finished what we call the doctrinal
section of his letter here to the Romans. In these previous
11 chapters, Paul has concluded that all men are sinners, both
Jew and Gentile. Whatever your background or nationality,
there's no difference. All men are sinners. He's shown
us salvation by grace, through faith, without any works of our
own, through faith. He's shown us God's electing
love, His preserving, keeping grace. We saw in this last chapter
that while the Lord has cast off the Jews for their rejection
of him, could be he's not done with them. I told John this last
week, my grandmother has Alzheimer's. When she first got Alzheimer's,
she could still communicate things, but her memory was very affected. And Janet would go spend the
day with her about once a week. And Janet would tell her stories
about things that my grandmother had done in the past, things
that she'd said in the past. And she'd ask her, do you remember
that? And Grandma would say, no, I don't remember that. That
sounds like me. Well, I don't know what the Lord's
going to do with the Jews, but it sure sounds like him, that
he'd have mercy on them. That's consistent with the character
of God. And now Paul turns from the doctrinal part of his letter
to deal with the effect of salvation by grace. God's grace in a man's
heart and a woman's heart affects their attitudes, their motive,
their conduct. The believer's walk in this world
is a response to God's grace. It's in direct response to the
love of God and the mercy that God has showed us. Now, I hate
to call this, now Paul's going to start talking about practical
things. There's nothing more practical than salvation in Christ,
is there? But what people call practical
This section of God's word is no less important now than these
first eleven chapters, because you can't have one without the
other. You cannot have doctrinal truths
and truth in Christ and love for Christ and not have a changed
walk through this life. It's impossible. These two are
inseparably tied together. So we'll see what he has to say
here in chapter 12, beginning in verse one. Paul says, 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, the believers walk in this
life is based on our salvation, salvation in Christ is based
on God's grace that he showed us. That's why Paul says, therefore,
what he's getting ready to tell us about our conduct and our
walk through this life is based on the doctrinal teaching that
he's built on here. And he tells us, because you
know you've been saved by God's grace, because you understand
that all things are of God, the believer will conduct themselves
accordingly. You conduct yourself based on
the knowledge that you have. And people, you all have been
around here a long time. And you've been, through the
years, well known now for this generous, loving walk. But it's
good for us to be reminded, and it's necessary for the next generation
to be taught these things, to be taught from God's Word, and
to be taught from your example. And when Paul begins to talk
about this, he beseeches his brethren by the mercies of God. You don't have to threaten brethren.
I call my brother. If I need something, all I got
to do is ask. And he'll just do whatever's in his power. I
don't have to coerce him. He's my brother. All you got
to do is beseech them. And the best motivation for believers
are not threats anyway. It's God's mercy. God's mercy
motivates a believer. You know why? Because God's mercy
touches your heart. Now a threat, you have to use
threats for a goat. You've got to use a rod to beat
the goat. But threats even for a goat just work for a little
while. Because mercy doesn't speak to the heart of a goat.
Mercy speaks to your heart. God's mercy touches your heart
and motivates a believer. You know it's of the Lord's mercies
we're not consumed. When you think about God's mercy
to you in election, God chose you, put you in His Son, despite
everything that you are. You think about God's mercy in
regeneration, giving life to a stinking dead sinner. You think about God's mercy in
calling you, how He called you affectionately by His grace and
His gospel. You think how the Lord's mercies
preserved you. right up to this very second,
you think about God's mercy in Christ being made sin for you. Oh, that'll motivate you. That
touches your heart. How Christ suffered and died
for you in your stead, for your sins. That'll motivate a believer
because it grips your heart. There's nothing you love to hear
more and talk about more than God's mercy. And that kind of
mercy is just beyond comprehension. We just never understand that.
But it sure does make the heart rejoice. And that will motivate
a believer. That's a whole lot better than
somebody getting up here and saying, now go out there and
try harder. You just got to try harder. Win one for the giver.
God's mercy is a whole lot better motivation than that. And to
the believer, thinking about God's mercy to me makes me willing
to put my whole self into this. To put my whole self into the
service of God. That's what Paul means when he
says, present your bodies a living sacrifice. He means put your
whole self into it. Not just showing up and being
a bump on a log. But put your whole self into
this. Put all of your faculties, put your mind and your energy
into the service of God. Be energetic, for lack of a better
word. Just be aware, looking for opportunities
to serve and help God's people. Use your tongue to sing His praise.
