I want you to notice Romans chapter 8.
Actually before I read that passage,
does anyone recall roughly what I preached on last time
when it came to this series?
Does anyone remember?
It's all forgotten past, that's all.
Somewhere down in the archives of YouTube,
I was preaching on your uniqueness
and that you're all different.
And you know, the last thing I would want
is a church that is exactly like a man, okay?
And you need to appreciate that you are unique,
you are special, you've been created in the image of God.
And the most harmful thing
in a lot of religious organisations
is when someone just lifts up a man too high
or lifts a family too high
and they wanna be just like that.
And that's not the way God has made us so different
even before we were born.
God had a plan for us
and you know, we all have different personalities
and we all have different backgrounds,
we all have different experiences,
we all have different strengths and weaknesses.
And so we ought to appreciate that,
we ought to enjoy the fact that there's no one else like us.
But you also, when it comes to this Perfect Man series,
you also need to have the right balance in everything, okay?
You don't wanna take the approach where you say,
well, I'm a unique pastor, I've got my own personality,
therefore, you can't change me.
Therefore, I am what I am,
even though you've got bad characteristics,
you've got bad habits,
you've got a way of living
that is not pleasing to the Lord.
Now what does it say there in Romans 8, 20 to nine?
It says, for whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son,
that he might be the first one among many brethren.
Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called,
and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
And so one of the key things that I covered last time
is that we don't wanna be imitators,
we don't wanna be actors,
we don't wanna be emulators,
but we are called to be conformed
or to form ourselves into the image of his Son,
the image of Jesus Christ.
You know, there are some people
that take verse number 29
and they think this is teaching salvation.
They'll say, well, it says here,
for whom he did foreknow, he did also predestinate.
They'll say, did you know
that God predestinated you to be saved?
Well, let's say if that's the truth.
Okay, he also did predestinate to what?
To be conformed to the image of his Son.
If the predestination was here to be saved,
then the way to be saved is to be conformed to Jesus.
Forget about it then, you're all going to hell.
You cannot be conformed to the image of the Son
in order to be saved.
No, you are already saved
and the moment that you're saved, your destiny,
you are predestined to be conformed
to the image of his Son.
We are on this journey today.
And look, you're never really gonna get to the end of it
in this life journey while you're in this flesh.
We know the completion of this
is when God resurrects us from the dead
and we receive that new glorified body.
But you know, even though that's a future hope to come,
we're gonna be like Christ.
You see here that we need to be working on this today.
We shouldn't be lazy Christians.
Eventually you'll be like Christ when I get that new body.
No, God wants us to be working upon that today,
being conformed to his Son.
And so this is a big book, isn't it?
It's not just salvation.
Most of this book is how to live a holy life,
how to live a life that pleases the Lord.
And brethren, when you're challenging,
you see in your life
that you don't line up with God's word.
You don't wanna take the approach,
well, that's who I am, pastor said I'm unique.
You know, I'm different.
No, no, God knows you're different
and so be like his Son.
You're predestined.
Your destiny is to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so the title of the sermon tonight is
Conforming Yourself After Christ.
You do need to change.
You can't just stay the way you are.
I mean, you can stay the way you are, just you're saved.
No, you didn't have to change anything about yourself.
But you know what?
In order to please the Lord, he wants you to change.
He wants you to be conformed.
Form yourself after Christ.
See what Christ is like in the word
and make yourself more like that.
And so I want to make sure
we have this balanced approach.
We don't wanna be conformed to a man or a family.
Otherwise, we become a cult.
But we do wanna be conformed to Jesus Christ, okay?
Without losing our uniqueness,
without losing our personality.
Now, the question becomes,
well, how do I conform myself after Christ?
What do I need to do?
And there's a very easy answer.
I'll give you the easy answer first.
And the easy answer is the easy answer
to every single sermon you hear.
You know, if you could summarize every sermon
you've ever heard by any preacher,
what is the summary of every sermon?
I'll tell you the answer, to walk in the Spirit.
Not to walk after the flesh, but to walk in the Spirit.
You know, whether that's some knowledge
that you need to gain according to God's word,
or it's something that you need to do,
or it's something that you need to change your thought life.
It's all about walking in the Spirit.
You know, the Bible says in Galatians 5, 16,
"'This I say then, walk in the Spirit,
"'and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.'"
You want to overcome sin?
You want to overcome the lusts in this flesh?
You've got lust in your flesh, so do I.
How do we overcome that?
We've got to walk in the Spirit.
Every sermon, ultimately, you boil it down,
it's going to be the same thing, walk in the Spirit.
We might say it in different ways,
we might focus on different things,
but at the end of the day,
that's what every sermon should be about.
You know, something practical,
something applicable that you can take away
and be like, what?
I've got to be more like Christ.
I've got to walk in the Spirit.
I've got to stop giving in to the lust of this flesh.
So that's the easy answer, okay?
And that's the answer to every sermon you hear.
But let's get a little bit deeper.
Let's understand what we need to do.
What does it mean to conform?
I'll give you a dictionary definition.
To conform is to make similar in form.
Similar in form, nature or character.
To bring into agreement correspondence or harmony.
So when you look at the Bible and you look at your life,
there are certain things in your life
that is not in harmony with God's Word.
There's probably many things.
And as you grow in the Lord, as you mature
and you become more like Christ,
there should be more in your life
that is in harmony with the Word of God.
It says being conformed,
made similar in form, nature or character.
I said you can't change your personality,
but you can definitely change your character.
Your character can be more Christ-like.
You've got characteristics that are not good,
that are ungodly.
That is what you need to change.
Your personality cannot be changed.
You are the person that God has created you.
But sometimes you grow up,
maybe you haven't had a great upbringing,
or maybe you just live for yourself
and you've got certain characteristics
that does not conform after Christ.
