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Amen, all right, let's go ahead and take your Bible, let's go to Revelation. We haven't been in Revelation for a while, my brain keeps trying to go there, but Romans. Romans 12, and we're going to, for sure we're gonna finish up verse number one, not that we won't re-reference it at some point, but we're gonna finish up verse number one, get into verse number two, but I can tell you now we're just gonna get into it. We're not really gonna get all the way through verse number two. And what you'll find is there are several passages of scripture that as you begin to read and go through, there are several passages that go a lot deeper than what we naturally, just reading it, anticipate it to do. And what I mean by going deeper, when you begin to not just read your Bible, but when you begin to study God's word, and not trying to find what it says according to what you're hoping it says, or what you're wanting it to say, but you're just reading it for what it is, and then find those areas of comparison where Scripture backs up Scripture. God's Word always backs itself up. If it's true, genuine, doctrinally sound principles from God's Word, then God's Word does not just say it in one place without any backup. If there is true, genuine doctrine in the Word of God, you'll find it throughout the Word of God in numerous places. The biggest problem with most doctrinal stands, with a lot of things, is preachers or even just your Christian in general will read the Bible and read one particular verse and without studying anything else they read that verse out of context or read that verse out of its proper intent and they create a doctrine around one verse that doesn't necessarily get backed up by other passages of scripture. Matter of fact, many times, doctrines that are created get torn to pieces by other passages of scripture. And then you have to ask yourself, does the Bible contradict itself? Well, no, the Bible does not contradict itself. Man contradicts the Bible. And that's where doctrinal error comes in. Brother Bryant and I were talking about Calvinism and dealing with the irresistible grace just a while ago and the whole idea of irresistible grace. But then you have to ask yourself, if grace is irresistible, then why did Paul talk about not frustrating the grace of God? So are there different types of grace? Is grace to salvation different than the grace of God in other areas? Or is it the grace of God that works in multiple ways and it's just the grace of God? If you cannot resist the grace of God, then why are there passages in the scripture that talk about the fight against resisting? See, it doesn't make sense if you build a doctrine on one passage or one or two little areas and then you completely ignore other passages that rip apart your supposed doctrine. That's not how scripture works. So as you begin to read, there are times when you begin to look at certain passages, you would think, you know, Romans 12, one and two. Oh, that's an easy way. We can quote that one and we just move on. And after a while, you forget, you don't realize that as you read Romans 12, one and two, you also have to apply massive numbers of other passages of scripture where Paul himself or Peter or others, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, went into greater detail of the same thought along the same track, but yet went into other aspects of teaching it in a much deeper manner than just one verse gave you. And so they take the foundation and then they build and build and build and build. And eventually it's like taking a puzzle. If you have one piece to a puzzle, oh, that's a beautiful piece. That's a wonderful piece. Yeah, but that's not the puzzle. The only way you really get the full understanding of the entire picture, even if you got the center of the puzzle, but you don't have the entirety of it. Well, that's such a beautiful little tree right there in that center. Oh, it's just so gorgeous. Yeah, but if you put the whole picture together, it's even better. Because it all comes together to make one complete understanding. And that's what you have with Romans 12, one and two. Paul deals with a particular aspect of being a living sacrifice, but then when you take what he's saying, and you compare what he's saying with other passages of scripture, all of a sudden, this bloom of this rose, you might say, that is closed up, and it looks beautiful, boy, it's gorgeous, it's a beautiful closed up rose, but all of a sudden, as it starts to open up, and the petals begin to completely open, Its beauty expands and you see the full aspect of what it is. And that's what Romans 12, 1 and 2 is. It's great on its own. It's wonderful. But then as you begin to really pay attention to what Paul is teaching by the leading the Holy Spirit, you understand that this thing pulls out over here and ties to this passage, and that passage, and that passage, and that, and then it ties over to this passage, and that passage, then you go to verse number two and it ties over here, and over here, and all of a sudden you realize there's a much bigger full