Turn your Bibles to Romans 12, but just put a marker there and turn to 1 Corinthians 2. There's two other texts of scripture I would like to read as we are continuing this short series of studies I've called The Living Sacrifice, A Key to Submissive Obedience. And I want you to just look at two short texts of scripture, and you'll see later on in the message why I have chosen these texts of scripture. First Corinthians chapter 2, and I'm just going to strip out of it the two texts that are relevant, where Paul is talking about the fact that the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, but we have the Holy Spirit, and therefore we're able to be instructed by him. But he says in verse 15, But he who is spiritual judges all things, and he himself is rightly judged by no one. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? Now notice, but we have the mind of Christ. Now go to Ephesians chapter 4 please. Ephesians chapter 4. Now we just pick up the reading in verse 17. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord that ye shall no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart, who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to licentiousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ, if indeed ye have heard him, that have been taught by him as the truth is in Jesus, that you put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God in righteousness and true holiness." Now that we need to go back to our text in Romans chapter 12, and we'll look at the second half of verse 2 this evening. I don't know much about computers. In fact, I'm clueless about most of my computer's capabilities and probably will remain that way. I'm just not interested in trying to learn it. I only use it for what I need it for. But there are a few things I do know that what you program into a computer determines the usefulness of the computer. If you put useful and productive things in, you'll get useful and productive things out. But if you put useless and unproductive things in, you'll get useless and unproductive things out. As they always say, whatever you put in, garbage in, garbage out, good things in, good things out. But as technology and computer skills have rapidly increased, that's no longer that simple. Hackers have found ways to infect entire computer systems with things called viruses and spyware. Some of these viruses are found to be nothing more than a nuisance, but some have caused severe damage to computer systems around the world. And when a computer has been infected with viruses spyware, it needs to be reprogrammed, or viruses need to be deleted out, and sometimes the entire hard drive needs to be replaced or programmed the entire system. The most advanced computer system on the market today is the human mind. This computer system is advanced far beyond the capabilities of man. The advanced computer system was not made by man, but created by God. But certain aspects of the mind are similar to that of a computer. If you put useful and productive things into the mind, you will get useful and productive things out. Contrarily, if you put useless and unproductive things in, you will get useless and unproductive things out of the mind. But even though there are similarities, there are also vast differences. When it comes to the mind, it's not a matter of technology, but of theology. The scripture makes it clear that our minds were infected with many indifferent viruses. Those viruses were there the day we were born. They are the viruses of sin. In the New International Version, David said in the Great Psalm of Repentance, Psalm 51.5, I was sinful from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. In another psalm, Psalm 58.3, it says the wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. Notice that David said that the virus of sin affects our actions. They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. You say, how can a little baby lie? It'll lie by crying so loud you think it's dying because it only wants something to eat. Or it's just a little uncomfortable, or it's just cranky, and it cries and cries, and you swear the baby is one step from death, but it isn't. Now, whether the baby knows it's lying or not, that's not the issue, but the Spirit of God says they go forth from the womb speaking lies. But when we are saved, we are given a new nature and a reprogrammed mind. That's why I read those two texts of Scripture in 1 Corinthians 2 and in Ephesians chapter 4. But this is not the end of the matter. Even though we are given the mind of Christ and have been renewed in the spirit of our minds positionally, We are still plagued by those old viruses practically. The mind has been completely reprogrammed theologically, but we need to be about the business of reprogramming the mind practically on a daily basis. Reprogramming or renewing the mind so that it brings about a radical transformation in the way we live, act and think is the focus of the text that is before us tonight. and will be our area of concern. Look at Romans 12, 1 and 2, and we'll be taking the second half of verse 2 as the basis of our study. