Dr. John Goetsch: An Invitation to Surrender

let's go in our Bibles to Romans chapter 12 if you will them book of Romans chapter 12 we're gonna look at two verses that I believe will be familiar to many of you if they're not I hope they'll become familiar tonight in the message and these are verses that we ought to memorize I used to think well I don't want to preach on familiar passages of Scripture because everybody already knows those it's kind of a pride thing you know I want to preach something that no one's ever read before and then Adana me one day well dummy the reason these verses are well-known is because the great truth in them and people have memorized these verses and live by them and chosen them as life verses for a reason because the great truth that they contain and I want to look at Romans 12:1 and 2 tonight and speak to you about an invitation to surrender verse number one the Bible says of Romans 12 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service and be not 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 now the invitation to surrender is not nearly as attractive as the invitation to salvation I think all of us have to agree that the invitation by God to us to get saved is pretty attractive you think about what salvation is I mean think about verses that you know Romans 10:13 for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be well that's a great word isn't it saved say from what well say from our sin we're all sinners or condemned in our sin and yet God says if we will call upon him we can be saved Wow that's an attractive invitation I think about what God says in John chapter 3 in verse 36 he that hath the son Jesus Christ hath ever lasting life everlasting life forever you'll never die Jesus that I am the resurrection and the life he that believeth in me shall never die what an amazing thing that God would offer us life eternal in Isaiah 1 and verse 18 come now let us reason together saith the Lord though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool this invitation of salvation is it's open anytime come now oh if you've never trusted Christ tonight today is the day of salvation now is the accepted time and Jesus promises I give unto them eternal life you know if it's eternal you can't lose it nobody can take it away from you it can't be forfeited it can't be deleted it can't be obliterated the Bible says I give to the me eternal life they shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand the father that gave them me is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand I love John 6 and verse 35 where Jesus said I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger he that believeth in me shall never thirst although the father gives to me shall come to me and he that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out no one who's ever come to Christ for a savior has been cast away turned down rejected know the offer the invitation of salvation is available for every single person what an attractive invitation that is but are you willing to accept God's second invitation to surrender now that invitation on the surface doesn't appear to be quite as attractive when I was in ninth grade it was in the spring of the year and I was sitting in a study hall I didn't say I was studying I was sitting in a study hall in fact I don't think there was a book on my desk it was there were probably a hundred students in that study hall and we were in Des lined up and there was a monitor at the front of the room that kind of made sure we behave but you didn't have to study you just had to be quiet and so I don't think I had a book on my desk I was just sitting there and all of a sudden the front door opened and a man walked in that everybody in that study hall knew his name was Mike Friedman now Mike Friedman was the varsity football coach he was well known not personally but everybody knew who he was Mike Freeman was a typical looking football coach II he had a crew-cut haircut he always wore a gray sweatshirt he always wore football pants he always wore white true socks and black refereeing shoes that's how he was always stressed I don't know what the man did on weekends but that's how he was always dressed whenever you saw him at practice at game time I mean he never wore anything else if the man went to church I'm sure that's what he wore I never saw him wear anything else he was a football coach and he always wore a whistle around his neck on a plastic lariat and what made it significant was it was extremely long in fact this lariat was so long that if he didn't hold it in his hand it basically dangled around his thighs now Mike Freedman was a mean man he never smiled I never saw that man smile even when the team won he did not smile he was just a very intense individual who was all about football when he would walk down the hallways of our high school he would take that plastic braided lariat he'd wrap it a couple times around his hand and leave about five or six inches hanging out with the whistle dangling and as he walked down the hallway he would he would swing it in front of him like this and if you got this way he'd hit you over the head with it he walked in that room and immediately everybody got quiet I reached for a book he walked across the front of that room and he said something to the monitor and the monitor nodded and he started walking down the row of desks that I was sitting in IO pin' the book as he came closer he got to my desk and he stopped I got real interested in the book he didn't say anything he just placed an envelope on my book with my name on it and he walked out I took that envelope and I opened it up and it said on that letterhead from Watertown High School it said dear John I've gotten a lot of Dear John letters in my day I said dear John you have been chosen as one of eight freshmen to try out next fall for the varsity football team now some of you know that a little