Jesus will win! DYordy.com Christ in you!
Fulfilling the New Covenant

Part Three
Transformed Into His Image

A Video Recording of this Message

I Speak Who God Says I Am

2 Corinthians 3:18: “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into that same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

God has already made us alive in our spirits. We are looking forward to and groaning for the redemption of our body, when our physical body is swallowed up in the resurrection. We are in this in-between state, in-between our conception, when we were born again, when God made our spirits alive and our birthing in the resurrection when we come forth in the full light of day as the sons of God. This development of Christ in us, the development of the child in the womb, the transformation, the metamorphosis that is taking place inside our souls. This is happening in us as we behold Jesus. He is the One we look to, and He lives in our hearts.

1 John 3:2-3 “Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.”

With our eyes fixed on Jesus, we are being transformed into His image, as we see Him as He really is. Now, although our view of Christ includes Jesus as He walked on this earth, revealing to us the nature of the Father and showing us how we are to walk on this earth, yet that is only a part of our view of Jesus because we see Him as He is now. And as He is now, there are two ways in which we see Him. We see Him as the resurrected Christ, exalted above all the heavens, seated at the right hand of the Father. And we see Him as the one who lives in our hearts. We see Him as the One who has become flesh once again inside of us.

I would like to show you a law of God, a principle of His being and makeup, by which He operates. The understanding of this principle of God is essential to our transformation.

Romans 4:17 Speaking of Abraham “I have made you a father of many nations in the presence of Him whom he believed – God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things that do not exist as though they did.”

Who calls those things that do not exist as though they did.

Isaiah speaks of this same manner in which God operates.

Isaiah 46: 9-11 “Remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying 'My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure' . . . Indeed, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass, I have purposed it, I will also do it.”

What are these verses teaching us about God?

God, always, when He begins a work, has the completed state of that work fully in His mind. Because, you see, God is eternal, He does not live in the realms of time. Everything is with God right now. There is no such thing in God as things that will be future and things that are past. God does not live in time, everything with God is present. But then God moves into the realms of time, and from our point of view, it looks like past, present, and future. And things that to us do not yet exist, exist fully in God.

And so from the beginning, as God begins His work, God speaks a word. In the beginning, God said, “Let Us make man in Our image and after Our likeness and let him have dominion.” [Genesis 1] God began the work with Adam, but Adam was only the beginning. What God had in mind when He said, “Let us make man” was the end of His work, which was not Adam. But He spoke that end from the beginning.

When Isaiah says of God, “Declaring the end from the beginning,” he means that from the very start, God speaks into the realms of time that which He intends to bring out of time when time is finished.

To see how this principle by which God lives and exists is applied to our life in experience turn to another passage in Isaiah.

Isaiah 55:10 “For as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be, that goes forth from My mouth. It shall not return to Me void [empty, unfulfilled, without fruit] but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

Of course, we understand that the Word that came forth from God's mouth is Jesus. In the beginning, when God said, “Let there be light,” that Word was the son of God, forever issuing forth from God as the pattern of the creation, as the energy by which all creation exists. God sent Jesus into the earth with a purpose. God sent His Word, all of His Word. The words that are on this page just represent to us the Word that God speaks, which we understand is Jesus. All that God speaks is Jesus.

God is saying here that His word will not come back to Him without first accomplishing that which God purposes. Jesus will win. Jesus will, before this thing is over, before God is finished, Jesus will return to the Father having accomplished everything that God sent Him to accomplish. Now, when Jesus came into the world, He was sent to seek and to save that which is lost, He was sent as the Redeemer to give His life as a sacrifice for sin. When He accomplished that part of His mission, He said, “It is finished,” and then He returned to the Father.

But Paul also teaches us that the final return has not yet happened.

1 Corinthians 15:24-28 “Then comes the end when Jesus delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death. For He has put all things under His feet. But when He says “all things are put under Him," it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted [We understand that the Spirit of God is defining this word 'all things,' taking the time to underline that the Father is not found inside that box 'all things.' We must conclude that if the Father is particularly excluded from that word, nothing else is.] Now when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God might be all in all.”

This verse is the final verse of the ages of creation, the final verse of all time, the final verse of God's work with man. And here we see the Word God spoke from the beginning returning to the Father having accomplished all the Father sent Him to accomplish, having won, completely.

Jesus will win.

But, there is a principle in God of speaking the word before it comes to pass. Let's look at Romans 10 to see how this applies to us in our lives.

Romans 10:8-10 “But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach); that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

With the mouth, confession is made unto being transformed into the image of Jesus. With the mouth, confession is made unto becoming just like Jesus. With the mouth, confession is made unto being all that God has called us to be. With the mouth confession is made unto doing all that God has called us to do.

