I was pleased to the book of Romans. Thank you Romans and we're looking at chapter 12 verse 1 to 2 That's not really where we're going to be tonight. We're going to be there a little bit But tonight we're going to do something a little bit different And we're going to be looking at how to have rich devotions when we're in God's Word. Romans chapter 12 then, verse 1 to 2. Something to kind of get us there as we look at God's Word together tonight. Romans chapter 12, verse 1 to 2. It says, what's the first word that you see there? Therefore, I urge you, or I beseech you, brethren, therefore, sorry, it's different versions there, but there's a word therefore that comes up. I beseech you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and then you'll be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. This evening we're going to be looking at four questions. These are questions that I would love for you to begin to ask yourself. We should all be reading the Bible on a daily basis. We need to be reading Scripture. We believe that God's Word is the truth. It has been given to us by Him, by the Holy Spirit. There's been so much historic and archaeological and scientific evidence that the Scriptures are the Word of God. And we need to be reading that Word. And we need to talk to ourselves more than we listen to ourselves. And everyone's thinking, what on earth does he mean by this? Every single moment of your life, you are meditating. You're always meditating. Okay, over in the East, this whole idea of meditation has come over into the West. And when we think of the word meditate, we think of the people, our friends out in the first, with their cross knees and their hands against their knees, humming and trying to empty their thoughts. That's not meditation. That's not what it means to meditate. Maybe you've never done yoga. Maybe you've never been at the first. Maybe you've never done the humming and emptying your mind. But I want to tell you, you have been meditating every conscious moment of your life. The word meditate in the Bible terms means to chew on something. To chew over something over and over and over and over again. And so what happens is we end up listening to our meditation. We listen to ourselves rather than speaking to ourselves. We don't speak the truth, we listen to our own lies. We fill our minds with lies. We fill our minds with lies of shame and unworthiness, that I am not worthy, that I should be ashamed, and we lack our joy in Christ because of that. We fill our minds with the lies of sin and temptation. Well, I'll do this, it's only a small sin, or no one will ever know, or it's not that big a deal, or I can just run for forgiveness after this. And we lie about sin and temptation. Instead of listening to God's word, we listen to ourselves. We listen to the lies of loneliness and sadness. And we allow despair, temptation, guilt to hinder our lives. And so what we need to do when we bring ourselves to attention again and realize, I've been filling my mind and listening to myself, we need to replace these things with God's truth. What does the word say? Not what do I think, not what do my emotions tell me, what does the word of God say? And so we need to be in the Bible daily, because how often do we lie to ourselves? By the hour, by the hour we lie to ourselves. Insecurity and guilt and sin and temptation and loneliness and sadness, by the hour. And so we need to fill ourselves with God's word. But if we're honest, if we're all honest in the room, there are times when reading the Bible and keeping our quiet time, or our devotions as they're called, can be more of a chore than a joy. Or is it just me? I'll admit it, Pastor Alan, sometimes it's a chore. Sometimes it's hard. Sometimes you don't desire to do it. Sometimes you wake up in the morning, you're like, I gotta open the word, and there's 300 other things you'd rather do. There's distractions that get in the way. Well, it's not the Bible's fault, because we know the Bible is living, it is powerful. I read Psalm 119 today, and it just, Psalmist loves the word of God, loves it. So it's not the Bible's fault. It may be our fault. It may be that we fill ourselves with the world so much that we don't actually have space for the Word, right? We fill ourselves with pleasure and comforts and distractions and all the things that the world has. Then when it comes to the book, we're like, ah, I'm a bit filled with the world now. But there's maybe another reason that it can be hard to open the Word of God. it may be something to do with the method by which we read the scriptures in our own quiet time. So we've established something so far. We need to be in the word of God. It can be hard to be in the word of God. It's not the word of God's fault. It may be our fault because of sin, but it may also be something with our method. Sometimes when we read the Bible, we make the mistake of making the Bible all about ourselves. And I'm not saying that even in a selfish way, like we say, oh, it's all about me. What we do when we read the scripture is we look for some application to live out, and then we leave it there. If I just apply this truth to my life, or if I obey this commandment, great, then I'll be okay. And we read the passage of scripture, we think, yep, that's what I'll do, and we leave. This can be helpful to find some application. But there's much richer truth in every single passage of scripture than simply how it applies to your life. What is the word for obeying a commandment but without understanding the gospel? Give me some words for that. I know I'm in the south and we don't really do things like shouting out, but bear with me for a second with this Ulster man. What are some words for, I'm just gonna obey this commandment even though I'm not in really fellowship with God. I'll give you one and then we just start from there. That's called religion, right? Religiosity. So I'm not actually having a relationship or fellowship with Christ, but here's a commandment and I need to obey this commandment. That's religiosity. And we are actually given so much more than that, a relationship with Jesus