A Heart for God, Part 2 (Romans 12:1-2)

I. Introduction. A. Orientation. This morning, we saw That if we are to be The kind of man, woman or child That is pleasing to God, We must have a heart for Him. We must love what He loves. We must hate what He hates. In other words, We must have a heart like His.

What weve seen so far Is that if we are to have such a heart We cant love the world.

John wasnt referring to the physical world, But to the things in this world That are contrary to God. We cant love the things that appeal to the sin nature. We cant have our eyes fixed on worldly things. We cant desire great things for ourselves.

2 To the degree that we give in to any of these To that degree we extinguish The work of Gods Spirit, And to that degree We become more like the world And less like God, And so have less of a heart for Him.

If that isnt what you want If you would rather become something more like those The Lord loved and used for His glory, Then you need to operate on different principles Those of the Spirit.

Instead of desiring fleshly things, you must desire spiritual things. Instead of fixing your eyes on this world, You must fix them on heaven. And instead of seeking great things for yourself, You must humble yourself and seek great things for God. B. Preview. This evening, were going to consider Two further things we need to do To grow into His image:

First, we must not allow ourselves to be conformed to the world.

But second, we must instead allow the Spirit to transform us into the image of Christ. II. Sermon. A. Lets consider first that we must not allow ourselves to be conformed to the world. What does it mean to conform? The word means to be shaped by Or to live after the pattern of something To become like it.

Paul is warning us here That if we are to be more like Jesus We must not to allow ourselves To be shaped by the world We cant let it influence us Or dictate to us How we should live.

Why would we allow this in the first place? Its usually because we see something In the world usually in a person That we admire and want to be like.

When we see something we like in someone We try to imitate them. We try to act like them, Dress like them,

Look like them. Because we want to become like them. Ex: Dirty Harry. We want to imitate what we like about them And make that part of our character.

That can be a good thing If what were wanting to imitate is good. Paul writes, Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). But it can be bad, if what we want to imitate is bad.

We need to be careful What we allow ourselves to admire/love.

If what were admiring is sinful Its going to pull us in the wrong direction.

Thats why the Lord also warns us Against forming close relationships With those who are of the world. If we spend time with them, We will become like them. Paul writes, Do not be deceived: Bad company corrupts good morals (1 Cor. 15:33). And Solomon writes, He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm (Prov. 13:20).

Which is why Paul later writes, Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE, says the Lord. AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; and I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty (2 Cor. 6:14-18). The more time you spend with them, The more you will be tempted to be conformed to the world.

Paul says do not be conformed to this world Do not love this world Do not want to be like those of this world, So that you dont become like them.

B. What can we do to fight against the desire to conform? We must allow the Spirit of Christ to make us like Him.

We have several things working against us Among which are The fact that we came into this world with the desire to conform to it, Weve been in this world for a while and have conformed to it already to some degree, And now that the Lord has saved us, Theres still part of us that wants to conform to it.

What can we do to overcome it?

6 We must allow the Spirit to work through the Word To make us more like Christ.

First, by working love and gratitude in us As He reminds us of the mercies God has already shown us: Paul writes, I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God.

Remember what you were outside of Christ: You were spiritually dead, You werent seeking God, You were a child of wrath On your way to a fiery hell.

Remember what God did, When you were His enemy, God sent His Son to save you To live and to die for you. When you were dead, He made you alive, Purely by His grace, He raised you up And changed your heart And put your feet on the path of life.

Remember what He continues to do

7 He provides for you day by day, Gives you grace to persevere, Continually forgives your faults, Sanctifies and cleanses you So that nothing can separate you from His love.

And remember what He will do for you He will bring you to heaven And love and care for you for eternity So that you will never be in need of anything But grow more and more blessed.

Think about His many mercies, The many ways you are indebted to Him. This should make you love Him more And the world less, So that you will have less desire to be conformed to the world And a greater desire to be transformed into His image.

Second, considering His mercies/love, Yield to the direction of the Spirit To commit your life to the Lord.

Instead of giving yourself to the world, Give yourself to Him as a continual sacrifice.

8 Pick up your cross and follow Him As He calls you to.

View yourself as Paul says you should in Romans 6. You were alive to yourself at one time, But now you have been buried and raised with Christ. See yourself as one who has been raised Now only to serve the Lord No longer to yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness No longer to seek and serve the world But now to yield your members as instruments of righteousness To serve the Lord and to seek His glory. Consider this to be your only option, The only reason for your life.

Third, allow the Spirit to renew your mind in the Word.

Paul writes assuming his readers already have the Spirit, Since this renewal cant go on without Him.

But he also knows this renewal Cant move forward without the Word.

The Spirit doesnt communicate truth directly today And even when He did In the days His Word was being written,

He didnt do this for all. He uses means The Word He has given to the church once for all To direct His people into the truth. You need to be in the Word.

As I said before, When the Lord saved us, We had already been in the world for some time And had been influenced by it in many areas.

When He saved us He didnt remove us from the world And put us in a perfect environment, But we had to continue in it, Which means the potential was there To continue to be influenced by it.

How can we continue in this world Immersed in its influences Unlearn the things weve learned, Keep ourselves from learning more of its ways, And at the same time learn what we need to know To honor and glorify God?

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Theres only one: By being in the Word.

The Word is sometimes represented As water in Scripture, Because of its ability to wash our souls.

Just as we wash daily To remove the dirt of this world from our bodies, So we need to bathe in His Word daily To wash the dirt of the worlds thinking from our souls.

You need to immerse yourself in His Word. Read it daily in your devotions and/or RBT Hear it preached weekly in our worship services Or taught in our Bible studies Gather with the church monthly As we meet together to share what the Lord has shown us In our own study as we gather together for RBT.

Study the Word, seek to understand it, Memorize it, and apply it.

The more you are in the Word, The more your mind will be washed and renewed,

11 The more truth the Spirit will have to work with, And the more your life will be transformed.

Dont expect this to happen, If youre not in the Word Or if you dont take the Word seriously.

Finally, realize also if you dont do this, Youll never be able clearly to see What Gods will is for you What He wants you to be and do.

As long as your heart is captivated by the world And your mind is filled with its ideas, You will continue to be conformed to the world, And your spiritual vision will be cloudy.

Not having a clear view of what He wants You will very easily convince yourself That you are doing what God wants you to do, When youre really serving the world.

If you want a heart for God, You must fall out of love with the world, And more in love with the Lord.

12 You must allow the Spirit To keep His mercies in front of your eyes at all times, To move you to give yourself to Him as a continual sacrifice to His service, And to direct you daily through His Word.

May the Lord give us ears to hear His Word this evening, And the grace to do what He says. Amen.

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