I'd like for you this morning
to open your Bibles to the book of Romans, chapter 12. Romans, chapter 12. And I want to just read the first
two verses of Romans 12. The Apostle Paul, writing here
by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, He 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 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. Now the title of this message
is Holiness and Christian Living. Holiness and Christian Living,
or Holiness in the Christian Life. We've been talking a lot
in the past few weeks about this concept of holiness, to be holy. I read from 1 Peter chapter 1
there. In verse 15, let me just read
you these two verses. Peter writes, again by inspiration
of the Spirit, he says, but as he which hath called you is holy. Now who called you? If you're
called of God, the calling of God, that's what the Christian
life is, it's a calling. Paul called it a high calling.
In fact, it's the highest calling that any human being can ever
be called to. It's not, you know, the highest
calling is not called to be a preacher or a minister. It's the calling
that every child of God has. That's the calling of God in
the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit. And he who calls
us is God. Salvation is of the Lord. Christ
said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And he that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. He said, I, if I be
lifted up, speaking of his death on the cross, if I be lifted
up, if I die for their sins, that's what he's talking about,
if I make an atonement, if I pay for their sins, the debt, if
I satisfy the justice of God and establish righteousness for
them, he said, I will draw all, literally all, unto me, all whom
he calls. In the Bible, the children of
God are called the called of God. And He who calls us is holy. Now we know that means that God
is perfectly sinless. That's true. That's part of His
holiness. That sets Him apart from everything
and everyone. God is perfectly holy. And only God is perfectly holy. We're not perfectly holy in ourselves
in the sense that we're now perfectly sinless in ourselves. We're not
that. I'll tell you where we fall. Paul wrote it in Romans
chapter 7. O wretched people that we are. O wretched man that
I am. But God is holy, and as he who
has called us is holy, he says, so be ye holy. in all manner
of conversation. That word conversation there
refers to our walk, our whole lives, not just our talk. Verse
16, because as it is written, be ye holy for I am holy. Well,
what does that mean? Holiness and sanctification.
All of these terms that we read and people go off and define
for themselves and try to live. Does that mean that if you're
a Christian, you will live a perfectly sinless life as you walk through
this world and your daily dealings with yourself and with people?
Well, I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand, but I'll
just say right now, how many hands would go up, if that by
definition is what a Christian is, how many hands would go up
in this congregation? I hope none. Don't put your hand
up. Embarrassed me and you both. And here's the reality of it.
I mean, you know, should we strive for sinless perfection? Well,
you know, really it goes without saying. The answer is yes. You
say, well, you know, that's a rather, that is a high calling, isn't
it? Should we strive for perfection? Well, the Bible says that it
is God's purpose, His sovereign purpose in saving sinners, that
we should be conformed, those whom He predestinated, it says
in Romans chapter 8, those whom He chose and redeemed, that His
purpose for them, all of them, is that they be conformed to
the image of Christ, that we be like Christ. We talk about
being Christ-like. Well, what was Christ like? Well,
he never had a sinful thought. He never had a sinful motive. Somebody said he never got angry.
Yeah, he did get angry, but it was righteous anger. I can't
say that about my anger, can you? I might try to say it every
now and then, but that's just me trying to justify my sin.
He never had any thought, any motive, any action that was sinful. He was sinlessly perfect. So
should we strive for sinless perfection? The answer is yes.
We're to strive to be like Christ in all ways. But the thing about
it is, our striving to be sinlessly perfect, to be like Christ, to
follow Him, will not make us so. You say, well, we'll get
closer. Well, you don't understand holiness,
if you think that, because there are no degrees of holiness. Back
over there in Psalm 119 that Brother Joe read, I had him read
this for several reasons because it fits with what we're looking
at. Listen to what the psalmist says
there in verse one of Psalm 119. Blessed are the undefiled And
you probably have in your concordance, maybe you have different words
for that. One would be perfect. The idea, and let me show you
the idea, especially in the New Testament, but also in the Old
Testament, when you talk about perfection, the idea of perfect,
what you're really talking about there in the context is being
complete, something that's complete, something that's finished. And
I've seen these bumper stickers, you know, somebody that says,
you know, be patient, God's not finished with me yet, you know.
And I don't know what the person who puts that sticker on really
means, but there is some truth in that. I mean, for example,
the Christian has to look at things in two ways in that sense.
The true Christian, now this is living the Christian life.
