Be Transformed Part 1: Consecration, Renewal, and the Perfect Will of God

Brothers and sisters, in the experience of the local church, you may really know the lord’s will. You may really know. Well, maybe we can learn a little bit; I think that’s a little bit of what we’re trying to do. I’ll answer your question right now. Romans 12 deals with brothers and sisters being consecrated, being transformed, and being members, and all the rest of the book of Romans deals with nothing but being members. Now, sister, we cannot be members until we’re consecrated. We cannot be members until we know something of transformation. All of this comes together.

Paul…if Paul had not written this chapter in experience, may the Lord cover me, and may I say this humbly, I believe I could have written at least part of it because I’ve really learned some lessons here. You’re not going to make it into membering without something of transformation, and you’re not going to work at it. You’re not going to go along with the transformation without first the consecration. I’ll turn that around. There has to be the consecration for the transformation which gives us the membering. That is just as much a part of the Christian life as knowing you were lost, knowing that Christ came and died for you, then that your sins were forgiven, that Christ put his life in you, that we live sometimes in the flesh, that there is the wilderness of the soul, that there is a higher life, the life of the Spirit to live in. Then we come to consecration, to transformation, and being membered. This is the place the Lord continues to take us.

Well, you know, this is a word, too, that has really been perverted, and all I can say is it is a word that I think you understand. I think you understand. It has the notation of being separated apart. Now, not separated, like I’m not going to chew gum anymore, or I’m not going to use oil on my hair, I’m going to comb my hair dry, or anything like that. It is being separated from and offered up to the Lord. It’s so simple, but it has to be done and really done. Now, I cannot say anything to you about consecration. All I can say to you is that for us to go on in the Lord, we have to seriously come before the Lord and say Lord, I am going to go along with you. I give myself to your eternal purpose, and I give myself, Lord, to your perfect will. I give up father and mother, house and land. I give up ambition. Lord, I give up all the outward things, but Lord, most of all, I give me up. Here I am, Lord, on the altar, living, just exactly like the dead sacrifice offered up on the altar; I’m still breathing, that’s the only difference, Lord. I am here to be burned by you, to be just consumed as an incense to you.

Now, brothers, that means we lay down even the desire of working for God and becoming something great for God, for a sacrifice doesn’t do anything but lay down on an altar to be consumed by God. Now, then, there is a chapter in Romans that really deals with transformation, but brothers and sisters, besides that chapter, there is a whole book that deals with the matter of consecration and transformation in the New Testament. A whole book; one whole book. It is just that one thing. Do you know what book it is? II Corinthians.

I think that we should just we just need to stop here and just read a little bit. In verse 16, I’m going to read out of my translation, II Corinthians 3:16. Nevertheless, when the heart shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. This is the end of a parenthetical close. I don’t know if anyone here has one of the translations that show this, but 7 through 16. Does anyone have 7 through 16 enclosed in parentheses? It is a parenthetical enclosure. So, I want to go back and read II Corinthians 3:6. Who also has made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. Then, verse 17: Now the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face, beholding as a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by whom? The Lord, the Spirit.

Alright, how are you transformed, brother? By the Spirit. The Spirit transforms you. Well, there are two or three things about transformation, and I want to put them all together here. This sounds so beautiful; so very beautiful, just lovely. But brothers, we sometimes forget to read the whole chapter that follows after that, and that chapter is dealing with nothing but transformation. I would like to just skip down and read some of it. In II Corinthians 4:7, and we’ll just read a little bit. But we have this treasure in an earthly container. What is the treasure? Yes. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, brother. I’m so glad you said that. That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. That whatever emanates from that body, whatever excellent thing comes from it, it will be of God. Not of the man, but of God. We are troubled on every side yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken; cast down but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body…this is the body that was offered up, where?

