How to please God

Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 and I'm reading at verse 1. I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice wholly acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be it transformed by the proof renewing of your mind that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable. You notice we read that word in verse 1 acceptable unto God and here it is again that ye may prove that you may test thoroughly what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Ephesians 5 because I have four scriptures I'd like to read. Ephesians chapter 5 and perhaps 5 I might read the fifth one even if I don't comment on it. Verse 8. For ye were sometime darkness but now are ye light in the Lord.

And here's the word you've just been hearing. Walk as children of light for the fruit of the Spirit. If I can give you Mr. Darby's translation and many other critical translations.

The fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth proving what is acceptable unto the Lord and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them for it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret but all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light for whatsoever doth make manifest is light wherefore he saith awake thou that sleepest arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light. 2nd Timothy now chapter 2 verse 15 a most familiar verse study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the word of truth. Philippians 4 for another very familiar text.

Chapter 4 of Philippians and we'll just read the 18th verse but I have all and abound I am full having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you an odor of a sweet smell a sacrifice acceptable well-pleasing to God but my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. I have one more verse which I think is a very important one 2nd Corinthians 5 what we have in verse 7 is a little parenthesis but I would suggest to you that it is a commentary on the message we have just heard from our brother Hunter. Verse says we walk by faith not by sight we are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body I couldn't help but think of this text as he was telling us it is one thing to know you're ready is it is another thing to have that yearning and heart here's a man who says willing rather to be absent from the body even even though it meant death because to be absent from the body meant to be at home with the Lord wherefore we labor that whether present that is at home in the body or absent from the body we may be accepted of him for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ when the Lord Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan the Spirit of God in the only visible form the Spirit of God ever took the form of a dove descended from heaven and rested abode upon the person of the Lord Jesus as John the Apostle later tells us and God from heaven spoke and I like this reading this is my son my beloved in whom I am well pleased and I will again ask you a question to what event or to what circumstance did the statement apply this is my son my beloved in whom I am well pleased was God well pleased because he submitted to John's baptism in the Jordan was John was God well pleased because he was going to enter into his public ministry that would lead him on a pathway to Calvary was there a particular event was there a particular time when God was well pleased with him this is my son my beloved in whom I am well pleased many apply those words to those what we call the silent years in Nazareth when he lived as a man amongst men in impeccable holiness spotless purity God was well pleased with that quiet pathway of the gentle nobleman from heaven yes God was well pleased with all of that but I would suggest to you that the words that the Jordan are timeless words they do not refer to any particular event any circumstance in the Lord Jesus there was not a moment when they were not true there never will be a moment when they are not true this is my son my beloved in whom I am well pleased that's my little subject at the close of the meeting today there are three words that I have before me acceptable we read that word approved we read that word in our King James Version well pleasing to God actually each one of those words is the same the five verses that we have read four of them are exactly the same adjective 2nd Timothy chapter 2 is a synonym very closely related so now what is well pleasing to God you'll see why I have attempted I have to say it that way to follow brother Hunter in his message about the man who walked with God and who pleased God my little subject is how can I be well pleasing to God in what way can I bring pleasure to the heart of the Almighty in what way can I know approval from God in what way can I be acceptable in his sight I wonder how deep that longing is in you and me today I've often questioned my heart on that subject a good time to do it is when you're alone with God just how deeply do I long to be well pleasing to him I have sometimes questioned my heart how much do I really desire the glory of God alone not my own glory not anything for the flesh yourself at all but God's glory I think sometimes of some very little things that I've done and perhaps as I look back on those very little things I hope maybe they were just done for God's glory because in all we do dear brethren and sisters there's a mingling of self tragically for us there is a