This involves holiness of life now. So it's right down on my
subject now. We have to understand by the
word of God, and only by the word of God, how God views us
in Christ. That's one way. And then we have
to understand and deal with, not only based on what God's
word says, but what we know to be true in our experience of
what we are in this life. That we are not yet what we shall
be in glory. Now, right now, as I stand before
you, an imperfect man, growing older, having to, you know, we
sang that song, we talked about the golden years. I'm beginning
to see they're not so golden, but they're here. And as you
look at me, I can tell you with boldness and without a shaman-ness
and without fear, without pretense, without hypocrisy, that God views
me perfect, holy, sinless in Christ. I carry up, or I used to carry it. It's not
here now. But I keep it in my Bible. I
know it's somewhere in here, but I'm not going to spend time
looking for it. But it's a little article that is so great on that
issue that when God sees me, He sees me not as I am, as you
see me, as I know myself to be, but he sees me washed in the
blood of Christ, clothed in his righteousness, justified. That's how God sees us. Now that,
and again, I emphasize, that doesn't mean God is pretending
anything. That's our, and I know people
don't like this word, but I don't know any other word to say, it's
a legal standing before God. Salvation's more than just a
legal standing before God. We've seen that. But that's what
it is. We're justified. We're made righteous in Christ.
He died for my sins and he put my sins away, and God said he'll
remember them no more in Christ. Isn't that amazing? It doesn't
mean God has forgotten anything or changed his mind. It just
means he will not hold them against me. I quote this all the time,
Romans chapter 8, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn me? It's Christ that died. So I'm
telling you the truth. And if you're truly a Christian,
you're holy in Christ. We're declared holy, made holy
in Christ. And God will not, we're dead
to sin in that sense. We'll see that in just a moment.
But look here, he says in Psalm 119, blessed are the undefiled
in the way. Now what's the way there? The
way of God. And he goes on, who walk in the
law or the word of the Lord. Now does that mean they keep
the law of God perfectly? Well if it does, he's talking
about somebody that doesn't exist. David wrote many of the Psalms. We were not really sure if he
wrote this Psalm 119. We suspect he did, but David
certainly wouldn't stand before people and say, I'm perfect in
myself. He certainly wouldn't have stood
before Nathan the prophet and said that, would he? When Nathan
the prophet confronted him about his sinfulness, and he said,
you're the man, David. But he also said this, but God
has forgiven you. You're covered under the blood
of Christ. Now did David get up and say, when Nathan said
that to him, when he said, you're the man, you're the sinner, but
God has forgiven you. God doesn't forgive without justice
satisfied. Now there's no mercy with God
without justice. God's covered your sins, not
just covered them over, but he's put them away. And he's talking
about by promise in the future coming of the Messiah. Now did
David just get up and say, well, I'll just go do it again then,
Nathan. I'll just go murder again, commit adultery again because
I'm forgiven." No, he didn't say that. I'll tell you exactly
what he said. If you want to read exactly what
David said, it's over there in 2 Samuel chapter 12, but you
can also read it in Psalm 51. The psalm of penitence, repentance,
godly sorrow over sin. For example, when we talk about
holiness now, What's the difference between the sorrow of the world
that leads to death and godly sorrow over sin? Well, the sorrow
of the world that leads to death is that which inspires a person
to do something that would not glorify God in order to relieve
that sin or to cure that sin. Try to... man's works, man's
efforts. But godly sorrow over sin leads
a person one place, and that's to Christ and Him crucified.
Nowhere else. That's what's holy about it.
You see? Well, he says in verse 2 of Psalm
109, blessed are they that keep His testimonies. What are His
testimonies? Did God ever, in His testimonies,
command sinners to try to keep the law to be saved? No. He never
did. You won't find one. You will
not find One word from Genesis to Revelation where God ever
commanded in His testimonies a sinner to keep the law in order
to be saved. I said that one time and a fellow
stopped me after the message and he said, well, what about
Matthew 19? Remember that's when Christ met the rich young man? And the rich young man, he said,
what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Christ told him, he
said, well, keep the commandments. Christ was not issuing forth
a commandment to sinners to keep the commandments in order to
be saved. What He was doing, He was using the commandments
to expose that man's sin. Why was the law given? Because
of the transgression. He says that seek Him with the
whole heart. Now that's what Paul's talking about here in
Romans chapter 12. Look at it. He's talking about
believers here. Sinners saved by the grace of
God. Look what he says in verse 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren. Who's he talking about? Brothers
and sisters in Christ. We use that term brother and
sister too loosely. We do. I do it too sometimes. But Paul didn't. He's writing
by inspiration of the Spirit. Who are his brethren? Who are
the brethren of Christ? Remember when he was preaching
in a home and his mother and his brothers, his half-brothers,
the other children of Mary and Joseph, who were his half-brothers,
came and they wanted to talk to him? And what was he doing?
