I just want to say how blessed I am to be here and what a blessing it is to have you here. We have a chance to be the church together. And the verses that I'm about to read to you, Romans 12:1-13. this could be one of the best passages in all of Scripture about what it means for us to come together, both as individuals and assembled together as a team for us to be the church. And so, we're going to be looking at these thirteen verses over the next eight weeks, and I invite you to open your Bible and turn with me to Romans 12. When I was a young Christian, I was able to memorize these verses, it helped me so much in my life. I am praying that these verses will help you tremendously in your life, and that we will really grow as people who love God and as people who love one another. And so, please open your Bible to Romans 12:1-13, as we kick off an eight week series called Be the church. And out of respect for God's Word, I'm going to invite everyone to stand for the public reading of Scripture, and give this your full and undivided attention. Let these words you hear right now get on your heart. This is Romans chapter 12. Starting in verse 1.
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. 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. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
That's the reading of God's Word. Please go ahead and have your seat. So, those verses we'll be looking at for the next eight weeks together. And I think verse 9 really summarizes the two main themes. One, let love be genuine. How do we get along as a body of Christ, as members one of another and then to where it says there at the second part of verse 9, a poor, what is evil, hold fast to what is good? How do we learn to discern? How do we test? What does God not want us to do? And what does God want us to do? And that's really the theme that verse 2 is going to get us into today. So, we're going to dive into Romans 12 here this morning. But before we even get to that, let's just review verse 1, because it's been a few weeks since we were in Romans. And so, let me just read Romans 12:1 for you again: “I appeal to you therefore, so here's Paul's encouragement. I appeal to you, to the brothers there in Rome, “by the mercies of God” based on all we've learned about God loving us. In the first eleven chapters, that we are all sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God, but God demonstrated his love and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And if you have believed in Jesus, I'm here to tell you today that there is nothing that can separate you from the love God has for you in Christ Jesus our Lord. So based on all that mercy, here's what he says, “to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,” which is your “spiritual worship,” or which is your reasonable service or your logical response. Does it make sense to you that if Jesus loved you so much to give his life away for you, that you should then, in response to Jesus, lay down your life and give it away to God? Does that make sense to anybody here today? That's what Romans 12:1 was. Jesus presented himself as a sacrifice; he was willing to die. You now present yourself before God as a living sacrifice. And notice what it says about your living sacrifice, that you are holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. You’re holy is what it says, that when you offer yourself to God, your sacrifice is holy, and acceptable. This idea that we've got to at this point in Romans is that if you have believed in Jesus, if you've had faith that he died for you, and he rose again, while here in Romans, then you are justified. And justification means that God declares you to be what, everybody? Righteous. You are righteous, you are holy. See? Are you ready to say that you're righteous? Who's ready to say that they're righteous? Okay, we’ve got a couple of people. We’ve got two people, and they are the two most vocal people at this 11 o'clock service every week, or they're the ones over here ready to say that they're righteous.
Look, I understand the hesitation that we all might feel in claiming to be righteous, because there is this idea of self-righteousness, where people are saying, look at me, I'm righteous, and it's fake, and it's hypocritical, and it's sick. But if you have believed in Jesus, and if he shed his blood to redeem you from your sin, then let me ask not just my two people that I really enjoy in this service, but let me ask everybody in this service, are you righteous? Okay? That's what the scripture says. Now, you might be hesitant to say it. But the scripture will use a word like holy to refer to you. In fact, go back to Romans 1. Let's just go back and review the whole idea of the book of Romans from the very beginning. Who is Paul writing to here? If you go back to chapter one here, where he's talking about Paul, and he introduces himself, I'm an apostle, I'm a servant of Jesus. And then, of course, Paul, how does he roll? He gets right into the gospel, doesn't he? And he starts talking about how Jesus resurrected and that changed our horizon. Death is not the end. There's eternal life. But look at verse seven. This is Romans 1:7. Well, who is he writing to? Now we know who it's from, who is it to? To all those in Rome, to those who are loved by God, and called to be… what is the word that he uses? Saints? He's writing to the saints. Does that mean he's writing to just a few of the people who are on a higher category of righteousness? Or does that mean he's writing to all the believers in Rome, and he's saying that they are all righteous, they're all holy. To be a saint means that you've been set apart. That's the idea. I mean it really, this adjective holy, if they translate it holy, when it's about the sacrifice, when it's about people, they use this word saints. You are one of God's set-apart ones, you are one of God's holy ones, you are not who you used to be. No, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old is gone. And behold, look at you now, there's a new you. And guess what? You are, you're righteous, you're set apart. You are a saint.
