Romans * 88
Be Not Conformed to
the World
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
ROMANS 12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your
reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and
acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given unto
me, to every man that is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than
he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every
man the measure of faith.
As we continue in
examining these thoughts the Apostle Paul is laying out for us here, we have
examined our approach, holiness, and what constitutes an acceptable sacrifice
to God. Now, this morning I would like to examine this thought where Paul says,
“Be not conformed to this Word”.
Now, before we can speak one way or the other concerning this thought we must first understand what this word conform actually means. The Greek Word Paul used here is suschematizo pronounced {soos-khay-mat-id'-zo, which means to fashion (one's) self according to, or to conform one's self (i.e. one's mind and character) to the pattern of the world.
Now, we also find
this same word used by the Apostle Peter in I PETER 1:13
¶ Wherefore
gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace
that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 As
obedient children, not fashioning
yourselves according to the former lusts (cravings) in your ignorance:
15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of
conversation; (Notice what Peter is saying here is almost identical
to what the Apostle Paul said in Romansd 12.) 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of
your sojourning [here] in fear: 18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not
redeemed with corruptible things, [as] silver and gold, from your vain conversation (that means
your vain lifestyle or way of life) [received] by tradition from your fathers; 19 But with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20 Who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in
these last times for you, (Notice
he is telling us the bleeding dying lamb, the Word of God made flesh, the Word
manifested, was not for the world, but for you. Because if it was for the world
the world would respond to Its Message. But since it was not for the world, it
the world, does not respond because it was not ordained to receive it. ) 21 Who by him do
believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your
faith and hope might be in God. (and who is capable of believing in
God? All that were ordained to Life are the ones who believe. ACTS 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were
glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to
eternal life believed.)
I CORINTHIANS 2:7But we speak the
wisdom of God in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], which God ordained
before the world unto our glory (Notice we are told that God has hid
thjis Wisdom from the world, and has kept it in store
for us to bring us to Glory which si the word Doxa which is the estimation, the opinion, and Judgment of
God. The very mind of God in us is the outcome of our faith.)
2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known [it], they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Here we are told their negative response to the Manifested Word when He came is because of their ignorance. Therefore, if the lack of understanding will produce a certain action which is anti word, then the revealing of the Manifested Word to us, is meant to produce another action altogether, and that is belief and acceptance as we saw in Acts 13:48.
2: 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, (Remember,
the heart is understanding, therefore he is saying neither has it entered into
the understanding of man) the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10
But God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit (And remember, He
reveals to bring forth a response. The light strike the seed to bring the seed
life into manifestation. So God’s purpose is to bring forth the Seed Life into
manifestation in everyone that is ordained TO Life. And once it has been
quickened, it will begin to draw toward the Light. It will walk in the Light,
it will…he says next,): for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. (so the quickened man, in whom
God has placed His Word Seed Gene, once quickened will search all things trying
to draw closer to the Light.)11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit
of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God (knows). 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world,
but the spirit which is OF (out
from) God; that we might know the
things that are freely given to us of God.(Therefore we see, the
very purpose of God giving us of His Own Spirit is to bring us to Know Him
better.) 13 Which
things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them],
because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
And knowing we have the mind of Christ, we Love Him for He is Love, and we become Him in that we Love, or are now capable of manifesting His Divine, fully self sacrificial Love. And how do we know that we have this Love? JOHN 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I [am] in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. 21He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me (Therefore if you are looking for any evidence of Love, at least of God’s Love, you can’t look at a persons actions, you have to look at the Word. Do they have the Word or do they not have it? I will never forget as long as I live something that happened to me years ago. Brother Vayle was going through a real time of trials in his life, and men were going all over the globe telling lies about him, and during this time we had gone to visit the brothers who were working on the little church they had in the farm house. We were standing inside and he said, Brian come here I want to tell you about Love. And so we went out back behind the farm house, and I was all excited about getting this first hand help from brother Vayle, and when we got around behind the house where no one could see what he was going to tell me, he stood and looked at me, perhaps less than a foot in front of me, and he looked me in the eyes, and said nothing, then he hit me in the arm, and began to cry. I looked at him, and didn’t know myself where the tears were coming from my eyes, if it was from the pain I saw in him or the pain he inflicted in my arm, but I think it was from the pain I saw in him, because as a kid I used to trade punches to the arm with my brothers, and it never bothered me. But as I stood there, I was oblivious to everything around me, and then he spoke, “Was that Lee Vayle or was that God?” And I understood as quickly as he said it that this is what the Love of God is all about.
God does things we
do not always understand, but it is for our good. For it will always work
together for our Good, because He promised it would.) And Jesus continued, : and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him,
and will manifest myself to him. (This is the one thing which we are
not yet so aware of, and that is how He comes and manifests Himself to us. Brother
Branham learned this the hard way. He lost his wife, he lost his little girl.
