Passages with me tonight. I say a lot, I mean, a good
number of them anyway, and as many of them as you can turn to
with me, I would appreciate it. If you did, we are planning to
continue on with the standards and convictions and I'm going to
show you my page full of notes that I had on that this is it.
So I was working on it. I had probably three or four
hours into it last this week working on that lesson and I
said, I worked on everything else.
That I had to get done and worked on the Sunday morning
message and everything else. And I sat down last night, while
I was already sitting down, but I opened my, my word document,
it probably around 11:15 ish to finish up just a little bit that
I had left on it and it was all gone.
I have no idea. I called Josh at 11:15 last
night and he was in places in my computer that I didn't even know
existed. And I saw all kinds of code and
everything else and words, but none of what I had typed out or
anything that I had done was there.
So I have no idea what To it, or how it disappeared, or where it
went, but the blank document was still there, but that was it.
So I shifted course a little bit and I want to give you a little
bit of a challenge tonight. We'll move that too.
Well, next week we have our dinner on the grounds and
Aidan's going to preach for us in the evening.
So we'll move it to the week after that.
I don't know why. God allowed that to happen, but
I trust that he did and so he knows what's best and he knows
when is best. And so we'll pick that up again
in a couple weeks. But I think this would be
helpful for us tonight. Night Romans chapter 8, really
in the Book of Romans and really all the way throughout the New
Testament. Paul really put an emphasis on
our lives being pleasing to God. And and honestly that's a very
very broad statements. A very vague statement, really?
And it's if we don't know exactly what we're aiming at
then it can just be anything. Let your life, please God.
Well and that's a great, you know, obviously if if somebody
wrote that on my Tombstone, that Great thing his life.
Please God, I mean, that'd be a great thing to have on your
Tombstone but as far as making that a goal of Our Lives, what
does that look like? What are we aiming at?
What's the, what's the goal here in Romans chapter 8?
And I'm going to look at a few other verses in Romans chapter 8
when we get a little bit further into it.
But verse number eight, I think sums all of that stuff.
All of that up in the Bible says this.
So then they that are in the flesh.
Cannot please. God.
Well, there's a lot of things in the Bible that says Says this
pleases God and there's a lot of things in the Bible that says
this does not please God. And that's one of them.
So tonight I want to give you some specific things that we can
do in our lives to make sure that we are pleasing.
God, let's pray and then we'll look at a few of these things
tonight. Father, we love you and we thank
you for your goodness, thank you for the opportunity, you've
given us to be here tonight. I pray that you would help it
help this to be a challenge to us and pray that every single
one of us in our lives would have that goal that we just want
to, please you with our lives. And I pray that you would just
work in. Hearts this evening through the
message in Jesus name. Amen.
The very first point goes right along with what we find there in
Romans chapter 8 and that is this, if we want to please God,
we must fight the flesh. We must fight the flesh those
that live in the flesh. The Bible says there in verse 8,
cannot, please God, let's back it up to verse number five.
There in Romans chapter 8 for they, that are after The Flesh,
do mind, the things of the flesh.
But they, that are after the spirit capital S, the things of
the spirit for to be carnally, minded is death.
But to be spiritually, minded is life and peace, because the
carnal mind is enmity against God for.
It's not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be so
then they that are in the flesh, cannot please God.
And I think that's what happens when we get saved.
If we truly, if we truly are saved, then it's going to change
our life. It's going to produce fruit.
We're going to be different than we were before we accepted.
Jesus Christ, as our savior, and that's what the Bible says.
They that are after The Flesh, mind the things of the flesh.
But the Thereafter the spirit, mind the things of the spirit
because if we are living in the flesh, if that's all, we're
focusing on, and that's all we care about.
That's death, will die in the flesh, right?
But they that the Bible says, there to be spiritually, minded
is life and peace. There are a lot of things that
we have to fight the flesh over, right?
We talked about this with the young, whether young kids,
especially, there's things that they fight against the Flesh in
for them. Maybe it's a to tell a lie or to
steal or cheat or to disobey or You know, to anything.
