Transformed By Gazing On Christ

In his sermon "Transformed By Gazing On Christ," Jeffrey Johnson explores the concept of Christian transformation and sanctification through focusing on Jesus Christ rather than the law. Drawing from 2 Corinthians 3:1-18, Johnson highlights how looking at the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ transforms believers from one degree of glory to another.

Johnson begins by emphasizing the insufficiency of the law to sanctify believers. He explains that while the law, depicted as a "ministry of death" carved in letters on stone, can show us our sinfulness and bring awareness of our spiritual death, it cannot impart life or change our hearts. The law, he argues, is a lifeless legal document that kills, enslaves, and hardens hearts.

In contrast, Johnson asserts that true sanctification and transformation come through Jesus Christ. He outlines four reasons why Christ alone can sanctify:

1. **Christ is Alive:** Unlike the lifeless letter of the law, Christ is a living spirit who gives life.
2. **Christ Illuminates:** Jesus reveals the full nature of God, including His grace, mercy, and compassion, which the law cannot fully convey.
3. **Christ Liberates:** The Spirit of Christ brings freedom, transforming our desires and enabling us to love and obey God from the heart.
4. **Christ Reflects God's Glory:** In Christ, we see the fullness of God's glory, and by beholding Him, we are transformed into His image from one degree of glory to another.

Johnson concludes by encouraging believers to focus on Christ, study His attributes, and behold His glory to grow in holiness. For unbelievers, he urges them to look to Jesus for salvation and transformation rather than relying on the law or their own efforts.

Transcript

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If you have your Bibles turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 3. I didn't want to deal with headdressing. So I'm just skipping to the 2nd epistle. Now we will get to that. I know everybody's waiting on that. I've gotten more like I can't wait till you get to that passage text than any other passage I think I've ever preached so. But this is a text that it's quite remarkable. 2nd Corinthians 3 will be looking basically all the way to verse 18 1 through 18 but we're not gonna do a detailed exposition of it. We're just gonna get some highlights out of this text and it's pretty remarkable because in this text it has it concludes with this amazing verse that we are transformed from one degree to another degree of glory by looking at the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And in this we'll see that this is the method that God has chosen to sanctify us as Christians. We all want to grow and be transformed into the likeness of Christ. We want to be holy and we want to actually grow in holiness. And sometimes we find ourselves stumbling or not growing or sometimes backtracking and we wonder why we're not growing like we should but this is the method we'll see the method of sanctification and why sanctification just like justification why sanctification is only found in Jesus Christ why it's not found in the law but in Christ alone read with me starting in verse 1 and we're gonna mainly highlight verse 18 but we'll pull some things out as we go. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again or do we need as some do letters of recommendations to you or from you yourselves or letters of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and read by all and you shall and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us written not with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts such is the confidence that we have through Christ towards God not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us but our sufficiency is from God who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant not of the letter but of the Spirit for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life now if the ministry of death harmed in letters on stone came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses's face because of its glory which was being brought to an end well not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory for there was glory in the ministry of condemnation the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory indeed in this case what once had glory has come to have no glory at all because of the glory that surpasses it for if what was being brought to an end came with glory much more will what is permanent have glory since we have such a whole we are very bold not like Moses who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end but their minds were hardened for to this day when they read the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away yes to this day where ever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts but one that when one turns to the Lord the veil is removed now the Lord is the spirit and where the Spirit the Lord is there is freedom and we all with unveled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed or sanctified transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another for this comes from the Lord who is the spirit now there is two ways that we may attempt to become transformed or sanctified two ways to better ourselves to become more obedient to the law if you would two ways to try to do it and we've tried we've all tried the first way and that's through the law let's just read the tin commandments or three the law let's buckle down and make some resolutions you know like going on a diet I'm going to do this I'm going to obey I'm not going to disobey I'm going to keep the commandments and you find that no matter how hard you try to obey the law you find that you're kind of like the man in