The Believer's Attitude and Walk

Q: What does the Bible say about the believer's walk?

The Bible teaches that a believer's walk should reflect their faith and be motivated by God's grace. Romans 12 outlines the believer's attitude and walk as a response to God's mercy. Paul emphasizes that believers should present their bodies as living sacrifices, motivated by the mercies of God. This teaching follows the doctrine of justification by grace through faith, asserting that true faith produces a change in conduct and conversation. A believer's actions should align with their identity in Christ, reflecting His grace in their lives.

Q: How do we know justification by grace is true?

Justification by grace is a central theme of the first eleven chapters of Romans, confirmed by Scripture. In the book of Romans, particularly in chapters 1-11, Paul provides a thorough theological foundation for justification by grace through faith. He concludes in Romans 3:28 that a man is justified by faith apart from works. This doctrine is further affirmed in Romans 5:1, which states that being justified by faith brings peace with God. Therefore, the truth of justification rests on the reliability of Scripture and the consistent teachings of the apostles.

Q: Why is good works important for Christians?

Good works are important as they are the evidence of a believer's faith and a response to God's grace. Good works do not cause salvation but are the natural result of genuine faith in Christ. As Paul explains in Romans 12, believers are called to present their bodies as living sacrifices, which is their reasonable service. This teaching underscores that the conduct of believers should reflect their transformation by God's grace. James also reiterates this principle by stating that faith without works is dead, emphasizing the inseparable relationship between faith and action.

Q: What is the significance of renewing the mind for Christians?

Renewing the mind is essential for Christians to discern and live out God's will. Paul urges believers in Romans 12:2 to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. This transformation enables Christians to reject worldly values and embrace God's will. A renewed mind allows believers to discern what is good, acceptable, and perfect in the sight of God. It contrasts the mindset of the world, which often centers on self-interest and rebellion against God. By renewing their minds, believers align their thoughts and actions with their identity in Christ.