It's interesting, I have written out every verse in the New Testament with the word 'salvation' in it and every verse in the New Testament with the word 'heaven' in it. An amazing things happens as I do that, no verse is found in both columns. No verse in the New Testament connects salvation with going to that temporal place, heaven, before the resurrection. Salvation is fulfilling the purpose of God. Salvation is His will being done in earth as it is in heaven. Salvation is all the fullness of God in us. Salvation is being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. It is being just like Jesus. Eternal life is to know the Father and the Son. To know them intimately and personally. To walk together with them. I in Christ and Christ in me.

And so, this most basic verse of the gospel of our salvation teaches us that not only do we believe with our hearts, and believing with our heart, we saw very clearly corresponds with seeing Jesus. When we are faced with anything and everything, where are our eyes set? On ourselves, as we imagine ourselves to be in the carnal thinking of this world, in our own sight as grasshoppers in this world? Or do we see Jesus?

We see what we believe. This is true of all mankind. Believing comes first. Whatever we believe to be true about ourselves, about God, and about this world, that is what we see.

Where are our eyes set?

We see Jesus.

Then, the next step is - with the mouth confession is made unto the transformation that is taking place in our lives. We speak what God speaks.

2 Corinthians 4:12-14 Paul has declared that the purpose of God is for the life of Jesus to be manifested in our mortal flesh. “So, then death is working in us [death working in our outer person] but life in you. And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke.' We also believe and therefore speak, knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will present us with you.”

We speak what we know, what we believe.

The verse we read in Philemon 6 now comes into clear focus for us. Because this is the very nature and essence by which God has His being. God speaks what He sees. God looks at what He intends and purposes in the end, He sees it in its entirety, and then He speaks in the beginning, and what God makes is not always instantly created. Stars and angels, God creates instantly, but not the son He is after. With us, God's word begins as a seed, planted in the womb, or in the ground. It begins as a process, but with the finished work fully in God's sight. When God speaks His word, everything that is in that finished work is in the word God speaks and it will complete the purpose for which it was sent. And we, carrying that word, believe, and in believing, we turn and we speak what God says. So, the sharing of our faith becomes effective through the acknowledgment of every good thing that is in us in Christ Jesus.

First, we know. “Knowing this.” We know Jesus, that is the seeing, that's where our eyes are set. Then we ac-knowledge. We speak what God has spoken.

An architect 'sees' the completed house as he designs it. He sees the rooms filled with furniture. He sits in the chairs and looks down the passageways. He stands and looks at the view out the windows. He sees every color and the size of the trim. He then writes everything he 'sees' onto a blueprint. (Of course with computer programming, you really can see, not just with your mind's eye, but on the computer screen you can see very closely what the finished house will be.) The architect hands that blueprint to a good builder who also sees as the architect saw by looking at the plan. The builder takes the plan to the site, calls his workmen, and the lovely grass knoll, where the architect saw the finished house, turns to mud.

Where the architect once walked, imagining the house that would sit there, that beautiful grass meadow turns to mud. The beginning of the construction of any building is always a mess.

So it is with God. Jesus, the Word, is God's blueprint. Everything God creates is written, in its entirety and in its final form, inside the Word God speaks. And everything needed to process and form that final creation is in that Word as well. God creates by speaking. But what God speaks begins in weakness.

John 1 says that the Word was with God in the beginning, “the word was with God and the word was God.” God spoke that word into the ages, “and the word became FLESH.” Human weakness, in the likeness of sinful flesh. “And dwelt among us and we beheld Him,” a man, a weak infant, born into the world unable to defend himself in any way, needing the protection of parents for many years, weak, dependent upon God.

Jesus did not step into the world a fully formed son, say “Abracadabra,” do a few things, prove His great power, then perform His sacrifice instantaneously. That was what the people of Israel were expecting, because that's what Satan was expecting. Satan's view of God fills the world; that's how the world sees God. Nobody expected the Messiah as a new-born infant. Nobody expected the word God spoke to walk on this earth, sweating, going to the bathroom, getting tired, not smelling the best at all times, in weakness, in flesh. Going through the world as every other man goes through this world. Enduring every temptation and agony of heart, facing evil desires. The evil desires we are hit with, Jesus was tempted in all points just as we are. Going through the years of His life, working and walking with people, who, though they were intrigued by Him and loved Him, yet, they were human beings, confused and fickle, running this way and that, ready to shout “Blessed is the King” one day and “Crucify Him” the next.

