South Shore Pentecostal Church

J. Craig Ouellette: We're going to talk about restoring the image. Restoring the image. Can you say restoring the image?

Guest (Male): Restoring the image.

J. Craig Ouellette: Yeah. Amen.

So when you get a chance open up to Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 27. Genesis chapter 1 verses 26 27. Foundational scriptures that we're going to be looking at here today.

And Genesis 1 and 26 says, "And God said let us make man in our image after our likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them."

Verse 31 in the same chapter. "And God saw everything that he had made and behold it was very good, and the evening and the morning were the sixth day." Then to the book of Romans, a scripture that's probably familiar to many. A very important scripture, again a principal scripture.

By principal scriptures I mean these are ones that when you apply them in your life it makes a difference. They all, they all count but some of them are foundational principles that if they're working other things can be built off of them. Amen.

So Romans 8 and 28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."

And just commenting on verse 28, it doesn't just say all things work together for good to them that love God, but it says all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose. So if you love God but you're not letting him direct your his purpose in your life, things might happen that don't work together for good.

So you got a lot of times people are claiming that but they're not living the way God wants them to live. They're not lining their life up according to the word of God. They might they might be lined up with their society, they might be lined up with their congregation, they might be lined up with their culture, their country. But that's not what God's looking at. Am I lined up with his purpose for my life? Am I lined up with his purpose for my life?

And we're going to segue right there. So 2nd Timothy 1 and 9. So 2nd Timothy 1 and 9 it says, "Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given in us in Christ Jesus before the world began."

So just because you got saved doesn't mean now you can go on and live your life the way you want to live even if it's not sinning. You've got to find out where God wants you to be. God has got a purpose for you. Amen. It doesn't matter who you are, God has got a purpose for you. And until you get into the purpose of God, you cannot claim all the promises that God has got for you.

So you got a lot of people that got a calling but they're not in the purpose. They got a faith but they're not in the purpose. They believe but they're not in the purpose. But when I get into the purpose, I can say, I don't like it, I don't understand, but I know that he's going to work it out for good, amen, because all things work together for good to them that love God and are the called according to his purpose. Amen. Praise God.

2nd Corinthians 3:17, the next scripture that's up there. And it says, "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 in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord." Amen.

Then in Titus 3 and 5. And Titus 3 and 5 says, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost." And that renewing could be better translated as the renovation of the Holy Ghost. And if you've got maybe a different version besides the King James, it might actually say that word renovation.

So now notice, we don't we don't earn salvation, but we we do need to be water baptized to be saved, washing of regeneration, and we do need a baptism of the Holy Ghost, a renovation of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Now again, we we have a lot of times people today, people look around, they wonder why why is the world going the way it's going. Well, part of the reason the world's going the way it's going is the soldiers are not in position. Or they didn't follow his purpose. Oh they believed in the army, but they didn't get in the army. Come on. Praise God. I might have preached the wrong message this morning. Amen.

But let's look at this this morning, God's creation. Hallelujah. God's creation is a result of his desire to have fellowship with man. God wants to have fellowship with us. God wants to come into our midst. God wants us to feel his presence.

But again, a lot of times sin is what creates a divide. Sin in our lives. Even after you're saved, if I sin, it creates a gap between me and God. He's a holy God. He must judge sin. Just because I got saved, I don't get a pass to sin.

It's not like Disney World you get a fast pass. You got you got you still have to go by the word, the law of God. And so living for God, I've got to do what God wants me to do. But when I do what God wants me to do, God is going to show up to have fellowship with me. God wants to have fellowship.

So we see that God made man in his own image and likeness. That means he did that because nobody can fellowship with God unless you're like God. You've got to be similar to God to have fellowship. So God makes them man in his own image and likeness, gives him dominion over the works of his hands. God comes to talk with Adam and Eve.

