Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. If you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, the message today will be from Romans chapter 12.
And what I want to talk to you about in the first few verses
of this chapter, Romans chapter 12, is this. Here's the title
of the message, The Difference That Christ Makes. The Difference
That Christ Makes. Now, I think everyone who claims
to be a Christian or be a believer would say that true Christianity
and being a true believer makes one different. And so, that difference
that really that people talk about, a lot of times it's not
what people think makes a believer different, or a church, a group,
a body of believers, is not really what the Bible says makes true
believers different. A lot of times people delve into
the law and what they call character and conduct, and I would agree
that the character and conduct of a true believer is different
from the character and conduct of non-believers. But wherein
lies that true difference? First of all, when we look at
the scriptures, here the Apostle Paul, listen to what he says
in verse one of Romans chapter 12. He says, I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice. In other words, present your
whole self to be living sacrifices. And then he says, holy, That
means set apart, that means made different. And he says, holy,
acceptable unto God. That's certainly a difference
because those who are in unbelief in a state are not acceptable
unto God. And he says, which is your reasonable
service. Now, when you look at this passage,
I beseech you therefore, I heard an old preacher years and years
and years ago say, if you see a therefore in the scriptures,
find out what it's there for. And what it is, it's referring
back to everything that the apostle Paul had been inspired by the
spirit to write up to this point to the church at Rome. Now, when
we say the church at Rome here, we're not talking about what
people see today as the Catholic church. That's a false church.
The church at Rome were the body of believers that were in Rome,
physical Rome at this time. And Paul was wanting to go to
Rome to preach to them. And he wrote this letter, this
epistle to true believers. And he began back in chapter
one, defining the gospel. because it is the gospel, mainly
the gospel that we preach that makes true believers different
from anyone else. But let me say this before I
go further. A believer, a true believer, a sinner saved by grace,
a Christian, a real Christian, now not just in name only, but
one who's a true follower, a true disciple of Christ, individually
and the church collectively, the true church, And when I say
I have to make these differences, especially in this message, because
we're talking about what makes us different, the difference
that only Christ makes, we're not talking about all the buildings
that you see in a city or a town that call themselves church.
We're talking about the place where the true gospel and the
word of God is preached, founded upon the truth. But the Lord
told us, the Bible tells us, that true Christians individually
and collectively as a body of believers have three great enemies
in this age that we're in. We have the enemy of the devil,
Satan. Satan is our enemy and all of
his followers are our enemy and that's why in Ephesians chapter
6 Paul wrote, put on the whole armor of God that you may withstand
the wiles of the devil and he represented a believer there
like a soldier in a war. to fight sin, to fight the devil
and his deceptions. And we need to understand that
about Satan, the devil. He is a deceptive, subtle being. He doesn't come to people with
a pitchfork and horns and fangs and all that. Often he comes
in the name of religion. and even morality in the name
of Christ, but denying the truth of Christ. So Satan, and then
the flesh. Now that's our individual persons,
because when we're born again by the Spirit, we're given a
new heart, a new mind, new affections, new will, new knowledge. We have
had the Holy Spirit indwelling us, but we still have the remaining
presence and contaminations, corruptions of sin within us
and it's called the flesh. And Paul wrote about that when
he talked about in Galatians 5, the warfare of the flesh of
the spirit against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit.
He wrote about it in Romans 7 when he spoke of how we're to fight
our fleshly desires. We're in a battle within ourselves.