And yet through it all God was testing whether He was going to hold to His Word
or not. And when he did hold to his testimony, God began to manifest Himself to
Him. At first in very little way, a
little whirl wind in a tree, or a few leaves circling above the ground. Then
that still small voice speaking out from within him. And then the sign in his
hand and then the discernment of the heart. And through it all God began to reveal
Himself more and more and more until the Revelation of Jesus Christ became a
reality to him and he spoke it, declared it to the world.) 22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord,
how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a
man love me, he will keep my words (Now, there is your evidence
that you love Him, is what you do with His word.): and my Father will love him, and we will come
unto him, and make our abode with him. (And He said, we will come
and make our abode with the one who loves my word. If you walk in the Light as
He is in the Light, He makes His abode with you. He said, I will not leave you
nor forsake you.)
24 He that loveth
me not keepeth not my sayings (If you
do not Love Him, you will not keep His Word): and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's
which sent me. 25 ¶ These things have I spoken unto you, being [yet] present
with you. 26 But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will
send in my name, he shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto
you.(And what will that do for you? It will bring you a piece
that you have never known before) 27 Peace I leave with
you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth,
give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
ROMANS
summorphos {soom-mor-fos'} fashioned like unto (1) [2]
1) having the same form as
another, similar, conformed to e.g. describes what is the essence in character
and thus complete or durable, not merely a form or outline
1) sun
{soon} a primary preposition denoting
union; with - beside - accompany
2) morphe {mor-fay'} - form -
the form by which a person or thing strikes the vision; external appearance
And so if we are able to fashion after one thing and are not supposed to be fashioned after the other, then this fashioning is something that lays within our own power to do. Simply put, he doe not want us to look or act like the world, but God wants us to look and act like the example He gave to us in our older brother Jesus. And then he tells us, this is possible because He has places the ability within us to be like Jesus.)
30 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. 31 ¶ What shall we then say to these things? If
God [be] for us, who [can be] against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us
all things?
PHILIPPIANS 3:20 For our conversation (That’s your
state of affairs, the way you conduct your life) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may
be fashioned like unto his glorious
body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things
unto himself.
Paul is talking
about a Living Sacrifice and now, and we have found in our study that the only
way we can be a living sacrifice is that the very Life of God must be in us.
That means then that we are not to be conformed to the image of what the world
presents to us, but we are to become conformed to the very image of God’s only
Begotten Son,. The We want to be living images, not like some dead statue but the very stature of
Christ Living in us.
IMAGES OF CHRIST 59-0525 E-54 Now,
you see the deadness of the Church of this day? What would have happened in the
days of the Lord Jesus when that took place? That woman so thrilled, she
dropped that water pot, and into the city she went. She said, "The
Messiah's here!" But today... Yeah. You haven't got messy enough down at
the altar to receive a new birth yet. There's something wrong somewhere. That
would send the Holy Spirit through this place here, would set a revival. The reflection of Jesus Christ, His image
conformed here moving amongst the people to do that, what's the matter?
There's something lacking. We need a revival.
TOKEN THE 63-1128E 194 Now,
tonight, why don't you accept, not that natural life which has to go back with
the dead substance to the earth, but why don't you accept the Eternal Life,
where He gave something, raised it up, His Own Son, that you could be conformed unto His Own image by the renewing of your
spirit, to take away yours and to receive His, which is the Token that you have
Life. And He'll pass over you and will raise you up at the day of the
resurrection.
UNVEILING OF GOD 64-0614M 312
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God..."
See, here we are. The--the Light over the Word... As the light of the sun changes the seed from glory to glory, we also
become more like Him as we live in His Presence, like Him, being conformed to
His blessed image as we walk with Him. Watch what the sun does. You plant a seed;
what happens? That seed rots. Inside the seed is a life. The life comes forth
and brings forth a stalk. Now, that don't look like the first. There's Luther;
it was a stalk. All right. The stalk went on, and the first thing you know it
brought forth a tassel. See, that was the Wesleyan revival, wasn't like the
other. Then along come the Pentecostal revival (See?), brought forth the
baptism of the Holy Ghost. All right, what happened? We get fungus on the ear;
it begins to look wrong, this thing, that thing; it don't look like the Word;
it's not like the rest of it; it's not like the original grain went in. But God
is still there to make that--that just the same.
POWER OF TRANSFORMATION 65-1031M 37 In
Romans, a very familiar chapter, I want to take a--a few verses here and about
the first two or three verses, two verses, I think it is, and read, and in
this, try to explain it the best that I know how, by the help of the Holy
Spirit: Romans, the 12th chapter. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. I thought that was
so beautiful for this group this morning, what you done. See? Now,
"And," and is a conjunction, as I understand. And be not
conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. That's what we all
want to do is; Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of our mind to do the perfect and acceptable will of God. Now, that we
have been saved, as we are; and that we have been filled with the Holy Spirit,
as we have; now we want the mind that was in Christ to be in us, that we might
be transformed from the natural things of life, and be brought in to do the
perfect will of God by transformation of God's Spirit by His Word. Now, my subject
is: "The Power Of Transformation."
