Would you turn back to Romans
chapter 12? What I was thinking about while
I was looking at this passage of scripture before services
at home, looking over my notes, I fear a correct exposition of
this passage of scripture and not doing what it says. I fear that. May the Lord deliver you and
I from that. So, entering this passage of
scripture, I do so with fear and trembling. I don't want to
be guilty of preaching something that I don't know anything about.
Let's look at this passage of scripture again. I've entitled
this message, The Most Powerful Argument. The Most Powerful Argument. Paul says, I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God. That is the most powerful argument. Not, I beseech you because you'll
be rewarded greatly if you do this. Not, I beseech you because
there's all kinds of problems that are going to come upon you
if you don't do this, and all kinds of judgments, and all kinds
of problems in your life. He says, I beseech you by the
mercies of God. that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice. Webster defines an argument as that which is
advanced in support or proof with a view to persuade. Now,
those are a lot of words, but think about what I just said.
is that which is advanced in support or proof with a view
to persuade and to convince the mind. Now look what he's persuading
them to do and what he's persuading us to do. To present your bodies. That's everything about you.
That's your soul. That's your mind. That's your hands, that's your
feet, that's your head, that's your whole body, that's the whole
man, body and soul, everything about you. He calls upon us to
present our bodies a living sacrifice. That's a lot to ask, isn't it? And he goes on to say, this is
your reasonable service. Anything short of this is utterly
unreasonable. And here's his argument, his
reason why we should present our bodies a living sacrifice
is the mercies of God. Now, I've got to thinking about
this. This thought you present your bodies because of the mercies
of God, that being an argument with you, this shows whether
you really believe mercy and experience mercy or whether mercy
is just a doctrine to you. How do you respond? What mercy,
the thought of God's mercy does for you and in you. If the argument
of God's mercy toward you, his great mercies toward you, causes
you to give yourself a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable
unto God, which is your reasonable service. Now, this has power
with one who's experienced mercy. And if this doesn't have any
power with us, we don't really know anything truly about the
mercy of God. We might be able to give a good
textbook definition of it, but we don't really experience it. Because if I experience the mercy
of God, this is going to have power with me. This is the most
powerful argument. Now, it may not have power with
an unbeliever, but it has power with a believer. Now, notice
Paul calls them brethren. I beseech you, therefore, brethren.
You know, that's a very special title. The brethren. We're brothers and sisters. I'm looking at my brethren. Have
the same father. Have the same Savior. We're brethren. I beseech you, therefore, brethren. And notice he uses the word beseech. I beseech you, therefore, brethren. Now, Paul had apostolic authority.
You know, he talked about some people in this church that he
delivered to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. What does that
mean? I don't know, but it doesn't sound good. I wouldn't want it
happening to me to be delivered to Satan for the destruction
of the flesh. There was a fellow that was opposing once, and he
had him struck blind. Now, he had apostolic authority. Boy, I'm glad nobody has that
now. I'm glad I don't have it. Cross me and see what happens,
you know. Paul had it, yet he didn't use that with these people.
He said, I beseech you. Not I command you, not I talk
down at you. I beseech you. I call you to
my side. I'm wanting to do the same thing
I'm telling you to do, and I beseech you. You know when a preacher
preaches down at you, you know it, don't you? And that kind
of preaching is no good. Paul says, I beseech, therefore,
by the mercies of God. And Paul is calling us to present
our bodies as living sacrifices. Our bodies. Our bodies. That's very concrete. Not just
our souls or our thoughts, but our bodies. What we're in right
now. These mortal bodies. The whole man. The head, the
hands, the feet, the heart, the mind, the will, the affections,
the whole man. We sing that song, take my life
and let it be. Consecrated Lord to thee, take
my hands and let them move at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet, and let them be
swift and beautiful for thee. Take my voice, and let me sing
always only of my King. Take my life, and let it be consecrated,
Lord, to thee." That's what he's talking about. You present your
bodies a living sacrifice. In order to present our bodies,
the idea here is presenting yourself to the Lord For Him to do whatever
He's pleased to do with you. You don't tell Him what to do.