Romans 7 where he's frustrated constantly the what I want to do I cannot seem to do it I'm unable and we'll find out that this man in Romans 7 is is bound and he's held captive to another wall the law of sin that works in his members and Paul tells the Galatians old foolish Galatians are you so foolish to begun in the spirit by faith that you think that now you can be made perfect that you can be sanctified you can progress in the Christian life through going back to the law some people think you're justified by Christ and you're sanctified by Moses but Paul tells us that we're justified by Christ we began by faith in Jesus Christ and we're going to be sanctified and matured by Christ as well through faith that the very gospel message that gives us the the freedom from the condemnation of sin and justification is the very gospel message it gives us the freedom from the power of sin and sanctification and we all want to live holy lives as Christians they want to be pleasing to the Lord and the Bible tells us it's not going to be by the law that we do this it's not going to be through our good intentions and by the flesh being determined to obey roman 7 4 tells us likewise my brothers you also have died to the law through the body of Christ so that you may belong to another to him who's been raised from the dead and order that you may bear fruit unto God that is you've been dead to the law so you can bring fruit to God for while we were living in the flesh our simple passions aroused by the law were at work in our members to bring to bear fruit for death but now we are released from the wall having died to that which was we were held captive so that we serve in the new way of the spirit and not in the old way of the written cold no longer are we under this written cold this legal document the law that held us captive and every time we tried to obey it we find that we were unsuccessful the law that we thought would bring life and purity brought death and even provoked us and incite us to greater sin and so in this message we're going to look at two things one why the law won't sanctify us and why only Christ can sanctify us so let's look first of all why the law there's four reasons why the law cannot purify you why it's the wrong method of sanctification as an unbeliever and as a believer you can't go to the law and think by this method you're going to be a good man or a holy woman why does the law not sanctify there's four reasons first of all the law can't sanctify because it's a legal document or as a legal document it's lifeless just like a contract it's a contract it's a covenant it's a legal document the contract says do and you shall live but it also says don't do and you'll be cursed cursed is the one who does not do everything is written in the contract and the law we see here that Paul describes the old covenant or the law as a legal document or a contract or as a as letters written upon stone look at verse 6 he's made us sufficient to be ministers of the new covenant not of the letter that is the old covenant not of the letter but the spirit for the letter talking about the tink of Amets for the letter kills but the spirit gives life now if the ministry of death carved in letters on stone so Paul's identifying this law as a there's a little feedback by the way he's describing the letter of the law as these letters and it's like it's like a cold it was written originally in stone these ten commandments they had he had these tablets stone tablets and on that were written ten commandments and these commandments are wholly impure they're not bad commandments factor awesome commandments are holy commandments they're good commandments there nothing wrong with the commandments but the problem is that just written on stones they're dead it's dead letters it's a written hold and it's lifeless there's no life in just simply the description of the law written on tablets letters on stone cannot change the heart of stone you see letters on stone or letters on a written document cannot capture the full intent of the law you know you heard this the saying well you're keeping the letter of the law but you're missing the spirit of the law or the intent of the law some some people they know how to pay their taxes but they they do it legally they're they're upholding all the letters of the law so they can't be charged with violating any any law breaking but they're not actually trying to obey the spirit of the law they get what Jesus says you have heard it says thou shall not kill and you say well I've never killed anybody but Jesus says well that's that's good but the spirit of the law is not just thou shall not kill that you shouldn't even be angry with someone or you've heard he says don't commit adultery that's the letter of the law but the spirit of the law the intent of the law is that you don't even commit adultery in your heart you don't even lust after someone so someone outwardly can keep the letters of the wall and everybody look at him so that's a good person but internally in his mind or his consciousness and his thoughts he's violating the law he's not loving his neighbor as himself you know he's committing all kinds of violations in his thoughts and said that's the spirit of the law that you love God and you love your neighbor not just in were indeeds but also in your consciousness in your thoughts in your heart that you actually in your heart love God and in your heart you love your neighbor and so he's hard to put the law and the death of the law and the beauty of the law on a written document and it's easy take the written documents they have to obey that and miss the very intent or the spirit of the law you see the letter of the law is kind of a 2d nature a 2d version a flat version of the nature of God so I don't