bit older that in those days freshmen both in high school and college were ineligible to play on the varsity you had freshmen teams and you played on a Freshman team and I had played freshman football and and and you know I managed to start as a freshman but we didn't have a great team and I didn't think the varsity football coach knew anything about the freshman team I mean we'd had an OK season and I had managed to play some but but I didn't think he knew anything about me I only knew of one sophomore that had ever made the varsity team we had a relatively large high school and freshman had their team and sophomores had a more team and juniors typically were on the junior varsity team and seniors basically made up the varsity team and I only knew one guy that had ever made the varsity as a sophomore his name was Danny Weber and he started as an outside linebackers a sophomore and played three years and went on and played Division one football and I thought wow eight of us are gonna have an opportunity to try out for varsity football now this invitation was gonna involve some time this invitation was gonna involve some training practice pain Oh lots of pain injury giving up some things you see Mike Freedman during football season did not want anybody dating if you had a girlfriend forget about playing no parties go to party off the team whether you drink or not you go to party off the team he required a higher GPA in your in your classes than was required by the conference or the school Mike Friedman had some rules he had some policies and it was going to require somewhat of a sacrifice but you know what I gladly surrendered man I took that I couldn't believe it I started talking to my friends the hallway hey did you get one of those letters and I found the other seven guys we were pumped I remember going home and and my birthday was a few weeks away and I asked my parents if I could get an advance on my birthday money I knew they'd give me some money for my birthday I said can I get that early I want to buy a set of weights and I bought a set of weights barbells man I started lifting weights I started running I started preparing for that first day of practice I gladly accepted that invitation to surrender the invitation that God gives to us here to surrender is going to require a commitment it's not always going to be easy it's not always going to be a piece of cake as we say there are going to be some sacrifices there are going to be some difficult times but I can tell you it's a great invitation and well worth accepting I want you to look at five components tonight of this invitation to surrender notice first of all in verse one we see a compassionate invitation he says in verse one I beseech you now the word beseech is not a word that we use in common everyday vernacular today but it simply means I invite you I beseech you he's putting out an invitation and notice it is a family message he says I beseech you therefore brethren so this is a family message around here at Lancaster Baptist Church no doubt it's true of those of you that are visiting tonight your church you would hear somebody calls someone brother I might refer to brother first so down here his brother Jerry first so he might refer to me his brother guess well why would we do that we're not we're not related I mean we don't have a lot in common he's a Cubs fan so why would brother first he'll call me brother guess why would I call him brother first of all well we both have the same father the Bible says in John 1:12 but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name so brother first let's trusted Christ as his Savior I've trusted Christ as my savior that makes us both children of God so we're brothers you see and Paul is writing here to those that are saved he's writing to those that have trusted Christ as Savior have you done that because this message is not to somebody who's not in the family this invitation is surrender is for those who have been saved now there's an invitation of salvation that if you've never accepted that invitation today's the day of salvation but once saved and I would assume that many of us tonight in this room have made that commitment to salvation but now he's offering this invitation of surrender and it's based on our father's mercy it's a family message but notice I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God on what basis is God going to invite us to surrender our life to him on his mercy in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 1 the Bible says you have he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins we're in time past he walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh and the children of disobedience among whom also we all had our conversation in time past in the lusts of the flesh and the lust of the eyes the pride of life and we're by nature the children of Wrath even as others but verse four but God who is rich in mercy I mean here we are we're sinners we're dead in our trespasses and sins but God in His mercy with the great love wherewith youth loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ by grace are ye saved aren't you thankful for the father's mercy we're in a world would we be apart from the mercy of God well Jeremiah tells us it's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed we don't deserve to be a child of God we don't deserve to be on our way to heaven we don't deserve to have our sins forgiven but God has saved us and now he's making this invitation to surrender based on his mercy so we see a compassionate invitation well what is this invitation let's read on in verse one he says I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies we see a consecrated presentation a consecrated presentation to present our bodies a living sacrifice now if I have brother brother Alan stand up and and meet me down here put Alan do you drink coffee no you drink tea yes yes I want to present