He says, be transformed, here in verse 2, requiring more participation than isolation.
I mean, as A.W. told you, contact with the world without merging with the world. Try to isolate yourself from the lost souls in the world. How is anybody going to ever reach them? You have to learn these things.
You get your fingers burnt enough, you know what's hot and what's not, and you learn, you pick up moves. God will be with you every step of the way. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of Romans.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick in the Book of Romans Chapter 12 with this edition of Cross Reference Radio. Jesus is God's sacrificial lamb and has been presented for our sin.
God no longer receives sacrificial blood offerings of animals or grain offerings. Instead, we present ourselves taking up our own cross. Notice the insertion. Our own cross. I just saw a picture of somebody dragging a cross around. It's, you know, I don't know, four by four blocks. The crosses that were hung, that they hung these villains on or the Lord even, they were used as little wood as they could use.
They just needed enough to support the body. And again, they did it at eye level. So the person crucified was eye to eye with the witnesses because Rome wanted to make the statement.
We can do you too if you don't behave yourself. This is exalted crucifix and stuff like that. Well, yeah, that too.
That's not what's going on. And so the point of saying, when we talk about taking up our own cross, it's an ugly deal. It's not this, you know, chiseled event that is so, it's a wild thing. It's not, if we don't understand that, then when trouble comes our way, we're bewildered. When trouble comes our way and we've done nothing wrong, it could be a cross.
This is part of serving the Lord, presenting your body as a living sacrifice. Otherwise, you get disillusioned. We can become disillusioned. I had such high, I had very high hopes for my Christianity when I gave my life to Christ.
I thought things would fall in place. If you preach it, they will come. I have learned so many painful lessons, but here I still am.
And when the dust settles, I plan to still be held by the mighty hand of God as it was with Joseph. Anyway, coming back to this King David, when he was going to make an offering to the Lord and he wanted to purchase the field of a man named Arunah, and Arunah wanted to just give it to him, but David, and talk about lessons from Bible characters, King David said, I will not offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing. If it does not cost something, then how is it still a sacrifice?
It may cost you time. You know, serving is a competitor, just like kids where, you know, your husband and wife get married and they have no kids. When they have kids, they quickly find out there's a competitor now in the home for attention, for sleep, for food.
It's just a competitor and it doesn't stop. Well, serving Christ, you know, now you compete. Look, I've got to go down to the church and do this.
I've signed on. Well, that's going to be time. Now the spouses are both sacrificing to some degree.
If you can both serve at the same time, that's great, but that's not always how it works out. Holy and acceptable. Raise your hand if you prefer to serve God with the unacceptable and we'll write your name down and have a little talk with you.
I mean, how else should it be? We serve God with that which is holy and acceptable to him. That's the story of Leviticus 10 3, Nadab and Abihu. They brought to the altar of Christ that which was not holy nor was it acceptable and they died on the spot and Moses said to Aaron, their father, by all who come near me, I must be regarded as holy.
Well, what is the alternative? Just to sachet up to God and treat him like the man upstairs? I hope none of you use that phrase, the man upstairs. It's an indication of how incredibly ignorant of the holiness of God you probably are and if you have been okay, just stop and if we catch you doing wrong, just stop, which is your reasonable service. The word reasonable in the Greek there is where we get our English word logic from. This is logical.
It makes perfect sense. That's what Paul is saying. There has been a lot of illogical service in Christ's name.
Hopefully I'm not too guilty of that. It is again not my intention to guilt anyone into doing their duty, but it is my intention to preach the word and to preach it as it is given to us. After all God has done to bring us into heaven, it's only proper that we make sacrifices on earth. 1 John 3.16, I won't take the time, but John says the same thing there. You know, study of the Bible should teach us to endure hardship for Christ. 1 Peter chapter 4, and again 1 Peter he's writing to Christians who were persecuted. He couldn't stop their persecution and he didn't fluff them up. Now, now, it'll be okay.
I don't know what it's going to be, but I know you better hang in there. So anyway, he says, chapter 4, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind. And so there's Peter, not trying to simplify, well, he's just telling it like it is.