mingling of sin in our most holy moments in our most holy endeavors no wonder the priests of old F offered the sacrifice for the iniquity of the holy things it was the trespass offering it was offered for the iniquity of the holy things and God knows our hearts and he knows that somehow or other we managed to mix something of self into some of our most holy endeavors but do we truly long from our hearts to walk in a pathway like Enoch in which God is well pleased let me give you the five things I've read if I don't speak on them you know I intended to first of all it's in priestly service I hope to show you that in Romans 12 then it's in practical sanctity that's the truth of Ephesians 5 then it's in persistent study that's 2nd Timothy 2 and 15 then it's in a precious sacrifice that's a few Philippians 4 and 18 and then the last one I've given a particular name to you know preachers love this alliteration why did they love it I I really have often wondered to be honest but it does help to sharpen our memory and fasten things upon our minds if it doesn't help you I hope it helps but there is perspective selflessness in what we read in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and I think that's one of the most important statements on this subject that can be found in all the Bible let me go to the priestly service first of all how I would love to be acceptable to God in my priestly service you say why do you get priestly service out of Romans 12 and verse 1 because almost every word that's here is a priestly word because the word present and the word sacrifice are particular words because they have to do with a sacrifice which is presented to God freely voluntarily a votive offering if you will like the closing chapter of Leviticus described so clearly so here is a sacrifice to God what is the sacrifice well body stands for the whole being body stands for the man's soul and the man's spirit on the man's body and all his energies his mind his strength even his weakness and it's laid there for God in a willing sacrifice it is a priestly service thank God for priestly service the larger context of these verses deals with the mercy of God perhaps you know that you do not read about mercy in the first eight chapters of the epistle to the Romans you must come to chapter 9 and 10 and 11 before you read about mercy and finally as you come to the close of chapter 11 all the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out and then therefore brethren and this is the third therefore of this kind 5 and 1 8 and 1 12 and 1 therefore brethren because of the mercies of God because of these immeasurable mercies which God has bestowed present that to me proves that the claims of the Redeemer are laid upon the redeemed in totality this New Testament knows nothing short of total consecration you see the basis of all holy living you've been hearing about a man who lived a holy life well the basis of all holy living is divine revelation that has to be the basis of it because as we were reminded today we live in a godless system we were born into a world that is ruining in rebellion against God we would never even have known God's ways of the Lord Jesus it says these things began Jesus to do and to teach wonderful order isn't that but you know while there were those two things in the blessed Lord Jesus is a man here on earth he began to do and began to teach there's a third thing necessary in us we need first of all to learn something he did not so far as the knowledge of how to please God was concerned I need understanding as to how to please God and therefore divine revelation is the basis of all holy living the method of all holy living is consecration the yielding and that that that is that is a crisis maybe there's a young man here today and this conference will be a crisis time in your spiritual experience and you will look back to the Toronto conference in 1990 as for you the time when you were brought to yield yourself in a way that you had never done before or perhaps to yield yourself afresh as you have done before I believe the call is to our hearts and I believe it's to every one of us saved one year or 50 and the outcome of all holy living is transformation be not conformed to this world but be a transformed by the really of your mind let me tell you that this this particular passage immediately moves into assembly living and assembly practice and assembly order and gifts functioning I wonder why that is you know there are men and women here today in this company and their life is the assembly and dear brethren and sisters I know you'd expect this from me but I sure you that I believe that in the New Testament all testimony for God is in relation to the collective testimony to his name and what does that mean do I do I mean that there's nobody outside of an assembly that's living any kind of a life that's a testimony for God now please don't go away and say I said any such ridiculous thing for not only did I not say it I never even thought it but in the New Testament in the truth we are taught in the Word of God holy living walking with God in our day is related to the testimony of the local company where these gifts that we read about in this chapter function under the control of the Holy Spirit given by the Lord Jesus you know it's tragic to me and I'm not going out of my way to say this but when assemblies depart from New Testament principles there are certain things that that happen number one they decentralize the