Oh, no we don't. We have the adapter, we just
need the cable. Okay, it'll last for now. Yeah, it'll last for the moment
and then we'll get it in in a moment. Alright, we're going to be in
Romans 12. Romans 12. And we'll just be looking at
verses 1-2. We'll be in Romans 12, 1-2. Now, this chapter we begin to
see the influence of grace. This is the influence of the
Lord's grace upon believers. It's the grace which Paul has
been speaking about and teaching us throughout this whole epistle,
and we see that the grace of God very sweetly transforms. It affects the Lord's people. He reveals himself so that our
appearance sin-sick souls is there's still a revelation of
the Lord there's a hope that he creates in us who hope in
him as opposed to those who have no hope in the Lord Jesus Christ
and so the grace that we speak of when when speaking of the
Lord it's it's what's revealed to us in Christ it's the mercy
of our God and revealing Himself to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, what we discover, what
we learn of the Lord is that He's the sacrifice. He's the
sacrifice by which we are accepted of our God. He's the sacrifice
in whom We come before God because God requires blood. He's holy
and it must be a perfect sacrifice and we of our flesh cannot give
that sacrifice. But Christ himself has the spotless
Lamb of God. He has made us accepted with
the Father. And so That's why we speak of Christ,
that's why Christ is called the propitiation for our sins, because
he's the one who has satisfied the holiness of God, the justice
of God, and he's the one who reconciles us to the Father. It's two parts what Christ has
done for us. He's done everything necessary.
He's put away the sin and he's our very acceptance and reconciliation
with the Father. Hebrews 10 14 says, for by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. And so Don't misunderstand. What Paul is saying is he's not
speaking to your flesh. He's encouraging us. He's speaking
of our coming to the Father through Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. And it's a daily coming. It's
a continual trusting by faith in Him. It's a continual looking
to the Lord. All right, I've titled this message,
Presented in the Living Sacrifice. presented in the living sacrifice. And so, based on the grace of
God, which Paul has been teaching us and speaking of here in this
epistle, he now says to us in verse 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. Now, you notice there he doesn't
use harsh words. There's no threatenings to you. He's speaking to you. He's beseeching
you based on the mercies of God. We know that our God has justified
us freely in grace, and so it is that he sanctifies us freely
in that same grace. 1 John 4, 10 and 11 says, herein
is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Remember, that
propitiation, that means of our forgiveness is that Christ justified
us by His own death and Christ sanctifies us by His life. He's our reconciliation with
the Father. Beloved, he says, if God so loved
us, so we ought also to love one another. All right, because
this, he's speaking here in Romans 12 of a fellowship and a union
with our God and with his people, the body of Christ. We'll see
that as we go through 12, he's speaking of our service the body
and and how we live and move together in in the Lord and so
our God isn't threatening us with punishment but he's appealing
to that which he's created in us by his son it's it's it's
his love that draws us to himself all right and so we see here
a work of grace which he's worked in the heart of his people for
example in Ephesians 4 32 He says, be ye kind one to another,
tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's
sake hath forgiven you. And so we see there that it's
based on the grace of God in Christ that he speaks to us and
deals with us and calls us to continually walk in him and look
to him. Now, this passage here in Romans
12, It's a call for us to continually live by faith. When you read
Romans 12, 1 and 2, what the Lord is saying is continue in
faith. Continue in faith. That's really
how you should hear this verse and understand it. It's a walk
of faith. It's not an appeal to your flesh. It's a walk of faith. It's speaking
to that work of grace that God has done in your hearts by the
grace and mercy of our God. Listen to it again, 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. And so, we come in faith, and
therefore it's not in our flesh, it's not of our flesh, but we
come in the faith which he's revealed in us. to truly trust
in our God, right, to truly come to Him, it's contrary to the
world, and it's contrary to how this world hears this verse or
teaches this verse, because religion takes this and says, all right,
flesh, do, get doing, you better start doing, you better do this
and do that, You've got to do things now for the Lord. You've
got to show Him that you're worthy of this salvation. That's what
the religion of this world teaches, but God doesn't call us to dead
religion. He calls us to continually live
upon Him by faith, trusting that He is our God and Savior and
done everything necessary, and that He reveals Himself in us
by His power and grace and glory. under the old dispensation right
under the old testament when when they when the jews would
bring a sacrifice that animal would be killed already and you
would lay that dead animal on the altar there to the Lord,
to burn to the Lord. But the apostle says, present
your bodies a living sacrifice, a living sacrifice, so that it's
a spiritual work, it's of the spirit, it's not of the flesh.