Use your arms to embrace your brethren. Hold them up when they
need help. Use your energy to serve those that would be in
need. Have your sweet be swift to the service and worship of
God. Not like they used to be, swift to shed blood, but swift
to come to the worship of God. Use the eyes that God's given
you to look out for each other. Watch for the needs of others.
Watch for those that could be in need and then help on. Your
financial resources that God's given you, use it to help the
ministry, to help the poor. Be like Isaiah. What did Isaiah
say? Lord, hear my, send me. Whatever
it is. It may be to preach. It may be
to go care for the sick. It may be to go care for the
hurting. It may be to go offer a word of comfort to somebody
in need. Hear my, send me. Lord, whatever you'd have me
do, hear my, send me. I used to travel around a good
deal. I don't do that much anymore. I get to stay home and be here.
But I used to travel around a good deal preaching. I learned this
about believers everywhere I go. This is common. Believers love
to serve one another. They're just so happy to serve
one another. This is just one example, but
it's a good one. When we moved in this building
here, and the building needed to be cleaned and painted and
chairs needed to be moved in so we could come here to worship.
This place is crawling with people. And everybody's happy to be here,
just happy to come paint the walls and run the vacuum and
clean. You're not happy to do that stuff
at home, are you? But you had the opportunity to
do it here. Everybody came just happy to do it. Love to serve
God, to serve His people. Look over 1 Corinthians chapter
6. Look at a couple of scriptures on this. 1 Corinthians 6. Verse 20. For you are bought with the price.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which
are God's, both body and spirit. Look over at 2 Corinthians chapter
8. 2 Corinthians 8 verse 1. Moreover,
brethren, We do you to wit we want you to know the grace of
God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how that in great
trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty
abounded under the riches of their liberality. For to their
power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were
willing of themselves, praying us with much intrigue that we
should receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the
ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we
had hoped, but first gave of their own selves to the Lord,
and then unto us by the will of God." That's what I'm talking
about here. Put your whole self into it,
to the service of God. And Paul says, our text says,
this is a living sacrifice. Not just a sacrifice of a dead
animal body, but a living sacrifice. Living because God's given you
life. That's why it's a living sacrifice. And it's a sacrifice
that's holy. Because God's made you holy in
Christ and acceptable to God. That's amazing to think that
our service is imperfect and weak as it is. God says it's
acceptable because it's in Christ. And I'm so thankful to have grown
up around people around you all that are this way. But isn't
that just our reasonable service? And I'm very thankful that God's
given you this attitude, but isn't that just our reasonable
service, really? We're not our own. We're bought
with the price, bought with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He bought us soul and body. This body that we're in right
now, it'll be in different flesh, but it's going to be the body
that God's going to one day raise. And until then, this body is
a temple of God. God the Holy Spirit dwells in
His people. Isn't it just reasonable that
the temple of God be used in the service of God? That's our
reasonable sacrifice. Now, verse 2, he goes on, he
says, Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by
the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now, don't be conformed
to this world. That doesn't just mean an appearance,
an outward appearance. I heard Joe Terrell say this
a long time ago. He said, you know, Christians,
religious people, they dress in style. It's just a style from
seven years ago. Well, you don't have, that's
not what he means here. You don't have to do that. John
Gill said this. He says, fine to dress in the
fashion of the day, provided that pride is guarded against
indecencies observed. You know, some fashions aren't,
you know, very decent, but as long as those things are observed,
it's fine to dress in the fashion, you know, of the day. People
like to wear nice clothes. Every couple of years, I'll get
a new suit and I like it. I mean, nothing wrong with that. What he means here is don't be
conformed to this world in attitude, in character and in conduct,
in the nature of this world. Cecil and I were talking about
this Wednesday. You know, he talked about in business, you
know, people think that they can do anything, regardless of
morality, regardless of honesty, regardless of whether they signed
a contract or they've given their word, just do anything. And they
just rationalize it by saying, well, it's business. I've just
got to make money. It's business. Well, don't be
conformed to that kind of attitude. You ought not have to have a
contract written down and notarized and an attorney drawn up to keep
your word. Don't be conformed to that kind of attitude. Attorneys
would be out of business if people just keep their word. They honestly
would. Just don't be conformed to that kind of behavior. The
attitude of the world is selfishness, isn't it? The attitude of a believer
is to think on the things of others and the needs of others.
The attitude of the world is just to care for this body. And
you ought to take care of the body God gave you. But the believer's
primary interest is the welfare of the soul. Because this body
is going to go back to the dust. The attitude of the world is
to seek the praise of men. The attitude of the believer
is to seek the praise of God, to give Him praise and to have
His praise. The attitude of the world is
what shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear?