understanding than just Romans 12, one and two. This is just a foundation that Paul spends massive amounts of time in other areas dealing from this foundation. Peter spends time teaching, not necessarily because he studied what Paul said, no. Peter spoke as the Spirit gave him utterance. And the funny thing is, when you have the same Spirit giving direction to different men, you have different men teaching a unified doctrine. Because it's coming from the same source. And so here we go, let me look at this and get into this last little bit. We've already dealt with the fact that the main theme of the entire chapter of chapter 12 is instructions for and distinctions of a Christian as Paul is going through these things with those in Rome through this letter. Verse one and two are the key verses and we can see why, it's taking us forever to get through them. But we've already dealt with, to start with, the living sacrifice. We have not finished that thought of verse one and two, giving the overall initial introduction to this chapter by dealing with a living sacrifice. We have looked at the mode of the command where it says, I beseech you. He's begging, he's pleading that they will listen to him. And then you have not only the mode of the command, you have the process of the command. You find that it's about a willingness of ourselves. It's our body belonging to the Lord, being laid before the Lord as a sacrifice like the sacrifices of old. And the conundrum or the unique aspect to it is dead but living. Dead yet alive. It's that oxymoron kind of scenario, that catch 22. How do you have dead but alive? But in God's eyes, it is both because we are dealing with two parts of our life. As a child of God, there is the flesh and there is now the revived and alive spirit. And the flesh has not disappeared because you ain't dead yet. So the flesh is still very much present. Your old carnal self is still very much present to be revived in that sense of having a voice in your life on a daily basis if you let it. But then you have the spirit that wars against the flesh. Because before you were saved, the Spirit was dead within you. But when you got saved, when you received Christ your Savior, that Spirit has been revived within you. It's the Holy Spirit of God now dwelling in you. And now there is that which is holy trying to revive in your life, and that which is carnal trying to hold on to its grip. Eternally, your life is settled because of Jesus Christ. But mortally, in this life, there is a battle going on 24-7. And that battle of who's gonna win, that battle of what you're gonna listen to, is not a little white angel on this shoulder, or a little red angel on that shoulder, or a little red devil on that shoulder, whispering in your ears, trying to convince you to do this or do that. No, no, no, it is the Spirit of God trying to work in you holiness, and it is the carnality of the natural man trying to work in you unholiness. And there's a struggle, and Paul is presenting that, and that's why he's saying you must make the choice to be a living sacrifice. I must die to the flesh, die to carnality. I must live under Christ. I must live under the Lord. And so therefore, alive yet dead. And so that is the aspect there. We also dealt with the fact of the major focus here is holy, wholly acceptable unto God. It's all about holiness. We're gonna see that a little bit more tonight, but we already dealt with that. I can't repeat myself, we'll never get done. So now we're gonna look at the validity of the command, okay? What makes this command valid? I'm gonna try to give you these things quickly because I wanna get to the first half of the contrast of the command in verse that we see in verse number two because That's what I got really excited about tonight, and I wanna get there, okay? So the validity, what makes this command to make yourself a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service? What makes this a valid command to be required of any individual? Well, first and foremost, its validity comes from the mercies of God. He says, I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God. Just the fact that God himself has shown mercy to us who are undeserving of any mercy whatsoever is enough to say that there is a valid reason that God has to request or require that we live our lives a living sacrifice. His mercy alone is enough to say He has the right to ask this of us. When you look, go with me very quickly if you would, Nehemiah. Y'all gotta move fast now, we're gonna be in trouble. All right, the book of Nehemiah. I gotta find it, somebody removed it from my Bible. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, there it is, okay. Gotta know your passages of Scripture. But in the book of Nehemiah, in chapter nine, Nehemiah 9, and verse number 30 and verse number 31, listen to what is said here. Nehemiah 9, verse number 30 and 31, it says, yet many years didst thou forbear them. He's talking about the children of Israel, talking about the rebellious children of Israel and how God dealt with the children of Israel. Yet many years didst thou forbear them and testifyest against them by thy spirit with thy prophets, yet would they not give ear. Therefore gavest thou them into the hand of the people of the lands. So he's talking about God decided to give his people into the hands of their enemies. He decided to let them be conquered because no matter how much he sent his prophets, no matter how much he sent the judges, no matter how much he did, they refused to give ear. They refused to bow the knee. They refused to stop their rebellion. And God said, fine. I'll take care of that. I'm gonna remove your freedom. And I will bring you to a point where you beg for me. You say, that's mean. No, no, no, no. He forbade, he forbade, he forbade, he forbade, he warned, he warned, he tried, he tried, and they would not give ear. And so he gave them over to their enemies. But then verse number 31, nevertheless, for thy great mercy's sake, thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them, for thou art a gracious and merciful God. amidst all that he had the right to do. He could have annihilated the children of Israel and started over with somebody else. They deserved complete annihilation with their rebellion and their refusal to give ear to the heating of God's warnings. And yet, though he gave them into the hands of their enemies to bring them to their knees, because of his great mercy, He did not utterly consume them, and he did not forsake them. And he just ended, for thou art a gracious and merciful God. So the preacher here is proclaiming what took place, but in the midst of all that happened, as bad as it got for the children of Israel, as horrible as it was, ultimately he said, but we cannot forget, he could have done much worse. and he would have been justified. But he's merciful and he's gracious. Psalm 103, eight, the psalmist said it this way, the Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Anybody here just glad that God is merciful? One of my biggest, anytime that there's Thanksgiving stuff or giving of thanks or giving testimony of the goodness of God, my go-to automatically always is, and it's not because I just created a habit and just blah, blah, blah. No, no, no, I genuinely mean it. My go-to and automatic thing that comes to my mind every single time is, I'm thankful for his long-suffering-ness towards me. What is that? That's his abundant mercifulness to not knock me out. He gives me more opportunities to get right than I deserve. So when God says through the Apostle Paul, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, what validates that command? the mercies of God. He has every right to say that we are to live as a sacrifice of ourselves for Him. then not only is it the mercies of God that validate the command, but also just the simple fact that it's reasonable, which is your reasonable service. It is the base of the base of the bottom of all things. It's just the basics. I mean, it's not even asking the biggest things of you. It's just your standard mode of operation, or it should be. as they say, standard operational procedures. For a child of God, it's not asking too much to be a living sacrifice for the Lord. That's just the reasonable service. 2 Samuel 24, 24 says it this way, and the king said unto Aaron, this is David speaking, I've preached from this before, but he as the king had gone against God, and as the king had numbered the people when he wasn't supposed to number them, and God gave him Three choices, and when David made his choice, God followed through with that choice, and there came a great pestilence of work, and there was death across the land, and it was sweeping across the land. God was in control of it, and that was the whole thing David requested. Let me fall in the hands of God. Peradventure, he'll be merciful. And so David brings himself, this death and all has swept across the land and people are dying left and right. And David is going to seek God's forgiveness. He's going to seek and ask God to please stop it right here. Lord, don't let it go any further. Let it be enough. Let it be over. Don't kill any more for my sin and for my problem. Lord, let this end right here. Let the mercifulness of God overwhelm the judgment that we are under. And so David comes before Aaron and he is going to sacrifice before this gets any further. He's gonna sacrifice ahead of what's happening and ask God to stop it right here. And Aaron says, I'm gonna give it to you. The Bible says, and the king said unto Aaron, Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price, neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. What David said is, no, no, no, uh-uh, no, it is just my reasonable act. I will not offer to God something that didn't cost me. It is only reasonable that I respond with my sinfulness and with all that I have caused. It's only reasonable that it costs me something to give back to the Lord, who's been merciful up to this point. I'm gonna ask Him to show even more and greater mercies. And how in the world can I even come before Him and have nothing that it's cost me at all to do this? He said, no, no, I will not offer to God of that which cost me nothing. May I say David