Now, my subject today is the
Believer's Walk, the Believer's Walk, Attitude and Walk. If you
want this message, now, you listen to it. It's a blessing to you.
We'll give you the address at the end of the program, and you
can write for it. I want you to open your Bibles
to Romans 12, Romans chapter 12. We're going to go to school
today. go as far as we can in Romans
12 beginning with verse 1 and talk about the believer's walk,
the believer's attitude and walk and conduct and conversation. Now in this book of Romans, in
the first 11 chapters of Romans, Paul teaches the great doctrines
of grace and redemption in Christ Jesus our Lord. The theme, the
first 11 chapters in the book of Romans, has this theme. It's justification by grace through
faith in our sovereign Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it's all
about. In Romans 5, 1 says, Therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 8,
1 says this, There is therefore now no condemnation, no judgment
to them who are in Christ Jesus. Romans 3.28, Paul said, Therefore
we conclude that a man is justified by faith in Christ and not by
works. So the first 11 chapters of the
book of Romans deals with justification by grace, grace alone through
faith in our sovereign Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that leaves, that
leaves 5 chapters, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. And in these five chapters of
Romans, Paul turns to the results of justification, the results
of salvation. God saves a man or a woman by
His grace, not by works, but by grace, by faith in Christ
Jesus and faith alone. Works has nothing to do with
the redemption of our soul. And Paul makes that clear and
plain in these first 11 chapters of Romans. But in the next five
chapters, he talks about the believers, the true believers'
attitude and his walk in this world. For you can't separate
faith and works. That's what James teaches. That's
where James picks up the writings of Paul. And he says, faith without
works is dead. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. Old things pass away, behold,
all things become new. You can't separate faith and
works. James says, you say you have faith, show me your faith
without your works. I'll show you my faith by my
works. The believer's attitude and walk,
the believer's conduct and conversation is in keeping with the Spirit
of his God. If any man have not the Spirit
of God, he's none of his. And out of the heart the mouth
speaketh, and as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. So that's
what Paul deals with in the last five chapters of the book of
Romans. And one thing needs to be understood at the beginning
of this message as I talk to you about the believer's attitude
and the believer's walk and the believer's conduct and conversation.
One thing needs to be understood at the beginning, and that is
this, that good works and godliness is the results of grace and not
the cause of it. Would you remember that when
I'm talking about this subject today, good works and godliness
is the results of grace. Our conduct and conversation
is the results of God's grace in us and not the cause of God's
grace to us. A life of godliness, a life of
holiness, a life of faith is the fruit of salvation, certainly
not the root of it. It's the fruit of it. In other
words, we love Christ. Every believer loves Christ.
Paul said, If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him
be accursed. We love Christ. Why do we love
Christ? We love Christ because He first
loved us. Our love for Christ is not the
cause of His love for us. His love for us is the cause
of our love for Him. And that's what I'm saying. Godliness
and good works is not the cause of God saving us. It's the results
of God saving us. We love Christ because He loved
us. We have a new life. Why do we have a new life? Because
He regenerated us. He didn't regenerate us because
we had a new life. He regenerated us and gave us
a new life. We have a new heart. He says,
I'll take out that stony heart and give you a heart of flesh.
And a believer has a holy heart and a godly heart. Why? Because God gave it to him. You
see what I'm saying? Good works. are the results of
God's grace in us and not the cause of it. You know, that's
the reason it's a mistake. It's a serious mistake and people
are still trying to do it. It's a serious mistake to try
to motivate anyone to walk with God or to serve God because of
duty. That's why I have a sense of
duty. Well, it's your duty to serve God. or fear. If you don't serve God, He'll
damn you. Or reward. If you do serve God, He'll give
you a mansion in heaven. You can motivate men in the armed
forces to work so they'll be promoted. And you can motivate
men in a steel mill by giving them a bonus. And you can motivate
people to excel at sports by giving them a trophy. But the
only way to motivate a man to serve God and to honor God and
to glorify God is because he loves God. Paul said, The love
of Christ constraineth me. And the only worship and service
pleasing to God is that which is motivated not by duty and
not out of fear and not for reward, but the only service and worship
that's pleasing to God is motivated by a love for God and a love
for His people and a love for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what Paul wrote in I Corinthians 13. He says, though I speak with
the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I'm a sounding
brass and a tinkling cymbal. He said, though I have faith
