Transforming the Mind by the Word of God (Romans Sermon 92)

I. Changing Your Mind

We’re looking this morning for the second week, at two phenomenally important verses in terms of practical application. Romans 12:1-2. And I don’t think it’s a rare thing for human beings to look at themselves and wish they were different. Amen?

Isn’t that true? You look at yourself and you wish you were different, you wish you could be a different person. And so we have a kind of a whole makeover culture here in America, right? The great makeover. And some people think maybe surgery is the answer, and I don’t think it really is. I think Christians are wise enough to know we don’t need a major transformation in our outward appearance. That’s not really what we’re looking at. You may think your home needs a makeover, and you love those people to come and do it for you, and that would be wonderful. But in terms of yourself, you’re thinking, “How can I be a different person?” And it isn’t long in the Christian life before you realize it’s a heart issue, it’s got to do with a change within, change of the mind, and that’s what we’re getting at this morning.

Now, there are a lot of different ways even there that you can have your mind changed. During the Spanish Inquisition, for example, they thought torture was a good way to change the mind. Well, I don’t think so, I think all you’re going to do is get external conformity through suffering and all that. But they thought there were some successes to battling heresy that way, I would disagree.

During the Korean War, they used the techniques of brainwashing, where they would get you broken down, they would get you physically weary, they would get you weak through lack of food, they’d wake you up in the middle of the night and they would be very aggressive and mean to you until you’re finally psychologically broken down, and then they would bring in a really nice guy who’d start putting his arm around you, speaking friendly to you and saying, “Look, why don’t you become a communist? It really is the better way.” These techniques were developed by the Russian communists in the 1930s, and they’re very effective in one level.

But that’s not the kind of transformation we’re looking at today, when we study the transformation by the Word of God. If you look at Romans 12:1-2, we’re coming to two of the most important verses in terms of the practical daily life of the Christian. We looked at it last two weeks ago, last time, concerning what it is that God wants from us now that He’s been so gracious to us in the Gospel. Romans 12:1-2, it says, “Therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercies, to present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, this is your spiritual act of worship.” And Verse 2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you’ll be able to test and approve what God’s will is, His good, pleasing and perfect will.” So here at last, we come to the great battleground of the Christian life, the human mind. And it is a battleground, and there’s a lot of pull back and forth going on over your mind.

Earlier, a number of years ago, my wife and I visited the great battlefield of Gettysburg, and there’s all kinds of monuments and all kinds of history surrounding there. The Gettysburg Address were met on a battlefield, a great battlefield of this struggle. I tell you this, that there is no battlefield as significant and vital as that of the human mind. That’s where the battle for life change is fought. And praise be to God, the weapons of God are mighty to the transformation of the human mind. That is how we’re going to see our lives changed. That’s exactly what Romans 12 is talking about.

II. A Brief History of the Mind

Now, I think it would be beneficial for us to look at a brief history of the human mind. It all started a long, long time ago, at creation, when God created man in His image, male and female, He created them. And from the very beginning, God created the human mind as I think the greatest, most complex physical creation He ever made. We know in Psalm 139:14, David the psalmist says, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” That is especially true of the human mind. Do you know that your brain has 100 billion neurons? Do you realize that part of your brain is assigned now to remember that fact? So now you have to think, “My brain has 100 billion neurons.” But what does that mean? Well, the Amazon rainforest has 100 billion trees. You have the same number of neurons in your brain as the Amazon rainforest has trees. And each neuron has as many interconnections as there are leaves on an average tree. That boggles the mind, doesn’t it?

The human brain is the most complex physical thing that God ever made. It is the center of memory, of mood, of instinct, of will, of emotion, of decision, of all bodily function, the human brain. It is also the seat of individuality and personal history. You train your brain through every experience you go through in life. Everything you go through creates a memory and those memories have an influence on you, and habits can form as a result. The power of interpretation is centered in the brain, of sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste, constantly feeding your mind with information. The human brain was created in the image of God, it was created to enjoy God, to know Him forever. It was created with a Godward focus, and it was created to know the glory of God in physical creation. That’s the start. The human brain fearfully and wonderfully made. However, the human brain did not stay pristine and essentially good, the human brain fell in sin.

And this thing we’ve already seen in Romans Chapter 1, a description of the fallen state of the human mind. There it says in Verse 21, “Although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him. But their thinking became futile.” Did you hear that? Their thinking became futile, “And their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man, and birds, and animals and reptiles.” That is the fall of the human mind through sin. The human mind leads the life, and therefore a corrupt mind leads to a corrupt lifestyle. This is made very plain in Ephesians Chapter 4, the Apostle Paul put it this way, “So I tell you this and insist on it in the Lord that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding, and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.”

Do you see? Because of ignorance you’re separated from a kind of life that God wants you to live. There’s an intimate connection between the way you think and the way you live. And so, it says in Ephesians 4, “We’re not to live like those people anymore, whose darkened minds and their darkened understandings are leading to darkened lifestyles.” He says, “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.” That is the corrupt life that comes from a corrupt mind or a corrupt way of thinking. As a result of sin, the natural mind, it says in Romans 8, is hostile to God, it does not submit to God’s law nor can it do so. Those characterized by that fleshly or hostile mind, it’s impossible for them to please God.

