Okay, if you wish to follow along
turn to Romans chapter 12 And I will begin in verse 1 again But I'll do something a little
different and you'll see that as we as we go on here Romans
chapter 12 in verse 1 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."
Now, we then covered and looked at that verse, verse 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, and 8, but now let's continue in verse 9. Let love be without dissimulation. And notice, this is one place
where I am going to emphasize that I think this word let here
should not be there because we don't let anything. In other
words, love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil. cleave
to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to
another with brotherly love, in honor, preferring one another,
not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord,
rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant
in prayer, distributing to the necessity of the saints, given
to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you.
Bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice,
and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward
another. Mind not high things, but condescend
to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in
the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as
life in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge
not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written,
vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord.
Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirsts, give
him drink. For in so doing, thou shalt heap
coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome of evil, but
overcome evil with good. Now, some of you, maybe some
with us live stream, others who may hear this message later may
be wondering why I read what I did as I did. The reason is,
is because in verse nine, Paul then begins describing that conduct
that is befitting to presenting our bodies a living sacrifice. Do you get what I'm saying now?
Does that help you a little? In actually verse nine, that's
where he begins to actually describe, okay, in detail, in detail, that
conduct that is befitting our presenting our bodies a living
sacrifice. So that is my subject and my
title. Present your bodies a living sacrifice. One, love. Love is to be without hypocrisy,
that's what that means. Let love be without dissimulation. And somebody says, explain that,
I can't do it. Because we are so full of hypocrisy. We're so
full of hypocrisy. I mean, we say, I love you, and
turn around and hurt the person, we just said, I love you too. But we're told, let love be without
dissimulation. What does this take? This demands
the sacrifice of self. Yes. That's what it does. Yes,
sir. And I don't mean some physical, literal sacrifice. I'm talking
about that inner sacrifice where we come to realize it's not about
me. Exactly. Let love be without
dissimulation. Number two, this includes kind
affection. That is to be well-mannered and
sweet toward one another. That's what it means. We're to
be kindly affectioned one toward another, do you see it? So this
includes, this love being without hypocrisy is to include kind
affection one to another with a spiritually family-oriented
love, that is brotherly love, not the kind of love that this
world has. They love those that love them
back. We're to love even when we don't feel loved or seem loved,
or maybe, Jack, maybe aren't loved. But it's to have this
kind affection, to be well-mannered and sweet one toward another
with a spiritual, family-oriented love that is brotherly love.
And the modus operandi there is what? As Alvar said, in honor,
preferring one another. Again, it's not about me. And for you, it's not about you. For me, it's about you. For you individually, it's about
the brethren, the brothers and the sisters. This too, my brothers
and sisters, takes the sacrifice of self. We have to lay self
on the altar and kill it. But every time we do, It resurrects
itself, doesn't it? It resurrects itself. Now here's
a passage. It's a familiar passage, I would like to say of it. Nothing,
as we often say, nothing new. Ephesians five, verse one. Be ye, you see it? Be ye therefore
followers of God as dear children. You see the family, the filial
relationship, this brotherly kindness. Be ye therefore followers
of God as dear children and walk in love as Christ also hath loved
us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God
for a sweet smelling savor. We're to love one another like
Christ loves us. That's a tall order. How am I
then to present my body a living sacrifice in that? I beseech
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. It will take
the mercies of God upon us to force us to willingly, lovingly,
joyfully conduct ourselves in these things. So again, this
love, this to be without hypocrisy includes this kind affection
one to another with this brotherly love that is preferring one another. But note the caveat in Ephesians
5. Look at it, verse three, but
fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be
once named among you as becometh saints, neither filthiness, nor
foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but
rather the giving of thanks. You see that? Now there's the
caveat Paul puts right after that, but does that not correlate
to our text? Look at it. Let love be without
dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil. Do
you see it? Abhor it, hate it. I know this
world in which we're in now, we're taught that all hate is
bad. No, some hate is good. Some hate
is good. Abhor, hate that which is evil. Cleave, do you see that? And
this is not a literal translation. It's like lay hold of it and
refuse to let go. Cleave to that which is good.