And so you need to figure what those are in your life
by God's Word and make those changes.
If you can, keep a finger there in Romans 8.
We are gonna come back to that.
We'll come back to Romans 8.
And come with me to Ephesians 4.
Come with me to Ephesians 4.
I wanna bring you back to a passage here.
When I started this Perfect Man series,
we did essentially start with this passage here
in Ephesians 4, but let me read it against you there.
Ephesians 4, 13.
We wanna take a different thought here.
Ephesians 4, 13.
It's talking about the purpose of the church
and why we come to meet together,
why we come and hear God's Word.
But the whole purpose of church,
where we're all different people coming together
in the house of the Lord, verse 13, it says,
till we all come in the unity of the faith.
You know, one of the purposes of church
is that we're united in the faith,
united in the beliefs that we have.
It says, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
look at this, unto a perfect man.
As we grow and we know more of Christ,
we're developing ourselves to become a perfect man.
But let's keep reading that, it says,
unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ.
This is not talking about
the new resurrected body to come.
The context of this is church.
As we grow, you know, church ought to make us perfect,
complete, mature, well-rounded Christians.
But we continue in this journey
unto the measure of the stature
of the fullness of Christ.
That's a high standard.
But that is what God wants us to be working toward, right?
The measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
Again, it's not 100% achievable
until we have the new resurrected bodies.
But my point is that God wants us to work toward this, okay?
And we can't just take the attitude,
well, one day it's going to happen.
No, it needs to happen today, okay?
Listen, you don't remember my last sermon.
That's okay.
I'm not angry at you, okay?
This sermon, you're not going to remember it all either, okay?
Don't get upset.
I'm not upset with you if you don't remember it all.
But I strongly encourage you, when it comes to preaching,
just take one thought, just one thing from the sermon,
and say, Lord, the whole sermon is too much for me to do,
but I'm going to take this one thought, this one idea,
this one thing that I see that I'm not compatible with
when it comes to be conformed with Christ,
and I'll make this change.
Help me to make this one change.
And brethren, in this church, we get two sermons a week, okay?
Hey, that's two changes that you can maybe make every week.
52 weeks in a year.
That's 104 changes you can make in this year.
If you just take one thought, one change in a sermon,
it'll make a huge change, 104 positive changes
to be conformed to the image of Christ.
And so it's just, you know,
the Christian life is a gradual thing.
It's a marathon.
It's not a sprint.
It's a lifelong growth and lifelong journey.
And not even I've gotten to the end of it.
I've got a lot to grow.
I've got a lot more to learn, you know?
No one gets to the end of it until we've Christ.
And you know, I'll quickly read to you
from 1 John 3 verse 2.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it says,
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be,
but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is.
When Christ appears at his second coming,
we're gonna be like him.
At that point, you've made it.
At that point, we're like Christ.
At that point, we can see and understand Christ completely
because we'll be without sin in those new bodies.
So that's when it's 100% achievable, okay?
But don't forget, the whole reason we've got this Bible
is because God wants us to live.
Yes, the hope of that achievement to be like Christ,
but he wants to work at it today, today.
This is the time that we can add our treasures in heaven,
rewards in heaven as we change our life to be like Christ.
Brethren, we're adding more glory, more rewards,
you know, more treasures in heaven.
This is our chance.
And actually, I didn't finish reading that.
In 1 John 3, we saw that we shall be like him as he is,
but I want you to just listen to verse number three, okay?
Because it says this,
and every man that have this hope,
do you have this hope that Christ is coming back
and is gonna give you a new body, my Christ?
Okay, so this is you.
It says, I'll read it again.
And every man that have this hope in him,
purify himself, purify himself now.
And then it says, even as he is pure,
even as Christ is pure,
if you truly have the hope
that one day Christ is going to return
and you're looking forward to be like Christ,
then the natural response from you
is that you will purify yourself today,
even as he is pure.
You will strive today to be like Christ.
And so, brethren, it's a tough ask.
It's a big requirement,
but it's achieved with something we can do.
It's something God commands us to do.
Come with me to Galatians chapter five.
Galatians chapter five.
You can stay in Romans
because we are gonna come back to Romans.
But Galatians five and verse number 22.
What is the best way to know
if your actions and decisions are conformed after Christ?
There's probably several ways
that you can kind of think about this.
And, you know, how do I know?
Like, you know, unless I look in the mirror,
I don't really know what I look like.
Unless I look in the mirror,
I can't tell if my hair is out of place
or, you know, maybe I've got a pimple
or I've got a new freckle or I've got a new wrinkle.
You know, looking in the mirror
helps you to assess what you look like.
And what we've been given here,
because remember we're commanded to walk in the Spirit.
We're commanded to be led by the Holy Spirit of God.
And one thing that you'll understand
as you allow the Holy Spirit to do a work in your life,
as you limit how much you walk in the flesh
and you increase how much you walk in the Spirit,
what is the Holy Spirit going to do in your life?
He's going to bring forth the fruits of the Spirit.
You're going to allow the Holy Spirit
to do a work in your heart and in your mind
and bring forth characteristics about you
that you may not have had before.
Look at Galatians 5, 22.
Galatians 5, 22.
So I believe this is the best way for you to know
whether you conform to Christ.
Galatians 5, 22.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love.
Now look, there's other things here.
And we know that, you know, hatred is,
as long as you hate the things that God hates,
we know that it's righteous and good, okay?
But you want your life to be predominantly known
for its love, okay?
Love, love is the fruit of the Spirit.
Joy, what is your life like?
Would you say, Pastor, my life is full of joy?
Or would you say, Pastor, actually,
my life is full of sorrow and worries and fears?
This is how you can judge yourself.
