If you will, turn back in your
Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12. You can follow
me also in your pastor's commentary as we begin to embark upon a
marvelous transition on the part of the apostle in this magnus corpus we call
the book of Romans. which for the church has been
a massive, bright, and shining light on the truth of the gospel
from the days of the apostles to our present hour. I guess
we could, if we wanted to, could preserve the whole of the gospel
of Jesus Christ through the book of Romans alone. Romans could
keep God's people on track all by itself. The book of Romans
This massive, massive work of redemptive reality in Jesus Christ
serves to help two blessed people groups to get along. Can you
imagine that? Church folk have to be encouraged
to get along. We have to be encouraged to get
along. We who are worms by nature and objects of God's grace and
made to be partakers of inexpressible glories have to be taught how
to get along. Aren't we a mess? Save folk are
a mess too, aren't they? And Romans is designed to do
that. And as we move into the 12th
chapter, those of you who study enough about your Bibles, you
know that chapter and verses are designed as structure forms
by those who have helped put the Bible together in terms of
its bonding form. But in the original language,
there are no chapters, there are no verses. And therefore,
what you are dealing with is a letter. a letter from one person
to a bunch of other people and that letter flows continuously
from one subject to another. So sometimes the chapter divisions
actually, as it were, obscure the flow of thought. that a man
may have relative to his encouragement to someone else. So remember
sometimes when you're reading your Bible not to be so strict
in your observation of it because you have verse 1, verse 2, verse
3 or 4. And especially when you come
to an opening verse like Romans 12, 1 which says, I beseech you
therefore Our little conjunction therefore is a bridge between
what's getting ready to come and what came before Which means
we are really not starting a brand new subject We are expanding
on the subject which means as you and I contemplate chapter
12 of the book of romans There is no real break here And there's
no break at all from the rich and soul-encompassing glory of
god expressed in the final four verses of chapter 11. Do you remember it? Verse 33,
all the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge
of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past
finding out for who have known the mind of the Lord or who has
been his counselor or who has first given to him and it shall
be recompensed unto him again for of him and through him and
to him are all things to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. And therefore I beseech
you. In other words, the opening verses
of Romans 12 are proceeding from a revelation of God's glory that
the Apostle felt and hope that the Romans felt, and I trust
that when you read your Bible for all its worth, you feel too. Chapter 12 is an impact statement,
a response to a revelation of God's glory. Like the cloud that
descended upon the disciples in Matthew 17 and in Luke chapter
9, when those three boys were privileged to go up into the
mount with Jesus, James john and peter And the father spoke
from heaven remember and that cloud descended on them while
christ was speaking with moses and elijah And it so overwhelmed
the apostles those three men that they fell trembling in fear
of having been brought near to god That's the same tenor of
romans 11 33 through 36 For paul, he's worshiping And out of his
worship, he is now exhorting the people of God to what I believe
is a critical, critical observation for all of us, which will drive
us towards a thought today in our chapter as we build a framework.
So today is just an introduction into Romans chapter 12. And our
title today is yielding to the glory of God and the God of glory,
yielding to the God of glory. And for me, this is what encompasses
the totality of chapter 12. Chapter 12 is a very pragmatic
chapter for those of you who know it. But in reality, chapter
12 is a response on the part of an individual and collectively
all who are true believers to the glory of God. Let me say
that again as we begin to work this through. When you and I
work through Romans chapter 12, remember, remember this. that
Romans 12 is anticipating the believers' response to the glory
of God revealed to them. Has God revealed His glory to
you? Has He impacted your heart with
the reality of Jesus Christ? Has the Spirit of God so illuminated
your heart and your mind that your life has been changed forever? Can a person really come into
the presence of God? in a saving way and not be changed? Can you come into the presence
of the ineffable bliss and not bow down in absolute prostration
and worship of his glorious being? Can you do that? I would dare
say you cannot come into God's presence in any real saving way
and not be brought to humility and honor and glory and majesty
and awe and thanksgiving and hope and aspiration and drive
and resolve that when once this glorious experience has allowed
you to live another day You will strive with everything in you
to live better today than you did yesterday because of the
impact of the glory of God. Because of the impact of the
glory of God. Because of the impact of the
glory of God. So here is my basic presupposition that Romans 12
are people who have met God for real. For real. So, you know, the rest of us
who may have not met God, I hope you can handle the ride because
we got three studies to work through Romans 12. And I want
to do justice to this text for anybody who really, really, really
wants to understand and know what's taking place in our text. And so to do that, I want to
deal with what I call the framework of Romans chapter 12. I want
to give you guys a very clear framework of these 21 verses
in Romans chapter 12. So in our first point, we are
going to deal with seven things that describe this, what I am
going to call, and I want you to capture this thought. Are
you with me? The new man bodily, the new man bodily, That's that's
what I want you to capture seven things that describes this new
man bodily pastor who you're talking about Who are you talking
about? I'm talking about the whole of Romans chapter 12 and
I want you to I want you to comprehend Romans chapter 12 as Paul talking
to a new man and That new man is what not one individual he's
the whole body of Christ and that this new man is viewed in
Romans chapter 12 as manifesting the glory of God as a response
to that glory being revealed to him y'all with me so far so
now like if first Corinthians chapter 12 Reveals to us the
anatomical nature of the body of Christ and it does 1st Corinthians
12 tells us the Spirit of God has baptized all true believers
into the body of Christ so that we are members one of another
and he has given unto that body several gifts by which it should
glorify God that's the anatomical metaphor of 1st Corinthians 12
y'all know that text so we have in 1st Corinthians 12 the the
baptizing of the body and Ephesians chapter 4 we are also told that
that body grows up it is edified from within itself by the gifts
of Christ those fourfold gifts that are given in verse 11 that
are used for teaching for service and for ministry to grow the
body up So we have the anatomical body in 1 Corinthians 12. We
have the body growing up, maturing, developing in Ephesians 4. And
in Romans chapter 12, we have the body functioning and practicing
the gospel. Functioning and practicing the
gospel as a body. Collectively. Totally. But in
order for you and I to be persuaded that what I am saying is true,
I want to categorize seven clear, delineated factors in Romans