The attitude of the believer is to first seek the kingdom
of God and His righteousness. And these other things are the
attitude. Don't be conformed to that image or that attitude.
See, verse 1 talks about presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. Verse 2 talks about the mind,
the soul, you being set, have your affections set on Christ.
He's Lord of all, body and soul. And that attitude, you can't
just rev somebody up into having this attitude now. It comes from
being transformed. That word is changed. It's metamorphosed. Just like Christ, the transfiguration
of Christ, He was metamorphosed. Well, that's the way we ought
to be. And that new attitude can only come from the new birth,
where God gives you a new heart, a new attitude, a new mind. But
he's talking here also about the renewing of the mind daily,
daily suppressing that old man, daily renewing and strengthening
the new man. Well, how do you do that? Well,
it's through prayer. God gives you means through prayer,
through reading the Word, through fellowship with other believers.
Look over in Ephesians chapter 4. Paul talks about this in his
letter to the church of Ephesus. Ephesians 4 verse 22. Let's begin back up in verse
20. He says, But you have not so learned Christ, if so be that
you have heard him, and you have been taught by him, as the truth
is in Jesus, that you put off concerning the former conversation,
the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust,
and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that you put
on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and
true holiness." Now, God's created the new man, and we're told to
put him on. Put on those traits of the new man. Push out those
characteristics of the flesh. Just push them out. Push out
pride, and envy, and malice, and hatred. And put on the characteristics
of the new man. joy, peace, humility. We'll talk about that here in
a minute. Humility, peace, joy. In Henry's outline here, he likens
it to a tree. Those old leaves got to fall
off before the new leaves can come out. Push off those old
leaves so the new leaves will grow. And the humility is the
key to this whole thing. So many of the other graces that
we should have in our walk through this life. The key to them is
humility. Look at verse 3 back in our text.
For I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is
among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to
think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to
every man the measure of faith. Think soberly. Have a realistic
view of yourself. Don't think you're bigger and
better than you are. Now, at our house, I've talked
about our two dogs. We have two Yorkies, Brutus and
Julius. One of them's Brutus. He's the
older one. He's about seven pounds. Julius is the younger one. He's
about five pounds. But those two fellows think they're
about 50 pounds. I mean, they think they're big,
big-time stuff. And our little five-pound dog
was out on a walk one day, and he attacked a much bigger dog.
I'm not sure what kind of dog it is, but he's one of these
things that's all muscle, just mean dog. And that little thing
attacked him and nearly got himself killed. Don't think you're better
than you are. Now have a realistic view of
yourself here. Because remember, God resists
the proud and giveth grace to the humble. We'll just find ourselves
in trouble. And God's given gifts to His
people. He's blessed us. He's given you
faith. It's not presumptuous or bragging to say, I have faith. in the Lord Jesus Christ. I do.
You do too. I know you do. But let's just
have a realistic view of it. Is that faith what it ought to
be? Is it as strong as it should be or just the slightest wind
blow and we crumble? We start acting like the world.
What am I going to eat? What am I going to wear? What
am I going to drink? Well, we have faith, but is it what it
ought to be? You've got some love for Christ. You love Him. I know you do because He first
loved you, but is it as strong as it ought to be? You have to
love for your brethren. You love your brethren. I see
it. I know you. But do you love them as much
as you love yourself? No. You love God's Word. You love
to hear it read. You love to hear it taught. You
love to read it yourself. How come people read the Word
at night when they're going to bed? Because they fall asleep
when they're reading it. You've got some knowledge of Christ.
You know Him. You've got some knowledge. Well-taught
people. You've got some knowledge of the Gospel. But let's not
get too full of ourselves how much we know because we just
know in part. And one day, we're going to be
amazed at how little we know. The Lord saved you. By His grace,
He saved you and made you what you once were not. But is there
any less sin in you today than there was back then? No, sir. We just need to remember every
gift we have God gave it to us. And let's not glory in it as
though it weren't a gift. If we didn't make it, it's God
gave it to us. Philippians chapter 2. Philippians 2 verse 3. Talking
about a humble attitude. Let nothing be done through strife
or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem other
better than themselves. Look not every man on his own
things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." See, that's
the attitude that a believer is to have, the attitude of humility.
Now, verse 4 in Romans 12. For as we have many members in
one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being
many, we believers being many, are one body in Christ. And every
one member is one of another. Now, throughout Scripture, believers
are called the body of Christ. He's the head, we're the body.