Be ye be kindly affection one toward another with brotherly
love in honor, preferring one another. Now, having said that,
let me say this. Religion talks up a living bodily
sacrifice, do they not? I was born and raised in religion,
professing Christianity. And they have much to say about
giving your body as a living sacrifice. But they almost always
do so in terms of super spiritual deeds. Right? Paul calls this our reasonable
service. This is reasonable service. You see, there's not There's
not nominal service, and then reasonable service, and then
super spiritual service. There is reasonable service. For instance, let me just give
you an instance of that. I'm not saying these, what I'm
about to mention, are wrong. I'm not saying someone ought
not do these. That's not what I'm saying. But religion talks
up this. Our church group is going down
to Guatemala for a month and we're going to help dig wells
and build houses for the poor unfortunate souls down there.
I'm not saying it's the wrong thing to do that, Jack. I'm not
saying that. But see, it's always gotta be something super extraordinary. No, it's just letting love be
without dissimulation. is abhorring that which is evil,
cleaving to that which is good, being kindly affection one to
another with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another.
Why? Because we're all in absolute
need of the mercies of God. None of us stand above the other,
though some of us may be personally more moral or better than the
other, but we're all filthy in God's sight. were all as a filthy
rag in God's sight. So again, religion talks up living
bodily sacrifice in terms of some super spiritual deed or
as disaster relief. I felt a pit in my stomach when
I watched some of the pictures, Penny and I both were watching
the news of Maui. And that fire that burned through
there, there was 93 so far. Some of them sitting in their
cars trying to escape when the fire caught up with them and
burnt them to death in their cars. I'm not saying it's wrong
if God gives you the ability to go down there and start helping
people out. But that itself, that's not giving your body a
living sacrifice if you're not letting love be without assimilation.
If you're doing it to get the accolades of somebody else, if
you're doing it trying to earn merit before God, again religion
talks up this living bodily sacrifice in terms of super spiritual deeds,
great acts outward, acts of religion. Some of these things are inward
things. Fervent. in spirit. Yes, sir. You see
that inside fervent in spirit. That is the spirit is to be fervent
because Jack these bodies are not very fervent anymore. Yeah. These bodies are getting old
and Pam. We just we just can't even do
for the Lord physically what we used to do for the Lord just
can't do it. After a while, it becomes even
impossible to, but we can still be what? Fervent in spirit. So again, again, and somebody
said, well, I don't, you harping on this. Yeah, I'm harping on
this because we're not talking about super spiritual deeds.
What's Paul, religion says it's about, for them, this living
bodily sacrifice is going above and beyond. You can't go above
and beyond for God Almighty. He went above and beyond for
us. We never go above and beyond
for Him. Our best service is reasonable
service. You see it? Now that's, some
may have, when I read through this, they said, boy, he just
kind of bounced over that, presenting your body, a living sacrifice,
wholly acceptable unto God. No, I didn't bounce over it.
I intentionally left it for we get the meat of this in verses
one through verse eight. Now we're gonna talk about actual
reasonable service. Actual reasonable service. How does Paul describe it? Paul
puts it in terms of just everyday living. You don't have to go
to Guatemala to have reasonable service. If he sends you to Guatemala,
then do it with all your heart. If he sends you to a soup kitchen
to help pass out food to people, do it with all your heart. But
it's basically just living your everyday life. Look at it. Let's read it again. I'll make
a few comments and then continue on. Not slothful in business.
Give the boss an honest day's work. Yes, sir. Don't be cutting
corners. That don't mean to be thrifty
and make a lot of money. That's not what most people talk
about, not being slothful in business. It's got to make a
lot of money. No, it's do your job. Whatever job you do, do
it as in to who? Your boss? No, the Lord. Because if you're doing it just
for your boss, you're really doing it for yourself. And this is preferring one another. Why do I want to do my job? Well,
Jack, give me my paycheck. And then I can help others. Then
we can give to the gospel. We can make it so even a small
group like us has a TV broadcast. Somebody says, nobody's listening.
Yes, they are. Are they believing? I don't know, but that's God's
business. That's God's business. Look at it. Not slothful in business. Fervent in spirit. Serving the
Lord. I don't care if we did all these
things, Joe, if we don't do it under the Lord, it's nothing.