Go back to Romans 12. And you'll see he uses this language throughout. So, I don't know what you've heard about saints. I don't know what you think St. Patrick's Day is all about. Or if you've heard of Mary, the queen of All Saints. I don't know what you might have heard that, sometimes it seems like we're talking about a special category of people who have done amazingly righteous things. That's not the way that Paul refers to saints here in Romans. Look at Romans 12:13. When we get to the end of our study for these next eight weeks, Be the church, and we'll get to verse 13, “contribute to the needs of the” who, everybody? Does that mean, there's just like a higher category of people and we'll help them when they have needs. But sorry, the rest of you, we're not going to help you or a saints here, referring to all of those who believe in Jesus, all of those who have been declared righteous by God. So, the truth is, there's no such thing as self-righteousness. No one has ever been righteous based on what they have done. There is only one who has ever been righteous. There is only one who has lived out God's law, the God-man, his name is Jesus, and when you believe in Jesus, are you righteous? Okay. Now we can preach Romans 12:2, because all we're asking you to do in verse two is put on the righteousness that you already have in Christ. And if you leave here thinking, well, I'm not righteous, I'm just a sinner. Look, I understand what you mean, brother, when you refer to yourself as a sinner, but you need to understand what Paul means when he refers to you as a saint. Because that's who you are. And you should identify with your new life in Christ, not your old life of sin. Does anybody want to say amen to that right there? So, if you want to call me Saint Bobby after the service, I have no problem with that, because I won't think you're referring to my righteousness, because I don't have any righteousness to speak of, of my own. The only righteousness I have ever known is the righteousness that was given to me as a free gift, the moment I put my faith in the righteous one, Jesus Christ. And that's the only righteousness I've got. That's the only righteousness you've got. That's the only righteousness anyone has ever had, is the righteousness that is received by faith in Jesus. And if you have put your faith in Jesus, you are as righteous as righteous can be. And if God has declared you righteous in heaven, how dare you argue with him down here on earth? You are one of his saints, one of his holy ones, one of his excellent ones, in whom he delights with all of his heart, that's who you are. And that's how Paul refers to these people, that they're saints.
You've been set apart. Hey, you're not the same you anymore. Something different has happened to you. And you've been set apart, you've been set apart from sin, and you've been set apart for a purpose.
So, let's get this down for point number one: We need to “Reconsider what it means to be a saint.” Reconsider what it means to be a saint. Because when I talk about saints, I'm talking to you my friend, I'm saying, hey, do you believe in Jesus, and maybe not everybody here does believe in Jesus, maybe not everybody here is a saint, but to all my brothers and sisters, who have transferred your trust from you trying to be good to trusting in the only one who is good, Jesus, and you're trusting in his blood and his sacrifice. You believe in the gospel of Jesus? Well, the moment you believe in the gospel of Jesus, God declares you righteous in heaven, and you are a saint, you are one of his holy ones. And so now, we begin this process of sanctification, which is now the process of becoming less like who we used to be and more like Jesus. And so, we'll just throw up a little chart we've got here, on the screen, because this is what we're talking about today and in the weeks to come. We're talking about sanctification, this one in the middle. Okay, a lot of Romans has been about justification. Well, when you believe you are justified by your faith in Christ, you see that Jesus died on the cross for you, you know that the tomb was empty, and he rose on the third day, you know, that's good news that Jesus died in your place, he paid for your sin, and he rose again, that everyone who believes in him may have a new life. I believe in Jesus, boom, when you do, you are justified. And justification means that God declares you righteous, you are now right with God. Okay. And then, as soon as that happens, which happens when you believe, well, now there's this ongoing process of sanctification. Sanctification, this idea of being set apart, being set apart is what it means to be a saint.
Okay, now we're going to learn how to put off the old ways of sin we used to live. And we're going to learn how to put on this new holiness, this new righteousness that we have in Jesus. And that's going to be an ongoing process, all the way until we get to be with Jesus someday. And that's when we will experience glorification, when we see Jesus. We will be made like Jesus. We will be perfect as he is perfect. We will be pure as he is pure, and we will be glorified with Jesus, which sounds awesome, which sounds great. So, in between justification and sanctification, glorification, that's this process that I'm talking about today, an ongoing progressive growth, where you are less like the old you and more like Jesus, and this is what Romans 12:2… If you can look at it now. And this is what it is commanding. Okay, and before we even get into Romans 12:2, let me just double down on that point about being a saint because, some of you, the saints, are like a higher level. There is no higher level of righteousness than the righteousness of Jesus.