And then the endurance of the most hideous and violent form of execution devised by the mind of evil. The Word brought forth its fulfillment through the passage of weakness. That's where we are, that's where the word is right now in us, fulfilling its purpose, sent by the Father.

When God determined in His heart to make man, He said, “Let Us make man in Our image and after Our likeness, and let him have dominion.”

Paul says that in the beginning, God determined in His heart that we would be just like Jesus. This is man as God sees him in his final state. It is not man as he began. It is not what we look like right now. We do not look like what we really are anymore than a caterpillar looks like what it really is. That caterpillar really is a butterfly, as it follows the path set for it, it will become what it already is.

More than that, when God looked at me, down through the ages, before time began, God saw me. And He saw me as He intends me to be. He saw me as I am right now with Him. Because God does not live in time, and who and what I am in my completed state, as I shall be just like Jesus, who I am is with God right now. Because, in the Word God spoke from the beginning, I was in that word. The seed that would bring me into the world was in that Word in the beginning. The seed that would birth me again, by God, when I was born again, that seed was in the Word from the beginning. And God called that which I am into existence. Paul says in Romans 8:30 that in calling me, God already justified me, and in justifying me, God already glorified me. I am already just like Jesus before God right now.

But here I am, sitting in my chair, doing what I do as a human. Here I am, beset by weakness and limitation, sorrow and loss. Here I am, stumbling and falling short of God's glory, my face so often covered in mud. Here I sit, seeing myself as weak and fleshy, torn and divided, fully aware of my sin and my shame.

But suddenly, I sit up and take notice. The thought hits my mind. Could it be? Is it really possible that I am not who I imagine myself to be? Could it be that I am something different from what I see when I look at myself right now?

I stop, suspended for a moment, and then the question comes burning into my heart. If this that I see myself to be is not who I am, then for God's sake, who am I?

From the beginning, God determined that I would be just like Jesus.

And so we find the definition and the description of who Jesus is written from the beginning of the New Covenant all the way to the end, it is the revelation of Jesus Christ, it is the revelation of who I am. Because as He is, so am I in this world, and as I see Him, as He is, I am just like Him.

But God has given us a place, a part, a role to play. Because you see, the Word sent forth by God cannot bring forth its life unless it finds faith. That Word sent forth by God must find faith, it must come into union with faith. That's why Jesus asked, “When the Son of Man returns will He find faith in the earth?” He must find faith, because He cannot fulfill what He was sent to fulfill without hearts who will believe Him. And we believe in Jesus.

But then we take it to the next step and we confess the Lord Jesus Christ, we confess what He spoke, we confess who He is and therefore we confess who we are. I confess who I am and when I see what I am, I do not look at what I see myself to be right now with my natural mind in this world, I see myself as I am, as God sees me from the beginning. And I know who I am because I look at Jesus, my eyes are upon Him. I know I shall be like Him as I see Him as He is, and I know that He is my life.

Colossians 3:1- 4 “If then you are raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”

That is who I am.

And just as God speaks His word, expecting that word to return to Him fulfilled, so we believe what God said, and we speak what He said. We speak who we are; we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus.

The apostle John said, “As many as received Jesus, God gave them the right to become children of God.” [John 1]

I have the right from God, it is my right to become who I am. It is my right.

There are plenty of voices that will come along and say, “Well, you don't know if you're gonna make it, brother, you don't really have the right to claim who you are in your finished state because you might not make it, you might not please God.”

Rights are not something we receive in an outward way; a right from God is inside of us and we stand upon it. No one is going to give us our right. It must be our life. It is my right to become who God sees me to be. It is my right.

And so I speak and confess that which I am, that which Jesus is.

So who am I?

I follow Jesus. I follow Jesus, that's who I am. God's will is done in me as it is in heaven, that's who I am. I ask and receive, that's who I am. I am a good man, I bring good things out of the good treasure of my heart. I understand the mysteries of heaven, I am the good and faithful servant. I am the one Jesus is with. I do what Jesus tells me to do, that's who I am. I give food to the hungry, I give drink to the thirsty, I love my enemies. The kingdom of heaven grows in me and fills all of my being. I am immersed in the Holy Spirit. I deny myself. I take up my cross; I follow Jesus. That's who I am. And it is my right to speak who I am, a right given to me by God. And the heart of faith reaches out and takes that right.

We saw so very clearly in such a terrible picture how God sees those who do not take that right by faith, as Caleb did. Those who look at themselves and say, “Well, look at me, I'm just a grasshopper, I'm just a sinner saved by grace, I'm just a weak human. Half the time I live in the flesh, the other half of the time I live in the Spirit, back and forth, that's who I am.”