I am in verse 7; this is the body that Romans 12:1 speaks of…just my body; just yours; brothers, this is the individual body. …always bearing about in my body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also of Jesus might be manifested out of my body. Out of my body. Out of our body, then. Paul is speaking of the apostles. All of the apostles. He is speaking of what brothers and sisters, and he particularly says the apostles, here. Okay. For we which live are always delivered unto death, for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus might be made manifest. Brother, excuse me. This is not the passage on the apostle, I’m sorry. This is…I’m sorry. This is not that passage. This is dealing first with Paul saying, My body, what the Lord has done in me, and then telling the brothers and sisters what will happen to them. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be manifested in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you. We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believe, and therefore have I spoken, knowing that he which raised up Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sake, that the abundance of grace through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God, for of which cause we faint not. But though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. That glory, that exceeding weight of glory, is the Lord Jesus Christ being glorified and expressing himself out of us.

Alright, now, brothers and sisters, I want to go back to each of these passages of Scripture. These are the two passages where Paul speaks so clearly on transformation. He says, first, present your body, and then the second thing he says in that same passage is be not conformed to this world, but be transformed…how? By the renewing of your mind, then in II Corinthians, he says, we are transformed by two things: by beholding Christ. Beholding Christ as a mirror, this is very interesting, as a mirror beholds the person who stands in front of it. If you take the word “in” out, this is what it says. The mirror beholding the true image. The mirror reflecting the true image. And then he says, by the consuming of the outer man. And he speaks of this so very, very clearly throughout all the rest of II Corinthians. By the consuming of the outer man.

Now, brothers, the Lord brings us to … in our experience. And he stops, and he says right here, you have to offer your body a living sacrifice. And brothers, you have to stop and offer your body a living sacrifice. You have to do it; otherwise, you can’t go on. I’ll even say, brothers, if you don’t, you may well turn back. I do not say this to you because I want you to do it. I do not say this to you because I’m in any way involved. Brother, if a year from now, I meet you, you will say to me or to some other brother that this is absolutely necessary. I have found it experientially. I have to offer my body as a living sacrifice to the Lord. Then, come to the next step.

The next step is be not conformed to this world, and you know, we would like for the next step to be the part in the suffering; be not conformed to this world but be transformed, and we’re going to offer ourselves up to the Lord, and it’s going to be the whittling away of the outer man so that the inner man might be released, but we just overlook “and be not conformed to this world.”

Now, brothers, I am not a negative brother. What a brother does in his life is of no concern to me. What kind of toothpaste you use, or hair oil, or shoes, I do not care, but I must be faithful to the scripture. The Lord says, “Be not conformed to this world.” We must not be legal. We will not draw up rules. And we will never judge another brother. But for our own personal life, we have to settle “be not conformed to this world.” Now, all of us can really pick a spot where we’re not conformed to this world. I can boast about the fact that until five months ago, there had never been a television set in my home. I’ve been married 15 years, so for 14 and a half years, I could really tell you that I was separated from television. I have two little girls now who have just gotten up so big that we had to deal with this matter. Otherwise, we would have lost our testimony completely with them. So, they have a TV set; if you’ve been in my home, you’ve seen it. The reason I mention that is if it was made in 19…it was the first model that ever came out. We got it for $10 somewhere. Anyway, see how proud I can be, brothers, of my TV set, and how proud I can be of my relationship to TV.

No, brother, I will not, we will not set standards on anybody else on the whole earth. Brother, to everyone else, you must be utterly liberal; you must be blind. But to yourself, you must come to the matter of “be not conformed to this world.” And put that standard on no other brother or sister in the world. Let me go to the positive part. Brother, it may be that I have a weakness in my life that God knows about, and he really puts this thing in me, and therefore I have got to utterly drop something; that’s the way the Lord deals it. This brother has perfect strength in this field. The Lord has dealt with me. I cannot wear purple ties. Now, brother, I see you with purple ties all the time. Now, brother, don’t you know that it’s wrong to wear purple ties? I must never do this. Let God speak to my heart. But now, brother, for you, you have to come to the Lord and say, Lord, show me wherein I’m conformed to this world. I did not say, “Come to him and say,’ Am I conformed to this world? ‘” Brother and sister, I assure you; you are conformed to this world. You cannot be a babe in Christ or a young Christian in this world today without having been unconsciously conformed to this world. There are things in all our lives that have got to be dealt with and dropped. We must not be conformed to this world. That is between you and God, but you have to come and deal with the matter with the Lord.