the Will of God." So let’s turn in our Bibles to Romans chapter 12. A couple of quick questions.

Does God still speak to people today? Is He interested in what happens to us as individuals?

Does the Lord have a master plan for our lives? Now these are important questions because

we all want to know the will of God. They are big things that we wonder about. Like

what am I going to do with my life? Who am I going to marry? Why did I lose my hair?

Well that is more personal me. But still. Here is the answer. In the broad sense yes.

God does still speak to people today. Yes God indeed does have a plan for our lives.

Someone asked me the other day do you think it is appropriate for a Christian to say to

someone, good luck. And my response is I don’t know if that is a bad thing, but as believers

we don’t believe in luck. We don’t believe in mere chance. We believe providence. We

believe in God’s will. To bless someone in the name of the Lord is one thing. But

to say good luck is another.

You see we don’t believe that we are mere victims of chance just groping through life.

We believe that God has a purpose for us. And the Bible clearly teaches that as a believer

we are to live by faith. I wish I could say to you I always know the will of God in every

set of circumstances but I don’t. The will of God is not always easy to discern. And

for me personally it is a journey of faith where I read the Word of God. I pray for direction.

And then I take what I hope are the appropriate steps in the right direction. Because the

Bible says the just shall live by what. By faith. It doesn’t say they will live by

feelings.

Remember that stupid song from years ago. “Feelings.” Nothing more than feelings.

Trying to forget my feelings of love. Feelings. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Feelings. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Feelings here in my heart. Oh stop. You know and a lot of people will live by their feelings

and their fluctuating emotions.

No. Instead as believers we want to live by what His Word tells us to do. God does speak.

The good news is our God does not play hide and seek. He wants to lead you even more than

you want to be led. He wants to speak to you even more than you want to be spoken to. You

know why? Because you are a friend of God.

It was said of Abraham that he was God’s friend. And the Lord said, “Shall I hide

from Abraham that which I am about to do.” You might say, “Well that is nice for Abraham,

but I don’t have such a privilege.” Oh actually you do. Because Jesus said in John

15:15, “I no longer call you servants because a servant does not know his master’s business.

Instead I have called you friend for everything I have learned from My Father I have made

known to you.”

Do you have any friends? Don’t raise your hand on this. But you know there are certain

people that we will all regard as true friends. There are high maintenance friendships. And

there are low maintenance ones. Right. I have friends that I have known for years and even

I haven’t seen them for a year or longer when I see them it is like we pick off where

we last left off. The friendship is strong. I have other friends well that relationship

needs more attention. But I have friends that I know that I can trust. A true friend is

someone that will keep your confidence. We all know people that if we say to them, “Don’t

say to this to anyone” they will say it to a lot of people. And if we say, “Really

it is important you don’t tell anyone” they will tell it to as many people as humanly

possible. And then we know other people who are friends that we will say, “Please keep

this to yourself” and they won’t breathe a word to anyone. You can reveal your heart

to a friend. You can tell a secret to a friend. You can trust a friend. You know a friend

will speak the truth to you. Even if it is not easy. Because Proverbs says, “Faithful

are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” A friend is

someone that tells you the truth. God is our friend. He will always tell us the truth.

And listen. He wants to reveal His secrets to us. Because in Psalm 25:14 we read, “The

secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.” Yes God wants to speak to us. In fact

Jesus said, “You are my sheep, and my sheep hear my voice.” By the way, that is not

a compliment. God picked one of the most dimwitted creatures on the face of the earth to compare

us to.

I read an article in the newspaper the other day that said that they believe now that dolphins

are the most intelligent of all animals and some even say maybe we shouldn’t even regard

them as animals. Whatever.

But I will tell you what. Sheep are one of the dumbest of all animals. Jesus did not

say, “You are my dolphins and my dolphins hear my voice.” That would be nice. You

are my sheep.

Did you know that if you released most animals into the wild they can survive? If you let

your dog go or your cat or your bird they will in many cases learn to fend for themselves

and make it. But if you release a sheep in the wild it cannot survive. They have no survival

skills whatsoever. You release your cat. He is gone. Born free. You know he is loving

life. You release your sheep. He is just like what do I do now. Where am I? What is for

dinner? Oh no. I am for dinner. That is why there are no wild sheep. They are totally

dependent upon the shepherd. Just like we are. So the sheep come to know that when the

shepherd speaks they should follow because his plan for them is better than their plan

for themselves.

So God has revealed His will to us. Now before we get into how to know the will of God in

particular situations let’s talk about what the will of God is for everyone. We might

call the principles we are about to look at briefly so no-brainers But let me say this.

Maybe one of the reasons we don’t know the will of God in particular areas is because

we have not applied what is clearly the will of God for all areas. Listen. Obedience to

revealed truth guarantees guidance in matters unrevealed. Let me repeat that again. Obedience

to revealed truth guarantees guidance in matters unrevealed. So before we stress about what

God’s plan is for you and for me as an individual let’s talk about His plan for everyone.

Let’s start with the simplest one of all. Number one. God’s will is that you be a

believer. Duh. But it is true. That is God’s will. The Scripture says in 1 Timothy 2:4,

“God’s will is that all would be saved.” Scripture says, “God is not willing that

any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” So before we are ever going

to know the will of God we have to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior and

our Lord.