want you to not love the Ten Commandments or the wall because the law is a reflection of the very nature of God the law or not arbitrary commands that God made up on the spot he looked to himself he says be holy as I am holy and what does that look like will love God and love your neighbors and what does it look like to love your God it looks like this what does it look like to love your neighbors it looks like these things and he's given us a description of what God is God is love and therefore the Ten Commandments are the commandments the wall even written on a document represents his nature his character so the law is beautiful to not to not love the law if they're not to love God we have to love the law of God and what is not to love about the law of God but I want you to see that the law just written on paper or on stone is a flat dimension of the nature of God it only captures a part of God not the fullness of God and then and as it is communicated to paper or to stone that in a sense becomes lifeless there's no life in it and this is why the letter kills with the Spirit gives life Jesus says the Spirit gives life the flesh profits nothing the words that I have spoken to your spirit and they are life so we need more than just a document a dead letter if you would we need a living word we need a spirit to give us life the second reason the law cannot sanctify us because the law by its very nature is designed to kill us not to give us life it says in verse 6 the letter kills but the Spirit gives life it calls the letter or the law calls it a ministry of death carved in letters on stone Paul says I thought the law would bring me life the very commandment that I thought would bring life because it says do and you shall live that's a promise if you obey you'll live is that which I thought would bring life I actually found it brought me death because it also says curses the one who doesn't do and because we find that we haven't obeyed we found that the law does not give us life it actually pronounces death upon us by the law becomes the awareness of sin and once we become aware of sin that's when we become aware that we are already spiritually dead before God Paul put it this way in said of Romans 7 he says I was alive once without the law that is in my mind as a Pharisee I thought I was good with God I thought I had a relationship with God I thought I was a righteous man and I was walking along and doing well when I was alive but once I realized the covenant that says the tit the 10th commandment that says thou shall not covet he's like man I haven't killed haven't stolen I haven't done these outward things by the letter of the law but once I realized the there's a 10th commandment says thou shall not covet and that's dealing with my heart he says that's when I realized I was a dead man so you need the law to show you that you're a sinner all of us we need to face up with the law and the law if we look at it intently we'll see that we're undone we'll see that we're a sinner that we're deserving of God's justice and wrath we need to come to terms with the law but once we examine the law and look at the law it's not going to bring us life but it's going to expose our sins it's going to show us that we're already dead and under the wrath of God but the law doesn't just bring death to us it's an instrument of death it's a ministry of death so we preach the law not to save people to get people saved that's what we need in the Bible belt right everybody's a Christian in the Bible belt therefore we have to preach the law to them so they can see that they're actually not a Christian you got to get them lost before they can see the need of salvation and the law is that method that God has chosen to reveal people their need of a Savior it's not the means of bringing forth righteousness or salvation no one will be justified by the works of the law but not only does it kill us thirdly the law can't say device because it brings us into greater bondage I mean the law is good but because we're evil we're gonna take that which is good and it's going to bring us into a greater sense of slavery we see that in verse 17 now the look thou the Lord is the spirit in where the spirit of Lord there is freedom we'll talk about that a minute which is implying that the spirit brings freedom but the letter of the law not only kills but the letter of law brings slavery and bondage and this is why Romans 7 6 is that we must be delivered from the old way the law that held us in bondage how does the law hold sinners in bondage well the law the law doesn't push us to righteousness if the law pushes the unbelievable to righteousness it'll be self-righteousness and pride like the Pharisees I did this for my youth up so it's either gonna produce pride in your life and self-righteousness in your life which is sin or it's gonna incite you to just go against it and say how does the law make you a greater center you're such a sinner if you're unconverted you're such a sinner you'll take what is good and turn it to bad and the way it works is like you're walking down a sidewalk minding your own business having a good time and you're not thinking about stepping on the grass you know but someone on the sidewalk has manicured the lawn and keeps it nice and fresh and it it's nice and green and soft and plush and you're just looking at it admiring it and walking down the sidewalk all is fine until you see a little side it says do not step on the grass kids what do you want to do didn't even think about it before but now you see the sign do not step on the grass now what do you have to do now it looks comfortable now it looks soft now it looks enjoyable now it looks like I have to do it so the law will push you to sin that's what Romans 7 8 but sin seizing opportunity