chapter 12 that underscore this new man. If any man be in Christ,
he's what? A new creature. If we are all
believers in Christ, we are all collectively a new man, are we
not? And so we ought to manifest what it means to be new creatures
in Christ, both individually and collectively, correct? That's
what Romans 12 is talking about, and this is what I want you to
recognize now. In your outline, there should
have been seven things that underscore it. The first is that we recognize
in verse 1 of Romans chapter 12 what I call radical what? Worship. Radical worship. Like many other words in the
English language, radical has been stretched so far out of
its context and employed just kind of as a quip saying by most
people, man, that's radical, dude. What does radical mean? Radical means affecting a change
at the core and nature of the thing that it's targeting. For
a thing to be radicalized, It means that it has been affected
at the nature. The nature has been affected
by an entity, a thing, and has changed that nature so that the
change of that nature is manifested. Have you ever met somebody who
was passive and docile and withdrawn and introverted? And something
radicalized them. We use that term for the Muslims,
right? Something radicalized them. What
happened? They were impacted by something and so changed them
that they became another person. We didn't see a new man, that's
only in Christ, but they became another man. I'm here to tell
you that when you and I actually experience the impact of grace
in our life, we must be radicalized. And what Paul will teach us as
we will deal with verses 1 and 2 today is that our worship must
be what? Radical. The second one is that
when you look at verse 2, we recognize what I call a resulting
transformation. Verse 1 is radical worship. Verse
2 is a resulting what? Transformation. Saints, do you
believe it? That if you worship God right,
you'll be transformed. This is exactly what happened
on the Mount with Christ. He was teaching his disciples
by the privilege, the glorious privilege of his worship of his
Father. that the worship of the Father
changes the life. The disciples saw Christ like
any other man saw Christ so many times. But on this day, at this
time, when they had an exclusive audience before God, God and
Christ worshipped. And the Father manifested His
glory in Christ. And the man transformed. That's our same word in Romans
2, before their eyes. He transformed before the eyes. He didn't do it while he was
laying on of hands. He didn't do it while he was
healing people. He didn't do it while he was
preaching. He did it while he was worshiping God. And the apostles
saw it. And they saw it for a purpose.
So radical worship results in what? Transformation. That's
verse two. Verse 3 tells us that that transformation that is rooted
in radical worship is also rooted in the gift of the measure of
what? Faith. So I want you to get this
now. Paul is laying out for us the constituent parts that makes
for real Christianity. Radical worship transformational
in its nature but it's rooted in faith which is a gift given
to everyone a gift given to everyone the gift of faith as a measure
given to everyone forming and functioning itself as a what
forming and functioning itself as a what right so you've got
radical worship resulting in transformation rooted in the
gift of the measure of faith that's verse 3 forming and function
itself as a what a Look at verse 5 and 6 again. So we, being many,
are what? One body, where? In Christ, and
everyone members one of another. That's why I stopped it right
there. Because you'll notice that verse 1, where we are called
to this radical worship, is not really talking about one person,
but all the people of God. And when the smoke clears, the
whole body are viewed as members one of another. Do you see that? and the constituent parts in
between that lead to that manifestation must not be neglected. And so
we see radical worship. We see resulting in transformation.
We see rooted in the gift of the measure of faith. And I put
in there this little parenthesis. I meant to take that out and
keep that for myself, but you can have it. Radical worship
rooted in transformation built upon the measure of the gift
of faith, which also precludes, as we will learn today, a Word-centered
relationship with God. A Word-centered relationship. How are you going to have faith
without the Word? Is that right? So it precludes a Word-centered
relationship. And if you and I are committed
to the Word, we're going to learn how to avoid what? Avoid what? hypocrisy right we're gonna learn
how to avoid hypocrisy and false gifts that often people allege
to have in the name of walking close with God but as the proverb
says whosoever boasts himself in a false gift is like clouds
without rain they pass over and they leave nothing and I'm I'm sad to say That's
often the predicament and condition of many churches. And the reason
why is because it's not word center. The word centeredness
is what gives us our stock, our weight. It gives us the seed
that goes into the cloud of glory to pour down rain on the souls
of those who are hungry and in need. You and I got to have the
word. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And so Paul is making clear to us that at the foundation of
this new man is real radical transforming worship rooted in
the Word of God, rooted in the Word of God, operating out of
principles of faith. We'll deal with that next week.
And we are taught how to employ our what? Spiritual gifts. That's
what's being stated in verses six through eight. And you can
read that in your own time. We're going to unpack that over three days.
So this worship leads to a unified and collective service on the
body of Christ that is taught by the word of God, how to utilize
it's what kind of gifts? Spiritual gifts. Don't run from
that word. Don't distort its meaning, but
don't run from that word. Every gift that God gives us
for the purpose of the church is spiritual in nature. Do you
guys understand that? Every gift he gives us for the
purpose of the church and for the glory of his name is spiritual
in nature. Even the ability of an individual
to, by the grace of God and spirit of God, say hello to a visitor
that walks through the door. We'll talk more about that as
we go. Do you know that it takes the Holy Ghost to say hi for
the Lord Jesus? And then verses nine through
19, a long span, deals with serving with a right and spiritual what?
That's verses nine through 19. That's the bulk of the rest of
the chapter. Serving with a right and spiritual attitude. Now you
know, now you know, now y'all know, you know, that's a lot
of work right there, right? That's a lot of work. Cause you
can serve and your attitude is funky. So the last point is, verses
20 through 21 are what? Enduring the suffering for his
glory. Saints, do you know what I just
described for you? Christ in you, the hope of glory. Do you
know what I just described? I described Jesus Christ bodily. I just described what a real
church that's truly born again looks like as an extension of
the person of Jesus Christ. I've just described for you the
incarnation. I've just described for you what
should be the normative state of those who are serious about
serving God. Have I not? And so it's important
for you to grasp the larger adumbration of what I'm talking about. I
want you to get the vision because now that we're going to deal
with the particulars, it's going to get a little bit more challenging.
But what the body of Christ is, unique and exclusive to any other
body in the world, is a manifestation of the glory of Jesus Christ
bodily. A manifestation of Christ bodily. As the Father has sent me, so
send I you. Got it? This is how important
the subject is before us today as it was for the apostle Paul.