Present. Present. It's translated in Romans
chapter 6, yielding yourself to God. Presenting yourself to
God. Not telling Him what to do. Just
present. Who will I send and who will
go for us? What did Isaiah say? Here am
I. Send me. present. I present my bodies, and I don't
know what else to say about that. It doesn't go any further than
that. I don't tell them what to do or what. I love what John
Newton said. John Newton said, if God commissioned
two angels to come to the earth, one to rule an empire and one
to sweep a street, they would do both jobs with equal zeal
not caring which job they got. We present our bodies. Here am I, Lord. Send me. And we present our bodies a living
sacrifice. A sacrifice is that which is
offered up, and there's always costliness involved in a sacrifice. Now, first, there's the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We dare not offer any other sacrifice
but Him. Where the remission of these
is, there's no more offering for sin, so don't you bring one.
We only look to Christ. That's the sacrifice that makes
us acceptable. And the living sacrifice He's
speaking of is the living believer presenting themselves to the
Lord. We offer up our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And David
said, I'm not offering God that which cost me nothing. There's
costliness involved in offering up this living sacrifice he's
speaking of. If I offer that which really
cost me nothing, it's really no value to me. And there's no
value to God either. I think of what the writer of
the Hebrews said, to do good. and to communicate, forgive,
forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. You know, to do good, that encompasses
a whole lot, doesn't it? To do good is a sacrifice. It's
going to require sacrifice on my part and your part to do good.
To give. That's what he's talking about
in communicating. To give. To give to the cause of Christ.
It calls on sacrifice. And if there's no sacrifice involved,
there's really nothing to it. We're to present our bodies.
That's everything about us as a living sacrifice. And notice what Paul calls this
living sacrifice in chapter 12, verse 1. Holy. Holy. You see, it's the new man that
does this. That's so important. It's the new man that does this.
Well, how do you differentiate between the new man and old man?
I don't know. The old man's always there. And that's why sin is
always in everything I do. And when I present my body a
living sacrifice, the old man is nothing but sin. There's nothing
good about that. But the new man, God says, is
holy. Present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy. acceptable. That word acceptable
means well pleasing to God. Let me go back to that passage
of scripture in Hebrews chapter 13. To do good and to communicate,
forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. When I do good, I hope I don't always have to
correct myself. I realize the flesh never does
good. But believers are called good, full of goodness. They're
Romans chapter 15. That's the new man. And when
you do what's right. God's well, please. When you
give. God is well, please turn with
me to Philippians chapter four for a moment. Hold your finger
there, Romans chapter 12, Philippians chapter four. Verse 18, But I have all, and
abound, I am full, having received of Epiphroditus the things which
were sent from you, and here's what they were, an odor of a
sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. Now, that's
God's testimony of that. Now, anything less than this
is unreasonable. Isn't it? This is our reasonable
service. Anything short of presenting
my body, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, anything
short of that is unreasonable. This is only my reasonable service. And here's how it comes. Now,
here's the argument he uses. Now, this is a tall order to present
your bodies. a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. No doubt
this is a tall order, and we want to do it by the grace of
God. Look at the argument he uses, though. This is the most
powerful argument, I beseech you, by the mercies of God. Now, Romans chapter 1 through
11 is all about the mercies of God. He begins there in Romans
chapter 1 by calling them Beloved of God. So called to be saints. Is that
a mercy that God loves you? That's a hard thing to get hold
of, isn't it? But it's so real to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He loves me and. He doesn't just
I said this couple of weeks ago, he didn't just tolerate it for
Christ. He loves us. He sees us beautiful and perfect
in Christ Jesus. Holy and acceptable, called to
be saints, called to be as holy ones. You go into Romans chapter
2. Let's go ahead and look at these
scriptures. I'll read them and make very little commenting on
them, but I just want to see what the mercies of God are to us. Verse 28, for he's not a Jew,
which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision,
which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew, which is one
inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart and the spirit,
not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Is
that a circumcised heart? For God to do something for you
and give you a new heart. What a mercy of God. Then you
go into Romans chapter three and you find that great description
of sin to where we're made to stand guilty before God, that
every mouth may be stopped and all the world stand guilty before
God. There's none righteous. No, not one. And if your mouth
is stopped, if you stand guilty before God, if you see you're
a sinner, if you see you're a real sinner, you take the name because
that's what you are. What a mercy of God. He only
revealed that to the elect. No unbeliever ever really believes
they're a sinner in the scriptural sense. But if you really believe
right now that you are a sinner, completely evil before God in
and of yourself with no ability to do anything but sin, if you
really believe that, that's because God has revealed himself to you.
