Would you turn with me, please, to the passage we read in the Epistle of Paul to the Romans. Romans chapter 12, and as the Lord would enable us, we might consider together verse one. Romans chapter 12, and at verse one. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice Holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12, and at verse one. For many years, the word of God was, as it were, hidden away, forgotten about, buried. During the late medieval period. And just before the Reformation, there was a renewed interest in scripture with the fall of Constantinople and the bringing of the manuscripts of the scriptures from that place along with other works of the church fathers and other people. And very much it laid the, opened the way for the work of the Reformation. Because we might say that at the heart of the Reformation was the going back, the church or God's people going back to the scriptures and there rediscovering truths which had not been proclaimed for many years. And that is especially true of this letter, the letter of Paul to the Romans. And as the reformers, grappled with God's word, and as Lula, for example, especially, was brought to understand the teaching of this letter, then they asserted that salvation is all of grace. It is not of works. It is only because of what Christ has done And so they noted that Paul was saying that sinners are undone, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And that if we are to be accepted by God, justified, declared those who are righteous in God's sight, not only forgiven, but acceptable and perfectly keeping the commandments of God, that this is something that we cannot do ourselves. And that it was only because of what Christ had done on the cross that we are justified through faith because of the grace of God. And so they emphasized Christ alone, by faith alone, Grace alone, that was their message. Your works cannot save you, cannot add in any way to your salvation. Ritual, the ritual of worship cannot save. Now that teaching was attacked by the old guard, the Romanists who did not want to hear such a message, who's viewed it as an attack on their system. And one of the things they said was, well, if we are saved by grace alone, if you do not contribute by what you do to your salvation, then that will give an excuse to live in sin. People will say, we want forgiveness. We want to get to heaven. And if there's nothing that we have to contribute to, well, that's great. We can sin all the more that grace may abound. And so they wanted to emphasize faith and works. They said, yes, Jesus is there, but the ritual of the church. and doing good, these are the things that will help you. Well, in Romans chapters one to 11, we find Paul giving a display of the theology of grace. He emphasizes that salvation is all of grace, that we owe everything to God and his grace, and that we need the Spirit even to work faith in our souls. Salvation is of grace. It is Christ alone, faith alone, by grace alone. That is his teaching and the teaching of the whole of scripture. But Paul doesn't finish his letter there. He doesn't end off just by saying we're saved by grace through faith. What you do does not add one thing to your salvation. He goes on and points out that the theology of grace leads to a life of gratitude. You have no right to say that you have received that salvation grounded in the theology of grace if there isn't a life of gratitude. And he emphasizes God's people are a people who should. We might say must. We might say want to. live a life of gratitude to God. And so he says at the beginning of chapter 12, I beseech you therefore brethren, brothers, I plead with you by the mercies of God, considering all that God has done for you, considering his goodness in providing the Lord Jesus as that saviour of sinners, and the justification which is to be found in him alone, through faith in him alone, not of works. I beseech you by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. He's saying, are you a believer? You will be and you will want to be devoted to God. And he calls us to that in these words. Offer. or present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Well, let us this morning consider this living sacrifice, this living sacrifice. And we notice five things which are to be considered. which are bound up here or explain this call to consecration that we should show if indeed we have embraced the theology of grace and the Christ who's at the center of that grace and the salvation that's to be found in him alone. First of all, He speaks of a bodily sacrifice, a body sacrifice. He says, present your bodies a living sacrifice. Now, what does he mean when he says present your bodies a living sacrifice? Obviously he's not saying kill yourself. That would be a breach of the sixth commandment and it would be wicked and foolish. Rather, what he is saying is, well, we might look at it viewed from the fact that it is our whole self that is to be offered. You remember that the readers who first, to whom Paul is sending this letter, were people who were used to sacrifice. Some were pagans. There were pagan sacrifices. Some were Jews. And although we might say the method and the purpose of the sacrifice was different, yet there was still that idea of sacrifice. And what Paul is doing is obviously connecting with the Old Testament system of worship. And he is really saying, fulfill what was represented in the Old Testament system, especially when it came to the likes of the burnt offering. Where in the burnt offering, the whole beast was taken and it was offered on the brass altar of burnt offering as it was called. The whole thing was consumed in the altar. And it was a picture of total devotion, total consecration to God. Nothing was taken by the priest. Nothing was offered back to the offerer. Here