I mean there's so many things that that are Temptations for
younger kids. And honestly those are still the
Temptations for the older people as well.
I suppose, by that point you should be past the point of
telling lies and stealing and cheating and things like that.
And I know it happens all the time.
And so those are things that we have to fight as well.
But for the, for the older ones, in addition to those things it
moves into things that are whole lot more complicated than that
as well, right? Maybe it's the temptation to
listen to the wrong, kind of music or to watch the wrong
things on TV or Watch the wrong things on the computer and or
even to be in pure was another person, right?
Those are all Temptations. And, and the way that that
happens is because we're living in the flesh.
If your desire and your goal was nothing other than to, please
God, then you wouldn't be tempted by those things.
Now, it's not the Temptation. That's wrong.
Bible says, there is not. There's no temptation.
That's not common to man. We're all tempted, right?
But God, who is faithful. Well, well, well, not sup will
not suffer you to be tempted above that.
We are able but he'll give us a way of Escape that we can bear
that Temptation. So The Temptations not wrong.
Jesus was tempted, right? He went out into the Wilderness
and for 40 days. He fasted and prayed in as soon
as he was done and mind, you is that the weakest Point,
physically, the devil came and tempted him did Jesus sin,
because he was tempted course, not.
So it's not a sin to be tempted. It's a sin to give in to that
temptation. But the reason we give in to
that temptation is We're not living in the spirit, we're
living in the flesh, and if we want to, please God, we must
fight that flesh. Those who gave into the Flesh
and allow the flesh to rule. Them cannot, please God, turn
over to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, we're going
to, like I said, when we jumping around a little bit, so keep
your fingers loose if you can. But the Bible says in Galatians
chapter 5, actually, we'll get to that in a second because I
want to ask you about this first.
Have you ever thought about ways that you definitely don't want
to die? Nobody wants to die but we know
it's inevitable. We know it's coming right?
But there are ways that I certainly don't want to die
suicide. I mean that's how I could never
pull the trigger or do you know what people do to commit
suicide? And my father-in-law used to say
all the time. If you find a suicide note next
to my body it was forged. And I think that I can say the
same thing. I'm not going to write a
suicide, note and take my own life, but I just thought about
some, you know, some of the ways that would be very difficult
drowning. I think would be would be very
scary, right? You just can't take another.
Breath or burning in a building. Could you imagine just watching
the Flames all around you and burning in the, you know, in the
flames? It's just a lot of different
ways that would be painful. But I mean, for me, and probably
for most people, the easiest way to do it is just go to sleep and
never wake up again, right? That'd be the best way to go.
But I saw this, I read this one time and I've never forgotten.
I mean, I saw this when I was a little kid, but it said, when I
die, I want to go, I want to go peacefully.
And in my sleep, like, my grandfather did not screaming
like the passengers in his car, and I just saw the years and
years ago, and it stuck with me. I just thought it was pretty,
but I think the absolute worst possible way that you could die
would be by crucifixion, could you?
Imagine? And I've, you know, I've seen
some of the torture techniques especially in the medieval times
and things and honestly, many of them were were inflicted on
Christians who ended up becoming Martyrs for the cause of Jesus
Christ. And you read through Like foxes
book of Martyrs and some of these other books that detail
and Chronicle, those who gave their lives for the cause of
Jesus Christ and see what they endured.
The torture that they went through, but even even broader
than Christians, there's a lot of, you know, political enemies
that have been tortured in horrific ways.
But the reason why crucifixion was invented was to come up with
a about a torturous way as you could possibly come up with for
somebody to die. Yeah, I think about being burned
at the stake most of the time when you're burned at the stake,
Or not dying from being burnt, you're dying from the smoke
inhalation before your body is burned up.
And so there's a lot of other ways that are difficult but but
crucifixion is a tough tough way to die.