Arm yourself. Christ went through this, imitate him. It's not being forsaken if being abandoned by God is for the glory of God without sin in your life.
In other words, if you feel God's walked away in serving God without sin, in that service, and God has sort of left you to the circumstances, the piranha, the hyenas of life, it doesn't mean he's abandoned you. Jesus Christ, of course, is the consummate example. Job, Job was persecuted by Satan. He didn't die because of that persecution, but he sort of suffered, would have been better if he asked for death. John the Baptist chopped off his head. Stephen, one of the servants in the church, they stoned him, they killed him in public with rocks.
James the apostle likely cut his head off too, he was killed with the sword. Antipas, God's faithful witness, doesn't say how, he says he was a martyr. These were sacrifices. So when Jesus cried, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, from the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He's fulfilling the scapegoat of the atonement. And that scapegoat was sent out of Israel's camp. It was forsaken all alone to die for the sins of the people. So, it's not being forsaken if being abandoned by God is for God's glory and apart from sin. And those are some of the examples and so again Hebrews 13, for we, for here we have no continuing city but we will seek the one to come.
Because we don't like this one, else we wouldn't be seeking the next one. Verse 2, and do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Do not be conformed to this world.
Well, that's pretty much self-explanatory. We're non-conformists on spiritual and moral matters. You know, we see people who try to take every moral thing and spin it into a political thing. It's moral, it's sin, and we're supposed to not back down and find a way to accommodate them in their sin.
If they want to be received, they got to do it like everybody else. Repent, be born again. Christians have died upholding these facts. Now the word here for world is eon in the Greek where we get our English word eons, as opposed to other places the word for world is cosmos, where we get our cosmos word from. When Jesus said, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, he's using cosmos. And it's the planets, the people on the planet, and they're connected, but they sort of zoom in on other facets of what we're up against and what God is doing.
And so there's no contradiction. The word eon in the Greek means this age, well the age of the people in this world. And it has been this way and will be this way until Christ comes back. We are presently in this age of darkness. So the world is not the planet, but the times we live in and the ways of the people who live on the planet without Christ.
That's this darkness, that's the world we live in. Galatians chapter one verse four speaking of Christ who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and father. And don't forget, what's God like? He's like a father.
What else? Well look at the life of Jesus and you'll find out. He who has seen me has seen the father, Philip.
These are vital lessons for us. Everything we believe and hold dear as Christians is based on scripture. Scripture is the filter.
It is, that's what the reformers meant when they said sola scriptura, scripture alone defines how we're going to behave and believe and live. The world in this context is humanity in darkness outside of the light of Christ, spiritually speaking. You know, you see a good painting, one of those classics? Light has a lot to do with making that picture a classic over the ages. Light is a big deal for us as Christians. And so when we hear about light and darkness in scripture, we're not to just pass over those things.
They merit our consideration. That's what David said. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, sits in the path of sinners, stands and he goes on and he says, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law he shall meditate day and night. Hard times and good times. That's who I want to be.
And that's who Satan does not want me to be and that goes for you equally. So mankind apart from Christ, having no lasting solutions for sin, only responses. That's why people commit a crime here. Arrested, they're put in jail.
People commit a crime there. But it doesn't stop. Well, it will stop when Christ returns. It will stop.
It will drastically reduce initially and then it will ultimately stop. So the world is the problem, not the solution. But you can't tell them that.
Well, that's partly true. You can tell the ones who are being plucked out of the burning. John chapter 8, Jesus spoke to them saying, I am the light of the cosmos, the planet, the people on the planet. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life. So we are looking again at verse 2.
Do not be conformed to this world because it's in darkness. James chapter 4 verse 4. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Colossians 2, 6. These little subtle verses, right?
