A Living Sacrifice

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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November 9, 2011

00:00: We'll begin with a word of prayer, and then we'll open up our Bibles and go to Romans chapter 12, so let's pray.
00:06: Father, thank you for this opportunity to again be in your house, to examine your Word, and to look upon its truth and to seek to apply it to our lives.
00:20: Lord, help us to not just be an intellectual exercise wherein we grow in our intelligence, Lord, but let it be also a time when we grow in our understanding of what you want us to do and in our obedience to what you have called us to do.
00:40: You, oh Lord, have not given us your Word simply to be an academic exercise, but Lord, to give us application.
00:49: And that's what we see, Lord, in Romans chapter 12, as we see the wonderful application of all of the doctrine that we've learned so far.
00:58: Lord, as we seek to understand the text, I pray that you would keep me from error, as I am fallible and very capable of being in error.
01:09: I pray that you would keep me in line with the truth of the Word.
01:12: I pray that you would open up the hearts of the people to understand the Word, and Lord, to minister to them.
01:19: And this we ask in Jesus' name and for his sake.
01:27: If you want to open up your Bibles to Romans chapter 12.
01:31: We finished last week Romans 11, which we had been in for about six weeks.
01:39: And I was excited because I said last week when we finished it, we're going to move on into Romans chapter 12, which for many people is one of their more favorite parts of the book.
01:51: A lot of people, if you ask them, what's the favorite part of Romans? A lot of people go right to Romans 8.
01:56: Romans 8 has massive theological implications.
02:01: Romans 8, you know, begins with that wonderful truth.
02:04: It says, for there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
02:09: And most people, they would say Romans 8 is one of their favorite chapters.
02:12: Well, another one that is a favorite of many people is Romans chapter 12, because Romans chapter 12 marks a very strong demarcation for the Apostle Paul, where he moves from very heavy and weighty theological truth to now application of that theology.
02:35: And I think that this is one of the areas wherein we as what we might identify ourselves as a reformed church or ones who would teach reformed theology, that I think sometimes we forget about because we get so impassioned about the concepts of theology, things like the doctrine of total depravity and unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace and perseverance of the saints.
03:05: Like I heard that somewhere.
03:06: I think that's enough.
03:06: Yeah, I think I have heard that somewhere that we call it the tulip.
03:09: And we get so fascinated with our tulip that I think sometimes we forget about the application of our theology.
03:18: And there was a time when people who were reformed were they were it was adopted a term for them called the frozen chosen.
03:28: I don't know if you've ever heard that phrase.
03:31: And basically it was, well, they, you know, they believe the right theology, but they sit stoic and not applying what they're learning.
03:41: It's just to them an exercise in intellectualism.
03:44: And that should never be what faith is.
03:47: It should never simply be an exercise in our intellect.
03:51: It should be an exercise of all aspects of who we are, intellect included.
03:56: I think the opposite problem is that there are some in the Christian faith who have let intellect go.
04:04: And it's all about emotion.
04:06: It's all about application and social welfare and justice and welfare and justice and things like that.
04:12: And they don't have the intellectual either.
04:14: And I think what we see with the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans is we see this great balance where he has spent now 11 chapters expounding to us proper theology.
04:24: He's given us the closest thing we have to a theological textbook.
04:30: And then in chapter 12, he appeals to us in the area of application.
04:36: He moves to that to that point.
04:39: Now that I have said this, we should do this.
04:44: Now that we understand this truth, it should apply to us in this way.
04:50: So that today we are going to look simply at the first two verses of Romans chapter 12.
05:00: Now, I have broken Romans chapter 12 down into three parts.
05:05: It's probably going to take us more than three weeks to get through it.
05:08: But I will say this on night one, which is tonight, we're going to try to only do two verses.
05:14: The other nights we may do more, but tonight we're only going to do two verses.
05:18: And I will say and be honest, I believe I got this outline of the chapter from MacArthur.
05:25: I don't remember actually, because this is an older outline that I remember years ago taking a lot out of MacArthur's notes.
05:32: So if you hear MacArthur use an outline similar to this, know that I wasn't stealing because it's not stealing as long as you cite your source.
05:39: I learned that in college.
05:41: So anyhow, he breaks it down in basically three parts.
05:45: He says, if you look at Romans chapter 12, you have three parts.
05:49: Basically, you have the adoration of the Christian, you have the actions of the Christian, and you have the attitude of the Christian.
05:54: And that's basically the entire chapter in one broad outline.
05:58: Again, I'll give it to you if you're writing it down.
06:00: The adoration of the Christian, the actions of the Christian, and the attitude of the Christian.
06:11: And that's the entire chapter boiled down to one simple outline.
06:14: So tonight, we're going to look at the adoration of the Christian with Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2.
06:25: And it says in reading from the ESV, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
06:51: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
07:14: May God add his blessing to the reading and to the hearing of his word.
07:21: Now, as I said a moment ago, what we see here in these first two verses is what we're identifying is the adoration of the Christian.
07:30: And by adoration, what's another word for adoration? What's another word that we might apply to that adoration? Would be the praise, adore is where we get the word adoration or worship, worship, the worship of the Christian.
07:48: A.W.
07:48: Tozer said this.
07:49: He said, strange things are happening all around us in Christian circles because we are truly not worshipers.
07:56: For instance, any untrained, unprepared, unspiritual, empty rattle trap of a person can start something religious and find plenty of followers who will listen and promote it.
08:08: Beyond that, it may become very evident that he or she had never heard from God in the first place.
08:13: And because we are not truly worshipers, we spend a lot of time in the churches just spinning our wheels, making a noise, but not getting anywhere in the quote.
08:24: And Tozer is correct.
08:27: There are many types of illegitimate worship in the world, in the world.
