Sound Doctrine

Jeff Johnson: Are you a thermostat or a thermometer? The difference between a thermometer and a thermostat is awesome because a thermostat, what does it do? Well, a thermostat changes the atmosphere. It changes everything that is around it, right?

Oh Lord, let us be thermostats that we can change the atmosphere that is around us at the job, at the school, wherever. I want to be a thermostat. I want to be transforming and changing for your glory.

Guest (Male): What is involved in knowing God's will? What can get in the way of discovering it? We are about to find out on Sound Doctrine. We return to Romans chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 today. The early part of this chapter speaks of consecration. Put another way, our attitude towards God.

We will learn that as we give ourselves over to God, he begins to unveil his will to us. Every Christian should have a burning desire to know God's will for their life. Does that describe you? Now with the rest of his message, God's will for you, here is Pastor Jeff Johnson.

Jeff Johnson: The scripture says that if we would seek his counsel, the guidance of the Lord, acknowledge him. In Proverbs 3 it says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Don't lean on your understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways, he shall what?" Direct your path. You will know his will. That is what he is waiting for. Just give it to me, you will know my will.

Our part is to give ourselves. His part is he will work through us then. And the easy part is really give ourselves. It is reasonable. I mean, after all, we are perishing. And after all, we have lived on this earth long enough to know that nothing satisfies in this world that we live in. Nothing truly fulfills us but him.

In his presence is fullness of joy. At his right hand there are pleasures forevermore. We are learning this. The more we get involved in the world, the more we buy this and think that this is going to be my happiness, that this is going to get it, that is going to get it, and then we get ripped off, we get ripped off, we get ripped off. The more we are learning our lessons well, that is okay. But we are getting closer and closer to him and we are being fulfilled and satisfied on a daily basis.

So our spiritual worship is not my will, but it is just simply trusting and obeying the Lord. Now we are prepared for his will, his direction. So first Paul gives us the goal, and that is chapter 12 verse 1. The goal: give our bodies, present your bodies. It is reasonable service. And then verse 2 he shares how it is to be done, how we are to do this. Remember it is for service. Remember as Jesus saw the crowd, he saw sheep with no shepherd. He had compassion on them. They were lost.

And then he saw the people as a harvest. And he said, "Behold the harvest is ready to be gathered." And then he said, "But we need more laborers." You see, it is about service. Are you a laborer? Are you laboring in the harvest field? Are you busy about your father's business? Now I am not saying that you are a dedicated minister of the gospel and you are dedicated studying all the time and in the Bible. No, you have jobs. You have places to go and people to see and things to do.

But are you in the midst of that? You can still be a laborer in the field. A witness for him, a light in a dark place. You can still give the gospel. You can still share the good news. That is what a laborer is. So blessed because they have received, now they want to give and they want to share it with those around them.

So this is what the second thing in this is. Number one, present your bodies. That is what he shared with us there. There is three things. Number two: be not conformed. Be not conformed. J.B. Phillips says it this way: don't allow the world to squeeze you into its mold or you will be deformed. If you are deformed, you cannot do much. But if you allow the world to squeeze you into its mold, then you become a worldling.

What is a worldling? Well, remember over in Matthew 13, Jesus said this in verse 22 talking about the seed that landed on different places. One landed in the thorns. And it says that he received the seed among the thorns is he that hears the word and then the cares of this world, the riches, the pleasures, the deceitfulness of riches choke out the word and he becomes unfruitful.

So we need to be careful. This world chokes. This world snuffs that which God wants to build in us. This world is our enemy. It is against us. It is not for us. And we need to be on guard. The question is, what is worldly? Satan is according to the scriptures the god, small G, of this world. That is a false value system we live in. A spirit of selfishness rules in our midst.

And we see it everywhere. Everybody me, myself, and I. That is all we are worried about. That is all I want. And it is reigning in the hearts of men and women. There is high self-esteem with a sense of entitlement actually. I deserve this. It is all about me anyhow. This is what I want. And people are just honed into that.

