Classic Sermon Outlines
Tragsformation by Beholding
Il. THE LIFE OF CONTEMPLATION IS A LIFE OF GRADUAL 'TRANSFORMATION.
A. The Contrast between the Brightness on Moses' Face and the Glory Which the Christian Beholds.
1. The brightness on Moses' face lacked permanence and transforming power, thereby illustrating the powerlessness of the law to change the moral _ character.
2. The glory of the Lord which the Christian beholds has permanence and transforming power, proclaiming Christian progress and assimilation to B. The Work of Contemplation.
1. The prerequisite to contemplation: Christ in us. The light must first sink in before it can shine out. In deep inward beholding we must have Christ in our hearts, that He may shine forth from our lives.
2. The nature of contemplation: gaze of love and trust. It is not the mere beholding, but the gaze of love and trust that molds us by silent sympathy into the likeness of His wondrous beauty, who is fairer than the children of men.
3. The practical result of contemplation: Christlikeness. Spirits that dwell with Christ become Christlike. Such transformation, it must be re_ membered, comes gradually. The language of the text regards it as a lifelong _ process.
III. THE LIFE OF CONTEMPLATION FINALLY BECOMES A LIFE OF COMPLETE ASSIMILATION.
A. Transformation Issues into Complete Assimilation.
1. It is completed in heaven in corporeal likeness. We look for the merciful exercise of His mighty working to "change the body of our lowliness, that it may be fashioned like unto the body of His glory" (Philippians 3:21); and that physical change in the resurrection of the just rightly bulks very large in good men's expectations.