It also says that those folks who are characterized by a sinful mind, the mind separated from the life of God, cannot understand spiritual things. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from God because they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” And so it is that the beautiful gift, the incredible creation of God, the human mind with all of its complexity, was corrupted as a result of sin. And that’s where we begin with the Gospel, we start with a corrupted mind. But thanks be to God, He doesn’t leave us there. Isn’t that wonderful? That God doesn’t leave our corrupted minds corrupted, but rather, thirdly, there is this regenerated mind. The word means a new creation, that God can do and has done, if you’re a Christian, within you, a work of new creation, the creation of a regenerated mind.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come.” Well, friends, that is especially true in the mind. It’s true in the mind because we think differently. At the very beginning of the Christian life, you immediately think differently about Jesus, that’s where it all starts. And so, the Spirit of God moves over the darkened, hardened, dead, spiritually dead mind, and creates something new there that wasn’t there before. And what is it? It’s an appreciation or a value of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6 puts it this way, “For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Friends, that’s the very thing an unbeliever does not have, any sense of the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

But at the moment you were saved, at the moment you trusted in Christ, it was the Spirit’s work of regeneration in you that created a light that will never be extinguished. And John Chapter 1 says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot extinguish it.” It’s the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ. That is the regenerated mind. And at that moment, it says in Scripture, that the mind of Christ was given to us. Isn’t that marvelous? We have the mind of Christ. I’m just quoting Scripture. 1 Corinthians 2:16 says, “But we have the mind of Christ,” that is the regenerated mind. However, we are commanded to use it. You may have it and not use it. And therefore, it says in Philippians Chapter 2, “Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing,” going on to talk about the humility of Christ. But the command there is, you should have this mind in you, which was also in Christ.

Now, there’s no contradiction here between the Scriptures. Yes, you have the mind of Christ, but you’re also commanded to use it. You’re to think like Jesus. We have the mind of Christ, but we need to grow in thinking like Christ, and that’s where we have this issue now of the renewed mind. The renewed mind. It says in the verse we’re looking at today, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” There’s an ongoing renewing work that has to happen in your mind, it’s a constant commitment. Now, you say, “I don’t think in a pure way, Pastor. I don’t. I don’t think 100% about anything.” Well, that’s the way we all experience the Christian life, isn’t it? There’s a battle within us. Galatians Chapter 5 says that the Spirit battles against the flesh, the flesh battles against the Spirit. There’s a battle going on, it’s going on in the mind. Romans 7 talks about it. It says, “So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin.” There’s a battle going on, and it starts in the human mind.

So therefore, if you want your whole life to be transformed, if you want a genuine makeover, not just a surface makeover, you’ve got to start with the battle over the mind, you’ve got to think like Jesus. And that’s what Paul is getting at here in Romans 12. For it says in Romans 8:5, “Those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on what the flesh desires. But those who live according to the Spirit, set their minds on what the Spirit desires.” So, the whole thing comes down, friends, to mind control. And I know some of you wonder, “Are we heading toward being a cult?” We are not heading toward being a cult. This is a call of God from the Scripture to allow the Spirit of God to control your mind by the Word of God. That’s what we’re looking at this morning. It’s all about mind control.

12:30 AD: Now, where are we heading ultimately? Well, we’re heading finally, fifth stage to the glorified mind. There at last, brothers and sisters, there will be no division of mind. It says in Deuteronomy 6, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.” And Jesus prays in John 17, “That they may be one, as we are one.” We’ll be perfectly of one mind with God. We will see everything the way He sees it, we’ll think about everything the way He thinks about it, feel about everything the way He feels about it. And what bliss and joy there will be at last. “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I’ll put you in charge of many things. Enter now into the joy of your Master.“ At last, you’ll feel God’s joy through and through.” That’s the future of the glorified mind.

I was talking to Jeremy, my secretary, and he said, “I just want to skip to number five. Can we do that? Can we go right to the glorified mind?” Well, no. In the will of God, He has left you on this earth for sometime to battle the battle of the mind, and that’s what we’re looking at today. But friends, be joyful in hope. It says later in Romans 12, “The hope is for the glory of God.” Someday, if you’re a Christian, someday you will think exactly like God about everything, and you’ll be fully at peace and fully at joy at that point. It says in 1 Corinthians 13, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child I thought like a child, I talked like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now, we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face-to-face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” That is the future of the Christian mind. We will know God, we will know Him through and through. “Now, this is eternal life,” John 17, “That they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

III. The Supreme Act of Worship: Romans 12:1-2

Okay, so we’ve gone through a brief history of the mind, we’ve looked through. What I wanna say is, why does the mind need to be transformed? And how can it be transformed? That’s what we’re looking at today. We’ve already looked in part at why the mind needs to be transformed. Let’s dig in and try to find out how it relates to worship. Romans 12:1-2 are two of the most important verses on worship in the Christian life. It says that we are to offer our bodies as spiritual sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your reasonable, rational, logical, or spiritual act of worship. And so we need to understand what worship is. True worship is the essence of true Christianity. This is what the Father seeks. The Father is seeking worshipers, and the Father is seeking worship. You may already be a Christian, He’s seeking something from you today, He’s seeking worship from you today, He wants you to worship Him.

Now this is what it says in John Chapter 4, Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, “A time is coming and has now come, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.” What is the context of this issue of worship? We’ve already seen it. We’ve got 11 chapters of Christian doctrine, some of the deepest doctrine you’ll read anywhere in the Bible, Romans 1-11. And in that, we have a tracing out of the mercies of God as He battles with the issue of sin in our lives and in the world. We’ve seen the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes the Gospel. We have traced out this doctrinal foundation. And it all culminates in one of the most incredible expressions of worship you’ll ever find anywhere, the doxology of Romans 11. “Oh, the depth of the riches, the wisdom, and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out. Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay him? For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever.”