And then thirdly, we have the great enemy of the world the
world in all of its existence, whatever form it takes. Christ told his disciples back
in John 16 in verse 33, he said, these things I have spoken unto
you that in me you might have peace. In Christ, the church,
the true church, believers have peace, peace with God, peace
with one another. the world," He said. "...you
shall have tribulation," Trouble. "...but be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world." And He has overcome the world, the victory
is won. Our three great enemies, the world, the flesh, and the
devil have already been conquered by Jesus Christ for us by His
obedience unto death on the cross. because he has conquered our
sin, our flesh, he's conquered the world that stands against
us. Now in this world, in our present state, we still have
to fight these enemies, not because we're gonna win the battle with
our own power or our own goodness or our own determination, but
because we live in this world to the glory of God. And that's
why he says back here in our text, Romans 12, I beseech you
therefore brethren by the mercies of God, In other words, what
I'm going to tell you, Paul is saying, is not motivated. What I'm going to tell you to
do in obedience, in fighting the warfare, is not motivated
by the law, is not motivated by mercenary spirit of earned
reward. It's not legalism, it's by mercy,
the motive of mercy, and that's so important. I've often said
on this program, and we need to get it in our minds, and we're
gonna see that in verse two here in just a moment, that we're
to obey God, the believers. are saved by grace, not by works. It's not by their decisions,
it's not by their works, it's not by their will, it's by the
will, the decision, the works of God in Christ. And so we're
to obey God, we're to fight the flesh, we're to seek to be conformed
to Christ, we're to obey the word of God, but the motivation
is so key. If your motivation is legalism,
self-righteous legalism, salvation conditioned on you in some way
to some degree at some stage, then all it is is fruit unto
death. But that which is motivated by
grace and gratitude and love, not trying to earn our way into
God's favor, but because we want to thank God gratitude and grace,
not to be righteous, but because we already are based upon Christ's
righteousness imputed. That's the mercies of God. So
Paul says, I'm begging you, therefore, by the mercies of God. And that
therefore refers all the way back through Romans 1 through
up to this point about God's salvation by free and sovereign
grace, not through our works or obedience, not by our decisions,
but through the works and the obedience of Jesus Christ, who
died as the surety, the substitute, the redeemer of God's people,
and fulfilled every condition, every requirement, every stipulation
that God requires to save a sinner from sin. And so we've been saved
from sin. And that's mercy, that's the
compassion nature of God himself, showing that compassion, but
not compassion and love without justice satisfied. And that's
why he says, it's by the mercies of God. And he says, present
your bodies, that's your entire person. The human body, that
we have was created for us by God. We were made living souls. Now we just in Adam, for example,
and we fell in Adam into a state of sin and death and depravity.
And in that capacity, before we're born again by the Spirit,
we use our members as the sixth scripture calls it. We use our
bodies in things that dishonor and do not glorify God, even
in religion. The religion, the natural religion
of man that causes him and motivates him by legalism, fear of punishment,
mercenary promise of earned reward, to try to be a good person is
dishonoring to God. That's what Paul talked about
in Galatians. He said, you're saved not by
works, but by grace through faith. And that's not of yourselves.
It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. So that a person who is trying
to improve their lives, trying to be a good person, all aimed
at trying to save themselves or earn their rewards, that's
fruit unto death. That dishonors God. It denies
Christ. And it gives sinners room to
boast. And that's what natural false
religion does. Even religion that comes in the
name of Christ, but denies the doctrine of Christ, the grace
of God in Christ. And so, wherein lies the difference,
you know? Most people think the difference
lies in, well, when I get saved, I stop drinking, I stop doing
this, I stop doing that. Taste not, touch not, handle
not. Do you know in Colossians chapter two, the Apostle Paul
called that worldly thinking. To think that because I have
a great change in my character and conduct in the sense of what
natural religion can bring about and make me different, where
I stop doing this and start doing that, that's worldly thinking. And so look at verse two of our
text. In verse two, he says, be not conformed to this world. Now, when we talk about the world,
you understand that being different from the world, you need to look
at it at least in maybe a couple of ways, or maybe more than one,
two ways. But first of all, believers are
not to be conformed to the immoral, lawless world. Those who would
consciously break the laws of the land, for example, or even
break the laws of the Bible. in the sense of like where the
Bible says, thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery. All of those things, the 10 commandments,
we see that. Believers aren't to be thieves
and lawbreakers, brawlers, drunks and drug pushers, all of that.
