Knowing His Perfect Will - Part 3

Those works that do endure the fire, those we will be rewarded for. And so to realize that one day I'm going to give an account of my life unto the Lord. Only those things that have been done for His sake and for His glory are going to have any value throughout eternity.

So much of what we do in our lives and so much of the time that we're spending on various personal pursuits, when we stand before Him, they'll have no value at all. It will all be ashes. That which I do for Him, that which lasts, is that which will be permanent.

But now He tells us, reading the secrets, first one, of course, is to just present yourself. Present your body as a living sacrifice to the Lord. Secondly, He said, don't be conformed to this world.

We are, all of us, under tremendous pressure to be conformed to this world. There is this peer pressure, which is so difficult to deal with. So often we are doing things we really don't want to do, but it's because of the peer pressure that we're doing it.

And we've, all of us, have succumbed to this tremendous peer pressure and have done things that we knew we shouldn't do, which we hadn't done after they were done, but it's just a difficult obstacle to overcome. We're told, don't be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. So, don't be conformed to this world.

Now John defines the world as being all that is in the world, he said, the lust of our flesh, the lust of our eyes, and the pride of life. It is not of the Father, but it is of the world. Peter wrote, in 1 Peter 4, 2, that we should no longer live being controlled by our lust, but that we should yield to the will of God, for in past times you spent enough time living as the world in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, and partying.

And so, that pretty much describes what the world is in biblical terms. It's living as though God did not exist. It's living for your own desires, for your own pleasures, living for self.

That's the mark of the world. Don't be conformed to the world. But he said, be transformed.

The world wants to conform you into its image. The Lord wants to transform you into His image. And that comes through the renewing of the mind.

How do we renew our minds? Well, Paul wrote to the Corinthians in his second letter, chapter 10. The weapons of our warfare, they are not carnal, but they are mighty through God, by which we can pull down the strongholds of the enemy. As we cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought unto the obedience of Jesus Christ.

Don't be conformed to the world. It's interesting how that even we can be sitting in the sanctuary. We can be studying the word of God.

And it's interesting how that while we're sitting here, listening to the word of God, our minds can take little side journeys. And we can be thinking about so many different things. We can be wondering about the surf, and maybe this afternoon.

And we can see ourselves, you know, gliding down the side of a well-shaped wave. Or other things that come into our minds. Paul says you need to bring those into captivity unto the obedience of Jesus Christ.

When you find your mind roaming off, and many times into things that are not very spiritual, you need to bring that back into captivity unto Jesus Christ. It's interesting how that, I have a lot of safeguards on my computer. But every day, sometime during the time when I'm watching the computer, this little thing will come up on the side, and it has, you know, these different movies or whatever, you know, that just are there, and you take the next step and plug it.

I've never taken the next step, and nor will I. I always just X the thing on out. I do have safeguards, I don't know how this one slips through, but at any rate, you don't dare go that direction. You don't dare open that door.

It's like when I was a kid, my mother used to say, son, never touch a cigarette. Don't touch it. And so as I grew up, I never touched a cigarette.

It was only when I became a pastor that I had to pick up cigarette butts when people came for weddings, and I have difficulty doing that. I finally got me a thing that I can, you know, do it without touching them. And it's a great relief, but there are doors that you shouldn't open, because they can only lead to thoughts and so forth that are not really acceptable before the Lord.

Paul wrote to the Philippians in chapter 4, verse 7, and he said, the peace of God, which passes understanding, will keep your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally brethren, whatever things are true, are honest, are just, are pure, are lovely, and of good report, think on these things. Bring your mind into captivity under the obedience of Jesus Christ.

Don't be conformed to the world, be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you might prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God for your life. This is what we all desire, I'm sure. The perfect will of God for my life.

There are things that are obviously God's will. I know that this is God's will, that I love God supremely, love Him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. That's God's will.

It is God's will for my life that I love you like I love myself.