Do you can see how that what Paul did after he worshiped God
for being so gracious to him and them is now he's leading
them into walking in unity. Can you see that? Now I've shared
with you, he said, the mysteries of the gospel. Now I need you
to walk in unity. You are blessed beyond measure.
I need you to walk in unity. Is that what he's saying? All
right, let's go back to our first verse now and work this through.
Let's go through our first verse now and deal with this under
the first main topic. I will praise him in the midst
of the assembly. Is that okay? Is that an okay
way to open up verse one? I will praise him in the midst
of the assembly. You guys got that? Now, what
I am doing is responding to Paul's exhortation to me. Paul says
to Jesse, I beseech you, therefore, by the mercies of God, that you
present your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service. And I respond to the
Holy Spirit by saying, I will praise him in the midst of the
assemblies of God. What are you talking about? Largely,
verse 1 is talking about our worship of God. It's talking
about our worship of God. It's talking about the privilege
of the people of God as a priesthood. Verse 1 of chapter 12 is not
talking about what we do out there. It's talking about what
we do in the presence of God. Verse 1 is about the highest
priority you have, and that is standing before God, honoring
God as an object of God's mercy Look at verse 1. Let's work this
through. Look at verse 1. Verse 1 says, I beseech you. Do you see it? I beseech you. What does he beseech you by?
What does he mean by beseech? Let's translate that into English.
The word means to be brought near so I can tell you something
very important. Alright, so it's almost the word
to beg, but it doesn't carry that kind of passive connotation.
It's actually the word that says you better come here. Listen
to what I got to say, because what I got to say is very, very
important to you. I am urging you on the grounds
of the mercies of God. Do you see? I am beseeching you,
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. Do you see it? the mercies
of God are those mercies that Paul just talked about in chapter
11 verse 30 for as you in time past have not believed God yet
now you have obtained what mercy through their unbelief verse
31 even so as these have also not believed that they through
your what Through your what? Stop. You see what God is defining
as the totality of our life as believers? The mercy of God. The mercy of God. And do you
understand that what he's saying through this term, the mercy
of God, is that you are to respond to people the way God responded
to you. Did you get that? That what Paul
wants to make sure that you put as a big old tag on your forehead
so everybody can see. Revelation chapter 7 and 14 it
talks about those who were sealed With the name of the father on
their forehead so that the whole world could know that you were
his slave And you wouldn't hide in his tattoo on your back or
on your butt because you were ashamed of him Daddy put your
name on my forehead So even when I forget they won't forget because
they're gonna see it, right? But the forehead is a representation
of the mind The mind, the mind is sold out to the God that redeemed
them. The mind is committed to the
glory of God. So with the mind, I serve the
law of God. You have the mind of Christ. Father, put mercy on my forehead. So when people ask me, who are
you? I'm an object of mercy. I'm an object of mercy. I'm an
object of mercy. I'm an object of mercy. But erase
the Y and put the word I-E-S on it. Because I'm an object
of the mercies of God. Plural. The mercies of God. Plural. The multiplied mercies
of God. Every day His mercies are fresh
and new for me. Every day. Not just 37 years
ago when He saved me. Today! His mercies are multiplied
today. I'm an object of His multiplied
mercies, and so are you. And so are you. Now some of y'all
will get it, some of you won't. And to the degree that you don't,
you won't realize Romans chapter 12 at all. But if you know that
you are the product of a sustaining, keeping, transforming, preserving
mercy of God with eternity as your ultimate destiny, You will
thank God every day and every time you remember that you, you,
you, you are the object of God's grace, will thank Him for His
mercy. You'll thank Him for His mercy.
And then you will learn, as the Master said in Matthew 6, to
be merciful. To be merciful, because you have
received mercy. So Paul is saying, I'm beseeching
you on this fact. Are you ready? God didn't have
to save you. He didn't have to save you. He
could have let you go. He could have let you go. He could have let you go. Is
that right? And if it wasn't for His immutable,
unchangeable covenant mercies, He could let you go now. And
as soon as He let you go, you'd be running for the hills, headed
to hell, loving your sin, perishing under the wrath of God, forsaking
God's grace. You're only kept by the mercy
of God. Kept by the mercies of God. Did you get that? Kept by the
mercies. We're talking plural mercies.
Plural mercies. This is the way Paul put it in
2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 3, where he talked about God
being the father of mercies. Is he? He's the father of mercies. And those of you who get it with
me right now, you know that it's only the mercy God and you're
being brought near to God according to his mercies and these mercies
are found in who Christ Christ is the object of God's mercy
and favor and compassion on us Is he not is he not the propitiation
for our sins? Is he not our sacrifice? Is he
not our go-between? Is he not the grounds by which
the father brings us to himself? This is what Paul is saying.
Listen, I beseech you by the mercies of God And here's what
he wants us to do. Present our bodies. Do you see it? Present your bodies. Stop. So what he's asking us
to do can be described quickly by the three sub points. He's
asking us to demonstrate an outward expression of what? Demonstrate
an outward expression of gratitude. Saints, when you worship God
and your attitude's funky, and you let everybody smell your
funky attitude, you owe God. You owe Him. No one needs to
see you in your stink on Sunday or any other day, for that matter,
when God has sustained you perpetually by His mercies. Even when your
issues are really overwhelming, just let people know I am the
object of my father's mercies. And right now I'm in trouble.
So what you see are my troubles. But please look at my mercies
because I'm called to look at my mercies when I'm in trouble. All right. So we're not talking
about being superficial, but don't ever cause people to think
that you did God a favor when he saved you. Don't do it to
the lost and don't do it to the same. don't teach the saints
how to stumble when you come in saying now we better off i'm
here now i'm here now so now we way better off because i'm
here are you guys hearing what i'm saying see so what paul is
teaching is if we really get romans 11 33 through 12 1 We
will constantly operate out of an outward expression of gratitude.
Psalm 111 verse 1. Pull it up. Now watch what David
says. I want you to get this. This is why my response to the
exhortation is, I will praise you. I will praise you. I will
praise you. Psalm 111 verse 1. I will praise
you in the midst of the assembly. If there's going to be any place
that I praise you, it's in the midst of the assembly. If there's
going to be any place where I laud God, boast in God, magnify God,
worship God freely, it's gonna be in the midst of his saints.