Led by lust of the flesh. Immorality is prevalent throughout our society. There is a sick humor in this society that is sick. It is in everything. It is in the newspaper, the magazines, the television, the signboards. It is sickness throughout. It is a cancer that is throughout this nation that is taking it down. The media pressure, the adman they call them. Commercialism reigns.

Man, the media, they love to tweak us. They love to get us all fearful and the stuff they come off with. And how they blitz certain things because they know that if they keep blitzing it after a while we are going to believe it. And we are being sold a bill of goods daily, moment by moment through various ways. It is all a part of the enemy. He uses it all, doesn't he? To try to do what? To snuff out the light.

Jesus is the light. He lights up my life. Remember that song? I won't let Satan blow it out. The candle on the hilltop, hide it under a bushel? No. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. Well, he is going to try though. Remember over in 1 John 2, write this one down, this is a good one. 1 John 2 verse 15. He says, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world is going to pass away, the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abides forever." Oh, I want to do God's will. I want to abide forever. I want to live forever. I want to live with the Father in his love. I want to serve God while I am here.

There is nothing that gives more purpose and hope than to share the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Now, it is worldly if our motive is to please ourselves. It is worldly if we are living for self. It is worldly if you are seeking to be in the in-crowd. I want to be just like the Joneses or whatever. If you are moved by peer pressure, that is worldly, isn't it?

Well, they just pressured me to do it. I mean, I just watched them and I saw it and I just felt I had to do it. That is worldly. But if you are seeking to please God. In other words, do you really want to know, do you really want to obey God's will? Do you want to be walking in his will and serving the Lord? He is looking at our hearts.

But if you are captured by a hobby and man, I am telling you, hobbies will not only capture you, they will take all your time, all your energy. They will steal from you. And yet it is a good hobby. It is not a bad thing that I am doing. I just really get into it. I am almost broke because I buy so much of it. My wife is a little mad at me right now. I am blowing it big time. I just want one more, just one more, okay?

And it is addictive, man. It sucks us dry. If you are caught up with the internet, spending so much time on there, getting caught up also in porn. Had a guy come to me last service, said, "I need help, man. I am caught up and I am in fornication big time." I said, "What do you mean, with a woman?" "No, with the internet, with porn." Big time. And he was hurting, he was crying out.

So we are getting him counsel. I mean, if you cry out, there is counsel, there is a way out. But if you keep on, it will keep on taking you down. And this brother knows it. You might be hooked on eBay. I just like to buy. See what is out there, get the deals. But when you look back, you have been on that thing for 10 hours a day. And most of the junk you are getting is just stacking up in the back room.

And then it is just not what really you needed. I mean, you got caught up in the hoopla of it all. And it is dangerous. Watching MTV, the kids get into it and they watch it over and over again and they are just flooding their minds with it. We used to say sex, drugs, or rock and roll. If you are into any of those, they will pull you down. They will destroy your life.

And yet look at the partying going on in our world today. You are feeding at the wrong trough. You are feeding at the wrong place and it is not going to bring nourishment to you. It will kill you. It is poison. So our body appetites, they do not need any more stimulation. They have enough by themselves, right? Our flesh.

It is almost like a guy that is in the desert and he is thirsty, he is dying of thirst and as he is crawling along, all of a sudden he looks up and he sees water. And he gets all excited and he gets up on his feet and one more last run towards it, runs towards it, runs towards it and then he falls and it is just sand. It was a mirage. And so the hope is dashed.

That is what the world is doing today. Running after mirages. Never getting satisfied, finding out it just dashes their hope. Because that is what it is made up to do. That is how the enemy uses it. Lot is such an incredible example in the Old Testament. Remember Lot? Jesus says, "Remember Lot's wife." Genesis gives us that whole scenario.

But it is good because remember Lot, he looked and he had an opportunity to go anywhere he wanted. And he looked and he saw this big city. He saw the lights coming from the city. He saw the green pastures down there and how they are taking care of their goats and all their animals. And he just said, "I am going there. Abraham, you go wherever you want, but I am taking this land. This is where I am going."

