In the bright sunlight, never rejoicing, pressing my way through. Mansions above Singing his praises Gladly I'm walking Walking in sunlight The sunlight of love Heavenly sunlight Heavenly sunlight Flooding my soul with Glory divine, hallelujah I am rejoicing, singing his praises For Jesus is mine Praise the Lord Jesus is mine Romans chapter 12. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, and be not 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. For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office, for we being many are one body in Christ, and every one member is one of another. having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith, or ministry let us wait on our ministering, or he that teacheth on teaching, or he that exhorteth on exhortation, he that giveth let him do it with simplicity, he that ruleth with diligence, he that showeth mercy with cheerfulness, let love be without the simulation, and pour that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with broadly love and honor, preferring one another, not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing to the necessity of the saints, giving to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you, bless and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one towards another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as life in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Again, praise the Lord this morning that you are here, I do. I certainly am thankful that he has brought each of us safely back to this place. Again, I say this designated place that the Lord has given us, as he has freely given us all things, he has freely given us this time today to be together with each other, that's important, but with him. All his promises are true and he's promised to be here with us. Alright, return with me to Romans chapter 12 where Brother Gene read the full chapter for us a little while ago. There was one addition to the prayer list that I forgot and that is the Dice family. Doug Dice and his wife had a new baby, Aidan Dice. All right, now for the last few weeks we have been teaching on the importance of God's Word to God's children. We talked about the necessity of God's Word being a daily thing. that we daily need to partake of God's Word just as we daily partake of breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and all those midnight snacks. It's necessary, isn't it? It is. God's Word is a daily necessity for His children. We looked at how we grow spiritually when we partake of the Word of God. We listed several things in the last few weeks of how we do grow, how we're able to grow spiritually when we partake of the Lord through His Word. We saw that the Word convicts us of our sin. How the Holy Spirit shows us by this conviction of our sin our need of a Savior. These things we are daily reminded of when we look into God's Word. Paul many times says that it's necessary to put you in remembrance of those things that you've heard, those things that you were taught. And so it's necessary for us on a daily basis that we are reminded of our need of Christ. And when we see ourselves and even the thought processes that we find ourselves going through in our daily walk, we realize we need Him, don't we? We need to realize it more, as in more deeply realize it, and more often realize our need of Him. And of course, by the Holy Spirit showing us ourselves without Jesus Christ in our life, Without God loving us from the foundation of the world and sending His Son to redeem us from this sinful nature into the new nature that He has freely given us, it causes us to sorrow over ourselves, to sorrow over the sin that we see within our lives. That too is a daily thing, isn't it? It is, because we still have this old nature within us at this time in our lives. We saw then that the Word drives us to confess our sins, doesn't it? It does, and that's an important process of this life we're living for Him. That's an important process of this Confirmation, or this conforming, we should say, to the image of Jesus Christ. He was perfect in His nature. You are too, in the new creature that God created within you, in your mind and heart. You see, that old nature and that new nature, they're separated. Praise God that they are. And we saw, of course, that the word and the conviction and the sorrow over our sins causes us to confess our sins and it brings about a hatred of sin. God hates sin. We're being conformed to be like Him. And so as we grow into Him by partaking of Him in His Word, again on a daily basis, then we develop this same hatred of sin. We hate it in us. Yes, we hate it in others and we find it a lot easier to hate it in others than we do in ourselves, but it's real. And if we're looking, we see it, don't we? We do. We see the effect that the things of the world have on us and on our minds and the desires of our hearts. And most of the things of the world as we know are opposed to Jesus Christ and the truth of the gospel. All right. And so an extended effect of these things that I've just listed is that it causes us to forsake sin in our lives. Again, another part of this so important process of this conforming to the image of Jesus Christ. And that's what the Word, as we partake of it, it convicts us. Or, as we saw over in Acts, the men who heard the gospel were pricked in their hearts. That means that the Word of God penetrated their hearts. And as we look into it, as we study it, it penetrates our hearts, doesn't it? And at the same time, it penetrates our minds, and it, I say it, the Holy Spirit persuades us to have the mindset of Jesus Christ. What was his mindset? To do the will of the Father. Remember? Over and over. He always pointed it out, didn't he? To do the will of the Father. That's our desire. That's our heart's desire. And so our minds are conformed to this desire that we've been given. And then the Word, as we study it, Psalm 119, 11 says, O thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee. You see, the word is hid in our heart. And as we live our daily life and we have these confrontations, I guess you can say, of thought, the word of God that's hid in our heart shows itself. And you see, that's how we fight this battle that's going on within us between the old man and the new man. We have God's Word. Remember how sharp it is? It's sharper than any two-edged sword, isn't it? And it cuts away the evil thoughts that come into our mind. It cuts away the evil desires of the things of this world. It cuts it away. even as physical circumcision. So spiritual circumcision cuts away the flesh. All