If you wish to follow along turn
to Romans chapter 12 Romans chapter 12 now before
I begin this, uh, let's have prayer heavenly father Would
come seek you to praise and extol and honor and magnify your glories,
your majesty, your perfections, and Lord, most of all, your holiness.
Lord, be with us as we engage in your book. Be with me as you
lead me to speak, and Lord, with my brothers and sisters as they
endeavor to hear, give us that ability once again to hear your
word and be encouraged by it and strengthened by it. We praise
you for the person and work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Lord, forgive us of our sins.
In Christ's name, amen. All right, for our Bible lesson
this morning, I will give you kind of a title, I guess you
could call it. It's not necessarily the subject because I'm not going
to deal just with the words in this title, but we find those
words in our text. My text, as I said, is Romans
12. It's just verses 1 and 2. And my title would be this. God's
good, acceptable, perfect will. And of course, we read of those
words in verse two, but let's read the first and second verse.
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. 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." Now, our text is what I'm going to call a glorious,
invigorating encouragement to all of God's gospel-called people. Now, if you, or I for that matter,
have not truly been called by the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, passages such as this may come and seem to be nothing
but duty. But God's people do not act out
of mere duty. We do have duties, do not misunderstand
me. We do have duties, but God's
people, those called by the gospel of God's grace, They engage in
these duties in love. Paul is clear in his epistle
to the Galatians, faith worketh, or that is the word is in the
Greek, faith is energized by love. I'll be so bold as to say
this, a faith that does not or is not accompanied by love is
no true faith at all. This encouragement here, as I
put it, has three basic components, and I'll try to break it down
into those three basic components. And let me just give them to
you, state them first, and then we'll look at each one in particular.
The first basic component is this, the motivating factor.
The motivating factor. Secondly, the instructive factor. And thirdly, the end factor. First of all, here's that motivating
factor or that motivating component. I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God. When I was in religion, Years
ago, I mean, I made a profession when I was, I don't know, five,
six years old. It lasted for a little while,
but the profession didn't stick. Even that religious profession
didn't stick. And then as I got a little older, I decided to
rededicate and all of those things that people do in religion. But
I remember for me, now just for me, I'm not pointing fingers
at anyone else. I'm talking about me. For me
back then, when I heard passages like this, I used to think of
Hairless Joe. Anybody here remember Hairless
Joe? Nobody here old enough to remember Hairless Joe, is there?
He was a cartoon character that he was fully, full of hair. Now,
that was one of the puns. I guess they called him Hairless
Joe. But he carried around a big club with a huge nail driven
into the end of it. And he was always ready to whack
somebody. Whack somebody. And when I read
passages like this when I was in religion, I thought of God,
this hairless Jew, standing there at that big club, just waiting
on me to mess up so he could whack me. But as I said, this
is a glorious, invigorating encouragement. What mercies? What mercies? Well, I'll give you five. And
these are not something I come up with. They are what Paul has
already established in this letter as he led up. I beseech you,
therefore, because of what I've already taught you. I beseech
you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. Remember,
this is the motivating component. First of all, there is the mercy
of God's free reigning grace. Paul spoke of that clearly in
chapter three of free grace and in chapter five of reigning grace. Now I do not have time to go
into all of these things. We're hitting the high spots. It took me four or five weeks
It's sovereign grace chapel to go through these two verses.
And when I was done, I felt as though I had just barely scratched
the surface. So we're just moving through
this. I can't deal with that. You go back and look at it later,
but I am sure most of you are already familiar with these things.
That is the mercies of what God's free reigning grace. And let
me say this, there's never been any grace apart from mercy. And
there's never been any mercy apart from grace. These two things,
though they might be separated in our minds for study, to kind
of look at the varying components of this grace and mercy, they're
still like this. They're still like this. But
before I give you the other four, free grace, reigning grace, that's
the mercies of God that should or does encourage and invigorate
God's people. But as I mentioned these things,
if you go back and look at them later, you will see that the
sum and substance of all five of these, all five of these mercies
is Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ. Secondly, Paul speaks of this,
God's foreknowing, predestinating, calling, justifying, glorifying
purpose, that's mercy. And when God opened my eyes to
the truth of God's absolute sovereign purpose, it encouraged me to
serve God more than I ever had when I was in religion. This
sovereign God, who has the right to leave me to myself, who had
the sovereign right to cast me off into darkness forever, included
me in that merciful purpose. Oh, if I could only walk in the
way that that encourages me to walk. But here's the third one,
the purpose of God in election. You see, when I first began to
hear of the doctrine of election, Well, there's some thoughts I
can't give you what I thought, but I used to that that cannot
possibly be true. But you know what my problem
was? I thought I deserved for God
to love me. I thought I deserve for God to
show me some favor. But once he taught me how bad
I really was, or at least, let me change that, taught me or
began to teach me how bad I really am, I was grateful that God Almighty
made the initiative. Because had he not chosen me,
had he left me where I was, even in religion, I would have went
on my merry way to darkness forever. So you have the mercy of God's
free reigning grace. You have the mercy of God's foreknowing,
predestinating, calling, justifying, glorifying purpose. You have
the purpose of God in election. And before I go any further,
Election, apart from Jesus Christ, is nothing but a cold, dry doctrine. You see, God chose his people
in Christ. He chose us in the merits of
his son. But the son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is called the elect. He's the one individual that
God chose based upon his own merit. We are chosen in His merit. Now why does that comfort me?