And Paul, he reminds us, well, when speaking to the Corinthians,
he says in 1 Corinthians 6, 20, for ye are bought with a price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's. So we've been purchased by the
Lord. We're not our own. And it's a
continual, it's a, it's a reminder that we're his, we're our bodies. Our lives are his now. And so
there's that sense of our continual coming to Him, that continual
presenting to the Lord in faith. And so our God speaks to us in
this manner because He's revealing His power in us, right? It's
not of our flesh, but He's speaking to that which He's created in
us. He's speaking to the new man
which He's formed in us by Christ Himself. And so He's nourishing
that new man, He's speaking to that new man by whom, and He's
speaking to us in the person of Christ because that's the
one in whom we live upon and hope in and serve the Lord. And so he's instructing the living
soul which he's created in us, that spiritual work he's done
in us. Now, we're not dead and we're not being just forced around
like you're carrying a dead, you know, thing to the altar.
We're moved by the Lord. The Lord is has revealed himself in us. Psalm
110 verse 3 says, thy people shall be willing in the day of
thy power, in the beauties of holiness. From the womb of the
morning thou hast the dew of thy youth. And that womb of the
morning is the resurrection of our Lord when he rose from the
grave. So that now we understand his
resurrection declares to us that God has accepted him that God
has given him all authority and power and it's that power and
that authority that that reigns over us sweetly so that we are
we are moved of him and and and and we're made willing by his
power and his glory okay now He says, therefore, Paul says,
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. And so that living,
brethren, understand it's a continual perpetual coming daily to the
Lord by faith, looking to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our
service. It's whatever we're doing, we
do it in the name of the Lord. We do it looking to Him, knowing
He's all my acceptance. He's all my hope. He's all my
joy. He's the one that the Father
receives and in Him, I'm accepted with the Father. So that's the
continual coming to the Lord. That's the daily sacrifice. That's
the living sacrifice. It's that living faith that ever
looks to Christ continually, perpetually, coming to Him in
faith, okay? So, then it says our sacrifice
is to be holy, acceptable unto God. Well, holy meaning, right,
not only set apart to the Lord, not only set apart to Him and
sanctified unto Him, but it's without blemish. It has no defect,
right? When in the Old Testament, if
you were taking a lamb to sacrifice to the Lord, it would be one
without blemish. It would be one that had no defect
that could be seen or known. And so it pictured that which
God requires, perfection. And so it had to be holy and
acceptable to the Lord. The picture that we have here
is that it's a sacrifice that is actually received by the Lord.
It's a sweet smelling sacrifice unto the Lord. Now Paul, when
he was speaking to his Philippian brethren in Philippians 4.18,
He describes their work, their service to Paul there as one
that's a sweet-smelling sacrifice. He said, I'm full, having received
of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of
a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. So the sacrifices that we're
making to the Lord, they're acceptable, well-pleasing to God. Now this
language also comes from the Old Testament, with burnt offerings,
so that the priest would offer that sacrifice by fire, and it
says in Leviticus 1.9 that it's a sweet savor unto the Lord. Okay, so that's where this language
is coming from. But our understanding of this
is that we're coming by the mercies of God, right? And so that our
sacrifice, any service, any work that we do isn't for our salvation
at all, but it's coming in the work and the power of Christ
our Savior. It's coming, trusting in Him
so that What we do here is, really, it's the fruit of our husband.