It's nothing. Serving the Lord. Rejoicing in
hope. Do you see that? Rejoicing in
hope. Now, that is we rejoice that
we have hope. We rejoice that we have hope.
but rejoice with hope. This is not whistling in the
dark. Although sometimes I feel as though that's what I'm doing.
Just whistling in the dark. Trying to convince myself these
things are so. Well, they're so whether I believe
them or not. They're so whether I have a part of them or not,
but oh God, by your mercy, make me a part of it. Let me be a
part of that. Make me a part of your mercies. Mercies. Let's go on. Rejoicing
in hope. Here's a tough one. Patient in
pressure. Tribulation is not just I had
a bad day at work. Mm-mm, no, that's what great
pressure, God forces great pressure upon you. And that's where it
all comes from, Jack, even if he uses the devil to do it. Remember
Job? Job mentioned Job. Remember Job? As I said at Petty's dad's funeral,
the devil can't spit, God gives him say so. I had a man come
to me and say, well, I can tell a Calvinist when I hear one. Well, at least he understood
what I say, whether he believed it or not. Look at it. Patient in great pressure. Or we would often put it this
way. Being patient under, while under great pressure. Continuing
instant in prayer. And I know this probably ain't
the best way. Crown unto God at the drop of a hat. You see
it? You can do that while you're
driving down the road. You don't have to fold your hands,
bow your head. But I'm not saying there's something
wrong with folding your hands and bowing. I'm not saying that's
wrong. Instant in prayer. That means when I'm doing my
job, Jack, and I'm watching men work and fix a steam line, and
I've gotta be careful that something don't get opened up when it's
supposed to, but still, instant in prayer. Oh, God, help us in
this, huh? Oh God do for this person because
I know they need it from my viewpoint. But God your will be done. Instant
in prayer, distributing to the necessity of saints. You see that? Distributing to
the necessity of saints. And it's not about how much you
give. It's about how you give. And I'm not gonna turn to it.
Paul says we are to give for the gospel ministry. If it's
to help out a brother or sister that needs a little help along
the line, we're to do it hilariously, cheerfully. If you feel bad about
giving it, then don't give it at all. Just don't give it. Remember that widow, she cast
in two mites. I didn't check to see what that
was, but Joe, it was insignificant compared to some of the other
monies that men were putting into that box, or women were
putting into that box. And Christ said about that woman, he said,
she gave more than them all. What? Because she gave all she
had. Because it's not the money, it's
the attitude with which we do it that honors Christ. God can
do without our money. He can do without our money and
has done many times without our money because sometimes we didn't
have any. Remember the times when we had to go get a 90 day
note to pay a bill? Now, it's not been like that
for a while, and I thank God for that, but Joe, he don't need
our money. But he tells us this, here is
presenting your body a living sacrifice, distributing to the
necessity of saints, given to hospitality. That's to take people
in. That's to take people in. Take care of somebody. Help them
a little bit along the way. Bless them. It's almost like
this gets a little tougher. A little tougher, a little tougher.
Other than the fact that it starts out with, let love be without
dissimulation. I already feel like I'm taking
two steps back. That's why it takes, I beseech
you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God. He's not saying
just keep your eyes on God's mercy, though we certainly should.
But it takes his mercies for us to conduct ourselves. Bless them which persecute you.
Again, this ain't a bad day at work. This talk about people
that do you ill will, that do bad to you because of the gospel
of Christ. That's the main thing. Sometimes
people have done me ill because I deserve to be done ill too. When you fall asleep at work
and falling asleep at the work you're doing could be very, very
dangerous to you and others. Yeah, yeah. There's no persecution there
if you're reprimanded for what you did, Jack. There's no persecution
there. But when you're trying to just
tell someone the truth, tell them who they really are and
who Jesus Christ is, and they turn on you like a wild beast,
what does it say? Bless them which persecute you.