Christ, our savior. Okay. What's another word for this? Works, right? Works instead of faith. And when we start to do something instead of resting on God's goodness, and we start doing something in order to please God, oh my goodness, all of a sudden we've entered into works and not grace. Big words for that, moralism. The ugly word for that, legalism. And another word for that, hypocrisy. And so the risk is when we read the scriptures simply for a commandment to obey, or for a rule to adhere to, then instead of joyful obedience as a glad response to God, it's legalism, it's moralism, it's religion. Guess how long this stuff lasts? Guess how long it lasts, that you can be obedient to God without relationship with him? Minutes. Remember the story of Mary and Martha? And Mary's in and she's sitting at the feet of Jesus Christ, and Martha's doing what? What's Martha doing? She's serving. She's serving Christ and she's serving Christ's disciples. Is she doing something bad? Of course not. She's doing something wonderful. Something we should be doing, serving Christ and serving his disciples. But she's doing it from the wrong place. and she's distracted, and she's burdened, and she's cumbered. And Jesus says, listen, you've got it all wrong, Martha. You're trying to serve me in order to please me, but it needs to come out of something so much richer, this service to me. Sadly, sometimes, even in preaching, you'll hear a lot about the commandments, but not as a response to what God has done. However, and we're building something, and then we'll get there. If you carefully read through scripture, and you see every time God tells you to do something, it's as a response. God gives us commandments, but it's always as a response to something. And what it's a response to is who he is, what he's done, and who you are because of that. Who he is, what he's done, and who you are because of that. And then he says, Now I do something about this, okay? And we're gonna look at this. If you read the epistle, the letter to the Ephesians, okay? Paul spent so much time, Ephesians chapter one, two, three, and what's he saying? God has been so good. He's been so gracious. He's richly blessed us about anything we can ever anticipate. He saved us. He's redeemed us. He's purchased us. He's done so many wonderful things. In fact, right now, we're seated in glory. And it's His grace that saved us. It's by faith that we're saved. It's nothing that we could do. What a great God, he's so powerful, he's coming back again, he's gonna bring us to be with him. Wow, wow, wow, grace, grace, grace. And then this is who you are because of that. And then we're meant to be like, wow, look at who God is, look at what he's done, look at who I am now. And then he says, now in light of those truths, this is how to live your life. In light of these truths, this is how to obey. as a glad response to all of this, and not just some legalistic, moralistic ritual. If you read the epistle to the Galatians, chapter 1, 2, 3, and 4, it's full of theology. God has saved us by grace, not by the works of the law. We don't need circumcision. We don't need Moses. All we need is Jesus, and Jesus has come, and he's rescued us from all of this. And this is who you are now because of it, a child of the King. Therefore, live as a response to this. And here we are in Romans chapter 12, verse 1 to 2, and it says, I beseech you, brethren, therefore. Therefore? And what that means is, in light of what I've just told you, here's how to live. Well, what has he just told us? Well, he just told us in Romans chapter 1 to 3, that if you're Jew or Gentile, you're condemned because of sin. And there's nothing that you can do to rescue yourself from sin. You're going to hell. You're going to be condemned by God. But God in His grace and His goodness has sent His Son to die on the cross for sinners, to rescue them from sin, and to rescue them from the law. And so now, as that is true, and we've believed in that message, where the children of God were sealed by the Spirit, and we have all of His promises, and we're joint heirs with Jesus Christ, God is faithful, merciful, gracious, righteous. He has saved us, redeemed us, reconciled us, and we are children, no longer slaves, freed people, no more condemnation. Therefore, this is how to live. Are you seeing this? So then we have these four questions. And this is what I would love for you to do when you open God's word tomorrow morning and you ask God, help me to see your word this morning. The first question I want you to look for in this passage is simply this. Who is God in this passage of scripture? Christ Jesus commanded the people to search the scriptures. Why? What did he say? Search the scriptures, for in these you think you have eternal life, but what are they talking about? Him. What's scripture about? It's about Christ Jesus in all of his glory, about God's faithfulness to the nation of Israel, God's grace to both Jew and Gentile. It's about Jesus Christ. The law, the poets, and the prophets all look forward to and describe the need for and the coming of Jesus Christ. This means that the Old Testament is rich with Jesus and rich with grace. God does everything he does for his name's sake. He does everything he does for his glory. This means that God's preeminent concern is his glory. And therefore, everything in scripture points to God. Everything in scripture points to God. So therefore, rather than beginning with the question, what does this passage say that I should do? First ask the question, what does this passage tell me about God? What does it tell me about Him? There are a number of things to look for when you're searching through this question. Read the passage, come back to verse one of that passage, and read it again as you look for these truths. And here are some things to consider. Look for God's character. How does it describe God's character? That is, the fact that he's gracious, he is fair, he has equity, he is righteous, he is loving, he is merciful, he is just. All of these things describe his character. And you want to search the scripture and look for God's character in that