I'd like you to turn with me in God's Word to Romans chapter 11. This morning we're going to be looking at Romans 12, verses 1 and 2. Lord willing, over the next three Lord's Day mornings we'll be looking at the entire chapter of Romans chapter 12. I realized I will not have time to finish the Gospel of John. Maybe Pastor Belden can take up that charge, but… So we're going to look at three sermons from Romans chapter 12. It's kind of a final exhortation to walk in fellowship with the Lord. In Romans 12, it begins this last section of Romans, kind of like the third section of our catechism, dealing with thankfulness, a gratitude to the Lord for His complete deliverance in Jesus Christ. And at the end of the explanation of that deliverance in Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul ends with this doxology in Romans chapter 11. So we're going to begin our reading back at verse 33. Hear now the word of the Lord. O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever, amen. Our text. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Dear friends, you're reading from God's most holy word. Once again, just those first two verses of Romans chapter 12 will be our text this morning. Beloved congregation, the Lord Jesus Christ, in Paul's letter to the church in Rome, He begins this letter by laying out their sin and misery, their need. Then he comes to chapter three, verse 21, and it's a pivotal verse. But now a righteousness from God apart from the law has been revealed. And that righteousness, which is Jesus Christ himself, the second Adam, our representative in our place, That's explained all the way through Romans chapter 11, and now we come to Romans chapter 12. At the end of the explanation of the work of Jesus Christ, his whole salvation, the Apostle Paul, as he does once in a while, breaks out in doxology to the Lord. For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. That is the rightful conclusion to an understanding of the gospel of salvation. Glory to God alone. Now that the teaching of salvation has been poured out, we come to this last section, dealing with gratitude and thankful living. And so kind of over the next three Lord's Day mornings, Lord willing, we'll look at an overall theme of living sacrifices. And it's with this question in mind. What does it mean, brother and sister? What does it mean for you to live a life as a living sacrifice? We know it is to walk in fellowship with the Lord, but the answer to that question, what it looks like in your life, is unique to you, to your particular situation, to your particular joys and burdens of your life, to the very place where God has called you. So keep that question in the back of your mind. What does it look like to live a life as a living sacrifice? Since we are united to Jesus Christ, we walk in newness of life. It's not always an easy thing to walk in newness of life. The old life continues to seem to creep back in, and yet the call of the gospel is to put the death sin in the rising to life, the coming to life, the resurrection of the new self. None of us, congregation, has the strength in themselves to fulfill such a calling. We look to God. He gives to us the special gift of which the Lord spoke of, the Spirit, empowers us to serve the living God. Our theme this morning is our God calls us to a full life of transformed living. Our God calls us to a full life of transformed living. First, we'll see who is called. Second, why are they called? And then third, what are they called to? So first, who? Our text begins by saying, I appeal to you therefore, brothers. The text begins with a call. But who is our text calling? Who are the objects of this call? We see in our text the word brothers. The call doesn't first come to Jews and then to Gentiles. That distinction is now gone. The term is brothers. So does that mean this is a call simply just to the men? No, this is a generic term. It's referring to men, women, and even children. The call in context to the church in Rome are all of those who are identified with Jesus Christ. Well, boys and girls, how are you identified with Jesus Christ? You haven't made a profession of faith yet. How would you be identified with Jesus Christ? It's because you were baptized. That's right, your identity with Jesus Christ. And so even now, as we look at Romans chapter 12, the call comes to each one of us. I appeal to you, therefore, those identified with Christ. And here's question one, boys and girls, on your sheet. Each one of us, each one who is a believer in Jesus Christ is given a unique role, a calling. Sometimes it's called a vocation. When we think of the work we're called to, as a student, you're called to be a faithful student. As an employee, you're called to be an employee. You have callings as husbands, wives, et cetera. But everyone has a same calling, and it's the calling to holiness. This idea of calling is first introduced with the first word in the original in this section. It's translated here in our text, I appeal. Other translations have the word beseech, exhort, plead with, urge. It carries with it the idea of invitation connected to authority. It doesn't say, if you want to, brothers, walk in this way. It's I urge you, I appeal to you, I beseech you. There is so much at stake. It's an appeal by authority. For those trusting in Jesus Christ, the way that we live our lives, whether godly or ungodly, isn't an option. God