But the fruit of the Spirit, let's not overread,
let's not read these things too quickly.
Is my life full of love?
Is my life full of joy?
Peace is the next one.
Say, Pastor, actually, I'm constantly in conflict.
I'm in conflict with my family.
I'm conflict with my friends.
I'm in conflict with my spouse.
I'm in conflict with everybody I know.
I'm in conflict with my work colleagues.
Sometimes I hear stories,
oh, man, I've always, Pastor, you don't understand.
My family, my church, and my issues over here.
It's like, people tell me, oh, this is a problem,
this is a problem, this is a problem.
It sounds like you're the problem
because the fruit of the Spirit is peace.
It sounds like you're not conformed to Christ
because peace.
Now, look, we understand that we're soldiers of the Lord.
We know that if we stand for God's Word,
it's going to rub the world the wrong way,
but predominantly, is your life a life of peace?
Long suffering, that's patience.
Do you have the patience?
You know, are you willing to, you know,
sometimes be selfless rather than selfish?
You know, be willing to wait for other people.
Gentleness, are you gentle with your brethren?
You know, if you need to confront a brother in the Lord
or a sister in the Lord,
are you gentle in your mannerism toward them?
Goodness, faith, meekness?
Meekness is, do you lower yourself?
Do you see other people as,
do you steam others in your sights?
Do you look at other people in the church and say,
wow, this is a child of God, this is my brother,
this is my sister.
I love my brothers and sisters in the Lord
because they've received the cleansing
of the blood of Jesus Christ.
You know, brethren, I love you, honestly.
When I come to preach, I want to be meek.
You know, I honestly think,
I think you guys are the best people in Fairfield tonight.
You guys are the children of God.
You're the children of God.
You're in the house of God.
Like, what fear should that put in my heart
to stand behind this pulpit and open the Word?
I almost don't want to do it
because what if I do a bad job at it?
I almost don't want to preach
because I don't want to taint God's people.
You know, but we need to hear God's Word.
Meekness, temperance.
Temperance means you're in control of your emotions.
You don't get out of control.
You don't lose your temper
as soon as something doesn't go your way.
Against such, there is no law.
So, brethren, this is a great way.
You know, the fruit of the Spirit.
I know we read over it.
Yeah, yeah, love, joy, peace, whatever.
No, no, how well does your life match up to these things?
And if you say, pastor, there's a lot of things here
that I'm still struggling with,
then you haven't conformed yourself
for the Christ just yet.
You need to walk in the Spirit.
You know, you can quench the Holy Spirit of God.
You can stop the work of the Holy Spirit.
And the easiest way is just to live off the flesh,
just to do the things the flesh wants,
never giving the Holy Spirit time to work in your life.
Look at verse number 24.
It says, and they that are Christ's,
that's you, by the way,
have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Reverend, this flesh needs to be crucified.
Amen.
You say, how often?
All the time, every day.
Every day I wake up in this flesh,
and guess what, I'm selfish.
Every day I wake up in this flesh,
and say, I don't know, Lord,
I don't really feel like picking the Bible today.
You know, every day this flesh wants to do
what he wants to do.
You can say, you know what, shut up flesh.
Go and get crucified,
because I'm going to walk in the Spirit today.
You know, you've got to crucify that flesh.
And then it says in verse number 25,
if we live in the Spirit,
and you do because you're saved,
the Holy Spirit has given you new life.
If we live in the Spirit,
let us also walk in the Spirit.
Amen.
See, you want these fruits of the Spirit.
You want to be conformed like Christ.
Hey, if we live in the Spirit,
let us also walk in the Spirit.
And they that are Christ's, that's you, are crucified,
have crucified the flesh.
Have you crucified the flesh tonight?
Let me encourage you before you come
into the house of the Lord.
That flesh just keeps coming off the cross.
That flesh just keeps coming back from the dead.
It's like this zombie, this walking dead corpse
that gets in the way of our life to serve Jesus Christ.
You've got to take that flesh and go, no,
I'm going to the house of the Lord.
I want to hear what the Holy Spirit has to say to me.
I want to be challenged by God's word tonight
and make the changes that I need to make.
No one's made it.
I haven't made it.
I'm still trying to conform myself after Christ.
As I'm going for those fruits of the Spirit,
I can recognize immediately things that I'm failing in.
You know, if you can, please join in Romans.
Come with me to Romans chapter 12.
Romans chapter 12 in verse number one.
It says, I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies
as a living sacrifice.
Let's stop there for a moment.
You know, in the Old Testament, you guys know the stories.
You know, when they were to bring a sacrifice
before the Lord?
Were they to bring the sick and maimed animals?
Or are they to bring the best?
The best, the lambs without spots.
All right, lambs without spots, the best, okay?
Well, God wants you to present your bodies
as a living sacrifice.
You're not going to have to kill yourself.
A living sacrifice, okay?
So if God wanted the best in the Old Testament,
does he want you to give him your best or your worst?
Your best, okay?
I want you to understand that you present your,
say, but my body, it's full of sin.
It's selfish.
It's the carnal.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you've got to have victory over that flesh.
You've got to walk in the Spirit.
And this body needs to be subject unto that Spirit.
And if you're having a hard time, you know,
with walking with the Lord and you know,
just giving to your temptations way too quickly,
you don't even put up a battle,
you don't even put up a fight,
then you're given too much time,
too much attention to the things of this world,
too much time, too much attention to things of your flesh.
You need to give more to the Spirit.
And I'm glad you're in the house of God tonight.
That's going to help your spirit.
You've got to pick up your barber.
You've got to sing praises to God.
Hey, don't just sing praises in church.
Sing praises at home.
Wake up in the morning and have a song for Jesus Christ.
Have a song to God in the morning.
Praise him in the morning.