is myself, and I am giving myself wholly to God. That was represented. There's reference, you'll notice, in verse 12 to the body, of present your bodies a living sacrifice. But you'll notice in verse two, he speaks of the renewing of your mind. And he also, in verse one, speaks of reasonable, irrational service. It links in with the mind. So there you are, the whole of you, the totality of you is to be consecrated to God. Your whole being and therefore the whole of your life and every aspect of it is to be devoted to God. That's the response we should have to God's grace. Why doesn't he just say, your whole self then? Why is it that he uses the word body? Present your bodies a living sacrifice. Well, surely what he is doing is reminding these believers that they are especially to offer their bodies. as a living sacrifice, as they offer themselves in service to God. You see, many of the Greeks had a very negative view of the body. It was something that was like a prison for the soul. And the way their philosophies worked and their religions worked, it was viewed almost like a prison that had to be escaped from. Or else you could do whatever you wanted with your body, because it wasn't really important. It was the soul that mattered. And so what you find is that sexual sin and other sins, bodily sins, were rampant in Greek society. There was a degraded view of the body and abuse of the body in daily life. You think of how today, You get much the same thing in our own society. People abusing their bodies, giving it over to sex, giving it over to drink or to drugs and to other things. People abusing their bodies through sin. And you and I are to remember As Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians 6, 19, we're not our own, we are bought with a price. We're to glorify God in our body and in our souls, which are the Lord's. We're not to give ourself over to the sinful excesses where often the body is abused. We might think of how today many worship the body. There's an undue emphasis on having the perfect body. And people spend time and energy and resources pursuing perfection. Or else, they think their body is the vehicle by which they are to express themselves. And so you get body art today. And I'm showing I'm an individual. and I'm expressing myself the way I present myself. Now, obviously, whatever we weigh, whatever you wear, is giving a message to others, but that is taken to an excess with this focus on body art and things like that, which are unscriptural. and it's an abuse of the body that God has given us. And here is Paul saying, well, look, you're to consecrate your body to God. It's not for self-expression. It's not for abuse. It's not for sin. We're not to be careless in the way that we use it so that we are unconcerned about our health and our wellbeing. but rather we are to use it in a way that is honoring to God. We are to serve God with our bodies as well as our minds. We're to do it in a way that God, we're to use the body the way that God intended it to be used. And we remember this as well. Paul was aware that sin abuses the body. It's one of the reasons that he speaks of the flesh. And he speaks of indwelling sin, the corruption that remains within us as the flesh, why? Because it is through our bodies that sin usually gives expression to itself. If you think even of covetousness or jealousy, our eyes see something, the abuse of the eyes allowing us to dwell in things and being drawn into things. You get that as well as the hand that steals and other forms of sin. And so the flesh abuses the body. No, we are to offer our members, the parts of our body as instruments of righteousness, as those things that please God, even that in Romans six at the end. Has God by grace saved you? Now let us remember to use our body as well as our mind for God. So yes, we care for our body. We don't worship it. We're aware that this body is going to fall to bits, that what man perishes, then what man's the important thing has been renewed from day to day, but on the other hand, One day this body will be redeemed from corruption. One day it's going to be raised again in glory. It belongs to Christ. And we're to use it for His glory now, in the service of God, a bodily sacrifice. That should be our response. I give myself totally, especially my body, to the Lord in His service. Secondly, a living sacrifice, a living sacrifice. He speaks of this sacrifice as a living sacrifice. Well, we know that what happened with the victims that were offered on the altars, they were killed. That was the end of them. This is a living sacrifice often. Obviously they are not to be killed. It is an ongoing, a living sacrifice. That isn't really the focus of what is being spoken of here. A living sacrifice. We might think of it in two ways. First of all, we're to be a sacrifice enlivened by the Spirit of God, enlivened by the Spirit of God. You see, what is a sinner but dead in sins? Before you were converted, you were dead while you lived. You were one of the living dead. How many there are around us today, and they're the living dead. They're physically alive, but spiritually they are dead and unresponsive to the things of God, unreceptive to God. Their life is a life of unrighteousness, of sin, of doing what pleases themselves and certainly not doing what pleases God. But what's happened to you? You are one who, as Paul explains in this letter, had died to sin and risen again to newness of life. And so you can see in chapter six, verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in the lustre of. Notice there's an emphasis on the body there. Neither yield ye your members, that's the parts of your body, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, So watch your hands, that they don't lead you into sin. Don't let your feet take you into places where you'll be