breaking of bread I don't need to hardly say more on that we personally believe in the centrality of the breaking of bread in an assembly and then it gives character to every other meeting of the assembly all the other six meetings of the assembly and that breaking of bread meeting is where we function in our holy priesthood did I say there was no priesthood apart from that I said that's where we function publicly in our public priesthood before God in the local assembly I hope we understand that I wonder if you take part in the gospel in your assembly did you get up on the Lord's Day evening perhaps when you're asked to do so and you preach the gospel what kind of preparation do you make before you preach on your knees with your open Bible and asking God for a word to speak is that what you do that's what I do what kind of a preparation do you come do you do to come to worship what kind of preparation do you make before you gather on the Lord's Day morning whether a brother or a sister is their preparation of heart and life and conscience and confession God grant there is God grant we do not be careless about this brother and sisters tragically when people decentralize the breaking of bread they do something else which is very strange to me they stop preaching the gospel and then they do what this chapter is describing they frequently deny the plurality of gifts and and deposit them all in one person and then strangely enough they change assembly order of government from God's order to some human system four things they characterize departure from the Word of God where does all this begin brethren and sisters I can only start with verse one of this chapter it's a new start in this chapter and I can start there God grant we will start there at this conference I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice here is something acceptable to God God will accept that sacrifice God grant we may for the willing heart give it let me quickly move to the practical sanctity of Ephesians 5 walk as children of light this is how we walk you know 1st John 1 and 7 is where we walk I think you know that walk in the light as he is in the light but this is how we walk the fruit of the light what is this fruit well let me tell you what it does first of all it exposes all the works of darkness you know light in the Bible is one of the most interesting of subjects whenever you read about light in an intellectual sense and I'm using that word so you'll understand my meaning without using a whole lot of others it actually means truth God has revealed to us his truth it's like light revealed from heaven God's truth is light actually in a moral sense light is holiness and in an eternal sense light is glory but here's something this light does it exposes evil well it's true that what we have in these verses is the exposure of this evil system about us that we've heard about already how would I know this world how would I learn about it please don't try to learn about it by experience please don't delve into its wickedness and then shake your head and say it's bad all right the way you need to learn about it is let the light expose it I don't think I need to dig into demonism and spiritism and evil cults and their bad teaching I don't really need to know all the wrong things that men practice and teach and I don't need to know all the human philosophies and the humanistic systems that are so common everywhere today what I need to know is that the light exposes the darkness and reveals it as it is and my very life not just my words it isn't a matter of reproving these works of darkness by going about shouting at people you shouldn't do that you know how the works of darkness are reproved like Enoch reproved them he walked with God like Noah reproved them he condemned the world how do you think he did it he didn't live for this world he lived for another and by that he condemned the world so the works of darkness are reproved by the light I'm very deeply impressed with those words of the Lord Jesus in John chapter 3 and verse 20 for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be reproved you see my first scripture speaks about coming to the altar to yield ourselves now this scripture speaks of coming to the light oh this isn't this isn't any easier because coming to the light the man who loves darkness won't do it because his deeds will be reproved the Lord Jesus said lest his deeds be reproved maybe at this conference we're going to have some of our deeds reproved you know some some of us are trying to skate as close to the edge of the cliff as we can without falling over some are trying to copy the world to the nth degree some are going in for the world's amusements and entertainment and think they're safe you know what I feel bad about that it won't please God number one and eventually number two it won't please you I'm always amazed at the words of Deuteronomy chapter 7 chapter 6 and the close of chapter 6 of Deuteronomy and then in chapter 8 and chapter 10 and in Jeremiah 32 and in so many passages God says I will do them good with all my heart that's the Jeremiah passage I'll do them good with all my heart did you think that God was trying to keep you from enjoying something God has one purpose in mind his commandments were given for our good all way so here's the tragedy about self-pleasing here's the tragedy of self-indulgence eventually it leaves an empty self eventually it leaves a dissatisfied disillusioned self and the end of