44
"To be transformed" is to be "changed and made something
different." Like a--a tadpole, it's transformed from a tadpole to a frog.
See? Once he's a--looked like a catfish; he swims around; he's--he's got a head
and his tail and everything looks just like a--a catfish. Then after while, he
begins to lose--he loses the tail, and he's--he's transformed from one specie
to another. I think that's what Paul must've had in mind, when he said,
"Be ye transformed by the--by the renewing..." Let's see, let me get
that right. And be not conformed... (You know what "conformed"
is.)... be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind,... "Renewing of your mind..." The things that you once
thought upon to be precious, lay that aside and be transformed to something
else; to what you was at one time, to what you are now. See? ... by the
renewing of your mind, that you might prove... that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God. Oh, that's what we all want to know, how to do it. See?
We're here; we love Him; He saved us, and now we want to know what to do. And
we were trying to take a little step this morning to raise up just a little bit
higher. Sometimes we have to hit things that... You just hold on for a
few--till we see what it comes out to be.
97 "Let it be just..." And that's
the way it was, everything, of its seed bringing forth of its kind. Now, when
everything looked so pretty, and everything coming to pass just to what God had
said, now here comes that slimy, dirty deceiver. Now, that's what I'm trying to
warn you all here about. When you see God's Seed begin to take hold to grow,
watch out for that fellow coming in just as slick as he can be, quote Scripture
just to who wouldn't have it. See? Watch him, 'cause he is a deceiver. I'm
going to call it, instead of a--a conformer, being conformed, he's a deformer,
deforming the things that's been conformed. He's a deformer, and, he, a
deformer, or a perverter, or a corrupter of the original
Seed and the original program. Now, see here, like in your group here this
morning, you got a program, you got a vision. Now, watch for that corrupter.
Oh, he'll be sly and slick as he can be. You see? But keep your vision for it.
See? Keep holding to that.
239 Our text says, "Don't be conformed
(sprayed), but be transformed," the seed that's in you. People of today
act like they don't even believe there is a God. Did you know that? They act
like that. Now, I don't want to call them fools, but they act like it. See?
'Cause Psalms 14:1 says, "The fool hath said in his heart there is no
God." You shouldn't call a person a fool. But they certainly act like they
are, 'cause they don't... They act like there is no God. This Word's just ignored.
GOD'S POWER TO TRANSFORM 65-0911
31 Now, over in the
Book of Romans the 12th chapter and the 1st and 2nd verses, we wish--wish to
read this Scripture. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God,
which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good,
and perfect... good, acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Now, if the Lord
willing, I want to take my subject for this morning on: "God's Power To
Transform." That you might not be conformed to this world: but be...
transformed by the renewing of your mind,... (now) and prove that which is that
good, perfect, and acceptable, will of God.
33
It's an old familiar text that many of your pastors has used down
through your time. It's been used since It was written. But yet, one thing
about the Word of God, It never grows old, because It's God. It never grows
old. Through every generation now for pretty near, about twenty-eight hundred
years or better, this Word of God has been read by men, priests, and so forth,
and never does It grow old. I've been reading It myself for some thirty-five
years. And each time I read It, I find something new that I looked over the
first time. Because It is inspired. It is God in letter form. See, It's the
attributes of God speaking fore--forth and is placed on paper.
34
Many times men said, "Well now, man wrote this Bible." No. The
Bible says Itself that God wrote the Bible. It is the Word of God. And It's...
It never can fail. Jesus said, "Heavens and earth will fail, pass away,
but My Words shall never fail." And It cannot fail in being God, because
It's part of Him. And then you being His son and daughter, you're part of It;
that makes you a part of Him. So that's why we come to fellowship together
around the Word of God.
37 Now, this word "transformed," I
looked up in the dictionary yesterday when I'd almost lost track of the time that
I was to be up here, when I was looking for a text. And I found this word, or
this text, rather, Scripture. And in the dictionary it says that it's
"something that's changed." It's to be "changed, transform, made
different than what it was." It's been, "Its character and everything
has been changed in it": to transform.
166
Our text says, "Be not conformed, but be ye transformed." Not
go in and say, "I was confirmed Sunday." No. Go in and be transformed
right now, transformed from what you are to what God wants you to be.
Now, it depends on what kind of seed that's in
you. If an intellectual, educational seed has been placed in you, there's only
one thing it can do: deform you; that's all. To a son or daughter of God, it's
the only thing it can do. People today, as I look out, they act like they don't
even believe there is a God.