Page 99 - Fundamentals Ebook Final

We want to be conformed to Jesus. We want to be like Him.
Ephesians 4:13, “…until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and
of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure
of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” We want to
grow up in Christ. Galatians 4:19, “My children, with whom I am
again in labor until Christ is formed in you..” We don’t want to get
all confused about being like Jesus. I don’t want to talk all about
sanctification. I don’t want to talk about the steps in how you grow
in Jesus. I want to look at what it means to become like Jesus in the
simplest way possible.

If you like outlines, here’s the outline. First I want to give the
starting point of being like Jesus. The starting point is the guarantee
that someday I will be like Jesus. Then I want to show you the
process of becoming like Jesus. Then I want to show you the
consummation, when we finally arrive. So, I want to show the
starting point, the process and the consummation when we finally
become like Him.

In each case I’ll give a Bible illustration. And to discuss the starting
point I’d like to go back to the beginning. God wrote a principle in
nature. He wrote that principle in nature because that principle
illustrates the spiritual truth. Genesis 1:11&12, “Then God said,
‘Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees
bearing fruit after their kind, with seed in them, on the earth’; and it
was so.” Genesis 1:21&22, “And God created the great sea
monsters, and every living creature that moves, with which the
waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its
kind; and God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:24&25, “Then God
said, ‘Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind; cattle
and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind’; and it
was so.”

In nature God made everything after its kind. The life is in the seed
and the seed determines what will come. That’s true in animal life
and that’s true in plant life. Dogs do not bring forth cats. A horse