As we think about this idea of a life for Jesus, what would happen if we, God, let us lead one person to Christ? God, help me to be that example. God, help me to be the Christian. You have your Bibles to Revelation, Romans chapter 12. This is part two of developing our character. It's really, we're gonna look at Romans chapter 12, a series really on a transformed church. An old Scottish woman traveled around the countryside selling housewares. Whenever she came to a fork in the road, she would throw a straw into the air. And when it dropped to the ground, she would proceed in the direction indicated by the straw. Residents of the area knew her strange custom. But one day, a friend saw her tossing the straw several times before choosing the path she would take. This one resident inquired, why did you do that more than once? She replied, oh, it kept pointing to the road on the left, and I wanted to go the other way because it looks much smoother. She continued casting her straws to the wind until it fell in the direction she wanted. Many Christians have a tendency to have the same attitude towards God's will. I'll do it as long as it is agreeable or convenient for me. Romans chapter 12, one and two. I want to read this. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy. That word holy is, you know, when you get married and you put on a ring and you're, when they put on that ring and you say, I do, you're saying I'm all yours and no one else's. When I'm holy, I'm saying, God, I'm all yours and no one else's. Acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. It's only reasonable. Jesus bought me, saved me, dwells with me, abides with me. It's only reasonable out of appreciation that I would say, God, it's your life. The Bible says in verse two, and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed. By the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. There are several factors that must be established before we really grow in our Christian life. And God seeks these, and I would say not only in our Christian life, but also as a church member. God seeks three characteristics in our lives. Number one is an undeniable loyalty to Christ. We're on part two of that today. Number two is an unending love for one another, verses three to eight of Romans 12, and an unswerving labor in the gospel. God wants us to be loyal to him through thick and thin. The idea he gives here of being transformed, but be ye transformed. Now, I have something here. Let me take this little piece of tissue paper. Imagine this is your life, and bad conditions happen in your life, and guess what happens? It balls it up, right? I can, outside pressure on this piece of tissue, it changes its shape. It says, do not be conformed to this world. Your circumstances should not determine your Christianity. It says be transformed. That's on the inside. Satan uses pressures on the outside to conform us so that we're not effective for Christ. He uses hard things, bills, health, work, family, to conform us. So I'm not being useful to God. I've got to make a decision. God, I don't want to be conformed. I want to be transformed. The idea here of that word transformed is, in fact, it's a present imperative. It's a command. Now, a command is a choice. Someone can say, do this! But God is the authority. I've got to make a decision. Do I want to listen to him or not? There's only one means of being transformed. Hopefully, the Lord doesn't take drastic measures. I know in my particular life, at times, God has taken drastic measures, and it was not unpainful, it was very painful. God wants a transformed and pure church to understand our responsibility, our obligation to him as our reasonable service. Many times in our Christian lives, we live defeated lives because we're so used to being conformed. Had a bad day at work, I guess I'm not gonna read my Bible today. Someone was mad at me, so I guess I just won't go to church. We're being conformed. We're not being transformed. And God's desire in your life and mine, man, I don't like God taking drastic measures. Cuz it, it's a pretty big wake up call. May we seek to obtain a heart and life that epitomizes the truth and undeniable loyalty to Christ and unending love for our neighbor and unswerving labor in the gospel. We all have room to grow. None of us have arrived. And I want to, the principle this morning is, will you display an undeniable loyalty to Christ? In your life, could someone say, they were saying, and they were looking at me and say, Chris, is Chris loyal to Jesus? Just because I'm a pastor doesn't mean I'm loyal to Jesus. Just because we come to church doesn't mean I'm loyal to Jesus. What would God say if Jesus came back and he stood before me? Only you can answer that question, I can't. Let's pray and then we'll continue our study this morning. Father, I love you and I thank you for the precious people that you brought in this morning. Lord, I thank you for this church, and I thank you for the opportunity to once again serve you. Lord, it is a privilege. God, I want to see people saved in this community. God, I'm tired of hearing about people dying. And I know death is a part of life, but I'm tired of them dying without knowing Jesus. God, give us a burden. God, help me. Help all of