And so we see Paul’s incredible ability, soaring in doctrine, some of the highest, deepest doctrines you’ll ever find, Romans 9-11. Soaring in praise with the doxology, he lands squarely on his feet in Romans 12:1-2, talking to us about our bodies, talking to us about our practical life. He never loses sight of the practicalities of the Christian life. This is Paul’s usual manner. He gives the doctrinal foundation and he says, “Now based on these truths, how then shall we live?” This is his usual pattern. And in this way, God is honoring the human mind, isn’t He? He’s honoring the mind. He’s not just going to tell you, “Do this, don’t do that,” a bunch of ethical things. He’s going to reason with you, He’s going to explain, He’s going to give you a worldview out of which you will be able to live your life. He’s honoring your mind.

Isaiah 1:18, “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord.” He’s reasoning with us for 11 chapters. And now He tells us what to do. And He gives us that fourfold sacrifice. We looked at the first two, two weeks ago. The first is the soul, He wants your soul. What would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? Or, what would you give in exchange for your soul? You gave your soul to Christ when you trusted in Him. This is the mercy of God that He has had mercy on your soul, and you are forgiven, your sins are forgiven if you’re a Christian, and you have trusted in Christ, you gave your soul to Christ.

But secondly, He asks for your body. This is just review, but He says, “I want you to present your body to Me as a living sacrifice.” We talked last time about how the presentation was the same word concerning the angels that came down or would have come down if Jesus had asked them. When Peter wanted to rescue Jesus from the cross, he drew his sword and tried to rescue Him, and Jesus said, “Put your sword away.” And then he said, “Do you think I cannot call on my Father and He would at once put at My disposal more than 12 legions of angels?” The angels will come and be ready to serve, so also we must put at God’s disposal our bodies. Every member, every part of our body, at His disposal, holy and pleasing to Him, a spiritual act of worship, the physical presentation, we saw that last time. God wants your body.

Now it’s a struggle, isn’t it? Because the body is where sin resides, the lusts and the drives of the body, the habits of the body, that’s where sin resides. And you look at Romans 7, it says, Paul puts it this way, “So I find this law at work, when I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” Did you find that this week? You might have had a good resolution, a desire to do something good, but it’s like you’re dragging a weight. You can’t quite do all the good things you’d like to do. Paul says, “When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.” He says, in this body of death, there are habit patterns of sin that drag us down.

And so he cries out in Romans 7, “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” That is the answer. Jesus is in the process of rescuing you from the law of sin at work inside your members. Friends, that is called sanctification. Now, this is not an easy thing to do, is it? It’s hard work. Paul says, “I beat my body and make it my slave, lest after I’ve preached to others, I myself might be disqualified from the prize.” He’s got to keep his body under subjection, it’s not easy, it’s a battle. Or what I contend from Romans is that the battle is in the mind, you’ve got to win the battle for the mind, and there’s a pull back and forth, and it’s right here in the text. There’s the pull of the world, worldliness, the world system, and then there’s the pull of God through His word, that’s the battle, the struggle back and forth, the world and the Word.

For it says, “Do not be conformed to this world.” Do not be conformed to this world. Literally it says, “Do not be conformed to this age.” J.B Phillips gave a wonderful translation of this, he said, “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold.” It really has to do with a conforming, that you’re being forced to conform to the world. Did you know that the world has a mold that it wants to squeeze you in? The world wants to make you think like it does on every topic. The world wants you to think like it does on politics. It’s called being politically correct. Alright? And if you violate the rules, they’ll let you know. You have not been politically correct, you’ll get into trouble. The world has a mold on clothing, it wants you to be in style or trendy. The world has a mold on success, it measures success by money and power and prestige. The world has a mold on everything, and it’s very influential on the mind, it wants to pull you in a certain direction. The age, or the world that we’re talking about here, one commentator called it the floating mass of thoughts, and opinions, and maxims, and speculations, hopes, impulses, aims, and aspirations, at any time current in the world. It’s just this mass of influence and opinion, called the world. And it’s been around a long time, friends. It has.

Now, different versions, different forms, with every generation there’s different flavors, but it’s always anti-God, that’s what it is. It’s been around at least 400 years, because John Bunyan wrote about it in Pilgrim’s Progress, when he talked about Vanity Fair. Now, there’s a whole magazine now called Vanity Fair, but in Bunyan’s work it’s not a good thing, it’s actually a polluting influence. This is what Bunyan wrote, “Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity. And at the town there was a fair kept called Vanity Fair, it is kept all the year-long. At this fair, are all such merchandise sold as houses, trades, lands, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts, such as harlots, wives, husbands, children, master, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and whatnot. Moreover, at this fair, there is at all times to be seen jugglings, cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, naves and rogues, and that of every kind. Here are to be seen too, and not for nothing, thefts, murders, adulteries, false swearers, and that of a blood red color. Now, as I said, the way to the celestial city lies just through this town, where this lusty fair is kept. And he that will go to the city and yet not go through this town, must needs go out of the world.”

Now, for me, I love Pilgrim’s Progress just the way it’s written, but I thought it might be helpful to you if I gave you an updated translation, okay? So here is the modern version according to me. You can write your own, but here we go. “Then I saw in my dream, when they came out of the wilderness, they suddenly saw a city before them, and the name of that city was Addictive Worthlessness. And in that city there was a huge mall called Addictive Worthlessness Mall. It is open 24/7, and there you can buy anything the heart could desire, vacation homes, real estate, trophies and awards, human applause, corporate ladder climbing techniques, corner offices, political appointments, travel packages to resort areas, lust, pleasures and delights of all kinds, such as swimsuit editions, pornographic DVDs, computer games, worldly magazines, and all the raw materials for earthly happiness that money can buy. Gold, silver, pearls, oriental silk, fine Corinthian leather, top-end electronic devices such as flat screen plasma TVs and satellite dishes. Here you can see, and for free too, thefts, murders, adulteries, blasphemies and all kinds of sins packaged as entertainment. And as I said, the way to the celestial city lies just through this filthy city where this lusty mall is owned and operated, and he that would go to the celestial city, and not have to go through the mall, has to die.”