tempted to sin. Watch yourself. But yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members, the parts of the body, as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, For you're not under the law, but under grace. You're alive from the dead. You've undergone a spiritual resurrection. And now the Spirit of God lives within you. You're the temple of the Holy Ghost, as it's put in 1 Corinthians 6. And therefore, as one enlivened by the Spirit of God. Let your life be a life of holiness. And give this body as an instrument of righteousness. Friends, let us be thankful, this is an impossible thing that the Apostle here is calling us to do. He's saying, you're a living sacrifice, you're now alive to God. And therefore, as those who really live, serve God and go on in his service, relying on the one who has enlivened you, who's given you life. It's a living sacrifice. Perhaps another thing, suggested by that word living is the idea of it being a continuing sacrifice, a continuing sacrifice. There's not just a once for all thing, but an ongoing thing. You see, salvation is not just a momentary thing. I made a commitment to Jesus. I said a prayer and I promised to repent and it was a sort of time of repentance and now I am saved and that's it. No, it's an ongoing, it's an ongoing thing. There's a daily trust in the Lord. The true believer is one who, yes, was brought to faith at a point in time, truly repented, experienced a conversion experience. It may have been a gradual thing, or it may have been a sudden thing, but it has ongoing consequences. A radical change has taken place. And it means a sacrifice of self goes on and on. It means a believer says this, or at least we should say this, and we should think of this, every day. Each day I rise, I will be blessed and praise thy name time without end. We got in the morning. Lord, help me to give myself a living sacrifice. Do you remember what happened in the Old Testament worship? Every morning, every evening, there were an offering was offered. At nine in the morning, three in the afternoon, morning and evening, the whole day and every day, it said, the church is a living sacrifice to God, you and I. Shouldn't we be thinking these things and asking for God's grace and help to be living sacrifices. A third thing. A holy sacrifice. A holy sacrifice. He says, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God. So the sacrifice is not only living, It is holy. The word there, holy, is the same word that is used in the Greek version of the original for without blemish or without defect. That was what the Old Testament sacrifices were to be like. I wouldn't do it just to bring any old beast. Well, I'm going to offer a sacrifice. That one's got a broken leg. That one is no use for breeding. I'll offer that to God. That's giving what is rubbish. What's the second best? If people were going to offer us a gift and it was the rubbish, the second best, it was a broken thing, you would be somewhat disappointed. God expects the beast to be without blemish, without defect. And that is what we are called to then. If we're going to be a sacrifice, we're to be without blemish. We're to be without defect. We're to be holy. In other words, here is this call. Have you received of the grace of God? Let your life be a life which is without blemish, without defect. In other words, you and I are called to blameless living, to the highest standard of devotion to God. There's no superficial holiness that is being referred to here. Rather, it is perfection, blamelessness, what a challenge that is, how we struggle. But doesn't devotion to the Father demand that? What are loose views of sin? Are loose views of His worthiness of our devotion, but really exposing a low view of God. A contempt for the father, but has he given a son for us? And shall we not give ourselves in response to him? That's what he's saying here. You think of Christ. Surely devotion to Christ demands this. Did he not pay much for sin? He suffered and died on the cross. And it was all to deliver us with a gracious deliverance. And shall we say that's wonderful. Let sin all the more that grace may abound. God forbid. You died to sin. How can you live any longer than then? How can you treat it lightly? Surely we should be horrified at the thought that our sins nailed them to the tree. Surely devotion to the Holy Spirit demands this. After all, here is temple. If you're reading the Old Testament history, as we've been reading in worship, One of the tragic things you find is that some of the kings, they seem to lose the plot and go after idols and they ended up making the temple of the holy God a shrine for false gods. And sometimes the temple was closed up and there was filth in the temple and it became a place where God was treated with contempt. A holy sacrifice. Doesn't that mean we must do nothing to offend the Holy Spirit? We're his temple. We must pursue holiness. We're a blessing to have life. and to be animated by the Spirit of God who is dwelling within us, and shall we then use our bodies and our minds to pursue sin? Let us not offend the Spirit. So we think of what a high standard of holiness there is. The Ten Commandments. and all their spirituality and breadth, and Paul often expounds these commandments in his letters. We're being reminded, true devotion produces holiness. Is that your devotion? Is that what you're pursuing? I beseech you, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy. acceptable unto God. That brings us to a fourth thing. It's an acceptable sacrifice. Not all sacrifices are acceptable. Indeed, sometimes you find God saying, away with your sacrifices. I don't want them. I want something else instead. And he's not saying that sacrifice in the Old Testament system wasn't important, but he's saying, I'm not having your sin joined with it. He's