He was preaching the gospel. That's the greatest calling in
that sense. And they said, your mother's
outside and she wants to see you. Well, what'd he do? He said,
well, let's drop everything mom wants to see. No. No. He said, who is my mother? Who
are my brothers? He said, them that do the will
of my father. What is the will of his father? That they believe
on the son whom the father has sent. That's right. And I know we have a hard time
here, you know, in our own minds, but you know, my brothers and
sisters eternally are my brothers and sisters in Christ. And that's
what Paul's talking about. And what does he say here? You
see, what he's given here, just in these two verses, is the summation
of holy Christian living, right here. Living the separated life. You know, people talk about the
separated life. Well, what is that? Well, you
better start, don't cut your hair, don't wear short sleeves,
and don't have a TV, and don't do that. No, that's not living
the separated life. In fact, you know what Paul,
by inspiration of the Spirit, called that in Colossians? He
said, that's worldliness. Taste not, touch not, handle
not. That's the way of the world. See, the world, they look at
holiness by what you don't do. Henry used to say that, you know,
we don't smoke, we don't chew, we don't go with girls who do.
And that was holiness. And they want to wear it on their
sleeve. That's Pharisaism. You know that? Read the Bible. That's Pharisaism. I mean, they
want to wear it on their sleeve. They want to sew Scripture into
their phylacteries. That was the hem of their garments,
you know. They want people to see that, you know, because that's
separate. That's not what Christian living
is at all. Not at all. This thing about holiness and
Christian living, living the separated life, living the sanctified
life, what's it all about, you say? Well, what it's all about,
it's living the life of grace, out of grace, looking to, living
upon, following the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're living in a
way, thinking in your obedience that you're earning blessings
and salvation from God. You're not living a separated
life. That's the way of the world. Do you understand? That's not
grace. What is it that separates a child
of God from the world? It's the grace of God in Christ.
And this is what he's saying. Look at it. He says, I beseech
you. That means I beg of you. That's the language of grace,
not law. The command here is not from Mount Sinai. The exhortation,
the beseeching here is from Mount Calvary. And what he's saying is, I'm
begging you on the basis and ground, and as motivated and
energized, how? You therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God. There's the foundation, there's
the motivation, the mercies of God. You see, whatever Paul's
talking about here, he's not talking about what you and I
can earn from God. Some might say, well, I'm saved
by grace, but I'll be rewarded by works. That's not what Paul's
saying. That's not what the Bible says,
folks. That's natural thinking. That's a cleverly disguised system
of works. Get away from it. It's deadly.
I'm telling you now. And it's not scriptural. I don't
care what any preacher tells you. Challenge on the scriptures
here now. It's by the mercies of God. What
are the mercies of God? That's the multitude of compassions
and love and grace from God. Look over at Romans chapter 5.
Look at verse 20. You see, this is what separates
a true Christian from the world. The world, in its dealings, in
its efforts to improve, in its morality, has its motivations. What are its motivations? Well,
it's in some way earning blessings, favor, whatever blessings they
say it is, it may be heaven, it may be a big bank account,
whatever, but in some way they're earning from whoever they call
God. That's legalism. That's what
that is. I mean, I had a fella tell me,
a fella who claimed to be a Christian, he said, well, he said, he said,
well, if I'm not gonna get anything from God for my obedience, why
obey? Well, look at Romans 5, look
at verse 20. He says, moreover, the law entered that the offense
might have been. Now, that's why God gave the law to sinful
man, to expose our sinfulness. But he says, but where sin abounded,
literally, the picture here is like overflowing us as in a flood,
like we're drowning in a sea of sin and we cannot get ourselves
out of that. He says, where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. Now, what is grace? How does
grace come to a sinner? Well, look at verse 21. Well,
that as sin hath reigned unto death, Remember, we're ruined
by Adam in the fall. He's the representative of the
whole human race. By one man, sin entered into the world, death
by sin. And because death passed through unto all men, for that
all sin, Romans 5, 12. So that has sin has reigned unto
death. The wages of sin is death. That's
what we can earn from God. We can't earn anything else from
God. Because if it's not perfect, it's not good enough. And anything
less than perfection is sin. The wages of sin is death. So
that as sin hath reign unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness." Now that's what grace is. That's how it comes
to sinners. Through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. You see, my efforts to obey God
and to follow Christ and to be conformed to His image are not
my righteousness. They don't make me righteous.