So bottom line is, we have to face it. I’m not saying you have to go to the mall. Actually, I was in a men’s group once and I said, “What do you do, just walking through the mall, and there’s just temptations everywhere?” And the guy said, “Don’t go to the mall.” So that was a simple piece of advice. Some of us can’t avoid going to the mall. The question is, “Are we going to be polluted by it?” There is so much in Scripture about this, but the warning here is quite clear. The inference in the Greek is, “Stop being conformed to this world.” Do you see it? It’s not, “Don’t start being conformed.” The implication is you’re already conforming at some level. Stop being conformed to this age. Satan is manipulating the media to saturate your minds with the ways he wants you to think about life and death, about pleasure, about gender, about sexuality, about entertainment, about careers. He wants you to conform, he has a mold he wants to squeeze you in.

But God commands you to be transformed, not conformed. And that’s the parallel that he gives us here, “But be transformed.” Friends, God also has a mold, and He wants to conform you to that, and that is Jesus Christ. He wants to make you like Jesus. He wants every last one of us to think, and reason, and feel, and choose like Jesus would. God has a mold as well. The entire saving work of God is to take sinners like us and transform us to be just like Christ. It’s a metamorphosis he has in mind for you. He wants you to be transformed. Similar to when Peter, James, and John went up a high mountain with Jesus, and they saw that Jesus was transfigured in front of them, and his face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as radiant as a light, whiter than any launderer could get them. He was glorious in front of them. And not even with His full glory, because they couldn’t survive that, but just that God allowed His Son to show some of His glory, turn it up a few notches so they could see just how glorious is Jesus.

And you know what’s so incredible? Someday we’re going to shine with that glory. Isn’t that incredible? We’re going to glow with it similar, but far greater than when Moses’ face shone when he was in the presence of God. For it says in 2 Corinthians 3:18, “And we who with unveiled faces, all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” He wants to make you more and more like Jesus. He wants you to be transformed. And as you gaze into the face of Christ, you will more and more be transformed from within, into Christ-likeness. And what is the ultimate result of this? Well, we’ve seen that the soul has been given to God, the body must be in an ongoing way, like a living sacrifice, presented to God. Your mind presented to the influence of God, we’ll talk more about that in a minute, results in what? The will. You will choose what is good, and pleasing, and perfect, the will of God.

It says, “Then you’ll be able to test and approve God’s will. His good, pleasing, and perfect will.” You’ll know what God’s will is, you won’t just know it, you’ll want it. You’ll yearn for it, you’ll approve of His will. Now, a lot of people ask questions about what is the will of God for my life? We’re going to talk more about that over the next few weeks, talk more about that. But I tell you this, you will not be able to discern God’s will for yourself unless your soul is given to Christ through salvation, you give your soul to Him, you’re ongoingly presenting your body to Him as a living sacrifice, and you’re in an ongoing sense being transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then, and only then, will you be able to test and approve God’s will.

IV. The Renewing of the Mind: How Does it Happen?

Alright, now we have talked about why the mind needs to be transformed. The question is, how does it happen? How can my mind be transformed? Well, I want you to notice first and foremost that, I think a good translation will give you the sense of the passive here, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,” should really be translated, “Do not, or stop being conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” I want you to notice that both of these are passive. Both of them are passive, and it basically comes down to this, friends, to what are you presenting your mind so that it can be influenced? What are you handing your mind to? What do you say… When you’re presenting your mind, you’re saying, “Here, change me. Here, influence me.” What are you presenting your mind to? Both of them are passive. You’re either going to be conformed to this age, or you’re going to be transformed into the image of Christ.

The issue is, to what are you presenting your mind? And the fundamental concept here very practically is, what is going into your mind, and what is your mind chewing on or meditating on? And I think that’s what needs to be controlled. You need to control what goes into your mind, and you need to control by the power of the Spirit, what your mind mulls on, what it meditates on, what it thinks about. Now, Scripture calls on us to allow the Word of God to be both the input and the meditation. Psalm 119:15-16 says, “I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. I will delight in your statutes, I will not forget your Word.” So, we are to meditate on the Word of God. I guess the simple secret here is just daily saturation in the Word of God as illuminated by the Holy Spirit.

When my wife and I and our two older children were missionaries in Japan for two years, we were in the Tokushima area, it’s in Shikoku, one of the smallest of the four large islands of Japan. And they had a lot of local culture there, a lot of things that they’re really proud of and that were a big part of their culture. So we went one time to a cultural museum, and we saw that they had a big display of indigo dying there, and apparently, that was a major industry in Tokushima in generations past, and they still do some of it. Indigo, of course, is that blue in the blue jeans that we’re used to, that blue color. And they showed all of these processes, whereby the cloths were dyed. The bottom line was this, they would take a white cloth and they would dip it into the dye and they would bring it out, and then they would dip it back in and they would bring it out. And the longer it stayed in and the more frequently they dipped it, the deeper it got in color. There were some that were just very light blue, all the way to some that were as dark as midnight blue. That’s what it comes down to. What are you immersing your mind in so that it can be affected? “What are you marinating in?”, is another analogy What are you taking in, and what are you pondering? Or, what are you thinking about?

The more time you spend watching TV, surfing the net, reading worldly magazines, listening to worldly talk shows, hanging around worldly people that only talk about worldly things, watching worldly entertainment, and then the more profound as a result will be the influence of the world on the way you think. You’re going to be dipping your mind into that vat and it’s going to affect you. Conversely, the more you take in Scripture, the more you meditate on it, the more you think about it, the more you memorize it, the more you’re around people that talk to you about the Word of God, the more the Scripture is going to influence the way you think. That’s the nature of the battle.