He tells them, don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He's talking to Adam. And when they sin, God shows up to say, what happened? What did you do? So we find a God that wants to talk, a God that wants to communicate, a God that wants to be in our lives. Amen.

But sin, the Bible says, sin creates a division. If we go to the book of Isaiah chapter 59. Isaiah 59, 1 and 2, it says, "Behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is your ear heavy that it cannot hear." Sometimes we're saying, God, how come you're not answering my prayer? God, how come you're not helping me in this circumstance?

But it says, "But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear." So we might be like Jonah, we believe but we're running the other way. We want to live our life the way we want to live it. Oh God, I believe, I believe in the cross, I believe that you created a sacrifice for me.

Amen. I believe you rose again, I believe you're God. Amen. But I now I just want to live my life the way I want to live. That's not God. Bible says he got a purpose for us from the foundation of the world. Amen.

So that means I can't just go live some state I want to live in because I like it. I got to find out, does God want me here or there? Amen. And if if I go where God doesn't want me, God is not responsible. Guess what? I just walked out of his hand. When I'm in his hand, I'm in his purpose.

If I'm in his purpose, I'm in his hand. If I'm in his hand, no man or devil can take me out of his hand. But I can walk out of his hand. So when the hand of God, I've got God's got his hand on me or you, if it moves over here, I've got to go with the hand. If I get out of the hand, the hand goes over here, I cannot blame God when things happen over here because his hand's over there.

So God came to talk with man, and God's creation with man was very good. But we find out that sin corrupted the creation. Romans 5 and 12, a scripture that I've been saying a lot lately, but I believe it's an important scripture. And it lets us know. It says, "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

Now notice, it didn't say Adam and Eve sinned. It said one man sinned. That's why men we got to do what God wants us to do. Men, we got to do what God wants us to do. Sin didn't come into the world because of Eve sinned. Sin came into the world because Adam sinned. That's what the Bible says. We've got to do what God wants us to do. Amen. Hallelujah.

So the penalty for sin is death, and when Adam and Eve sinned, death started to work in their bodies and in creation. There's no death before Adam and Eve sinned. No animals dying, no animals fighting other people, no other nothing else happened before Adam and Eve sinned. There's no death in the world according to the Bible. And according to science, if you get honest science.

So sin corrupted the image of God. Sin corrupted the image of God. So we look at let's look at the two trees because the two trees is kind of like a parable for us. Even though it's way back there, it's a parable. Because of sin, God prevented Adam and Eve from eating of the tree of life in Genesis 3:22-24.

The two trees in the garden, they represent choices every human being must make. Will I do it God's way? Not eat of the tree I want to eat of. Or my way, eat of the tree I want. That's what it is. Don't eat of this tree. You can do anything else you want, Adam and Eve, you just can't eat of that tree.

Why that tree? Because God said that tree. Sometimes God lets us know why he says something, and sometimes he doesn't let us know. But if he says not to, there's a blessing in doing it God's way. Amen.

So I have to ask, am I going to eat, even after I come to God, am I going to do it my way or God's way? Every day the two trees are there. Every day the choices are there. Am I going to eat of the tree of life? God, his word, his spirit. Or am I going to eat of my humanity, the flesh, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

So in Matthew 27 and 24 and 25, the Bible tells us that obedience to God's word is foundational in our lives. You want to solid foundation? Obey the word of God. Amen. So, look at look at Matthew 7:24 and 25. It's the end of what's called the Sermon on the Mount.

And it's a beautiful beautiful set of chapters and verses and teaching that the Lord's giving. But a lot of times people ignore the end of this sermon. And then and at the end of this sermon in verse 24, 25, "Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, the winds blew, beat upon the house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon the rock."

Here's the other side of the coin. Verse 26, "Everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon the house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it." So what Jesus is saying is no matter what you do, you're going to have storms in life.

