Turn to 1 John chapter 4. Before
we turn to Romans chapter 12, I want to begin by introducing
with a statement from Henry Mahan on this 12th chapter of Romans.
1 John chapter 4. Paul, writes Henry Mann, having
taught in the preceding chapters the great doctrines of redemption
by grace, through faith, now turns to the results of redemption. The life of grace and godliness,
or the believer's walk, our conduct and our conversation in this
present world. Our attitude and duties to God,
to the church of God and to all men, and to all men may be summed
up in one word, love. Our duty to God can be summed
up in one word, love. Love. He loved us. Over in 1 John, chapter 4, and
we'll be there for a couple of moments, the theme that we're
looking at here is love. Our reasonable service to our
Lord is summed up in one word, love. Look at 1 John 4 beginning
at verse 16. And we have known and believed
the love that God hath to us. Let me read that again. And we have known, we have understood,
it has been placed in our hearts, And we believe the love of God,
the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth
in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
because as he is, so are we in this world. We love him, or he
loved us, and we love him. Look over at verse 19. We love
him because he first loved us. Now, I'm still quoting from Henry
Mahan. And we love one another. Look
at verses 20 through 21. If any man say I love God and
hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? In this commandment have we from
him that he who loveth God love his brother also. going on to continue with Henry
Mahan's introduction to this chapter. If we do not understand
this, he says, we are not motivated by love. If we don't understand
what it is to love your neighbor, if we don't understand what it
is to love God, if we don't understand what it is that he loved us,
then we fail before we even begin our discussion of duties in our
works. Galatians 5, 13 through 14, we
read this, for brethren, you have been called unto liberty,
only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh. Use not the liberty
of love as a reason to satisfy the flesh. But by love, serve
one another. For all the law is fulfilled
in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Now with that in mind, Lord teach
us. Lord teach us to be gracious
as you are gracious to us. Look back in our text now, Romans
chapter 12. Beginning at verse 1, we read
these words, 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." Holy, acceptable to
God. Now, we know that the only way
we are holy and acceptable to God is through our Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that right? There's no
holiness in this flesh that stands before you. But how do I present
my spirit as holy to the Lord? My Savior is doing that for me
also. He does everything. Everything
that God requires of you and I, our Savior has presented to
the Lord perfectly. He has provided perfectly everything
that we need. But there is a reasonable service
to that. What is my reasonable service?
I have to walk in this flesh, in this world, don't we? We go
out into the world every day, we go down to the store, we go
to the gas station, we go to work, wherever we might be going,
whatever it is we might have to do, dealing with our own family
that's ungodly. I want to bring a message next
Sunday about a new creature. We're going to be looking in
the book of Luke next Sunday, in the book of Luke chapter 5.
We're not going to get to that this week. I'm not going to get
ahead of myself. But we're going to be looking at this new creature.
New wine cannot be put into old bottles. We're going to be looking
at a new creature. This is our reasonable service
as new creatures in Christ. We go forth into the world declaring
what? Jesus is Lord. He is my Lord. That's my declaration to God. That is how I am holy. It's in
Him that I'm holy. God help me not to walk in sin. God help me to turn from my sins
and look to Him. But I know I can't in a way that
is presentable for Him. What is my reasonable service?
Because God has been gracious to me, what is my reasonable
service? Paul had anticipation once again
of a question that will arise to those who have no understanding
of God's grace. Grace means you offer it and
I accept it. No, that's not what grace means
at all. Grace means you give it to me and I take it because
I've got no other choice. I've got no other desire. He
makes us willing in the day of his power to accept his love,
to accept his grace. If it wasn't for him making us
willing, we wouldn't accept it at all. We'd continue on that
path we were all once on. In the first covenant, between
God and man, the people worshiped by what they thought they were
doing by keeping the law. They thought they were keeping
the law. They thought that they were doing their reasonable service
by keeping the law, and our worship will be, I will sacrifice exactly
how God has told me to, I will observe the ceremonies that God
has given me, I will worship the things that God has placed
in the mercy seat, and all those things pointed to the one that
we are supposed to worship to, Christ Jesus the Lord. And they
thought they were actually able to do so. Brother Mike Levis
once wrote a poem on it. When light is dark. Brother Mike's