Paul's just writing away out of his heart. Out of the abundance of the hearts he speaks and he writes to the Colossians, as you therefore have received Christ Jesus, so walk in him. And he goes on to say, rooted and built up in the faith. Imitate Christ. May this Christless world that we live in, this age that we find ourselves in, not squeeze us into its own likeness, into its own shape, its own mold. May we not conform to the vessels of the world. May this Christless world not get me on its potter's wheel to shape me into its own image. Because that's what was happening to me before Christ got hold of me.
I was on their potter's wheel. May this Christless world not play me like a fiddle. You younger Christians as you enter the workforce, I hope you remember these things. You're stepping into enemy territory and God has made you ready if you avail yourself. But if you go to a Bible teaching church, you have to avail yourself of the lessons. You cannot just be a spectator.
If you got questions, ask them. Mankind influenced and controlled by the powers of darkness is in opposition to God, whether they're doing it on purpose or not. By default, they're under the prince of this world. Luke 11 verse 23, and the reason why again, I give you these verses so you understand it's not my biased, well it is, I'm biased towards what God says. He who is not with me is against me. He who does not gather with me scatters.
By default, you're either with him or you're not. I know you got more questions. Well what about this guy? What about that guy?
Well those questions do have answers. But the main thing is, it will come down to this. First John 5 19, the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
The whole thing. Then you can go to Ephesians 2 verses 1 through 3 and where he talks about the Christians coming out of the world. So the world has no use for Christ. And that's no surprise.
And it's no surprise they have no use for his word. But we can help him with that. Nothing in the world is going to help me live for God. Now that doesn't mean we can't take lessons from unbelievers because we do. There have been men in my life who were unbelievers, but I learned things about life from them nonetheless. That's called common grace. There's a common grace among all people, otherwise societies would perish. That is not special grace imparted by God.
And it's okay to learn such lessons. And we don't want to take too much time to get, we don't need any more right now, man, I hope. Seek to meet the world's deepest needs, our spiritual needs.
That's the world's deepest needs. They won't agree with this, but it's up to the leading of the Spirit of God in your life to people who will receive this. And not, you know, when Paul talked about Demas forsaking him, how can a Christian read that verse and not feel a tinge of pain along with Paul? 2 Timothy 4 verse 10, Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world and has departed with Thessalonica. Well, when Timothy gets that letter, he knew Demas. He served with him.
It had to sting. Maybe he said, I knew it, I saw this. Or maybe he said, I didn't see this coming. Either way, the world got the upper hand on Demas. And he was conforming now to the world. And he could no longer keep up with Paul, by choice. However, there's a ray of hope in this. He went to Thessalonica, where Paul established a pretty strong church.
Maybe they got hold of Demas. We'll have to wait till we get to heaven to find out. Being conformed to this world may lead to being condemned by this world. Being conformed to this world may, being not conformed to this world, may lead to you being condemned with the world. The world lives by the imagination of men.
Well, how does a Christian live? A little revelation of God. We have the book of Revelation, but the entire book is a revelation. All the Bible is a revelation.
Peter makes that reference in one of his letters. 1 John chapter 2, do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them. He's talking about the darkness, the sin in the world. There's nothing wrong with liking a baseball game. There may be something wrong with some of the other sports from God's perspective.
I'm just telling you the truth. Anyway, the church is meant to go the opposite way. My pastor used to like to quote that, I guess it's an American proverb, maybe it's, I don't know, any dead fish can swim downstream.
And I don't want to be that dead fish. We are, again, the church is meant to be a fortress in defiance. Our walls are up to the world saying, we defy you. We're not with you on these things. Yeah, you don't have to like it.
You can't refute it. You've made your choice. You choose to persecute us for this, you've made your choice. We've made our choice, we choose to be persecuted for this. Second Corinthians 10, casting down arguments in every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Well, why would heresies creep into the church when the church has clearly been told that we are to strike down those things that exalt themselves against the Lord? That means the word of God. We do this because we know there's a better life coming. He says, be transformed, here in verse 2, requiring more participation than isolation.
I mean, as A.W. told you, would say, you know, contact with the world without merging with the world. You try to isolate yourself from the lost souls in the world. How's anybody going to ever reach them? You have to learn these things.