Bless and curse not. That's hard, no. Yea, that is
impossible to do apart from the mercies of God. Bless them which
persecute you. Bless and curse not. Rejoice
with them that do rejoice and weep with them that weep. I don't
want to say odd, that's not the right word, but this is that
little thing that just rubs against the flesh because the flesh generally
will say, We ought to always be rejoicing. No. No. There are some things you
cannot rejoice over. Now you may rejoice in the Lord
right in the midst of that thing, but you don't rejoice in that
thing itself. Job did not rejoice that all
of his children were slaughtered. I guarantee you he didn't rejoice
when his wife turned her back on him and said, why don't you
just curse God and die? But he could still say, because
of God's mercies the Lord gave, the Lord taketh away. But it
wasn't just stoic because he said, blessed be the name of
the Lord. He was rejoicing in his Lord,
not in the circumstance. but rejoicing for the circumstance
because he knew it was his Lord that was in charge of it all. So, we're told, rejoiceth them
that rejoice. You know, why are you weeping? All things work together for
good. Yes, they do. But that doesn't mean we always
feel good in it. I remember the account, and I'm
not gonna mention names. I don't even remember the names. I can't even remember the preacher.
Now Don Fortner told an account where somebody had died in a
family and a couple had been married for years and a younger
fellow, not a little teenager, but probably an early 20's come
up and said, I just don't understand what all the fuss is about. If
we believe God, it oughtn't to be a problem. He said, wait until
you've lived with someone for 50, 60 years and all of a sudden
they're gone. Wait until you hold that little
baby in your arms and that little baby, God takes it away. He said,
you need to grow up a little bit and that's going to take
time. So you can take faith to the extreme and make it pure
fatalistic and have no compassion toward others. So if somebody's
rejoicing, rejoice with them even if you're weeping. And if you're rejoicing and somebody
else is weeping, don't say, well, maybe you'll be like me one day.
No, no. Rejoice with them that do rejoice
and weep with them that weep. There are some things that deserve
to be rejoiced over. And there are other things that
just force you to weep. I force you to be of the same
mind, one toward another. And that's not talking about
thinking alike, that's talking about everybody have your minds
stayed upon Jesus Christ. And that, I didn't even have
this in my notes, but it just came to my soul. Colossians 3, you don't have
to turn. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things
which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of
God. Set your affection on things above, not on things of the earth,
for you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear
with him in glory. Now, dead and everything else
about you. That's what it goes on to say.
Mortify therefore your members. You see, this is our... Mary Linda, this is our reasonable
service. Reasonable service. There is no nominal service.
There is no super ordinary service. There is just reasonable service. Many facets in this service.
Many facets in this presenting your body as a living sacrifice,
but it's still one living sacrifice. One reasonable service. We don't
get to pick and choose how we conduct ourselves, when
we conduct ourselves. If in reading this you say, I
don't like that. We'll go on. Well, we've got
probably gone well in several weeks. It don't end with verse
21 where I ended. I just ended there for the sake
of time. He continues on in chapter 13 and chapter 14 and somewhat
a little bit in chapter 15 of speaking of this reasonable service
of presenting our bodies a living sacrifice. And if you look at some of this
and say, well, that's too hard. If you mean that in the sense
of, I can't do that apart from the mercy of God, I agree with
you. But if you say, I don't like
that. You remember what our Lord himself said? Come unto me all
ye that labor and heavy laden, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you and learn of me, for I am, what is it, meek and lowly?
And with it, here it is. My commandments, and that's not
the right quote. My commandments are not grievous. My yoke is easy, my burden is
light. You see, if you actually have
been shown the mercies of God, you say, oh God, help me to walk
this way. Oh God, you're so gracious to
me through Jesus Christ the Lord and his sacrifice. My prophet,
priest, and king, oh God, make me this way. And when I fail,
calls me to bow under it and ask for forgiveness and just
get up, kind of dust off yourself. Jackie, just keep on pressing
forward. Because brothers and sisters,
we will fail in these things. It's not we might, we will fail
in these things. But thank God by His grace, it
will not be utter failure. Okay, let's go on. Be of the
same mind, one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend
to men of low estate. Let me put it this way. It ain't
about us all being theologians. It's about us all being believers.
Yes, sir. Does that help you a little bit?