That's a mercy of God. You go on in Romans chapter three,
after he taught him about sin, he said, being justified freely
by his grace through the redemption that's in Christ Jesus. You've
been justified. You right now, believe it, rest
in it, rejoice in it, receive it. You've been justified. You
stand before God without guilt. That's what justification means.
What a blessing, what a glorious blessing. Then in Romans chapter
4, he talked about the imputation of sin and the imputation of
righteousness. Your sin, this is how come you're
just. Your sin was imputed to Christ. It became His. And just as truly, I'm going
to preach this every time I preach, as the Lord enables me. I love
this. I don't get tired of it. It becomes more exciting to me.
I'm telling you the truth. I love this. Well, I know I preach
it all the time. Somebody says, why do you preach all that all
the time? Well, if you don't like it, you need to go somewhere
else, because I'm going to preach it every time I preach. He was made sin. He took my sin, and his righteousness
becomes mine. What a blessing. What a blessing. Is there any greater blessing
than that? What mercy! Oh, I beseech you by the mercies
of God. You look what He's done for you. Romans 5, verse 1 says,
being justified by faith, we have peace with God. God's at
peace with me. There's no reason for Him to
be mad at me. I have peace with Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing of mercy. He
said in Romans 5, verse 10, if we were enemies, we were reconciled
to God. Now, catch what He said. If when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. When were you reconciled
to God? When Christ died. All reason for God's anger toward
me was removed. You know, you were reading that
psalm, putting off thy servant away in anger. And that's the
way we feel all the time. I don't know. I mean, when he
read that, that was the verse that struck out the most to me.
Putting off thy servant away in anger. Because I'm always
thinking the Lord's mad at me for some reason. I mean, that's just the way we
feel. And you think he has a reason to be. I'm reconciled. Being reconciled by the death
of his son. If when we were enemies we weren't
reconciled by the death of his son. Much more being reconciled
would be saved by his life. What mercy! You go on in the
end of Romans chapter 5, it says, Moreover, the law entered that
sin might abound, but where sin abounded, and sin abounded me,
grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death,
even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. The reign of grace. Aren't you
glad for reigning grace? Grace that won't take no for
an answer. Grace that finds you. In your inability, in your sinfulness,
and conquers you, the reign, oh, I love the reign of grace.
That's why I went on to say in the next chapter, sin shall not
have dominion over you, for you're not under the law, but you're
under grace. And that's, but Lord, don't let
any sin have dominion over me, because you said in your word,
I'm not under law, I'm under grace. It's up to you to do this
for me. You made this promise. I'm not under law, I'm under
grace. In that same chapter, He said,
Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin. Know that sin
has nothing to say to you. But alive unto God, through Jesus
Christ our Lord, the mercies of God. What about chapter 7,
where it says you're married to Christ? You're married to the Lord Jesus
Christ. What a marriage! What a wonderful husband! What
a perfect husband. The Lord Jesus Christ. What a
provider. What a protector. What a Lord and Master. What
a lover. The Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody
like Him. You're married to Him. What mercy. I beseech you, therefore, by
the mercies of God. What about there at the end of
Romans chapter 7, when He said, O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body of death? I thank God. through
Jesus Christ, our Lord. What a mercy. I'm going to be
delivered from this body of death, this sinful body. I'm going to
be delivered from it. And how we anticipate that going
to chapter eight, there's therefore not now, right now, no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. What a mercy. I can go on, we
can spend hours in Romans chapter eight, but having God for you,
if God be for us. Who can be against us? What mercy? He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? What mercy? Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? No condemnation. It's God that
justifies. Who can condemn? It's Christ
that died. Nay, rather it's risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession
for us, who shall separate us from the love of God. No separation,
no condemnation. What mercy? Read in Romans chapter
9 about his electing mercy. What mercy? Read in Romans chapter
10 about being not ashamed on Judgment Day. Whosoever believeth
on him shall not be ashamed. On Judgment Day, I will have
absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. My life is going to be put
up on a big screen and it's all going to be good and it's all
going to be perfect because my life is the life of the Lord
Jesus Christ. What a mercy! Look in Romans chapter 11, verse, this is what was leading up to
Paul making this argument. He said in verse 29, for the
gifts and the columns of God are without repentance, he never
changes his mind. Verse 33, O the depth of the
riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable
are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who had
known the mind of the Lord, or who had been his counselor? Who
was first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again.