does not save us from our sins and misery, though we're undeserving, and then leave us in our sin and misery. He brings us somewhere. He gives to us the Holy Spirit living in our hearts, that our lives might be new. We will never be perfected in this life. We will never perfectly walk in fellowship with God, but let us strive all the days of our life to walk with the Lord. This is our calling. The calling, as we'll see in a moment, is to present our bodies as living sacrifices to God. to flee the world and have our minds transformed by the gospel. The call then comes to those who are identified with Jesus Christ. And dear friend, if you are not yet identified with Jesus Christ, if you have not bowed your knee before the Lord, even as the apostle Paul calls them to, I appeal to you therefore, dear friend, to place your trust in Him, because when you do so, you are delivered, your sins are forgiven, you're granted eternal life, and then you have a new identity. Your identity is as Christian, those in Christ. Second, we see why. Before we get into the what, we look at the why, and right away we're given the motivation. Why should we, in any way, live a particular type of life? In verse one simply says, by the mercies of God. When we see this phrase follow the word therefore, we can be sure that this is the ground. Here's an appeal and here's the very ground or the very reason or the very weight behind the appeal. By the mercies of God. Boys and girls, here's question two. It's not the word mercy of God. If it was, that would mean something slightly different. But mercies, it's a plural word. By the mercies of God. The manifold mercies of God. Well, what exactly are those mercies of God? Well, in order to find that out, we'd have to go through the Gospel of Romans, the letter to the church in Rome, to see what Jesus Christ has done. But very briefly, it is a complete deliverance. It is a justification through Jesus Christ alone. It is going to be a sanctification by the Holy Spirit. It'll be a raising up to a new life. That the entirety of our life is now defined by who we are in Jesus Christ. And we can think of maybe the culmination of this in Romans chapter eight. We're given a great intercessor. We're given the promise that God works all things for good for those who love him. Our minds and our hearts are stretched Romans chapter 8. How do we know that God is for us? How do we know we won't be given over to defeat in this life? Because if God is for us, and he's promised to be for us, who can be against us? Who can bring a charge against one of God's elect? No one. No one. Our foundation is in Jesus Christ, by the manifold mercies of God. This mercy of God is built upon His free grace. By nature, we all fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3.23, Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God. The gift of God in Jesus Christ is eternal life. He's given us a son, his righteousness, he's given us faith. The Lord has done it all for us. We who are enemies become friends. We who are orphans become children. United together, called in our text, brothers in the Lord. The Apostle knows, and we know, that there is no greater incentive, no greater motivational push to godliness than to meditate and reflect upon the mercies of God. What do you deserve, dear friend, and what have you received? Those mercies of God must be life-changing. Future defining. It becomes the very basis for this ethical appeal of our text. Christian ethics, which is a question of morality, right and wrong, living. Christian ethics simply is the teaching of God's word as it applies to the real life situations that you face. What's going on in your life? You must make decisions each day. That's Christian ethics. The impetus or the motivation to answer that question always goes back to this. By the mercies of God. By God's grace given to me. By God's grace given to you. That's the why. See the who? All of you. Why? By the mercies of God and now the what? The rest of verse one, we see that we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice It's a very interesting phrase. The verse is pretty well known to us, so you may have gotten used to hearing it, but it's a very interesting phrase. This would have been very shocking for the Romans, or think of pagan Greeks to hear this. Your bodies is a living sacrifice. The reason why is because in Greek, and this impacts Rome, philosophy, There's a great division between the body and the soul. The soul is that which is good and holy and righteous, and the body is just the prison for the soul. All of the sins we fall into, the desires of the flesh, they're all connected to the body. And in fact, that word flesh is used negatively time and again, even in this letter to the church in Rome. So it seems like the body would be bad, the soul is good. That's not the picture we're getting in our text. It's to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. And then this idea that it's not this great division between body and soul, one good, one bad, starts to orient the Christian understanding of living. It's not just our souls who will be raised in the resurrection. It's also our body. What do we confess in question answer one? I belong, body and soul, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. We cannot do things with our body, or have our body involved, that will not impact the soul. As a Christian, they're all