us. Or we have a vacation Bible school. Lord, I want to see children change. And sometimes parents use it as a babysitting service, and the children might act up, but God, praise the Lord, if they come, we can show them Jesus. Lord, help us to not be conformed by the world's circumstances, but may we say, I'm all in for Jesus. God, if there's anyone this morning that has never been born again, they could never say, my name's written down in the book of life. God, I pray today would be the day of salvation. God, may we be transformed. May we stop being conformed because of worldly opposition. May I say I'm all in for Jesus. God, I yield this day to thee. I love you in your precious and holy name I pray, amen. So we think about an undeniable loyalty to Christ. I looked at last week the, I beseech you therefore brethren, he's talking to believers. He says, relish the gift as the mercies of God. He talks about by the mercies of God, we're brethren because of God's mercy. We don't deserve it. But praise God for it. Relish the gift. And then I looked at the next one. Recognize the cause. Holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. You see, Christianity is, I'm not doing it because I'm trying to work my way to heaven. It's already been paid for. I'm not trying to be a good Christian so that other people will look at me and say, oh, what a good Christian he is. Because I tell you, in eternity, it doesn't really matter. What matters is when I stand before God someday and I give an account of my life, how have I been living my life? Have I been living my life in a way that is honoring and pleasing to Christ? It's only reasonable if, let me give you an illustration of this. Imagine you're dying of an issue, an organ in your particular heart, or your heart, your kidneys, or something's dying in your life and you need a transplant. And you find a donor. And then you get the operation. And you get a new lease on life. How appreciative would you be of that donor? Can I tell you, God gave us a new heart. Would you want to speak ill about the donor? Would you want to blaspheme their name? I would say no. That donor that gave me that organ to give a longer life, I would be so thankful. And can I tell you, the Lord Jesus Christ, he gave us a new heart. Spiritually. A new lease on life. Freedom from the power of sin. I don't need to be a slave to it. Now, oftentimes we give in to it, but I don't need to be a slave. It's only reasonable. And so then he says, with what is only reasonable, verse two, and be not conformed. Notice with me as we're gonna look at this chapter 12 passage, and he deals with certain things here in the church and deals with gifts that God gives. And before he ever deals with all those gifts and things in the church, he deals with things individually. He deals with personal sanctification and separation. Sanctification is like a married couple, they're on the altar, they're saying, when I gave my wife the ring, and she gave me a ring, and we said, I do, we're saying, we're separate, we're together, and there's no one else. And God, when I'm sanctifying, I'm saying, God, I'm for you. I'm not for any other belief, I'm not for any idols or anything else, I'm for Jesus. In every local church, God's institution for this world consists of individual parts. And the entire church is only as strong as our weakest. No body of believers or even a national army can achieve a significant victory in battle if there are substantial gaps in their armaments. The Bible calls you and me, Christian, to live in purity, maintaining pure speech, Adopting a lifestyle that seeks to glorify the Lord by loving by lovingly observing the Word of God God uses his word to purify us as God uses the analogy of a husband and wife in Ephesians chapter 5 Talking about the Lord Jesus that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word He's talking about a church here in Ephesians 5. That's Ephesians 5 26 This book it purifies us Just as you go outside, and I was doing some things this week. I changed the oil on my lawnmower, getting prepared to mow the lawn. I'd rather mow the lawn than I would to shovel snow. Anyways, I changed the oil on my lawnmower. It got a little bit dirty. I can't touch oil and stuff and not get dirty. But as I was doing this, I got dirty. I need to wash my hands and need to probably take a shower. I worked out this week, went to the gym several days, and I got all sweaty. My wife likes me to take a shower. Can I tell you, you need a shower spiritually, too. This world, it can be muddy and dirty. I get into this book, and I spend time in this book. It purifies. It doesn't have chlorine in it or fluoride or any other things, it's just pure. Look with me at 1 Corinthians 15, 33. Can I tell you the Bible tells us, be not conformed, stop letting outside pressures form you and mold you. Can I tell you God's a whole lot better at transforming me on the inside than the world is at conforming me? Because you know what happens when I begin to get conformed to the world? The pressure builds. And I'm like, how do I, oh, this pressure is pushing in on me! I'm gonna explode! I don't know if you get like that, I do at least, at times. In 1 Corinthians 15, 33, God tells us something. Be not deceived. Evil communications