We're not producing anything of the flesh. What we're motivated
by is the love of our God. And what we're doing in service
and sacrifice to one another is his fruit. It's his work. It's being born of him and his
power in us. So with that understanding, listen
to what Paul says in Ephesians 5, verse 2. He says, walk in
love, which is another way of saying present your bodies a
living sacrifice. Walk in love as Christ also hath
loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling Savior. It's Christ, right? It's not
works done by our flesh, right, by which we're gaining some favor
with God, but what we do, we're motivated continually by God
and his love for us in Christ. It's that coming daily in Christ. It doesn't necessarily mean that
you're outperforming miracles, so to speak, these miraculous
things, but daily you're living upon Him, believing Him, trusting
Him, and those are the works, praying to Him. and begging him
for mercy and grace, not only for ourselves, but our brethren
as well. And so it's in Christ that what
we do is holy and acceptable unto the Lord. And he's the one
who makes our prayers holy and acceptable unto God. And he's
the one who makes our works holy and acceptable unto God. Now,
if you want to go there in Revelation 8, Revelation 8 verse 3 and 4,
we see this as well. So he says, Revelation
8, 3, And another angel came and stood at the altar, having
a golden censer. And there was given unto him
much incense, much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers
of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of
the saints, ascended up before God out of the angels. hand. And so there's nothing that comes
before God except it is holy and acceptable unto Him. And so we don't come anywhere
near to our God except we come in that sweet smelling savor
which is the sacrifice of Christ. It's His blood. Our prayers only
come before God being attended with that sweet smelling savor,
which is Christ himself. You see, so it's not like we're
doing something or manufacturing some kind of holiness or special
work. Anything we do is all done looking
to Christ. And it's only accepted and received
of the Father because he's the one that makes it holy and acceptable
to the Father. And so when Paul speaks of our
living sacrifice, it is Christ. He's the work. He's the one in
whom we come before the Father. He's our living sacrifice. He's
the one in whom were presented and accepted by the Father in
Christ himself. Because what are we but earthen
vessels? What are we but broken pieces?
What are we but weak and beggary things that are carrying that
which is precious and of great value and wonderful But it's
not of us. We're not the thing that makes
it glorious. It's Christ. He's the one who is glorious
and wonderful. And so, in our flesh, we see
our failings, we see our weaknesses, we see our shortcomings, we see
how we can't do anything that's pleasing to the Lord, but in
Christ, He's all our hope. He dwells in our hearts by faith,
and that's really our hope, and that's where everything is built
upon, is Him. And so therefore, in Christ,
it's your reasonable service, right? It's your reasonable service
because He's the one with the authority and the power to give
life, and He's the one who dwells with us. All right, next he says
in verse two, back in Romans 12 verse two, He says, and 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. So I just want to look at this
word world and then this word mind with you. So we know that
our God in Christ has ransomed our souls from death and that
in Christ we have our part in Him. He's our inheritance, not
the things of this world. The people of this world, the
inhabitants of this world, they look to and trust the things
of this world. This is their inheritance. This
is all that they have. And after this comes the judgment. And so their part is death. Our part is life. Their part
is in the deadness of Adam. Our part is in the living second
Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this world, when Paul's
speaking of this world, he's speaking of it in a manner that's
different from us and the world that we are looking for, that
world which is to come. He's speaking of this present
world which is lying under the wrath of God, even now as we
speak. And so it's the wicked. He's
talking about those unregenerate wicked ones. So, We can see this
in the scriptures, 1 Corinthians 2, verse 8. We'll look in 1 Corinthians
and then Ephesians 2. 1 Corinthians 2 says which none
of the princes of this world knew for had they known it they
would not have crucified the Lord of glory so this present
world is ignorant of the salvation of God this present world is
ignorant of the will of God and it's ignorant of the Word of
God and what the Lord's teaching us all right Ephesians 2 to wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world. according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience." And so this world, this present world,
is under the government of Antichrist. It's under his power and the
people are, the children of disobedience and wrath are doing his will. Now we're delivered from it so
that we're not, you know, we have to live here, but we're
not under that that darkness and that blindness. Our God has
delivered us from that, but you see the course of this world,
this present world. Now again in 2 Corinthians 2
verse 4 He says, "...in whom the God
of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine unto them." And so, we see here that
the evil one, he may have what seems like authority over this
world, this fallen world, and his influence is seen there,
but they're already defeated. They're destroyed. This world
has no lasting inheritance, if you will. It's to be burned up
and destroyed. Don't doubt Christ, our daily
sacrifice. He's the one that delivers us
from that which is coming upon this world. He's our continual
coming before the Lord. Keep believing Him. Don't doubt
Him. He's going to return, and this
world shall be dealt with and put away, and that world which
is to come shall be established, and we shall inherit it in our
Savior. The hymn says, stayed upon Jehovah,
hearts are fully blessed, finding as He promised, perfect peace
and rest. Now turn over to 1 John 2, verse
15. John says, love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is
in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life, it is not of the Father, but is of
the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. And he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever. And so, again, this world is
passing away. There's another to come. And so, John tells us this in
verse 18, there, 1 John 2, 18. Little children, it is the last
time. As you have heard that Antichrist
shall come, even now are there many Antichrists whereby we know
that it is the last time. And so, What the Apostles are
telling us is watch, continue in Christ, keep coming in Christ. He's our living sacrifice. He's
the one whom we come before the Father in faith with the blood
of Christ making us accepted to the Father. And so watch and
be not conformed to this world, Paul says, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. that ye may prove what is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God." And so our God
has turned us, he's regenerated us, he's given us a new heart,
he's circumcised this heart, he's given us his spirit whereby
we know him and worship him and so by Christ there is a renewing
of our mind. It's not the mind of this world
that's set on the things of this world, it's the mind of Christ
that's set on the things of our God and it looks to him so here's
the mind of the world Ephesians 4 17 says this I say therefore
and testify in the Lord that ye henceforth walk not as other
Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind all right we're not
to to just be satisfied with this with this world's mind and
this world's mindset and thoughts. We're to understand that this
isn't it. This isn't all that there is.
