Would you turn back to Romans
chapter 12? Tonight, I'm going to be speaking from Luke chapter
17 on the second coming of Christ. And I have referred many times
to the second coming of Christ. I don't know if I remember ever
devoting a whole message to it, but that's what we're going to
consider tonight. Every time I preach, in my heart, I believe it to
be a very important message that needs to be heard every time
I preach. I hope I'm not being dramatic
in this statement, but I feel like this is one of the most
important messages I've ever preached. It is what I need to
hear. I want to be in the congregation
with you listening to this message. This is the difference between
correct theology and life. Now, I'm not in any way denigrating
correct theology. There's no gospel apart from
the truth. And I'm not in any way denigrating
that. But there's an infinite difference
between having correct theology and having spiritual life. I've entitled this message, The
Only Response to Grace. I could just have easily entitled
it, Your Reasonable Service. Now let's read these words again. Paul says, I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God, the compassions of God, the multiplied
mercies of God. I love the way he says this in
the plural. That you present yourself, your bodies, You present yourself to his disposal. Here am I, present and accounted
for. Your will be done. You present
your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which
is your reasonable service. Anything else is unreasonable.
and be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind that you may prove, that you
may demonstrate, that you may approve of that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. Anything less is completely unreasonable. Actually, that's where we get
the word logic from. Anything else is illogical. And that word service, it's worship. Anything less is not true worship. Now, I think you can see from
these opening remarks what an important subject this is that
we're dealing with. Now, notice Paul says, I beseech
you, brethren. Now, this is Paul speaking. This
is one of the big 12. And he speaks with such authority,
but yet he says, I beseech you, brethren. Not as the apostle
speaking, but I beseech you, brethren. He's appealing to the
family of God. I think of that scripture. We
know that we pass from death to life because we love the brethren. And he's making an appeal to
the brethren. Isn't it a blessing to be a member
of God's family? We love our brethren, don't we?
And he's making this appeal to the brethren. Not, I'm God's
apostle and you need to listen. No, I beseech you. I call you
to my side and encourage you. I beseech you, therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies, your mind,
your eyes, your ears, your hands, your feet, your tongue. You present
your bodies. That's everything that you are.
You present your bodies a living sacrifice. That you place yourself wholly
at his disposal for him to do with you whatever he's pleased
to do. I love what John Newton said. He said, if God commissioned
two angels to do his will, one to rule an empire and the other
to sweep streets. They would both do his will with
equal zeal, not caring which job was given to them. Now, I am called upon to deny
myself. to lose my life, to die to self. That's what's involved in this
thing of presenting your body a living sacrifice. This is not
about self-promotion, but self-demotion. That you give yourself to him.
Now that's asking a lot, isn't it? That's asking a lot. To deny yourself? To lose your
life? to present your bodies a living
sacrifice? That's asking a lot. What is
the motivation for all this? Now he says, I beseech you by
the mercies of God. That's the argument. I beseech
you by the mercies of God that you present your body a living
sacrifice. Now if that's not enough to motivate
me, I'm lost. I don't really know God. Now
he doesn't say to present your body so you can have a better
life, or physical healing, or have a better marriage, or a
bigger home and a nicer car. He's not giving that argument.
He's not saying do this so you'll be rewarded thusly. It could be that you present
your bodies a living sacrifice and you have a miserable life
and not much money and not much health. Is that any reason to
not do it? I beseech you by the mercies
of God. This is only your reasonable
service. Now, in the first 11 chapters
of Romans, Paul had set forth so clearly the mercies of God. That's why I love the book of
Romans. The mercies of God have been
set forth most clearly. Now, before there's any appreciation,
of the mercies of God, you have to understand why you need his
mercy. And in these first three chapters
of Romans chapter three, he set forth clearly how we are totally
and radically depraved, unable, unable, and unwilling to be saved. That's what we are by nature. Turn back to Romans chapter two.