Give your first minutes,
your first moments of the day to our Lord Jesus Christ.
And I'm sure he's going to help you.
I find personally, like my days are more smooth
when I give God the very beginning, the very first, okay?
Just begin, Lord, that flesh is there.
Let me get rid of it.
Let me pick up your Bible.
Let me think upon you, Lord.
Let me just pray and ask you that you would bless my day.
I just find those days a lot more easy to get through.
But then you forget, right?
Get up and check the Facebook
or you check the YouTube or something.
You forget, you know?
And then it's like, oh, what am I doing?
God wants me to present my body, a living sacrifice.
Holy, it says in verse number one,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
God says, this is reasonable.
It's not unreasonable that you give your bodies
a sacrifice as to God.
This is reasonable.
God says that he gave his son to die for you.
I mean, who would do that?
Sacrifice, like, would I ever sacrifice one of my kids?
You say, Pastor, you got 12.
Well, 12's on the way.
You can sacrifice one.
No, I can't.
I can't sacrifice one for anybody.
God sacrificed his son.
He died for you.
Okay, he died.
God's not asking you to die.
He's just saying, live in sacrifice, please.
And this is reasonable.
Something that you can do as thanksgiving
for what God has done for you.
I'm gonna quickly, we're gonna say that in Romans 12.
We're gonna keep continuing there.
But 1 Corinthians 6, 19, it says, what?
Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost,
which is in you, which ye have of God,
and ye are not your own?
Brethren, you are not your own.
Your body does not belong to you anymore.
You've been saved.
Not only did Christ save your soul,
but now this body belongs to him.
He purchased it with his blood.
You say, but it's a sinful body.
You know, it's a corrupted body.
It's going to die.
Yeah, Jesus Christ wants it anyway.
Okay, Jesus Christ wants it anyway.
It says, verse number 20,
for ye have bought the price,
therefore glorify God in your body
and in your spirit, which are God's.
Your body, not just your spirit.
You say, my spirit's been born again.
It's without sin.
Yes, it is.
That's God's.
But so is that body.
So is that body.
God wants it.
Okay?
So are you willing to give him that sacrifice?
Are you willing to be conformed unto Christ?
This is your reasonable service.
You're there in Romans 12.
Let's continue, verse number two.
Hey, the title was to be conformed to Christ.
But here's what you're doing.
This is what you're doing wrong.
And this is what I'm doing wrong.
Verse number two.
And be not conformed to this world.
Brethren, you got a choice.
Now that you're saved, okay?
You gotta conform yourself to something.
You either conform yourself to Jesus Christ
or you conform yourself to the world.
It's your choice.
Be not conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind
that ye may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God.
See, to win this battle,
am I gonna be conformed to the world?
Am I gonna be conformed to Christ?
Is to renew your mind.
There's a lot of wickedness in this mind.
There's a lot of wickedness in your mind.
There's a lot of worldliness.
There's a lot of lust and stupidity,
things that does not please the Lord in our minds.
This brain doesn't stop even when you get asleep.
You're having those dreams.
It doesn't stop.
And then you wake up, you go, what a stupid dream.
Sometimes you dream something, oh, that was so good.
And you start to explain to someone,
you go, what a rubbish dream that was.
There's so much rubbish in this brain.
And you need to give attention
to the things of God with this mind.
Remember, to love the Lord God with all your heart
and all your strength and all your soul and all your mind.
Okay, we're to love God with all of our mind.
And look, when we transform your mind,
the world has brainwashed us.
Okay, the world brainwashes us with media,
okay, with music, with Hollywood movies,
okay, with society, the standards of society.
But you know what, we need to take God's word
and we need to wash our minds, as it were,
with God's word to cleanse our minds.
And as we cleanse our minds,
it's gonna help you to be conformed to Christ
rather than being conformed to this world.
You've got a choice.
And look, as you live life,
verse number two is so helpful if you focus upon it,
that you may prove, see, whatever you do in life,
you've gotta prove, is this right?
You know, when you decided to be in church tonight,
you said, okay, I'm gonna prove, what is that good?
Is it good to be in church tonight?
And it says, we don't have to, good and acceptable.
Is it acceptable to be in the house of God tonight?
And perfect, is this what God wants, the will of God?
Is this God's will in my life
to be in the house of God tonight?
And you said, yeah, so you're here.
That's right, good, you've done the right thing.
But now you need to do it over everything you think about,
everything you do in life.
You decide, is this gonna help me conform myself to Christ?
Or is this gonna cause me to be conformed to this world?
You gotta measure everything up.
You know, the example that I use on the Sunshine Coast
because there's a lot of beautiful beaches,
and I love the beach, I love the coastline,
it's such a beautiful part of the world.
But there's a lot of nudity.
There's a lot of ladies in their underwear,
they call it swimsuits, it's their underwear,
walking around, okay?
And you say, well, you know, is it good to be at a beach?
Well, there's a lot of beach.
God's created, I think it's perfectly good
to go and have a swim, all right?
That's what I think, I think it's fine.
Enjoying God's creation, acceptable, perfect,
spending time with my family, creating memories,
causing my family to enjoy each other's company,
growing together, I think this is all good
for the kids to have fun.
Yes, I think it's all wonderful.
But what if we went to a beach,
and the whole beach was full of naked people?
You hit the Bondi or something here in Sydney, right?
And you guys know, you've seen it,
you know what I'm talking about, nudity galore, all right?
Do you think, when you take the decision,
I'm gonna prove, go into Bondi today
on this public holiday, whatever it is,
and whatever your beach of choice is, right?
And there's all this nudity that you can look at.
Are you going to truly say, all right, pastor,
I need to renew my mind, I wanna be conformed to Christ,
or I'm going to conform myself to this world?
