By Pastor Samuel Chess

Grace Emmanuel Church

Port St. Lucie, Florida

Introduction: Conformed to Christ’s Image

I. The Principle of Divine Exchange Let look at a sampling…

1) Jesus was punished so that we might be forgiven!

2) Jesus was wounded so that we might be healed!

3) Jesus died our death so we might share His life!

7) Jesus endured our rejection so that we might enjoy His acceptance!

9) Our old life died in Jesus so that His new life might live in us!

Let me dive right in by reading you a scattering of scriptures that we looked at last week. Be advised, if you are a believer, sitting here this morning these Scriptures are describing your life! These are some of the most potent descriptions of your new life in the Bible.

(Ephesians 2:1-6) As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-- it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, (NIV)

You used to be dead in your sins, you used to gratify the craving of your sinful nature. You used to follow it’s desires and thoughts…but now you are seated in heavenly realms with Jesus. Why???/….

(Romans 6:6-11) For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

According to Romans 6 by accepting Jesus death on the cross in your place you have been freed from sin!

If you are dead to sin; sin loses it’s attraction for you. Sin produces no more reaction from you. Sin has no more power over you.

However, it is your responsibility to count yourself, conclude yourself, dead to sin:

“count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (NIV)

(Ephesians 4:22-24) You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (NIV)

This is so clear, let’s not misunderstand the intent of God’s word.

Put off your old self; When you go home and take off what you are wearing you don’t leave it dangling from one elbow for the rest of the week. You put it off!!

Put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires

Normally corruption is irreversible. We live is a cursed world where everything moves toward decay and corruption. This building we are living in is made of indestructible concrete… except that concrete has a certifiable half life.. in X number of years it has lost ½ of it’s original strength.

I go to the store and I buy most of the produce that our family eats. I am tremendously selective. When I buy tomatoes or apples I look over every single one. Far be it from me to buy a bag of apples or a box of tomatoes without putting my fingerprints on every square inch of it’s surface….squeezing it, mauling it. I stand at the bottom of the checkout counter and when the clerk rolls my apples down the chute I grab them before they hit the end.

I take them home and arrange them nicely in a wicker bowl….three days later come out, pick up my tomato and m y finger sinks into the side of the tomato up to my knuckle.

It’s called corruption! “your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires”

If you want to slow down the corruption process of the tomato what do you do. You lower it’s temperature. You put it in the refrigerator. That’s what a refrigerator is designed to do. It slows down the corruption process.

Many churches are like refrigerators. They do not set out to change the corruption. They are satisfied to just slow it down.

If you will notice everything man-made around you is in a state of corruption. The only thing in this world that are not corrupting are the things God is remaking. God continues the creation process by making a dead seed spring into a new plant and by creating new animal life and new human life. What is true in the physical world is also true in the spiritual world. Mankind left in his fallen state is constantly corrupting and decaying.

God does not even suggest that he adjust what is broken. The only way to change a person is to make him/her into a new creation.

God makes no attempt to patch up the old self. He does not put him/her through an improvement program, or re-education program. He puts the old sinful self to death….in place of the old self comes a new creation that is the product of God’s own righteousness and holiness.

(Ephesians 4:22-24) You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. (NIV)

These are not my words, or my thoughts…these are God’s words…look at this verse:

(1 Peter 1:23) You have… been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, (NKJV)

The wonderful message of Christianity is not that you must try to make the old self behave in a religious way. The wonderful message of Christianity is that the old self is sentenced to die…and the new self is born again, reformed into a whole new creation.

(2 Corinthians 5:17) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (NKJV)

II. The Principle of Deliverance

1) Deliverance from this present evil age

2) Deliverance from the bondage of the Law

3) Deliverance from self and selfishness

4) Deliverance from the flesh

5) Deliverance from the world

A) Deliverance from this present age

(Galatians 1:3-4) Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, (NKJV)

Let’s talk about this phrase:

He might deliver us from this present evil age (KJV- world)

Notice two of my 5 deliverances are:

Deliver us from this age

Deliver us from this world; Old translations simply used the word world for both…they were wrong!

I did not know this before preparing for these messages……It’s two completely different words in Scripture

Deliver us from this age; aeon…. A measure of time and it’s temptations

Deliver us from this world; cosmos….. Sociological….. A world system of thinking…people who refuse to acknowledge Jesus as Lord.

What we are talking about here today is your deliverance from this age:

Eternity is made of what God calls ages…measures of time. God, himself, exists outside of time…he is infinite in time. God is right now existing 1,000 years in the future. God is also right now existing 1000 years in the past. He isn’t blocked in by time like we are. That’s why you can and should so freely trust his guidance toward your own future; he is already existing at the point in your life you are trying to move toward.

That aside; God formed the rest of creation to function inside of time and he calls the times “aeons”- ages. The phrase we often find in scripture “forever and ever” is literally the phrase “from the ages to the ages”. We have directly borrowed from this word to come up with our English word “eon” which means an unlimited period of time.

This present evil age we live in is what we know of as human existence. It’s all we know…we are quite familiar with it.. we study it’s history and try to improve it’s future. Those who do not know Christ as Savior believe that this present age is all there is to life. They believe it started by chance and that it will go on indefinitely. They believe that their task in this present age is to achieve ultimate happiness and try to contribute what they can to the happiness of those who will follow because this is the beginning and end of the meaning of man.

To our infinite Creator, “this present age” is just a blink of the eye between His unlimited past and His and our everlasting future!! it’s just a spot on His time clock. He has us here on this earth to accomplish a predetermined end and when this age is over we will go on to the next age and perhaps to millions of ages beyond that.

It is important for you to understand that as important as this age seems to you, as important as your daytimers seems to be, as important as your future ambitions and goals are in your own mind…..in the mind of God he has one goal in mind for you in respect to this age you are living in:

Galatians 1:3-4) Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, (NKJV)

What we are trying to hang onto with all of our might God has been and is systematically working to deliver us from!

The parable of the sower in Matthew 13 brings out the whole problem with us and this age we live in:

(Matthew 13:22) "Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world (aeon) and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. (NKJV)

(Matthew 13:38-40) "The field is the world (cosmos) , the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. "The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age (aeon), and the reapers are the angels. "Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age (aeon). (NKJV)

Here’s the plain truth…This age is going to come to an end! You are preparing in this age to enter the next age…It is imperative that as you live in this age you don’t get sucked into this age and forget the whole purpose of why you are on earth…to prepare for the next age.

Observation #1: This age is going to come to an end!

Observation#2: You don’t belong to this age!

Some people do belong to this age….

(1 Corinthians 2:6-8) We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (NIV)

According to the Bible “good guys” don’t always win in this world…

(Luke 16:8) …. For the people of this world (aeon) are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. (NIV)

If you feel like you have really understand the world in which you live and you can take on any comers one on one…I’m not sure you should be too proud of that:

(1 Corinthians 3:18-19) Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age (aeon) , he should become a "fool" so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. (NIV)

Observation #3 This age has an evil god

(2 Corinthians 4:3-4) And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age (aeon) has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (NIV)

(Ephesians 6:12) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world (aeon) and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (NIV)

Observation #4 If you get caught up in this age your life will, at best, be unfruitful.

(Matthew 13:22) "Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world (aeon) and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. (NKJV)

Observation #5 In order to not get caught up in this age you must become transformed!

So how do I live in this age, yet protect myself from this age, and prepare for the age to come??? I’m glad you asked… How many times I’ve shown you this passage and didn’t notice the significance of the word used:

(Romans 12:1-2) Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-- this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world (aeon) , but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-- his good, pleasing and perfect will. (NIV)