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable God, which is a reasonable service, and do not be conformed to this world, that's what we dealt with last week, notice now, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Your outline shows you how I have approached our text. And we said that Romans 12, 1 and 2 is a pivotal passage. It is the hinge between the new major sections of this great epistle. The first 11 chapters are theological. It is the gospel full blown. It is what Paul calls in our text, the mercies of God, the grace and mercy of God toward hell bound sinners. what God has done in us and for us and through Jesus Christ. The last five chapters, beginning in chapter 12, verse 3, are practical. It tells us how we are to think, act, and live in light of what God has done for us. And the link between these two sections of this great epistle is found in our text. Knowing God's will for us in relationship to our personal conduct, is clearly set forth in chapter 12, verses 3 through 16. But doing God's will in our personal conduct as set forth in these chapters is another matter. It's one thing to know how we are to live. It's another thing to actually live the way God has ordained. And the means that God has ordained to bring about a submissive obedience to the good and acceptable and perfect will of God is bound up in that text that is before us again tonight. Now, let me just briefly review what we covered in the last couple of weeks. And looking at verse one, we look at the substance of the exhortation to present ourselves as a living sacrifice. We saw the compelling motivation behind this or exhortation. Look at the text. I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God. In other words, what Paul is exhorting us to do is based on what God has done for us. That's the motivation behind it all. Then we saw the aspect of being involved in this exhortation, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. And the word present means to place at one's disposal. It means that we are no longer holding anything back from God, but we have placed our entire being at His disposal to do with us as He sees fit. The tense of the verb means that it's a once-for-all act. It need never be repeated, but that carries with it the idea that once you place yourself on that altar, you don't climb down. Once you've given your life over into the hands of God to be used as He sees fit, there's no going back. And when He says the phrase, present your bodies, it carries with it the whole person. Everything that makes us what we are to be forever placed in God's hands. It is the proper and rational, reasonable response to what God has done for us. Look at the text. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable God, which is a reasonable service or your reasonable worship. It's just a rational, reasonable thing to do in light of what God has done for us. Then last week, we began to move down to verse two and looked at the commands that accompany the exhortation. to present ourselves as a living sacrifice. First of all, the first one was separation from the world. Look at the text. And do not be conformed to this world. We said that the word conformed means to fashion or to shape. It literally means to mold. We are not allowed the world to press us into its mold. And when he uses the word world, he means that evil system that has global predominance. A system that is under the control of the devil. 2 Corinthians 4, 4, Paul says, he refers to the devil as the God of this world. In Ephesians 2, 2, he's called the prince in power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. We must not allow this evil system to force us into its mold so that we take on the same design as that mold. The world has its own standards of morality, its own priorities, its own principles of living, its own goals, its own outlook on life. And in every instance where the influence of the world is predominant, the morality, the principles, the goals and outlook in life will be in direct contradiction to the moral standards, the priorities and principles of living as set forth in the Word of God. And the world is not passive in its attempt to get us to conform, but it's very aggressive. It is constantly exerting great pressure on everyone to conform and to press us into a mold so that we adopt its views of life and its lifestyle. This is why this negative command or imperative is in the present tense, because the world is constantly and aggressively seeking to press us into its mold, but we must be constantly resisting that pressure. As long as we are in this life, this will be a constant battle. We want to show various aspects of the world and how it seeks to press us into its mold. Now we come to the second imperative. It's in the second half of verse two, the transformation of the mind. Look at Romans 12, verse two, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Here we have the second of two imperatives. Remember, an imperative is a command. It's not a suggestion or a recommendation. Command is in the present tense, which means that the duty required is ongoing. And notice the replacement principle here. We are not to allow the world to press us into its mold, but we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The command addresses itself to the ultimate goal by way of a process. That ultimate goal is be transformed. and a process by the renewing of your mind. Now let's look at those two aspects of our text. The ultimate goal, be transformed. Now the word comes from the Greek word, and we've often heard this, especially in kids in science class, metamorphosis. Boy, I sound intelligent, don't I? It means to change into another form. The word meta implies change. Morph means form. A change of form. The transformation spoken here in our text is one that corresponds to and is consistent with the inward change that has been brought about by the mercies of God in our salvation. In the process of changing us and bringing us to saving faith, the Holy Spirit has given us a new nature And this sounds almost beyond our belief, but Peter says we're partakers of the divine nature. Let's look at that in 2 Peter 1. 