My righteousness is Christ. God made me righteous in Him. It's not my obedience or suffering
that saves me or keeps me or earns me reward. It's the obedience
unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ, my substitute, my surety. You see what I'm saying? That's
the difference. That's what sets a believer apart from the world.
That's what sets a true child of God even in his obedience. You say, you know, we seek to
obey God in every aspect of life through His Word, and the outward appearance would
sometimes bring no difference between a true child of God and
a lost religion. But there is a difference. And
what is that difference? It's right here. Our works, our
efforts, and obedience do not save us. They cannot save us. They're not good enough to save
us. Only Christ. We live our lives
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Grace
reigns in our minds and in our hearts and in our lives unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. I know at any moment
of my life, my best moment, my worst moment, and everything
in between, if God were to give me what I deserved at any of
those moments, it would be eternal damnation. Do you believe that? You say, well, preacher, I've
tried to be good. That ought to count for something.
That's the problem, folks. It doesn't count. That's what
imputation is all about. We talk about doctrine of imputing
and imputation. What really counts here? Well, it's only what God lays
to my account. And that's why we say, Lord,
if thou, Lord, shouldst mark, count iniquity, who among us
would stand? None of us. Well, somebody said,
just like that fellow told me, he said, well, if I don't get
anything for my obedience, now let me tell you something, and
I'll say this. You know, God does bless the obedience of his
people. But it's not because your obedience
earns it from God. It's just because that's what
he's sovereignly determined to do. That's right. When you study his word, read
his word, worship with his people, you get encouragement, you get
growth and grace and knowledge. It's not because you've earned
that. It's simply because that's the way God does things. He blesses
his people in their obedience out of his sovereign mercy. I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. Anything
I get by way of blessing, let me tell you something, it's mercy.
Now there are means that God has ordained. to give his people
blessings. But it's not earning power. You
say, well, that seems a little complicated. Well, that's why
we're learning to think, you see. Remember Peter said back
over in 1 Peter 1, wherefore gird up the loins of your mind?
We've got to learn to think right. In order to do right, we've got
to think right. Well, look here now. Somebody
says, well, if I'm not going to earn anything for my obedience,
then why obey? Well, that's the objection that
Paul anticipates there in Romans 6 and verse 1. What shall we
say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? And
he said, God forbid. Now look back over in verse 12.
He said, I beseech you, I beg you, therefore. Therefore what? Based upon the grace of God in
salvation by the mercies of God, the mercies of our covenant God.
The sure mercies of David, which are in Christ. The undeserved,
unearned compassion and love of God. Living a life of faith
in Christ, knowing that at every second that we take a breath,
our need is mercy. Right now, If your mind is on
the Word, worshiping God right now, you're just as much in need
of mercy as if you were thinking about last night's ball game. Talk about people in need of
mercy. That's the truth that you think
about. At my best and at my worst, I'm always in need of God's mercy.
There's never a time in my life I might be walking on cloud nine.
Put it to you this way, I know I heard a preacher say this one
time, some people were shocked by it, but here's David, King
David, and he's committing adultery with Bathsheba. Is he in need
of mercy? Well, you don't have any problem
saying yes to that one, do you? Well, here's David penning the
23rd Psalm. Is he less in need of mercy at
that moment? No. He's just as much in need
of mercy at that moment. And that's what the 23rd Psalm's
all about, isn't it? That's why he wrote it. Lord
is my shepherd, I shall not lack, shall not want. Why? Because
I've earned it? No, because he's my shepherd.
And what does the shepherd do? The good shepherd gives his life
for the sheep. Why does he give his life for
the sheep? Because they're sinners. And without the shedding of blood,
there's no forgiveness. The wages of sin is death. They
have no righteousness of their own, so the shepherd went to
the cross and worked it out for them. That's right. Now look what he says here. He
says that you, chapter 12, verse 1, that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice. What is he talking about? It's
simply what he's saying, your bodies. What is that? Your head,
your ears, your eyes, your nose, your hands, your feet? This body that we employ in the
various endeavors of life, whether we go to work and use these hands
or these minds, or whether we use them to open a Bible and
read the scripture, whatever. In other words, these bodies
were to endeavor to put them into the service of the Lord.