To me, this is one of the most poignant scriptures in all of
the word of God. And I wonder, I wonder if I really
believe this. I wonder if you really believe
this. He says in Romans chapter 2 verse
1, Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man. You know who he's talking
to? Me and you. Me and you. He's talking to us. He's talking
to all men. And he says you're inexcusable,
O man, you're without excuse, whosoever thou art that judgest. If you look at anybody and think,
look at the way they're conducting themselves. Look what they're
doing. Look how they're acting. Look
how they're behaving. Why? That's disgusting. That's
wrong. If you look at anybody with that attitude, Wherein you judge another, all
you do is condemn yourself, for you that judge do the same things. Whatever it is that you're judging
your brother for, you are guilty. before God of doing the precise
same thing. Is that too much? No, it's the
truth. Now somebody like this, you know
what they need? They need mercy. Pure, free, sheer, Mercy. Oh, how I need the mercies of
God. Look at how Paul concluded this
in Romans chapter 3 verse 9. What then? Are we better than
they? Are we Jews better than the Gentiles?
No, in no wise, for we have before proved, both Jews and Gentiles,
that they're all under sin as it's written. And he quotes Psalm
14 and Psalm 53. Same psalm. I think it's very
interesting that the Lord puts this in the word twice. The same
psalm repeated in inspiration. That gives us some idea of the
importance of this psalm. And in this psalm, it says, the
Lord looked down from heaven. to see if there were any that
did understand. There's something about the Lord
looking down from heaven. He's looking down from heaven
right now. He's looking down. He sees within my heart. He sees
within your heart. Verse 10, as it's written, there's
none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of
the way. They're together become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good, no, not one. What does this person
need? Mercy. Mercy. Now, the only time anyone asks
for mercy is when they have absolutely no merit at all. Now, if you believe this describes
you, if you're one of these people who can't judge anybody, It would
be base hypocrisy for you to judge anybody because you do
the same things. Would that be you? Well, if it
is, you're somebody who needs mercy. Now, he said, I beseech
you by the mercies of God. And you go on reading throughout
the book of Romans. You got to begin here with the
need of mercy. And then he tells how God can
be just and justify somebody like this. is being justified
by grace. This person who's described that
can't judge anybody is somebody who can actually be just before
God without sin. So when God sees me, He sees
someone who is perfect without sin, without guilt. Perfect before
His law. And then chapter 4, we read about
faith. To him that worketh not, but
believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted
for righteousness. And then in chapter 5, we read
about being condemned by somebody else's sin and being saved by
somebody else's righteousness. Do you find that attractive?
Now, me and you were condemned when Adam sinned. That's what
the Bible says. You can read about it in Romans chapter 5. But just
as truly as I can be condemned because of somebody else's sin,
I can actually be saved by somebody else's righteousness. And then
in Romans chapter 6, he puts forth the great truth of union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, I was crucified with
Christ. He didn't say Christ was crucified
for me. He said, when Christ was crucified, I was too. I was
buried with Him, and I was raised with Him. He's talking about
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. This is how somebody that's sinful
can be saved and holy and accepted before God because they're united
to Christ. When he kept the law, I did.
When he died, I did. When he was raised, I was. And then we have Romans chapter
7. Aren't you thankful for the mercy
of God in putting Romans chapter 7 in there? Where Paul says,
what I hate, that's what I do. What I want to do, I don't end
up doing it. I find in a law that when I would
do good, evil is present with me. That explains me. That's
me. Understand me now. What a mercy
that God put Romans chapter 7 in the Bible. Aren't you thankful
for that? And what about Romans chapter 8? Oh, there's therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. There we
have the great golden chain of salvation. For whom He did foreknow,
them He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image
of His Son. That He, the Son, might be the
firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called. And whom he called, them he also
justified. And whom he justified, them he
also glorified. What shall we say to these things
if God be for us? Who can be against us? Aren't
you thankful for the mercy described in Romans 8? And then in Romans
9, we have God's absolute sovereignty and election. It's not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth
mercy. Romans chapter 10. Oh, what a precious verse we're
given. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Whosoever. I don't care who you
are. If you call on the name of the
Lord, He'll save you. Thing to do right now is call.