Does it make sense? Does it make sense that I can
worship God with the freedom that David did if I'm around
a bunch of people who are nothing but objects of his mercy? Can
I be free among mercy saints? Among the mercy saints, can I
worship God? Can we celebrate with a child
of God who's rejoicing in the God of his salvation? Because
we're all objects of mercy? Or must those of us who celebrate
look weird to you? Bizarre to you? Just crazy to
you? Or don't you get it? That this
is the day that the Lord has made. And we will rejoice and
be glad in it. Yesterday is gone. And folks
who are stuck on yesterday fail to understand forgiveness. let you ride with that fail to
understand forgiveness because you see every new day means God
is forgiving yesterday he didn't forgave yesterday I don't care
what you did yesterday when you woke up this morning God says
I forgave that Now, you want to roll with me today? I got
24 hours of today we can roll with, but you got to leave yesterday
alone, because yesterday will load your truck down. It'll cause
your ride to be hard. Now, do you want a nice ride?
Let yesterday go. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go, because
yesterday will funk up your today's worship. Let it go. Let it go. Folks like to hold on to yesterday
and last week and last month and a year ago and five years
ago and ten years ago. You can't worship God today until
you receive the forgiveness of God for yesterday. Somebody help
me. Somebody help me. What is yesterday
in distinction to today? If yesterday is yester, In other words, why am I holding
on to yesterday today? Anybody following me? And we
love to do that when we devalue today. Praise you, the Lord. Praise
you, the Lord. Praise you, the Lord. Hallelujah. Bless his holy name. Praise the
Lord. Exalt him in the house of his
God. Praise him. Give him glory. With my lips,
with my lips, shall I praise God. From the depths of my soul
will I glorify God. My glory shall make its boast
in God. I will open my mouth wide and
praise him for his goodness and his wonderful works to the children
of men. Praise the Lord. Praise ye the
Lord. That's right. Praise him. Praise
Him for His wonderful words. Praise Him for His goodness to
the children of men. Praise Him for His unending mercies. Praise Him for His unchangeable
goodness. Praise Him for His righteousness.
Praise Him for His descending glory. Praise Him for looking
upon you, calling you, choosing you, saving you, keeping you. Praise Him. That's right, praise
Him. That's right, praise Him. That's right. Praise his name.
Hallelujah. Praise him. He is worthy to be
praised. Worthy, worthy, worthy, worthy
to be praised. I will praise the Lord in the
midst of his people. That's right. Praise you the
Lord. I will praise the Lord with my
whole heart in the assembly of the upright. Do you see it? And in the congregation. The
one place that the world should hear shaking from time to time
with joy at the presence of Yahweh. The one place that the world
should hear shaking. What's that noise? Joy. Why? Mercy. Mercy. Mercy. That's why mercy. Nothing
but mercy. Nothing but mercy. So our first
point is explicitly clear. that we are expressing an outward
expression of gratitude. The second component, a commitment
to radical worship, radical, radical worship. What do you
mean, Pastor? Psalm 116. Let me run through
this exegetically now so you can get it. Psalm 116. Now, some
of you who are following me through the Psalms and frequently through
the Friday study, you know David is one of my Patriot Saints.
Big D. I call him Big D. In fact, everybody
that's named David, I call Big D, that weighs more than me. Because God declared that David
was a man after his own heart. And the way you know it is the
Psalms. The only way you know David the way God knows him is
the Psalms. That's the only way you know.
And when you think about the way he wrote the Psalms and you
think about the life he lived, you can put the two together.
He was an object of God's mercy. He had learned how to worship
God for being patient with him in all his mass. Am I making
some sense? That's David. He says, I love
the Lord. Isn't that good? Because he listened
to me. What do you mean? God doesn't
have to listen to you, but he listens to you. I love the Lord
because he listens to me. What do you mean? Me? I'm talking
to me. Messy me messed up me Toe up me Jacked up me. Can you imagine? God listens
to me That's why I love him because he still listens to me which
has taught me he's not listening to me because of me I Because
I understand his nature. God can't tolerate wickedness.
He can't look upon iniquity. He must punish sin. We learned
that this morning. I am radically depraved. Look at me. See me? Radically
depraved. Radically depraved by nature.
Why would God hear me? Mercy. Mercy in Christ. Do you hear me? Mercy in Christ. It's mercy here. It's mercy here.
Raise your hand, mercy. It's mercy here. Oh, a whole bunch
of mercies in the house. I'm talking mercy in Wakadu. I want you all to run through
this with me. Watch it now. I want you to run through this
with me, because I want you to see under our first point in
Psalm 116, 1 and 2, here's what David says. Verse 2 of Psalm
116 as well. This is David's declaration of
what the believer should be as a consequence of recognizing
now that he is an object of God's mercy. I don't think you guys
ever thought this through, but I hope you understand something
here. Verse 2 says, because he has inclined his ear unto me,
Therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. That's a vow. Did you hear that? He said because
God heard me it didn't kill me the first time, I'm gonna call
upon God as long as I live. Do you know what David just committed
himself to? Worshiping Jehovah exclusively. calling upon God exclusively,
calling upon the Father through the Son by the Holy Ghost exclusively. Do you know what else he said?
I'm going to do it no matter how I feel. I don't care what
I'm going through. I do not care about my troubles.
When I get in trouble, I'm going to worship that one God. I'm
not going to countenance other gods. He already said it. I hate
false gods. I hate the way of them that go
a-whoring. There's no God like our God. And no matter what I'm
going through, I'm going to worship that God alone. That's why God
loved him some David. Do you see it? That's why God
loved him some David. But ladies and gentlemen, this
is called commitment. This is called commitment. It
goes on to say, under this particular rubric, verse 14, Then 17 verse
14. Look at verse 14 of our text.
Are you there? I? Will pay my vows Unto the
Lord do you see it now in the presence of all his what? Pastor
what do you mean pay my vows the day you said yes to Jesus? The day you said yes Lord Jesus
I'm yours You bought me by your blood. You own me lock, stock,
and barrel. I am the product of your redemptive
grace in my life. You own me. I'm yours. I am yours
to do with as you please. I will serve you all the days
of my life. That's what you said when you
believed the gospel. You may have not learned that
or been taught that, but when God saves you, he does not save
you for yourself. He saves you for him. You're
His. You made a vow when you believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ and called Him. Ready? Called Him
Lord. Now then, when you call Him Lord,
guess what you're supposed to do? What He says. So guess what's not optional?