We're not to be conformed to that. We're to be different in
that sense. But that difference in and of
itself is not the difference that Christ can make. False religion
can do that. False religion can make an alcoholic
put down the bottle and never touch it again. Now, if you don't
believe that, you're just fooling yourself. False religion can
make a person reform outwardly so we're not to be conformed
to the religious world. or to the immoral world, but
we're also not to be conformed to the world in its false religion,
no matter how it appears, no matter how good or holy, no matter
how much better it makes us feel. And that's what he says here,
verse two, be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Now, when we talk about nonconformity
or being different, what makes a believer, a true church, different
from the world? And the first place we have to
go, it is the gospel that we preach, the gospel that we believe,
the gospel that we live by, the gospel that teaches us. the glorious
person of Jesus Christ, who is our hope, our representative,
our whole salvation, that he's both God and man in one person,
God-man, and in the finished work of Christ, which successfully
saves unto glory every sinner for whom he died and was buried
and arose again from the dead. You see, Christ did not die for
everybody without exception. If that's what you believe, you're
being conformed to the religious world, because that's not what
the Bible teaches. Christ died for His sheep and
He secured their salvation. Now, who are they? Well, they
are those whom God, Christ, by the Spirit, makes different through
the new birth by bringing them to faith in Christ. That is faith
in who He is and what He accomplished on the cross, not faith in your
faith now. Because see, if you believe that
Christ died for everybody without exception, and that you made
the difference by making a decision or inviting Him into your heart,
my friend, that's being conformed to the world. That's denying
Christ. Because Christ died in order
to bring His people that life-giving spirit in the new birth that
brings them to the gift of faith. Faith in Christ alone. Christ
makes the difference, see? This is the difference that only
Christ makes. And He made the difference. You
think about Christ hanging on the cross, and on one side, on
both sides of Him, there was a thief on the right and a thief
on the left, and they both began to blaspheme. It's recorded in
one of the Gospels that they both began to curse and to blaspheme. But all of a sudden, one thief
changes. I think it's the thief on the
right hand. And he begins to see that he's a sinner who deserves
to be getting what he's getting there, but that Christ is not
a sinner, a sinful man, that he's the Messiah who doesn't
deserve what he's getting because he was not a sinner. Now Christ
was made sin and he justly suffered under the wrath of God based
upon the sins of his sheep, his people, his church, imputed to
it. But in himself, he knew no sin. He was not a sinner. And that
thief recognized that. And then the thief put his whole
hope of salvation on the Lord Jesus Christ, the one on the
middle cross. And he said, remember me when
you come into your kingdom. And Christ said, today, you'll
be in paradise with me. So what made the difference between
those two thieves? Well, you say, well, that one
thief was a better thief than the other. No, no. What made the difference? Well,
that one thief, he made a decision for Jesus. No, the grace of God
through Christ made the difference. And that's what makes the difference
between God's people and the world. And that word transformed,
that means changed. And it has to do with faith in
Christ and repentance of dead works, being renewed in our mind. Repentance is a change of mind
that only God can make. Only God can make you change
your mind concerning these things. We see an example of that in
the book of Philippians chapter three. I preached a series of
messages on that, where Paul said, that which I used to think
recommended me unto God. that which I thought was gain,
I now count it loss. That's a change of mind. I thought
these things recommended me to God, that these things, my works,
my heritage, my sincerity, my dedication, my morality, I thought
that those things would get me in right with God. and get me
into heaven. It's like people today who think
their decision or their inviting Jesus into their heart or their
baptism or their walking in hell will get them into heaven. But
that's not the case. And Paul had a change of mind. And that change of mind was the
work of the power of the Holy Spirit in the new birth to show
him the glory of God in Christ, to show him his own sinfulness,
My friend, if left to ourselves, none of us would choose Christ
because we're naturally depraved and sinful. And that's why we
must be born again by the Spirit and brought to faith in Christ
through the revealed knowledge that God gives of our sinfulness. And then He shows us the glory
of Christ in His person and in His work, His righteousness,
which God has imputed to all of His people. That's my hope.