you with a gift this is a gift it even says a gift card for you it's a gift card to the Great Awakening right over here so after church you can go get some tea or a soda or a muffin or whatever your fancy is so I'm going to give you this gift card you're a good man thank you so much oh the old can I have that back now if I asked for back it wouldn't be a very cool present with it I mean I just presented him with a gift I gave it to him he accepted it wouldn't I be wrong to take it back absolutely thank you for that you know many of us have at some point in our life walked an aisle perhaps we've said lord I surrender my life to you there may be a young person here tonight maybe at camp or maybe it is conference or maybe an event like college days you heard some preaching and and and maybe in a revival meeting or maybe under your pastors preaching or in a youth meeting you said I'm gonna present my life to Jesus Christ have you asked we're back are you constantly asking God if you can have it back God is saying I want you to present well if you present your body to Christ it's hands off from there now notice God is asking here for a living sacrifice he's missing us to present our body as a living sacrifice I'm sure when the Romans first read this letter from Paul and they read these words they must have thought that is really strange what does he mean because up until this time every sacrifice would have required a death I mean if you think about the Old Testament sacrifices if you brought a a lamb to the altar to sacrifice to the Lord the lamb died you you shed the blood you placed it on the altar if you brought a Bullock or you brought a heifer and you you sacrifice to the Lord that that animal had to die if you brought some weeds or some corn you went out and you cut it down and you brought it to the Lord and you offered it as a sacrifice every sacrifice they were familiar with up to this point required death but now all of a sudden God is saying I want you to present your life your body as a living sacrifice you see God wants your life he wants you he wants you to give yourself to him as a present and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto Him which died for them and rose again Paul said I'm crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not i but Christ liveth in me and the life that I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me a living sacrifice but notice this living sacrifice is to have a lawful sacredness he says I want you to present your body a living sacrifice notice the next words holy acceptable unto God you see God doesn't want just any old life again if you think back to the Old Testament there were certain requirements with respect to those sacrifices for example the Passover lamb when they brought that Passover lamb they couldn't go out in the flock and say well that one's kind of lame or that one's got a bad bad you know ringworm and that that lamb will never make it anyway let's give that one to the Lord no no no no God said no you don't you give me the lame don't you give me the sick I want two lamb without spot without blemish why because that Passover lamb was a picture of the spotless Lamb of God Jesus Christ who was going to go to the cross and died for our sins and so that lamb had to be spotless it had to be perfect if you please so Paul is saying hey I want your life I want you to present yourself a living sacrifice wait a minute now don't you give your life to God and then you live half the week for the devil and for the world and for self and spoil your life and stay in your life and pollute your life and then come to church on Sunday and say Here I am God used me no no no God says this sacrifice this presentation to Christ is to be a consecrated presentation it's to be holy it's to be acceptable unto God he's seen a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver but also of wouldn't have earth some to honor some to dishonor now if a man therefore purge himself from these he shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified and meat for the Masters use God wants to use your life but for him to use you it's gotta meet the standard of God if you were driving by my house and perhaps had a flat tire or something and and you said boy you know this is gonna take some work fix this tire and and there's a house and and you came and knocked to my door and and you said oh brother gosh I didn't know you lived here I said yeah what's what's going on oh I had a flat tire and head to fix seven-man I'm just really thirsty could you could you give me a dry a glass of water and I said sure come on in come on in and so you came in my house I saw I'll be right back and I I go in the garage and I get I get the bucket that we wash our cars with and III fill it up with water and I I said man this guy's thirsty I gotta get him some water so I I bring that old dirty bucket that I washed my car with take out the cobwebs a little bit get the brush out of there and the soap and I but I get that bucket I fill it up with water and I bring it back you say here you go have a drink you're gonna say really guys I the kids drink out of that that's a dirty vessel you see you wouldn't offer a guest in your house a drink of water out of a dirty vessel it's not sanctified it's not meat for use you'd go to the cupboard you if somebody came in my house I'd I'd go to the cupboard I'd make sure that glass is clean and I would offer you some water you know what God wants to use every person in this room whether you're a teenager whether you're an adult whether you're a senior citizen whether whether you're single whether you're married God wants to use every person in this room but he needs us he needs a clean vessel he doesn't need some old bucket it's out living in the world all week and it comes to church and say I want to the choir I want to teach a class I want to go in the ministry I want to go to the mission field no