Romans chapter 11. Read of the salvation of all
of Israel, and then he begins with what we considered last
week, that great doxology of praise in verse 36. For of him, and through him,
and to him, the three prepositions of the gospel, for of him, and
through him, and to him, are all things to whom be glory forever
and ever. Amen. Now that's the mercies
of God. Oh, don't we love the mercies of God? Now, he says,
I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God. You know, you're
not going to get this kind of commitment where somebody is
going to present their body, a living sacrifice. You're not
going to get that kind of commitment from error. Ain't going to happen. But if somebody really believes
the mercies of God, This is their response. Oh, the
mercies of God. Aren't you glad that salvation
is by mercy that doesn't have anything to do with your works?
Aren't you glad that everything God requires of you He looks
to His Son for? Doesn't that appeal to you? He
says, I beseech you by the mercies of God that you present your
bodies. Now, why bodies? Why does he
talk about this thing here we call our body? Well, it means
the whole man. It will not permit us to say,
I love Jesus in my heart, but everything in my conduct is a
denial of that. Won't allow that. Well, I love Jesus. I know that
everything about me denies that, but I do love it. No, you don't. No, you don't. Not really. We're called upon to present
our bodies a living sacrifice. I'm to present my mind. I'm to
think about what I'm hearing. I'm to discern. My mind is used in hearing, reading,
praying. I'm to present my eyes to behold
His glory, to see things as God sees them. Remember, God's perspective
is the truth's perspective, how He sees things or how they really
are. I'm to present my Eyes to, like
David said, he said, make me to not behold vanity. Lord, deliver
me from that. I'm to present my ears to hear
his gospel and to refuse to hear that which is contrary to his
gospel. And to refuse to listen to gossip and criticism. I'm
to use my tongue for his praise, to preach his gospel. to utter
words of encouragement and love. I'm to use my hands to work,
to be productive. Don't ever think that you have,
if you're a believer, everything about you is sacred. You know
that? Your job, somebody says, well, you're a preacher, you're
in full-time Christian service. You are too. Anything you do, if
you're digging a ditch, you can do it to the glory of God. There's
nothing mundane or unimportant. I'm to use my hands to be productive
for the glory of God. My feet to bring me into the
house of God or to bring me into the presence of the brethren,
to seek fellowship within. It's the whole body that we're
to present as a living sacrifice. Turn to John 12 for a moment. Somebody may be thinking, this
sounds like works. Well, it's the response to grace. That's what it is. What's the
first thing the Lord said to the seven churches? I know your
what? Works. John chapter 12, verse
23, and Jesus answered them saying, the hour has come that the son
of man should be glorified. Verse 24, John 12. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die, it abideth alone. What would have happened if Christ
came here and lived a perfect life and went back to heaven?
What would that do for you? Nothing. Wouldn't do you any
good at all, would it? But if it die, it bringeth forth
much fruit. Oh, the fruit that came from
the death of Christ. When Jesus Christ died, all of
the elect were saved. Isn't that glorious? Everybody
for whom he, oh, the fruit of that, millions of people saved
just by his death. And then he says in verse 25,
he that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that hateth his
life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. I remember
one time hearing Brother Mahan comment upon this passage of
Scripture. And obviously, the first application is the death
of Christ, the fruit that's brought back from him. But he used the
example of Walter Groover. He said, Walter Groover, as a
young man with five children, went down to Mexico, no support, not knowing how he's
going to be taken care of. He went down to Mexico and died. He just died. See you, United
States. Here I am. If I starve to death,
so be it. If we all die of disease, so
be it. This is what I believe God is calling me to do. He went
down to Mexico and died. And look at the fruit that came
from that. I've seen it. What fruit has
come out of that? Now, verse 25 says, He that loves
his life shall lose it, and he that hates his life in this world
shall keep it unto life eternal. The Lord said, If any man will
come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow
me. If you save your life, you lose
it. If you lose your life for his sake, you will find it. Now, for my sake, what does,
think about this, what does God do for Christ's sake? Even as God for Christ's sake
hath forgiven, hath forgiven, not will forgive if, if, but
hath forgiven. What did Christ do for your sake?