But if I do it God's way, when the storm's done, my house is still standing. I'm still standing for God. Now sometimes we make it an either or. They build on the sand, or they build on the rock. But I'm going to say a lot of Christians got some of the house on the rock and some of it on the sand.

And that's why they're having problems because when the storm comes, part of the house gets washed away because it's not all on the rock. It's got to be all on the rock. He didn't say build most of it on the rock, build it all on the rock. So when you got things in the word of God, you know that are there, that you're not doing, you've built part of your house on the sand.

And you're wondering why the storms of life are battering you, and you have to keep repairing the house, and building the house again. Get on the rock. Get all the way on the rock. Build it on the word of God. Apply the word of God in your life. Make that the foundation. Hallelujah. Don't do it on the sand. Hallelujah.

So he said that. He said, you got to do the word of God. Build on the word of God. The word of God is our foundation. It is a rock. So Jesus said, my words will never pass away. The word of God is forever settled in heaven. So the word of God works in all ages and it works in all cultures and it works in all civilizations.

Amen. I can go back a thousand years and it still works. If God tarries a thousand years, it still works. Amen. The word of God is a rock. And if I put it into my life, I can have security. There's going to be storms, but when the storm is done, I'm still standing. When the storm is done, I'm still where I need to be. When the storm is done, I lift my hands and I praise the God that kept me from the storm. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

So the tree of knowledge of good and evil again, it represents making a choice to do what we want in spite of what God has said. And when we sin, we're eating of that tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So again, these trees representing follow they represent following God's will.

The fact that the tree of life was in the garden tells us God wants us to eat of that tree. God wants us to eat of the tree of life. But we can't eat of that until we get rid of sin in our life. Oh the tree's there. But remember, he wouldn't let them eat of it. Once they had sinned, he had to cut them off from the tree of life.

So it's the same thing with us, if we've got sin in our life, I can't really eat of the tree of life. But if I'll deal with my sin God's way. Not tradition, not cultural, not my understanding, God's way. I'll do it the Bible way. If I'll deal with my sin God's way. If you'll deal with your sin God's way, you can find the tree of life. You can go to the tree of life. You can eat of the tree of life.

Amen. You can take a bite and you can say that God is good, and I'm glad that I took a bite of his fruit. You can say I rejoice in God my savior. You can say I know that God is alive. You can feel the unction of eternal life living in your soul. Hallelujah.

And again, God is life. God's life. If we're alive, it's because God has imparted life to us. Bible says that God's numbered our days. He knows our days. Psalm 90 says, God give us wisdom to number our days. Amen. In other words, I need to understand, my life does have an ending point that God has determined. Your life has got an ending point that God has determined.

And and our ending point is not based on our age. It's based on God's purpose, God's sovereign will. Amen. Sometimes the old live a long time and sometimes the young don't live very long. God's the one that controls it. The devil doesn't control it. Devil can't do anything God doesn't let him do.

Hallelujah. That's right. The devil cannot do anything God doesn't let him do. You get in God's court, you get under God's hand, devil can't do anything God doesn't let him do. And God won't let him do something that's going to destroy you unless God is already prepared you to deal with you and it's a test to see are you going to eat of the right tree? Hallelujah.

So the book of Deuteronomy says, Jesus quoted this when he was tempted by the devil to turn stones into into bread. He said, "It is written, that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." I know you can say, well, I got to have food to live. God made me that way. That's true.

But if God didn't say grow, you wouldn't have any food no matter how much you planted. It would never get to you because God wouldn't let it grow. You wouldn't have any food anyways. God's got to say, let the weather be right, let the plants grow the way they're supposed to. Let it be harvested, let it come to you, let you be alive so you can eat it. Hallelujah. Give him praise. Glory.

And Jesus said he came to give us life and life more abundantly. Abundant life comes when we get into God's plan and purpose. When I get under the hand of God, when I get into the reason God made me, when I get into the path God has ordained. When I start to follow the leading of God in my life, now I'm going to find abundant life.