08:33: But what is real worship? What does genuine, true, real biblical worship look like? What does God expect of people who seek, as Jesus told us, to worship him in spirit and in truth? Well, Paul gives us in these first few verses the picture of what genuine worship looks like.
08:57: First, he says about presenting ourselves as sacrifices.
09:02: Look again at verse one.
09:05: He says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the way, let's just stop real quick and identify again.
09:11: That word, therefore, we've talked about it before.
09:14: Anytime you see the word, therefore, it's an indication.
09:18: And this is an old, old thing that people say, but it's true.
09:21: Whenever you see the word, therefore, stop and see what it's there for.
09:23: You know, you see why? Because what it's doing is it's indicating that what you're reading now is the result of what you just read.
09:31: What you're reading now comes as a result of what you just read.
09:35: And what did we just read? Well, we just finished Romans 9 through 11, which is all about Israel's relationship with God and God's relationship with the Gentiles and the difference between that and how the church is an extension of God's covenant relationship and all these different things.
09:52: And we talked about that.
09:54: And there have been many, and I would agree with this group, there have been many who have said that Paul's use of the word, therefore, at this point in Romans is not simply to apply right to his initial statement that came before, which is usually what it is, but basically that his use of the word, therefore, here is saying as a result of chapter 1 through 11, therefore, here.
10:18: He's saying that all of the theology that he's given to this point has brought us to a point of application.
10:25: You understand your theology now.
10:27: Therefore, you should do this.
10:29: So whether or not we want to point it right back to his initial statement or if we want to say it and encompasses the whole book, which, again, I would I would favor that.
10:38: We know that what he's saying is as a result of what I just said.
10:42: Here is what you need to do.
10:44: So he says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God.
10:50: To present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
10:57: Now, how many of your Bibles say appeal, appeal, I appeal to you or therefore I appeal to you.
11:06: If you have an ESP, it does.
11:08: OK, not many.
11:09: How many use another word? What's another word? What's that? Urge.
11:14: I urge you.
11:15: What's another word? Besiege.
11:18: I like that word.
11:19: That's King James talking.
11:21: That's that's good language.
11:23: I exhort.
11:24: I beseech.
11:25: I urge.
11:26: I like the urge because that's that's really getting the idea of more of a more sort of a modern way of saying something.
11:32: I'm really urging you to do this.
11:34: And again, I appeal to you.
11:35: It's interesting where that word comes from, though, because that word actually comes from a Greek word that I think some of you are going to be familiar with.
11:44: It comes from the word parakaleo.
11:47: Now, what is the word parakaleo? Does anybody remember what that word is? Paraclete, which is the Holy Spirit.
11:58: But really, though, this is Paraclete, the Holy Spirit.
12:03: Paraclete is the one who comes alongside.
12:05: Right.
12:05: That's because it's two words.
12:08: It's para, which is the two things beside one another.
12:10: Talk about parallel.
12:11: You know, and then kaleo is to call.
12:14: It means to call alongside, to have someone there as your as your advocate.
12:20: Jesus called it the comforter.
12:21: That's we get the same word.
12:23: Paraclete, though, is what's translated as the comforter.
12:28: Lawyers come alongside us to help.
12:31: Well, they're supposed to come alongside us to help us.
12:35: That's that's another way that you might use that.
12:38: Sproul talks about when he talks about the word parakaleo, he talks about used to families that were well to do.
12:45: Not only had a family doctor, but would have a family lawyer.
12:50: Because of business that was transacted that not only would you go to the family doctor for your physical checkups or whatever, and the doctor sort of knew everybody's physical situation, he says that you'd also have the family lawyer who knew your who was in charge of your will and in charge of all these other things, he says.
13:07: And well to do families used to.
13:09: That was very common to have a family lawyer.
13:11: And he says, and very, very much that was the that was the Paraclete of the family.
13:16: That was the guy who you called to your side in the event of a need.
13:20: Now, how does that appeal to or how does that come along here? Well, basically, Paul is saying here in much the same way as the Paraclete comes alongside of us.
13:36: He is counseling them.
13:38: That's that's another word to use here.
13:40: He is counseling his Christian brothers that they'd be willing to offer themselves to Christ as a sacrifice.
13:46: He's saying he said, I'm bringing you counsel.
13:49: I'm I'm coming alongside of you to urge you.
13:54: And that's the word used there in this thing.
13:56: I'm getting right up here beside you and I'm appealing to you.
14:00: I'm urging you.
14:02: And I'm saying you need to do this.
14:05: You need to do this.
14:07: This is Paul.
14:08: Paul is your is your is your spiritual coach at this point.
14:13: And he's giving you that that that that this is the this is that talk that you need to get you out doing what you're supposed to be doing.
14:20: And he's right up there with us.
14:21: And he's saying, listen, I urge you, I appeal to you by the mercies of God.
14:28: To present yourself as a living sacrifice.
14:32: Now, living sacrifice is a play on words.
14:40: Because by default, sacrifice things are dead.
14:47: Because that's what it meant to sacrifice an animal of the Old Testament picture, the sacrifice, they didn't live through it.
14:55: So he's using here really somewhat of an oxymoronic statement.
14:59: He's using a statement that is it's it's it's it's it's a new thing.
15:04: Paul sort of like to do that.
15:05: Paul uses words.
15:07: Paul made up words.
15:08: Did you know that? Paul, he did.
15:11: Phaonoustos is not anywhere else in all of the literature.
15:16: Not in the Bible, not extra biblically.
15:19: Phaonoustos, when we talk about the Bible's God breathe.
15:21: He made that word up.
15:25: Yeah, because there ain't nothing else you can use to apply that to.
15:29: But the point is, Paul is here.
15:31: He's using an example of a language, a living sacrifice.
15:34: That's that's that doesn't register with most people.
15:39: He's calling a believer a living sacrifice.
15:42: We're supposed to be a living sacrifice because though we are still alive, we are supposed to offer ourselves heart, mind, soul and strength to God in worship.