Paul said, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though he was rich, yet for your sakes, your sakes, he became
poor, that you, through his poverty, might be rich. Isaac Watts said, were the whole
realm of nature mine? that were a present far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands
my soul, my life, my all. Now, when we seek to save our
life, ever done that? Sure you have. When you seek
to save your life, what's it make you? Miserable. You know,
when you seek to be happy, I'm going to be happy. All you do
is make yourself miserable and make everybody around you miserable.
If that's what I'm about, I want to be happy. I want to be happy.
You know, that's really something we shouldn't even be considering.
I want to do what's right. And happiness will come out of
that, not trying to make yourself happy. If you're just trying
to make yourself happy, you're not going to be happy. That person
who loses his life for Christ's sake is the one who's going to
be happy. Now, look how God views this.
Back to our text in Romans chapter 12. I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living
sacrifice. Now, here's how God deems this.
Holy. Acceptable. Well-pleasing to
God. Which is your reasonable service?
It's the only thing that's reasonable. Now, holy. You see, this is not the response
of the old man. This is the response of the new
man. The new nature. The holy nature. That's who does this. How do you separate the new man
and the old man? I don't know. You know, whenever
you have the new man, you got the old man always there. You
always feel him breathing. He's always there. And you can
never say, well, this is good, and that was the new man, and
that was the old man. No. You know, it's the new man
that owns the sins of the old man, isn't it? The old man never
does that. But this presentation of your
body, a living sacrifice, it's the act of the holy nature. Holy,
that's what the Bible calls it. Holy, acceptable, well-pleasing
to God. I think of that scripture in
Hebrews chapter 13, verse 15, but to do good and to communicate
or give. That's what the word means. It
doesn't mean talk, it means give. To do good and communicate, forget
not, It's easy to forget, for with such sacrifices, God is
well-pleased. That's what the scripture says.
And this is His work in us. And it's holy, it's acceptable
to God, well-pleasing to God, and it is your reasonable service. Anything else is unreasonable,
isn't it? I mean, anything else is unreasonable. This is your
reasonable worship. Now, worship, a lot of things
involved in worship. Worship is an awe of God. Worship
is the fear of God. Worship is through the truth.
And when I'm enabled to worship, when I'm enabled to hear the
gospel, you stand in awe of God. You stand in awe of Christ. You're
all by Him. That's what worship is. All by
His greatness, by His glory, by His majesty, by His holiness,
by His grace, by His mercy, by all of His glorious attributes.
You stand in awe of Him. You know what else you do when
you stand in awe? You present your body. Now that's
not talking about, here's what I'm going to do. I don't know
what I'm going to do. And I'm not making promises about what
I'm going to do. I'm going to stop this sin and
I'm going to start doing this. Don't make foolish promises like
that. You present your body. Here I am. That's it. Here I am. I'm not going to make promises
that I know I'm not going to keep. Here I am. Here I am. I'm at your disposal. Your will be done. Take my will and make it thine. It shall be no longer mine. Take
my heart, it is thine own. It shall be thy royal throne. Now, that's what's going on at
this time. Here am I. I'm at your disposal.