Okay, so let's just get this down as well. Here, you can write this down under point number one, if you're taking notes. A saint is not someone who does works to be righteous. Okay, we'll throw that up here on the screen. A saint is not someone who does works to be righteous, okay? If that's how you've been thinking about a saint, and you're referring to special people that are only in that case, glory, we’ve got to realize that's not how the Bible is describing it. That's not the book of Romans. Here's what a saint is, according to Romans. A saint is, we'll throw it up here, someone who has the righteousness of Jesus, someone set apart by the righteousness of Jesus. So that's the idea of being holy, of being a saint, I am set apart, God has taken me from who I was, and he has sanctified me. And now I want to live out the reality of that, as I actively put off the old me, and I put on the new way of righteousness, that is the mind because of Jesus Christ. And so, then we get these two commands. And these commands are imperative verbs. So, this is authoritative. “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” So, if this is telling you what to do, this verse is telling you your business here at church today. It's saying, here's something that you're being commanded, because you are now in Christ, and you now are offering yourself as a sacrifice, wholly unacceptable to God. Because of that, do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. So, this is something not to do and something to go and to do both a negative and a positive. We have affectionately referred to it here at our church as the sanctification two-step, where you step away from the old way of sin. And we've got a slide for that, that we can throw up here. We got this idea from previously, Romans 6:13, is where we got the idea that you're going to need to both step away from the old way of sin and step to the new way of righteousness. So, if you've got your Bible open, go with me to Romans 6:13. Because it's been over a year since we learned about this in a sermon called Discipleship One on One. If you missed it, you may want to go back and hear it. But it gives us the same kind of command both a negative command and a positive command here in Romans 6:13. Do not present your members, the members of your body, who you are as a physical being, with a soul inside of you. Do not present your members to sin, as instruments for unrighteousness. but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members, parts of your body, who you are, present them to God as instruments for what, everybody? Righteousness. I'm not trying to be righteous, I am able to be righteous, because I am now righteous in Jesus and I want to present myself that way. I want to put that on now.
So, you can see here the same idea that you can't just live your life, saying, please don't send, don't send don't think this thing. Don't do that thing. Don't say that thing. No, not only do you need to step away from that, but you need to put on something else in its place. You're putting off sin, and you're putting on righteousness. So that's the idea. If you go back to Romans 12:2, that's what these commands are making very clear. And emphatic is there's two things that you've got to do as someone being sanctified. As someone who is now in Christ, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed. So, let's really think through what we're being told to do. What are we being told not to do? Don't be conformed, okay.
So, the Greek word here is got a prefix “su” means “with” and then the word is schema. Suschematizo. Do not be with the schemes of this world, okay? The world has an evil system, the world, they have schemes to get people towards sin. Don't be with those schemes. That's what it's saying here. And when it says “world,” it's not maybe as you would think of the world as the cosmos in Greek, it's this Greek word “aion,” which is sometimes translated “world” or sometimes translated, “age,” as in the age that we're living in the here and the now, that we're living in this age, this time, and that you and I are living here. There are schemes that are happening right now in this age. Don't be with those schemes. Don't believe those lies. Don't go those ways. Do not be conformed; don't be with the schemes of this age. This is how James Montgomery Boice, a famous preacher, he wrote a book On Romans 12:1-2, and he summarized it like this: Do not let the age in which you live force you into it scheme of thinking and behaving, do not let the age in which you live force you into its scheme of thinking and behaving, because it's trying to get you to go along with a scheme that is becoming popular; that is, many people, they're going this worldly way, the way of this age. And who is the god of this age? After all, who is the one that's blinding the minds of the unbelievers? Satan is the god of this age. And he and his demons are deceiving many in an evil world system. And even you, you and your own desires and your own temptations, you sometimes want to go the way of this age, even the way that Satan is leading things. Don't be conformed to that. Don't be with that. Don't go with those schemes. That's what this is saying.
Let me share with you one of the times when my eyes was opened to see the schemes of this age. I've learned a lot of things being a pastor here in Huntington Beach, sometimes I've had to learn the hard way, by failure. And I remember one time I was trying to help these two younger men out here at our church. This was a few years ago, but I had some brothers in Christ, and they were being tempted to look at pornography on their smartphones. And I was like, bros, I got good news for you guys. And I was really going to try to help these guys. There are these things called dumb phones, guys, they're really going to set you guys free. You guys don't know about this? Let me show you the ways of the dumb phone. Right? Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Anybody have a flip phone, Motorola flip phone? Does anyone know what I'm talking about? And I was like, Guys, these phones are great. They just make phone calls. And they text. That's all they do. They don't even go on the internet. See, I grew up we didn't have cell phones. When I was growing up. I never got a cell phone until I got married. And the only reason I got two cell phones, and I can remember they were right there on the table. Two Motorola flip phones, you flip it up. And the reason I got it was because I got married and I wanted to be able to call my wife, make sure she was okay at any moment. Hey, babe, what's up? What's going on? And I felt so cool. Flipping that thing open, calling her and being like, yeah, I can call you from wherever I want. Am I speaking to anybody here at church today? And I used to text her all the time on that thing. And if you remember how text worked back then, you have the numbers one through nine. And number one was a, b and c. So, you had to hit one three times to get to c, but yeah, hit it a fourth time. So, you’ve got to keep going to get to see. Am I speaking to anybody right now? Okay. And I was like, guys, these phones are going to set you guys free that you're not going to be carrying temptation on the internet around in your pocket. You're going to be dumb guys, it's going to be beautiful. The