2 Peter 1. What an incredible statement that we not only have the mind of Christ, but we have been partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1. Let me just read it in its context, picking up the thought in verse 2. Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Now, the transformation spoken here back in our text has to do with the change in our character that is a reflection of that divine nature. The inward change in our lives that corresponds to and is consistent with the inward change that God has brought about in our lives through the process of regeneration and all the attendant blessings that go with that. The fact that this imperative to be transformed is in the present tense means that this is an ongoing transformation. As long as we are living in this body, we are about the business of being transformed. Now let me illustrate that word for you from two points of view, one from nature and the other from scripture. First, by nature. The certain kind of caterpillar has all the characteristics of a beautiful butterfly with wings that can fly. When God created this little creature, he programmed into it the DNA and all the other things involved of a butterfly. But outwardly, it's an ugly caterpillar crawling on the ground, making all the girls scream when they see it. But when it goes into the cocoon later in the year, it goes through a metamorphosis. It goes through a transformation so that what God programmed it to be inwardly gradually becomes a reality outwardly. When it comes out of the coon, it has now the outward characteristics that corresponds to and consistent with its inward nature. That ugly, offensive-looking caterpillar that crept on the ground and made all the girls scream becomes a beautiful butterfly that can fly and makes all the girls squeal with delight. This is a metamorphosis, a transformation. That's exactly the word the Apostle Paul uses here. But that's used in another text of Scripture in relationship to our Lord and what we call His transfiguration. Go over to Matthew chapter 17. You're all familiar with this. But you may not realize that this is basically the same word used here that's translated transfiguration. It's the same basic word that Paul uses back in Romans. Matthew 17. Verse one, now after six days, Jesus took Peter, James and John, his brother, brought them up on a high mountain by themselves and was figured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light." This is basically the same word used back in Romans 12 about transforming. The glory of our Lord was veiled by His humanity. He was God, a very God, but when He condescended to become man, His glorious God was veiled by His humanity. And the transfiguration was a metamorphosis, a transformation. What our Lord was in His nature inwardly was revealed to the apostles on the outside. But in the case of our Lord, His transfiguration and the transformation that is our duty are very different in this sense. What was revealed in Him outwardly was perfectly consistent with what He was inwardly. He didn't have to go through a process of being transformed as we do. But the transfiguration of the Lord is illustration of this process that we are commanded to go through. We have become partakers of the divine nature positionally. We must begin to reflect the reality of this practically. What God has brought about in us on the inside must begin to be manifested on the outside. If we are partakers of the divine nature, then we must begin to live like it. which brings us to the means that God has ordained to bring about this metamorphosis or this transformation. We do not do this on our own strength, but by a prescribed means. What does that mean? Look at the text. By the renewing of your mind. Be transformed, be metamorphosized by the renewing of your mind. The mind is the faculty by which the soul discerns good and bad, True, bad, the bad and the false, the good and the true. But as we read the scriptures, the mind has been darkened and clouded by sin. Therefore, our understanding of spiritual things is warped and distorted. In fact, before the Lord did a mighty work, we were completely in darkness, as we saw in Ephesians 4. Our ability to discern spiritual truth and make wise decisions is greatly limited. Even though as believers we've been given the mind of Christ, the remnants of sin still clouds our understanding and distorts our perspective. We see through a glass, but as Paul says, we see through a glass darkly. We see things that the unbeliever cannot see, but what we see is not as clear as it needs to be if it's going to bring about this transformation in their lives. Therefore, this transformation has to take place and it comes through the renewing of our mind, a reprogramming of our minds. The mind is the most complex computer system known to man. But the things that have been programmed into our mind by living in this present evil world must be deleted and new information put in. What is in our minds And what we allow to go into our minds will have a profound effect on our character and on our conduct. That's why pornography is so devastating to the mind. Because once that stuff goes in the mind, you can never get it out. God's grace can override it. But those who have been involved in that, even though God has delivered them from it, will tell you that the images that they let go in their mind are there until they die. And that's why we need to be careful what we put into our minds. If we are to live in a way that is a reflection of the divine nature that we have been partakers of, then we need to reprogram the way we think, the way we understand and the way we perceive things. In other words, we must gradually become more spiritually minded and less carnally minded. This comes about by putting the truth of God's word into our minds, God's word to the inner workings of the Holy Spirit begins to bring about this gradual change and transformation, this metamorphosis. Look at Second Corinthians, chapter three, please. Second Corinthians, chapter three. Paul is going on to show the contrast between what he calls the ministry of death in a ministry of condemnation, which was the old covenant under Moses and the glorious ministry of the new covenant. And he just and just breaking in to his line of thought in verse chapter three and verse 17, he says, Now the Lord is the spirit. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled faces beholding as in the mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. The Holy Spirit is the one who actually brings the transformation. But He brings the transformation when we put the truth of God's Word into our minds. As long as we continue to renew our minds by the Word of God, there will be this gradual transformation. What God has made us on the inside will gradually, although it's hard for us to see it sometimes, but we know that it's happening because He promised it will. What God made us on the inside will gradually become evident on the outside. But we live in a day and age where there are many things clamoring for our attention and seeking to capture our minds, thus keeping us from reading and meditating on the Word of God. and you could name them, there's a whole bunch of things, large HD TVs, movies, video games, and they just had something last week about how destructive many video games are to the minds of young children because some of them just sit there for hours and hours and hours playing those video games and how it has a profound negative effect upon them. computers, sports, all these things. They are very attractive and entertaining, but if abused, become great time wasters. But more than that, it puts the wrong things into the mind. Much of what is not conducive to being transformed by the renewing of our mind, in fact, much of it has the opposite effect. When we become overly involved in these things, it makes us more likely that we will be conformed to the world rather than being transformed by the renewing of our mind. But that's not the end of the matter. All modern technology in relationship to these various forms of entertainment creates mental laziness. I've even seen that in myself. You spend too much time in front of a television set, you become mentally lazy. And you pick up a book and you try to read it and you just lose interest. There's no interest. It's far easier to look at something entertaining than it is to read because you don't need to spend any emotional and mental energy to sit and watch television or a movie or some sporting event. And I'm amazed how often I hear Christians say that they hardly ever read. Oh, I hardly ever read. One of the reasons is that we've been weaned on a steady diet of visual entertainment. The world's ability to capture our attention and put its message into our minds is far more effective because the method is more attractive. But we need to read and meditate on God's word. We must think long and hard in order to understand most of it. Those of you who are doing any teaching, or you're trying to really study the Scriptures, you know you have to burn a lot of mental energy. You have to read and reread and think long and hard and then research commentators and see, am I accurate in my interpretation of this text? But we need to remember the blessed man is the one who does what? He meditates on the law day and night. He doesn't just read it. The word meditate literally means to mumble, to roll the mullet over into his mind. The blessed man is the one who meditates, who reads and thinks long and hard about what he's reading in the Word of God. But lazy minds are not inclined to make this kind of effort. If this is the case with you tonight, then there's one thing you know for certain. You're not being transformed by the renewing of your mind. If you're not reading God's Word and meditating on it and mulling it over in your mind and saying, by God's grace, I'm going to put into practice the things that I'm reading, you're not being transformed. And there's no static position. Either you're being transformed or you're going to be conformed. You're either going to be transformed by the renewing of your mind or you're going to be gradually conformed to the the mold of this world. There's a direct relationship between what we allow our eyes to see and our spiritual growth. There is a direct relationship to what we allow our eyes to see and what goes into our mind and our spiritual growth. What was Psalm 101? Psalm 101. Here we see the psalmist determined that he's going to live a godly life. And he sets down some of the things. He sets first the goal and then he goes on to show how he's going to try to reach that goal, at least in some measure. Notice verse one, I will sing of mercy and justice to you, O Lord, I will sing praises. I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will you come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. In other words, I, by God, the grace of God, I am going to seek to be a godly man. And what is the first thing he mentions? I will set nothing wicked before my eyes. If I'm going to be a godly man, if I'm going to live a godly life in front of my family, he goes on to say the company that he keeps is also going to have a profound effect upon his godliness. But it is interesting, before he ever gets to deal with the company that he keeps, the godly company that he keeps, that are going to be a spiritual challenge to him, he's going to avoid those