was saying, this is just the reasonable thing that I must do. By the way, we will not give God our best in life if we're not willing to be a willing and living sacrifice. It doesn't cost me anything. Yeah, I'll serve God as long as it doesn't cost me nothing. Oh yeah, I'll serve in a ministry as long as it doesn't take my conveniences away. Oh yeah, I'll be a part of this and oh, I'll be a part of that. Oh, I'll witness to somebody as long as it doesn't get in the way of things that I've got planned. No, he's saying no, living sacrifice. Sacrifice everything you want and put it on the altar of what God wants. That is just your reasonable service. I gotta move, moving on. So just the fact that it's simply reasonable is a valid reason for God to ask of this of us. And then the will of God itself is validity enough because everything is supposed to be according to the will of God. Therefore, things being according to God's will is valid for asking this of us. I need to be a willing, living sacrifice because it is of the will of God and everything is supposed to be according to the will of God first Thessalonians 4 3 says this for this is the will of God even your Sanctification now it goes on and says a few other things, but that's the main focus. This is the will of God even your sanctification It's the first Peter 4 in verse number 2 says that he no longer, dealing with those that were carnal and in the flesh, and he says that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God. That is the purpose of the child of God, to live according to the will of God. Therefore, to be a living sacrifice is made valid in a command that we are to be a living sacrifice because it is simply according to the will of God. Therefore, it's valid to require. And so God's mercies, the fact that it's simply reasonable, and it is according and through the will of God. that we be a living sacrifice. Those three areas alone give the validity of that command in verse number one and verse number two. But then let's look very quickly, letter D underneath this area, and we still have a letter E. So y'all hold on, we'll get there later, not tonight. But letter D, we're just gonna do the first part of this one. If you're doing an outline setting, you have section number one here is a living sacrifice. Letter A, the mode of the command. Letter B, the process of the command. Letter C, the validity of the command. Letter D, the contrast of the command. Now we're gonna get into verse number two. See, I told you we're gonna finish verse number one. Verse number two, the contrast. And I'm just gonna give you the first half of the contrast because This gets good. Not comfortable, but it gets good. Verse number two says, and be not conformed to this world. Now, These are passages that at times people love to quote and people can quote easily. But often, let's just be honest, if a preacher really starts preaching from these passages, that's when people are like, you know what? Let's just go to another passage, please. Let's go somewhere else. Because you're gonna go off on a topic that I don't wanna go to. You're gonna go off on a tangent that I don't wanna go to. But I'm gonna show you What the Bible says is what the Bible says. What the Lord's teaching is what the Lord's teaching. It's not my teaching, it's His. And so let me show where it talks about be not conformed to this world. Now we went, this is gonna go back and tie in to where we were breaking down, not tearing down, but we were breaking down verse number one where it said, present your bodies a living sacrifice. And the fact that it was not a mix up of words, it was not a misstatement. It does not say present yourselves a living sacrifice because then you can claim any part of you is what it's talking about. No, it's not talking about yourself as your being. No, no, it specifically says, present your bodies a living sacrifice. And we went over and we looked over in other passages where it deals with the fact that God specifically defines the body of man, the vessel we are given to live in on this earth, that the physical body of man is God's. that the child of God does not own the rights to the body that you're contained in. The child of God does not own the decision-making of the body that I'm contained in. This body belongs to God. Talk about glorify God in your spirit and your body, which are God's. It's not talking about some figurative thing, it's talking about the literal body that you are housed in. Therefore, it's talking about that which is visible to the outside world. Man looketh on the outward appearance, God looketh on the heart. And people love to use that in the context of don't judge me because God knows my heart. You miss the whole true context of that passage of scripture. By the way, if we really considered the fact that God knows the heart, that would actually cause us to tremble. Because we want people to understand, well, God knows my heart, that's scary. Because out of the abundance of the heart, there's wickedness. The heart has greater capacity to do wickedly than it does to do spiritually. It can do spiritual, but it can