through the commandment produced in me all kinds of covetousness so once I saw that I shall not covet when I realized that then I saw all the mole how big how covetous actually was and how much of this world I actually want sometimes when Christian parents just keep pushing the law on their kids it's just gonna push push them and push them away it can't be sanctified by it can't be sanctified through just trying to keep it our hearts are too evil to use the law for good the fourth reason the law cannot sanctify us because the law is going to harden our hearts even the more look at verses 12 through 15 with me again we're kind of just pulling things out we're not doing a detailed exposition of this text look at verse 12 since we have such a hope we are very bold not like Moses who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end but their minds were hardened by the commandment for this day when they read the old covenant that same veil remains unlifted because only through Christ is it taken away yet to this day wherever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts now Lord when Moses went to go to the top of Mount Sinai to get the Ten Commandments he left Israel down below at the base of the mountain and they didn't want to go up there because they were too scared of God he said you go you intercede on our behalf we're afraid of God we're scared of God we don't want to look to God Moses you go on our behalf you speak to God then we'll listen to you we don't want to listen to God well hear you right but they didn't even want to hear Moses Moses went up there and comes down in his face because he's been in the presence of the living God his face is shining with the glory of God all over his face just like Jesus has the glory of God shining on his face in a greater way Christ has the glory of God shining on his face because he's been in the presence of God but when he comes back this glory has to be veiled it has to be veiled in in part because the unbelieving Israelites cannot see it they don't they're so scared of God and they hate God so much that they don't even want to see a reflective picture of God they don't even want to see God from a a reflected image of God and so he has to put a veil over and insult symbolizing the hardness of their heart and that hardness remains upon Israel until this day and they read the Old Testament they don't understand it they got the Old Testament but they're not getting the gospel out of it they're not getting the truth out of it in fact the more they read the more they get become hardened look at the Pharisees they were hardened and didn't understand the Word of God at all but how does this hardening work yeah and they cannot because of God's glory is so magnificent and there are such a sinner they can't gaze upon God's glory so they send Moses Moses comes back it's a reflective glory a smaller and God at the glory that was shining on Moses his face was only partial it wasn't the full glory remember Moses had to be put in the cleft of the rock and he didn't get to see the face of God so Moses only has a partial glory of God shining on his face but even that couldn't be handled by unbelievers and that that remains upon them and it functions like this you preach to unbelievers and they hear the the law and this is what the law does to them it shows partial truths of God true truths of God truths we all need to see and hear but it shows us that God is holy shows us that God is just shows us there's a day of judgment shows us the wrath of God shows them their sins all these wonderful troops but that's what it does the the old covenant can get us dead and show us the glory of God in part but it will never leave us to love God if all we know about God is all you know about God is that he's a just God and you're a sinner and that's all there is then there's no motivation to run to him because he's gonna kill you he's gonna judge you he's gonna squish you he's gonna curse you right that's the message of the wall and because that's the message and unbelievers understand that in fact if you're a unbeliever here at this morning let me speak to your heart you know you're facing the wrath of God and you're gonna be thrown into hell you know it but because you don't like that truth you're gonna run by distracting yourself you're going to try to block it out you're gonna pretend like you're okay you're gonna keep living your life you're gonna harden your heart because you don't want to face the reality of a just God it's a scary vision it's a scary reality and you have no hope under that reality and the best thing you can do is try to flee and run to Tarshish get away from God at least for a little while even if he's gonna catch up with you eventually at least have a few good days now a couple days of pleasure that's the best you can do and thus people are hardened by the law now the law can't sanctify us because it is lifeless it kills it enslaves and it hardens now let's get to the positive message here why Christ and Christ alone does purify only Christ can sanctify our hearts if you want to be holy today it's gonna be looking not at Moses at the glory that was fading you're gonna look at the face of Jesus Christ a glory that does not fade away look at verse 15 yes to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts but when one turns to the Lord the veil is removed now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit the Lord is there is freedom and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord and being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit for reasons why Christ sanctifies us one unlike the letter Christ is alive he's a spirit he's not a dead letter it's not just a document Christ is not just a legal document he's a living person he's a