no no God says I want your life as a living sacrifice but it it needs to be a lawful sacredness and by the way thirdly it's our logical surface he says in verse 1 this is your reasonable service is it really asking too much for God to say I'd like to have your life I mean we think sometimes you know I went to church once this week I mean that's I killed the fatted calf I was in church Sunday morning spent a whole hour when you think about what Christ has done for us is it unreasonable for God to say could I have your life could I make something out of you could could I take your life and use you for my glory could I could I take your life and use you for something eternal is that really asking something out of the ordinary when he died for us is it asking too much for us to say Lord I'll live for you by the way we don't belong to ourselves what know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which you have of God and you are not your own for your bought with a price therefore glorify God with your body your spirit which are gods if you're saved if you've accepted the invitation of salvation you no longer belong to you you belong to him so it's a reasonable service for God to say now I want your life I want to be able to use you so we see a compassionate invitation to make a consecrated presentation well how do we do that does that mean okay end of the service you give that thing you call the invitation I come forward I pray a prayer I I talked to somebody I sign a card I'm all set so it means well not exactly because he goes on in verse 2 and he defines this invitation as surrender a little further and be not conformed to this world we see thirdly here a complete mortification be not conformed to this world you see we must resist the pressure be not conformed have you ever squeezed a hostess Twinkie I'm glad they brought those things back you know they kind of abandoned those for a while I don't know what happened the food police or something but they took away those hostess Twinkies but they brought them back I don't think they're as good as they used to be but they're back have you ever taken one of those hostess Twinkies and squeezed it man you can spring your wrist doing that your calluses from doing that no no no no when you squeeze a Twinkie it conforms doesn't it it gives way I was preaching one time in a Christian school on spiritual Twinkies very deep theological message and IIIi told the young guy I said we're like these these spiritual Twinkies we just we just give in to everything you know we we go the way of the world we go the way of our friends we go the way of our self we'll we just we just kind of give in to everything that comes down the pike and we're like spiritual Twinkies we conform to everything and I preached this sermon well it was right before lunch and to this day I regret not going to the school cafeteria chapel was dismissed the young people went to lunch into the school cafeteria and one of the senior boys opened his lunch and right on the top of his sack lunch was a hostess Twinkie now we just had a sermon on it so being the bright intellectual senior that he was he thought I'll help the preacher out here so well no one was really looking he took that hostess Twinkie out of the out of the sack lunch and he quietly opened it and he took out one half of the hostess Twinkie he put the other half back in the bag and he took that half a hostess Twinkie he put it in the palm of his hand and then he climbed up on the lunch table where everybody could see him and he said hey everybody look at this and everybody looked and then I don't know if you've ever been in a car accident but if you ever have or if you've been driving in a car accident happens in front of you it's a very surreal experience it's almost like everything is like it's slow-motion and it's like you you want to step out of yourself and stop what's about to happen and everybody knew what was gonna happen but nobody could stop it he had that Twinkie in his open hand like this and he brought the other hand from behind his back and he brought it down as hard as he could on that Twinkie and I mean Twinkie went everywhere I was called into the cafeteria there was Twinkie on the ceiling there was Twinkie on all the tables the girls were going to the restroom trying to get the Twinkie out of their hair it was everywhere that Twinkie conformed now what does God say in here he's saying hey there's a world out there there's a culture out there that's different from me did you know that God and the world have nothing in common love not the world neither the things that are in the world for all that's in the world the lust of the flesh lust the eyes the pride of life is not of the Father list of the world that that's why it says in 2nd Corinthians 6 be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness what communion hath light with darkness what Concord hath Christ with Belial what part is he that believeth with an infidel what agreement hath the temple of God with the temple of idols whose temple you are for God hath said I will dwell in them and be their God and they shall be my people so come out from among them be separate saith the Lord touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you and be a father unto you and you shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty Peter put it this way said you are a chosen generation you're a royal priesthood you're a holy nation you're a peculiar people and you as a Christian should be showing forth the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light which were not a people but now are the people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy dearly beloved I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak evil among you they may by your good works glorify your father which is never if sinners entice thee consent thou not we've got to resist the pressure to be conformed to this world and we do