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Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the
day of eternity. Amen”
I think the Apostle John might have had that in mind
when he wrote 1 John. He addresses father. He addresses
young men and he addresses children. Perhaps Jesus had that
idea of growth in Mark 4:28, “The soil produces crops by itself;
first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.”
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
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

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