passage. And then the other part of that is you want to look for God's attributes. That is the fact that he is eternal, the fact that he is completely wise, the fact that he's in complete control. Look for what God is telling you about himself in the passage. Look for what others in the passage are saying about him. Look at what his actions in the passage are saying about him. The whole focus of the passage primarily is this is your God. this is Him, this is Christ, this is the Holy Spirit, this is God the Father, and search that passage and find God in there, richly described to you. Now some of you cheeky people are thinking, well what about Esther? Well we'll have a conversation some other time about Esther then. But number one, who is God? And I guarantee if you start looking for this, instead of asking the question, What am I going to do tomorrow? I'm worried about this thing. I'm worried about what I should do in this situation. And we start to fret and worry about tomorrow. And instead, you're looking at a passage of scripture that's telling you God calms the sea. God tells mountains what to do. God creates the universe. God's in complete control. Then you begin to replace the lies with the truth of his word, right? So number one, who is God in this passage? Number two, what does God do in this passage? See, it's all about Christ. It's all about God. It's all about the Spirit. It's not about us yet. It's all about who God is and what God has done. The second question is closely linked to the first question. We know as Christians that our salvation and our obedience to Christ is not based on our own efforts, but on what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do. The second question keeps the focus on the king and keeps it off of me for now. Again, there are a number of questions within the second question that you may find as you search the scriptures and ask. Ask the question, what has God done in the past according to this scripture? And that's helped so many people. As you read the Psalms, as we looked at one Thursday night recently, the Psalmist is saying, God, I'm troubled. I don't know where you are. I don't know what you're doing. But the situation around me is really difficult right now. But instead of thinking about the situation, I decided to go back to the Old Testament or back to the law and read about your faithfulness to the people in the book of Exodus. And boy, that's just encouraged me so much that I'm going to praise you instead of worrying. Right? So what has God done in the past? He's rescued us. He sent Christ to die for us. There's so many things you'll see as you pack open the scripture passage. Then ask the question, what is God doing right now in the present, here in 2019? Maybe there's something in the passage of scripture that God is presently doing right now. And we know there's things like that. Jesus Christ is praying for you right now. The Holy Spirit is praying with you right now. The Holy Spirit is sealing you right now. So there's things that are happening right now that God is up to, that if you read the passage, you'll find it in there. And number three, according to this passage, what will God do in the future? There's promises that God is going to do something. He's going to come back. He's going to build up his kingdom. He's going to judge sinners. He's going to take Christians back to be with him one day. And what will God do in the future? Now, the passage may not answer all of those questions, but it will at least answer one of them. How do I know it'll answer one of them? Because the whole scripture is about Christ. It's all about him. So in that passage, you'll find something about God doing something, whether it was past, present, or future. And number three, the third question you want to ask yourself then, and this is so important, and we are forgetting to ask ourselves this question all the time, who am I according to this passage? And you've forgotten that. And that's why you get lost in sadness. It's why we get lost in loneliness. It's why we get lost in sin. It's why we get lost in brokenness and all the different things, the worry and the anxiety and the lack of self-worth and the shame. All of these things is because we've forgotten who we are. And we believe lies about who we are. The world could call you something or describe you in some way. or you just feel something about yourself that's negative, or if you're scrolling through social media, for some of us, scrolling through social media, it's all about comparing yourself to other people, and all of a sudden you feel your self-worth beginning to disintegrate and die down and get less and less, and you feel like a worm at some times. But here, question three, we're beginning to apply the passage to ourselves but we're not asking what we should do about it, we're just asking who we are because of it. We're asking who we are in this passage. In other words, we are asking this beautiful question, who am I in this passage because of question one and question two? What's question one? Who is God, right? What's question two? What has he done? And then who am I in light of that? Who am I in light of that? The scripture is clear that our obedience to Christ only comes out of our identity in Him. So here are questions to ask about any passage of scripture. Who was I, according to this passage, before God's grace? Who was I? And it will be dealing with your past state before you trusted Christ. Ephesians 2, for example, says, before you trusted in Christ, you were dead in trespasses and sins. You were a child of disobedience. You were a child of wrath, under condemnation. Who was I? That's who I was. The second question inside of this is, who am I now, according to this passage? Who am I now, according to this passage? And then question three, who will I be? Or what am I becoming? according to this passage. Romans 8, you're being conformed in the image of the Son. The book of Jude, you're going to be presented blameless before the Father one day. That's who you are, that's who you will be, that's your identity. Sadly, we get our identity from so many other