And so, what are some simple guidelines? Well, read the Bible. Alright? Yeah, sometimes we say, alright, the things we discuss in this pulpit are very high, and I understand that, because Romans 9-11, all that’s very, very complex, there’s a lot of deep doctrines. This isn’t deep, this is simple, read the Bible. I mean, not right now, but I mean when you get home, read the Bible, read it, read it frequently, read it in a consistent pattern. Read through the Bible, use different strategies. There’s all different kinds of ways you can use to read through the Bible. That’s what being transformed by the renewing of your mind is about, the saturation of the pure water of the Word just flowing through your mind and cleansing you in a beautiful and a powerful way.

Charles Spurgeon said our very blood should be Bibline. In other words, they talk about in a negative way, the blood alcohol level, there should be a Bible level in our blood, alright? We are just saturated with the Scripture. When you talk to the person, you’re going to get Scripture back. Because we believe in the sufficiency of Scripture that’s going to address any and every topic in the Christian life, isn’t it? And so the more we are searching out the Scripture, the more we’re going to see the wisdom of God in every situation. Go through the Bible once a year for knowledge and breadth.

George Mueller read through it 200 times. Now, you do the math on that, 50 years twice, four times a year, something like that. I mean, that’s incredible. You say, “I have trouble getting through it one time in a year.” He went through it on an average three to four times a year, that’s incredible. David Livingstone once read the Bible four times in succession while he was detained in a jungle town in Africa. He saturated himself in the Word of God. Billy Graham, I was speaking about his medical missionary father-in-law, Nelson Bell, and he said this, “He made it a point to rise every morning at 4:30 and spent two to three hours in Bible reading. He didn’t use that time to read commentaries or write, he didn’t do his correspondence or any of his other work, he just read the Scriptures every morning. And he was like a walking Bible encyclopedia. People wondered at the holiness and the greatness of his life.”

Now, I think reading through the Bible gives you knowledge and breadth, a sense of the scope of the redemptive plan of God, and that’s so valuable, a world view comes. And as I’ve said before, Rome wasn’t built in a day. You don’t get a world view overnight. Little, by little, by little, you start to see things the way God does, and things just get put in place. Breadth, I also believe in knowledge in depth, and that comes through meditation. It’s so easy when you’re just moving across, so easy to just skip things. We’ve been reading in the morning as we drive in, Psalm 119. And we got to Psalm 119 this morning, verse 130. “The unfolding of your Word, gives light, it gives understanding to the simple.” You have to have the Word of God unpacked for you. You have to open it up like a suitcase with a bunch of good things inside, it’s got to be unpacked. If you’re reading through quickly, you’re not going to see it as much, you’ve got to pause, and go back after you’ve done your reading, say, “There’s a couple of things that are worth my time, I’m going to meditate on them,” and you go and you just think about it. “What does this mean? This noun, this verb, this phrase? Or, what is the significance of this figure in my life? How can I live this out?”

It’s not enough just to know these things, you have to do them, and so you’re asking while you’re meditating, “Lord, how can this change my life? How can I be transformed by the Scripture?” The unfolding of the Word gives light. Probably, one of the greatest meditations on this is in Psalm 1, it says, “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by streams of water, whose leaf never withers. Whatever he does prospers.” And so, knowledge and breadth is reading though the Bible in a year, or something like that. Knowledge and depth is taking passages and memorizing them, meditating on them so you understand them deeply.

V. Summary and Conclusion

The word of God has something to say on every topic you’re going to face in your life, so does the world. My question is, who are you going to listen to? For example, the Word of God has things to say about money, and so does the world. The world says that your money is there to make you happy, basically, and that money is the root of all happiness. The more money you have, the more happiness you’ll have, that’s what the world says. The Word of God says to beware, watch out, because the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. So, be careful about it. But money can be used as a tool to advance the kingdom of Christ, and the way you give it by faith can store up treasure for you in Heaven forever and ever. That’s what God says about money, among other things.

Concerning sex, the world says if it feels good, do it. Anything between consenting adults is fine, and there is no lasting impact on you if you’re promiscuous and break the laws of God concerning sex. That’s what the world says. God says differently. Marital relations, what I call it, was given for marriage, and it’s a good gift from God within those boundaries, a delightful gift. Who are you going to believe, the world or God?  

Concerning time, the world says time, you’ll have as much as you need to do what you want with, it’s really like money to make you happy. Do whatever you want with your time, and tomorrow is as guaranteed as today is. Go to this or that city, spend a year, carry on business and make money. James Chapter 4, it’s a guaranteed thing. Bible says it isn’t guaranteed, it’s limited, so you better number your days and gain a heart of wisdom because the days are evil. Therefore, redeem the time and be very careful what you do with it. Who are you going to believe? The world on time or God on time?

On every topic in life, the Bible has something to say, and so does the world. The battle is for the mind. The central message of the Bible is, repent and believe in Christ for the salvation of your sins. If you’ve come here today and you have never done that, you’ve never repented and trusted in Christ, trust in Him now. Jesus shed His blood on the cross that we might have eternal life. But I wanna speak to you Christians here for a moment, you don’t stop repenting the moment you come to faith in Christ, you start. And then what happens is, repentance is literally thinking differently from then on about everything. Live a life then of repentance, guided by the word. Let the word of God take you into topic after topic, and think differently, think like God does. That’s how your life will be transformed and be pleasing to him. Close with me in prayer.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

I.     Changing Your Mind

In the 17th century, leaders of the Inquisition in Spain sought to produce conversion from heresies through physical torture. Their techniques produced many confessions, and conversions from one pattern of though to another and many church leaders considered it a success

In 1778, a strange visitor arrived in Paris from Austria; he was a medical doctor named Franz Anton Mesmer, and he proposed a strange cure for metal illnesses… he would wave his hands over patients or touch them or even touch objects they had touched, and the patients would go into fits and trances. Afterward, they often felt better. The doctor called his force “animal magnetism”, thinking it to be an invisible fluid that flowed from him to other persons. Thus a new term was coined: the people were said to be “Mesmerized.”