technology we used to have back in my day, it was exciting. All you could do is call people and barely even text them. You're going to love it. And so, we start driving around the city of Huntington Beach. And we go to Verizon, T Mobile, like anybody who's a phone company. We go to them; we even go to some of these big box stores where I'm thinking we can get cell phones and plans for cheap. This is going to be great. And we just start striking out at store after store; all we got smartphones here; all we’ve got are phones that can get you on the internet here all week. And I'm like, I started asking people don't look, I don't want the internet on the phone. No, look, they're like, I'm concerned about people looking at pornography on the phone. What blocks do you have in place for me to help me with this? How can you make it so that I don't even have access to the internet on this phone? Can you help me with this? And I start to realize that these companies do not want to help me with this. They do not want to solve this problem. And I started to realize that pornography, which, when I was growing up, pornography was like you had to go to a sketchy place to find pornography. When I was growing up, it was like that was on some channel that you didn't have with your normal TV service. And that was when I realized that pornography had gone mainstream in America, and that the big phone companies, the big internet companies, they weren't trying to do anything to help me and my two younger bros be blocked from pornography on the Internet. In fact, this was at the time if you can remember a few years ago, when how much data you used determined how much you paid the phone company, and they wanted you using as much data as possible, and they don't care what data you are looking at. It's a scheme. It's a scheme of this age. And I can't be with that. I wonder how many people here right now are caught up looking at worthless things on your phone and you are conforming to the scheme of this age. Just wasting time in your life, looking at things that do not sanctify you, that do not set you apart. Have you been caught up in the scheme that's going on? We don't want to be conformed to that. So, we’ve got to identify what are the schemes of this world. What are the ways of this world? How are they trying to entice me? I cannot be conformed to that; I need to be set apart from that. And there's definitely something going on with these smartphones. Smartphones are dumb if we use them to send. Can I get an amen from anybody on that? That's a scheme of this age, how's it working out for you and your family?
So, we’ve got to watch out for what's going on. And then we've got to go and be transformed. So, the word here for transform now, thinking through, okay, well, if I don't want to do that, what do I want to do? Well, this is the positive command. And it's this Greek word that we get the idea of metamorphosis from. Okay, metamorphosis is the idea of transformation. Sciences of maybe elementary school science helped us understand the idea of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly, that is the process of metamorphosis, this when you have an after form, you were one way before, but after you have a different form, you have been transformed. So, if I don't want to be conformed, and I need to be transformed, I need to put on this new way. Okay. And specifically, what is so helpful about Romans 12:2 is it gives us the key to the sanctification process. If you're somebody today, and you would like to be less like who you were, and more like Jesus, if you really want to not be conformed, but be transformed. It says exactly how it happens. You can be transformed by the renewal of your what, everybody? Okay. What this verse says, this is the key, this is what turns the engine on this key is what will turn your heart over from your old way to your new way. The key is you have to get your mind renewed. And when your mind gets renewed, you will find yourself able to push away from the old and to put on the new. Okay, so this renewal of your mind is the key by which the process of sanctification is going to happen in your life. If you don't get your mind renewed, you might find yourself going back to the old ways and being conformed to this age.
If you do get your mind renewed, you'll find yourself able to put off the old ways, and to put on the new way of righteousness in Jesus. Go to Ephesians 4 with me, and let me show you how important the renewal of your mind is. If we want to talk about sanctification, if we want to take the two-step and put off the old and step to the new, well, then Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3 are two chapters that every believer should know, that will help you learn. They will give you many specific sins that need to be put away, and many new ways that need to be learned. And put on Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3 are two of the most helpful chapters in all of Scripture, along with Romans 12, about sanctification, about how you can grow as a believer. And we want you to grow; we want to be the church together. So, look how it describes it here in Ephesians 4:20. We'll pick it up there. It says, but that is not the way you learned Christ describing the way of this world. Well, that's not the way you learned Christ, assuming that you have heard about him. And we're taught in him as the truth is in Jesus. To put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life, and it is corrupt through deceitful desires. And then look at Ephesians 4:23, underline it, circle it, write it down and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, or you could say, to be renewed by the Spirit, by the Spirit working in your minds. And then what happens when your minds are renewed? You will put on the new self, created after the likeness of God. Oh, and now that you're a new creation in Christ, what do you look like in this likeness of God? In true righteousness and holiness?
Let's see how we're doing in this sermon. Are you righteous and holy? Now we're doing a lot better than we were before. That's what I'm putting on. And I'm putting this off, and how am I able to do it? Through the renewing of my mind. Go over to Colossians chapter 3, and you'll see the exact same thing Colossians 3. Hey, have you been raised with Christ? Are you a new creation? Well, let's talk about how you should now live. You’ve got to put to death sexual morality, you’ve got to put away anger and then it even says here in Colossians 3:9, “Do not lie to one another lies,” that's what the scammers are using to just see. Do not lie to one another. And then it says this in Colossians3:9, “seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices, and you've put on the new self.” Well, that sounds great. I'd love to do that. How do I put off the old and put on the new? It says you're right here and have put on the new self. This is Colossians 3:10, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator. So, the way that I am able to do the sanctification two-step is my knowledge, my thoughts, my mind is getting renewed as I'm seeing God. And when I see God, and I see who God is, I see who he is through his Son, Jesus, the Word of God. And as I'm seeing God, that's when I'm able to put off the old and put on the new because my mind is being renewed.
