I’ll Never Change
Sermon Notes
God does His best work in what we think is IMPOSSIBLE.
[2 Chronicles 33:7-9] Manasseh even took a carved idol he had made and set it up in God's Temple, the very place where God had told David and his son Solomon: "My name will be honored forever in this Temple and in Jerusalem--the city I have chosen from among all the tribes of Israel. [8] If the Israelites will be careful to obey my commands--all the laws, decrees, and regulations given through Moses--I will not send them into exile from this land that I set aside for your ancestors." [9] But Manasseh led the people of Judah and Jerusalem to do even more evil than the pagan nations that the LORD had destroyed when the people of Israel entered the land.
Sometimes transformation begins when everything else FALLS APART.
[2 Chronicles 33:11-13] So the LORD sent the commanders of the Assyrian armies, and they took Manasseh prisoner. They put a ring through his nose, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon. [12] But while in deep distress, Manasseh sought the LORD his God and sincerely humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. [13] And when he prayed, the LORD listened to him and was moved by his request. So the LORD brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh finally realized that the LORD alone is God!
Rock bottom is often where REPENTANCE begins.
[2 Corinthians 5:17] This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
[Romans 7:18-19] And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can't. [19] I want to do what is good, but I don't. I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.
Change requires HUMILITY.
[1 John 1:9] But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
God transforms the person who SURRENDERS.
[Ephesians 4:22-24] throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. [23] Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. [24] Put on your new nature, created to be like God--truly righteous and holy.
You weren't meant to transform YOURSELF.