And so when Jesus Christ did that for us, I mean obviously
that means he was he was suffering about as much as he
could possibly suffer as a human being when he died on the cross,
the way that he did. But the flesh also hates
crucifixion as much as I would hate to be crucified as much as
I would hate to be whipped and beaten him hung up on the cross.
And if you stayed Long enough, you finally get your, get your
legs broken and all of those other things that go along with
that. But what look we see in
Galatians chapter 5 and verse number 24 says this and they
that are Christ's have crucified, the flesh with the
affections and lusts, see the the flesh hates that crucifixion
and it's going to fight against it is going to do everything.
It can to live to stay alive to keep fighting another day and it
just keeps coming back and coming back and coming back and
that's why Paul said I Die daily.
Daily. Because the flesh is going to
keep coming back. It's not going to be dead until
you are right. The flesh is going to constantly
fight against us, and if we want to, please God, then we have to
fight against the flesh. Turn over to Second Timothy,
Chapter 2, and I'll give you the second way that we can, please
God not only when we fight the flesh but also when we stay away
from the world, stay away from the world.
Now obviously, we can't help but live in the world, right?
You can't go live on Mars because you're trying to
separate and be different from the world.
Of course, maybe that's not too far off, but I'm not going to be
one of the ones that goes on that journey and lives on Mars.
I can tell you that much but we should be in the world but not
of it. And that's exactly what Paul is
talking about there in second, Timothy Chapter 2 and verse
number 3, thou, therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of
Jesus Christ. No man, that warith and Tango
has himself with the Affairs of this life, that he may, please
him who hath chosen him to be a soldier, talking about pleasing
God, you want to please him, that's called you to be a
soldier, then don't entangle yourself with the Affairs of
this life. That's what a true Soldier
that's out there. Fighting in a battle, is not
worried about anything else except fighting that battle and
winning that battle. They're not, you're not texting
on their phone, they're not watching videos on YouTube.
They're not, you know, finding out with the latest trends are
in fashion and all Those other things they're dressed in their
army gear, they are out there doing what they've been called
to do, and that's to fight against the enemy, and that's
exactly what God's called us to do those that.
Please, God do that by separating from the world.
There ought to be something different about you.
If you're a Christian, you ought to look different.
You ought to act different, you ought to talk different there.
Ought to be that people say what is it about you?
That's different. I want what you have many.
Many people have been 12. Jesus Christ have been led to
Jesus Christ by Christian who worked in a In the workplace and
looked and act and talked like a Christian, that changes things.
And we ought to be different from the world's not going to be
an easy thing. If it was easy, every single
Christian would be sold out to God.
Every single Christian would be different.
Every single Christian would keep themselves away from the
things that are worldly. But we see this in James chapter
one and you can turn over there, James chapter 1 and verse number
27. The world is an enemy of God,
the world hates God and the more we try to be like the world.
The more we are trying to be like the one that has that, that
hates God and wants to do everything they can to keep him
from being promoted in this world.
Right? How many, how often do you see
these? These laws that are being put in
place that are that are Banning things that are anything to do
with Christianity, right? How often they try to keep the
Ten Commandments out of the courthouse and try to keep the
the manger scene out of the Town Square and just everything they
can do to erase Christianity and the more we try to be the friend
to the world. The more we are shaking hands
with and going, right. Alongside those who are trying
to destroy the very thing that we claim to be the very thing
that we claim is our life. And that's Christianity.
James 1:27 says this pure religion and undefiled before
God and the father is this to visit the fatherless and widows
in their Affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the
world. What a goal.
Keep yourself unspotted from the world, right?
The world is a muddy nasty, dirty place and you walk through
a dirty Street, you're going to get a little bit of mud on your
clothes, but I'll responsibility then is to get that mud off as
soon as we can clean it up before it keeps compounding and
compounding and compounding. Right?
That's what we as Christians. That's what pure religion is.
Keep yourself unspotted from the world.
Look over at James chapter 4. Just a couple Pages later.
Anyone who's in love with the world and follows after it is as
an enemy of God and cannot please him.