Go with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 3, just a few pages over to the left from Ephesians and Colossians. Where we just were in 2 Corinthians 3:18, it uses that same Greek word that we get metamorphosis from. So, the same idea of being transformed is right here in 2 Corinthians 3:18. How are you going to be transformed? That's one of the commands you need to go home and obey. Well, this is how you're transformed in 2 Corinthians 3:18. “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” As the Spirit opens the eyes of my heart to Behold God in all of his glory, then I'm transformed to be more like God; I'm being made now in his image, I'm becoming less like me, more like him. As I see him, I am being transformed. Now let's get the full context of this. Go back here to verses 12 and 13, and you can see we're talking about Moses, and we're talking about the Israelites. And we're talking about when Moses in verse 13, who would put a veil over his face, so you got to go back to Mount Sinai. And Moses goes up on the mountain to see God, and he beholds the glory of God. And when Moses comes down the mountain, what's going on with Moses, his face, everybody? What is he looking like? He's radiating, he's glowing, he's shining. And so, he puts a veil over his face. So, with that idea, look what he says now about the Israelites in verse 14, “But their minds were hardened.” For to this day, when they the Jews, when they read the Old Covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ, is it taken away. Yes, to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. So even though the Old Covenant was written to the Jews, the Jews can't really see it, they can't really get it. Because to see it, you’ve got to see Jesus. And you've got to see that he's the fulfillment of the law, he is the righteous one. But once you see Jesus, guess what? The blinders are taken off, the veil is removed. And now when you read the law, even us today, as new covenant believers, if we go back and read the law of Moses, which some of us just did, we read through Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy What did we call it? Toralogy, because in the Torah, we saw who, everybody? We saw YHWH, a god merciful and gracious, a God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, a God who's ready to forgive thousands of his people, but a God who will by no means clear the guilty. We’ve got to see the glory of God. And when we can read the Word with an unveiled face, we can see God; we can see Jesus, and then we can be transformed into their image. So, if you want your mind to be renewed by seeing God, there's only one way to do it, you're going to have to get your eyeballs in the Bible. And as you see God in the Scripture, you will be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Let's get it down like this for point number two. Point number two: The key to change is “get Bible on your brain.” The key to change is get Bible on your brain. And this kind of shows the conflict that you and I have right now with the schemes of this day, this Age, and the need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. Or do you spend more of your time and by this I mean kind of your headspace time, your thought time like what goes on? What are you thinking about? Are you getting caught up thinking more about things that you see through your phone, and the things that are going on in the here and now? Or is more of your thought about the things of God and who he is through his son Jesus, revealed to you. And what God says to you, you're meditating on it day and night, you're seeing God clearly and you're being transformed to be like him. See, that renewal of your mind is the key that turns over the ability to put off the old and to put on the new. This is why we are Compass Bible Church. This is why we preach sermons. And I know I get the regular comments that the sermons are too long here at church. Have you heard that? I hear it all the time. Okay, the sermons are too long, and I hear what they're saying. But this is our one shot. We've got all week to get God's people together to open up our Bible and to experience revival together. In my mind, the sermons aren't long enough. That's why we do fellowship groups, right? Yeah, yeah. Then see the sermon, just hearing it is not enough. We’ve got to go and we got to do it. We’ve got to go and get face to face. And we’ve got to talk about, I mean, oh, yeah, this text is worth more than even one hour to think about it. Let's go spend a whole another hour talking about it. Because I need to get it in my mind. And I needed to actually change the way that I think because otherwise, I'll be conformed to what the world thinks. But I don't want to be conformed to what the world thinks, I want to be transformed. So, I’ve got to get into God's word. I’ve got to get this view of God and have him be my vision. That's the key to me being transformed and sanctified. That's why we're like, I don't even know if one text where we preach on it, and we fellowship on it, I don't even know if that's enough. How about we read the Bible every single day? How about we encourage people with chapters throughout the week that you can go and read to help get your mind renewed, because here's one thing I've learned as a Christian, and it doesn't matter how long I've been a Christian, every single day, I need to get my mind right, every single day, I need to get who God is in my thoughts. And when I start seeing God, that's when I get transformed. And so, it doesn't matter if you've been a Christian for 40 days or 40 years, you're never going to stop needing to be sanctified, and you're never going to stop needing the renewal of your mind. So, how's that working for you? Are you just getting bogged down with all the thoughts of the here and now? Or is your mind being renewed to see the things of God, and to be transformed, more like him? That's what Romans 12:2 is saying. This is going to be the key. And I think this is maybe something you can relate to. Have you had some really rough days where you weren't able to get into the Word, you weren't able to get your mind on the Lord and spend time with him? And then other days, you go spend this time with God. And it's like any bad thing could happen, but you think everything's great, because you're thinking about God and you're seeing him. See, is your mind renewed? There are many things you cannot control in your life. But the renewal of your mind is something you can go and do. As you get your eyeballs on the Bible, you don't just see chapter and verse, you see God. And as you behold his glory, you are transformed from one degree of glory to another into his image. Are you really seeing God so that you can be transformed by the renewal of your mind?