15:56: And not just on Sunday, I think one of the most dangerous things that we have done is that we have relegated the worship of God to one day a week.
16:12: And as such, people have become satisfied that as long as I'm worshiping God on Sunday, then the rest of the week is just sort of up in the air.
16:23: And they said, well, that's the example God gave us.
16:25: God gave us six days.
16:26: You shall work.
16:27: And on the seventh day, you worship.
16:28: No, that's not what it said.
16:32: It said on six days, you shall work.
16:33: And on the seventh day, you shall rest.
16:35: It was the Sabbath.
16:36: It was a rest unto God.
16:38: He rested on the Sabbath.
16:39: Then he told us to rest on the Sabbath day.
16:40: And all this.
16:41: And it became synonymous with a time of drawing closer to God and worshiping God.
16:47: But it wasn't the day of worship.
16:49: It was the day of rest because we worship every day.
16:55: We assemble on the first day of the week to break bread and to pray together because that's what the early church did.
17:00: The early church assembled on the first day of the week to break bread.
17:03: Acts chapter two tells us what to do.
17:04: And that's what we do.
17:05: We do it this very day because it was the first day of the week that Jesus rose from the grave.
17:08: We understand that.
17:10: Right.
17:12: So when he talks about being a living sacrifice, he means in our lives, as we live, as we're alive, we ought to be living a life sacrifice, mind, soul, strength, body, everything to the Lord.
17:26: It should be that we live for God.
17:30: And why do we do this? I love this part of the verse.
17:33: Why do we do this? He says to present yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your and this is one of those times where the ESV, I don't think, really grabbed a hold of it.
17:47: The ESV says, which is your spiritual worship, a much better rendering.
17:53: And one of you has to have this.
17:55: I just I didn't look up which one it was, but the much better rendering, reasonable service.
17:59: Who has that? Which is that? The new King James, reasonable service.
18:04: Anybody else? Rational.
18:07: What to say it? Rational service.
18:12: Rational service.
18:15: OK.
18:15: Does it have input into the ESV? I guess I should look that up.
18:20: All mine's on the computer, so I wouldn't know.
18:25: Reasonable.
18:26: Reasonable what, though? Is it worship or service? Worship.
18:35: OK.
18:36: All right.
18:36: And the reason why I think, and again, why I'm not too keen on the ESV at this point is just because I think when it says, it is your spiritual worship.
18:47: I think I think it's missing, even though you can you can equate worship and service together.
18:53: I think it's missing the point.
18:56: I love the fact that the NAS says rational.
19:00: Rational.
19:01: Because the root word here is logikos, which is the where we get the word logic.
19:09: All right.
19:10: It's also where, you know, logos is where we get the word word.
19:13: And then logikos is where we get the word logic.
19:17: Here's what it's saying.
19:19: And this is profound.
19:22: So hang with me.
19:24: I appeal to you, brothers, by the mercy of God, present yourself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable God, because it's the right thing to do.
19:31: It's the most logical.
19:32: If God has done all this, if God has done everything that chapters 1 through 11 says, this is the most logical thing.
19:38: This is the most natural thing that should occur after you find all that out.
19:43: When you realize all that's true, this is just natural.
19:48: It's the most rational end to all that you've learned.
19:53: I had an epiphany this week.
19:56: You ever have an epiphany? Tastes good with relish.
20:00: No, I'm just kidding.
20:01: I had a moment in my mind where I realized something.
20:07: And you all may have realized this years ago.
20:10: And you may think, man, I can't believe my pastor didn't realize this.
20:12: But I realized something I want to share with you.
20:15: And it goes along with this.
20:20: For years, I've had people ask me the question, Pastor, we know our works do not save us.
20:27: The Bible is very clear.
20:28: By grace are you saved through faith and not of works.
20:30: We know that.
20:33: Why then should we do good works? Now, that's not being asked from an unbelieving, unspiritual heart.
20:45: It's just a logical question.
20:47: Why are good works necessary if they don't save us? Are they necessary for something else? And oftentimes, my response has been, we do good works in appreciation for God's love.
21:02: We do good works in appreciation for His giving of His Son for us.
21:06: We love Him so much because He first loved us that we do good works because He has done good toward us.
21:17: And it struck me this week how much I've missed.
21:21: Do you know why you're to do good works? Because it's the right thing to do.
21:32: Now, do we appreciate what God gives us? Yes.
21:36: But that's not why we do good works.
21:38: We do good works because they're the right thing to do.
21:42: You know what? If I see somebody hungry and I feed him, that's not a good work.
21:47: It's the right thing to do.
21:48: If I see somebody homeless or hurting and I reach out to them and love them, that's not a good work.
21:53: It's the right thing to do.
21:57: If I don't cheat on my taxes, that's not a good work.
22:01: It was the right thing to do.
22:04: And when I read this passage, it's basically saying this.
22:08: Offer yourself a spiritual or a living sacrifice because it's the right thing to do.
22:13: It's the rational thing.
22:14: It's the logical thing.
22:16: It's the natural outgrowth of everything that you've learned.
22:19: It's just the right thing.
22:24: And I think sometimes we forget the good is the right thing to do.
22:35: You know, good works are the right thing to do.
22:37: And that's what we should be doing.
22:38: We should be seeking righteousness.
22:44: Yes, we have the righteousness of Christ which saves us.
22:48: But we ought to be seeking to live righteously.
22:52: Because what happens when we don't? What happens when Christians talk about righteousness and then live unrighteous lives? What does that do to the name of Christ? And to the church? Hypocrite.
23:05: Yeah, we become a blight on the name, a mark.
23:13: We ought to, of all people, be the most honest to work for.
23:17: We ought to, of all people, be the most honest to be an employed person under.
23:26: To be under an employed person.
23:28: Our boss ought to be able to trust us.
