, help my unbelief. If you don't understand, ask Him, God, please give me the understanding. Help me have the vision. Help me make this the priority in my life. In conclusion, let's go back to Romans 12. Let's read verse 2 one more time. And as we read this, this is the verse we read. Often, remember what God is working with us, what He wants us to do, and what He doesn't want us to do. Romans 12 verse 2, Don't be conformed to this world, but be metamorpho. Be transformed. Let God change you from the inside out by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.