together one. They can be distinguished, but they can't be separated until death. So for the Apostle Paul to say, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. It might seem very strange to the original hearer, but we know that we cannot separate them. John Murray says, quote, Paul was realistic, and he was aware that if sanctification did not embrace the physical in our personality, it would be annulled from the outset. God's working not merely on our mind or soul, but also through that in our lives and our bodies. So what are we to do with our bodies? Present them and bring them before God in all of our life as a living sacrifice. Well, that language of sacrifice, boys and girls, what does that make you think of? Where in the Bible would you find sacrifices? Well, in the Old Testament, there were many sacrifices. You could think of the sacrificial lamb. at the time of Passover, the shedding of blood, that instead of me paying for my sins, we might sacrifice an animal. It was all pointing ahead to Jesus Christ, but that this sacrifice then would somehow cover our sins as an atonement. Well, the thing about sacrifices in the Old Testament is that they died. You don't sacrifice a sheep and then take it out to the pasture and let it walk around. No, the sheep is dead. The goat is dead. Sacrifices die. But our text flips this. We're not dead sacrifices to God. We're living sacrifices to God. It's an important word because it's connected with one of the mercies of God. And one of these mercies of God is the fact that we've been raised up with Jesus Christ. We're not dead sacrifices anymore. We would be if Jesus was still in the tomb. But Jesus is not in the grave. On the third day, he rose again from the dead. And because he rose as our first fruits, we are raised to a new life. We present ourselves to God not as dead, but those who were dead but are now alive, those who were lost but have been found. That is a living, that is a continual sacrifice to the Lord. The next terms we come to are holy and acceptable to God. Well, holy is the opposite of defilement of the body due to sin. That's what you think of the flesh. It is unholy. It's given over to the lusts of the flesh. Holy, acceptable to God, has reference to the will of God. It's gonna be mentioned in verse two. This calling is only possible because God has done something in us. There's a balance that needs to take place in our minds. We might see ourselves as pitiful sinners, Sometimes maybe even seeing ourselves so negatively, almost as worthless. But God doesn't see us as worthless. We know that we are sinners. We know that without grace we have no hope. But God doesn't see us as worthless. Our worth comes from Jesus Christ. We're his image bearers. We're being restored to something day after day after day. God is doing this work. have been given, personally, a very, very special gift. The Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit. Because of that, we might be assured that this work, which the Scriptures are speaking of, will continue to go on. We have a calling and responsibility. We're not passive in this. But the Holy Spirit is the sanctifier. The Holy Spirit is the one who works. The Holy Spirit is the one who softens our hearts. And right now, by God's grace, it's the Holy Spirit who's unblocking your ears that you might hear the call of the gospel. Verse one ends with this interesting phrase, which is your spiritual worship. Certainly the idea of worship can be carried through from the context of dealing with a living sacrifice. we must wonder why spiritual worship would be used. And the reason it's used is because presenting our bodies as whole and acceptable to God would involve the entirety of our lives. In fact, the old, the King James translation of this has the word, this is the Christian's reasonable service. It's even a more interesting word. Reason, you think through it. I think that just automatically happens. In a sense, the Spirit's working without our knowing. But the reasonable service, the spiritual worship, or sometimes translated spiritual act of worship, is something that we are 100% responsible for. It's a call. It's a call not to sit on our hands. It's a call to work. All the days of our life, And if you think that that sounds like hard work, it's because it is. If you think that that work sounds tiring, so much so that to the end of your life, you must be exhausted, you will be. Talk to your grandparents in the faith. Not merely did your body slow down, but you realize the path that you've walked has been a long path. God has been with you. But now you are ready for the end. You see, the end of the race, the goal is there, and at the finish line, the finish line, we're robed, we're given a trophy, we're given a place, we are delivered. But we're not there yet. We're still living. And so we must continue to walk or run, or whatever scriptural language you might want to use, to run the race that God puts before us. But it's something that we are to be active. Presenting our bodies before God as a living sacrifice takes our will. Some things happen passively in life. You probably haven't even thought one single second during this worship service that you're breathing. You're taking air into your lungs, through your nose, your mouth, Filtering out the oxygen, you breathe out the carbon dioxide. You might not even have been thinking about that, but you've