I might find a measure of something good here and there. Amen. But when I get into God's path, I'm going to find abundant life. I'm going to find that God is there every day. That his mercies are new every morning. That he's a faithful God. Hallelujah.

And again, the Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. So, if we don't deal with the sin problem God's way, sooner or later there's going to be death. And the ultimate death is eternal separation from God in the lake of fire. So following the word will will bring life in your life. Following the word of God will bring life in your life.

Jesus said his words are life. Right? Jesus said his words are life. He said in another place if we continue in his word, then are you his disciples, then are we his disciples indeed, and we shall know the truth and the truth will make us free. Again, sometimes we believe but we're bound up.

And the reason we're bound up is we're not continuing in the truth. He said, "If you continue in the truth, you'll know the truth and the truth will make you free." I got to get to the truth. I got to grab a hold of the truth. I got to start living according to the truth. And as I continue to live for the truth, the truth is making me free. Amen. God day by day is making me free.

Hallelujah. People are bound up that believe because they're not following the truth. They're not doing what God says. Amen. They're picking and choosing. They're making Burger King out of the Bible. They want to have it their way. Amen. They're going through McDonald's the Bible way. They want to make Bible. But it's God's Bible. I got to do it God's way. I can't pick and choose. Amen. I got to do it God's way. Hallelujah. Give him praise. Hallelujah.

And again, the Bible tells us Jesus is the word. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Not alongside, he is the word, he is God. That's the Father with the word in him. He is God manifest in the flesh. Verse 14, "And the word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

Amen. Manifest, dwelt amongst us. It means God tabernacled with us. Just like the Old Testament Ark of the Covenant, where God came in that ark. God in the person of Jesus is tabernacling in the true ark. Amen. The Father in his ark, the Father among us. Hallelujah. Manifest in the flesh. Hallelujah.

Amen. In verse 14 and 6, John 14 and 6, Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man." Amen. That means no man or woman. No person comes to the Father but by me. You can't get around Jesus. You got to go through him. You got to come to him. In Jesus and through Jesus. You got to come to Jesus. Amen. You want the Father, you got to come to Jesus. You want the Holy Ghost, you got to come to Jesus. You want eternal life, you got to come to Jesus. You want to get saved, you got to come to Jesus. You want to live for God, you got to come to Jesus. Hallelujah.

So the devil tries to tempt us to eat of the knowledge of good and evil. And just as the devil tempted Eve, he comes to tempt us to do it our way. He'll convince you why you don't need to do it God's way. It's not whether you can find a reason, it's whether the Bible says it. Amen.

The devil the devil hates God. He hates God's image. He hates man because we're made in his image and likeness. And he doesn't want you to be restored in that image. That's why he fights people that believe. That's why he fights Christians. That's why he doesn't want you to get saved and born again because he hates the image of God. That's why he hates Israel because they represent the foundation of the image and the promises and the laws and the covenants and the types.

So that's why there's war against Israel. That's why nations are saying all these things about Israel that are not true. Amen. Because the devil hates anything that points to the image of God and bears the image of God. Amen. So you need to understand, he's going to try to get you to eat of the wrong tree. He's going to try to get you to live in a way that God does not want you to live.

Listen, after Adam and Eve ate, they didn't become mean people right away. They still seemed nice, but they were separated from God because they didn't do it God's way. Hallelujah. So we're talking about restoring the image, and God made a promise when he came to Adam and Eve and confronted them about their sin.

And in Genesis 3:15, he said, "The seed of the woman will bruise the head of the serpent, and the serpent will bruise his heel." He's talking a promise about Messiah. In other words, a man is going to be born that's going to deliver us from all the effects of sin and Satan. So Jesus defeated the devil at the cross. Amen. Jesus defeated the devil at the cross.