corrupt good manners. You know what happens when you hang out? I know at work people oftentimes have some foul language. What happens when you hang around it all the time? What happens when this foul language is on our television, in our music? begin to, right, when you hear something a lot, if I'm around a friend and they have certain idiosyncrasies, I tend to pick it up. I don't even think about it. I tend to say things, I tend to do things, and some idiosyncrasies, I tend to pick it up. Evil communications corrupt good manners. And you see, if I spend time around the Lord, if I spend time around God's people, it's gonna change me. You're going to be conformed to whom you're hanging around. Now, am I saying not be in the world? I'm not saying that at all. We need to be in the world. But my language, my actions should be not deceit. Evil communications corrupt good manners. To whom you're around, what you watch and listen to will determine your manners. The Bible lets us know our music, our entertainment, our hobbies, our friends. Look with me at Colossians chapter three. Now, I'm not saying all of this trying to put rules on you. I'm saying this because I'm not, you know what, if I was, my wife and I, if I was around someone and they were constantly talking ill about my wife, I would say see you later. Or shut your mouth, yeah, that's right. Shut your mouth. I'm doing it because I love my wife. I love my daughter. As she grows, she has certain idiosyncrasies. Sometimes, as a parent, you're like, rah! And other times, you're like, oh, man, they're the sweetest thing ever. But I'm not doing it to say, oh, Christians shouldn't do this, and this, and this, and this, and this. If you're doing it because Christians shouldn't do this, and this, and this, you got it all wrong. I'm doing it because I want people to see Jesus. And if I'm talking and going like this, they don't see Jesus. I love Jesus. That speaks ill of God. Why would I let someone blaspheme and say all sorts of nastiness about my wife? Would you allow it, someone you love, to just continually blast them? You'd say, get out of here. You might have a few other things to do to them. Man, I love Jesus. In Colossians 3, verse 16, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts of the Lord. I want things to lift up Jesus. Don't you like it when someone says, man, I enjoy it. I've done some, my wife's a good cook and a good baker. Maybe you've experienced it, but I think she's pretty good. I always like when people are like, wow, that was so good. You know what people, it's pretty amazing when someone says, man, God is good. The Bible also tells us something, Ephesians chapter five. How would I want to be a part of the very things that are tearing down the God that I say that I love and that you say that you love? Now, we need to reach the loss, and I'm all for it. I understand that. I was there at the shelter on Friday, and there was some people from Lac Brochet and the Dene, and they said the Lord's Prayer in Dene, and some of the other people who were not Dene were all offended that they spoke in Dene, and they were, As a Christian, it doesn't matter who you are or where you're from. We don't need to squabble like that. Ephesians 5, 18. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit. The Bible gives us the very things. And then it goes on to say, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart. To whom? to the Lord. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Giving thanks always. God's called us. He says, man, lift up the name of Jesus. Now I understand sometimes in your workplace and But I ought to be living and working as I'm trying to please Jesus. You're going to have harsh co-workers at times. You might even have bosses that are completely irrational. And you're just like... I want to be filled. That idea of being filled with the Spirit is being submitted and surrendered to His control. My will following His will. The Bible tells us in Titus chapter 1 verse 15. Look at verses 15 and 16. It says, unto the pure all things are pure. But unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure, but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, being abominable and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate. If I'm watching a whole bunch of things that are not very pure, it's gonna defile my mind. I took my daughter on Monday this past week to the park. There's these little kids. Man, they had filthy mouths. I heard it from their parents. The idea here says they profess that they know God, but in works they deny him. That's being conformed. You can say I know Jesus, but your lifestyle does not evidence godliness. Look with me at Romans 8.13, going back to the main passage there in Romans. This conformity, if we want to grow in our Christian life, again, I'm not trying to put rules on you, because if you're just saying, oh, Christianity has so many rules, then you don't understand. If it's just about the rules, then you're just following religion. I don't love my wife because I have to. I get to. I don't serve God because I have to, but I get to. It's a total change in our mindset. I get to do things for the Lord. I get to use the gifts God's given to me. I get to be a blessing. I get to live by