spirit the letter kills the spirit gives life you see Christ is the fullness of deity the letter we'll get into this a little bit later but the letter is a kind of a 2d flat version of the image of God it captures a portion of God's justice his holiness his wrath is which is true we need to see that side but Christ captures the fullness of deity and because of that number two Christ sanctifies because he brings elimination the law will harden your heart sinners you just us all you have is the wall it will harden your heart look at verse 15 yes to this day wherever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts but when one turns to the Lord the veil is removed you see Moses could not look at the face of God he had to be put in the cleft so even even Moses didn't look face to face at God he had to put his face into the rock and only a portion are the back portion of God passed by him but yet that was enough for Moses's face to shine Israel could not look at the face of Moses because of their sins but in Christ we with open face can behold not Moses's face but Christ's face who shows not a portion of the glory of God but the fullness of the glory of God shines in the face of Jesus Christ Israel saw the the glory of God's holiness justice and wrath but in the face of Christ we see that but we also see the glory of his grace mercy and kindness in the face of Christ we can see the meekness of God yes he's holy is a God of vengeance yes we can see the fiery hour the eyes that want to take vengeance upon those who do not know him but we also see in the face of Jesus Christ a meek and lowly God who's humble that loves sinners who's kind and compassionate in the face of Christ we see mercy we see compassion John 1 tells us and the word became flesh and developed among us and we have seen his glory the glory of the only son from the father full of grace and truth for from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace for the law was given through Moses grace and true come through Jesus Christ no one has ever seen God the only God who is at the Father's side he has made him known brothers you can sisters are unconverted children you can look at Jesus Christ and gaze upon him without being scared you can approach him because in him there is compassion and mercy all who come to him he will know wise cast out you can look and look along at the face of Jesus Christ you can't look long in the face of Moses because you see vengeance and anger and you have to turn away but look to Christ and gaze deep into his face and you'll see compassion and mercy and grace for you the Bible tells us in 2nd Corinthians 4 verse 3 if our gospel is veiled is veiled to those who are perishing in their case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is in the image of God for what we proclaim is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord with ourselves as your service for Jesus Christ for God who said let the light shine out of darkness has shown in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ if you really want to see God not just one dimension of God not just his wrath not just this written code that shows you an aspect of God if you want to see the fullness of his law the 3d version the death of his kindness then look to Jesus third Christ sanctifies because he liberates us look at verse 17 now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord there is freedom you see the letter of the law fences us in it says don't do this don't do that okay I want to do this it's a heart it doesn't change our heart the law is like a mirror it shows you that you have an evil heart but it doesn't change you it's like looking in the mirror say oh I need a shave but you don't want to shave with the mirror you're gonna cut yourself the law is not made to change you it just fences you in it puts boundary markers don't do that don't do it you know how little kids are a little crazy much you can you don't stop stop stop don't don't but you know it's like in the end you they just want to do things the hyper they're energetic and so here comes all these rules through the classroom it's just fencing them in well that's what the law does it binds us and keeps us contained and tells us what to do things we don't want to do that's why I'm a believer is what can I do what can I not do because they their heart is to sin and the law is just fencing in them and it's not changing them but this is what the Spirit does the letter binds the Spirit liberates it puts a new heart in us it says go after it you know think about we get to heaven I mean imagine first day of heaven and he was like okay what can I not do what are the rules you know where can I not go what can I not eat what's the and God says just go have fun what about I need to know what I know just go and enjoy yourself everything you delighted participate in everything you want get everything you love enjoy that's Liberty and when your heart has been transformed you're free and you're free indeed this is the nature of sanctification it's not binding it's liberating it's giving us the desires of a heart because our hearts have been transformed into the very likeness of God we've been taking that heart of flesh out that old hard stony heart has been removed and you've been given a new fresh heart is the love of God being poured into you and that love as it matures and grows and is sanctified you can just enjoy yourself and delight yourself in God and you can love your neighbor as yourself and this is what you do enjoy and delight in and sin is what you hate and love and righteousness is what you enjoy and because it is free and it's sin that binds its righteousness that liberates and the Spirit of God and only the Spirit of God working in you can do that in your life now fourth and