testimony about how he thought he was in the light when he was
worshipping God on the seventh day. When he was worshipping
God by going door to door, knocking. This was what he thought was
the light and in truth it was darkness. Do you know that Paul
says the same thing? Not quite in those words, but
he said that everything that he had done, all of the worshiping
that he thought he was doing in the light of Christ, it was
all counted but done. for the grace of Christ, for
the grace of our Savior. The first covenant was all about
the people worship, what they thought they were doing by keeping
the law. And Paul is teaching Christ is the end of the law,
or the fulfillment of the law. Our walk before our Lord is in
loving his law, even though we know we cannot keep it in any
degree. Paul says I appeal to you brethren
by the mercies of God whatever we are called upon to do or say
or be or give fear Or even bargaining but those but because of mercy
fear not and because we do it because of the mercy of God to
us and And we read that over in chapter 4 verse 11 of 1st
John if you're still there You can read along with me says beloved
God so loved us. We ought also to love one another
and In Ephesians 4, 32, we read these words. Turn over to Luke,
chapter 6, if you would. And I'll read these words in
Ephesians. Turn over to Luke. Hold your
place in Romans. We'll come back. Turn over to Luke, chapter 6. And while you're turning there
in Ephesians, we read this in chapter 4, verse 32. And be ye
kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven you. Isn't that how
we look at things now? Isn't that how we look at being
forgiving towards others now? Well, I remember a day when I
was being forgiving for a reason that I had no reason to be forgiving
for. I had no reason to be forgiving to that person. But I was in
my heart. Why? Because God had forgiven
me for what I had done to others. Because God had forgiven me for
what I had done to Him. Over here in Luke chapter 6 look
at verses 35 and 36 with me, but love ye your enemies and
do good and lend Hoping for nothing again And your reward shall be
great and ye shall be the children of the highest for he is kind
unto the unthankful and to the evil But ye therefore merciful
as your father also is merciful so back in our text We also read
in that first verse that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice. Paul is talking about just what
you think he's talking about. He's talking about our human
faculties. If I was accepting something that was abhorrable
to our Lord, if I was encouraging people to be homosexual, Could
you trust what you see in this one who stands before you? If
I was attending an adult place of business where only adults
go to, would you be able to attend to my word being here before
you talking about the perfection and the holiness of our Lord?
We are to present our bodies a living sacrifice, our human
faculties. Let our tongues be busy in praising our God. Let our feet take us to the worship
hall, to the assembly, to the door of others to minister. Let our arms be used to embrace
and to lift up those that are needy. As a believer, as a priest,
We offer ourselves to God as a living sacrifice. We say to
him, here am I, Lord. Do what you will with me. Here
am I. Take me. Put me where you would. Send me to preach to the lost.
Send me to care for the sick. Send me to support the missionary,
to preach to cheer the faint and to comfort the weary. Somehow,
Lord, use me to accomplish your purpose. Is that not our reasonable
service to the Lord? Folks, we're not our own. We're
bought with a price, the price of our Savior's blood. We belong
to Him. Is it not reasonable for us to
walk in service to Him? Next we read over in verse 2
of chapter 12, and be not conformed, be not conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The
word world here means the nature, or the character, or the opinions,
the goals, and the attitudes of unregenerate men. What are
unregenerate men and women? They're folks who don't believe
God is God. They believe that their will,
that their ability to decide, their decision is above God's. They don't believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ is God. They say with their lips that
He is. They say so with their lips,
but in their heart, they don't believe that at all. They don't
believe that at all, no. They believe that it's something
that they have done. The world here, it means to be not conformed
to this world. Don't be a part of this world
where you think yourself above God. Humble yourself and put
yourself below Him. And as God, he will put us there. The worldly man seeks the praise
of men, but the believer seeks the praise of God. Lord, what
would you have me do? Would this bring glory to your
name? One of the things Bill and I talked about a lot. Oh
man, I miss that man so much. Just mentioning his name makes
my heart sing sometimes. We would talk all the time, as
you know, as you well know. And one of the things Bill and
I would always put before us when there were discussions about,
you know, well, should we go do this, you know? Is that going
to glorify God? I never thought like that before.
Did any of you? Not until the Lord moved in my
heart to do so. I never had any desire to do
anything that pleased the Lord. Would this glorify the Lord?