The Bible is not merely a book filled with principles of truth, success, and prosperity.

It is not a book of magic formulas that work for everyone. The way some people teach the

Bible you would think they are like little things that we just apply and they always

work and we just release these faith principles.

But no. Wait a second. The Bible is a book authored by God to tell us how to know God

and to walk with God. And these principles found in, though true in a general sense,

are really for those that are walking in submission to God.

So first you must be a believer.

Number two. To live this life God has called us to live we need to be filled with and controlled

by the Holy Spirit. We need to be filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit. Ephesians

5:15 says, “Don’t be foolish. Understand what the will of the Lord is.” All right.

What is it? Ok. Here it is. “Don’t be drunk with wine, which leads to debauchery.

Instead be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual

songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord always giving thanks to God the Father

for everything.”

But what does that mean to be filled with the Spirit. It means to be controlled by the

Spirit. The word filled speaks of permeation. It is used to describe salt permeating meat

to preserve it. The word filled also is used to describe wind filling a sail. And also

the original emphasis in the Greek would be constantly be filled. And finally it is a

command.

So put it all together. God is saying, “I command you to constantly be filled and controlled

by the Holy Spirit. Let His wind fill your sail. Let His power permeate your life. Be

filled with the Spirit.” And how is that expressed. It is expressed with praise and

worship to God. Singing and making music in my heart to the Lord. Giving thanks to God

the Father for everything.

That brings me principle number three. You are to have an attitude of gratitude. You

are to have an attitude of gratitude. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks, for

this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” This is simply the attitude that recognizes

that God is in control of all circumstances that surround your life. He is leading you

both to still waters and through stormy seas. It is all a part of the process of making

us more like Jesus.

Number four. It is the will of God that we live a pure life. That we live a pure life.

You don’t have to pray about this. It is clearly stated in Scripture. 1 Thessalonians

4:3 says, “This is the will of God, even your sanctification that is that you abstain

from sexual immorality.” The word sanctification speaks of holiness and consecration and dedication

to God. Effectively this verse is saying look if you are a single person remain sexually

pure. No sexual relations with anyone until you are married. And once you are married

be faithful to your spouse for all of your life. That is the will of God.

Ok. So having established in a broad sense some of these principles I have clearly defined

as the will of God for everyone what about particular situations. Is it ok to go to God

and say, “Lord I need Your direction in my life.” Answer. Absolutely. In fact we

are told over in the book of James 1:5–6, “If you need wisdom, if you want to know

what God wants you to do, ask Him and He will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking

but when you ask Him be ready to receive an answer.” So we should ask God for His wisdom.

All right. Now having established this, let’s look at our text together. Romans chapter

12. And we are going to read verses 1 and 2. Very familiar verses. Verses that many

have committed to memory that really tell us how to know God’s will. This is what

we might define as a conditional promise. The promise is you will know the will of God.

The conditions are as follow. “I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of

God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which

is your reasonable service. Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing

of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Ok. That is the part we want to know. I want to know the good, acceptable, and perfect

will of God. But what do I need to do? Well according to Paul I have to present myself

to God. I want you to notice that he begins by saying, “I beseech you therefore.”

Whenever you read the word therefore in the Bible find out what it is there for. It is

always drawing upon what has previously been said. And in the first eleven chapters of

Romans Paul is talking about the fact that we are all separated from the Lord from sin.

There is nothing we could do to right our situation through our own strength. But God

demonstrated His love toward us in sending Christ to die for us and forgive us of all

sin. So in light of this, therefore, considering all that God has done for you, Paul says,

here is what you ought to do. Present yourself to Him as a living sacrifice. God is not asking

you a favor. He is saying as your Master, your Owner, your Father, “I command you

to give yourself to Me.”

Another translation of this verse says, “Here is what you need to do. Take your everyday,

ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before

God as an offering.” An offering. You are not being forced to do this. You don’t have

to do this. The language that Paul uses is I urge you. Beseech. It means I plead with

you. I am appealing to you. You could even translate it I beg of you brothers. Here is

what you ought to do. In light of all that God has done for you present yourselves to

Him as an offering.

Offerings are not taken. They are given. When we receive an offering we don’t reach into

your back pocket, pull out your wallet, and extract money. We give you an opportunity

to give a freewill offering as you are led by the Lord.

In the same way with our life. It is something we offer to God. But it is a living sacrifice.

See that almost sounds like a contradiction. Because generally sacrifices are well dead.

Sacrifices that have been killed don’t squirm off the altar. But living sacrifices have

a tendency to do that. In other words we may offer ourselves to the Lord and then sort

of reconsider a moment later. No. Offer yourself again and again as a living sacrifice.

Well what do I offer? Your body. “I urge you therefore brothers present your bodies.”

And that word bodies could be translated your total being, your total personality. First

of all I need to present my mind to God. My mind. I should fill my mind with God’s Word.

Not with the junk and twisted world view of our culture.

A recent survey revealed that America’s children and teenagers now spend an average

of more than seven and a half days (hours) of involved in electronic media. That would