right. And so the Word causes us, as we have already studied, to purposely confront sin in our minds and in our lives, because we are driven by the Holy Spirit to be more like Him. All right. We saw Jesus himself in John 3 told Nicodemus that a man must be born again. And he said, unless except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Well, if you have been illuminated by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God is spiritual nourishment to you, I want you to see yourself It's this person who sees the kingdom of God. In other words, it's been revealed to you spiritually, powerfully by the Holy Spirit of God, driven by the love of God that Paul said nothing can separate us from. All right. So this saving knowledge of God comes from God, of course. this revelation that we have, this ability to see the Kingdom of God. It is a supernatural gift, isn't it? All right. And then we saw that this calling that we have is a holy calling. In 2 Peter chapter 1, we're told that He hath called us to glory and virtue. And we looked at that a week ago, I think, and we looked at the fact that if God is calling us to glory and virtue, where is the destination that He's calling us to? Well, where do we see glory and virtue? In the Son of God, right? And only in Him. Only He lived a perfect, holy life in sight of a holy, righteous God, the Father. So he's drawing this to himself. Okay. All right. Now, Romans chapter 12 and verse 1. Romans chapter 12 and verse 1, Paul says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. And since he said, I beseech you therefore, then let's back up a little bit to verse 28 in Romans chapter 11. Romans 11, 28 says, As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes, but as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake, for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. In other words, they don't stop. They're eternal gifts. And this calling is eternal. It's eternal, it's effectual calling. That's why the T-H-E, THE, in Romans chapter 8, where we read that all things work together for those that love the Lord, those that are to be called according to His purpose, that's why that THE is important. Some of our later translations leave that out. Verse 30, Romans 11, 30, says, For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief, even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. That's what we've got a tiny taste of, isn't it? The wisdom and knowledge of God. Yes. How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways are past finding out. For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counselor? Or who hath first given to Him? And it shall be recompensed unto Him again. For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. Therefore, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, knowing this, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Our reasonable service. We're not going overboard. We can never outdo or outgive God, can we? No, it's our reasonable service that we present ourselves, that we present our bodies a living sacrifice. Now, when we think of this living sacrifice that we are to be as we live, in and for Jesus Christ we see this battle that we're in we see that we are to mortify the flesh as we're told in Galatians 5 16 We're told when we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And when we walk in the Spirit, we're walking in the strength and the power and the foundation of the Spirit. You see, when we go through these temptations of life that begin in our minds, though a lot of times with our eyes or our ears, And then in the mind, whenever we are departing from the love of this world, when we are departing from the evil thoughts of this daily life, we are a living sacrifice. Matthew 16, 25 said, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it. When he says, whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, it's not just talking about separation from this body when we die. But he's talking about the loss of the love of the world on a daily basis as we live for Him. You see that? A living sacrifice before Him. All right. When we feed on the Word of God, if you will, I want us to get a little clearer picture of what happens when we do that. This daily thing that we do, we look into God's Word because we're seeking Him. We're seeking a deeper and a fuller knowledge of how He is, right? Because that's how we want to be, right? So, that's what we're doing. When the Israelites were in the desert, with no food, you remember that God provided for them. And He provided what they called manna. And it was from heaven, manna from heaven. Now we know and we've said that the true manna from heaven is Jesus Christ. And as we pick up this Word and look into it and seek Him in it, we are partaking of Him in a spiritual manner the way the Israelites got up in the morning and found this food, this manna all over the ground. Now they could have walked all over it looking for something else, but they were instructed by God what to do. We won't go back over there this morning because I think we all know the account of what happened, but they were instructed they had to go out there and pick it up they had to bring it into their tents their home, their beings then they had to partake of it, they had to prepare it, I'm sorry, they had to prepare it then they were able to partake of it and receive the benefit of the food that God provided and we're going to look at that A little deep. One word right here. Okay, I'm writing on the board up here. That spell is not always perfect, but I think that's right. The word appropriate. What does appropriate mean? Basically, it means to get. To receive. To go and get something. To appropriate it. They did that when they came out of their tents, went and picked up the manna, took it in their tents and prepared it and then ate it and then benefited from it because it had the nutrients, the vitamins, everything that they needed because everything God provides is complete, isn't it? Yes, it is. That's what we do when we protect of God's Word. We appropriate it We go, we pick it up. We open it up. We prepare ourselves for it. How do we do that? By praying that God will reveal Himself to us, right? Right? That's how we meditate on God's Word. We're dependent on Him. Again, I say, that's the greatest blessing that He's blessed us with, is the knowledge that we need Him in everything. So we appropriate God's word, we pick it up, we get it, and the next thing is we chew, or the proper name is masticate. That just means to chew. To make effectual that which we have appropriated. So we go to