Worship. Worship's not optional. Well,
I think I'll go if I want to go. Then He's not Lord. Well,
I think I'll study about if I want us didn't it he's not Lord. I
think I'll serve him if I want us up then he's not Lord and
If he's not Lord and you told him he was you just lied You
guys follow what I'm saying. See what I'm getting at in Romans
chapter 12 verse 1 about radicalizing is Recognizing that the one who
saved you by his mercies is your Lord. I This is not an obligation
for some of us. This is an absolute privilege
based upon ownership of God towards me. He owns me. So I'm going
to pay my vows now in the what? Presence of all his people. Do
you see it? I want to read two more verses
and then we're going to go back to our text. All I'm dealing with
is verse 1 and 2 today. But we got work to do. Look at
what it says now after verse 15 and verse 16. Oh Lord, truly I am your what?
Yeah, see, we got a problem with that in America. I am your servant,
the son of your handmaid. You have loosed my bond. You
see it? God, you liberated me from sin, liberated me from death,
liberated me from the curse of the law, liberated me from the
tyranny of the devil. I am a loosed slave. Love it. Paradoxical. Verse 17, and I
will offer to thee the sacrifices of thanksgiving and I will call
upon the name of the Lord. Do you see it? And then he says
it again in verse 18. I will pay my vows unto the Lord
now in the presence of all his people. Do you see it? In the
courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of the old Jerusalem,
praise ye the Lord. Now this is why God loved David. He's the king of Israel and he's
teaching Israel, this is what you do. because of who he is
and what he did for you. Y'all got that? These are vows.
We are committed to worship God as a vow and pay thanksgiving
unto God. Go back to our text now. Let
me work through this a little bit more, because now I need to explain
Romans chapter 12, 1 a little bit more expository, a little
bit more development. It's critical for you to get
this. In Romans chapter 12, 1, the apostle Paul not only is
beseeching us by the multiplied mercies of God, but here's what
he says, and let's think this one through now. having beseeched
us, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your
bodies." Do you guys see that? A living what? Sacrifice. Stay right there. There are two
lines here. One clause says, present your
what? All right. So, saints, this idea,
again, is rooted in the Old Testament paradigm. Israel, out of all
the people in the world, knew this. Your job and mine is to
present ourselves before the Lord. God taught the men in Israel,
Deuteronomy 16 and many other verses, that you are to come
three times a year representing the whole families and the whole
nation before the Lord. Three times a year. And the children
of Israel entered into the presence of the Lord constantly in the
feast days. And every time they came to worship collectively,
they came into the presence of God, right? Is that true? Watch
this. You are to present yourselves.
And what the law said to the men was, and you don't come empty-handed. Time to teach, Pastor. Here it
is. You are to present your bodies.
See the word present there? I'm going to make it very plain.
Come to God alongside of your body. You come to God alongside
of your body. Your physical body is the only
instrument you have for worshiping God. I'm not meaning come to
God inside your body. I'm talking about come to God
alongside of your body. You are presenting your body
to the Lord. Did you get that? Not a sacrifice,
not a lamb, not a bullock, your body. You are bringing your body
with you before God. You and your spirit essence,
your soul essence are standing before God. Coram Dale, bring
your body. Don't leave your body at home.
Don't leave your body out of the worship. Bring your body.
Because you don't have to move or go anywhere to worship God,
do you? God's spirit, we are spirit, right? But if we move,
we are moving with our what? Bring your body when you worship
God. The term is peristemi, and it
means to come alongside and stand with your body. Present your
body as the offering to God. Whoa! Whoa! We are in the midst of the sad
or docile principle of the priesthood. The priest never served God without
bringing sacrifice. The sacrifice that we bring is
our body. Here's another word to put it.
You can use as a synonym for your body, your life, your life. Stay with me. All I'm dealing
with is verse one and two today. You bring your body to God. In
total, consistent, unending worship, you present it to the Lord. Now
I'm going to give you five verses that underscore it by way of
analogy so you get it. Are you ready? The first verse
is in Luke's Gospel, chapter 2. I want you to see it. Luke
2, 22. And this is about the Lord Jesus
Christ as the son of Mary and Joseph, the father-in-law. Are
you guys ready? At the appointed day, guess what Mary had to do
with the baby Jesus? Present him before the Lord.
You guys got that? Look at the text. And when the
days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished,
they brought him to Jerusalem to do what? To do what? To present him. They came along
with him. And they presented him to God. That's what Paul is saying you
and I are to do with our bodies. Now I understand that my life
is not my own. It's God's. And if I really take
God serious, Lord, here I am. Didn't we just sing it? How many
of y'all remember that? See how... Take my life and let it be consecrated,
Lord, to Thee. Stop. Let's just talk. Just talk. You got it? Just talk. We don't even have
what is necessary to make that an integral part of our reality,
because we haven't taken verse 2 seriously yet. Until verse
2 impacts us, verse 1 is just kind of an ethereal concept that
we go, yeah, Lord, that's right. Verse 1 says, you are to present
your life before God. Did they present Jesus? Did they
have to present Jesus? Absolutely, it was the law. Why
did they present Jesus to God? Because Jesus was given to them
as a gift. Why do we present our bodies
to God? Because they were given to us as a gift. And they're
the only means by which we can actually worship God. Second
example, 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Pull it up, verse 2. You
know what the apostle Paul says that he must do on the last day
because of the unusual and gifted responsibility and privilege
of being an apostle is? He has to present the whole church
before God. That's our same word. 2 Corinthians
11 verse 2. He has to present the whole church
before God. what a chaste virgin to Christ
are you guys following me 2nd Corinthians 11 to 4 I am jealous
over you is it good to be jealous with a what kind of jealousy
for I have espoused you to one husband that I may what present
you a what I Don't even know he if he even achieved that job
you you think Paul achieved that job But that was his job Guess
what he has to do? Present the whole church to God. Everyone he preaches to who becomes
born again under apostolic authority and the preaching of the gospel,
he has to, in his mind, understand his responsibility of doing everything
he can to help them stand before God as men and women who lived,
loved, served, and died exclusively the Lord Jesus as a woman who
waits for her espoused husband. In other words, his job is to
preach the gospel with such comprehensive nature that the believer who
professes to come in, you know how we all happy when we get
saved, but five or 10 years later, we doing all kinds of crazy stuff.