During the Korean war, American soldiers who were taken prisoner were subjected to what came to be known as “brain washing” techniques. These were developed by Russian communists in the 1930’s, and they were more refined than the techniques of the Inquisition; the prisoners were kept in isolation in conditions of constant physical discomfort… when reduced to a totally anxious state, he was brought forth for relentless humiliating interrogations; the victim is usually so shaken by the captivity that he is highly susceptible to new ideas, which his interrogators plant and nurture with sudden, friendly reassurances

Every year, for the Super Bowl receives the highest television ratings of the year; as a result of the huge audience of over a hundred million American viewers, corporations like Gillette, Coca-Cola, Ford, Rolex, and American Airlines will spends incredible amounts of money on thirty-second televised advertisements… the entire point is to affect your mind so you buy their product

This morning, I’m going to speak to you about the transformation of the mind, but not in any of these ways. The complex web of your mind is the canvas on which God want to paint the masterpiece of His glory; it is the score sheet on which He wants to compose His most magnificent symphony; it is therefore also the battlefield in which Satan wants to fight to the death… the place of Satan’s constant warfare against your soul.

The human mind, therefore, can either be the greatest theater of God’s glory, or the most repulsive example of the effects of sin.

Your mind is to be the greatest theater of God’s glory, and God will have it renewed by His written Word for His glory. My purpose this morning is to tell you why the mind must be renewed, and how it can be renewed.

II.     A Brief History of the Mind

A.    The Human Brain: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made

·       100 billion neurons; (Amazon rain forest stretches 2.7 million sq. miles and it has 100 billion trees)

·       Each neuron has as many connections as these are leaves on an average tree

·       If you simply counted the neural connections in the cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the brain, at the rate of one per second it would take 32 million years

·       Center of memory, mood, instinct, will, emotion, decision, all bodily function

·       Seat of individuality and personal history… you train your brain with every experience you go through in life

·       Power of interpretation centered in the brain: sight, sound, touch, smell, taste

1.    Created in the image of God

2.    Created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever

3.    Created to “Know the glory of God”

The human mind is the greatest, most complex physical thing God ever created

B.    The Fallen Mind

1.    Described most clearly in Romans 1: willful twisting of the truth of God

Romans 1:21-23 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

2.    Characterizes life apart from God: darkness in the mind leads to darkness in life

Ephesians 4:17-19 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

3.    Natural mind hostile to God and ignorant of things of God

Romans 8:7 “the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.”

1 Corinthians 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

C.    The Regenerated Mind

1.    A “New creation”

2 Corinthians 5:17     Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

2.    New minds to see the glory of Christ

2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

3.    Literally the mind of Christ given to us!

1 Corinthians 2:16 “We have the mind of Christ.”

4.    BUT we are still commanded to USE the mind of Christ

Philippians 2:5-7 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing

D.    The Renewed Mind

Romans 12:2 “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”

1.    Constant commitment

2.    Also struggle with a “divided” mind… partly obedient, partly sinful; Romans 7

Romans 7: 25 So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin

3.    Start of transformation of entire person… all sanctification starts in the mind

4.    The essence of Christian growth is a commitment to godly MIND CONTROL

Romans 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

E.    The Glorified Mind

1.    Perfect in knowledge of God (John 17:3)

John 17:3 “Now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

2.    Full knowledge (1 Cor. 13:12)

1 Corinthians 13:9-12 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

The mind is a glorious gift of God, the essence of our having been created in the image of God… sin has twisted our minds, darkened them so we cannot love God and actually hate Him and all His ways; Christ came to save us from this darkness… through Him, God re-creates our minds, makes them a new creation… although a battle presently rages in our minds between our new nature and our old, fleshly nature, in the end, we will have the perfect mind of Christ and will know him fully, just as He has known us fully!

III.     The Supreme Act of Worship:  Romans 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.

A.    True Worship: The Essence of True Christianity What the Father seeks

John 4:23-24   Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

B.    Context: Eleven Chapters of Glorious Doctrine

1.    Alluded to in vs. 1: “In view of God’s mercies”

a.    astonishing list of God’s incredible mercies:

love of God instead of wrath; indwelling Holy Spirit; faith; grace; peace with God; comfort; power; hope; patience; kindness; glory; honor; righteousness; forgiveness of all sins; justification; reconciliation with God; security; eternal life; freedom; resurrection of the body; adoption as children of God; intercession of Christ and the Spirit

b.    mercies = we deserve NONE of them

c.    so astonishing that Paul is carried away in praise

Romans 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” 36 For from him and through him and to him are all things.  To him be the glory forever! Amen.

2.    Paul’s remarkable ability: soaring in praise, lands with his feet firmly on the ground

3.    Paul’s usual manner: doctrine first, then behavior

4.    This honors God’s creation of the mind!!! The mind leads the whole person

God reasons with us, working through the tangled web of our minds to bring about understanding and true, spiritual worship

Isaiah 1:18 “Come, now, let us reason together,” says the Lord.