We see that very plainly there in James chapter 4 and verse
number 4, and boy what strong language God uses hear ye
adulterers and adulteresses know, ye not that the Friendship
of the world is enmity with God, whosoever.
Therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
That doesn't mean that you can't have friends in the world but
you shouldn't be friendly with the world and when the Bible
talks about the world, it's talking about the, you know, the
glitz and the glamour in all of that, you know, everything that
the world is and everything that the world stands for and that's
the fashion industry. And that's just so many things
that the world presents itself to be the things that are that
are doing everything they can to go against God, that's the world
and, and James here. As your daughter is an
adulteress is. In other words, if you're a
friend of the world, you're an enemy of God.
And you are essentially, you are cheating God, right?
You, you are, you are basically throwing that back in God's face
whosoever. Therefore will be a friend of
the world is the enemy of God. It's not just what?
God's not pleased with him, God doesn't like that.
It says you are the enemy of God when you're a friend of the
world, that's very, very strong language but that ought to wake
us up that ought to make us say. Well I don't want anything to do
with something. It's going to align me as being
an enemy of God, I want to be a friend of God, right?
Know, ye not that, the Friendship of the world is
enmity with God, whosoever. Therefore will be a friend of
the world is the enemy of God. Turn over to Galatians chapter
1. How do we please?
God, we please God, when we fight the flesh, we please God.
When we stay away from the world.
Number three, we seek, we please God when we seek to please God
over men. Galatians chapter 1.
Verse number 10. Paul is asking, kind of a an
ironic question I guess for do I now persuade men or God or do?
I seek to please men for if I yet, pleased men.
Should not be the servant of Christ seek to please God over
men. That's how we're going to please
God. So many people are concerned
with pleasing those around them that they often ignore the fact
that they're not pleasing God, right?
We want to be liked, we want people to to love us.
Right. And there's I mean those who are
seeking to please men are not pleasing.
God, it's easy to want to be liked the fact if you want to be
hated. I think there's something wrong
with you right now we know that when we take a stand for the
things of Christ, when we take a stand for the things of God, we
are going to be hated. And I ought to love the things
of God, more than I love being like more than I love being
appreciated. More than I love being loved.
Right? But not at not at the expense of
having God not pleased with Me, we should be seeking popularity
over. Shouldn't be seeking popularity
over principle and we see that happening so often with a lot of
our politicians now, right? What's way of the winds blowing,
okay? That's what I'm going to be and
you know, a lot of times you see that that 5 or 10 or 15 years
ago, they were staunchly against whatever it is and actually now
there's these so, quote, unquote, hot button topics, you
know, used to be that 15 years ago, even all these people were
against abortion and they were against homosexuality and they
were And so all these things but the political winds have
changed. Now the winds blowing, a
different direction and now just as staunchly as they were
against those things, now there for them that's not standing on
principle at standing on popularity.
If it's going to give me a little bit of popularity, if
it's going to give me a little bit of media time then I'll do
it. It's not pleasing to God right?
We should not seek the praise of men over the praise of God.
You have to remember that man, only sees the outward
appearance. God sees the heart, doesn't
matter as much, what you look like on the outside, as it does.
You actually are on the inside and so many Christians,
especially have gotten used to this idea of looking good on the
outside and, and, and to their Christian friends into the world
around them. Even, maybe they look good.
But inside, they're just they're empty.
They're full of dead men's bones.
Like we talked about this morning, but we ought to be
seeking to please God over man. Turn to Isaiah 56.
We please God when we fight the flesh we please God and we stay
away from the world. We please God when we seek to
please him over men and number four, we please God.
When we choose things that please him while it isn't that a
profound statement. But it's true.
We please God. When we choose things that are
pleasing to him, right? Isaiah chapter 56, in verse
number 1, Thus said the Lord keep you judgment and do justice
for my salvation is near to come and my righteousness to be
revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth
this and the son of man that lays hold on it, that keepeth
the Sabbath from polluting it keepeth, his hand, from doing
any evil, neither. Let the son of the stranger.