Now go back to Romans 12z;2, because it says more than that, it gives us those two imperatives. It gives us the two-step. Do not be conformed but be transformed. It gives us the key of how we're going to go from one to the other by the renewal of our mind. But then it says that when we are not conformed, but we're transformed, and we're getting our thoughts on God, then look what's going to happen. This is very exciting here at the end of verse 2, that “by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” That when you are experiencing this process of sanctification and you're not caught up in the schemes of the age, but you're caught up in the vision of God, and you're being transformed to be like him. Now you're going to be able to see what God’s will for your life is. Now you're going to be able to practically see what does God want me to do today? And you'll be able to say is here to test it or to discern it. So this idea is going to come up, and like I said in verse 9, you can see what is evil and you can abhor it, you can see what is good and you can hold fast to it. This is discernment. This is testing. Life is throwing so many things at you, life is forcing you to make so many decisions. Life is filling you with so many anxieties and putting you in many uncomfortable circumstances. And how are you able to figure out what does God want me to do? How does God want me to respond? What is God's will for me? Every day people are here are making decisions. Should I get into a relationship with this person? Should I keep doing my job? Or should I look for this other opportunity over here? How should I address this thing that's going on in my family? Hey, should I move out of the state of California? Hey, should I leave my church and go somewhere else? People are thinking these kinds of thoughts. Life is bringing these kinds of decisions all the time. How do you make those decisions, it's saying here, as you are not conformed, but you're transformed by the renewal of your mind, through the renewal of your mind, you can test God's will for you to make those decisions with, and you can start to see a way that is good, that is acceptable, pleasing to the Lord, and perfect. Or another way you could translate that word there is “mature.” That's the same word we studied at the men's conference, if any of the brothers were there, when we learned about to lay off something that's complete, something that's mature, it's perfect. That's that word right there. God wants you to do what is good, what is pleasing to him, what's going to help you be complete and mature. God has a will for you. And as you are in God's Word, and learning to think about who God is, and learning to live his way. God's Word is a lamp to your feet and a light to your path. And you're able to answer questions by saying, this is going to be the way of God's Will; I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to get caught up in that. Now I can see based on the commands of God, I can see that he's directing me this way.
Go back to Romans 2:18. Look how he said this earlier, when he was talking about the Jews who had the law. He kind of gave us the same idea that because of God's Word, you can test God's will for your life. A lot of people talk about God's will like it's mysterious. How could we know it? We can't really get it. Well, the Scripture is actually saying that God's will is revealed to you. And if you look carefully at what God is saying, you will then be able to test and discern what God's will is for your life. This look at how it says in Romans 2:18, in reference to the Jewish people here, that the Jews know his will, and they approve what is excellent, or they test what is excellent, they're able to see what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law. Now if you think God's law is just a boring list of don't do this and do this, then you're not really seeing God's law for what it is because God's law is perfect. It revives your soul. And God's law will show you the way that God wants you to go in your life. That's what he's saying here. Go over to Ephesians chapter 5, another passage where it teaches us that we can test what God's will is, we can test what is good and acceptable and perfect. Ephesians 5 uses the same idea of testing. Look at it with me in verse 8. See if this sounds familiar to Romans 12:2. It says here in Ephesians 5:8, for at one time you were darkness. But now you are light in the Lord. walk as children of light for the fruit of “light is found in all that is good and right and true.” Does that sound like good and acceptable and perfect in Romans 12:2? Okay, well, how do I get to all that's good and right and true? Verse 10. And try to discern or try to test what is pleasing to the Lord. So, when you have to make a decision, life is forcing you into a decision, how do you make that decision? Do you make it based on your emotional response? Do you make it based on what's going to be best for your finances? Do you make it based on politics? Or do you test what you're going to do and how do you discern God's Will by using his Word? See, the commands of God are not just “Don't do this and do this.” When I look at all the things I'm not supposed to do, and then I start looking at all the things I am supposed to do. Okay, well wait a minute, God's telling me to do this. But wait. He's also telling me to do this, well, how am I going to do both? And this, that seems like a lot, okay, but God can tell, God's telling me to do this one. And I can tell he's also telling me to do this one. And so then right there in the tension of two different commands, you start to believe that both of these things are God's will for your life. And these commands then funnel you into making a clear decision. And it was not like it said it in this particular chapter and verse, but my study of all these chapters, and all these verses have led me to conclude now that I could have confidence that this is God's will for my life. Have you experienced this kind of decision-making, that because my mind is getting renewed, and because my eyes are getting on God, I'm starting to see even life more clearly. And I'm able to start seeing, I can't keep pursuing that relationship. I can't keep going down this path, I’ve got to get rid of those things. Because this right here, this is the way of God's will.