that path is bitterness that may not be the incentive for you to go in for pleasing God but the alternative what do you think the alternative of this world is well I've talked to men of the world and so have you and their end is despair their end is emptiness they have nothing in fact they stand up and boldly to kick clear I am brave enough to believe with the philosophers that there's nothing to look forward to and life is meaningless and everything is black and dark despair where'd they get that from no doubt from their master whose end is blackness and dark despair please don't go in for that the light exposes the darkness persistent study the brethren who convened this conference are friends of mine and I could lose their friendship by going over that clock so I don't think I want to do that can I can I just say a simple word to you dear young man the man who wrote this was in a dark dungeon cell I used to think of it you know like like we think of prisons I used to think of Paul's imprisonment in Rome and a thing like that I I believe that the best the best of study has indicated that you went into a dungeon like that through a hole in the clay ground a hole where where an animal might go down into a hole like that down down into the dark wet cold dungeon below not a ray of light to penetrate the darkness down in that dark dungeon there's a man and the dungeon is lit by the glory of God oh that's a wonderful thing and he says to the man who's out there in the in the in the in the freedom and light he says study study to show thyself approved unto God and an old writer and he's often been quoted he said what what Paul is saying is that there is a work well done and a book well used and a Lord well pleased and I like that do you is your book well used we need men and women today who will study their Bible oh you said women yes I have learned much from sisters I say that humbly I hope they have taught me I know godly women who know their book and they know their God because they know the book and there's young men here and you have a good mind you have great analytical ability you you can you can grasp concepts that perhaps other people would struggle with and not understand at all what are you doing with that ability God has given you do you give yourself to the Word of God do you give yourself the diligence study there's a kind of a letter that I find it takes a long time to answer but there isn't any kind of a letter that I like to get more and I've had a number of them fight for my young man who will write and say would you please give me some guidelines about how to study oh I say thank God thank God and I do the best I can others might be able to do a lot better job but I do the best I can to encourage them I hope there are young men here and young women too and I hope you give yourself study to show thyself this isn't an intellectual thing at all really this this is approval by God this is something much deeper in fact you'll notice that the result of it is a vessel sanctified and meet for the master's use prepared unto every good work in fact the goal is honor to God the aim is to be useful as a vessel the principle is holiness sanctification to God the watchword is be prepared and Paul in the dungeon is saying to Timothy on the outside be prepared you don't know what's coming and neither we do lovely to think we can be pleasing to God I I'm not sure that we just all grasp the significance of that to think that we who were sinners and rebels that we can actually live in such a way that we're well pleasing to God even the giving this sacrificial giving thank God for it thank God for the simple we we heard that our strength is simple godliness well dear brethren and sisters thank God for the simple way we have among us as assemblies of God's people we take nothing from the Gentiles we trust God we don't beg for funds we don't even we don't even mention them scarcely and to God it's a sacrifice acceptable both words are used well pleasing in his sight 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and I don't want to take single word away from my brother Oliver's Bible reading but I've always had a problem here we are told to live a selfless life the words of the Lord in Luke 9 are if any man will come after me let him deny himself all brethren and sisters don't forget those words of the Lord Jesus we seem to be almost strangers to denying ourselves anything today let him deny himself now here we live a life of self-denial for what well certainly I can't accept the idea it's to receive a selfish reward in a coming day it's very difficult brethren and sisters to say I live a selfless life so that in a coming day there'll be something for me it's a big problem in my mind maybe it has been in yours and let me just say this one little word and I'm gonna sit down it's not something for me not even the reward is something for me do you know what it is three things the reward is his approval that it brought pleasure to his heart that's the greatest oh to think that I was able to please him that humbles me I hope it touches your heart today his approval Paul says we make it our ambition this is the one aim of life that we may win his approval that's the first reward the second one is association with him in his glory and reign the third is his acceptance of all crowns because on the thorn crowned head of our blessed Lord Jesus once that men heaped shame and contempt upon that blessed brow is worthy to wear all the crowns