that by a reprogramming of our priorities be not conformed to this world now when we get saved there's a lot of world in us I mean let's face it we're sinners so when we get saved we bring a lot of that world with us don't we and that world is still kind of attached to us and so now as God gives us this invitation to surrender he's saying now there's got to be some reprogramming that needs to go on here because now I want you to resist the pressure of that world and I want you to reprogram your priorities the world is no longer gonna be your priority Jesus Christ is gonna be the priority either yields your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin but yield yourselves unto God and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God think about what he says in Psalm 1 blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners nor sitteth see the scornful but instead of at now his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law does he meditate day and night see there's a reprogramming here where once we were in the world where once we were following after the world no now he says we've got to resist that pressure and we've got to reprogram our priorities to prioritize and free and make christ preeminent in our life as it says in Ephesians 6:11 likewise reckoning yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God first Peter 2:24 that we being dead to sins should live unto righteousness a complete mortification say well brother gets that that sounds good that that's a great theory but I happen to I happen to live in a pretty real world and all around me I'm constantly tempted and where I work or I go to school or in my neighborhood it's kind of tough to resist the pressure it's kind of tough to reprogram everything to to be christ-like all the time how in the world we do that well he didn't stop there look at number four he says in verse to be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so fourthly there's got to be a cognitive transformation now cognitive is it is what we think our mind what goes on between our ears if we're gonna change the way we act we've got to change the way we think because as he thinketh in his heart so is he so if we're ever gonna resist pressure and reor real reprioritize these these priorities for christ then we've got to have a change in our thinking we've got to have a transformation in our mind whoa is that possible you ever had a thought come through your mind you thought where did that come from you ever had a dream at night you thought wool glad that wasn't true I mean I've woken up after asleep and thought I just killed somebody hey I've actually murdered a lot of people in my sleep I've preached some great sermons in my sleep till I mean thousands have been saved while I've slept but but you know sometimes you wake up you think whoa where did that come from and I haven't had that thought in a long time or sometimes you can just be going through life and as some wrong thought goes through your mind or a wrong attitude you're thinking where did that come from I wasn't I wasn't trying to think about that so how do we have this cognitive transformation well how is the mind renewed there must be an exchange of stimuli there's only two entry points to your brain there's only two ways something can get in your mind your eyes and your ears I used to think when I was in school that the night before test if I would take the textbook and place it under my pillow and then lay my head directly over the textbook that during the night as I slept through the process of osmosis the information in the textbook would diffuse into my brain and I could walk into class the next morning and passed the test I experimented with that many times it never worked it would be nice if there was a little button on the side of her head we could push and out comes a CD drawer and we could place in good stuff and push it back in and now our mind is reprogrammed we take out the bed and push in the good and we're all set but that's not how the mind works there there are two ways something gets into our brain through what we see what we hear think about what Jesus said about these gates he said in Matthew 6 verse 22 the light of the body is the eye if the eye be single whole body's full of light but if the eye this in they be evil the whole body's full of darkness the Bible says in lamentations 351 mine eye has affected my heart my eye what I see I think that's why the psalmist said in Psalm 101 verse 3 I'll send a wicked thing before my eyes see if we're gonna reprogram our thinking we got to shut off some television programs yeah we got to quit going to some internet sites we got to avoid some friends because if we allow these things into our mind that's what we're going to do in the Old Testament there was a a conflict in Genesis chapter 13 between Abraham and his nephew lot remember that their their herdsmen work odds with each other and and Abraham he said says nephew you know this isn't good we're brethren we ought not to be fighting we ought not to have strife so so Abraham said lot if you want to go to the right hand I'll go to the left you want to go to the left I'll go to the right we need we need to separate now I got to thinking about that one day and I thought okay now we know that lot chose the wrong direction because we've read the rest of the story and we know a lot blew it so he ended up down in Sodom he he went the wrong direction but I got to thinking about that one day what if lot had chosen the right direction does that mean Abraham would have ended up inside him because Abraham said if you want to go the right I'll go to the left you want to go the left I'll go the right well we know a lot shows the wrong direction and Abraham went the other way but if you leave that passage and if you study it geographically lot didn't choose either right or left Abraham said lot if you want to go to the right hand how goes