23:32: And if we are the boss, our people ought to be able to trust us.
23:37: Because that's who we should be.
23:39: Does that mean we don't make mistakes? No.
23:41: Does that mean we're going to be perfect? No.
23:43: But we ought to seek righteousness.
23:47: Ought to.
23:48: Because it's the right thing to do.
23:50: That's right.
23:51: All right.
23:52: All that.
23:54: If God has, this is, because I don't think Paul's point could be much simpler than this.
23:57: If God has called us, justified us, sanctified us, and is in the process of glorifying us, it is our logical duty that we should respond in unending love and affection for Him and do what's right.
24:11: The problem is, we often don't.
24:14: We easily forget that all God, we easily forget all that God has done and replace our devotion to Him with devotion to worldly pursuits.
24:26: I'm preparing, I always try to stay two weeks ahead.
24:29: I don't know how many of you know that.
24:31: When I'm preparing a sermon, usually it's the sermon for two weeks away at least.
24:35: Sometimes I'm further.
24:37: But right now I'm preparing for what I'm going to preach on Thanksgiving.
24:41: Because I am going to do a special message prior to Thanksgiving.
24:46: And I heard something this week.
24:47: I was listening to a person from a Reformed Baptist church up north.
24:50: And he was preaching on Thanksgiving.
24:50: I was just like I said, preparing, listening, trying to get my head around what I wanted to talk about.
24:55: What scriptures I'm going to use and what I want to talk about.
24:57: And one of the things he said I thought was so profound.
25:00: He said that, you know, when we don't give thanks to God, when we're not in an attitude of thanksgiving, what we're doing is we're being thieves.
25:13: Because how do you define it if you have something that belongs to someone else and you refuse to give it to them? It's thievery.
25:21: If you have something that belongs to someone else and you refuse to give it to that person, you've got something that they deserve and you have it.
25:27: You keep it.
25:28: You're a thief.
25:31: Now that may be sort of a strange analogy.
25:34: But his point at this is that God deserves our thanksgiving.
25:38: He deserves our worship.
25:39: He deserves us giving him our bodies as a living sacrifice.
25:45: And when we don't, we're thieves.
25:48: We're taking from God what belongs to him and holding it back.
25:55: I thought it was an interesting analogy.
25:57: I thought I wanted to share that.
25:58: Because that probably won't be in the thanksgiving message.
26:00: It may come up.
26:02: But I'm just thinking about tonight, giving ourselves living sacrifice.
26:08: We ought to do that.
26:11: We have the responsibility to do that.
26:14: So to truly worship, we must be willing to be a daily living sacrifice.
26:21: And we must also engage.
26:23: We're going to move to verse 2 now.
26:25: We must also engage in renewing our minds.
26:32: Renewing our minds.
26:34: Verse 2 says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
26:50: A very basic truth to remember is that worship is a lifestyle, not an activity.
26:56: Worship is a way you live, not something that you do.
26:59: We are supposed to be living lives that worship God, thus living sacrifices.
27:04: And then the command that follows up after that is a negative and a positive from the Apostle Paul.
27:10: Paul says you're supposed to be living as a living sacrifice.
27:13: You're supposed to be a living sacrifice.
27:16: And then he goes on to say, here's the two ways that that happens.
27:19: One, do not be conformed to this world.
27:22: Two, be transformed by the renewal of your mind.
27:24: That's a negative and a positive.
27:26: The negatives do not be conformed.
27:28: The positive is but be transformed.
27:32: Now, the word conformed is a Greek word that's a little hard to say.
27:40: Suscomatitso.
27:41: I'm pretty sure I just said that incorrectly.
27:44: Suscomatitso.
27:45: And it means to fashion oneself after another.
27:49: When I was teaching this to the youth years ago, because I taught through Romans when I had the youth group.
27:56: When I got to this passage, I said do not be conformed to the world.
27:59: I spent a long time on that.
28:03: Because there is a point as we grow up.
28:07: Somewhere between the age of, you know, 11.
28:13: Till, you know, after 50.
28:17: No, I'm just kidding.
28:18: Somewhere between 11 and our early 20s.
28:22: Where we become almost consumed with what the world has to offer.
28:30: And this conforming to it.
28:32: You know, most 8, 7, 6 year olds don't care if they've got on Nike tennis shoes.
28:39: And guest jeans.
28:41: Is that relevant? They don't care.
28:47: Yeah, okay.
28:48: And they don't care if they're wearing Bugle Boy shirts.
28:51: There you go.
28:54: But something happens in middle school.
28:59: Where this need to conform begins to come about.
29:05: And one of the most dangerous things I think happens at that age.
29:10: Is wherever the child tends to end up, he tries to conform.
29:15: Kids are like water in this respect.
29:19: Water will conform to whatever vessel you put it in.
29:22: If you put water in a trophy cup and you freeze it and take the trophy cup away.
29:26: It's still in the shape of the trophy cup.
29:28: And that's the same way children often are.
29:32: As they're engaged in middle school or they're engaged in high school.
29:36: And these things happen.
29:37: They begin to conform.
29:40: And you have your kids come home from school.
29:41: And I know homeschool parents may not have to deal with this as much.
29:45: Thank God.
29:45: But a lot of the parents that send their kids to school, they come home.
29:50: They learn words they've never heard before.
29:52: Activities they've never seen before.
29:54: And it's all part of this conforming that's happening.
29:58: This conformation to the world.
30:02: But here's the thing.
30:03: Even though that's when we see it most visibly.
30:07: Because we see a change in their clothing.
30:09: We see a change in their language.
30:10: We see a change in their behavior.
30:12: It doesn't stop at 18, 19, and 20.
30:19: There's a conforming to the world that happens as we get into our 20s, into our 30s, into our 40s.
30:24: And it really depends as we grow.
30:30: It really depends on our atmosphere.