For of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to
whom be glory forever. Amen. I beseech you therefore,
brethren, by the mercies of God that I've been talking about. The songwriter put it this way, When I survey the wondrous cross,
Upon which the prince of glory died, My richest gain I count
but loss, And poor contempt on all my pride,
Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, Saving the death of Christ
my God, all the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them
to His blood. See from His head, His hands
and feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e'er such love
or sorrow meet, or thorns composed so rich a crown, were the whole
realm of nature mine? That represent far too small. Love so amazing, so divine, demands
my soul, my life, Now, he says in verse two, be
not conformed to this world. Now, he's not talking about the
planet. He's not talking about. Recreation and so on. We read in the scriptures. Of
the cares of this world. and of the children of this world,
and the rulers of this world, and the God of this world, and
the wisdom of this world, and this present evil world that
we're living in. It's that world which, by wisdom,
knew not God. It's that which does not believe
the gospel. Turn with me to 1 John, chapter
2. You'll remember James said that
whosoever shall be a friend of the world is the enemy of God,
for friendship with the world is enmity with God. Now look
what John says in 1 John chapter 2, verse 15. Love not the world, neither the things that are in
the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh, that means the cravings of fallen, sinful
nature that you have right now. That's in you and you hate it.
If you love it, you prove you don't know anything about knowing
God. The lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, that's being more concerned about what men think
than what God thinks. That's being controlled by the
fear of man. The lust of the eyes and the
pride of life. self-righteousness, the great
enemy of our souls, self-righteousness. Love not the world, neither the
things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. Look what he says in verse
17. The world passes away, and the lust thereof that he that
doeth the will of God abideth forever. Now, don't be molded
by this world's evil and corrupt principles, but be ye transformed. Not conformed, but transformed.
And like I said, this thing of transformation, being transformed,
I can't do that. Only the Lord can cause me to
be that way. But I'd like the Lord to transform me. Transform
me that I might be able to prove. And that word prove is literally
approve of it. Approve of it. That good and
that acceptable and that perfect will of God. Now, God's will
is good and acceptable and perfect whether I approve of it or not,
isn't it? My approve or disapprove This approval doesn't mean anything.
It's good and perfectly acceptable. But boy, how happy I am if I
can say not my will, but thine be done. I really mean it. I
want the will of the Lord to be done. That you might prove,
that you might approve of that good and that perfect, that acceptable
will of God. Now, in closing, going back to
Hebrews, I mean, Romans chapter 12. He tells us just what that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God is. And I want you
to see how this is good and perfect and acceptable. In Romans chapter
12. Now here's the first thing he
says when he talks about that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. For I say, through the grace
of God given unto me, to every man that's among you. First thing
he says, this is very interesting. He's talking about proving the
good and acceptable and perfect will of God. He tells everybody
not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think,
but to think soberly, according as God had dealt to every man
the measure of faith. Don't think of yourself too highly. Now here's the highest view I
ought to have of myself. I'm the chief of sinners. Right
now. And if I think more highly of
myself than that, God thinks very lowly of me. And I tell you also this, if
I think too highly of myself, I'm just going to have a hard
time getting on in this world. I'm going to have a hard time getting
along with people because I think everything's got to be revolved
around me. Nobody's going to like me. That's the way it's
going to work. Think not too highly of yourselves. Parents,
teach your children some humility. Now, I know they can't have spiritual
humility, but don't let them be arrogant. Don't let them be
obnoxious. Don't let them think too highly
of themselves, you knock that out of them. I mean, you don't
let them think that way. That's your responsibility as
a parent. Don't think too highly of yourself. But think soberly. First thing he says. Then he
talks about the unity of God's people. For as we have many members
in one body, and all members have not the same office, so
we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one member
is one of another. Now, remember this. This is the
next thing that has to do with with proving that good and perfect
acceptable will of God. We're members of the same body.