saying, I don't want your sacrifices in Isaiah one, because your hands are full of blood. Who has required this at your hand? Now, what does that remind us? It reminds us that an acceptable sacrifice must be God ordained. and therefore what we are being called to is a God-ordained holiness. And it just is all worship. It's worship that is to be appointed by God. And so God can see who has acquired this at your hands. I've not. Isaiah 112. He can see In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines, the commandments of men. Well, that was especially true of the sacrificial system. And here is the picture of a living sacrifice. And what is acceptable worship? And what is an acceptable living sacrifice? is not to be determined by us what we think God wants, either in our public worship or in a life of devotion to God. The acceptable sacrifice is that which is living, and living according to the word of God, to the commandments of God? Do you receive those commandments with delight? Do you receive them and seek to apply them by God's grace? Are you trying to reinterpret them to suit yourself and to frame your own way of holiness as God's standard? That's the acceptable sacrifice. There's something encouraging in that word acceptable. Because the sacrifices which were holy were acceptable to God. And what are we doing when we are pursuing this devotion to God, but seeking that which pleases God. And so the psalmist in Psalm 40 that was sung, to deny will I take delight without my God that art, yet that most holy law of thine I have within my heart. I delight in thy law, and the law of God after the inward man, Romans 7, 14. Do you love God? You have an eye to what pleases him. You want to please your father. You want to keep his commandments. And you can see then that this life of gratitude is a life of love and a thanks to God. And the reality is that what is acceptable to God, what pleases him, How's it put in Old Testament language? The sacrifice was a sweet-smelling savor. It wasn't a stink, that's certain. It was a sweet-smelling savor, acceptable to God. In other words, God delights in your holiness. What an encouragement to be holy. He delights in a holy people. Final thing. A thoughtful sacrifice. A thoughtful sacrifice. He says, which is your reasonable service. Which is your reasonable service. What's the idea of reasonable service? Well, the word service can mean worship. The whole of our life then is to be service or worship to the Father. And that's true. And it's something we're to remember, though we're not to make it an excuse for saying that we don't need a set day of worship or set public worship because God's ordained that in his word. And Paul would have set days of public worship. Every Lord's Day, he gathered with the church. He hangs on at Troas in Acts chapter 20. Although he's in a hurry to get to Jerusalem, he hangs on to the first day of the week to worship with the people there, and then he moves on the next day. But the idea is, the whole of our life being worship. The word reasonable, some of the modern translations translate it as spiritual. The idea is more rational or thoughtful. Really what's being said is, when you're doing these things, don't go on to autopilot. You know, how often we do that. We sing and we move on to autopilot. We know the words, we know the songs. The tunes, we enjoy it, and we haven't really taken the words in, thought about them, and then repeated them. And we can do that with so much in our life. So it's not mechanical. We're not an autopilot. The body, how many bodily functions you don't think of? I mean, do you think about breathing? You never think about breathing unless you've perhaps got a really bad cold or are threatened with being put onto a ventilator. Then perhaps you think about breathing, but you never think of it most of the time. It just happens. But in our worship, this devotion, this giving ourself in a sacrifice is to be thoughtful. Our life of service is to be thoughtful. That's the picture. So how does that work out in practice? Well, surely it's this. We're to be constantly remembering God's grace to us. We're to remember we needed salvation. We're to remember the rock from whence we were hewn, the pit from where we were digged. We're to think of what God has done for us. He could have left us where we were, but he has saved us by grace. We've been delivered from slavery. We deserve to be left there and punished forever in hell. How thankful I am that God has delivered me. I will not go back to a spiritual Egypt. I will live as one, delivered. But I will think of the cost of redemption, of how it cost the death of Christ to deliver me. And I will walk in love as Christ also has loved me and given himself as a sacrifice for me. With Joseph, when I am tempted to sin, I will say, how can I do such a thing and sin against my God? He's been so good to me. And shall I go on? in sin. No, I belong to him. I'm no longer my own. And I'll see it's all of grace. I don't deserve this salvation. He has freely given it to me. How can I repay him? I will present my body, a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God. That is the thoughtful service that he is worthy of. I've been saved to live to his praise and be a witness for him. The theology of grace produces a life of gratitude, a holy life. Lord, help me to be holy that I might offer myself my body as a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, this is the reasonable service he is worthy of. May God enable us so to respond to his grace in the gospel. Let us pray. Lord, bless thy truth to us. Help us to take it to heart, to live to thy glory, and to live lives of thanksgiving unto thee. Bless the truth to us and enable us to live lives which are as a living sacrifice to thee. We need thy help. Grant thy grace for Jesus.