been, all of you have been doing it the whole time I've been speaking, preaching God's Word. It's passive. Babies do it without even thinking about it, right? But that's not what the call to living sacrifices is like. We might get into good habits and patterns in life, that is important, but every day before you set your foot on the ground, before you even get out of bed. You can choose that day whom you will serve, whether the Lord or the self. It is a purposed living. And it goes contrary to what the pressure of this world would give you. In a sense that none of these things of the pressures of the world are new. The saints who have gone before us have struggled with the same things. We live in a world of relative truth, of pornography, materialism, the sexualization of our young women, the ease at which it is to attain most material things, the love of pleasure and sin, the glorying of sin, which can never give what it promises, which is happiness. The reality of living in 2023 is a unique time. On the one sense, nothing is new. On the other sense, this is a very unique time we're living in. It's a time of absurdity in a lot of ways. But let that much more motivate you to live before the Lord. There's that much more urgency to present ourselves before God as a living sacrifice. Our whole life is spiritual worship. In that sense, everything we do is spiritual. Now boys and girls, this is question three. Now we come to verse two. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. There is both a negative command and a positive command in that verse. Negatively, do not be conformed to this world. Well, how would one become conformed to this world? What does this mean? Well, what does the word conform mean? It means to form or mold one's behavior in accordance with a particular pattern of set standards. Let me say that again. It is to form or mold one's behavior in accordance with a particular pattern or set of standards. The word in our text translates as world, literally age. To not set our standards on this age, to this pattern, to this form of the here and the now. So what does that look like in our lives? Well, what is the spirit of this age? What are you being told to believe, and to follow, and to make dear? Well, we might think of, from the scripture, we're told the Ten Commandments. It's a very summary of God's moral law, will for our lives. But in the world around us, we're told the opposite. Think of the pressure, even now, not to speak up, not to stand up for truth in the present. There is a form or a pattern to this world which is hostile to God. It is at war with God. It is antithetical to God. But, and here's the point, it is the very pattern of this world. There isn't another one. There isn't a good form of this world, in that sense. It's the very nature of the world. The situation with Pride Month, the month of June is Pride Month. That's a new thing. In a sense, it's new. In another sense, it's not. What's the very root cause? Oh, rebellion against God. The promotion of self as the ultimate idol and God of this world. The ultimate God is self. It's not new. They're just telling you, you have to accept it now. Do not be conformed to this world. But it's easy to think that this is their problem out there. The world is out there. We are the church. Nice, insulated. We have schools, they insulate. We have homes, they insulate. We have activities, play dates, friends, we insulate. There's nothing wrong with insulating our children. But unlike what the Amish or Mennonites might think, you can't flee the world because it's in here. You take it with you. You start your own reformed community somewhere, clearly away from the impact of the world, sinless in itself. Problem is all the people who come, they ruin it. Why? Because of what's in here in their heart. The world. There's so much of the world in the Christian. It is great to speak about a sanctified life and living for the glory of God, almost as if it's heaven, but in truth, this is the struggle we all must face. The forms of this world are powerful. I read once of the Christian life being described as people drifting in a canoe down a river. They're drifting just above a waterfall, and they're heading towards the waterfall. On this current, down the river, there are three kinds of people. There are people who go along with the current and they're laughing and singing, having a good time. There are also people who roll upstream against the current desperately. And there are also people who put the paddles down and just drift down the stream, look around, they're taking in the beautiful scenery, the beauty around them. The Word of God says, Don't drift downstream. Row against the current. It might seem peaceful to put down the paddles and just enjoy the scenery around you, but the sound you hear in the distance isn't a babbling brook. It's a waterfall. You'll be dashed against the rocks when you go over it. That's the warning. That's the weightiness. How many and our families, and our society, and our neighborhoods. I was just enjoying the ride down the river. Didn't realize the danger at hand, the urgency. Pedal now, because when you get too close, it is so much harder to go against that trend. The form of this world is deceptive. It involves your money. and your work, and your home, your weekend activities, and your goals, desires, and hopes. God says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed. This