Does it illustrate? It ain't about us all being theologians
and all be able to say everything exactly right. It's about believing
God. Amen. Be not wise in your own
conceits. In other words, this ain't in
your own power to do. That's a big paraphrase, but
it's the same thing. Don't be wise in your own conceits. This, you have no personal ability
to do this. Recompense to no man, evil for
evil. You know what that means. I'm gonna get them back. That's
what it means, don't it? Recompense to no man evil for
evil. Provide things honest in the
sight of all men. Pam, make sure that you change
the bed when you're doing your job at the hotel. Change the
bed linens. Somebody get fired because they
didn't change the bed linens. I don't even have, this morning
when I heard, Pam's told us that I thought, I don't even have
a word to describe how I feel about that. I'd be so angry if
I went there and found out they didn't change the bed linens.
Huh? Provide things honest in the
sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as
life in you, live peaceably with all men. And I was reminded when
I read that of Henry Mahan. He said, now somebody come in
here and shot one. And that was back before the
days of when people were just walking into churches and grocery
stores. This was back several years ago.
I'm not saying none of that happened, but it's not like it is today.
He said, somebody come in here and shoot one of you blessed
brothers or sisters. I'd say, put them in the electric
chair. I remember that. If I don't remember
anything else about that message you preached, I remembered that
part. Put them in the electric chair. If it be possible, because sometimes
it is not possible. Let me just say that. Sometimes
it's not possible to live peaceably with all men. Let me say it this
way. It's never possible to live peaceably
with all men. But you can, by God's grace,
try to live peaceably with all that are within your realm. See
what I'm saying? If it be possible, as much as
life in you, as much as life in you, live peaceably with all
men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves. It ain't about, it's
not about us getting paybacks. Don't payback feel so sweet.
But usually then it begins to become very bitter. Because when
we try to do the paybacks, God will chasten us, not the person
that did it to us. You see what I'm saying? Dearly
beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath,
for his written vengeance is mine. I will repay, saith the
Lord. God will deal with this one day.
Jackie may deal with it in this life. but he made us through
long suffering let it go until the judgment. But God has promised,
this is a promise. Vengeance is mine. I will, Joe,
that's just as much a strong will as the wills you preached
on. I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger,
feed him, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink.
For in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head.
And there's two different thoughts on that. Let me just put it this
way. Don't worry about figuring out exactly what that means.
Just feed him if he's hungry and give him drink if he's thirsty.
Whatever the heaping of coals of fire upon his head, that's
God's business to do, not your business to do. It's our business. It's our reasonable service to
do what? If he's hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him
something to drink. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger,
feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink. For in so doing, thou
shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. Be not overcome of
evil, but overcome evil with good. And it's amazing here. This is not about us getting
the upper hand. It's about just doing what is
right. That's what it is. God will deal
with the outcome. Right? You see, most religionists,
most people in professing Christianity think by the phrase, be not overcome
of evil, but overcome evil with good, that we're to turn the
evil around. You can't do it. There's too
much evil still in here. that I can't control. I can't
control it. Oh, I try sometimes, but it never
works long. There's so much evil in here,
who am I to think I can control the evil out there? But God can. And God does. And God, W-I-L-L,
but he will do it in his time and in his own way. Now, remember chapter 12, verse
one, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. Because that's what it's gonna
take, the mercies of God, for us to conduct ourselves this
way. That we do what? That we present our bodies a
living sacrifice, set apart, distinct, different than the
norm, the normal way that men and women do things. Acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service. Religion, when I say
religion, I mean false Christianity. And when I say false Christianity,
I'm splantified, as Art Newenswander used to say. This religion, when
I'm talking about religion, I'm talking about a specific religion.
I'm talking about false Christianity. When I say false Christianity,
I'm talking about that Christianity, pretending quotes, that is man-centered
and exalts man's free will. That's specifically what I'm
talking about right now. Religion gives lip service to
God's mercies, but they really want to talk about themselves.