His desire is to make sure on the last day when he stands before
God, I'm going there, that he can say, Lord Jesus, here she
is. Here she is standing in your
righteousness. fully clothed in your righteousness,
fully possessed of your divine nature, without spot and blemish
or any such thing, ready for the marriage. That's the way
of apostolic expectation. Paul's saying, you present yourself.
And he said, I'm going to present you too. Implication. We all hit it there. All hit it there. Third one. Third one. This ought to help
you. Second Timothy chapter 2 verse 15. Second Timothy chapter 2
verse 15. We use this verse in the context of those who say
they are called to preach and say they are called to teach.
And this is one of the verses you have heard communicated many
times around the academic responsibilities of the preacher. Have you not
heard it? Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman
that need not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Now,
that first line is understood by most people as the academic
study of learning Greek and Hebrew and comparative religions and
studying doctrine and church history so that you can be well
equipped with regards to knowing what the Bible teaches. That
first line has nothing to do with that at all. It has everything
to do with what I'm talking about. The word study there is not an
academic term. Spadazzo is a term that means
you must take all diligence. You must take the greatest, greatest
diligence to make sure that you are approved preacher when you
stand before God. Did you get that? It's not telling
me to learn all of these academic things intellectually, because
hell is filled with theologians. It's telling me, will you hear
me? It's telling me that as I study to get this word right, I better
make sure I'm right. As you study to get that word
right, you better be right, preacher. In fact, do more studying of
yourself then you do the word, because the word's already right.
In fact, if you get yourself right, you're going to cut the
word right. If you don't get yourself right, you're still
cutting the word wrong. Listen to the language. Study
to present yourself. That word show, present yourself.
Parastema. Study, be diligent, so that when
you present yourself on the last day, God will be able to say
to you, approved. I can contextualize that for
those who are more specific in terms of Greek grammar. And the
verb form is what we call the Aries infinitive. And you know
what that really means? Jesse, every day present yourself
before God with all diligence, looking for God's approval as
you rightly divide the Word. Every day, preacher. Every day,
elder. Every day, teacher. Make sure
that the one you really answer to is God. Make sure you get
his approval every day as you rightly divide the word. Don't
worry about other people, preacher. We learned that on Friday, right?
Well, that good. They gonna judge you, but they
can't. Get the CD, cry, laugh, and be
liberated. But God's gonna judge you. And
he's going to judge me. In fact, he's already judging
me. So your judgment means nothing to me. Did you get that? Because
every day I got to stand before him to be approved by God for
what I say I am and do. I got to take this body of mine
and say, here we go, Lord. Take my life and let it be. Let
it be. I got to do that every day. Aries infinitive. Keep doing
it. That's what that means. When do I stop? An infinitive
doesn't ever stop! Never! That's how burdensome
this task is. Everyday preacher, everyday teacher,
Sunday school teacher, children's church teacher, high school teacher,
every one of you that take your Bible and tell men and women,
Jesus said, present yourself before God daily and seek his
approval. you get that so Jesus got presented
the church got presented the preachers got to present themselves
and let me show you how God steps in and saves us from crazy people
second Timothy chapter 4 verse 17 now who's talking in these
verses that I've shared with you about this idea of presentation
the Apostle Paul everyone with the exception of Luke chapter
2 is the Apostle Paul right Everyone and here's Paul talking again.
Now watch this watch this. Here's what Paul said now Remember
Paul was put in prison for doing what preaching the gospel Paul
was sentenced to death for what preaching the gospel. Did that
stop Paul from preaching the gospel? Never now watch what
his confidence was. I Love this. He said notwithstanding. Let me start at verse 16. Listen
to what he says in verse 16 At my first answer or my first defense,
at my first apologetic, at my first standing for the gospel,
no man stood with me. Got it? Is that what it says? No man stood with Paul. You know
what that means? When people start judging, folks
scatter. Because nobody's going to stand
with you when you take in the heat unless they know what you
know and know who you know. He said no man stood with me,
but that's okay. This this is paradigmatic of
who jesus because nobody stood with jesus Right, but when you
know whose you are and you know what you're doing, you really
don't need Nobody bad grammar. You don't need nobody bad grammar
But the lord jesus and isn't that what the text is teaching?
Watch it. Watch this. This is amazing all
men forsook me Now, is this not the Lord Jesus? But I did not
lay it to their charge and I'm telling God not to lay it to
their charge. Is that crazy or what? But can I tell you why
he doesn't lay it to their charge? Because he's living today. Did you get that? He's living
today. Yesterday is gone. What they
did yesterday, what they said yesterday cannot affect today. When he woke up in prison this
morning, realize that he was still in his right mind and the
Spirit of God was still giving him revelations and affirmations
of his sonship he could let yesterday go because God was keeping him
and he's still preaching to the prisoners right next to him on
his way to having his head cut off by Nero as we will learn
in Sunday school now how do you do that how do you keep telling
the same truth that's about to get you killed because you're
paying your vows. You're paying your vows to the
God who loved you enough to hear you. Here's another little secret
about it. Are you ready? You ready for another secret?
All while Paul is in prison, the Lord Jesus Christ is right
there with him keeping him company by the Holy Ghost. Verse seventeen. Verse seventeen.
Verse seventeen. Now, I want you to get this.
See, When all men forsake you, God will not forsake you. When
you lose the comfort of everybody else, that's when the comfort
of the Holy Ghost pours in to uphold you when you are in the
center of God's will. Are you hearing me? Are you hearing
me? Watch what he says. Notwithstanding, he said, it
doesn't matter what I just told you, the Lord did what? Stood with me. See that term,
stood with me? That's our term, parastemi. When
everybody else forsook him, the Lord said, I'm with you, Paul.