the left you want to go to the left I'll go to the right and lot lifted up his eyes and beheld the well-watered Plains of Jordan like the land of Egypt as thou comest and Azure and lot pitched his tent towards Sodom lot didn't go right or left he chose a different direction but at that point in his life I don't see where a lot was a bad guy now he made a bad choice and I'm not gonna cut him any slack for that he should have listened to his elder he should have obeyed the authority in his life he should have done what Abraham suggested he did and that was a bad choice but I don't read where a lot was a wicked man at that point certainly not like at the end of his life the end of his life he's up in a cave drunk having sex with his daughters and then enough fathering through that incest two boys who became wicked God hated heads of Nations so how did lot go from making a bad choice one day to ending up like that you know if you keep reading the Bible you get answers the Bible is the best commentary on the Bible and you've got to read quite a while from Genesis to get to second Peter 2 but in second Peter 2 in verse 8 it talks about what and it says that righteous man righteous man lot he was righteous positionally he was a believer we would call it saved he was righteous positionally he was not righteous practically you know Solomon was the wisest man that ever lived but he didn't live very wisely you can have wisdom and not live wisely and Lott had the right position but he didn't he didn't live a court in that position so it says that righteous man second Peter 2:8 dwelling among them the people of Sodom in seen and hearing vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds what happened a lot he moved down to Sodom he gets closer and closer to Sodom we end up reading and later on in Genesis he's sitting in the gate of Sodom which most believe he was a political figure in Sodom he's even making decisions there for Sodom a wicked City and yet here's lot in the middle of it a righteous man and he's seen he's hearing all this going on in that wicked culture and guess what it vexed his soul and took them away from God now if you and I don't want to end up like lot we got to do something about the eyes in the ears see we've got to have an exchange of stimuli the truth is there are men in this room tonight that know why you're constantly thinking the wrong things because you're letting the wrong things into your brain and you're hoping that it'll never develop into an action perhaps of sin but the thought of foolishness is sin see you've allowed it into your brain and we've got to exchange that simulaid we've got to get the right things in garbage in garbage out exchange the stimuli and then we've got to enact the scriptures the best way to renew your mind is through the scriptures why because the scriptures act as a cleansing agent of our mind the Bible says in John 15:3 you are clean through the word which I've spoken unto you if even stalks about that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of the water of the word psalm 119 wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according to thy word with my whole heart of I sought the oh let me not wonderful my Commandments thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee never Psalm 1 1 & 2 blessed is the man that walketh not in all these things but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law doth he meditate day and night see the Bible has to be enacted if our mind is going to be renewed if we simply say no to the wrong things and never put the right things in your leaving a vacuum in your mind for the devil to fill so you've got to get the wrong out of your thinking don't let it into your mind put up some defense systems to those gates but then let the Holy Spirit of God guide you into the truth of God's Word and it will act as a cleansing agent years ago there was a an educator who did an experiment with young people teenagers who were in various types of families various types of schools some weren't home schools some were in Christian schools some in public schools they had different backgrounds but he randomly chose some young people hundreds of them from from different places different locations different backgrounds and so on but they they were in in some kind of a Christian education and he took these young people and he he took four or five out of a classroom in a school and he went over here and maybe took a few home schoolers and he got hundreds of them and with these particular young people he started them on a Bible memorization program and every day these young people would memorize Scripture after six months every one of those students who had started memorizing Scripture on a daily basis their grade point averages went up one full grade they weren't all the same school they were in different schools random schools different types of schools but every one of those students compared to their contemporaries in that same classroom who were not memorizing scripture their grades went up one full grade why because this book cleanses your mind you see when we pollute our mind with all the garbage of this world when we allow all the sinful things into our brain it's gonna it's not gonna make us sharper and clearer in our thinking no it's gonna pollute our mind but when you get the Bible into your mind in your heart it's gonna cleanse your heart in your mind and you're gonna be able to grow for the Lord Jesus Christ so a cognitive transformation and then finally we see at the end of verse two a confident justification that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God you know the only thing that's gonna matter at the end of life is did I do the will of God that's really only gonna matter did I do the will of God now God's will is credible it's credible he says that you can prove what is that good the the word here has the connotation of being profitable and and