All right, let's assess Bondi today.
What does it look like?
Is it good?
Is it acceptable?
Is it perfect?
Is it the will of God that I set my eyes on this nudity?
And if you're honest, you'll say, no, this is not good.
This is not where God would want me to meet me.
Like if Jesus Christ was walking with me right now,
would he wanna hang around Bondi with me?
Would he wanna go have a swim there?
There's a lot of other places you can go for a swim.
There's a lot of other places you can enjoy the coastline,
but this is what it means to prove
whatever it is you decide to do.
You know, I can't make every decision for you in life.
You've gotta prove it.
Does this line up with God's will or does it not?
And brethren, when it doesn't align with God's will,
when it is not good, when it is not acceptable,
when it is not perfect, you know, and you do it,
you're gonna be conformed to the world.
You're going to give into that flesh.
You're gonna, again, take that old man from the cross,
okay, and you're gonna be living in that old man once again,
giving into temptations.
It's so important, you know, if you can,
come with me to the book of Job,
come with me to Job chapter one.
Stay in Romans, sorry guys, stay in Romans,
but come with me to Job if you've got enough fingers.
I'm not sure how many passages I told you to stay in.
If you've got enough fingers, you've got 10 fingers,
just be all right.
But come with me to Job chapter one, Job chapter one.
Job chapter one.
Job chapter one, verse number one.
You might say to me about pastor, you don't understand.
I am so Christ-like right now, my spiritual walk.
I can go to any beach and I can be surrounded
by all the nudity.
I am so holy and so righteous,
I don't even notice it, pastor,
and I just go for a dip and I get wet.
I don't even realize there's anybody around me.
You're lying to everybody if that's you.
Nobody believes you, okay?
Not even God believes you.
Look at Job, Job chapter one, verse number one.
There was a man in the land of Uz
whose name was Job and that man was, look at this, perfect.
Hey, we're trying to be the perfect man.
Did Job reach that level?
Is he perfect?
Yeah, these are the words of God.
He's perfect, upright,
and one that feared God and eschewed evil.
He did not wanna be around evil.
He stayed away from evil things.
This is what God says about Job.
My question to you, brethren, are you better than Job?
When you look at your life and go,
yeah, I've reached Job's status, pastor.
You know, I'm a man that fears the Lord
and I'm perfect and upright
and I eschew evil.
Would God say that about you, about your life,
if he wrote something about you?
Come with me to Job chapter 31, please.
Job chapter 31 and verse number one.
Job 31.
Because even though these are the words
spoken by God about Job,
I want you to understand that Job knew
how to conform himself after Christ.
He knew that he should not conform himself to the world.
And so it says in Job 31, verse one,
these are the words of Job.
He says, I made a covenant with mine eyes.
Why then should I think upon a maid?
He goes, look, I've told my eyes
not to look at another woman who is not my wife.
Why should I think?
Remember the renewal of your mind.
Why should I think upon a maid?
If I look upon this nakedness,
if I look upon some other woman,
it's going to be in my mind.
It's gonna cause me to be conformed to this world.
Look, this is what a man like Job,
who is perfect and upright by the words of God,
even he had to say, I've got to control my eyes.
Even he had to say, you know, I can't be like this world.
I can't just look upon things in lust.
Reverend, be careful,
because I'm not at Job's status and neither are you.
I don't think God would say that about me.
You know, one of the best men walking the earth that day,
and even he says, man,
I can't just go to the beach and look around.
I've told my eyes, no, I'm not going to set my eyes.
You know, I'm gonna make a covenant.
I'm not gonna think upon a maid.
I'm not gonna think about some other woman
that I've seen walking in her underwear at Bondi Beach.
So I'm just giving you one example.
Okay, one example, you know,
obviously we make many decisions in life
and you need to figure out,
boy, does this line up with God's will or does it not?
You know, am I truly giving my body as a living sacrifice?
Am I truly representing the temple?
You know, if our bodies are the temple of God,
is it really gonna be surrounded by this environment
or whatever environment it is that you find yourself in?
Conforming yourself to the things of the Lord.
If you can come with me to Luke 11,
you can turn away from Job.
Come with me to Luke 11.
I hope he's still got a finger in Romans.
But Luke 11, verse number 34.
Luke 11, verse number 34.
Brethren, your eyes are more than just what you,
it's not, our eyes aren't just, you know, for observation.
And, you know, it's just sort of this sort of sense
that it just gives us, you know, it helps from blindness.
There is what you look at, what you look at
and what you set your eyes upon.
Job understood this.
That's why he had covenant with his eyes.
It affects your entire body.
It affects your entire life, what you look at, okay?
The Bible says in Luke 11, 34,
the light of the body is the eye.
What gives the body light?
You know, the only organ that receives light is the eye.
It's, you know, it passes through the eye,
hits the back of the retina, doesn't it?
The light enters the body through the eye, okay?
It says, therefore, when thine eye is single,
when it says single, it means whole.
Like it's not a fraction, it's a single,
it's a single digit.
You know, when thine eye is whole or healthy,
that's kind of the thought there.
Thy whole body also is full of light,
but when thine eye is evil, evil means harmed,
let's say it's got cataracts or blind, okay?
It says thy body also is full of darkness.
So the more you see, obviously the more light you have,
the more you can walk in light,
but the more cloudy or darkened your eyes are,
the more that you're gonna be walking in darkness
or complete blindness, as it were, right?
But then Jesus Christ says this in verse number 35,
take heed, this is, pay attention, take heed therefore,
that the light which is in thee be not darkness.
If thy whole body therefore be full of light,
having no part dark, the whole shall be full of light,
as when the bright shine of a candle doth give thee light.
Brevin, if you want your body to be full of light,
we know that God, there is no darkness in God, right?