We have the same care one for another. When one member is honored,
all the members are honored. If you're honored, I'm honored. If you rejoice, I rejoice. If you're brought down, I'm brought
down. Rejoice with them that rejoice
and weep with them that weep. That says that in this passage
of scripture. The second part of proving this good and acceptable
and perfect will of God is unity among the brothers. Being members
of the same body, not a top dog and people don't know everybody's
the same, in the Lord Jesus Christ. Members of the same body. And
then he goes on to speak of the gifts that we're to use in the
body. Verse 6, having then gifts differing
according to the grace that's given to us, whether prophecy,
So I'm doing it right now, preaching. Let us prophesy according to
the proportion or the analogy of faith. In other words, you
make sure what you say is according to the scriptures. If you're
gifted to preach the gospel, prove it by preaching what God's
word says and nothing else, according to the analogy of the scriptures
or ministry. There's a gift being a servant.
He that's going to be chief, let him be servant of all. That's
the highest place, the lowest place. That doesn't make sense
to the flesh, does it? The highest place is the lowest
place. Let him be the servant of all. Let us wait on our ministry.
He that teacheth, on teaching. He that exhorts, that is, encourages. Let him wait on encouragement.
Be an encourager. person. He that giveth, let him
do it with simplicity or generosity, and you give, do so with generosity. He that ruleth or is a leader
with diligence, leaders are to lead. He that showeth mercy with
cheerfulness, not holding people down, but with cheerfulness.
Those are the gifts God gives for us to minister one to another.
This is proving that good and perfect will of God. Let love
be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cleave
to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to
another with brotherly love in honor, preferring one another.
You know what that means? You defer to your brother. Through deference, you defer
to your brother. If somebody's going to shine, you want them
to shine. You want to take the background. That's such a beautiful
thing. It's so ugly when people are
self-promoting, but it's so beautiful when people defer and take the
lowest seat in the house and really believe that's where they
belong. You defer to your brethren. Verse 11, not slothful in business,
not lagging in zeal. What that means is, I don't know
how many people have taken that and used it as a justification. Make a billion dollars and do
nothing but business, but not slothful business. That's what
that thing is. Don't be lagging in zeal. Be zealous. Be white
hot. Be fervent for the Lord. Are
we not to be zealous at all times for his glory? Not slothful business,
but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope. What a hope we have. Therefore,
we're to rejoice. Patience in trial, knowing the
Lord brings it our way. Continuing instant in prayer. Distributing to the necessity
of saints. Giving or pursuing hospitality. Bless them which persecute you.
Bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice.
And weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind, one toward
another. Look at me the way the Lord Jesus
Christ looks at me. Don't look at the flaws in the
flesh and the faults. There's plenty there. Don't look
at me that way. May I look at you the way Christ sees you.
Perfect. Holy. Mind not high things, in
verse 16, but condescend to men of low estate. Now, understand,
that's not saying you're going to condescend to men who are
lower than you. That's not what that means at all. I mean, if
somebody thinks they're doing that, there's a feeling of pride.
Don't mean that. It means be content with mean
things. Be content with low things. Things
don't be uppity. Don't be hoity-toity. Be content
with low things. Be not wise, verse 16, in your
own conceits. Recompense. Pay back to no man
evil for evil. Don't get even. Provide things
honest in the sight of all men. Don't ever let of an unbeliever
have a reason to question your integrity. If it be possible,
and always, but if it be possible, as much as life in you is, live
peaceably with all men, whoever they are. Dearly beloved, avenge
not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath, for it is written,
Vengeance is mine, I will pray, saith the Lord. Therefore, if
thine enemy hunger, Remember your enemy now. If your enemy
hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him drink. For in so doing thou shalt heap
coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but
overcome evil with good. Don't be defeated by evil, but
defeat evil with good. The mercies of God. Aren't they wonderful? I want
you to think of the mercy you've experienced. God's mercy toward
you. Now, may we all, in light of
his mercy toward us, present our bodies a living sacrifice. acceptable unto God, which is
our reasonable service, and don't be conformed to this world, this
world that hates the gospel. I'm talking the religion of the
world, the ways of this world, the maxims of this world. Don't
be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing
of your mind. That's God's work in you, that
you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will
of God. Let's pray.