There's a world yet to come in whom Christ has made us fit for
that world and given us his mind. So here it is. This is the mind
of Christ. Ephesians 4 22 that you put off
concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt
according to the deceitful lusts and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind that you put on the new man which after Christ
is created in righteousness and true holiness. And so it's that
new man that is created in us, which is manifested in us by
the Spirit, right? We hear the Word, we desire to
hear the Word, and the Lord turns our hearts, taking our thoughts
and our energy and focus off the things of this world and
puts them on that which is to come and our hope in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Paul even said to the Corinthians,
we have the mind of Christ. We have the mind of Christ. First
Corinthians 2.16. And so it's the knowledge of
the fellowship that we have With God in Christ that he's reconciled
us giving us life giving us hope in him whereby we know Our we're
justified. We we are accepted with the father
and we're walking in that love not to gain acceptance, but because
we have acceptance in Christ. And so this is how you may prove
what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. It's an understanding, brethren,
that the Lord gives us that this world is passing away. This isn't
my hope. This isn't my all. I'm looking
for that which is to come in Christ. And so he's telling us
walk in that understanding. Be comforted in that understanding
and knowledge of God. Don't, I mean, when you look
at self and you'll see your sin and you'll get angry and upset
with yourself and your sin, keep looking to Christ. And don't
set your heart on these things. Even when things seem to be going
well, don't put your heart on these things because it all changes
in an instant. And so, wait for Christ's return. wait upon him, look upon him,
because he's coming. I'll close with Ephesians 5 verses
14 through 17. Wherefore he saith, Awake thou
that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give
thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly,
not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are
evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but
understanding what the will of the Lord is." And so, read that
again. Look at Romans 12, 1 and 2, and
then read Ephesians 5, 14 through 17 later today, and just see,
he's saying, walk in this understanding that you have of the Lord, that
He's redeemed you from this present condemnation which is upon the
world, and keep looking, believe Him, trust Him, and wait for
His coming. Trusting that he's your inheritance,
and you won't be disappointed waiting upon him and because
he's our salvation All right, brother Pray our God bless that
word to your hearts Let's pray our gracious Lord. We thank you
For your mercy and your grace and kindness toward us Lord we
thank you for the love which you have have given to us and
filled our hearts with in Christ. Lord, we pray that you would
indeed minister this word to our heart, that you would make
us willing and make us ever coming daily in the faith and hope that
we have in Christ and that we would continue in him. Lord,
we pray for our brethren that are sick and not doing well. We ask that you would heal their
bodies, that you would strengthen them, Lord, that you would deliver
them from death and bless them, Lord, to regain strength and
the ability to move and take care of themselves without fear
and without worry of this sickness that's upon them. And Lord, we
pray for those without the kingdom that we love and care for and
think of often. We pray that you would help us
just to be faithful, looking to Christ, and that, Lord, if
it please you, you would use us to speak a word in season,
help us to be kind and gentle and merciful in Christ. For it's
in his name we pray and give thanks. Amen. All right. Let's see if we have
that cord, because I like to keep the phone running because
it doesn't interrupt those that are online. So we'll just see
that. And then we'll come back at around,
I guess, 11 or 5. I don't know what time it is
right now. 11 would be good? 1105. Alright,
so 1105 for you online if the phone doesn't die because I don't
have a cord.