Because I know now I have no merit apart from Him. So far
we see these are the mercies that Paul was talking about.
Here's the fourth one. And I know sometimes maybe we
don't think of this. We think of these, you know, like election,
predestination, foreknowledge. Justification and I understand
I'm not belittling that I'm not saying we shouldn't think of
these things that way But these we think of these grand and glorious
truth. I said truth not truth It may
not be good English, but it's correct doctrine. God doesn't
have truths He has truth and I say that because you can't
pick and choose what you want because you do then you got error
and So you got free and reigning grace, that's a mercy of God.
You got foreknowing, predestinating, calling, justifying, glorifying
purpose, that's a mercy. You got the purpose of God in
election, that's a mercy. But here's one, God's mercy in
gospel preaching. Do you know how merciful God
is being to us this very morning that you are sitting here and
I am standing here and not because of me, but I am standing here
and we are permitted to hear the word of God? A couple of things. One, we don't
deserve this. But two, there are thousands
upon thousands of people that are gathering just like we are
with people sitting out there in the auditorium just like you
are, and some person standing behind the podium like I am,
but they're not hearing the truth of God. God sends certain men to preach
the gospel to other men and women. As a matter of fact, I won't
go any further, gospel called pastors are an ascension gift
of Jesus Christ. I know you know that. I know
you've been taught that here. When Christ went back to glory,
he gave gifts unto men. What kind of gifts? It wasn't
tongues. It wasn't even the gift of the
Holy Spirit. He gave gifts. What gifts? What
ascension gifts? The last list is pastor, teachers. Pastor teachers think of it. There are some of our brothers
and sisters now That do not have at least that one man to lead
and guide them And it's tough And I say this not because I
think you need to hear it because of some fault per se Take care
of that man that stands behind this podium every Sunday and
Thursday take care of him take care of his wife He's a gift
of Christ. So that's the fourth one. Here's
the fifth one. God's grafting mercy. And maybe we don't, I don't,
maybe I don't. I'll preach through Romans. I
preached on it as sincerely and honestly as I could, but we need
to realize it, not know, we need to remember. I'm sure you realize
it, but we need to remember that We who are Gentiles that have
been called by the grace of Christ, we were aliens from God's purpose
toward a people. And God's purpose toward a people,
we're a Jewish people. Now granted, only certain Jews
amongst those were truly the elect of God. But this purpose
is a Jewish purpose. that then God come along and
called us out of darkness. And you know what he did? He
grafted us into the root stock of Israel. And that's what Paul
taught in Romans chapter 11. Now anyone who cannot and is
not encouraged to transform rather than conform does not have the
mercies of God. I do not say that to be mean.
I say that to be honest with our soul. That includes me. If
these mercies do not encourage me, I do not truly know the mercies
of God. But that's the motivating component
or factor, you might say. But let's look at the instructive
component. Now think about it. And I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that is the motivating component,
but here's the instructive, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. That's the instructive component.
Now let's go through these briefly. Let's note four, these four things
in this instructive component, these four considerations. One,
that you present your bodies. That means, I'm gonna paraphrase,
in other words, continually and decisively dedicate our whole
self unto God. Now, I gotta get this in, I note,
Rome, that is the Roman Catholic Church. This is one passage that
you present your bodies a living sacrifice. And this is one passage
that they use to teach their people, their adherents, to actually
physically hurt their bodies. You ever seen them do it on TV?
Take a whip. maybe even take a shirt off and
just beat themselves and beat themselves and beat themselves.
One guy in the Roman Catholic community in Mexico even had
himself literally crucified on a cross. That has nothing whatsoever
to do with what Paul has said here. This is not about what
you do to your body, It's about what you do with your body, but
it's more than just the body. When Paul here mentions the body
in the Greek, as I said, it's talking about a continual and
decisive dedication of our whole selves. It's not just about how
I believe. It's about how I conduct myself
in everyday life in this world. And somebody says, does that
matter? Oh, it matters a whole lot, but it doesn't give you
one ounce of merit. Does that make sense to you?