Look at Colossians 2:13-15. See, God tricked the devil into crucifying Jesus. If the devil had known the crucifixion was going to bring a resurrection, he wouldn't have done it. He wouldn't have done it. Amen. You can read that in in 1st Corinthians 2 and 7, we'll maybe get there in a second. We'll see see about that.

But we see here in in Colossians 2:13, it says, "And you being dead in your sins and uncircumcised the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all the trespasses." So he's talking about if you back up to verse 12, he's talking about getting water baptized.

In verse 14, he says, "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, and which was contrary to us, and he took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled or robbed principalities," he's not talking about the emperor of Rome or Pontius Pilate, he's talking about demonic powers, principalities, and powers, "he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them."

He made a acclamatory procession. Amen. As he ascends into heaven, none of the devils can stop him. He goes through all of them, declaring, now there's a man that's got power over the devil. The grave couldn't hold him because he's sinless. Adam got sin, so the grave could hold him. All the people after that born of Adam, the grave could hold them.

But now there was a man that's God in flesh. And because God is the father of the humanity, he doesn't have the sin nature of Adam. He's sinless. So when he died, the curse of death can't hold him in the grave because he's got no sin. So when the right time comes, God breaks brings the body alive again.

And when the right time comes, he ascends up to heaven and it makes a declaration, now there's a man. Now there's an Adam. Now there's a last Adam in heaven that we can go to. Now we've got a high priest, a representative of the human race that's made beat the devil. And if I get into him, I can beat the devil.

If I get his nature, I can beat the devil. If you get his nature, you can beat the devil. Hallelujah. So the resurrection declared that a man had overcome death because he was sinless. Look at Romans 1 and 4. Romans 1 and 4, "And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead."

In other words, because he rose from the dead, that was a declaration there's no sin in him. Nothing no sin, grave can't hold him. Because sin can't death came because of sin. No sin, no death. Now his physical body died, but he doesn't have to stay there. He only stayed there as long as God wanted that body to stay there to declare the fulfillment of the prophecies.

What was the prophecies? As it was in the days of Jonah, Jonah is a sign. Three days and three nights in the grave, he said. So when three days and three nights are done, it's time to come out of the grave and shock the devil. Hallelujah. John 14 and 30. Jesus is getting ready. He knows it's the night of the Last Supper, and he knows his time is coming. But he knows he's going to resurrect.

Because he says, "Hereafter I will not talk with you for the prince of this world cometh and he has nothing in me." In other words, there's no sin. So he can't grab a hold of me. I got no nothing that he can hold against me that's that can bring me out or that he can get a hand hold on me. Since there's no sin. When you got no sin, the devil can't grab you. When you got no sin, you can overcome the devil.

When you got no sin, you've got dominion over the devil. Listen, God wanted them to have dominion. When he created Adam and Eve, he said, have dominion over the creation. Well, the devil's a created being. When you got no sin, you got authority over the devil. Hallelujah. Amen. When you come to God, he's able to keep all that come unto him. Hallelujah.

Hallelujah. So sin in our lives gives the devil a handhold. That's why you got that's why you need an altar. That's why you need a prayer life. Amen. Because the Bible says in in Psalm 19, it says, that we can have unknowing sins. I'll I'll read it in Psalm 19 and 12, so I can read it. Psalm 19 and 12 says, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults."

Now, if he knew what they were, he would just confess them. So he's asking God, if there's things in me that I that I've done that are wrong that I don't even know about, please cleanse me. Get them out of me. Amen. Get them out of me so that I can live for you. So we need that altar. We need to come to God. We need a prayer life. Oh the devil's subtle. He he didn't just come in and intimidate even to eating of the fruit.

Amen. He didn't just come in and and just bull her over or say if you don't do this, I'm going to do something to Adam. But he came in subtly talking to her. Amen. A little bit convincing her at a little bit of time to disarm her for why she should have that and not do what God says. The devil does the same thing today, a little here, a little there to convince us why I don't need to live for God. Why I don't need to commit for God. Why I don't need to live and get some things out of my life.