And so he kind of went and he pitched his tent, it says. First he saw it and he wanted it, he was deceived with his eyes. And then he pitched his tent towards Sodom, it says. Sodom and Gomorrah. You know the story there. And as he pitched his tent, that was not the last thing. He ended up living down there. He ended up taking his family. He took his wife and his children.

And he said, "We are going to make money, man. We are going to do good. This big city stuff. This is going to be awesome. We are going to grow from this experience, we are going to get better and man, this is going to be great." And so they got involved. He became one of the judges in the city. And then God says, "I have had it up to here with what is going on in there. I am going to destroy them. Get out, Lot. Get out."

Tried to get his wife and kids to get out. He is trying to get them to get out and his wife is kind of running and yet her heart is in Sodom. She's already been won by it. And she turns around to look back and she turned into a pillar of salt. You know the story. But then he not only lost his wife, which is got to be a hurt. But he lost his kids. His kids became very immoral.

You see, that is the price we pay when we let our kids and our lives go into the world and touch the things of the world and handle the things of the world instead of serving God. Instead of knowing his will. Instead of being disciplined in certain areas and seeking the Lord and having family prayer time at home.

The time of worshipping the Lord as we are driving in the car going on a long-distance ride or whatever. I mean, those times are so precious to those little hearts. And yet we let them go. We more or less sacrifice them to the world. And then they end up pregnant or whatever and then there is a real sacrifice that goes on with the child. You see, Satan desires child sacrifice. He loves it. And he demands it. And he is getting it, isn't he? But not last Saturday. Five were saved. Five more were pulled. Thank God.

God is still wanting to use us to do positive things. And then finally, we will end with this. He says notice in verse 2, "Be not conformed to this world." Or don't be deformed in this world. That is a good way to put it. "But be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove, that you may test what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Transformation. Being transformed. The Greek word is metamorphosis. There is a total change like with a caterpillar that ends up hanging from a fence and it turns into a beautiful butterfly. That is a metamorphose. Be ye transformed. How? By the renewing of your mind. How do we renew our minds? We get into the word of God. It gets into us.

And all of a sudden we are being transformed. I like the scripture over in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and verse 18. "But we all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image." We are transformed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

You see, even this morning we are being transformed by the renewing of our minds by getting that which is right instead of being fed all the wrong and hearing all the lies. We are getting the truth. You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. That is what is happening. Now, if you are world-controlled, then you are being deformed.

Okay? That is understandable. If you are God-controlled, then you are being transformed. And the difference is between a thermometer and a thermostat. You know what a thermometer is, right? It senses if it is hot or cold. It tells you what is going on. So with our society, the temperature of society. What is taking place today?

I mean, to be cool and effective. That is what a lot of people want. I want to be cool, I want to be effective. What is the world doing? And many times inside the church you hear this question. "Oh, how is the world doing it? Then we ought to do like they do it because what they are doing it seems like it is working."

But come on, that was man-devised. That was manipulation. That was the lie. And what are we going to do? Go after what the world is teaching and then say, "Well, we are going to tweak it a little bit. The world does this, so we will tweak it and make it Christian." And that will make it awesome. That will give God's blessing on it.

No, it is just the world. We need to be transformed and do it God's way, what he would want to do. Which is going to be different. Which is going to be whoa, kind of sometimes in your face. I don't understand this. Why would they do that? Why would they allow this? And then all of a sudden we are seeing this is God speaking to a whole lot of hearts.

He is transforming us. He is changing us. But then the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat is awesome because a thermostat, what does it do? Well, a thermostat changes the atmosphere. It changes everything that is around it, right? Oh Lord, let us be thermostats that we can change the atmosphere that is around us at the job, at the school, wherever. I want to be a thermostat. I want to be transforming and changing for your glory.

Now, I don't think it is again going back to this whole thing of, well then I need to get off the eBay a little bit and then I will clean my house up and I will clean this up. I don't think it is again, it is not the outward. God wants to renew us from within. It is not about I don't smoke, I don't chew, I don't go with those that do. And so I am holy and I am square. No, it is about what is inside.