You get your fingers burnt enough, you know what's hot and what's not, and you learn, you pick up moves. God will be with you every step of the way. Colossians 3 10, that we have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. It's hard, it's hard to die to self. It's hard to meet these standards. They're high, and God does not lower them. But we can't get them all, so get what you can.
That matters. Get the things of Christ that you can get, and the other things, you just leave them before the Lord. You don't dismiss them.
You don't look down on them. You just say, you know, this one I'm having a hard time with, Lord. That's the mercies of God, the tolerance that I was speaking about earlier. Titus chapter 3, we're talking about the transformation, beautifully said in verse 5, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.
Yeah, not without the scripture of the Holy God we serve. And so this word here in verse 2 where he talks about being transformed is where we get our English word metamorphosis from. That is a remarkable and visible change from a creeping caterpillar to a floating butterfly.
It's a radical event. And you know, the heavens declare his glory. Well, so does the icky insect kingdom and everything else. The glory of God is there, and so are the evidences of sin. You wake up in the morning, you see those little wings all over the place, and you, if you live out in the country, you see the bats have been eating well.
Hey, that's a, what is it, a moon, lunar moth, and you see those giant wings, a bat ate him. So sin is at work still. Anyway, you may say I struggle, but I fall short. What would happen if you stopped struggling?
You answer that yourself. Romans 7, 15, for what I am doing I do not understand. For what I will to do that I do not practice. But what I hate that I do.
Yeah, but look at the life, the rest of the life concerning this man. What if you served in a church and you felt that the pastor didn't appreciate you serving? This happens. There are people that want that recognition. Now I appreciate all of you that serve.
Make no mistake about that. But what would happen if you left the church because you didn't feel appreciated, or you stopped serving but you stayed in the church? Would that not indicate that you served men and not God? You say, why does this have to be said?
Because people do it. That's what Christians, church-going Christians, do this. That you may not be guilty of these things.
That you may not be hungry for recognition. Who do you serve? I look around at some of the servants here and I have no doubt who they serve. They don't serve me.
I benefit, but they serve the Lord. You do it to the least of these, you did it to me. So a serious transformation glitch is there if that describes you.
And there are other things too. 1 Corinthians 3, 3, for you are still carnal, Paul said to the Corinthians. Are you not carnal behaving like mere men? You're acting like you're not saved. Well, and he continues, by the renewing of your mind. Well the brain is to serve the transformed mind, the seat of the will, and reading our Bibles for information unto transformation. If you're just reading the Bible for information you're going to puff up and you won't have love.
You'll always learn and never come into the knowledge. But if you want the information, because you want God to change who you are into the image of Christ, that's transformation. That's what Paul's talking about, the renewing of your mind. The Christian is supposed to be both challenged and changed. And it's not, you can take, you can go backwards. You make changes and you're like, yeah, I'm in the zone. And then in time you start drifting backwards.
So you've got to maintain it. James 4, friendship with the world is enmity with God. For whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Almost done here. We'll close with this last clause that you may prove.
What is that good and acceptable perfect will of God? You've got to prove it. You know, one reason why we don't encourage the baptism of five-year-olds or six-year-olds, they've got to prove it. They've got to be tested. And that takes time.
I mean, if mom and dad press us, we will, because we're not going to have the kids. That church wouldn't do. But it has to be, at some point, your Christianity's got to show up on the outside. Close with this, Psalm 1, blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. That man is proving his faith.
Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, it is, it is so nice to practice in the gym, but it's another thing to get into the arena. This is a reality of our faith.
The study of the Bible, the admiration we have for the scriptures, and then the dying to the flesh. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross-Reverence Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.
We're currently going through the book of Romans. If you're in need of hearing this message again, or want to listen to others like it, head over to crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. On our website, you'll be able to learn a little more about the ministry of Cross-Reference Radio, so make a note of it, crossreferenceradio.com. That's all we have time for today, but thanks so much for listening. Pastor Rick will be back next time in the book of Romans, here on Cross-Reference Radio.