The things that I do for God in seeking to obey Him, that's
not my righteousness before God, Christ is. And that was made
up by His obedience unto death as my surety, my substitute,
my redeemer. And by that, He preserves me
unto glory. And that's His righteousness,
the merit of His obedience unto death that is imputed, charged,
accounted to me, and that's wherein I stand before God justified,
forgiven of all my sins. And in declaring that through
the gospel, you see, that's different from the world. The world will
tell you to straighten up and do right and God will save you
or God will accept you. Well, our message is different.
The message of the gospel is different. Should you straighten
up and do right? Yes, but not to be saved, that
won't save you. And to think that it will and
believe that it will is evil in the sight of God. Doesn't
the Bible say in Luke 16, 15, that which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God. Well, what happens in this
transformation? What happens is that which we
before highly esteemed, our works, our decisions, our sincerity,
which was an abomination to God, now it becomes an abomination
to us. And that which is highly esteemed
of God becomes highly esteemed of us. And what is highly esteemed
by God? He said, this is my beloved Son,
hear ye Him. What is the works of God? That we believe on the Son whom
he has sent. Trust in Christ, rest in Christ. That's our whole salvation. And
when he tells believers here to be transformed by the renewing
of your mind, this has to be constantly set before us in the
preaching of the gospel to renew our minds continually as we go
through this life fighting against the world, the flesh, and the
devil. As we go through life, we'll go through circumstances,
that will cause us to doubt, that will make us act according
to the flesh. You can go in the Bible, you
can see that. You can see it in examples like
people like Abraham, even Noah, King David. A believer can see
it in himself. and our minds have to continually
be renewed by the transformational power of the Spirit through the
Word of God. And he says in verse two, that
we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will
of God. Well, this is the issue, see?
What is good in God's sight? What is acceptable and perfect
in God's sight? He's talking about sinners coming
to God And this is all by the will of God, the sovereign will
of God, which creates believers. In Ephesians 2 10, he says, we
are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
not because of good works, not based on good works, but unto,
see the good works are the fruit and the result, the effect. of God's power and grace to save
us by His grace in Christ, not the cause. And these good works
are those which God had before ordained that we should walk
in them. And so our minds have to be continually renewed in
that because what I need to know every day is Christ alone makes
the difference. And how am I different from the
world? mainly in the gospel that I preach, that makes me different
because they preach another gospel. They preach a gospel of works. Sometimes they don't call it
works, that's the subtlety of Satan. They preach salvation
conditioned on sinners at some stage, in some way, to some degree,
that's the world. And then say, well, you don't
have to work for it, you just have to believe. You've just
made belief a work. Because if your believing makes
the difference, then that's your salvation. You have faith in
your faith. But you see, you have to believe that Christ alone
made the difference. That's what makes us different.
That's the difference that only Christ can make. We're different
in our motives. What is our motive? Not works,
not earned rewards. Somebody said, I'm working hard
because I want a bigger mansion in heaven. That's not in the
Bible. That's in the minds of legalists who bring forth fruit
unto death. The rewards that believers receive,
and it's not really rewards, plural, it's rewards, singular,
is that which Christ has earned for us, which we all receive
equally through the merits of Jesus Christ, His obedience unto
death, not by our works. people talking about, well, what
about those crowns? We'll receive a crown of life, a crown of righteousness,
all of that. Well, that's the crown that He
gives His people. And I know people try to cover
themselves. Well, we earn that crown, but we throw that at His
feet. Well, my friend, it's all freely given. We're blessed. If you're a believer now, a sinner
saved by grace, made righteous in Christ, You're blessed with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And that's
our perfection and completeness in Christ. That's the will of
God, His revealed will, by way of revelation through His word. Come to His Son, believe in His
Son, who alone makes the difference. That's the difference that only
Christ can make. A sinner, a human being, sinful
human being, cannot make that difference. I hope you'll join
us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
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at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia 3-1-7-0-7. Contact us
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today and may the Lord be with you.