God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.
You know, if we wanna be walking in the light of God,
we need to make sure that we pay attention
to the light that is entering our eyes.
We're gonna make sure that we don't receive the darkness
because, Brevin, it's gonna cause you
to fall into darkness.
You know, if you're blinded physically,
you're not gonna be able to walk properly,
you're gonna fall, you're gonna need help.
And Brevin, if you set your eyes on things that are worldly,
things that, you know, you're giving into your lust,
if you look at things like pornography,
you look at things that you should not be looking at,
Brevin, it's gonna destroy you.
It's gonna hurt you.
It's gonna cause you to stumble.
It's gonna hurt your relationships.
It's gonna help hurt the way you think about other people.
We're called to be conformed to Christ.
Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit of God.
He's purchased your body with his blood.
What are you gonna do with your body?
You gonna give it to the world,
conform yourself to the world,
or conform yourself to Christ?
It's your choice.
Come back with me to Romans 12.
We haven't finished.
Romans 12.
We read verses number one and two.
Look at verse number three.
It says,
Think of himself more highly than he ought to think,
but to think soberly,
according as God have dealt to every man
the measure of faith.
Brevin, we should not lift ourselves,
think, oh man, I'm such a good Christian,
holier than thou attitude.
I'm so much better than brother so-and-so
or sister so-and-so at church.
In fact, anyone having that attitude
tells me you're an immature brat.
Like, you really need to be humbled by the Lord God,
you know, anyone having that kind of attitude.
Look at verse number four.
This is about church.
For as we have many members in one body,
there's many of us here today in the body of Christ,
and all members have not the same office.
So we, being many, are one body in Christ,
and every one members one of another,
having then gifts differing.
Remember, we're different.
You know, God's given us different gifts,
different abilities,
having then gifts differing
according to the grace that is given to us.
Where the prophecy, let us prophesy
according to the proportion of faith.
This kind of helps us to put into light
the previous chapter on your uniqueness,
that we are all different,
that God has made us different.
He's given us different strengths and weaknesses.
He's given us different gifts
in order to serve in the house of the Lord.
But the main thing I wanted to show you
is that we're to conform ourselves after Christ,
but we are not to lose our individuality.
That's the whole point, okay?
As we keep going through this.
Now let's keep going.
The next verses, I'm gonna read very quickly, okay?
The next verses, verses number seven
all the way to verse number 21.
But what we see here is another list, all right?
Of an outward evidence
that someone has conformed themselves after Christ.
It's quite a massive list, okay?
I started with the fruits of the Spirit,
we'll just get another list.
And again, I'm not going to go into great depth here,
but I want you to just mentally have a checklist,
like just mentally as we keep going through this list.
I want you, and don't tell me afterwards,
just say, like if you read something,
you go, yep, tick, I've achieved that.
I'm doing well at that.
I'm maybe not always, but you know,
largely my life is like this.
And if there's anything there that your life is not like,
then I want you to just put a mental cross.
Say that's something I need to change.
And look, as we go this list,
you might have 10 things on this list
that you say, I can't, you know, I haven't reached it.
I'm falling behind, I'm lagging behind.
I'm not like Christ.
Well, at the end of the sermon,
don't go, okay, I need to change all 10 things,
because then you're not gonna do it.
Just say, what is the one thing?
Remember I said that.
What is the one thing on this list
that I can change about myself tonight?
What is one thing that I'm going to go to bed tonight
and say to the Lord, Lord, tomorrow,
help me achieve this standard.
Help me to be like my Lord Jesus Christ.
It says in verse number seven.
Or ministry, let us wait on ministering.
Or hear that teacheth on teaching.
Or hear that exhorteth on exhortation.
Hear that giveth, let him do it with simplicity.
Hear that ruleth with diligence.
Hear that showth mercy with cheerfulness.
Now, this is where I want you to start this list.
Verse number nine, let love be without this simulation.
What's a simulator?
Sorry?
Yeah, so without this simulation.
So your love ought not to be fake, okay?
Your love ought to be true.
Do you love each other?
Really, when you look around this church,
can you say, pastor, I love every brother
in the Lord in church tonight.
I love every sister in church tonight.
Or is it, hey, brother, good to see ya, ugh.
Didn't want to see him here tonight.
Is that you?
I don't know, maybe you are, I don't know.
Maybe I am sometimes.
Abhor that which is evil.
Cleave to that which is good.
Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love.
In honor, preferring one another.
Look at this, not slothful or lazy in business.
Brevin, are you suffering from laziness?
Are you suffering from slothfulness?
This is a major issue in our current generation,
in the millennial generation.
What's the generation after millennials?
Z?
It's a huge problem.
Lazy, self-entitled people, okay?
Slothful, let's not be like this.
We're children of God.
We're conforming ourselves after Christ.
Fervor in spirits.
Serving the Lord.
Brevin, do you serve the Lord?
When you do things, when you go soul winning,
do you do it for the Lord
or do you do it for the praise of men?
Men, when you get up to song lead,
do you do it for the praise of men
or do you do it for the Lord?
Men, when you preach, do you do it for men
or do you do it for the Lord?
Serving the Lord.
Verse number 12, rejoicing in hope.
Is your life about rejoicing?
When someone says, hey, what is your life like?
That brother's always happy, he's always rejoicing.
He's always on fire for the things of the Lord.
It's his patience in tribulation.
Is that you?
When you're going through troubles and problems,
are you patient?
Are you like, thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Lord, for the troubles
you're allowing me to go through.
I can't wait to see what you're trying to teach me
through this tribulation.
Continuing instant in prayer.
Is that you?
Do you continue in prayer?
I wake up and I pray and I go to bed and I pray
and when I eat, I pray and when I preach, I pray.