No, that is not who I am. I am the one who gives freely, I give, that's who I am. My eye is set on God, my whole being is filled with His light. I have the right to become a child of God. I have the ability to become a child of God. I have the permission of God, the legal authority to become a child of God. God determined from the beginning that I would be just like Jesus. I am heavenly, I am just like the Lord from heaven, because I bear the image of the heavenly Jesus. I am a son of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

I am filled with all the fullness of God. The stature of all the fullness of Christ is my measurement. Christ is in me, I am complete in Christ. Christ is all in me. I am a partaker of Christ. I am born from above with an incorruptible seed. God's divine power has given to me all things that pertain to life and godliness. Through these promises I share in the divine nature. I am a child of God. I will be just like Jesus, I see Him as He is. I am born of God; I do not fall short of His glory.

God abides in me, and I abide in God.

I have the right to become a child of God. I have everything I need to become a child of God; nothing can stand in my way. No human weakness, no ill feeling, no demon, no opposition, no accusation can keep me from becoming a child of God.

I stand on my right. I pursue my right, I insist on my right. God is not honored if I am meek and timid on this point. I am meek in my conduct towards others. I am not meek on this point of faith.

I press through much difficulty to enter the kingdom of God. The gates of Hades cannot stand against my assault. I endure. I stand fast. I will have my right. I am a child of God. I will be all that God has determined for me to be. I will be just like Jesus.

I love as He loves. I forgive as He forgives. This is who I am. I am holy as He is holy. I am perfect as He is perfect. I serve just as Jesus serves. I am one with my brethren just as the Father and the Son are One. I walk in life just as Jesus is raised from the dead. I walk as Jesus walked. I purify myself as He is pure. I am sent as Jesus was sent. I overcome just as Jesus overcame. I will sit in His throne just as Jesus sits on His Father's throne.

I am born of God.

You might say to yourself, “This is all great, but I really don't feel like this.”

When I don't feel like loving, I am living in a figment of my imagination. I am being a hypocrite. A hypocrite is not being who you are. I am just like Jesus, that's who I am. That's how God sees me. I see Jesus.

Maybe I don't feel like loving. I don't discover love by choosing to love. I love because I am love. I give a cup of cold water to him who is thirsty and it doesn't matter what I feel like because I know who I am. I am doing it because that is who I am.

A believer in Jesus who doesn't feel like loving, and therefore doesn't love, is not being true to who he or she is. That is not me. I am the one who loves. That is who I am.

*****

[I have written many of these confessions of faith down into a little book called The Jesus Secret. If you want more information on this book, go here: www.thejesussecretsociety.com. If you want to download a free copy of The Jesus Secret, go to www.dyordy.com. About in the middle of the page, you will see The Jesus Secret Download Page. Click on that and you can download the book to your computer. If you want a hard copy, you can order it there.]

*****

Because you see, it is as we speak what God speaks, as we speak, as we confess the Lord Jesus, we believe even more that what God says is true. And as we believe even more that what God speaks is true, we speak it even more. And as we speak it more, we believe it more. We are changed by the renewing of our minds, and as our minds are changed by what we see and what we say – by what we see and what we say – about ourselves, about God, about our place in this world, about other people. This is what we become.

You become what you see and you become what you say.

We believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus. We speak the word God speaks and then we do what God leads us to do, we do what God teaches us to do, not out of obligation, not because we have to, not because we are afraid of God and we don't want to make Him angry at us. We do what God leads us to do because that is who we are.

I do what God leads me to do because that IS who I am.

And that is the obedience of faith. It is the obedience of faith that pleases God.

We are made partakers of Christ as we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of our hope firm to the end.

The ten evil spies brought all the fruit of the land back and showed the fruit of the life to come to the children of Israel. Then they looked at themselves. They saw how weak and unable they were as humans.

Caleb had a different view of things. Caleb's eyes were set on God and in doing so, He did not see any difference between God and himself. With his eyes set on God, he said, “We are well able to overcome the enemies and take all of this wonderful land. We are well able to live in the fruit and the life of this land God has given us. We are well able.”

I like how The Message gives God's response to the ten and their view of themselves. They said, “We were like grasshoppers in our own sight.” God said (in the Message) “Why do they keep treating Me like dirt?”

They said, “We were like grasshoppers in our own sight.”

God said, “Why do they keep treating Me like dirt?”

God is pleased with faith. God was pleased with Caleb. Caleb saw God and the confession of his mouth in seeing God was about himself. The word Caleb spoke was fulfilled in his life. Caleb walked into that land 38 years later and in his old age, Caleb defeated his enemies.

Without faith, it is impossible to please God. They that come to God must believe that He is and that He IS the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.