30:33: But a lot of times we are very much shaped in who we are by the things that are going on in our life.
30:38: Who we're hanging around.
30:39: What we're doing.
30:39: And the scary thing is some people never get out of that.
30:47: But they're constantly allowing the world to sort of shape who they are and conforming.
30:52: And they're trying to conform to what the world standard is.
30:58: And what's funny is this is not something new.
31:00: Because Paul is talking about this 2,000 years ago.
31:03: Do not be conformed to this world.
31:08: And if you think about what Paul was dealing with in his time.
31:11: You remember when Paul went to Mars Hill? And Paul went to the Areopagus and he went to speak to the very astute philosophers of his day.
31:24: Each one had their own following.
31:28: You had the Stoics.
31:30: And you had the Epicureans.
31:34: What did Epicurus teach? Epicurus taught that this life is all there is.
31:38: When you die nothing happens.
31:40: Your body goes into the ground.
31:41: You rot away.
31:42: You become worm food.
31:43: So the greatest thing that you can do in this life is you can gorge yourself on every pleasure.
31:54: Because that's all there is in life is pleasure.
31:56: Whether it is food.
31:59: Or whether it is drink.
32:00: Or whether it is sexual.
32:01: Or whether it's the accumulation of wealth.
32:03: Whatever it is.
32:05: You go and do it.
32:09: Not to be graphic.
32:10: But there were Epicurean societies where they would eat so much food.
32:14: When they couldn't eat anymore they would cause themselves to vomit.
32:17: So they could eat more.
32:19: They would force themselves just for this desire to fulfill the flesh.
32:27: Because that's all they had.
32:29: But Epicurus wasn't the only one.
32:32: There was an entire group of people that were called Epicureans.
32:38: Epicureans were the people who had conformed themselves to Epicurus' teachings.
32:43: And there were the Stoics who had conformed themselves to the teaching of Stoicism.
32:49: And you know what? Down through the ages we've seen people of different groups who have conformed themselves to something in the world.
32:57: And Paul is saying here, don't be conformed to the world.
33:03: And let me tell you something.
33:04: It is very hard not to be conformed to the world.
33:09: I get down to the practical brass tacks of it.
33:12: It is very hard not to be conformed to the world.
33:15: Because the world has so much influence on our lives.
33:20: We are inundated in our day with advertising.
33:27: What is advertising meant to do? Advertising is meant to cause us to exercise covetousness.
33:39: It really is.
33:40: It's to see something, to want something that you don't have and desire it as your own.
33:44: It's all about that.
33:46: It entices you.
33:48: It's meant to tempt you.
33:49: If you don't have the latest this or the best that, you're not the best.
33:55: In America, that's so easy to become conformed to that.
34:00: And Paul is saying here, the world system, the world system is constantly trying to form us.
34:07: It's constantly trying to.
34:08: And we are not to be conformed by the world.
34:11: But instead, we are supposed to be.
34:16: And here's a word I'm sure all of you are familiar with.
34:19: If I say it in Greek, you'll know the English word.
34:22: Metamorphosis is the Greek word.
34:24: What's the English word? Metamorphosis means to change form.
34:29: Meta means to change and morpha is form.
34:33: So that's why the word transformed, to be changed by the renewal of the mind.
34:43: Instead of looking like the world, we are supposed to change from the inside out and live a pure life under God.
34:50: Rather than letting the world change us, we are supposed to change the world.
34:54: But it begins with a changing of the mind.
35:02: What is the Greek word? Some of you will know this.
35:05: What is the Greek word for repentance? And what does it mean? It means to change your mind.
35:16: Metanoia.
35:17: Meta is change.
35:19: By the way, that's awesome that you knew that.
35:21: Meta is change and the root word of gnosis.
35:27: Mind.
35:28: To change your mind.
35:31: People ask me sometimes.
35:35: If I repent of something, does that mean I'm never ever going to fight a battle with that thing? Or never ever do that thing again? I say, well here's how I answer that question.
35:45: First I answer that question with the words of Jesus.
35:47: Jesus said, and I quote loosely.
35:50: He said, if a person comes to you and they sin against you and they say, I repent.
36:02: And you forgive them and then they do that thing again and again.
36:06: But yet they keep saying, I repent.
36:08: What did Jesus say? Continue to forgive them.
36:12: And that's one of the greatest blessings that I've had in my life.
36:15: Because I know there are things that I have repented of.
36:17: I've asked God's forgiveness for.
36:19: But yet I still fight a battle with it.
36:21: And sometimes I fail and I repent again.
36:23: I know that that's available to me.
36:26: Because if Christ told us to do that, God's mercy is so much more bountiful than my ability to give mercy.
36:33: I realize.
36:35: Because I heard somebody say, if you ask forgiveness for something and then you ever do it again, God will wipe away your forgiveness.
36:43: You've heard it before.
36:44: You might not have heard it like that.
36:45: You've heard it like this.
36:47: You've heard people say, if you ask for forgiveness.
36:51: Let me see.
36:52: How do I usually hear it? People say, if you ask for forgiveness.
36:57: And then.
36:59: If you ever.
37:03: When you ask God for forgiveness of something.
37:06: As long as you never do it again, you'll be forgiven.
37:08: I've heard something like that.
37:09: I can't.
37:09: It's in my mind.
37:10: I can't pull it out.
37:11: Exactly how people say it.
37:12: But I've heard it so many times.
37:12: I've heard pastors talk about it.
37:14: And it just didn't make any sense to me.
37:15: Because I'm like.
37:16: I'm like.
37:17: That's not what that's not what metanoia means.
37:21: Metanoia means I change my mind.
37:25: I've moved from loving my sin to hating my sin.
37:30: That is the primary application of metanoia.
37:34: My mind has changed towards my sin.
37:42: And when it changes towards my sin, I should hate it and not do it.