But am I continually in prayer?
It's not saying that you just never stop praying,
but just different parts of the day.
Whatever you're doing in life.
Say, Lord, can you go to work?
Say, Lord, help me to get to work on time today.
You start the day, Lord, help me be at work
and help me to be a blessing to my boss
and to my colleagues.
And then when you finish up work,
Lord, help me to have the energy to come home
and to be a blessing to my wife and my family
and Lord, we've got church tonight.
I'm very tired because I've been working.
Lord, help me to come to church and be energized
and you're just speaking to the Lord continually
through the day.
That's instant in prayer.
Verse number 13,
distributing to the necessity of the saints
given to hospitality.
Are you aware of the saints that are struggling
and areas that you can step in
and be a blessing toward them?
Verse number 14,
do you bless and which persecute you?
Bless and curse not.
Have you been persecuted?
How have you responded to that?
Verse number 15,
rejoice with them that do rejoice.
If that's easy, yes, it's easy.
But then, and weep with them that weep.
You know, if someone in church is weeping,
is hurt, are you someone that comes along
and weeps with them?
Or are you someone that says,
get over it, brother, get over it, sister.
Be of the same mind once more than other.
Mind not high things.
Hey, don't think of yourself as a,
you know, like I said, the holier than thou.
You know, full of pride,
but condescend to men of lower states.
You know, are you willing to get down and say,
you know, I'm willing to get down to the level
of the lowest member in church.
You know, to the child that comes into church,
I'm willing to lower myself and be a friend
and be an encouragement
and to encourage a little child,
hey, welcome to church,
good to see you at church today.
Be not wise in your own conceits.
Verse number 17,
recompense to no man evil for evil,
provide things honest in the sight of all men.
If it be possible as much as life in you,
live peaceably with all men.
Is that you, brother?
Dearly beloved,
avenge not yourselves,
but rather give place unto wrath,
for it is written, vengeance is mine,
I will repay you safe for the Lord.
Is that you, brethren, when someone does you wrong?
Are you desiring to get revenge on them
or are you willing to leave it to the Lord
to take care of that?
Verse number 20,
therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him.
Brethren, that's a big cross for me.
Right there.
Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him.
If you thirst, give him drink.
For in so doing,
there will heap coals of fire on his head.
Be not overcome with evil,
but overcome evil with good.
Brethren, if I've got a personal enemy
and they want to hurt me,
the last thing I want to do
is give them a cup of water.
The last thing I want to do
is give them something to eat.
You know, I'll tell you that.
That's one of my failings, right?
But as we're going through that list,
I stopped at some of them,
but I'm sure there are some things
that you say, pastor,
I am not achieving that.
I am not doing what I'm commanded to do in this list.
I've been commanded to be like Christ
and I cannot do it.
I've just found so many.
I don't know how many you found.
How many were on your list of crosses?
Let's say there was five.
You say, pastor, I'm going to take one,
just one of these things tonight,
and I'm going to go to my Lord tonight
before I go to bed and say,
Lord, help me to wake up
with this change in my heart.
Help me to apply this change,
this one change for this sermon today
so I can be conformed a little bit more
like Christ tomorrow.
If you can come with me to Philippians chapter three,
please, Philippians chapter three.
Philippians chapter three in verse number 10.
Philippians chapter three, verse number 10.
How far does God want us to go
with being conformed unto Christ?
Conforming yourself after Christ
is the title of the sermon tonight.
How far does God want us to go?
Look at Philippians 3, 10.
It says that I may know him
and the power of his resurrection.
Now look, let's stop there for a moment
before we keep reading
because those first phrases are like that.
Yeah, I want to know my Lord more.
I'd like to read my Bible more
and know more about God,
know more about who he is
and the power of his resurrection.
I want to know more about that.
I want to know how God is able to have
victory over sin, over hell, over the grave.
I want some of that power for myself, Lord.
I need to be able to crucify that flesh
and live in the spirit that you've given me.
I like that.
I mean, you probably might like that as well.
But then it says,
and this is the part that we don't like,
and the fellowship of his sufferings.
God wants us to be in fellowship of his sufferings?
God wants us to suffer in this life?
To go through hardship?
To just taste a little bit
of what Christ suffered for us?
God wants us to take up our cross and follow him?
Look at the next phrase.
Being made conformable unto his death.
Are you willing to die for Christ?
Peter said, yeah, he will.
And then he denied him three times.
He denied him three times before the next morning came.
You know, yeah, you might say,
yeah, I'm willing to die for Christ.
Really?
Are you better than Peter?
Peter walked with Christ for three years.
You know, close, every single day,
learning from Jesus Christ.
Are you willing to die for the cause of Christ?
Are you willing to be conformed unto,
being made conformable unto his death?
Let's keep going there, verse number 11.
If by any means I might attain
unto the resurrection of the dead.
You see, even if we did lose our life for Christ,
well, we're going to be resurrected from the dead
because we know the power of his resurrection.
See, whatever it is, brethren,
that we do in this life for Jesus,
we're going to receive a hundredfold in the world to come.
Like whatever it is we lose,
whatever it is that we sacrifice.
You know, we want to sacrifice our living bodies.
We want to be made conformable to his death.
God's going to reward you.
God's going to bless you.
This is the time we have now.
I know, again, I started with a thought
that we're hopeful for the coming of Christ
and the new bodies that we're going to receive,
but, brethren, now's the time to be rewarded
for the work you do for the Lord.
Now's the time.
Are you going to be conformed to this world?
Brethren, all the time you spent
conforming yourself to this world,
when you're in heaven, when you're in eternity with God,
it's pointless.
It was a waste of time.
It was a waste of years.
It was a waste of effort.
It gives you nothing in return.
