Imagine if you will, a young caterpillar looking up at a beautiful butterfly on a tree limb and being told that it won’t be long and it too...will look like that because that is what he will become: a new creation. 

 It is difficult to wrap one’s head around and fully understand how...that can happen. But it does. It’s part of the ‘laws of nature’ that never ceases to amaze many of us. 

 If the caterpillar was then given a pair of wings to strap on, would that make him a butterfly? Hardly not. 

 If the caterpillar went around announcing to all his caterpillar friends and other insects in his garden-neighborhood that he was a butterfly, would that make it so because he 'confessed it' ?  Nope.

 When true, genuine transformation takes place, you don’t need anything artificial to help the process. Nor will you even need to announce it. - It. Will. Be. Evident.

 “By their fruit, you will know them....By this will all men know you are My disciples...” (Matt. 7:20; John 13:35) 

 I am no entomologist ...but I feel pretty safe in saying that if a caterpillar does not fully enter the cocoon when it’s time, that the miraculous transformation of changing in to a butterfly won’t happen.

 For a person who truly experiences the ‘new birth’ (John 3:3-6) and expects to be ‘conformed into the nature of Christ (Rom. 8:29), it is absolutely necessary for one to be ‘all in’ if they expect to become a new creation in Christ. (2 Cor. 5:17). “Walking an aisle” won’t do it for you. That may be a good ‘start’, but you better know what will be required of you up front. Anything short of surrendering your whole heart will not get the job done. It is deception to think you can claim Christ as your savior if He is not going to be Lord of all. Selling out, is not an option; it’s a command. 

 Jesus never made any attempt to hide this fact. He was very upfront with folks, like the rich, young ruler as you well know by now. (Luke 18:22-23)

 In so many churches today, we have this idea if we can ‘just get a foot in the door’, so to speak...you know, play some soft music, coax them to come forward and pray a prayer, then get them to start coming and being a part of all the fun things we do and get to know all our nice people...that they will ‘come around’. This often includes  telling the potential convert about all these promises of\r ‘benefits from God’ that will come their way if they join up. 

 That was never Jesus’s approach. He told them...”Anyone who comes to Me and does not love me more than their parents or wives or kids and even his own life...cannot be My disciple.  Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple....whoever does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (Luke14:26-33). His words, not mine. 

 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.” (Luke 9:23-24). Again, His words, not mine. 

 So what does it mean to truly ‘lay down one’s life’ in order to ‘find it’ or ‘save it’? 

 Can I just tell you now...that while our minds usually race towards thoughts of ‘external things’, like “I have to give up my dreams to be a _______”, or ‘must I sell my new motorcycle’, or ‘I have to move to Hatti and be a missionary the rest of my life’; this is not what Jesus is talking about. Far from it. That’s not to say those external things might come up later down the road, but for the Love of God, please put those concerns to rest,. The work He will begin in you goes straight to the issue at hand...your heart! That is where the real problems lie. (Mark 7:21-23) 

 In the same way that God used Moses to lead His people out of the bondage of slavery where they had been captive to Pharaoh for hundreds of years, so did God send Jesus to lead us out from the bondage of sin where Satan had us all captive. When the people left Egypt, the plan was to never go back. God had a new life and a new land to take them to. And so it is with us today. And here’s the really good news: that ‘land’ is not heaven when you die. Oh, that is the eventual place that awaits those who ‘endure to the end’ (Matt. 24:13), but God has a ‘good land’ for us today to possess. (John 10:10; Heb. 4:1) 

 So when the Israelites departed from Egypt, (a type of the world), they were led through the Red Sea on dry ground. (a type of water baptism). Then, they were led through the wilderness to be ‘tested’. (Deut. 8:2) Oh, ...hold that thought and flip back to Matt. 3:16- 4:1 and read where Jesus Himself was led by the Spirit right after He was baptized. 

 Now the wilderness was not the end-destination. It was merely the place where God was going to ‘test their hearts’ to see if they were all in. And God will test our hearts also. (1 Thess. 2:4; James 1:3). He tested Jesus’s heart as well...and unlike the ‘first Adam’, Jesus passed His test. And it was after this where we read how Jesus ‘returned in the power of the Spirit’ and began to impact lives and change the world. (Luke 4:14). Who are we to think we are exempt from following the same path Jesus had to take? 