37:47: But just as much as we see in Galatians and in Romans 7 and other places.
37:51: There are things that our flesh wants that we know in our minds is wrong.
37:59: And we battle that.
38:00: And if you don't battle sin today, that means you're dead.
38:06: So if you're breathing, then you're battling sin.
38:11: Or you're not saved and you're not battling it.
38:13: You're in cahoots with it.
38:16: You're either saved and battling it or you're unsaved and you're with it.
38:20: And you're not battling it.
38:21: Either way, you have sin that you're dealing with.
38:26: But the point of it is when Paul talks about being transformed.
38:33: Changing from the inside by the renewal of what? Our minds.
38:38: Our minds come first.
38:39: Why do our minds come first? Our minds come first because of a very simple truth.
38:45: When we talk about the mind, we are talking about that thing which instigates everything else.
38:54: Every action I take, every movement I make, all begins as a thought in my mind.
39:01: This is why Jesus made such a big point in Matthew chapter 5.
39:05: When He said, You have said, do not commit adultery.
39:09: Yet I say unto you, he who looks at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery in his heart.
39:16: What is He saying? He's saying that the action starts as a thought.
39:25: Sin begins in the mind.
39:28: Because we don't do it unless we first consider it and think about it and then move forward with it.
39:37: Well, pastor, there are things that come and they just come up and I don't really have time to think about it.
39:43: It may only be a split second, but your mind works before your hands.
39:46: Trust me.
39:47: Your mind has to work before your hands.
39:50: You have to make a decision to do this.
39:52: We talk about, you're going to get a kick out of this.
39:54: We talk about the OODA loop.
40:00: This is coming from a different area of my teaching.
40:02: I teach self-defense.
40:03: You all know that.
40:04: We talk about the OODA loop.
40:06: Everybody's mind, when they do something, they go through what's called an OODA loop.
40:10: OODA stands for O-O-D-A.
40:13: It means observe, orient, decide, and act.
40:16: You're walking down the street.
40:17: You see somebody's pulling a piano up by a block and tackling it.
40:20: There are two guys pulling it up.
40:21: You see that.
40:22: You observe.
40:23: You orient yourself to the fact that, hey, if that fell on me, it would hurt.
40:26: So you decide, I don't want to walk under that.
40:29: And you act and you go around it.
40:30: Everybody who does anything, you go through an OODA loop.
40:33: That applies to self-defense because if somebody's trying to hurt you, they've already decided what they're going to do.
40:38: And you're in the midst of deciding what you're going to do.
40:41: They're already ahead of you.
40:42: You want to reset their OODA loop.
40:44: Now, we're talking about that.
40:46: That was developed by a jet fighter pilot.
40:50: He was talking about why our pilots often can beat pilots from other nations is because they've been trained that.
40:57: The only way, if somebody's on you, the only way is to reset their OODA loop.
41:01: Make them think something else for a second.
41:04: And that split second is all you need.
41:06: And that's the key, going back to this.
41:08: When you think about everything we do begins with an orientation in our mind.
41:13: We observe, orient, decide, and act.
41:15: Everything begins with a thought.
41:18: Paul says what we have to first do is transform our minds.
41:24: That's the first thing.
41:25: Because out of that, out of what we think, action results.
41:32: And I've said this a hundred times.
41:35: I don't know if you've ever heard it, so I'll say it again.
41:37: Right thinking promotes right living.
41:41: Right thinking promotes right living.
41:44: That's why I think Paul says this.
41:46: We were transformed by first renewing our mind.
41:51: How do we renew our mind? The Word of God.
41:56: You are not going to increase in your understanding of God.
42:00: And along with that, your conformity to God's standard apart from the Word of God.
42:06: The Word of God is what causes our minds to be renewed.
42:12: So worship is a lifestyle.
42:13: It begins with giving ourselves wholly to God.
42:15: And then allowing the transformation of God's Word to overtake our minds and renew them.
42:19: Then we will be more apt to the last thing, discern God's will.
42:23: Because he says in verse 2, He says, be transformed by the renewal of the mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, acceptable and perfect.
42:34: What's our time? Not that it's a big deal, but slow down.
42:54: Well, let me say this.
42:55: I hit myself too.
42:56: I preach to myself too.
43:14: Yeah, I'm trying to think.
43:15: I know that love the world is enmity with God.
43:17: That's James.
43:19: I believe it's James chapter 2.
43:21: I have to look that one up.
43:21: But there's another one I think you're talking about is in 1 John.
43:25: If anyone loves the world...
43:26: What is it? 1 John 2, 15 and 16? I got the book right.
43:32: But yeah, let's look that real quick.
43:34: Let's look at it real quick.
43:35: 1 John 2, 15 and 16.
43:39: That's why it's good to have more than one elder in the room.
43:41: That's right.
43:47: 1 John 2, verse 15.
44:02: Do not love the world or the things in the world.
44:06: By the way, this is an interesting point.
44:09: Not that it's at all to do with tonight's subject, but it's an interesting point.
44:13: This is one of those times that proves people say the word world always means all people in the world.
44:19: I've heard people say that the word world always means the same thing.
44:21: This is a good example where John is using the word world in a different way.
44:26: Because this is definitely a different use of the word world than is maybe in John 3, 16.
44:31: Right? Because this is where it says do not love the world.
44:34: John 3, 16 says, For God so loved the world.
44:36: This is a good example.
44:37: It can't be talking about the same world.
44:39: He says, Do not love the world or the things in the world.
44:43: If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
44:48: For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, and the desires of the eyes, and the pride and possessions.
44:53: That's the whole sermon in and of itself.
44:55: Because that is the example of where sin comes from.
44:58: Sin comes from desire of the eyes, pride and possessions, and the lust of the flesh.
45:03: It's not from the Father, but it's from the world.
45:07: And ultimately, yes, this is true.