The devil's there to do that to us. So I need to go to the altar and I need to ask God, get the secret sins out of me. And get the sins out of me that I do know about. And change my mind. And change my attitude. And change my desires. Make my desires like you. I might have some sins I want, but God, I see I'm not going to make it if I hold on to those sins. Get them out of me, God.

Jesus. Let's praise him for a moment. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lord, we seek you here today. Oh God, help us here. Help us here. We're talking about restoring the image, the image lost because of sin. Sin corrupts the image that God puts in us. Amen. But God through his spirit, the new birth starts to restore the image in our lives.

So we look over here in Romans 8 and 29. Romans 8 and 29. And we read this one of our opening scriptures. "For whom he did foreknow," meaning God, the spirit of God, "he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that we might that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." The point is, is God God knew we don't know how to live for God.

God knew we needed an example. And God knew the only example that was going to work is if he came himself and did it. So God robed himself in flesh. Comes down to this earth and and makes it has himself live according to his own law. He's circumcised under the law. He's purified under the law. He goes to temple under the law.

He's raised up, hear oh Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. He obeys the law. He obeys his parents because he obeys the law. And so God's showing us, if we're going to live for him, I got to obey like he obeyed. He's my example. The humanity that God came in, God had already pre-planned that when that came, when he came in that humanity, it would be there to give us an example of how to live.

How to serve God, how to live godly in this world. So we got four Gospels so we can see it from every angle. We can see it north, south, east, and west. If I look at them from the right or the left, or from the front or the back, I get a view of Jesus. It's not a different Jesus, it's just a different point of view. God's trying to help us understand. It doesn't matter which way you look at me, amen, this is the way you need to live.

This is the way you got to go. This way works north, south, east, west, up, down, in, out. This way always works. He's our example. And that means that sometimes we do have to suffer. But there's still a resurrection. Amen. So Jesus obeyed the word. In John 6:38, he says, "I came not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me."

He's he's a human man. So when when God puts on flesh, he now puts on temptation. God as a spirit can't be tempted. So it says in the book of James, God can't be tempted. But when the minute God came in flesh, that humanity can be tempted. Because that humanity's got all the same things we like. They get gets hungry, gets tired, can get frustrated, can not understand what to do. It's limited. It's a real human, a real man, limited like we are.

Not a brain that's knows everything. The brain is still limited. It's a functioning brain like any human being. But because he is God, sometimes the spirit of God reveals things into his mind that go beyond the natural senses. But it's still God in flesh. So now he's allowing himself to be tempted like we are. Amen. So he knows what it's like to fight the devil.

He knows what it's like to be misunderstood. He knows what it's like to say the truth and be hated. He knows what it's like to have people walk away from him because they don't understand what he's saying. He knows what it's like to have his own family not understand. Gospel of John, are you going up to the feast? No, I'm not going up. I'll come up maybe later on. Because it says then it goes to say because his brothers didn't believe in him.

He goes back to his hometown in the book of Mark, chapter 6. He goes back there, and it says he can't do many miracles. It's God. Save heal a few sick people because of their unbelief. You come to God, you're going to have people look at you and say, I knew you before. They're not going to believe, but that's okay. If you believe and you got what you've got, amen, you can have resurrection power.

Amen. So when you live for God, there's going to be all these he's showing us that it's not an easy road, but you can have the peace that passes understanding and joy unspeakable. Joy unspeakable. Look look over in Hebrews chapter 12, just for a moment. Because I'm trying to illustrate because I think in your mind, people are going, how can I have joy with all those sufferings and all that stuff?

But look what it says in Hebrews 12 and 2, it says, "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy." Who for the joy. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. In other words, he's getting ready to go to the cross. He knows it's going to hurt. He knows he's going to be tempted to put take his divine power and come down off that cross, which he could have done.