the will of God is eternal talk about profitable it's eternal first John 2 17 these things in the world they pass away but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever it's eternal the will of God is a credible thing he that findeth his life shall lose it but he that loses his life for my sake and the Gospels the same shall save it so many young people that I meet I talked to they say why I want to do this and I want to do that I talked to a young lady recently and I said how old are you and she said I'm 19 I said how you finished high school yes sir I said what are you planning to do the fall she said well I'm gonna go to veterinary school I saw that's great I love animals what's your favorite animal she said I love dogs that's why it's great I said where is this school she saw it's a community college about about 200 miles from my home I said also you're gonna you're gonna live on that campus I guess yeah yeah I live on campus I said dumb said what God wants you to do and she looked at me and she said I don't know you know that's kind of a dangerous thing you're gonna go live in a coed dorm you're gonna go to a secular college you're gonna be around godless people and hope you're gonna live a credible life it's pretty big risk you see the will of God is credible it's profitable why because it's eternal but not only that is compatible it's acceptable this word acceptable here has the connotation of of happiness in other words the will of God fits you God fits you for it and it brings joy into your life when you do what God wants you to do you're gonna be happy now that's not what the devil tells you the devil says all you sort of god you're gonna be miserable I remember going through that devil said hey you surrender your life to God you know what God will do they probably make you a missionary probably send you to Africa you'll probably live in a mud hut snakes will be crawling over your body at night you'll be eating boiled baboon for supper your neighbors will be little short people that boil stuff in pots particularly Caucasian missionaries that's what the devil told me I don't want that the devil the devil says you know you serve God you you live for God you give this living sacrifice you you surrender to God that's not gonna work that's gonna be miserable that's gonna be trouble that's that's not gonna be happy hey come over here let me show you what I can do for you you know Donna me one day that the choice is not between pleasure and misery the choice is between pleasure and pleasure because there is pleasure in sin for a season but God says at my right hand there are pleasures forevermore so you've got to decide am I gonna settle for some temporary pleasure and live for myself or am I gonna surrender to the will of God and have pleasure forever you got to decide how long do I want the pleasure to last because if you want short-term pleasure you can go out and get drunk tonight and be happy for a couple hours and a lot of people do but the pleasure is pretty short-lived that season ends but God says my will there's pleasure forevermore it's compatible it brings joy don't let the devil tell you that the world is the only place that are having fun and then God's will is complete he says the perfect will of God this word perfect means complete he uses this word perfect to describe our scriptures they're complete the Canon is complete is perfect and God's will for your life is perfect it's complete and guess what you're never gonna be fulfilled in life outside the will of God because you'll be incomplete you'll be imperfect Colossians 2:10 says we're complete in him he is our all and in all you know the path was prayed for the church at Colossae colossians 4:12 it says a path for sprayed that that church might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God and that's exactly what God prays for you tonight he wants you to get to the end of your life be able to say that was perfect I did the will of God I know some of what I said tonight is not very attractive it's not nearly as attractive as the offer of salvation but you know in 1966 I'm glad I said yes to football oh yeah some of those practices were hard some of those injuries were difficult some of those coaches oh boy those two days Wow but you know what I'm sure glad I said yes lifting weights uh Tschida never really liked it much running hmm but I sure enjoyed those four years of high school football and four years of college football I'm the greatest eight years of my life on the gridiron I said yes to God's offer salvation in 1967 got it did God said I'll save you that night at the age of 15 I asked Christ to save me it's been a great 50 years and in 1970 three years later God said I got a second offer for you you got a second invitation give me your life I accepted that offer I accepted that invitation 47 years ago has it always been easy I don't like the weight room of the Christian life I don't like sometimes the adversity I don't like sometimes the problems hasn't always been smooth sailing but oh man what a great 47 years four years of college man I wouldn't trade that for anything in my life forty three and a half years now a preaching I wouldn't trade that for anything how about you maybe you taking God's offer his invitation of salvation it's available right now Christian would you accept his invitation to surrender you'll never regret it I agree with David he said I've been young now I'm old but I've never seen the righteous forsaken nor his seed begging bread it's a good life

Channel: Lancaster Baptist Church

Views: 3,173

Rating: 4.8518519 out of 5

Keywords: lancaster baptist church, lancaster baptist, baptist church, paul, chappell, paul chappell, pastor paul chappell, Dr. John Goetsch, John Goetsch, invitation, surrender, preaching, sermon, Christian, God, Jesus

Id: Jy3MH3iEM2c

Length: 53min 27sec (3207 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 09 2017