45:10: And it is one of the more difficult things.
45:11: It says, Do not love the world for the person who loves the world.
45:14: The love of the Father is not in him.
45:16: And you say, But wait, I fight a battle with love for the world.
45:20: I fight a battle with things in the world that have my attention, and my allegiance, and my desire.
45:27: So I do fight a battle with that.
45:28: Right? Do you agree you fight a battle with it? Good, because unsaved people don't.
45:34: I mean that.
45:35: And I don't mean to simplify it.
45:37: I don't mean to make light of it.
45:38: I wanted you to say that.
45:40: I fight a battle with my flesh, but the world doesn't.
45:45: When I was unsaved, I was 16 years old.
45:48: I loved it.
45:50: I loved everything about it.
45:51: I loved my sin.
45:53: I loved all of the horrible things I looked at with my eyes.
45:56: I loved all of the pleasures that made my flesh feel good.
46:00: I loved all of the things that I could accumulate for myself that made me happy, and I was willing to do whatever it took to get them.
46:08: I loved the world.
46:11: You, as I believe, because I believe you're a believer, and a man of faith, you have a battle, because your flesh wants things in the world.
46:20: You see things.
46:21: You have this desire that's in your flesh.
46:23: But you know in your mind that you don't love that.
46:29: You love Christ.
46:31: Again, I'm speaking on you know there's a battle waging in your heart.
46:37: And you know the unbeliever doesn't fight that battle.
46:41: And I'm not speaking for you.
46:42: I'm not trying to.
46:43: I'm speaking for what I hope is in all of our hearts tonight.
46:47: Believers.
46:47: If you're a believer here, I hope that's in our heart.
46:50: That we love Christ.
46:52: And this battle that we fight with loving the world.
46:56: It's like that.
46:57: A good analogy I heard one time.
46:59: It says when you're unsaved, you're like a dead fish floating down a stream.
47:07: And we're all dead fish floating down a stream.
47:10: But when God opens your heart, He gives you the new life.
47:16: It's like that fish comes alive, and then what happens? You try to swim upstream.
47:23: And you have all of these dead fish running into you.
47:27: And you have the current of the water pulling you down.
47:31: But you've been given life.
47:35: So it's a battle.
47:37: You're no longer just floating with the stream.
47:44: Absolutely.
47:48: So that's just my only my only word of comfort there.
47:53: Is I think our love our love of Christ does cause us to have a hatred even for our own flesh.
48:05: Do you ever hate your flesh? Do you ever hate what you desire? I had a conversation today with a guy.
48:11: I asked him, I said, I said, could you imagine if all your thoughts were put on videotape and shown to all your friends? You know what he said? I wouldn't have any friends.
48:23: I said I wouldn't either.
48:25: And I hate those thoughts.
48:28: Don't you hate that you think things ill of people? That you think things that you know aren't right, but you still think them? One of the most telling things I remember Miss Hoffman, everybody knows Miss Hoffman, right? She's an elderly lady, usually sits back there.
48:41: And she's been, she was my Sunday school teacher for years and she and I are good friends and we share with each other things.
48:46: And she was in Sunday school one day when she was teaching and she had one of our young men, 14 year old kid was in there with her.
48:54: And she was talking about her sin.
48:56: And she was talking about how bad her sin was.
48:59: And this young 14 year old kid, he didn't know no better, he saw her as this matriarchal figure in the church.
49:04: This sweet lady.
49:06: And he said, Miss Hoffman, you know you don't sin.
49:09: You know, that was his ignorance kind of being put on display.
49:14: You know who it was.
49:15: Oh well, it doesn't matter who it was.
49:17: He's about your age.
49:19: And he goes, Miss Hoffman, you know you don't sin.
49:23: And she said, if nothing else, and I remember this is so telling of her heart.
49:27: She said, if you just knew my thoughts, you'd know how bad I really am.
49:34: And I remember just thanking her.
49:35: Because I know if you all knew my thoughts, I wouldn't have a job.
49:39: I'm serious.
49:41: It's frightening to know how sinful our flesh can be.
49:46: But I hate those thoughts.
49:49: I hate my sin.
49:51: There are times when I entertain it.
49:54: There are times when I indulge in it.
49:56: And there are times when I hate myself even more when I'm done.
49:59: But I'm honest to say it's a battle.
50:06: It's not.
50:08: It's not.
50:08: I have not arrived.
50:11: And I won't until I'm in glory with Christ.
50:14: Until then it will be a battle.
50:21: Absolutely.
50:22: And First John, First John is a very important book.
50:26: It is a very important book.
50:27: Because he does make some strong statements about sin.
50:30: And I think they're there because it sort of counterbalances what could be if people simply read verses like Ephesians 2.8 For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
50:42: I think there are certain people who have taken that and they've run into the grace canopy with it.
50:47: And they've said well here I am in grace.
50:49: I can just continue to sin.
50:51: Paul tries to balance that in chapter 6 of Romans when he says do not let us sin so that grace can abound.
50:55: Certainly not.
50:56: Or he says should we sin? He says no.
50:58: But I think chapters like First John chapter 2 really hit the nail on the head and say how could we even think that sinful lifestyles are appropriate for the believer.
51:09: Absolutely not.
51:11: Alright, so let me get back.
51:12: I want to finish out verse 2 and then we'll be done.
51:19: He says that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
51:26: The question comes up a lot of times I hear people ask this question.
51:29: How can I know the will of God? Well, first of all, it's real easy.
51:35: One thing if somebody ever asks me Pastor, what's God's will for my life? And I say your sanctification because the Bible says that.
51:43: This is the will of God for you, your sanctification.
51:45: The Bible actually says that in one place and that makes it very simple.
51:49: However, that doesn't always answer the question of where am I supposed to go to have a job? Where am I supposed to marry this person or that person? You know there's a thousand questions what's God's will of my life here? But God's ultimate will for you is your sanctification because that's what the Bible says.