so that I could remove mountains and understand mysteries and
have all kind of knowledge, and he said, and have not love, I'm
nothing. And though I give my goods to
feed the poor, and my body to be burned, and have not love,
it profiteth me nothing." It's love. This is the key. Here's the order of this thing
of service and worship and godliness. Here's the order. First, He loved
us. He loved us. He said, I've loved
you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness,
I've drawn you. Herein is love, not that we love
God. He loved us. He chose us. He gave his Son to redeem us. Salvations of the Lord in its
origination, in its execution, in its application, in its sustaining
grace, in its ultimate glory, it's of God. He loved me. I love
him because he loved me. But that's the order. First,
he loved me. Secondly, we love him. We love Him because He first
loved us. That's what the Scripture says.
We actually love whom having not seen, Peter said, you love. And though now you see Him not,
yet you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. That's the
order. Now thirdly, and we love one
another. By this shall all men know you're
my disciples if you love one another. And that's the order.
Now then you can talk about works. Now you can talk about true worship.
Now you can talk about giving. Now you can talk about graces.
Now you can talk about godliness. Now you can talk about walking
before men for the glory of God if this order is established. He loved us. We love Him because
He loved us. And we love one another because
He has shed abroad His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
I am what I am by the grace of God. That's all. If there's any
godliness in me, it's His godliness. If there's any righteousness
about me, it's His righteousness. If there's any goodness revealed
through me, it's His goodness. He said, I made you beautiful
in my comeliness, not in yours. You don't get any glory. Who
made you to differ? Who made you to differ? Who made
the difference between you and everybody else? God did. And we have no right to glory
as if He didn't give it to us freely by His grace. So here
we go now in chapter 12. And Paul deals in this chapter,
after establishing what I've just said, Paul deals in this
chapter with the attitude and the walk of these people whom
God has visited in mercy and called by grace and redeemed
by the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he says in verse 1, take your Bible and look at it. Look at
verse 1. Now, I beseech you, I beseech you, I appeal to you,
brethren. Who? Brethren. He's not talking
to the world. He's talking to the brethren.
He's talking to believers. He's talking to people who've
been redeemed. Therefore, because of what I've been teaching for
11 chapters, therefore, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies
of God. I beseech you by the mercies
of God that you present your body a living sacrifice wholly
acceptable unto God. What are we called upon to do?
Present our bodies a living sacrifice to God. On what basis? Because
of God's mercy to us. I beseech you therefore, brethren,
when you consider God's mercy to you, and God's grace to you,
and God's love to you, then you present your body to him as a
living sacrifice, which is your reasonable service. What we're
called upon to say or do or give is not by way of threats or fear
or reward, but because of the mercy of God. He says, Be ye
merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful. Give as you have
freely received. As you freely receive, freely
give. Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven
you." Motivated. Motivated by what? Mercy. His
mercy. I beseech you, I appeal to you
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you what? Present
your bodies. He's talking about these bodies.
He's talking about ourselves. Let my tongue be used to praise
Him. Let my tongue be used to speak
forth His glory. Let my tongue be used to speak
good things in His name. Let my hands reach out to help
His people. Let my arms reach out to embrace
the fallen. Let my feet take me to the house
of God, to the home of the old and the sick and the needy. Let
my feet walk in paths of righteousness and godliness for the glory of
my Lord. Let my mind and affection be set on things above." Present
your bodies a living sacrifice, not waiting until I'm dead and
they say, well, he's with the Lord. No, while I'm still living,
while I'm still walking, while I'm still on this earth, present
it to God, present it to God. I read about a missionary who
was preaching back many years ago out in the western part of
our country. And he was preaching to the Indians.
This was a long time ago, before the turn of the century, back
in the 1800s. He was preaching to the Indians.
And the old Indian chief was greatly impressed by the gospel
preached by the missionary, the gospel of God's grace in Christ
Jesus, the gospel of God's love and mercy in the Redeemer. And
one night after the service, the missionary was sitting in
a tent provided for him by the Indians. And he had a candle
burning, was sitting there reading in the tent. And the flap of
the tent raised up, and the chief came in. And the chief had in
his hand his bow and arrow. And he laid it on the floor,
on the ground, in front of the missionary. And he said, Missionary,
chief, give his bow and arrow to Jesus. And the missionary
thought, he's missed my message. He's missed it entirely. But