I don't know if it does or not, but it doesn't matter. It does
matter how God's people live and conduct themselves in this
world. It does not gain us one ounce of merit, but it does matter
that you present your bodies. But then he says, a living sacrifice. In other words, quickened by
God and given over to God through that life that God himself gave
us. You see our essential problem
was not our deeds. I don't mean that to strike you.
Our essential problem was not our deeds. It was our deadness. You hear me? Our essential problem
was a lack of spiritual life, not a lack of deeds. We all were
filled with deeds before God ever converted us. Some of us
were filled with many religious and moral deeds. But even our
brother Isaiah says this, that even our righteousnesses are
as menses, cloths, in God's sight. So that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice. You remember, let me just read
this one. You don't have to turn there, let me just read it and
then I need to move on. But you'll find it, it's found
in 1 Corinthians 6. You may get there before me Oh,
and last couple of verses, what? Verse 19 and 20, what? Know you
not that your body, your body, but this body is corrupt, preacher.
Yeah, it is. Isn't that a marvel of God's
mercy? That God Almighty would be pleased to come, brother,
and dwell in even this body? But that's what it says, isn't
it, what? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost, which is in you, which you have of God, and ye are not
your own. For ye are bought with the price. Therefore glorify God in your
body and in your spirit. Do you see it now? In your body
and in your spirit. Why? Because they're God's. You
see, if we are redeemed, if we are called by God's gospel, God
owns us lock, stock, and barrel. It's all his. I have nothing
of myself. Even my sins are not my own. He took them on himself. He took them to be his own. And
he bore the judgment of God the Father because of that. I don't
even own my sin anymore. They're gone. Now folks, if that
don't encourage you, if that don't ring your bell, then your
clapper's broke. Something's missing. Okay, there's
two things, that you present your bodies, a living sacrifice,
but here's the, here's that one that I think probably gets us
all, I know it gets me. Holy, when I read that word,
boy, this kind of shuts me down. What, what, what? that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, but give me something easy to
do, not holiness. You understand? That's my flesh
thinking. That's the way my old corrupt
mind wants to think. But look, holy, acceptable, but
no, unto God. This ain't about how men and
women perceive us. This is not about how others
perceive us. It's not even about how we perceive
ourselves. This is unto God, unto God. So it's holy, acceptable unto
God. This is the third part of this
instructive component, holy and acceptable unto God, which is
your reasonable service. Now, first of all, holy, that
means devoted. If you're not devoted to Christ,
you don't know Christ. If I'm not devoted to Christ,
I don't know Christ. It's that simple. This is not
about some holy, in the way the world thinks of this, a really
austere, hair always cut right, and always the proper clothes
on. And don't get me wrong, we need
to present ourselves decently in this world. I can't go into
that. Remember, this is holy and acceptable
unto God. Holy, that is devoted, acceptable.
Here's the word in the Greek, desirable unto God. Somebody says, but pastor, I
can't be that. No, you cannot in yourself, but
in Christ you are. In Christ you are. If God, and
he does, if God works in us both to will and to do of his good
pleasure, do you think he's not acceptable? Do you think he's
not pleased with that? Because it's his work in us.
Therefore, I realize I have no honor, no merit, no credit. It all goes to him. But then
Paul puts in this phrase, which is your reasonable service. Now, see, when I was in religion,
we always were taught something along this line. You have spiritual
Christians, and then you have carnal Christians. And the way
this was explained to us was sometimes you, the spiritual
Christian, they go above and beyond. Anybody ever heard of
that? They're the really, really faithful
people. They're the really, really holy
people. Then you got other Christians
that are carnal. They kind of live more to self.
It may not be good English, but it ain't so. It ain't so. All of us are carnal in the old
man. So carnal that it cannot get
any more carnal. But in the spirit of God, we
are as holy as God on himself. And when God let that dawn on
me, I could finally just, even in my walk. This is your reasonable service.
Now when I look that word up, you know what the word is? Now
think about what, I will read it, I will give you the pronunciation
of the Greek word and see if it doesn't remind you of something,
logikos. It's actually the Greek word from which we get our word
logical. This is just logical service.