is the positive command. That's the opposite of being conformed. How can we be transformed? To go back to the earlier illustration with the canoe going down the river, How can we row upstream? If you've ever tried that, to row upstream in a canoe or even a rowboat, you could do it for a while. It's like swimming against a rip current. You're gonna get exhausted and you're gonna drown. Eventually you'll run out of energy. But the good news is that you don't row alone. In fact, we're given a motor right on our canoe. A motor, and if you row with a motor against the current, now it's gonna be a whole lot easier. You're gonna be going in the right direction. The renewed mind is one that's enlivened by the Holy Spirit and governed by the word of God. God doesn't leave us and ourselves. He transforms us. He doesn't call us out of this world to flee the world, but to actually be in the world. but he gives to us the very tools, the very weapons for the warfare. And what our text is speaking about here is a transformed mind. What this means is that the renewed mind or transformed mind thinks about things differently than the mind conformed to the world. For example, think about the topic of money. Is money good or bad? Well, what do you think about money? How would a mind conform to the world? Think about finances. What is its purpose? How should it be saved and spent? Should it be tithed? Should you try to save as much so that you can buy bigger and better things? What is the goal of a transformed mind when it comes to money? And apply that to sex, alcohol, children, retirement, activities, sports. How would a transformed mind view these things in a particular way? And the reason why it's so vital and necessary to have a renewed mind, because then you'll be able to see clearly. The word our text uses is discern. It's a very important word. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing, I'd say that by doing and reflecting on, by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. The word discern means to test and examine, to see how they fit into God's will and to God's good plan, to see what God has revealed in the holy scriptures as we test, as we discern. John Stott says there's three stages of Christian moral transformation. Stott says, first, our mind is renewed by the word and the spirit of God. Then we're able to discern and desire the will of God, and then we are increasingly transformed by it. a renewed mind, a transformed heart, are able to perceive the things of the Lord. In this sense, Christians are the only ones who are truly freed in this life. They're freed that they might serve the Lord their God. And then we're able to discern the will of God, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. This is God's calling. And we see this time and again in the scriptures. God provides us because God is faithful. Listen to what we read in 2 Corinthians chapter three, verse 17 and 18. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. The transforming work. We are justified. once and for all in Jesus Christ, but we are being transformed, remade, renewed all the days of our life. Brothers and sisters, the calling is before us, living sacrifices. The pattern or form of this world is at war with God and his church. We are called not to conform to that, not to become part and parcel of that, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, and that's the continual process of God's work in us. We have a tremendous calling, but God goes with us. We'll fall into sin, but repent of that sin, and God will lift you up once again. What this means is that there are times where we will have to take the time to make important decisions in the Christian life, But as it comes to the reality daily of living as forgiven sinners, let our speech, our thought, our behavior, our attitude, our goals conform not to this world, but to an altogether different one, conform to God's word, God's will, and God's way. We stand in the need of grace as we live in this world, but this is exactly what God has promised to give us. Seek it from the Lord. Amen. If you'd like to meet with our prayer team after the worship service, after the presentation from Word and Deed, you can meet with them Room to the right of the sanctuary as you exit. They would love to pray with you or for you. May God bless and keep them. Let us pray together. Our Father in heaven, you are so good. Help us never to tire of hearing of your goodness and mercy to us in Jesus Christ. You've given to us through your word this morning a call as a living sacrifice, not a dead one, we need your help. So give to us your Holy Spirit that we may live our lives, not conforming to this world, but being transformed. So work in us. Make us living witnesses of your grace. Grow us in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. And Father, be glorified in this. We pray for your blessing upon our offering this morning. We pray for the work of Edudeo Ministries. We pray that they might be encouraged in this work, and that those in developing countries might receive the resources they need for education. And so give to us now generous hearts. We ask, Father in Heaven, that you might continue to guide us in this Lord's Day, that we might sanctify it for your glory, And Lord, that we might have a very picture of a greater rest that yet awaits us. Hear us now in Jesus' name we pray, amen.