And I think this is where God wants to get a hold of us. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he, the scripture says. Doing the outward without the inward change is worthless. See, God wants to touch us in our hearts. It is not just that we would have a form of godliness and then deny the power thereof. It is no, I don't deny the power, I allow the power to come into my life because that is when God's going to make a difference.

I want to be filled, baptized in the Holy Spirit. I want to know God intimately. I want to be filled from the tip of my toes to the top of my head with the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. I want to be filled with the Spirit. That Jesus said I want you to be so full that it will gush up inside of you and flow out to others all around you. Not just the indwelling, but the overflowing of God. God help us.

So the disciples were distressed, they were confused. Jesus came and said, "Why are you so troubled?" Or actually he said, "Don't be so troubled. Let not your heart be troubled. In my Father's house there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you." John 14. "I go to prepare a place for you. If I go, I will return for you to receive you unto myself, that where I am, you might be also. And whether I go you know, the way you know."

And then Thomas goes, "No we don't! What are you doing, Lord? We don't know what you're talking about. We know not whether you are going or how can we know the way?" And they are all panicking, they are all afraid. And Jesus said, John 14:6, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. There is no other way to get to the Father but by me." It is relationship. It is character. You become a child of God. Simple. And then you begin to serve the Lord by giving your body a living sacrifice. Not being conformed into this world.

Now I heard a guy panicking or actually a woman was panicking, the captain was trying to bring the boat into the harbor and there was a huge storm, huge waves out there. There was two long jetties that were going out and they were being smashed between the two and the woman just panicked and said, "Captain, how in the world are we going to get in?

I mean the winds are contrary, it is foggy, I can barely see, the waves are splashing up and there is the rocks right there and the rocks right there. How are we going to make it?" And the captain said, "Listen woman, calm down. You see those lights out there? There's three of them, right?" "Yeah." "Well what I do is just line those three lights up. You see I got my benchmark here or my landmark. Landmark, thank you. Got my landmarks and I line those three up and I go in."

Now what are the three for us this morning? I want to end with this. Listen. Number one is the word of God. Is it according to God's word? Is it in the word of God? Is it according to God's word? We check that out. That is the first light that we line up. Then number two, do I have a peace about it? Is his Spirit bearing witness with my Spirit that I need this is God's will, this is what we need to do?

So first of all is it according to his word, do I have a peace about doing it? And the third light that you line up so you can go on in is are the circumstances there? Is the door opening? Is it really working as you are moving? And if you get these three lined up you go in. You go in and you will know that it is God's will.

Now here is a simpler one-step sentence as far as what God's will is. And it is by Saint Augustine. Saint Augustine says to know God's will, and here is his quote: "Just love God with all of your heart, then do what you want." And that is just boom. Just love God with all your heart, then do what you want. You are going to do fine. You are going to do what pleases God. You are going to serve God because why? Because you love him with all your heart. It is simple, isn't it?

Guest (Male): That is Pastor Jeff Johnson with Sound Doctrine from the book of Romans. Our message today goes by the title of "God's Will for You". This has been Sound Doctrine with Pastor Jeff Johnson, a ministry of Calvary Chapel Downey. It is our sincere hope that you have been blessed by the word spoken today by Pastor Jeff, as we continue verse by verse through the great book of Romans.

The 16 chapters in this amazing epistle from the Apostle Paul contain some of the most important lessons we can learn about being a believer in Jesus in the 21st century. Now if you would like to hear this study again, there are several ways to do that. The first is online at sounddoctrineradio.org. By the way, you can also donate to this radio ministry right there at sounddoctrineradio.org.

The second way to listen is through the Sound Doctrine Radio podcast app. Look for us in your favorite app store. The podcast version of Sound Doctrine can also be heard wherever you enjoy podcasts, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Well, we have talked about our attitude towards God today on Sound Doctrine, and next time we will go on to discuss our attitude towards others. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Downey.