If I do it this way, and see, this is the problem, is sometimes
we don't think. Sometimes we just act, and maybe I should
be doing this. Sometimes I just act, and I don't
think. If I would stop and think, and
the Lord helped me to because I really want to, if I would
just stop and think about things for a moment, is this glorifying
my Savior? Oh, how much better things would
be better for me. Be not conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove
the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. The worldly one
cares for the body, the believer cares for the soul. The worldly
one thinks only of himself, the believer considers others. The
worldly one looks only upon that which is seen. The believer looks
on that which is unseen, spiritual. The worldly one cares for what
he shall eat, drink, and wear. The believer seeks first the
kingdom of God and His righteousness. The spiritual attitude can only
be accomplished by a renewing or a regenerating work of God
in our minds and our soul. This spiritual attitude that
we're speaking about, this attitude of our desire to do the will
of God, this is not something that we just conjure up in ourselves. and keep going at it. This is
something that we need help with. Because the flesh is always battling
against the spirit, is it not? My spirit is not any stronger
today than it was yesterday. But Christ in me, supporting
that spirit, that new spirit that he's given me, is everything
I need to do what needs to be done. Christ in us, the hope
of glory. This spiritual attitude can only
be accomplished by a renewing or a regenerating work in our
minds, in our souls, because it's contrary to the nature of
our flesh. Listen to these words from 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore,
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. That's next Sunday,
but we'll talk about that in more depth. Old things are passed
away. What old things? The old things
of living for John for who he is. The old things of living
for Roger because that's nobody else. I don't care about anybody
else. I only care about me. Oh, we love our children. Yes,
we do. I guarantee you folks, if Christ is not in you, you're
first before everything. Even the children. It doesn't
mean you wouldn't lay down your life for Him. That's not what
I'm saying. I'm just saying if you do something, it's because
you wanted to do it for yourself. Turn over to Philippians chapter
2. Look at that. Let's look at that for a minute
here. Philippians chapter 2. Look at verses 12 and 13. We're
talking about the regeneration of the heart. We're talking about
God doing a godly work in our hearts to keep us under the attitude
to accomplish a renewing and regenerating work of God. In
verse 12 and 13, wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is
God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good
pleasure. Brother Mike was mentioning this
morning, because I just don't know which way the Lord would
want me to go. He just doesn't know. He's at a point in his
life where he's having to sell something that he's loved for
50 years. He doesn't know where he's going
to go from here. I understand his confusion completely. But
I told him this, you're exactly where God would have you to be
right now. You're accomplishing exactly
what our Lord's will is right now in your life. Being confused. I know that's not fun, folks.
For some of us, that's a huge detriment, especially to one
who has been most of their lives taking care of things, just diving
in and grabbing a hold of something and taking care of it. But as
old leaves drop off a tree to make room for new ones, so the
renewing work of the spirit in our minds and our hearts pushes
out pride, pushes out envy, pushes out malice, pushes out covetousness. In this way we both experience
and manifest what is pleasing and honoring to God. Look over
to Ephesians chapter 5, look at verses 9 and 10. For the fruit
of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,
proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. proving what is acceptable,
our fruits, our reasonable service. You're coming to church on Sunday
and you're turning around and lying to your... and partying
it up with your friends. Are you showing them your reasonable
service to God? Look back at our text again if
you would, Romans chapter 12, verse 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. Oh, how I would hope that
would apply to me. Lord, remind me. Remind me not
to think more highly of myself than I ought to think. but to
think soberly, soberly, diligently, with all measure of truth, according
as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Paul exhorts
us to cultivate our crowning grace. What is our crowning grace? Humility. He's exhorting us to till our
humility. Humility doesn't come by just
saying, oh, I'm humble. We have to be tilled. We have
to turn it. We have to water it. We have
to keep our humility intact. It's not something that's just
there. It's like respect. How many of us have
heard this phrase? You can't just get respect. In order to get respect, you
have to earn it. To be humble, you must be humble. You must work at it. It says, likewise, ye younger,
submit yourselves unto the older. Yea, all of you be subject one
to another and be clothed with humility. For God resisteth the
proud and giveth grace to the humble. That's in 1 Peter 5. And remember that our gifts,
our knowledge, our ability, and even our faith are the gifts
of God. Where we read in 1 Corinthians 15, 10, but by the grace of God,
I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed
upon me, was not in vain. But I labored more abundantly
than they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God,
which was within me. In our text again we read in
verses 4 and 5, For as we may have many members in one body,
and all members have not the same office, so we being many
are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another. Paul is now illustrating the
union between believers by the human body. The human body is
one, but it has many members. And each member is placed there
in proportion as it should be to the others for the good of
the whole body. The eye sees, but it does not hear. The ear
hears, but it does not breathe. So we are one body in Christ. and are in a union together with
him, having gifts and the ability differing but serving the same
purpose. We're serving the good of the body and the glory of
Christ. In verses 6 through 8 of our text, we read, having then
gifts differing according to the grace that is given us, whether
prophesied, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith, or
minister, let us wait on, or ministering, or he that teacheth
on teaching, or he that exhorteth on exhorting. He that giveth,
let him do it with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence,
he that showeth mercy and with cheerfulness. Now these are pretty
self-explanatory, but let me close with these thoughts. These
are reasonable services to our Master. Or in other words, for
His sake do we do these things? Because of His mercy for me,
because of His love for me, I try, out of love for Him, to walk
as it pleases Him. Do you? Don't answer me. Answer yourself. We'll close
with that thought in mind. Next week we'll pick up again
from there on.