He knows he's going to be tempted to call angels. He knows he's going to be tempted to strike down the hypocrites. He knows he's going to be tempted to just assert his godness. Amen. And so he's on the way, and he knows the pain that's about to come. Amen. He knows it's going to be excruciating. But he's got a vision of something else. He's not looking at the nails. He's not looking at the hypocrites. He's not looking at the devil. He's looking at the joy set before him.

What joy? He says, "If I do this, somebody's going to get saved. If I do this, somebody's going to get born again. If I do this, somebody's going to have the spirit of God. If I do this, the devil's going to be beat. If I do this, true hope is going to rise up in the world." Amen. That joy is so big, he's willing, put the nails in. My God. Jesus. Let's give him praise a little bit. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Come on, lift your voice. Come on, lift your voice to him. Tell Jesus, Jesus, we thank you. Jesus, we praise you. Jesus, we love you. Jesus, we need you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.

Backing up in Hebrews there, Hebrews 5 and 8. Again, it's a real man. But that humanity has to learn to do the will of the spirit. The same thing happens to born again people. Our humanity must learn to do the will of the spirit of God. I'll give you some scriptures in a moment on there. Hebrews 5 and 8, "Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things he suffered."

In other words, he went on the path that was ordained for him. The ordained path's got good things and things we don't like. Amen. But he said, well, I'm not skipping around the things I don't like. I'll be obedient to the path. I'll be obedient to the calling. I'll be obedient to what's needed to be done to accomplish the mission. Amen. Praise God. So he obeyed, amen, we're to be conformed. He obeyed that. We we got to obey the word of God.

In John 14 and 15. Jesus says this on the night of Last Supper. He says, "If you love me, keep my commandments." Now, that doesn't mean I just keep what the Gospels say. Remember, Jesus is God. Right? So that means all the word of the Bible has come from God. So that that means if I'm going to keep his commandments, I've got to keep anything from Genesis to Revelation that's still in effect.

I don't have to keep the ceremonial law of the Jews because that's a type. I don't have to, you know, do those feast days. But I do need to keep the moral law. Anything that God is morally said, God doesn't change. If God said something was wrong because it's an abomination to him in the Old Testament, God doesn't change, so it's still an abomination in the New Testament.

That's that's why transsex and gay and lesbian and all this stuff is wrong because God said that's an abomination in the Old Testament. It's not a it's not a society thing. And it's not a judgment that we're trying to be mean against somebody. God says it's wrong. And the Bible says agree with God and be set free. So I want to agree with God. Amen. So again, it's not about what I think. It's not about what's popular.

You realize that you're being lied to by the media because of laws? You realize that? A lot of times you're hearing the news and they're reporting they had a flat-footed lie last week. They called somebody a woman that they knew was a guy, was a trans guy. It was flat-footed lie. God's only got man and woman. That's the way God made it. But they may but but when they say it that way, they characterize the whole picture of what happened.

And they knew about that person. They knew who it was. Just because I call myself something does not make me something. Just because I believe I'm something doesn't make me something. Just because you call yourself something or believe something about yourself, does not make you that. You are what God has made you to be. So again, we're talking about restoring the image. And we already looked at at Romans 8:29, that he we are predestined.

He's our image. And the Bible says Jesus is the image of God. So just these scriptures are up there. I'm just going to say them. Colossians 2 Corinthians 4 and 4 says he's the image of God. Colossians 1:15 says he's the image of the invisible God. Hebrews 1 and 3 says he's the express image of God's person. Not persons, person. He's the express image of God's person. Now nothing is like God but God.

So what it's saying is is he is the God of the Old Testament, the Father robed in flesh. And that's why the Gospel of John ends with Thomas saying, my Lord and my God. When he says that, he's acknowledging that Jesus is the God that spoke to Moses at the burning bush. So it says there's only one God, and there's no one like God. That means Jesus is the Father manifest or robed, clothed in flesh.