faith. If I have to, your spirit will naturally be like, oof, right? We naturally, if I have to do something, who are you to tell me what to do, right? I mean, we buck up in this rebellious attitude. But Romans 8, 13, the Bible says, for if ye live after the flesh, If you live after the flesh, you live after your emotions, you live after what feels good, what looks good, you live after the senses, ye shall die. You're not gonna have peace. But if ye, through the Spirit, by God's help, the Spirit of God lives within every Christian, but if I, you, through the Spirit, do mortify, that mortify is to just slay, just put my will to death. I'm saying, God, I want to follow you. The deeds of the body ye shall live. I've got to determine in my life It's not just up here. A lot of us have Christian knowledge of what Christians should do. Can I tell you? I remember back in the military, and I was doing some things I shouldn't have done as a Christian. And I had a fellow who wasn't a believer, and he said, Christians shouldn't do that. And I was like, how dare you tell me what Christians shouldn't do? You're not even a Christian yourself. That's what I was thinking on the inside. But I realized, I said, you know what? Non-believers sometimes have more wisdom, if you would, about what Christians should do than Christians themselves. It was pretty convicting. And I wanna live. What do you mean by live, pastor? What I mean is I have a peace of God, I have a clear mind. I'm not muddied up by all the stress of life. Now, does stress get me? Yeah, of course. But I can live and operate and react without just being a product of all the various pressures that are coming in my life. And then I'm like a balloon that's pushed and pushed and pushed until it pops. And you're like, pow! Subject of this verb is ye for if ye live after the flesh ye shall die But if ye through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall live The first part of this verse states if ye live It gives us some ideas of if you do this there's consequences you realize the choices you make always have consequences I Want to read this for you a little John Phillips had this statement about believers. He said, it is possible for us as believers to live lives on one of three levels. We can live lives that are sensual, soulish, or spiritual. A person, for example, who is ruled by the physical is sensual. To be sensual does not necessarily mean that we live in the constant indulgence of the worst forms of carnality. It simply means that the senses rule us. Whatever feels good, I follow it. People who are ruled by such considerations are governed by the senses, by what they see, feel, hear, taste, or smell. The motivation from this source may be very subtle, very well-disguised, very genteel, but people motivated by such considerations are sensual. It is possible for a Christian to be sensual. He will not go to the prayer meeting because it's too hot. He will not work in the slums because they are too smelly. He doesn't like John Jones because he uses bad grammar. In other words, he is a sensual Christian. He may be saved, but he lives on the lowest possible plane. On the other hand, it is possible for us to be soulless in our expression of the faith, to be ruled from the intellect, the emotions, or the will. A life so lived can come so close to genuine spirituality that it can be very difficult to detect the flaw. For example, a believer may give himself over to intellectual pursuits in his practice of Christianity. He becomes a great theologian, a great controversialist for the faith. He is not necessarily spiritual, however. This grasp of truth all too often is merely intellectual. It may be soulish. Or he may be strongly given to emotion. At the Lord's Supper, the thought of Calvary brings tears to his eyes and he weeps. He gets so worked up at the prayer meeting that he shouts his hallelujahs. so deeply moved to the thought of the poverty of orphans or the masses in a distant land that he'll empty his pocketbook into the offering with an appeal when the appeal is made. It's not necessarily spiritual, however. All too often, such displays are mere excesses of emotion. An unsaved man might do as much. On the other hand, a believer might have an iron will. When he is saved, he learns he should give up smoking, shall we say, so immediately he throws his cigarettes in the fire and never smokes again. That may not be a spiritual victory. It may simply be the assertion of a strong will. Indeed, there may be a combination of two or even all three factors, intellect, emotions, and will, that makes a person appear as an exemplary Christian without being truly spiritual at all. It's a very subtle trap. Of course, this is not to say the intellect and emotions will play no part in the life of a spiritual Christian, because they do. But being intellectual, emotional, or determined does not constitute the essence of spirituality. If the soulish side controls the sensual side of a man, the person is indeed a fine specimen of humanity. But he is not spiritual, may not even be saved at all. For me to be spiritual, the Holy Spirit must have complete control of me. And the key to this lies in surrendering the body, the mind, emotions, and will, first through the members of