They really want all of the message to be about themselves. God loves
you, and they say that universally to everybody. No, we don't. Had you spoke to
little Esau, I'd say, little Esau, God loves you. You'd have been lying to little
Esau. Somebody says, well, who does
God love? Whoever he wants to. And whoever he does love, he's
always loved them. From eternity. And he will always
love them to eternity. Yeah, religion, they give lip
service to God's mercies, but they really want to talk about
themselves. I'm not suggesting you really do this, but if you
listen, if you do listen to all these preachers on TV and radio,
I would say, I would just guess, this is a guess, I never looked
at it and tried to, I would bet you that 98 to 99% of their preaching
is about man and what he can do for God, rather than about
Jesus Christ and what he's done for men. Right? Because for them,
really, yeah, Jesus did this for men, but it's really about
what men did for him that'll even make what Jesus did for
them of any value, and that is heresy. What did you preach,
Joe? God said, I will gather. I will,
I will, I will, I will, I will, I will. I thank God he will. I thank God he will. They talk
up man's conduct as their merits. or don't they? They actually
make their conduct to be meritorious before God rather than a gift
of God through the mercies of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
a big difference in that kind of religion, isn't it? That's
two kinds of Christianity, if you will, if you allow me to
say it that way. Yeah, they talk up men's conduct as their merits.
God's people talk up Christ's merits. We rejoice in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. And we don't even
want to have our own righteousness. That's what he goes on to say,
what Paul goes on to say. We don't even want to have our own
righteousness, but we need that righteousness which is of God,
the righteousness which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. Consider just a few phrases from
our text, I'll be brief. Just a couple of them. God willing,
later on when I'm back here, we'll move on some more. Although
we will overlap. We will overlap. Rejoice it in
hope. I've said this, but I want to
give it. Rejoice it in hope. One, that is rejoicing that we
have hope. And hope here is confident expectation. It is not wish. It's not just
a good desire. It's confident expectation based
on the promise of God. So it's rejoicing in hope, and
it is to rejoice in hope itself. There are a lot of things God
promised us that we ain't seen yet. Let me just show you a couple
things. Now, Romans 4, if you wish to
follow along. I've got to read these because
I want to move along. Romans chapter four, and let's see,
verse 18, speaking of Abraham, who against hope, believed in
hope. Sounds like a contradictory term,
but you really, who against all human hope. Abraham was too old
to even produce seed, sperm. Sarah, whom was dead from the
get-go, and she's even past the age of Mary now. And God said,
you'll have a son. That's hopeless. Right? Other
than the fact that God promised it. Do you see that? Who against
hope, believed in hope that he might become the father of many
nations according to that which was spoken. So shall thy seed
be. It didn't depend upon Abraham
or Sarah, did it? It depended upon who? God. God
and being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body
now dead when he was about 100 years old, neither yet the deadness
of Sarah's womb. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God. and being fully persuaded of
this, what? What are we fully persuaded of
as believers? That what God has promised, God is able to perform. I'm fully persuaded of that.
I don't always conduct myself in light of that, but I am fully
persuaded of that, Joe. What God has promised, he's able
to perform. And therefore, it was imputed
to him for righteousness, but it wasn't written about Abraham
just for his sake. It was written for our sake too.
Look, now it was not written for his sake alone that it was
imputed to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if
we believe. No extraordinary feelings here
about this matter. Just believe God, and God says
it's so. I've imputed to you righteousness.
Isn't that right? Isn't that it? But for us also,
to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised
up Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered on account
of our offenses. That's the four there. Who was
delivered on account of our offenses and was raised on account of
our justification. Here's another one, Colossians
chapter one. We talk about hope now, rejoicing in hope. Colossians
chapter one, just a couple verses, verse 20. And have He made peace
through the blood of His cross. Who do you figure that is? That
is none other than Jesus Christ the Lord. And have He made peace
through the blood, not offered peace, not made peace possible,
made peace, Jack. And have He made peace through
the blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto
Himself. That lets me know whoever He
shed His blood for, They are reconciled. Now if it is all
the world without exception, then all the world without exception
is reconciled. It's just that simple. And having made peace to the
blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things within himself,
by him I say, whether they be things in earth or things in
heaven, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your
mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body
of his flesh through death. This has nothing to do with what
we did. We were on the opposite side.