I'm right here with you. He stood right behind his servant. He
stood with his servant. He stood with his servant to
present his servant just before God. How comforting it is when
the God of glory and the judge of the whole earth stands with
you against the judges of men. How comforting it is when the
God of the whole earth, the judge of all men stand with you in
the midst of human courts. How comforting it is. Are you
guys following me? I'm telling you that Romans 12 1 is calling
us to go deep in understanding our walk with God Go back to
Romans 12 1 because I want to make sure I get the point number
2 before we shut it down So then it's very important for you and
I to understand the radical nature of worship the transformative
nature of worship as an outward expression of gratitude as a
commitment to radical worship and a biblically controlled ethos
Do you guys see that third point a biblically controlled ethos?
that's our last line let me work with that briefly if he tells
us that we are to because of the mercies of God present our
bodies as a living what living sacrifice is the paradoxical
term that says it should die but I wanted to live because
every sacrifice you brought the God had to die because without
the shedding of blood there's no remission of sin oh hallelujah
You know what this means? Your body has been redeemed.
It has been washed in the blood. It has been declared righteous
because there was somebody else that died in your stead. His
body was killed so your body could live. Do you get that?
And God said, present that body, present that body as a body that
has been now made righteous by the blood of the Lamb. You don't
have to kill it. God gave his son a body to die
for you so that your body could live. but your body is owned
by him who died for you." Now watch what he says as the object
and a manifestation of that living sacrifice. Let it be holy and
let it be what? Unto God. Which is your what
kind of service? Now listen to me, saints, really
carefully here. Listen. Listen. What I'm talking
about in verse 1 and all that I've said up to now about verse
1, most carnal people will view as unreasonable. Even so-called saints will say,
Pastor, you way over the top. You didn't have to do all that
with verse one. I got pages more on verse one.
You didn't have to do all that with verse. Verse one doesn't
have to say, give your whole being to God. Yes, it does. Verse
1 doesn't have to say, make sure that the decisions and the choices
that you make correspond to you presenting your body before the
Lord 24-7. Yes, it does. Verse 1 doesn't
have to say, you have to always be committed to the priority
of worship with the saints relative to the glory of God. Yes, you
do. Yes, you do. Yes, you do. It is the foundation. I'm getting
ready to go to level 2 and show you that level 2 is connected
to level 1. But before I get there, here's the last phrase
I want to deal with. For men and women who actually
see all that Christ has done for them, this service, latrion
in the Greek, which means a spiritual service that is of the priestly
nature, is not the service of practical things that we do in
life. Although we'll get to that next week because practical things
is an extension of it. This is the service that actually
conscribes what we do in the context of worship among the
people of God as we are taught and exhorted by the Word of God
to worship God in spirit and in what? Stay with me now. Stay,
stay, stay. Don't go anywhere. Because this
is the avenue right here where the devil is fiercest in keeping
you from authentic worship right here. Right here. Right here. Right now. The devil is sitting right beside
some of us and giving them every reason not to take me seriously.
Every reason. Every reason not to take what
I'm saying seriously. Because he has persuaded you.
All it requires is tipping your hat on Sunday and you cool. Are you hearing me? You're deceived
already. I can't get to you. I can't get
to you if you don't understand you were made for worship. I
can't get to you if you don't understand that at the foundation
of what you're going to be in terms of how God uses you. It's
really based upon your attitude of worship. I can't get to you
if you don't understand that the things you are missing out
on relative to God's communing to you, those rich, rich, rich
revelations of His grace and goodness and mercy to you is
because your worship is pathetic. I can't get to you because you
think, no, I don't have to do all that. But look at what you
look like five minutes after church. Look at what you look like. Look at what you look like. Look
at what we look like. Did worship that Sunday propel
you into a week of rich priority with God? A readiness to tell
somebody about Jesus? devotion to God's Word at a level
that says more about Jesus, more about Jesus would I know. Did
worship do that for you? If it didn't, maybe it's my fault.
Blame me. Maybe it's my fault. Blame me.
But once you get past blaming me, there's another person I
want you to think about. The Apostle says when you get
The mercies of god multiply to you and you start practicing
the presence of god with your bodies You will understand this
as the most reasonable thing to do in the universe Getting
up on sunday is not hard for me. I love worship I love being
with the saints. I love the house of the living
God. When they said unto me, let us go to the house of the
Lord, I was glad. I mean, really, truly glad. Really truly glad because I learned
years ago when I was deceived by ignorant Unlearned shallow
thinking preachers and teachers that I could do Jesus by myself.
No, I can't neither Can you that God always works through his
body and that when we lower? Worship your walk with God is
lowered your impact with God is lower You can't do a thing
until you are in the presence of his glory with his people
Are you guys hearing what I'm saying? I love being in the assembly
of the saints like David did, like Jesus did. I love it because
it makes me real with what God has called me to be. Helpers
of those who are just like me, simultaneously sinful and righteous
at the same time. Simultaneously sinful and righteous
at the same. Am I making some sense? I enjoy
being with lost sinners. I love being with the saints.
Can you make a distinction? I enjoy being with lost sinners.
love being with the Saints. I enjoy being with lost sinners. I love being with the Saints.
I love the people of God. Largely because the people of
God are like lost sinners except they have something they don't.
Am I making some sense? Now here's the term so you can
get it. I'm going to point two and I want you to get point two.
The term is literally translated that your worship and my worship
is of the word of God. So if I were to literally translate
verse one, I would translate it this way. I beg you, I urge
you, therefore, brethren, by the continual and multiplied
mercies of our God, that you present your bodies, come alongside
of your bodies as a living, not dead sacrifice, as one that is
holy, that is set apart for God's purpose, not the purpose of the
world, not the purpose of your job, not the purpose of your
friend, but the purpose of God. Acceptable unto God, which is
according to His word. Do you hear? Which is according
to His word. That little phrase, reasonable,
can be translated according to his word. Logikos is a Greek term. I don't
want to bore you with it. The root word is logos. Logikos
turns it into what we call an adjective. And the way that is
phrased in 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 1 is this way. 1 Peter chapter
2 verse 1 is this way. You guys have heard this. This
will work. This will work. We're for laying
aside all what in all guile and all hypocrisies and envies in
all evil speakings verse 2 watch this area as newborn babes Desire
the sincere milk stop you see that phrase of the word Is the
same Greek term here for reasonable in your Bibles Romans chapter
12 verse 1 Desire the sincere milk of the what word watch this
in when you worship god, right? It's of the word It's of the
word service My service is of the word Can I close on that
one? What this means is you and I
don't get to invent how we serve god We don't get to fabricate
techniques and methods by which we serve God. And when we get
it right, guess what we can say? My service is of God. It's of
God's Word. I can show you in the Word how
God has told us how to serve Him. Y'all got that? Just that
simple. Verse 2, and I'm done. Verse
2. Look at Romans chapter 12, verse
2. Are we there? He says now, And be not conformed to this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I'm
going to pick up from here next week, but let me start working
this just a little bit. Verse 2 underscores what we see
in our point as this. While verse 1 is dealing with
the outward expression of worship, verse 2 is dealing with what?