this is my main point I did all that to get to here though this is where it gets in my opinion great verse 18 Christ sanctifies because in him we behold the fullness of the glory of God verse 18 says and we all with unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed in the same image from one degree of glory to another again to kind of review unlike the law Christ is not a flat to two-dimensional image of God the law is a written document captures truth about God I think it what is it capture it captures that God is a God of love and God's angry because we don't love him and we don't love our neighbor and the father's angry with us because we didn't love the Sun the Sun's angry with us because we blasphemed the Holy Spirit and because God is love he's angry and he's just and so yes the law depicts what love looks like it tells us that we're to love God and love our neighbor and so it does give us an image of love an image of God's nature but it's only a portion of God's love you see Christ is not stone with the law written upon him as tablets of stone God has put his very nature in flesh and blood he's Emmanuel he's God with us cautious to nine brain to him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily John 14 9 if you have seen me have seen the father John 8 19 if you know me you know the one who has sent me John 12 45 whoever sees me sees the one who sent me cautions 115 the Sun is the image of the invisible God Hebrews 1 3 the Sun is the radiance of God the radiance of God's glory and exact representation of his nature John 1 14 the word become flesh and made his dwelling among us and we've seen his glory the glory the one and only son from the father full of grace and truth you see the law does capture God's nature in part but the man Jesus Christ embodies it in full and not only do we see the wrath of God's love and we can see that when Christ paid the penalty that God is a just God but when we see Christ on the cross paying the penalty of God's justice and wrath we see his grace in his compassion and his mercy that's the other side of God's nature that's the fullness of God that we need to see the law cannot show us that side but Christ has the law has come to Moses but grace and truth comes to us by Jesus Christ Christ is shows us the fullness of God to behold Christ with faith and now how does this transform us because when we behold Christ by face we cannot help but love Christ when you behold the law as a sinner it's going to cause you to hate God because he's angry with you and there's no hope the law will push you away Christ will draw you in once you see the loveliness of Jesus Christ the glory of God not just an angry God but a God of love and compassion and mercy and the fact he did all that he did because of his care and concern and compassion for your soul and if you can get a hold of that by faith then there's immediate affection that is drawn out of you you cannot know God without loving God if you do not know God you do not love him that's what first John says if you know him you love God if you do not love God you do not know him for he is love he's the only one to know is to love him you see faith works by love for this very reasons it gets us a hold of God and by beholding God in his glory and his nature we see something altogether lovely we see the love of God the mercy of God and all these wonderful attributes think about the woman at the feast who she was a sinner probably a prostitute and the scribes the Pharisees don't what are you doing Lord allowing her to wet your feet with her tears and wipe your feet with her hair what are you doing don't you know who she is she's a sinner and the Lord says listen he who is forgiven much loves much here she is she knows who she is by the wall that she's a sinner but by looking at Jesus Christ she knows he's compassionate and he's the Savior and by knowing who he is by faith she cannot help but love him greatly to to weep over his feet and this is what it means when you find that hidden treasure in the field that you'll for the joy for the joy of the treasure yourself all that you have you say you can have this world like tell tell the rich young ruler sell all you have and come follow me he's not going to do it because he loves his riches but once you see the great precious hurl once you see the value of Jesus Christ the loveliness of Christ once you see him hanging on the tree because he loves you once you see that your sins are being covered by his groaning in his agony and he's doing it out of compassion and love for you and you can see that that draws out love for him to know him is to adore him to worship him to love him you see once you love him that is the heart of transformation it's when you love Christ that you'll worship Christ and forsake this world when you love Christ you could keep the first four commandments and when you love God that's when you can keep the next six commandments and love your neighbor as yourself it's the transformation of love being poured in your heart by the very image of God given to you by the Holy Spirit illuminating it into your hearts once you see Christ you will bow down and worship Christ he's all together lovely there's no aspect of Christ not to adore you know we don't like people who are always good at all that they do and it makes us feel bad because we are incompetent in many areas and this guy thinks he's hot stuff and so we just don't like that type of person and that's the way I would feel about Jesus Christ because he's good at everything I would feel that way until I examine how humble he is he's way more humble than I am and how meek he is and how kind he is and how he's did this for me who I've got all this pride in my life and all this selfishness in my life and I see he's done that