And Paul uses the illustration of the human body to illustrate
the truth of the body of Christ. We have a lot of different parts
to this body. And they all have different functions.
They all do the same thing. They all do different functions.
But yet, they are still all part of the same body. And each part
of the body doesn't operate for its own good. It operates for
the good of the rest of the body. The feet have a function that
the hands do not have. The feet have the strength. They're
attached to the legs and they have the strength and the makeup. So you can walk and take you
places you need to go. Well, you can walk on your hands
if you want to. I see people that do it. But
I think, why would you want to? That doesn't look natural. It
doesn't look comfortable. And you do it long enough, all
blood's going to rush to your head. It's not good for your
body to walk on your hands. It might be a trick somebody's
impressed with, but that's not the function that they're to
serve. And you start walking on your hands, the whole body
is going to suffer for it. Let the feet do the walking.
Let them do their part and let the hands do their function.
The function that God gave them to do for. The eye sees, but
it doesn't hear. The ear hears, but it doesn't
see. What does that make the eye? Less important in the ear?
Or does that make the hands more important than the feet? Well,
no. If you don't believe me, try dealing with that one. Just
try dealing with that one and you'll see the rest of the body
will suffer for it. Now, believers are one body the
same way. Many different people in the
local church, many different local churches all across this
whole world. But they're all parts of the
same body. And they're all tied together with the love of Christ. The same way your body is tied
together with ligaments and tendons and so forth. And every member
of God's body has a function. And each member doesn't operate
for its own good. It operates together for the
good of the whole body. And no one believer can say,
I'm not important. What I do is not important. I'm
not important. I don't have any skills. So I
just won't do anything. You can't have that attitude.
Because if you do, the rest of the body will suffer. Dan said
in his prayer, when one part of the body hurts, the rest of
the body hurts. When one part's not functioning
right, the rest of it hurts. No believer's an island. If you
don't operate in a vacuum, you're part of a body. And what you
do affects the rest of the body. And whatever gift God's given
you, whatever it is, use it. And remember that the Lord gave
it to you to use for the good of His body. And there's lots
of different gifts that the Lord's given the church. And he's given
these different gifts in different degrees. Look here at verse six.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that's given to
us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion
of faith. Now, there's many different gifts,
and even when the Lord gives the same gift, one man has that
gift in a greater degree than another. Some men have a greater
gift in preaching than other men. But you don't worry about
that. You preach according to the proportion
of faith God's given you. Some people can minister to the
needs of others. They have that gift to be able
to minister to people, to help people, more than other people
do. Well, you minister according
to the gift that God's given you. Don't think, well, I'm not
very good at that and somebody else is better. Let them do it.
No, you do it. Do it according to the measure
of faith God's given you. Some people, God's blessed them
to be able to give more than others. But whatever the Lord's
enabled you to give, you give thankfully and cheerfully. Whatever
it is. And the first gift Paul mentioned
here is preaching. Now, not everybody's a preacher.
And if you are, don't get full of yourself. You're just a voice. In the end, we're just a voice.
That's all we are. And the best preacher in this
world is a humble man. He's not a know-it-all. He's
a humble man. Preaching as a dying man to dying
men and women. But God's given you this gift
of preaching. Work hard at it. This is hard
work. A fellow told John, he's telling his business, what are
you going to do? He's going to be a pastor. He said, well, that's not hard.
Well, it is if you do it right. Work hard at it. In prayer and
study. You all know that you come here.
You're not coming here just because of what you do on Sunday morning
or Wednesday evening. It's just not habit. People come
here out of this world. It's a horrible place to live.
And they come needing to hear a word from God. The preacher's
job is to find God's message. Not my message. Every time I've
gotten in trouble up here, it's because I had my message. Find
God's message. Work hard at it. People need
it. We're not playing games here.
And you preach according to the proportion of faith God's given
you. It's not man's wisdom and man's words and man's showmanship. It's the Word of God with the
personality and the proportion of faith God's given you. You
know, I grew up every week hearing Brother Henry preach. It's good
for me not to be him. Not to try to be him. personality
and his, you know, habits and so forth in the pulpit, although
I'm deeply affected by that, because that's where I learn.
But be yourself. Just have your personality according
to the proportion of faith God's given you. In verse 7, he says,
or ministry, let us wait on our ministering, for he that teaches
on teaching. Now, ministry is helping other
people, ministering to the needs of other people. Our job is to
watch out for one another and supply those needs where we can.