God's not asking us to go above and beyond. He's the one that
went above and beyond. Our service is just what? Reasonable
service. In religion, I was always told
to look for the higher ground. No, my place is on the ground. at the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Gotta move on. And be not conformed
to this world. This is the fourth instructive
component. And be not conformed to this
world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Two thoughts here. The first one, and be not conformed. This
means consent, consent and comply not with unregenerate practices. That's my paraphrase, but that's
what Paul's talking about. Do not consent and comply with
unregenerate practices, whether those unregenerate practices
are immoral practices or whether they are religious practices. It all applies. You see, most
of what people are doing in so-called churches today may look very
moral and may be very moral in the sight of men, but that's
not the point. because we defile God's truth
and even God's son by our unregenerate religious practices. I don't know how to put it any
more simple than that, but my mind has a tough time getting
a hold of that. I mean, my mind says, if it looks good, God's
got to at least be happy. That may be the one thing he's
not happy with. Somebody says, preacher, this
doesn't sound real simple. Well, if it's real simple, it
wouldn't have to be given to us by inspired word, would it?
We could just pass out a few pamphlets and be done with it.
And of course, that is what religion is doing today. Moving on, and
be not conformed, but be transformed. When I looked at that word, it
means it's translated another way in scripture, and it's translated,
this will probably bring a bell for you, transfigured. You remember
when Christ stood on that mountain, he was what? Transfigured now
our word we have a word for it. It's called metamorphosed You
know how metamorphosis take place now, I'm no bug expert but I
had to look this up I got Google Metamorphosis starts I Don't
know how to explain. I'm not a like I said, I'm not
a bug man, but it starts on the inside Do you hear what I'm saying? It starts on the inside and works
its way out Now, how can you have anything good inside unless
God himself put it there? Because our brother Paul said,
in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. But there is something
good in me. It's called God himself. Our
bodies are what? The temple of the Holy Ghost. We'll move on. Turn to Philippians
4, and we'll get this in. Philippians chapter 4. Just a,
maybe just a, it's the word, by the renewing of your mind,
it's like renovating, like bringing in new things. Okay? It's not a, overall change as
the world likes to tell you. It's bringing in, renewing, renovating
your mind. Now how could that possibly take
place? Look at Philippians 4 and verse
8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever
things are true, Whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,
whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue
and if there be any praise, think on those things. If you bombard
your mind with all the negative, where are you going to be? Living
in the negative. Now folks, we can't get away
from the negative, but don't live with it. Think, what is
the one place that all of these true, honest, just, pure things
could be found? In the person and work of Jesus
Christ. Keep him as the sum and substance
of that which encourages your soul. Because if you look to
your physical deeds, eventually you're going to what? Fall. then all you'll have is misery.
But if you look at him, even when you fall, you'll have peace. How do I know that? I've been
there. I was there before we arrived here this morning. But
your mind begins to think, I want the negative, the negative, the
negative. Think on Christ. All right, the end component,
that ye may prove Not do. Do you hear what I said? I added
those two words. That you may prove not do. When I was in religion,
and they taught from that passage, I was always under the impression,
now maybe they didn't, maybe it's all my fault, and I will
blame all of them, but when I heard the passage like this one and
others similar, always about doing God's good, perfect will,
huh? Then what he said, you're gonna
do God's perfect, acceptable, good will. You are going to serve
God whether you're an unbeliever or a believer. All men and women
are in God's sovereign hand and under God's sovereign purpose.
This ain't about doing it, it's about proving it. And the word
simply means this, put it to the test. Put it to the test. I don't have time to read these.
Put it to the test. Put it to the test in seasons
of consolation, when things are going good. You can find that
2 Corinthians 7, 5, 6, and 7. Put it to the test in seasons
of danger. You can find that in Acts 4,
verses 23 through 29. And then put it to the test in
all seasons. You know why? Because all things
work together for good. to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to his purpose, or his what? His will. Now, one other passage,
turn to Ephesians, and I'll close with that. And I know this is
going to be familiar. Ephesians chapter two, verse
eight, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, that is the
grace, the salvation, or the faith. None of it. Not of works,
lest any man should boast. And notice it's a for, not a
but. It's not an addition, it's a part of. For we are His, do
you see that? Workmanship. Created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that
we should walk in them. So that lets me know this, my
brothers and sisters, Every good work that God Almighty
ordained for you to walk in and me to walk in, guess what? We will walk in. Because it is,
again, Him that worketh in us, both to will and to do of His
good pleasure. Now, someone says, preacher,
you talk like you just, we ought to just give up wholly to God.
Just trust Him to do it all. If I can only live that way all
the time. and just drop it out of my hands.
What does he say? Casting how much of your care
upon him? How much? What does he say? How much care? All your care
upon him. Why? because he cares for you.
Heavenly Father, may these words not beat us down. May we not
perceive them that way. That's our fault, Lord. May we
not perceive them as some bludgeon, but as that which you have ordained.
And Lord, by the power of your spirit, overrule our own faulty
thoughts and put those true and honest and good things to work
in us. In Christ's name, amen.