He says, make it a living sacrifice. Did you notice that? A living
sacrifice? That seems to be like a contradiction, doesn't it?
Because when you think of something being sacrificed, you think of
it dying. So how are you going to be a
living sacrifice? Well, you know, the Christian life, the scripture
says, is a continual process of dying to self and living under
the Lord. But this also shows us that this
sacrifice that we're to give is not an atonement for sin.
In other words, this living sacrifice here does not put away my sin.
Because the only thing that can put away my sin is the death
of a substitute, a dead sacrifice. You see what I'm saying? And
the only one sacrifice that can put away my sin is the sacrifice
of Christ on the cross. He died that I may live. He died
that my sins would be washed away. He died that I might be
made righteous. Now, what am I to do? I'm to
offer everything that I am, every faculty of my being, not just
the physical part, but the inner part, the inner man, the scripture
calls it. The spirit. My mind, my affections,
my will. I'm to put them upon the altar
and offer them to God as living sacrifices. They're to be in
the service of God. And what he's talking about here
is not legal service. It's the service of a willing,
loving, bond slave of Christ. That's what he's talking about.
He's not talking about service here that is intended to pay
a debt. He's talking about service that's based upon a debt already
paid. That's the whole issue behind a bond slave. Remember
that in Exodus 25? Here a person got in debt to
another person, and they couldn't pay the debt, so they indentured
themselves into the service of that person for seven years.
They became their servants, their slaves for seven years to pay
that debt. And when that seven years was
up, the debt was paid, And that servant could either go out free
and live his own life or he could stay with the master because
he enjoyed serving the master. The master loved him. The master
provided for him. And he became a bond slave. And
you remember what they'd do? They would take an awl and take
a piece of wood and they'd bore a hole in that person's ear.
And that's how you told the difference between A person who was serving
in slavery to pay a debt as opposed to one who was serving because
of love and grace and gratitude. That's a willing, loving bond
slave. Do you know that's in the same way, in essence, spiritually
speaking, you can tell the difference between a child of God and a
child of the devil. Because what happens, see, we can't pay our
debt to God's law and justice, but somebody else came along
and paid it for us. His name was the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus paid it all. The original word there says,
all to him I owe, and it's true. We sometimes say it this way,
Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe. Well, he did, he paid
it all. And God sent His Spirit in the
power of the Word, and He bored our ear, so to speak, spiritually
speaking, so that we, not literally now, you can wear an earring, that
doesn't make you a Christian. But He bores our spirit, He gives
us ears to hear. And He bores that Word of grace
into our ear and our minds and our hearts. And we want people
to know I'm serving God not to pay a debt. My debt's been paid. I owe no legal debt to God. My
debt to God is a debt of love, which will never be paid. We'll
spend eternity in love. Do you see the difference there? This sacrifice of service and
dedication and love and gratitude, it means living spiritual life
because it's already given. Turn to Galatians chapter 2.
Let me show you what Paul said about this here in Galatians
2 and verse 20. Listen to what he says here.
Galatians 2 and verse 20. And you know, the book of Galatians,
Paul was writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit in opposition
to those who were trying to inspire obedience in a legal way, by
works. Salvation, holiness, by works. That's why he said down there
in verse 3 of chapter 3, he said, Are you so foolish, having begun
in the Spirit? Are you now made perfect by the
flesh? What is it to begin in the Spirit? It's to look to Christ
and rest in Him for all holiness and righteousness. Now, do you
think you're made perfect, complete, finished, even holy or righteous
by what you're doing? That's a contradiction, Paul
says. But look at verse 20 of chapter 2. He says, I am crucified
with Christ. You know what that means? That
means my debt's paid. Sin can no longer condemn me. It condemned
Christ in my stead. He bore our sins in his own body
on the tree. He was made sin. Christ who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
I don't have to work for righteousness. Christ is my righteousness. You
see what I'm saying? I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Paul said, I died with Christ,
but I'm alive. I have spiritual life, yet not
I. What he's saying there, he's
not contradicting himself here at all. He's just simply saying,
this spiritual life that I have, it's not of me or from me. I'm
not the origin of it. He said, but Christ liveth in
me. Now Christ lives within every
one of his children. How does he do that? Two ways. By his spirit, and read the Bible,
by his spirit and by his word. That's how. And he said, in the
life which I now live in the flesh, that is in this physical
body, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me. That's holiness and Christian
living. It's what he's talking about
over here in Romans chapter 12. Listen again, he says, "...I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
unto God." Holy, sanctified, set apart. Set apart for the
glory of God. Set apart by the grace of God.
set apart because we're now motivated not by legalism, not by... we're not mercenaries. You know,
a person who is serving in order to earn his pay or his reward,
that's what we call a mercenary. Back in the Revolutionary War,
there were some mercenaries, weren't there, Ron? They had
no interest in freedom and in the nation, establishing a nation
or religious freedom. They just, where's my paycheck?