Let's get it down like this for point number three: “Let God's commands make your plans,” like God's commands make your plans, that by testing, I'm going to be able to discern. Discernment is distinguishing right and wrong, good and evil. I don't want to just be on the bottle, drinking milk, I want to be a meat eater. And as I get into God's Word, and as I eat the meat of God's Word through constant practice, and getting my mind renewed in God's Word, I'm able to start testing and start discerning. And I'm able to say, even though that seems like it could be an open-door opportunity, that's not God's will. So many Christians. They're looking for circumstances to affirm God's will; you should be looking for verses to affirm God's will. You shouldn't need the circumstances to confirm it was God's will, you should already know it was God's will, because he told you. So, that's the way we need to learn how to think. And I know people in this room right now are making big decisions in their lives. And I just want to say to you, as you make those decisions, I would love to be the church with you. I would love to come alongside of you, and to talk about the Scripture together, and to pray together, and to help you discern and test God's will for you. God has something he wants to do with you. Like when you decided that Jesus gave his life for me. So, I'm going to give my life to God, I'm going to offer myself as a living sacrifice from that point on. Do you live to do what you want to do now? Or do you live to do what God wants you to do? Now, see, if you wake up in the morning, and your thought is not what do I want to do today, or how can I make it through the day? Or how can I survive the day. But if you could wake up in the morning, and you could be in the Word, and you could say, what does God want me to do today? See, that's how we want to learn to think that I could test that I could discern today, I can see what God wants me to do and what he's going to have me do, it's going to be good, it's going to be pleasing to him. It's going to help me mature in my sanctification, I'm going to go, and I'm going to do God's will. And these commands are directing me down that path. This is the people we could be together. If you're like, well, I don't know how I would learn how to make decisions like that. I'm not sure that I know all the chapters and verses to make decisions because I'm wondering if I should marry this person, or I'm wondering if I should have a career change, or I actually have been thinking about moving out of the state of California. Okay, well, if you feel like I don't know if I know the discernment, or how to test that, you could bring it up, and you could talk about it with your brothers and sisters. And they could share with you scriptures that have helped them have clarity, to discern God's will when they had to make those decisions. And we could be people together. You don't have to figure out life for yourself. We could all encourage one another and build each other up towards God's will in our lives.
Go with me to Mark chapter 3. Let me show you how Jesus describes his people, how Jesus describes the family. Jesus here is describing in Mark 3, the church that he wants us to be. And so, I really find this as interesting that what happens here in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus gets famous very fast. It's like immediately there are massive crowds following Jesus in the Gospel of Mark. And so, Jesus can't even sit down and eat a meal, like Jesus goes to his house or the house at the end of the day. And there's like a crowd of people crammed in there, ready for Jesus to teach them. And so, his family is like, and this is his mom, Mary, and sisters and brothers. They're like Jesus is out of his mind. And they're going to come and like, talk some sense into Jesus, they care about and maybe they're going to help him just sit down and have a relaxing meal or something. And so, it says here in Mark 3:31, and his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. So, let's just get this in our minds. Jesus is in some kind of house. It's so crammed full of people, his own mom and bros can't even get inside to see him. So, like the word comes in through the telephone game, and it says here in verse 32, this crowd that’s sitting around him, they said to him, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you? And he answered them, “who are my mother and my brothers” now? Well, Jesus, they're the people outside seeking you. But clearly, Jesus has not done teaching yet. And so, Jesus, he's trying to make a point. And can you imagine if you were in this cramped house with Jesus, and Jesus had been teaching you and you'd been hanging on every word that Jesus was saying, and now Jesus, his family shows up? So, you think, oh, teaching is over. But now you realize, no, Jesus has more teaching to do, who are my mother and brothers? And then Jesus looks at you, hanging on his every word, and he says, “Here are my mother and my brothers.” And then what does he mean by that? Look at verse 35, for whoever does the what, everybody? The will of God. Who are the people that no longer want to be of the world, but they want to be transformed by the renewal of their mind, and they want to learn to do God's will. Those are my mother. Those are my brothers and my sisters. Those are the people, the people who are every day getting their mind right in the Scripture, because they want to learn to do God's will with their life.