You know, a lot of people think of this as deacons. They're the
ones that in the church are supposed to minister to the needs of other
people. But this is the job of everyone. Every believer has
a responsibility to watch out for one another. You know someone's
in need? Well, let people know so we can
band together and help one another. You know, sometimes maybe there's
nothing we can do, but let us know. We pray for one another
because the Lord's the only one that can help them in the end
anyway. Let people know. And if this is your gift, God's
given you this gift, be diligent about it. You wouldn't believe
how far a word of comfort goes to a person who needs it. A word
of comfort goes a long way. And he says teaching. And he's
talking about teaching the Word. And primarily, this applies to
pastors and elders. You know, you can be a teacher,
like me, but not be a pastor. But a pastor's got to be a teacher
too. He's going to be a teacher and he's going to be an exhorter.
We'll see that here in a minute. But it's not about teaching the
Word. Verse by verse, the people are taught sound doctrine. And
it's the same as preaching. You must be diligent about it.
Because somebody might be listening. Somebody just might listen to
what you've got to say. But this doesn't just apply to
pastors and teachers. I'll tell you who else this applies
to. Parents. My mother told me She said, part of being a parent
is learning how to talk and pray at the same time. You look for
opportunities. You just weave it into your everyday
life to teach your children, to point them to Christ. And
you never know when it's going to happen. Some will just pop
up. They'll pop up with a question. You just never know. These questions
from kids come out of left field. And you've got to be prepared
to pray that the Lord will give you wisdom to teach them and
talk at the same time. Start talking and teach them.
One day, Brandon, you're going to be out, and he wants to go
fishing. He can't wait until John's big enough to go fishing. They're
going to go fishing. And you're going to see God's creation,
and he's going to talk about something. And why is that that
way, Dad? Well, you've got to start praying and talking at
the same time to teach him this is the creation God's made. This
is this way because God made it this way. Isn't this wonderful
what God's done? And you use those opportunities
to teach. And be diligent about it now.
It's important. And verse 8, and we'll quit.
Or he that exhorteth on exhortation. He that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence.
He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. Exhortation. That's getting a
word of encouragement, comfort to one another. Sometimes it's
a word of warning. It's part of the pastor's job.
You know, I read one somewhere one time. The teacher lays the
foundation and the exhorter builds on it. Well, that's the pastor's
job. He lays the foundation and then he builds on it. And this
is applying God's Word in our lives. That's a pastor's job.
But it's not just the pastor's job. It's everybody's job. Look over Hebrews 3 and I'll
show you that. Hebrews 3, verse 12. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from
the living God. But exhort one another. Don't
just wait for the pastor to do it. Exhort one another daily. While it's called today, lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Exhortation. And giving. Every believer is
to give money, as the Lord's enabled. The Lord's enabled some
people to give more than others. But whatever reason the Lord's
enabled you to give, give with simplicity. Without fanfare,
just with simplicity. Not for the praise of men, because
you're just giving what the Lord has given you. And give liberally
and cheerfully. It's not just a duty. It's a blessing. Look over 2
Corinthians 9. I want you to see this. It's
not a duty. It's not something we have to
do. It's a blessing. 2 Corinthians 9, verse 7. Every man, according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly, but of necessity. For God loveth a cheerful giver. That's our blessing to give.
Now he talks about ruling. He doesn't rule if you do it
with diligence. And again, that's not just pastors and elders.
Although it is, they rule in the church. But what about husbands
in the marriage? Parents in the home? Maybe in
the workplace, you've got the responsibility to be a supervisor.
Well, you better take that responsibility seriously now and do it well,
diligently, for the good of those whom the Lord's given you the
rule. And he says, showing mercy. Now that's a gift every believer
has. God's shown you mercy. You ought to be able to show
mercy to others. And showing mercy is just being kind to one
another, being forgiving, being understanding. A kind word will
go a long way. Oh, it'll go a long way. And
do it with cheerfulness. One of the old translations is
with a cheerful countenance. With a smile on your face. Don't
show mercy reluctantly. Well, God, I forgive you because
I have to. You know, do it with a scowl
on your face. Well, I'll forgive you, I guess. That's not helpful. And that's not really mercy,
is it? Did God show mercy to you that way? Grudgingly? Or
did He do it with a cheerful countenance? Scripture says He
went to the cross to endure shame and suffering and humiliation
for the joy that was set before Him. He showed mercy to you and
me joyfully. We show mercy and kindness one
to another. Let's do it with a cheerful countenance.
That's a blessing. Alright, Lord bless you.