only do spiritual when the spirit is allowed to control it. But the heart of man is deceitful above all and desperately wicked. So therefore its natural state is almost nearly uncontrollable. Outside of the power of God to control it, the heart of man is a dangerous thing. So when you say, well, God knows my heart, be careful with that one because that statement is more true than we actually anticipate it to be. But here's the whole point of man looketh on the outward appearance and God knoweth the heart. The whole point of that passage, the whole true context of that passage is only God can see the heart, therefore the only thing man has is the outward appearance to know what's real. Man is going to judge. because that's all you have in life. You make judgments 24-7. You make judgments about people. You make judgments about situations. You make judgments about yourself in the morning, what you're gonna do, what you're gonna wear, what you want people to think about. Ooh, that dress, it doesn't look good. That's just not nearly what I want it to be. Oh my goodness, I thought it was way more pretty. You know, all that kind of stuff, right? It doesn't fit like it used to. But here's the thing. As a whole, we look at it, and what are we doing? We know that man sees the outward appearance, but we don't always want to give it the full context of what the Bible is trying to teach us. What man sees me do, how man sees me act, The way man sees me adorned as a Christian is all they have. I said it before, I'll say it again, because it's backed up in verse number two, just like we mentioned in verse number one. If you have to use your words to convince people you are a Christian, you've missed it. because your conversation, your testimony is not what you can say to convince somebody that you're a godly person. It has nothing to do. You don't, you and I, I don't wanna preach at you, I'm preaching with all of us, okay? You and I all have to understand that I don't get the ability to convince people of my godliness or my spirituality. If I have to use words, then I am trying to manipulate people's thoughts. God says you can use the very thing I gave you that man sees and all that they see. If you will live as a living sacrifice, present your bodies a living sacrifice, the body that belongs to me. And you say, how do you know that's what it's dealing with? Because verse number two doubles down on it. What people see from the outward appearance of a child of God is what defines your conversation, your testimony. Now, I am not preaching a lifestyle evangelism, but I'm telling you, your lifestyle will be whether or not you have anything to say to anybody. Because in the end, if my life is saying one thing and I have to make sure, well, if y'all just listen to me a little while, you'll know how much I love Jesus. If I have to convince them with my words, then my life is not being what God told me that it should be. My outward appearance is not what it ought to be. according to holiness, according to righteousness, according to godliness. So let's look, as we're dealing with this, and be not conformed to this world. That word conformed, here it is. Let me see if I can get the word right, okay? In the Greek, that word is, okay, I said it so many times to myself, now I gotta think about it again. Hold on a second. Souski matisto. Souski matisto. Okay, not gonna do it again. It actually comes from two different words combined together. Sous, or it's spelled S-U-N, but it says like more of a sun, is how it's said. It means this, a primary preposition denoting union. Now don't get lost in big words, just get that noting or making focus to a union or a resemblance. Okay, so the sun or sus part of that is dealing with union or resemblance. So we're talking about, we're already talking about a visible aspect of something. something you can see that is united, something that you see as a resemblance of something, and then schema. You know, schema is where you get schematics. Schema is where you get these ideas of things being formed and put in place. And so that second word is schema. It basically means external, external condition. or fashion. So, suskim makidzo. It means a resemblance of an external fashion. And as a whole, when it says be not conformed, to this world, that word conformed is only used two times in scripture. The actual word, not the word conformed in English, yes, but the actual, that suskidmikidza, that word is only used twice in scripture. And here's what's interesting. The second time, first time is here in Romans 12, two, be not conformed to this world. The next time, I'll read it to you very quickly. I got, oh, I gotta hurry. Man, goodness, time has gone by. This is the fun part, too. The second time is in 1 Peter. 