I don't want to offend him because he's sincere and he means well.
And that bow and arrow is so important to him. And he's given
it to the Lord. And yet, this is not it. So he
said to the Indian, he said, Chief, I appreciate your sincerity
and appreciate your generosity, but the Lord Jesus does not want
your bow and arrow. And the chief said, Jesus, doesn't
want my bow and arrow?" And he picked it up, and out of the
tent he went. And the missionary thought, I'll
never see him again. But in a few moments he came back, and this
time he had his moccasins, hand-woven, deerskin, beads on it, prized
possession, his moccasins. But he said, missionary, if Jesus
doesn't want my bow and arrow, chief, bring his moccasins. Same
thing. The missionary said, Chief, the
Lord Jesus doesn't want your moccasins. Jesus doesn't want
my moccasins. He picked them up and out of
the tin he went. A few moments he came back. This time he had
his headdress. This was it. Each feather signified
something in his life, some victory, some trophy, some great battle
all the way down. He took off that headdress and
laid her down. Chief give his headdress to Jesus,
best I've got. The missionary said, Chief, the
Lord Jesus has no use for your headdress. He took it up and
out he went, a long time passed by, many minutes, good while. Finally, the chief came in, knelt
on his knees in front of the missionary and said, Missionary,
Chief give himself to Jesus. And the missionary said, Chief,
that's it. I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, by the
mercies of God, by the grace of God, by the work of Christ,
freely you have received, freely give, present your bodies, a
living sacrifice to the Lord Jesus Christ, which is your reasonable
service. I'm not my own. I'm bought with
a price. I belong to Christ. These things are not mine. They're
His. What I have is not mine. It's His. I'm His. I'm His bond
slave. I'm His servant. What I have,
He gave me. It's His. David, when he prayed
over there in I Chronicles 29, he said they were getting up
an offering to build that great temple. And he said, What we
give you, Lord, is not ours. It's yours already. We just give
you what is already yours. And look at verse 2. We'll go
as far as we can. Look at verse 2. And be not conformed
to this world. Be not conformed to this world,
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind and spirit,
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God. You know, there are not many
people that understand what the word worldly means. Be not conformed
to this world. Be not worldly. The word world
means the nature, the nature, the character, the opinions,
the people of this world. It's not just things and places. It's the nature. It's the character. It's the spirit of this world. Don't be conformed to the spirit
of this world, to the nature, to the opinions of this world. In other words, don't act like
the world. Don't act like them. Don't dress like them. Don't
walk like them. Don't think like them. Don't
talk like them. Don't be conformed to this world. Don't let the world call the
shots. Set your pattern. Be renewed. Renewed in your mind. Regenerated
in your mind, in your heart. Walk in the will and the way
of God. The world seeks the praise and honor of men. We seek the
praise and honor of God. The world seeks present comfort.
We seek a city like Abraham, whose builder and maker is God.
You know, somebody says he's a worldly man. They mean by that
that he does certain things or goes to certain places. Well,
he may be a carnal man, a sensual man, and a wicked man. And he
is a worldly man in doing that. But worldliness is a state of
nature. It's a state of the heart and the mind. Christ said, my
people are not of this world as I'm not of this world. That's how we're not of this
world, as Christ is not of this world. And worldliness is the
world thinks of themselves, only of themselves. You know that,
greedy. You know, in Kentucky, this investigation
that they have going on now that's exposing our senators and congressmen
as being men who sold out, who sold out for a few dollars, who
sold their votes, their influence for a few dollars. What were
they thinking of themselves? They weren't thinking of the
people whom they represent. They weren't thinking of the
responsibility and the trust given them. They're thinking
of themselves. That's the world. That's worldliness. The world
cares for the body. Only for the body, we care about
the soul. This world's music reflects rebellion. This world's dress reflects rebellion. This world's religion reflects
rebellion. This world's language... You
can't go to a movie now. The language is filthy and vulgar.
Why? Worldliness. It reflects rebellion
against God. Don't use God's name in reverence.
Use it in vain. That's the world, the greed of
this world. Worldliness is a state. And you and I, as children of
God, are told and warned by the mercies of God, don't be conformed
to this world. Don't be like them. Why are the
churches and the preachers trying to appeal to the world? Why are
they trying to bring God down to this world? Why are they trying
to bring rock music into the church and try to make it a thing
of worship? Don't appeal to the world. We're
not pleasing men. We're pleasing God. Worship hadn't
changed in 2,000 years, in 6,000 years. It's still recognizing
God, who He is, reverence, awe, fear, love, worship, glorifying
God. But the churches are entertaining.
It's a worldliness. It's an attitude and spirit of