the body that all impressions are received and all impulses expressed. God, what He said in all of this, and this is a daily battle, let the Spirit of God lead you and guide you through His precious book. Because if not, I'm being conformed. And he says, do not be conformed. He's again, this idea here, it's an imperative, do not do this, but it's in the passive tense. I'm conformed when I'm not letting God transform me. If you go into idol in your Christian life, and you say, I'm just gonna throttle back a little, then I'm being conformed. Because something's always pushing on us. The world's pushing on us, or God from the inside is saying, I want to change you. We all need to be changed. None of us have arrived yet. None of us are perfect. We're still working on it, right? At least God's still working on me. This idea here is not being pushed. The world should not make me the person I am. The Bible says in 1 Peter 1.14, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust and your ignorance. Just as a potter molds the clay and works it, you're either actively allowing the world or the potter to mold you, or you're purposely shaping yourself to match the look, feel, and temperament of the world. Either way, God's spirit says, no, I want to transform you and change you. There's all sorts of illustrations here. I want you to look with me at Genesis 13. You know what, I'll pick this up next week for the sake of time this morning. But to whom you're focusing on, there's a story in the Bible about Lot next week, I'll talk about that. Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom. He wasn't there. He merely said, ah, that looks good. I think I'll point my compass towards Sodom. You see, to whom you're pointing towards is often what you're going to become like. Lot was therein, pointed towards Sodom, ended up becoming like Sodom, and it tells us he grieved his righteous soul from day to day, vexed it, tormented. Christian, man, I want more than anything in your life for you to be what God made you to be. Other people might have opinions on what we should and shouldn't do in our lives, but only you are gonna have to stand before God and give an account. Doesn't matter what I think, doesn't matter what others think, it matters what God thinks. You're reasonable servants and be not conformed. I trust today you would say, God, I want you to transform me. I love you. And God, I don't want to be a part of the very things that are tearing you down. Now, I understand we live in a wicked world, but I don't need to be wicked like the world. My language doesn't need to resemble the world. Now, I understand we're all in a growing process, and sometimes if that's got into our habit, it takes time to get out of that. I understand that. But it's this book, the washing of the water by the word. I want to be a part of that where I can live. I want to live. I want to live with God's spirit leading me and guiding me. Man, it feels good. And you know you're doing God's will. It feels good when I know that God is pleased. And God's spirit is like, yes. Isn't that awesome? I mean, there's times you're just like, there's things in your life that go on. And you're like, man, God ordained that. That was awesome today. We can have that every day. And I know I don't have it every day. My will says, I want what I want today. And then I'm like, oh. Christian, I want us to be a transformed church. I want people to see the Lord Jesus Christ, our reasonable service. What does God want you to do in your service for him? None of us are perfect. We're striving. But who are you striving for? Would you say, God, I, I just want to let you have my will. I surrender it. Again, this surrender of a will is not like some cultish thing. Follow a man. Please don't ever follow a man. Unless that man is Jesus Christ. You have it in this book. You have God's spirit within you if you know Jesus as your savior. As we think on this truth, the Christian life is something of great satisfaction. We're gonna have a song play for the invitation period. It's called Search Me, O God, number 166, in your blue hymnal. I'm gonna have this song play, and as we come to the time of invitation, I just wanna, two things. Number one, do you know Jesus as your savior? Is your name written in the book of life? Is there a clear, you could say, pastor, I have a clear gospel understanding, and I accepted Jesus. I know I am, I know I'm God's child. Praise the Lord for that. But if you don't, man, I'd love to show you today how you could know for sure. Number two, if you're a Christian, Lord, am I a surrender vessel? Lord, does my life live for you or my live for me? Am I being conformed or am I being transformed? Am I sanctified and separate unto the Lord? I'm not saying I'm cloistered up like a little commune. No. I'm saying I'm living for Jesus and people know that Jesus is my focus. I trust that you'd take some time to pray and talk with the Lord. And I want to just see lives changed. There's families being wrecked, personal lives being changed, generations being hurt. The answer is Jesus. But it's going to take Christians that are transformed. It's going to take a church that is transformed doing God's will. As the music plays, would you take some time to talk with the Lord?