The inward what? The inward impression. The inward
impression. Pull my point up. I want you
to see it. The inward impression. Point number 2. The inward impression,
outward expression, inward impression. See point number two? Outward
expression, I will praise him. Give me point number three, if
that's point number three. Point number three, I want you to see
it. Point number three, here we go.
I will yield to his word and power to do what? I will yield
to his word and power to do what? Right, so now I'm going to show
you just two Greek terms in verse 2 that are critical. In verse
2 it says, and be not what? Conformed. But be ye what? Transformed. So I'm going to
make a distinction between these two real quick. Because the and
as a conjunction between verse 1 and verse 2 is how you get
verse 1 done. Verse 1 does not get done successfully
without verse 2. To worship God in a reasonable
way, committing yourself to him radically, requires that your
mind be transformed. Are you guys hearing me? So like
right now, like I just said earlier, Pastor, you crazy if you think
I'm going to commit myself to that kind of radical worship.
Here's your problem. Your mind needs to be transformed.
So stay with me. Stay with me. The only reason
you're shirking what I'm saying instead of saying that man is
right. That preacher is right. I need absolutely everything
in my soul says that man is right. The only reason you're not talking
about talking to me like that is because your mind is messed
up. The only reason you aren't jumping deep into an affirmation
that the whole of our being should be given to God is because your
mind is not transformed. Does anyone know what I'm talking
about? Stay with me now, stay with me now. Two words, conform. Conform means to be shaped and
molded by external, external sources from the outside, pushing
you one way, the other way, twisting you one way, making you some
monstrosity of its own image from the outside. And what God
is saying is, don't let the world do that. Don't let the world
dictate your time. Don't let the world dictate your
finances. Don't let the world dictate your
devotion Don't let the world dictate your image. Don't let
the world dictate your reputation Don't let the world shape you
and your identity as we're learning in our women's study so that
they see you as they see themselves whoa And all that comes from the outward
hammering of the secular world system pounding on you shaping
you. I got to lose weight. For who? For who? For who? I got to start building muscles
and get a six pack. For who, brothers? For who? I got to get new clothes. For
who? For who? You know, man, I got
to change my swagger, man. For who? For who? For who? That's the key. For who? For who do you have
to do that? Who do you have to change this
outward thing for? If you are seeking to influence
people out there, you completely missed the nature of true worship.
Totally missed it. Totally missed it. Now watch
this. Verse 2 is actually speaking
in what we call passive imperatives. Am I boring you? I'm almost done.
They're speaking in passive imperatives. You know what that means? Are
you ready? You don't have to do anything. And you'll look
up and you'll be conformed to the world. You don't have to
do a thing. I'm almost done. I'm going to
let you go. You might come back next week. I don't know. But next
week is going to be tough too. It's going to be tough too. It's going
to be tough too. Stay with me. So the first word
is what we call the schema. The schema. Our ladies are learning
about the what? The mask. That's a good way to
put it. If you let the world shape you
and conform you, it'll walk up to you with a whole litany of
masks. Which one you want? You get to choose a mask and
pretend to be something that you're not. Especially if you're
a true believer. We got colored mass We got blank
mass where you can do your own design. You can be your own entrepreneur,
but we got them already fashion to Metropolitan mass Middle Eastern
mass European mass Upper echelon mass of the aristocratic sort
then we got the mass of the baser short as we learned on Friday
All sorts of mass. All you got to do is take one
and put it on your face and keep rolling And what's so comfortable
about these masks? Are you ready? There's gonna
be a whole bunch of people wearing the same mask you do. Now you
got your congregation. Can I keep talking for a few
moments? Right, and this is what we call the outward schema, the
outward scheme, the outward scheme. The reason why Paul warns about
it, Is because it happens when you don't do anything You don't
have to work at that All you have to do is let it happen That's
why the construction in verse verse two is and be not conformed
It doesn't say conform yourself. It simply says don't be conformed.
What that means is you have to resist The conformity process
of this culture Are you guys hearing me? All right. Let me
go on to the next one but be ye transformed See the word transform? It's our Greek term, metamorphosis. It takes us all the way back
to the beginning of my message. When I share with you that Romans
chapter 12 doesn't start at verse 1, it goes back to verse 33.
And verse 33 underscores for us the magnificent glory of God
and the fullness of his sovereignty of God, by God, through God,
to God are all things. And Paul is laid out in absolute
awe that this sovereign, immutable, unchangeable, glorious God has
called him near, called him near, called him near, called him near
by the multiplied mercies of God, right? Called him near by
the multiplied mercies of God. and called us to a radical worship,
right? That radical worship requires
a transformation of the mind so that what happened to Christ
on the mountain of transfiguration, that's why we call it that. That's
our Greek term, transformation. When the disciples saw him glorified,
what they saw externally is what's supposed to happen to us internally. What they saw in terms of the
manifestation of God's glory in the external person of Christ
is what's supposed to happen in your mind and mine when we
enter into fellowship with God. The glory of God is supposed
to impact our minds, impress our minds so as to transform
us at a level, at a level, at a level that we now are able
to offset the influences of conformity to the world. Are you guys hearing
what I'm saying? If the Word is making an impact
in your mind on a transformational level, where you are continually,
not necessarily every day, not always at high volumes, but on
a consistent level, being impacted by the glory of God, then the
world's conformity will not affect you as much. but where you are
not experiencing the power of God, transformationally, so that
volitionally, in your will, in your will, you are desiring to
know God, desiring to serve God, desiring to be with God. If that's
not happening, you are moving along the current of this world
system. You see it? Verse 1 is unreasonable to you.
Verse 1 is unreasonable. and you're going to take your
chances of just playing a little church until you go to hell. God have mercy on us.