the grocery store, we buy food or we go out in the garden and we pick food. We bring it in and we prepare it. We've appropriated it. And then we chew it up and we swallow it. And in doing so, our body, which is in need of that food, Our body is in need of that nourishment, those vitamins, those minerals, that fiber, whatever is in that food, we are in need of. But it doesn't do us a lot of good if it's still out there in the garden. It doesn't do us a lot of good if it's still sitting on the plate. You see, we have to chew on it, don't we? We have to meditate on God's Word. We have to think about what we're reading in application to our need. Does that make sense? It's important. It's our mission in life to be more like Him. And so when we partake of His Word, we chew it up. And this spiritual being that we are, that's in need of these minerals, this fiber, These vitamins, the things that God's Word provides for the spiritual life. It grows, you see. As we partake of this natural food, we are able now to move and to do. I think work is defined as any movement, right, from the body. That's work. But when we partake of this physical food, we're able to do. whatever our mission is physically to do. It certainly applies to spiritual food, doesn't it? It really does. The Lord is amazing in His Word, how He describes our new life as a new birth, born of the Spirit, but a life nonetheless. and that an eternal life. And he compares it to our physical life. Now, one more. That is to assimilate. This is the process by which your body digests the food that you eat, and in so doing, your body, and we are fearfully and wonderfully made, Anybody in the medical field sees it every day. How fearfully and wonderfully God has made our bodies and the ability that our body has to digest the food that we partake of and to send the needed, whatever it is, the needed substance from that food to the right place to provide life to every cell in our body. That's assimilation. The same thing is true when we partake of God's Word. You see, the Holy Spirit takes that Word and assimilates it to your life's needs. And that need is to be more like Jesus Christ, our Savior. You remember when John the Baptist was born. Let's turn to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1. Now Zacharias was a man of God and he was John the Baptist's father. He was a miracle baby, you remember. about the time of the birth of the Lord, the birth of John the Baptist, his cousin, his mother Elizabeth. Zacharias prophesied. You remember, he questioned the angel that brought him the news of his son. He questioned him. And because of that, the angel caused him to be dumb, mute. He couldn't speak. All right. But then when he was able to speak, he prophesied. I want us to look at a little bit of what he said. Luke chapter 1 and verse 67. And his father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people. That's awesome just right there, isn't it? Yes, we question why would he do that because we see ourselves as wretched sinners that we are. Yet he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all those that hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear. One of the things that's happening every day when we partake of God's Word is we're being delivered out of the hands of our enemies. When we defeat the flesh in any little tiny small way, we're being delivered from our enemies. That He would grant unto us, verse 74, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, and that is without fear of the enemies. In holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. How are we able to serve Him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives? Before Him. Causing us to recognize that God sees all. God knows all. by the partaking of him through his word. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways. Now he's talking about his son, right? John the Baptist. He is. Verse 77 says, to give knowledge of salvation unto his people. by the remission of their sins. Through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day spring from on high hath visited us. Certainly he's talking about the day spring from on high as being Jesus Christ, the Son of God. To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet in the way of peace. I want you to know that every day as you seek the Lord and His Word, you are being guided. Your path, your feet, your direction that you go starts with your thoughts, right? What am I going to do today? What am I going to say today? Who am I going to speak to today? How am I going to be today? As we seek Him and His Word and in prayer, we are being guided. When he says, God our feet, he's talking about the way that we are today in this walk. And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and was in the deserts to the day of his showing unto Israel. I just thought about that turning there. All right. A living sacrifice as we seek God. as we trust in Him for this leadership, this guidance. Evil thoughts that come into our minds, they are diverted. Thoughts of the things of this world and the love of the things of this world, which is in all of us, they are replaced by thoughts of and love for God and His Word. That is how it works when we partake of Him. This flesh is put down and left behind. Oh, but this spiritual man grows and is strengthened and is able to stand on the rock of Jesus Christ with confidence and without fear of the enemies. Romans 12.1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed. Now, I think of these little cars and things we see in this movie and show, the Transformers. They become something totally different, don't they? Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed. How? By the renewing of your mind. How do we renew our mind? By being reminded of the new life we have. By being reminded of what Jesus Christ did for us. How do we do that? By seeking Him in His Word. Oh, it's so important. I just can't overexpress the importance of God's Word in the Christian's life. We need Him. He speaks to us. And this is how He speaks to us. Through His Word. Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And that's the will of God for you. For your life. The direction you're taking. He has a perfect plan for you. And I've got good news for you. His perfect plans always work out perfectly. He is a mighty Savior, isn't He? Well, we praise Him for His Word this morning. For it truly is manna from heaven, even as is the Son of God. We praise him this morning for the great, mighty, powerful, saving knowledge that he's given to those that he has chosen before the foundation of the world.