for me I go how can I not love this man how can I not adore him how can I not bow down before him how can I not surrender my life to him and when we see him we are transformed into his very image you see by seeing him we have his love it pulls it out of us and then we love him as with the love that he loved us with he loved us first and because we see his love and experience his love then we can love him and return and this goes from glory to glory the more we see Christ the more will be like Christ Henry school says we become what we worship the more you see the Lord the more you become like the Lord and it goes from one degree to another degree of glory so how do we want to be sanctified I want to be holy well look to Jesus Christ going to the gospels and just say I want to know who Jesus is I want to learn about his his grace his compassion his wisdom his humility his his kindness I want to study him because in studying him I'm going to love him and in loving him I'm gonna love God and in loving God I'm gonna love my neighbor as myself we're changed by vision of God and we can't see God if he's invisible but we see him reflected in the image the perfect image the perfect reflection of Jesus Christ we see his glory and we're transformed into that same glory the most glorious of all beings are the are those who are most like Christ and we're being sanctified from one degree of glory to the another degree of glory until we get to the perfect state of glorification and that's when we see him face to face you know what's going to transform us to make us glorified where we'll become completely sinless theologians call the BS be of a kick be a tific be a tific vision which means a happy blessed vision of Christ when we see Christ face to face first John we read it in our Bible reading beloved we are God's children now and what we will be has not yet appeared but we know that when he appears when we see him we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is we see through a glass darkly therefore that's why our sins are still remaining that's why our lives are still muddled up but the more clearly vision we have of him the more affections will have for him and the more love we have for him the more holiness we will display and that happens from degree to degree but there's gonna be a day and it's coming soon it's coming soon when Jesus is gonna show himself to you in full and you're gonna get a clear vision said well I'll see Jesus when I get to heaven yes you will because that's what's gonna glorify you and when you see him that glory which would kill unbelievers will purify you perfectly take all selfishness away and fill you with the love of God from top to finish you'll be perfected in application and closing I'll got two words for sinners and one for Saints for sinners there is a way to be sanctified and purified there's a way to be delivered from your sins I know you love your sins I know you you love yourself and full of arrogance and pride you have a heart of heart but as long as you just keep looking at the commandments you'll just continue to run from God yeah you need to see the content commandments so you can see that you're undone and broken you need to see that you need a Savior but if you see that you're unable to save yourself and you see that you're a sinner take a moment take a real moment to see Jesus hanging on the cross on your behalf and I'll say this to you if you're gonna go to hell and some of you I think are determined to do it you're determined to go to hell know how much your parents pray for you or how much people evangelize you or how many sermons you should set under you want to go to hell because you would love your sins I want you to know if you're gonna go to hell you're gonna have to take Jesus Christ who's hanging on the cross and you're gonna have to push them out of your way and you're gonna have to this is what you're gonna say right now when you leave this place if you're lost this is what you're gonna tell God I don't want your provision I don't want your mercy I don't want your love I don't want your compassion I don't want your mercy I don't want that God I don't want it I want my sins please move the gospel away from me and I urge you please with all that I can the Bible tells me to beseech you on Christ's stead and I'm as if Christ is beseeching you now I do all that I can to say please do not push the gospel aside bow down and receive mercy and you'll be forgiven and you can have liberty and freedom and you can be saved right now and for us who are saints there have been a believers for a while I urge us and myself look to Jesus more and more you put this world out you know don't put your affections on this world turn your eyes from this world I mean there's tons of sports that are going to captivate you there's a ton of entertainment movies that will captivate you there's a ton of the world and the goods of those world by this by that you need this you need to do that you need to bench yourself in your career all these things are gonna be distractions is gonna pull your heart and your attention but do not look at the things below but put your heart on things above put your eyes on the man Jesus Christ behold Jesus behold the Lord and in beholding him say Lord I see his love I see his mercy I see the glory of God and in see God you'll be transformed from glory to glory let's pray Lord is my heart my prayer that this word comes a real living word to our hearts not dead letters but living spirit breathe out by your mouth sharper than any two-edged sword Lord is my desire and prayer that we're changed and transformed this day for the glory of your son your son deserves for us to be transformed in his likeness we pray glorify yourself this day for the preaching of your word amen