Whatever you would have, whether it's to sweep a street, whether
it's to clean a bathroom, whether it's to be the president of a
country, it doesn't matter. Whatever your will is, give me
the grace to... Here I am. Here I am. That's
all this is. Presenting yourself, I'm at your
disposal. Let your will be done. And isn't that what the Lord
teaches us to pray? When we're taught to pray, we
pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Whatever the will of
the Lord is, that's what I want. I love what John Bunyan said. There was a woman that was sick
and he said, well, do you want to get well? And she said, well,
I want the will of the Lord to be done. He said, well, I know
that, but if you had your will, would you want to get well? And
she said, if I had my will, I'd say the will of the Lord be done,
whatever it is. And that is our response to the
will of God. Thy will be done, whatever it
is. It's that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God, isn't it? Whatever it is. Now, look
what he says in verse two. and be not conformed to this
world. Now when he's talking about this
world, we love the planet, don't we? We love the earth, we love
life, we love family, we love, there's all kinds of stuff about
this world we love. I mean, I love Central Kentucky,
I love the Rolling Hills, I love certain things about holidays,
families, all that stuff. When he's talking about the world
that we're not to be conformed to, he's talking about all that's
of the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the
world. Now the lust of the flesh, you know what that is? I don't
have to go into detail. The lust of the eyes is being
concerned about what other people see. It's popularity. Lust of flesh is pleasure. The
lust of the eyes is popularity. The pride of life? Power. I've got power. I've got some
power. For a human being to think they
have any power in the first place is really ridiculous. I've said this about six months
ago. I was listening to a guy on the radio and he was going
to announce the five most powerful men in the world. And I thought,
the most powerful men in the world don't have the power of
a flea or an ant. Power belongs to the Lord. And
we know that. But yet men lust after power
and so on. But Paul says, don't be conformed
to the opinions, the values, the maxims, the ideas, the religion
of this world. Be a true nonconformist. Don't
you want to be that? I want to be a true nonconformist.
I want to conform to this world. Don't be conformed to this world.
You know, James said, whosoever is a friend of the world is the
enemy of God. That's strong language, isn't
it? Now, I'm a I want to be a friend
to this world in the sense that I want to preach the gospel to
them. I do want to do that. I want to be a witness. I want
to be an example. But as far as conforming to the ways of
this world, no. He says, be not conformed to
this world, but be ye transformed. And that word transformed is
the same word that's used with regard to the transfiguration
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When his divinity burst through
his deity, or his deity burst through his humanity, and he
was shining and everything. Now, the Lord didn't change anything.
He didn't change. He didn't change from one form
to another. He just was seen to be who he is. That's it. Now, when I'm transformed, that
means I'm being what I am. It all means I'm being what I
am. I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. I'm being what I am. Be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God, he
thought it not robbery to be equal with God. But he humbled
himself, and he made himself of no reputation, and he took
upon him the form of servant. Now that's the mind that was
in Christ Jesus. You be transformed, you'd be
transfigured, you'd be what you are by being what's in your mind. Every believer has the mind of
Christ. We have the mind of Christ. We think like He thinks. He knows
His Father gets all the glory. We know it too, don't we? He
knows He gets all the glory. We know it too. He wants the
Father to have all the glory. We do too. I mean, we have the
mind of Christ. Anything that doesn't give Him
glory, we don't like. We hate it as a matter of fact.
You have the mind of Christ. be ye transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that you may prove, that you may demonstrate, that
you may approve of what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. Now, the will of God. The will of God. The Lord said,
I came not down from heaven to do my own will, but the will
of Him that sent me. And this is the will of Him that sent
me, Of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but
raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of
him that sent me, that everyone that seeth the Son and believeth
on him should have everlasting life, and I'd raise him up at
the last day. Don't you love the will of God? By the which
will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. God's will is so supreme that
when he wills it, it's already done. There's no separation between
his will and something happening. When he wills it, it's done. Now, work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you,
both to will and to do his good pleasure. I tell you what, with
regard to everything in the gospel, you put anything on me, Lord,
work in me, both to will and to do thy good pleasure. Now, the will of God, it's good, it's acceptable, and it's
well-placing, isn't it? From our hearts we say, thy will
be done. Now that is the only acceptable
response to the mercies of God, isn't it? I beseech you by the
mercies of God, may the Lord enable us to do this right now,
together, to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
unto God, our, and you can translate it this way, our logical worship,
Anything else is illogical. Let's break.