When we get the Holy Ghost, we get Jesus. Holy Ghost and the spirit of Christ are not two separate spirits. There's only one spirit the Bible says. So we look over in 2nd Corinthians 3:17. We read that as an opening. We're getting ready to wrap up here. We read that as an opening. It says, "Now the Lord is that spirit." He's talking about the Holy Ghost. Jesus is the spirit of God. The spirit that was in Christ is a Holy Spirit. God is holy. God's God's a spirit. There's only one spirit in God. So the spirit in Christ, since it is God, is the Holy Ghost. Holy Ghost is not some other spirit. Not some other person. It is God himself.

And when we get the Holy Ghost, it gives us power. And this is where it comes. Again, we're supposed to be conformed to the image of Christ. Romans 12:1 and 2. Paul speaking says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." If you're going to live for God, you got to present yourself to God a living sacrifice. That's right. And that means my thinking must change. Because it says, "Be not conformed to this world." So that means I can't think the way everybody else thinks. Okay? I can't I can't draw my style, my mold out of the world. I got to draw it out of the Bible. We all need Jesus. Amen. So if I'm going to be transformed, I've got to my thinking must change. And the problem is, a lot of times we've got golden calves. Little things we don't want to give up. Little things we like. Golden calves. That's Israel, right? They're delivered out of Egypt. They've seen miracles. They know God's real. But they got a golden calf. Just a little thing, we're not going to give up. God, we still believe in you, but we want to make an image so we can see it. Golden calf. If I'm going to be transformed, I've got to let go. If I'm going to be what if I'm going to make it to heaven, I've got to start trusting God. If I've got to hang on to that thing, and God doesn't want me to hang on, how can I trust God to go all the way to heaven? Amen. So let's stand here this morning. God's plan for restoring his image in us starts with being born again. That starts with dying to sin. You repent. If you're really dead to sin, you need to be baptized in Jesus' name. Okay? And being baptized in Jesus' name is not the same as being baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Ghost. It's not the same thing. Okay? That's those are titles. It's looking for a name. You read the book of Acts, you read the Bible. It's always in the name of Jesus, or Lord Jesus Christ. You need to be baptized in Jesus' name. Right? God is coming to pull a bride out, right? Is he coming to get a bride? Yes. Is the church the bride of Christ? Yes. Is the body the bride of Christ? Yes. When a bride gets married, whose name does she take? The the groom's name. Who's the groom? Jesus. Water baptism, you take the name of Jesus. Get ready. Hallelujah. Jesus. God. Come on, let God speak. Come on, let the Lord speak. Jesus. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Okay, God's speaking to hearts right here this morning. He's talking to people. There's somebody, some people here that God's trying to get a hold of you to make the commitment you're supposed to make. So we're getting ready to wrap up here. The saving belief that the Bible talks about is a belief that commits to living for God. If you're not making a commitment to live God's way, that's not a saving belief. Again, God's resurrection is going to start out with the new birth. The sacrifice only works for those that are sanctified, the Bible says. Let me look at that. Okay? So a lot of people are are not letting God sanctify them. Sanctification starts with the new birth. Again, we're sanctified in that in that new birth. First Corinthians 6:11, you go read it yourself. First Corinthians 6:11, washed, justified, sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus, water baptism, and by the spirit of our God. Water and spirit, new birth. That starts sanctifying you. If you're going to be saved, you've got to come out. And he said, 2nd Corinthians 6:17-18, "Wherefore, come out from among them, and be you separate." Amen. The altar's open here this morning. Are you where you need to be with God? Are you letting God be your example? Are you letting yourself be conformed to the image of Jesus? Have you been born again the Bible way? If you want to make heaven, you need to get born again the Bible way. If you need the Holy Ghost, God will fill you today. If you want a refilling, God will refill you today. Hallelujah. Come on, he wants to fill you up. He wants you to have the victory. He wants you to have what you need. Hallelujah. In the name of Jesus.