We were enemies in our mind and had wicked works. Not these things
Paul's talking about that are presenting your body a living
sacrifice, is it? Look, in the body of his flesh
through death, to present you, I like that word. Not just to
kind of show up one day, but to present us. To present you, look at it, holy. and unbelievable and unreprovable
in his sight. And there is a caveat, if you
continue in the faith. You see it? Grounded and settled
and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel. That's it. You ever give up on
Jesus, you're a goner. And I'm not gonna explain how
that relates to eternal sin. I'm just telling you, you ever
turn away from Jesus Christ, I don't care what you profess
to a being, you're a goner. You're a goner. There's another
one, Hebrews chapter six. Moving along. Hebrews six, and
let me find my spot, verse nine. But beloved, we are persuaded
better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though
we speak thus. Paul just warned about apostates. People have
fallen away, and it's impossible to renew them again. There was
a repentance there, Joe. It evidently wasn't a God-wrought
repentance, but there was a repentance there. But beloved, we are persuaded
better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though
we speak thus. In other words, he said, I don't
think this is true of you. But it is true of some folk.
For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of
love. Not your work, but your work
and labor of what? Love. Because any work we do
apart from love is nothing but hypocrisy and self-seeking. which
ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to
the saints and do minister. And we desire that every one
of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope.
Do you see it? Until the end, not at the end.
All these people talk about, well, I just hope I'm in Christ
at the end. If you're in Christ now, you've
got to be in Christ to the end. Whenever you're in Christ, you
never get out of Christ. They put it that way. And that's unto
the end, that you be not slothful, but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises. For when God made promise
to Abraham, because God, I'm paraphrasing it, because when
God could swear by no greater, God swore by himself, saying,
surely, blessing, I will bless thee. I bet you Abraham was glad
that God said, I will do this for you in spite of you. You
see it? Surely, surely blessing I will
bless thee and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so after he
had patiently endured, he obtained the promise that Isaac was actually
born through Sarah. Somebody said
that had been mind boggling. I'm sure it was. Sure. Every time he looked at that
little boy, I'm sure Sarah, every time she pulled that little baby
up to her breast, she thought, this is a miracle of God Almighty. And folks, that's what we are
by the mercies of God. We're a miracle. We're a miracle. For men truly swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Kind of like, you know, he's a man of his word. You know that
phrase, he's a man of his word? That's not very trustworthy nowadays. You know, a man's word is as
good as a lawyer's signature. Well, I don't know about that
nowadays. But what is the writer here saying? When God said something,
it's so. It's just so. It's just so. For men verily swear by the greater,
and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife,
wherein God, willing more abundantly, far above these human relationships
and things, wherein God willing more abundantly to show unto
the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel. Huh? The immutability of his counsel. confirmed it by an oath, that
by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to
lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay,"
you see it, hold, upon the hope set before us. And this hope,
we are told, in verse 19 and 20, is a person. So when it talks about holding
firm to the end, Joe, it means we lay hold of Christ. Yes, sir. Kind of like remember old Jacob,
I will not let you go till you bless me. That's faith, brothers
and sisters. Yeah. That's faith. But let me
say this, faith is more God holding on to us than it is us holding
on to God. Amen. Because faith was his gift,
and he gave it to us in the exact measure that he knew we would
need. Amen. Patient in tribulation. We'll
sum it up this way. Patient in tribulation. And we
know that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are called according to his purpose. And he goes on,
what can separate us from the love of God in Christ? N-O-T-H-I-N-T. Now religion, this false Christianity
I was talking about, they like that first part of Romans 8 verse
28. All things work together for
good. And they rub on it like a rabbit's foot. Now don't they? Every time trouble comes, they
remind themselves. They rub on it like a rabbit's foot. But you can't rejoice in that
part unless you rejoice in the rest of the truth that Paul preaches
there. For whom he foreknew, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son. And those he predestinated,
he called. Those he called, he justified.
Those he justified, he glorified. And he offered up Christ for
all of them and gave them all things. Religion loves to rub
that first part of verse 28, but they want to cast the rest
of it to the side, or explain it some other way. That's not
being patient in tribulation, that's flying in the face of
God. So, how would I sum this up?
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, If you
present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto
God and that's our reasonable service Heavenly Father. Oh God
help us We're so faulty so sinful so weak even powerless Lord Tell
the truth. We're powerless But we know that
we could do all things through Christ which strengthen us be
with others or just be with us and keep us to that appointed
day, or you take us out of this world, or you come back to receive
us all unto Himself, in Christ's name.