1 Peter 1 and verse number 14. Verse number 13 talks about, wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Verse number 14, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance. That word fashioning yourself is the same word conformed to this world. So it's dealing with, the same word only used twice, it's dealing with an external resemblance of something fashioned. So when he says be not conformed to this world, he's not talking about don't be thinking like the world. No, no, no, he's talking about something external that's evident to all those looking on that makes the individual appear to be united with or resembling something else. Did I go too deep? Be not conformed to this world is not dealing with a mental way of thinking. It's dealing with an external, visible aspect of something being united and being resembling the rest of the world. The only two times it's used is talking about the world's look and being fashioned like it. So again, we're going back to what people see to judge the child of God by. Do I look like everyone else? In other words, am I a good chameleon Christian? I blend into whatever environment I'm in. The look, the act, everything. I can look like everybody else, nobody will even know I'm an undercover agent. That's what it's dealing, be not conformed to this world. Now I wanna give you one more thing and I'm done. Here's an interesting note. That word conformed, now when we look at Romans 12, 2 and 1 Peter 1, 14, you didn't have the same English word, but you do have the same Greek word. The English word is, be not conformed to this world, or in 1 Peter, it's not fashioned. Don't fashion yourselves, okay? And so two different English words. But then you say, but isn't the word conformed found somewhere else? Is the English word conformed? Yes, but it's a different Greek word. But the word conformed in English is only found two times in the Bible. The actual conformed. Once is here in Romans 12 too, be not conformed to this world. The other time that you read the word actually conformed in English in the King James Bible is actually in Romans 8 verse number 29. We have already read Romans 8 29 and gone through it, but let me remind you as to what it says. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. So in Romans 8, the Bible says that we are by God's design predestined to be conformed to the image of his son. Romans 12 too, we are not to be conformed to this world. Here's an interesting note and we're gonna stop on this. And trust me, we could do a lot more digging, a lot more, I could give you a lot more evidence and proof about all this tied together, and we probably will before it's all said and done. But here's what's interesting about the English word conformed from Romans 8 to Romans 12. In Romans 8, the background of that word conformed has the meaning of fashioned like unto. We are predestined by a holy God, predetermined that we are to be fashioned like unto. But the interesting thing in chapter 12 is that when it says be not conformed to this world, it is actually under the definition of fashioning self according to. Romans 8. being fashioned like unto, Romans 12, fashioning self according to. Have you got the difference yet? In Romans 8, we are predetermined and predestined by God as a child of God that we are to let him shape us. We are to be Conformed, we are to be fashioned by his hand. He will make us after the image of his son, okay? Be conformed to the image of his son. He does the work in us. In Romans 12, it warns us, be not conformed. That's fashioning yourself as you would want. Now listen, be conformed to the image of the Son of God, fashioned like unto by someone else's hand. Be not conformed to this world, fashion self according to what I want. See, the warning is when you let God do the fashioning, you'll be in the image and listen, the outward external will be in what God would consider to be a holy evidence of the likeness of his son. But if I take control of it and I fashion what I want, the warning is be careful be not conformed to this world. When God gets a hold of me, I look different. When I get a hold of me, I blend in. Is that not powerful? And that is right there in the scripture as you dig in deeper. The warning is when you put your hands on it, the natural tendency is to look like the world. That's why it can't be according to what feels good to me. It can't be according to what's acceptable to society. It can't be according to the way I feel about it. No, no, it has to be according to this book. It's gotta be according to what people will see. And my testimony will speak without words having to come out of my mouth. That is the form of godliness. in the eyes of a godless world. Powerful truth. And that's only the very tip of verse number two, all right? I told you, this is, when I started reading this and I started studying, I started digging in, I began to put the puzzle pieces together on that. I'm like, wow! I did not realize one little word could send me in so many different places and yet tie everything together with one consistent truth. It's amazing. It is amazing when we let God's word say what God wants it to say. Heavenly Father, we thank you for tonight. Thank you for the truth that we can...
Book of Romans Chapter 12 (Part 3)
Series Walking Through Romans
Sermon ID | 51524237105596 |
Duration | 41:54 |
Date | |
Category | Midweek Service |
Bible Text | Romans 12:1-2 |
Language | English |
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