That have joined himself to the Lord, speak saying, the Lord
hath utterly separated me from his people.
Neither like, the eunuch say, behold, I'm a dry tree for thus.
Saith, the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my Sabbath's and
choose the things that please me.
And take hold of my Covenant even unto them.
Will I give mine house and within my walls a place in a
name better than sons and of daughters, I will give them an
everlasting name. That shall not be cut off.
Also, the sons of strangers that join themselves to the Lord to
serve him and to love the name of the Lord to be his servants.
Everyone that keep the Sabbath from polluting it and take a
hold of my Covenant, even them will I bring to my Holy Mountain
and make them joyful In My House of Prayer, their burnt offerings
and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar.
From my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.
The Lord God, which gather at the outcasts of Israel saith
yet. Will I gather others to him
beside those? That are gathered unto him.
And I think that's kind of a prophetic passage about the fact
that the Gentiles were going to accept Jesus Christ, even even
before the Jews did, right? And and so he was expanding
that, I would say, it doesn't matter who it is that accepts
what I'm preaching accepts, what I'm teaching, you can, please
God the matter who you are. If you are a eunuch, if your A
stranger. It doesn't matter.
You do what God says you're supposed to do in his word and
he'll look at that the same way, he'll be pleasing to him but
every single day you're faced with a whole lot of decisions
about whether you're going to do right or wrong.
I don't know, I've never done any looked up any research on
it, and I don't even know if there's any way that you could
really do research on that, but can you imagine how many choices
you make every single day? I know I have in the past.
I've heard that they're that they're you know what the number
was, and I haven't seen in a long time so I don't even want
to throw a number out there, but it's a lot.
They have also been able to calculate the number of thoughts
that you have in a day or the thoughts, that that an average
person has in the day. And it's an astronomical number.
We are making even if there are the smallest scale, we are
making decisions, hundreds, and hundreds and hundreds of
decisions. Every day on whether we're going
to do right. Or whether we're going to do
wrong, the devil is constantly. They're trying to tempt us to do
those things. But every day, the flesh is
going to try to turn us away from God every day.
The flesh is going to fight against you reading your Bible
and having your prayer time, the flesh is going to fight against
you giving out the message of the gospel.
And it's not even that that in your mind, you say, you know
what, I'm not giving out the gospel today.
It's just that you get busy and we allow that busyness to take
over the things that are more important that our most
important. That is the things of God.
Every person has to make a deliberate choice to do things
that please God. And when I say choose things
that please him, of course, that's pleasing to him.
But it's it, you know, in your own life that sometimes, It's
harder to do that than it sounds.
Oh, just juice things. That please God.
That'll be pleasing to him. It will be.
But often, we don't choose those things.
We choose the opposite. If we would just take every
individual decision on an individual basis and say, no,
I'm using this decision to choose to please God.
I know that there's a lot of things that are pulling me away.
I know that there's a lot of things that are trying to eat at
my time, but this is what's right.
This is what's pleasing to God and I'm going to choose the
things that are pleasing to him. I want to look at one more in
Hebrews chapter 11. How do we please?
God, there's there's, there's other verses in the Bible that
talk about, pleasing him, but there are there.
We're just going to look at five of the night, and this is the
fifth please. And when we fight the flesh, we
please him. When we stay away from the
world, please him. When we seek to please God over
men who plays him when we simply choose the things that please
him. But then lastly, we find here in
Hebrews chapter 11 and verse number 6.
But without faith, it is impossible to please him.
For he that cometh to God must believe that he is and that he
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
So how do you please God, you have faith, you have faith.
All of these things that go into pleasing god require faith.
Right? So you can, you can choose
things that please God. You can fight the flesh, you can
stay away from the world, you can do all of these other
things. But the Bible, very plainly,
says without faith. It's impossible to please him.
So, if you're doing these things without faith, then there's no
possible way that you can please.