C.    A Four-fold Sacrifice: Soul  Body  Mind  Will

1.    Soul

a.    only a regenerate person can offer this sacrifice to God

b.    natural mind cannot understand the things of God

c.    Paul “exhorts” believers… they’ve already given their soul

d.    motivation: gratitude… “In view of God’s mercies, offer your bodies…”

2.    Body

a.    God has the soul, now He demands the body as well

b.   body = collection of nerves, muscles, biological systems that lives and moves and has its being in the physical world God created

c.    Greeks = dualistic; spirit pure, body evil; denigrated body; said it was animal-like, could not be controlled

d.    God loves the body… He made it, and intends it to be used for His service

·        If you are to speak God’s words, you will use your physical mouth to do so

·        If you are to walk God’s paths, it will be your feet that will carry you there

·        If you are to serve God’s people, it will be hands just like these that will do it

·        If you are to see God’s glory in creation and in His word, it will be your eyes that will do it

·        And if you are to contemplate the mysteries and the glories of God, it will be this gray matter that does it

God wants your body

e.    YET body IS where sin resides

i)    Paul saw the members (parts) of the body as the seat of residual sin habits

Romans 7:21-23   So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

ii)  constant warfare with his new nature in Christ

Romans 7:25   What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

The answer is: Christ can rescue us… but He does so by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the Spirit does it by the renewing of the mind

But only with great difficulty!!

1 Corinthians 9:27 I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

e.    “present” = temple term for sacrifice… to bring in as an actual sacrifice

f.    “living sacrifice” = as opposed to a dead, once for all sacrifice

·        Perpetual… constant; more than just daily, but moment by moment

g.    “holy” and “pleasing” to God

God only wants sacrifices that are without blemish or spot… personal holiness

h.    “sacrifice” = it is going to COST YOU something… it is not easy or painless

i.    this is TRUE, SPIRITUAL worship… not some goose-bump experience

3.    Mind

a.    only mentioned now, but the whole thing begins in the mind

John 13:17   Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

b.    “reasonable” AND “spiritual” act of worship

c.    Regeneration makes the mind new… renewing the mind keeps it new

d.    mind is also the battlefield: here the new nature and old nature find their mix

e.    BE NOT CONFORMED TO THIS AGE

Literally: J.B. Philips “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold.”

The world has a mold… it wasn’t you to conform, to think like it does on every topic: on politics (it’s called being ‘politically correct’); on clothing (it’s called ‘being trendy’ or ‘in style’); on success (it’s called ‘money, power, prestige, awards’)… world is VERY INFLUENTIAL on the mind… it has a mold and it WANTS YOU TO CONFORM TO IT

i)  age = fallen Satanic world system

Trench: “The floating mass of thought, opinions, maxims, speculations, hopes, impulses, aims, aspirations at any time current in the world.”

John Bunyan in Pilgrim’s Progress called it “Vanity Fair”:

Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently saw a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity; and at the town there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair. It is kept all the year long. … at this fair are all such merchandise sold as houses, lands, trades, places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lusts, pleasures; and delights of all sorts, as harlots, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not. And moreover, at this fair there is at all times to be seen jugglings, cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues, and that of every kind. Here are to be seen, too, and that for nothing, thefts, murders, adulteries, false-swearers, and that of a blood-red color. Now, as I said, the way to the Celestial City lies just through this town, where this lusty fair is kept; and he that will go to the city, and yet not go through this town, “must needs go out of the world.”
Modern translation:

Then I saw in my dream, that when they got out of the wilderness, they suddenly saw a city before them, and the name of that city was “Addictive Worthlessness”, and in that city there was a huge Mall called “Addictive Worthlessness Mall.” It’s open 24-7, and there you can buy anything the heart could desire… vacation homes, real estate, trophies and awards, human applause, corporate ladder climbing techniques, corner offices, political appointments, travel packages to resort areas, lusts, pleasures and delights of all kinds such as swimsuit editions, pornographic DVDs, computer games, worldly magazines, and all the raw materials for earthly happiness that money can buy: gold, silver, pearls, Oriental silk, fine Corinthian leather, top-end electronic devices such as flat screen plasma TVs and satellite dishes. Here you can see, and for free, too, thefts, murder, adulteries, blasphemers and all kinds of sins packaged as entertainment. As I said, the way to the Celestial City lies just though this filthy city, where this lusty Mall is owned and operated, and he that would go to the Celestial City and yet not go through the Mall can only avoid dealing with it by death.

Vanity Fair is the sum total of all that Satan wants to offer you in this world… and to those with a good brain and diligent work habits, there will be opportunities for you to buy more at Vanity Fair than do others who pass through this world

ii)  “Be not conformed” = lit. STOP MASQUERADING… “act of assuming an outward expression that does not come from within”

Greek implies you are already masquerading like the world’s system now… STOP DOING IT!!

It is also passive… “STOP ALLOWING YOURSELF TO BE CONFORMED.”

Satan is manipulating the media to saturate your minds with the ways He wants you to think… about life and death, about pleasure, about gender, about sexuality, about entertainment, about careers… he wants you to conform… God commands you to be transformed

f.    “BUT BE TRANSFORMED…”

God also has a mold and He wants you to be conformed to that mold… it is none other than Jesus Christ

The entire saving work of God is to take sinners like us and transform us to be just like Christ

i)  lit. metamorphosis

Matthew 17:1-2   After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.

ii)    outward visible part matching what you truly are within

iii)  this is sanctification… gradually changed more and more to be like Jesus

iv) also passive… something does this to us from the outside… THE HOLY SPIRIT

2 Corinthians 3:18  And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

As you gaze into the face of Christ, you will more and more be transformed from within into Christlikeness… just as Moses’ face was shining after he spent forty days on Mount Sinai with God

And what is the ultimate result of being transformed by the renewing of our minds?