52:05: But this goes a little bit further because this says that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
52:15: What Paul is telling us in this passage, if I might be so simple as to make it very basic is this.
52:22: If we live a life of worship, consistent worship and renew our minds with his word, we will be able to discern what God wants for our lives because that's what he said.
52:37: He says that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
52:44: By the way, good, acceptable and perfect is always God's will.
52:50: And how are you going to determine what's good, acceptable and perfect? By offering yourself as a living sacrifice and transforming your mind by the word.
53:02: That's how you're going to know what's good and acceptable and perfect.
53:06: And then you go back.
53:07: That's how you discern the will of God.
53:10: I had somebody ask me one time, how does that answer the question of the job thing? What if I've got two jobs? One's in Uzbekistan.
53:25: One's in Mississippi.
53:28: One's in Tennessee.
53:32: I don't know where God wants me to go.
53:33: I don't know what's the right decision.
53:38: I'm going to tell you something.
53:39: This is going to sound very reformed of me.
53:46: Do what you want to do.
53:51: What do you mean? I don't know what I want to do.
53:54: Make a decision and do what you want to do.
53:58: Because if you offered yourself a living sacrifice, that's first.
54:03: I mean, I would only say that to somebody I've already got to this point with, by the way.
54:08: If you've offered yourself a living sacrifice, you've been transformed by the word.
54:14: Your mind is transformed.
54:19: Your desires, you truly seek that your desires are in line with God's desires for you.
54:26: Ask yourself, what is it that God has placed on my heart to want to do? You've ever heard that verse, delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
54:37: And everybody always says, well, if I delight myself in the Lord, God's going to give me everything I want.
54:41: That's not what it says.
54:43: It says, delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
54:49: What that means in simple terms is that when we delight ourselves in the Lord, how do we do that? How do we delight ourselves in the Lord? We offer ourselves a living sacrifice.
54:57: We transform our minds, renewing the mind by the word and in doing so, God gives us eyes to see and ears to hear that we will know what's the right thing to do.
55:10: And guess what? Does that mean, Pastor, I can't make a wrong decision? Here comes the Calvinist.
55:19: No.
55:20: You can't.
55:23: Because even if it becomes a real rough row to hoe, there was a reason why you were there.
55:31: Oh, now that sounded real Presbyterian of me, but that's OK.
55:35: I can go there and I can say this.
55:37: God has a plan.
55:39: His plan for you first is your sanctification, spiritual sacrifice, living sacrifice, renewal of your mind.
55:46: And when you do that, ask yourself, what is it I want to do? What has God put in my heart as a desire to do? You may discern what is the will of God.
56:03: Is that oversimplifying it? Maybe.
56:06: But I tell you what, to live like that is to live in trust.
56:15: We live in trust.
56:18: That we are seeking after the will of God.
56:22: God's will is always going to be accomplished.
56:27: And we trust that it is going to be.
56:30: Now here's the thing I don't want you to take out of this sermon.
56:33: I want you to hear me on this quick.
56:35: Do not be living in sin and behaving as an unbeliever and say, I can have what I want.
56:44: I can do what I want.
56:47: Because your wants are clouded and your wants are not being brought from a transformed mind.
57:01: That's an important thing you have to decide.
57:03: You have to ask yourself, am I seeking what I'm seeking because I'm seeking the will of God? Or am I seeking what I'm seeking because it's the will of Keith? Nathan or whoever.
57:20: Chapter 12 verse 1 and 2 are some important words and I encourage you if you haven't, commit them to memory.
57:29: These two verses are very important, particularly when we think about what we ought to be doing on a daily basis as believers.
57:39: Let's pray.
57:43: Father, thank you for your word.
57:46: Thank you for this opportunity to look at it and to study it.
57:52: Thank you for your Holy Spirit who renews our minds by the study of the word.
57:58: Father, we are often reminded of how easy it is to fall away from our diligent study and to be focused on the things of the world.
58:15: And Lord, I just pray that we would hate our sin as much as you hate sin.
58:22: That we would have a desire to follow after you, Lord.
58:28: And to seek to do your will.
58:31: And that you would put into our hearts the wisdom to know what your will is.
58:35: As your word tells us that we should ask, when we lack wisdom, that we should ask you for that wisdom.
58:42: So we pray for wisdom, Lord.
58:44: We pray for strength to know what is your will in those times where there isn't a clear biblical answer.
58:54: And Lord, we just pray that your Spirit would continue to walk with us.
59:02: And be merciful to us in Jesus' name.
59:05: Amen.
59:07: I want to add one thought as I was thinking as I was praying.
59:09: Remember, I only have a few notes here and the rest is as I go through the word and preach.
59:16: I want to make one more final note.
59:19: If you are trying to discern the will of God on something that the Bible has already given you the will of God on, you need to think about what I just said.
59:33: Because you've not really been transformed on that particular issue.
59:39: For instance, a guy comes up.
59:43: Pastor, I'm not happy in my marriage.
59:45: What do you think God's will is over divorce? Go to the Word.
59:50: I don't have to think about what God's will is.
59:53: I don't have to consider my own vain opinion.
59:56: I don't have to pray about it.
59:59: Well, Pastor, would you pray? No, I won't.
01:00:01: I don't need to pray to show you what the Bible says.
01:00:06: Now, I might pray that you'll receive it, but a lot of the decisions we need to make, I use the job thing as an example because it's not in Scripture whether you ought to go to Mississippi or Texas or Uzbekistan or wherever.
01:00:21: But it is in Scripture whether or not you ought to leave your wife or a younger woman.
01:00:29: And there's a lot more in Scripture too.
01:00:32: That's just a thought I had while praying.
01:00:35: I don't know why.
01:00:37: God bless y'all.
01:00:38: Have a good night.