But if you conform yourself to Christ,
God will reward you eternally for what you've done,
everything you've lost, even if you've lost your life.
God says that he'll give you the crown of life.
You say, what is the value of the crown of life?
I don't know, but I do know
that whatever we give up for God,
Jesus Christ said you get rewarded back a hundredfold.
So if losing one life for Christ is worth it,
then whatever reward the crown of life is
must be worth a hundred lives.
Must be worth a hundred lives, even more so.
Look at verse number 12.
Not as though I had, and this is important.
This is so important right now.
I want you to notice, this is the apostle Paul.
Paul is like the greatest Christian
that you can read about in the Bible, okay?
He wrote so many epistles.
And he says in verse number 11,
if, sorry, verse number 12,
not as though I had already attained.
He goes, I've not really attained this just yet.
Like, I want to know him.
I want to know the power of his resurrection
and the fellowship of his sufferings
and be made conformable unto his death.
Like, he says this, but then he goes,
I've not attained that just yet.
I've not reached that already.
I haven't fulfilled this just yet in my life.
Either we're already perfect.
He goes, I'm still not perfect just yet, brethren.
And you're like, we think of the apostle Paul
and how much things he did for God.
And even he's able to say, look, I've not yet made it.
I'm still trying to be more like Christ.
I'm still trying to conform myself more like Christ.
He goes, but I follow after,
that if that I may apprehend that
for which also I am apprehended of Jesus Christ,
of Christ Jesus.
He goes, brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended,
but this one thing I do.
What are you doing, Paul?
What is this one thing that you do?
Forgetting those things which are behind
and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
This is Paul starting churches, winning souls,
writing the Bible.
You say, if anybody has made it, surely it's Paul.
Even then Paul says, no, I haven't made it just yet.
And the thing that I need to do
is to forget the things that are before.
I need to put away the world.
I'm gonna put away the way, the lust of my flesh,
the things that I've done that does not please God,
the things that doesn't help me be conformed to Christ.
And when I can put that aside,
when I can forget the wickedness of the past,
then I can reach forth to the high calling
of God in Christ Jesus.
Reverend, if Paul's not made it,
I tell you now, I've not made it.
I'm sure you haven't made it.
There are so many things that we need to change in our lives.
Are you willing to change?
Are you willing to say, Lord, please highlight to me tonight
some area in my life, just one area, like the pastor said.
I don't think I can do two areas right now.
Just one area, Lord, that I can be more like Christ.
Lord, maybe I've been too much like the world,
I've been changed, I've been brainwashed,
I've been conformed to this world
and I've given in to my lusts
and that old man is back once again.
Help me to crucify that man once again.
Can I get you to turn to one more passage?
Come with me to Galatians chapter four.
Galatians chapter four.
You know what gives me the greatest joy as a pastor?
And I'm not just saying this.
What is the greatest joy that I have as a pastor?
When I see people in my church growing
and being more like Christ,
that gives me the greatest joy.
When I can see a spiritual maturity,
when I can see a greater knowledge of the things of God,
when I see a greater desire, a greater zeal,
when I see improvements over time,
that's what gives me the greatest joy as a pastor.
And I say that because here in Galatians 4.19,
that's what Paul says to his church in Galatia.
He says, my little children
of whom I travail in birth again,
look at this, until Christ be formed in you.
Reverend, the reason I want to come and preach to you
and speak to you God's word
is that Christ be formed in you.
That when someone looks at you,
they no longer see brother or sister so-and-so,
they see Jesus Christ.
They see the light of Christ.
They go, there's something different about this person.
There's something weird.
There's something special, right?
There's something unique and wonderful about this person.
Wherever you go in life, say, look,
this person must be a Christian.
This person must be someone who loves Jesus Christ
because when I think of who Christ is,
this person comes to mind.
That's what I want to see in my church.
Help me a little bit, Reverend.
Help me a little bit to be more like Christ.
You know, again, I've spoken to some people.
I don't want you to feel sorry for me, okay?
But traveling from Queensland, okay,
to preach you God's word,
because I want to see you grow.
I want to see you develop.
I want you to see you have a greater love
for the things of God,
a greater love for the Bible.
I know the word gets in the way.
The word gets in my way too.
Crucify that old man and say, no,
I'm going to do what God says in his word.
One change at a time.
One sermon at a time.
Just take one little thing and make the change.
And I promise you do that, brethren.
Your life will be transformed after a year.
You'll be a totally different person
if you can make one change per sermon, okay, in your life.
Let me read that again.
Galatians 4, 19,
In whom I travail in birth again.
He's not saying that he's getting them
saved all over again, okay?
But he's travailing his work in.
That they would be born and be like Christ.
That you would grow and mature,
not just a babe, but you would grow
and become a spiritual teenager
and then a spiritual adult
and a spiritual perfect man
and someone that is putting things behind
and reaching forth to the high calling
of the prize of God in Jesus Christ.
I think I said that wrong.
But that's the whole purpose, brethren,
of church and of preaching, of hearing God's word.
We want to see Christ formed in you.
Do you want to see Christ formed in you?
Do you want to be more like Christ?
Do you want to be conformed to Christ?
That's what we're commanded to do.
The title for the sermon tonight was
Conforming Yourself After Christ.
And you've got a choice.
You'll forget this sermon next week, okay?
But you know what's required from you.
You know that next week, by the end of next week,
you should be more like Christ than you are today.
And you know the week after that,
you should be a little bit more like Christ again
than you were the week before.
Okay, and you find yourself,
Pastor, I'm actually going backwards.
Pastor, I'm not growing.
Well, the reason is because you're conforming yourself
after this world.
You're given too much to your flesh, okay?
You're given too much.
Instead, offer your body as a living sacrifice to God.
This is your reasonable service.
Okay, let's pray.