God faith to believe that he's going to reward those that
please him, right? And that way he talks about
there in that verse he that cometh to God Must Believe.
Number one, that he is, that he is God that he is in that
position that he does exist. This right?
But that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him
their faith to believe that he's going to help those who are
seeking to, please him have to have faith to believe that he
can give us the victory over the flesh.
So many people fail to, please God because they don't have the
faith to believe that God can give them the victory.
I think what happens in our lives.
So many times as we fail, and we fail and we fail and we fail.
And finally, we give up. And we say God's not, helping me
God's not given me the victory. I'm just going to, I guess I'm
just going to be a failure of the rest of my life.
It takes Faith to believe that God will help you.
You have to work, you have to make an effort at it, but you
make an effort, God will help you same way.
That we just mentioned the verse a little bit ago when it comes
to Temptation there hath. No, temptation taken you, but
such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not
suffer you to be tempted above that, ye are able.
But also will with the Temptation, make a way of
Escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Right, there is a way out knowing there's not a temptation
is so strong, I just can't help it.
Now, there's a way out, there's a way out, you just have to have
faith to believe that God can do it, right?
A lot of other things that go along with that, but God, God
wants to give us victory in this life.
First, John chapter 5 and verse. Number 4 says, for whatsoever is
born of God overcometh. The world.
This is the victory that overcometh.
The world even our faith songwriter said, faith is the
victory. It overcomes the world God wants
to give us victory in this life and he wants to help us to
please him. But we have to have faith to
believe that he'll do it. Once you look at one last
passage with me and we're done Proverbs chapter 16.
Proverbs chapter 16 and boy the Proverbs are just filled with so
many verses that give us great wisdom and how to please God,
but Proverbs chapter 16 And verse number 7, it says this,
when a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies
to be at peace with him. Well, you talk about him.
Good life. Talk about having a life that is
it is peaceful. Talk about having a life.
That's wonderful. When a man's ways, please the
Lord. And we've talked about all these
different ways that we please the Lord.
But when a man's ways, please, the Lord, even as enemies, even
the ones who hate him, even the ones who are against him are
going to be at peace with him, right?
Everything is right. When we're seeking to, please
God, if everything we did. With a mindset above all is I
just want to please God, we would never have to worry about
falling into temptation or falling into sin.
Because we're tempted, we never have to worry about a lot of
these things that so often like the Bible says easily beset us
if every single day my mindset is I just want to please God.
Well what a thing that you could put on your on your mirror and
put it on your dash and your car, something like that.
I just Just want to please God. And if you have that as your
mindset, then I know then you will please God, you will please
God because everything else pales in comparison to that. if
we fight the flesh, we stay away from the world we seek to please
God over men if we choose things that please him, and if we have
faith And our lives will be in complete fulfillment of what he
is. That he wants us to accomplish,
right? And above all our overarching,
theme of our entire life, should just be, I just want to, please
God. I just want to please God, if
that would become our Mantra, if that would become our life, that
would become the model that we that we live our lives.
After Then we would please God. The Bible says even our enemies
if even our enemies will be at peace with us, imagine the
blessings that would come from living for the blessings.
That would come from God. Imagine the blessings that would
come from other Christians. Imagine the way that God would
use us if we just had that mindset, I don't want anything
else. I just want to please God.
Hopefully, that's a reminder to you tonight but let's pray.
Father, we love you. And we thank you so much for how
good you are to us. And God, I pray that you would
use the message in our hearts convict us convict this of the,
in these areas where we, where we choose the world over you,
where we choose the flesh over you.
We don't fight as hard as we could, where we don't.
Please, you and everything that we do.
So God I pray that you would speak to our hearts.
I pray that you would just allow the Holy Spirit to work in our
hearts and we're decisions need to be made tonight.
God, I pray that they would be and that everything in our lives
would focus around that thought of I just want to please God.
and God, I pray that you to help us help us to be used by you
because we Want to be used by you and because we want to place
here, but thank you for all that you do for us in Jesus name.
Amen. If you