who drag him down. But before he ever gets to that, he says, in trying to live a godly life, I, by the grace of God, am not going to deliberately set anything wicked before my eyes. And that's the term in the Hebrew there. I will not deliberately set things before my eyes. We live in a day and age where it's almost out of control. You're driving down the highway and you see things on the billboard. You have no control over that. But what the psalmist is saying, I will not deliberately not set any wicked thing before my eyes. Why? Because he knew that would retard his growth and grace. It would have a profound negative effect upon his desire to live a godly and a holy life. So there's a direct relationship between what we allow our eyes to see in our spiritual growth But there is a direct relationship between what allow our eyes to see and our spiritual vitality. Have you ever felt that you need a revival in your heart and in your soul? I've often felt that. Lord, I feel sometimes I feel so dry. I feel so barren. And you've got to go back to Psalm 119 because he also recognizes that if he's going to live a godly life, then he's going to have to be careful of what he looks upon. Look at verse 37. Here he's asking the psalmist over in Psalm 101 says, I'm not going to deliberately set anything wicked before my eyes. Now here the psalmist is asking God for grace for this very issue. Verse 36. Incline my heart to Your testimonies, not to covetousness. Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way." In other words, Lord, I'm never going to feel that spiritual vitality flowing through my life again unless You, by Your grace, come and give me the determination to turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. That's what Paul means when he says, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And I sort of brainstormed with Jan, what are some of the illustrations that we can bring forth that would indicate that there is some transformation going on in our minds, that we are being renewed in the spirit of our mind? And you can probably think of a lot of illustrations, but let me just throw these out to you. Number one, As we are renewed in our minds, living in a very materialistic society, we will begin to understand that you cannot serve God and material possessions. The world will never see that. The world will never see that. You will never find that anywhere else except in this book called the Bible. Remember Matthew, chapter six. Go over there, please. All these texts are very familiar to you, but we just need to be reminded of them. Matthew chapter 6. It's interesting that in showing us how to live as a Christian. The Lord recognized that we're going to have a struggle with material things, and he sets down the principle. There are two masters that will try to control you. You can't serve them both. You can't serve them both. It's impossible. Look at verse 24. No one can serve two masters. For either we will hate one and love the other, or else we will be loyal to one and despise the other. Not the principle. Now notice the application. You cannot serve God and mammon. That's just the term for money. You cannot serve your God while you're trying to serve money and material possessions. If your heart is is determined to pursue all kind of material possessions. That's your idol. That's your master. Don't say you're serving God, because Jesus said that's impossible. There are two masters that are trying to cause us to serve them. We can only serve one. If we serve one, we'll hate the other or despise the other. So one of the evidences that we're being transformed is that we're beginning to see this issue, and this is very important to us who live in a very materialistic society, that we understand that you can't serve God in material possessions. You need to understand and set biblical priorities and put them in their proper place. Jesus also mentions this. He not only goes on to tell us about the fact of our love for money, but he also goes on to deal with the issue of the fact that we also worry about it. Not so much money, but what are we going to eat? What are we going to put on? Where are we going to live? These are all issues that we struggle with because we have to live. And he goes on to say not to worry, that if God takes care of the birds who neither toil nor spin, He's going to take care of you. If He's going to clothe the flowers in the field that are here today and are going tomorrow, isn't He going to take care of you? And he puts his finger on the problem, O ye of little faith. Then he sets down the principle of priorities. Look at verse 27, excuse me, 33. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. There's the principle. And that's a principle we apply to every area of our life. Put God first. Seek God. and the righteousness that comes from God and the kingdom of God. And when you do that, God will take care of these other matters. That doesn't mean that you spend all day reading your Bible, pursuing righteousness and saying, I don't need to work. I'll just stay home because God promised he's going to supply my needs. Remember, he said he takes care of the birds. But, you know, you ever watch those birds, they got to have to hunt for their food, don't they? God supplies their need, but they have to work for it. a proper understanding of sin and the outlook of those who die in their sins. And this is very important because we live in a day and age where sin, and we saw this from the book of Isaiah last week, how our society is turning morality on its head. And that which is vile and wicked is called good, and that which is good and vile is good as being condemned. But we need to remember what sin is in light of God's Word. And don't let the world try to convince us that evil things are good things. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 6. Those who try to convince you that immoral living Homosexuality and all of that is just another alternate lifestyle. We are not to condemn it. It's a good thing. It really isn't a bad thing. And you hate speech if you condemn it. You just keep your mind fixed on what Paul says here in verse 9. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, because the world is trying to deceive us. Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." That doesn't mean if you go out and commit one of them sin, you're not going to heaven. It's talking about those who use that as their lifestyle. But isn't it beautiful to see that Paul says in verse 11, "...and such were some of you." but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. You see, remember the church at Corinth was in a city that was noted for its sexual perversion. They had one of the great temples there, and I forget which deity that the temple was erected to. But a part of that temple worship was to engage in sexual immorality with male and female prostitutes in the temple. That was a part of the worship of their demon gods and their pagan gods. And that's why Paul often deals with this whole issue in the book of First Corinthians. So we need to see a proper understanding of sin and the outlook of those who die in their sins. And also, we need to have our mind transformed in relationship to the unbeliever. We have a tendency, and I do this when I watch TV and I see some of these stars and I just get angry and I end up calling in names in my mind and I'm saying, whoa. They are bound, they are dead in their trespasses and sins. And unless God speaks and gives them spiritual life, there's no hope for them. And we need to be rather condemning them, praying for them. Go over to Ephesians chapter 2 Let us be reminded of where we were before God opened up our hearts. And that God would give us the grace to have more compassion for sinners and not to call them names. Jesus never called sinners names. The only ones He excoriated were the false teachers, the Pharisees who were dragging men down into hell with their false teaching. You never see Him calling the harlots and all the other great sinners pejorative names. He never did that. And we need to go back and remember, this is where the sinner is. Look at verse chapter 2. And he who made alive were dead in trespasses and sins. And once you once walked according to the course of this world, you walked and lived your life according to the path marked out by this world. According to the prince and power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience. You not only walked according to this world, but that spirit of disobedience that's in all of us was energized and manipulated by the prince and power of the air. So you not only walked according to the course of this world, you are not only controlled by the prince and power of the air, which is the devil, but also, verse 3, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath just as others. And that's where every unbeliever is. They're dead in their trespasses and sins. They're walking according to the path marked out by this evil system. The rebellious spirit in them is being manipulated by the prince and power of the air, And everything they do is to fulfill the desires of their heart and their lusts. And they are by nature children of wrath. But praise God for verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us even when we were dead in trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved and raised up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Jesus Christ. And in ages to come, He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in all kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith and not of yourself, as a gift of God, not of works, as the Son of Man should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. We need to have our minds renewed when we look at the unsaved world. And we need to look at the unsaved world the way the Lord looked at the unsaved world, with compassion. knowing that we once were dead in our trespasses and sins. But by his grace and his grace alone, he sovereignly chose to make us alive and save us. And we need to see the world through the eyes of the Lord Jesus. We need to be transformed. By the renewing of our mind, allowing the spirit of God to take the word of God and begin to shape and orchestrate our conduct so that it's reflection of the inner work that the Spirit of God has done for us. We have been partakers of the divine nature and through the transforming of our mind we'll begin to live as if we were partakers of the divine nature. That comes through the reading and study of this Word and the work of the Spirit of God in our lives. You will not be transformed by the renewing of your mind if you're not spending time in this book called the Bible. This is the means that He has ordained. May He challenge our hearts tonight to go out of this place determined that we're going to be spending time in the Word of God, meditating on the Word of God, asking the Spirit of God to bring about that great transformation that we will begin to live like believers and people will begin to ask of us of the hope that is within us because it presupposes in 1 Peter that they have to see something in you that's going to cause them to ask that question. And let us be prepared by His grace to speak of the grace of God. May God be pleased to bring that truth home to our hearts tonight. Let's stand and I'll dismiss you free from here.