this world. Don't be like the world. Be renewed in your minds.
Look at verse 3. I say to every man among you,
every one of you, among you, brethren, brethren, you're not
going to change the nature. God has to change a man's heart.
You're not going to do it and I'm not going to do it. God will
have to change it. Salvation is of the Lord. If
a man gets a new heart, God will have to give it to him. If a
man comes to love Christ, God will have to reveal Christ to
him. So I say to every man among you, you brethren, don't think
of yourself more highly than you ought to think. You know,
if love is the foundation grace, humility is the crowning grace.
Are you with me? You know, my friends, pride is
a sin God hates. I started to say worse than any
sin, but you know, over there in Proverbs, he said, six things
I hate. Six things I hate. God said,
six things I hate. Yea, seven are an abomination
to me. What's the first one? The very
first word, pride. God said, seven things I hate.
The first one is a proud look. God hates pride. I tell you,
pride is totally inconsistent with grace. Pride is totally
inconsistent with faith. Pride is totally contrary to
love. If love is the foundation grace,
and it is, humility is the crowning grace. All that I know and all
that I have and all that I am and all I hope to be is by God's
grace. So I have no reason to think
highly of myself. I think highly of Him. But you
know, I find this to be true. When I meet a proud man, especially
a proud religious man, an arrogant religious man. And nothing's
more inconsistent than to claim to believe in God and be proud.
But when I meet a man who thinks highly of himself, I know this,
he usually has very low thoughts of God, very low thoughts of
God. And secondly, very low thoughts
of others. And he's usually a hypercritical
individual. We're told to think soberly,
seriously, and scripturally, because God resisteth the proud
and gives grace to the humble. Over in Jeremiah chapter 9, verse
23, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Let not the mighty
man glory in his strength. Let not the rich man glory in
his riches. But he that glorieth, let him
glory in this, that he knows me, I am the Lord. Well, we've
got a few more minutes. Look at verse 4 through 8. The
apostle Paul in these verses compares the church. That's who
he's talking to. Brethren, I beseech you, brethren,
by the mercies of God, present yourself, your bodies, a living
sacrifice to God, which is your reasonable service. And don't
be conformed to this world, but be you transformed by the renewing
of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable
and perfect will of God. And I say to every one of you,
Let none of you think of himself more highly than you ought to
think, because the church is like a body, a human body. A human body is one, yet it has
many members, hands, arms, feet, legs, toes, ears, eyes. See, a human body is one. This
is one person standing here before you, but I got many members.
So the church is one. It's got many members. In this
human body, every part and every member serves for the good of
the whole body. The hand doesn't operate by itself.
It operates for the good of this body. It reaches and gets food
and feeds this body. The ears hear for the good of
this body. The eyes warn. The eyes see danger
and the head ducks. You see, the body all works together
for the good of the whole body. So the church, every member,
In particular, put there by God, it serves for the glory of God
and the good of the church. And then in the human bodies,
the members all have different service. They have different
talents. The foot's not the hand, the hand's not the ear, the ear's
not the eye. And even so in the church, some preach, some teach,
some sing. All sing. Some sing better than
others. Some minister, all minister, but some minister more affectionately
than others. Some rule. Some show special mercy. Some
have more to give. Some have the gift of prayer.
Some have the gift to breathe. All of these members of the body
of the Lord Jesus Christ serve one another. They're all put
in the body for the good of the body, for the glory of God, just
like this human body must cooperate, be in unity, work together, have
one goal. When I'm speaking here, my whole
body has one purpose, one goal, to teach this Word. Teach this. And my lungs and my heart and
everything's engaged in this. And so the church has one purpose,
to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. So I'm nothing and you're nothing.
God gives the increase. We're just one for His glory. I wish I had time to finish this
chapter. You finish it. You read it. Write
for the message. four faithful sayings, and the
Believer's Attitude and Walk. Until next week, at this same
time, may God bless you, everyone.

The Believer's Attitude and Walk

What does the Bible say about the believer's walk?

How do we know justification by grace is true?

Why is good works important for Christians?

What is the significance of renewing the mind for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

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The Believer's Attitude and Walk

What does the Bible say about the believer's walk?

How do we know justification by grace is true?

Why is good works important for Christians?

What is the significance of renewing the mind for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

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