 Now the Israelites were made aware that this new land God was going to lead them into and bless them in, was inhabited by wicked people: the Canaanite nations. He was upfront in telling them that these people were stronger than them, established and well-fortified...but...no match for God. So full obedience would be necessary as they complied with His plan by obeying His commands. He would be the one removing these hostile enemies from the land. Total eradication of them would be imperative. To disregard this fact would have grave consequences for them as a people and would affect them negatively as well as future generations. 

 He also told them He was NOT going to remove them all at one time. (Ex.23:20-33) That would be a good passage to go read right now. ;- ) 

 All of this, was like a master blue-print of what God was going to send Jesus to do with each and every one of us. Paul even makes it a point to outline some of the fall-out and grave consequences that eventually fell upon these folks as a warning and example to us today. (1 Cor. 10:1-11). But unlike those early Israelites who had to contend with the Hittites and Amorites, etc, it is another ‘wicked influence on the land’ that Jesus came to remove and eradicate. It was our old sinful nature that dwelt on/in the ‘land of our hearts’. You know them well...the nation of ‘pride... anger... lust...greed... selfishness... strife...envy... bitterness, etc.’ 

 All of these influences, that Paul would later describe as being the ‘evident deeds of the flesh nature’ (Gal. 5:19-21) need to ‘come off the land’. It is the sinful nature that reflects not...the true nature of God, but on the contrary, the nature of Satan whose child we were when we were dead in our sins and trespasses. We were, in fact, ‘sons of disobedience’ and ‘children of wrath’. (Eph. 2:1-3; John 8:44) 

 Here's the good news...those ‘issues’ you have wrestled with for years and been held captive by; and it would seem you would never be able to fully overcome them... leading you to believe that you would always ‘be like that until Jesus comes back for you’...Jesus IS going to remove them and give you complete victory. But you better be ‘all in’. It won’t work or succeed otherwise. That is because it is impossible for you to defeat ‘them’ in your own power. 

 You truly can be transformed by the power of His gospel, His word, His shed blood, and by faith in His name. - You. Will. Overcome. And. Possess. The. Land. - And it begins with simple obedience. (Heb. 5:9; Deut. 6:1-5) 

 Let me wade in to this now with some examples of how this 'putting to death the deeds of the flesh' works or plays out. 

 Let’s assume you know of three distinct areas of sin or ‘evident deeds of the flesh nature’ that have controlled you for as long as you remember. They are the three ‘big ones’ that always seem to trip you up and you stumble in over and over again. Let’s call them sins A, B, and C. No doubt, there will be others in your heart you may not even be aware of right now, but no worries there. He’s going to remove them all...so that you may be ‘pure in heart’ and ‘see God’. (Matt. 5:8)

 Lesson 1 – You do not have the option to ‘go after’ the one 'you think' needs to be dealt with first. Remember, He’s in charge...He’s the one leading you to put to death the deeds of the flesh’. (Rom. 8:13). There’s a story in the OT early on where the people got it in their head they would go take on some group of people that God had not instructed them to and they fell flat on their faces in defeat. “The More You Know”...as the saying goes. Let Jesus lead you in this. 

 God will point something out to you, and there will be no mistaking what it is. Maybe it’s that ‘Canaanite nation’ we are calling ‘Sin B’. You start seeing it pop up in His word every time you read (so that you can be washed and grow- Eph. 5:26; 1 Pet.2:1-3). Often times, that ‘sin B’ rises up every time you face a test or trial like James speaks of there in 1:2-4. Identifying it is the first start. Then, instead of trying to excuse it or justify it or accept that you will ‘always be that way’.....why not agree with God...confess it, call it for what it is...and then...repent of it, from your heart. 

 Can I just tell you now that in all likelihood, there is an ‘unclean spirit’ attached to that. The sooner you accept this fact, the sooner you will be set free from it. No doubt, this is the reason you have struggled in this area for so long. You just failed to see it was not ‘flesh and blood’ you were contending with....it was ‘something else’. (Eph. 6:12). Good news...the moment you truly confess and repent in your heart, it is in that moment, that the blood of Christ is applied to your heart and that ‘thing’ has to go. Period. The Blood of Christ is the ultimate stain remover. You don’t need an ‘exorcism’ or a ‘deliverance service’. God ‘sent His word and healed them’. (Ps. 107:20). IF...your confession and repentance is genuine, you should experience a peace come over you. You should also know that there will be a future 'test' or two as that 'spirit seeks to come back'. (Matt. 12:43-45) God wants to make sure you truly love Him more...than 'sin B'.  You need not fear this, rather, expect it and then count it all joy when it happens. (James 1:2-4)

So much left to share...please join me tomorrow as we continue on with this.