Go over to Luke chapter 11, where there's another similar example in Luke 11:27, where Jesus is talking and he's teaching a crowd. There's a lady who cries out here in Luke 11:27. And this lady as Jesus said, these things as Jesus's teaching, a woman in the crowd, raised her voice, and said to him, “blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nurse. Basically, shout out to your mama, Jesus. Okay. And let's just make it very clear. Is it an awesome thing to be a mom of a baby? Yes, we prayed for families earlier here in this service. But let's just think this through. We're talking about Mary here. Who is Mary? Often Mary, is referred to as the queen of all saints, almost like this woman is implying that Mary is on some higher level because she's the mother of Jesus. She's almost implying that kind of like, saint idea that will some people are, you know, they're the real righteous ones over the rest of us, okay? And look what Jesus replies back to this lady. But he said, “blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and what? Keep it.
Hey, we're all saints. And we're all in the family, and the family that Jesus wants us to be the church, that Jesus wants us to be as people who are no longer who we used to be. We're being transformed to be more like God to be more like Jesus. And it's happening. As our mind gets renewed, and we begin to test, we begin to discern, what does God want me to do? Not what I do I feel like doing, not what can I do out of all the possible circumstances? What does God want me to do? Because I'm looking to live for his commands. And when I get clarity about what God tells me to do, I'm going to keep it, I'm going to do the will of God. That's the group of people that Jesus is gathering together to be his church. I would love to be the church with you. I would love for us to get in the Word together, to discern the will of God for our lives, and to go do what God wants us to do with all our heart. And if you're trying to make decisions, and you're trying to figure out what is God's will for you about whatever the next big decision is in your life, I want to strongly encourage you to invite other brothers and sisters who also care about doing God's will and to share with them what you're praying about, and to ask them, do you have scriptures that I could be thinking about and making this decision, especially if you're a part of a fellowship group. I know every single one of your fellowship group leaders, I know these people they are here because they want to be the church with you. They care about you. They're serving in that way of being a fellowship group leader at great cost and sacrifice to themselves. And if you're making a big decision, they would love, not just to hear about the decision you made later, they would love to talk about it with you, and to pray with you, and to seek out what God's good and acceptable and perfect will is for you that we could find out in his Word. And so, it maybe you're new to our church, and maybe you're trying to figure life out and you're trying to figure out the way God wants you to go, we have a Foundations class after this service; it starts at one o'clock, it's right over through the cafe, in the Revival Room, there's lunch provided. And so, you would go meet people there. And they would be willing to talk to you about the decisions you're making in your life, they would want to be the church with you.
So, this process of sanctification, it's something we've all got to do individually. But we don't have to go and do it alone. We can do it together; we can open up God's Word together. And we can encourage one another, to go and do God's will. And so if you're making decisions, share it with the brothers and sisters, get them praying and talk in Scripture with you. And you watch God, he'll take what's a bunch of question marks, and he'll open a clear path. And not just by your circumstances. By the scriptures. There have been times in my life, I thought it was this or that. And through the Scripture, God showed me a whole different way than what I was ever thinking. There were times where I couldn't even see a way, the road just seemed blocked ahead. And through the Scripture, God opened the door I didn't even know was there before. God has a will for you. He wants to lead you into it. So let God's commands Make your plans. Let me pray for you about this right now.
Father, I just pray for everybody here. And what schemes the age that we live in is throwing at us. What intense decisions that families are making right now for their future, for how they're going to be provided for financially. Father, I just pray that you would make us people who are the Church of Jesus Christ, people who don't just know what Romans 12:2 says, but people who do what Romans 12:2 says, and I pray that we would not get with the schemes of this age. I pray that you will help us to realize that Satan is out there deceiving, and the world is a system of evil, and even my own desire, sometimes want things that are wrong, and I need to put that off, I need to step away from that. And then I need to be transformed, to be more like you, to put on the true righteousness and holiness that I have now in Christ. And so, Father, I pray for everybody here, that they would get their mind right, that they would experience regularly the renewal of their mind, that they would open up your Word, that you would open up their heart to see you clearly through the Scripture. And as they behold you, they could be transformed to be more like you. Father, I pray that people who haven't been getting their eyeballs in the Bible will rethink that. And that they will look into the Scriptures because we want you to be our vision, we want you to be what we see. Father, we do believe that you have a will for every one of our lives. We do believe that you saved us for a purpose. You set us apart to be your saints because you have a plan for us. You have good works that you have prepared beforehand for us to walk in. And so, Father, I pray we wouldn't waste our lives, trying to do what feels good, or trying to survive our circumstances. I pray that you would teach us how to test what your will is, and that we wouldn't be able to discern things you don't want us to do and what exactly it is that you do want us to do, your good and acceptable and perfect will that you have for each one of us. Father, show us the way. Let your word be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Be our wisdom that we need so far that when we sing this song to you right now, “Be thou my vision, oh Lord of my heart,” let it be true for us. Let us not be people just coping through life. Just making our own plans. Let us be people who see you. And we're being transformed to be like you and in the light of your glory. You're showing us the way, you're showing us your will. Father, please, we want to do what is good and acceptable and perfect mature. We want to walk in your will for us. So, Father, we ask you right now to be our vision and to show us your way. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.