4.    Will

“Then you will be able to test and approve God’s will; his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

a.    testing God’s will

b.    approving God’s will

Ultimately, I have given up my will and made it wholly yours, O Lord… what you want for me is what I want for me… I will do what you make it plain to my mind that I should do

So many people ask questions concerning God’s will for them!! You will never be able to discern God’s will for your life until you present your soul to Christ for salvation, daily present your body to Christ for holiness and service, and are being constantly transformed by the renewing of your mind

IV.     The Renewing of the Mind: How Does it Happen?

Vs. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

NOTE: Both of these processes are passive… the world conforms us or God transforms us In both cases, something is BEING DONE TO US…

The question is: to what are you presenting yourself to be influenced? What are you subjecting your mind to?

A.    Fundamental concept: transformation of life begins with the renewing of the mind Two great issues:

1.    What goes into the mind

2.    What the mind dwells on, what it chews on, what it meditates upon

Scripture calls on us to allow the WORD OF GOD to be the input and the meditation

Psalm 119:15-16 I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways. 16 I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

B.    Simple Secret: daily saturation in the Word of God as illuminated by the Holy Spirit

Illustrations:

Mission work in Tokushima… Indigo dying process… same color as our blue denim… the process occurs by dipping the cloth repeatedly into vats of the blue dye; the mort frequently it is dipped and the longer it is immersed, the deeper the color

So it is also with immersion in the word of God OR in the world’s mold

The more time you spend watching TV, surfing the net, reading worldly magazines, listening to worldly talk shows, watching worldly movies, the more profound will be the world’s effect on your mind

2 Corinthians 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

C.    Simple guidelines

1.    Daily commitment to Scripture intake: Knowledge in breadth

Illus. Charles Spurgeon “Our very blood should be ‘bibline.’”     Spurgeoon also said, “A Bible which is falling apart usually belongs to someone who is not.”

Go through Bible once per year… 1145 pages/365 days = about 3 pages per day

George Mueller read through the Bible two hundred times! David Livingstone read it four times in succession while he was detained in a jungle town in Africa.

Billy Graham, on his medical missionary father in law, Nelson Bell: “He made it a point to rise every morning at 4:30 and spend two to three hours in Bible reading. He didn’t use that time to read commentaries or write; he didn’t do his correspondence or any of his other work. He just read the Scriptures every morning and he was a walking Bible encyclopedia. People wondered at the holiness and greatness of his life.”

This thorough reading across the Bible gives powerful knowledge in breadth… the whole scope of God’s good, pleasing and perfect will will become clearer and clearer to you

Begin every day by praying and reading Scripture: start with the Bible intake time Psalm 119:18 “Open my eyes, that I may see wonderful things in your law.” As you see amazing and new things, you’ll get excited to read more Bible

2.    Daily commitment to Scripture meditation: Knowledge in depth

Psalm 1:1-3 “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by streams of water, whose leaf never withers. Whatever he does prospers.”

a.    meditation is the careful chewing over each delicious phrase of Scripture

b.    its too easy for reading to be unreflective

c.    USE PEN AND PAPER… a notebook; write down key observations, questions, mysteries, points of application

d.   pray over texts of Scripture… let the author of the Bile open your eyes to its deepest meanings

3.    Daily commitment to Scripture memorization: Knowledge made available

“On his law he meditates day and night…”

Impossible without memorization!!!

Memorization enables Scripture to be running through your mind constantly, like the rock in the river

V.            Summary and Conclusion

The central message of the Bible is this: Repent and believe in Christ for the salvation of your soul

Christ came, died on the cross to pay our penalty

We receive that free gift by the twin graces of REPENTANCE and FAITH… repentance means a determination to think differently about everything in life… for the Christian, the life of repentance NEVER ENDS… it continues to touch every area of life

The world makes a claim on every area of your thought life and every topic in this world God makes a claim on every area of your thought life and every topic in this world

The question is, whose view are you going to take? On money:

the world says that money is the root of all happiness, and that the basic purpose of money is to make you happy in this life

God says that the love of money the a root of all kinds of evil, but that money can be used for His glory and for the advancement of His Kingdom, for the relief of the poor and for storing up eternal riches in heaven if we give it away by faith here on earth

On sex:

The world says “If it feels good, do it!” That sex is fine between casual consenting people, and that there are no lasting consequences to being promiscuous

God says that sex is a glorious gift that is to be enjoyed, but only in the context of marriage; and that He will judge all sexual offenses either at the cross of Christ or in eternity

On clothing:

The world says that the clothes make the man; that we need to be up on all the styles; that if your not wearing the hottest styles, you’re nothing. The world says you can gauge someone by their external appearance and their attire

God says that clothing is given to cover our nakedness, that we should not be anxious about our clothing, because He clothes the grass of the field; He says that external appearance is nowhere near as important as what’s in your heart

On time:

The world acts as though tomorrow is guaranteed, that you can do whatever you want with your time, not to sweat it because there will always be more; to eat, drink and be merry with the time you have

God says that time is finite and of infinite worth; that we are to redeem the time because the days are evil; that we should number our days and gain a heart of wisdom; that we should not assume that we will even be alive tomorrow, but should say “If the Lord lives we will live and do this or that

Friend… the Bible is a huge book with God’s way of thinking about every significant topic or issue you will face in your lives… you should present your mind to it every day, and meditate on it throughout the day… let God’s word transform EVERY AREA of your thinking and through it, every area of your life

THEN AND ONLY THEN WILL YOU BE ABLE TO TEST AND APPROVE GOD GOOD PLEASING AND PERFECT WILL!!!