That's a mercenary. So if you're serving God in order
to get a paycheck in heaven, what are you? You're a mercenary.
Well, see, that's what he's saying here. This holy and acceptable
unto God is against mercenaries. It's not legal threats of hell
and mercenary promises of earned reward. It's simply this, it
is set apart because it's motivated by grace and gratitude and love. That word acceptable there means
pleasing unto God. We're accepted in Christ, Ephesians
chapter 1 says. But we're to live our lives with
a desire to please God and not to please ourselves or men. For
any sinner to engage himself in obedience seeking to establish
a righteousness of his own, I can tell you right now, that does
not please God. That dishonors God. That denies Christ. It's not holy. It's not acceptable. It's evil. That's what it is. And then he says, which is your
reasonable service. Now let me say this and I'll
close on this and I'll pick up there next week, but listen to
this. Your reasonable service. You know that word reasonable?
We get our English word logic from it. It's logical. People don't like that because
we think of logic as being unemotional and hard and cold, like Mr. Spock. He was logical, so he
didn't have any emotions. But that's not what he's talking
about at all. What he's simply saying is this, you know, somebody
said, just like the fellow that asked me this question, he said,
well, if I don't get anything from my obedience, then why obey?
Well, how about this concept? Here's a concept that's totally
foreign to the natural man. How about this one? Because it's
right. What? Yeah, just because it's
the right thing to do. That's what he's talking about.
Think about it. I often use the illustration,
especially to our children, to teach the gospel doctrines of
imputation. Our sins charged to Christ, His
righteousness charged to us. And people say, well, that's
not real. Yes, it is real. And I often
use this illustration, and I'm sure you've heard me use it,
but it's appropriate here, about somebody who does owe a debt
to a local bank, let's say. Like, say you owe a million dollars
to a bank, and you don't have one red cent. to pay that debt,
and no way of paying it, no means of paying it. You're just broke. But you owe a million dollars,
a debt that you've run up. And you decide, well, I'm going
to go down and throw myself at the mercy of the bank. Of course,
you know how much good that would do. It wouldn't do much, would
it? So you go down there, and you
talk to the president of the bank, and you say, I know I owe
this money, but I cannot pay you. And the banker says, well, let
me get my books out. And he gets his books out, and he finds your
name there, and he says, now, what is your name again? You
tell him your name. And he looks at that book, and he says, well,
you don't owe a million dollars. He said, these books are wiped
clean in your case. You say, well, what happened?
He said, well, it says here somebody else came in and paid that debt
for you. Every bit of it. And you say, well, who did that?
And the banker looks down and he says, well, wait a minute,
I've got more. He said, he called your name
and he said, put his debt on my account. And he paid it in
full. Mark paid in full. Wouldn't you
love to hear something like that? And then he says, wait a minute,
it says here on your account that there's a million dollars
to the good. That same fella who paid your debt of a million,
he gave you a million and put it on your account, charged it
to you. Now what's the first thing you're
going to want to know? Who did that? Now let's say you find out who
did it and you walk away and you never meet the fella, never
thank the fella, never show any appreciation or anything. Wouldn't
you say that's unreasonable? Not only unreasonable, it's actually
wicked, isn't it? First thing you're gonna know,
who is he? So you can go to him, you can thank him. Is there anything
I can do for you? Cut your grass, wash your car,
anything, I'll do anything. What can I do for you? There's
nothing you can ask. Listen, see what I'm saying?
And that's the way it is with this reasonable service. Christ,
if you're a believer now, he paid your debt in full. And not
only that, He gave you a million dollars to the good. More than
a million, He gave you righteousness. Now, is it unreasonable for me to do anything else but to serve
Him wholly? To love Him? Is it anything? Wouldn't it be the most illogical
and unreasonable thing in the world for a person who had received
so much to give back nothing in gratitude? You see what I'm
saying? That's what Paul's saying here. I did find that paper.
It was on the bottom of my notes, but I don't have time to read
it. I pulled it out when I pulled my notes out. I'll read it next
week sometime, or part of it anyway. Okay.