things. And I struggle with this as well. I get my identity from what people think about me. I get my identity from what people say about me. I get my identity from my job sometimes. Who are you? I'm a pastor. Well, what happens if I lost my voice? What happens if, tragically, at 30 years old, all of a sudden, I can't speak anymore? What will I do then? All of a sudden, I've lost my identity. What happens if I'm an electrician? We've looked at this before. What happens if my job is that I'm an electrician and through some tragic accidents I lose both my arms or something? So then who am I now? I'm an ex-electrician. This is horrendous. Who am I? It's based on what people think about me or what position I have in this world. Better by far to ask the question to God. God, who am I? You know what he tells you if you're a Christian? You are my son. You are my daughter. And get this, in whom I delight. What? But I'm sinful, God. But I've done so much wrong. But I've rebelled against you. But I've committed so many transgressions. But I've displeased you in so many ways. Ah, yes, but Jesus Christ was the one in whom the Father said, I'm well pleased. And Jesus Christ has clothed you by faith in his own righteousness. So when God the Father sees you, he no longer sees you in your criminal record. He sees as if you live the life that Jesus lived. And so God the Father looks at you right now and doesn't say, I'll love you if. You'd be better to me, if. You would please me more, if. You knew a bit more, you did a bit more, you said a bit more. No, you're my beloved son, you're my beloved daughter, and whom I delight. And by the way, that's what the king of the universe thinks about you. So forget what anyone else says, right? I have to say, whatever any of you think about me doesn't mean very much, because the king of the universe thinks I'm his delight. Sorry to break it to you, right? And it's the same for you, brothers and sisters. What anyone else thinks about you, Paul says, it matters little to me about man's judgment. It matters little to me, Paul says. I count it as nothing, what men think about me. because of what Christ thinks. And here's the thing, as soon as we can forget what people think about us, and as soon as we can stop caring about what others think about us, it's the moment we can truly care about people. That's the moment we can start caring. It's when we stop caring about what they think, then we can actually start caring for them. So who am I? Who was I? Who am I? Who will I be? And then comes question four. The question that we sometimes sadly start with. The question sadly that sometimes sermons go to. This is what you should do. You should be giving. You should be serving. You should be praying. You should be reading. You should be doing this. You should be obeying. You shouldn't be doing any of these things. But based on what? based on number one, two, and three. Then we have the therefore. Now, how do I respond to this passage? How do I respond to these truths? Now we're looking for applications. We respond to the character and the attributes of God. We respond to what God has done in our lives, what God will do in our lives. We respond to who we are now in Christ and who we will one day be. Sometimes the passage will give us this for us. You'll find as you read a passage of scripture, there may be commandments to obey in light of these things. And so we read Romans 12. I beseech you, brethren, therefore, to present your body as a sacrifice to God. In light of what God has done for you, here's a glad response to what He's done. So a commandment to obey. Maybe you'll find there's something to praise God and thank God for. Maybe you've read about His faithfulness, and you can just spend some time quietly, God, thank you that you're so faithful to your people, even when we're not faithful to you. Help me to remember that today as I go out into this world. so always there'll be praise and thanks to offer him. Maybe there's a promise to cling to for the day. Maybe God promises in that passage that you're reading that he will be with you. Maybe he promised that even in your suffering and your struggles, he's gonna help you. Maybe there's a promise that he is never going to quit on you and he's always going to work to bring you closer to himself. Maybe there's the promise that you need on that day that God's going to supply all of your needs. When I came here, this is confession time, I came down to Bath, six hours away from the North, and everything is crazy expensive. All right? And I'm a human being before I'm a pastor. And I'm not Mr. Spiritual Giant. And I worry, and I have anxiety, and I have doubts, just like everyone in this planet. I have concerns, and I'm starting to freak out. I came down, I'm like, how am I going to pay? And I found out that I have to pay for the, that there's going to be a water thing, right? That I'm going to be charged for water. And actually, I'm not going to just have a charge, it's actually going to be on the meter. So then I'm saying to Victoria, who's there, I'm like, Victoria, and Victoria had been drinking loads of water that day, right? And she, don't tell her, I said, don't be listening to this in the recording, cut this bit out, right? But she'd been going to the, she'd been drinking water all day, and so she kept going to the bathroom. My Victoria, stop going to the bathroom, you're costing me a fortune here. Every flush is like one pound. I'm freaking out. And then I read, and that's ridiculous, I know it is, I know. But then I read in God's word that evening, in one of the Psalms, that God provides for the young raven that cries. And all I prayed was, God, I am a young raven right now, crying, provide for me. And I know you will, because you said you would. Help me to rest in this today. So there's a promise to cling to. There's truth to rest in and to rejoice in. Rest for the soul. Peace that passes understanding. Something to rest in. You know, people saying things about you, some hard situation that you're going through, and God just speaks into your life at that moment through the word and says, listen, this is what I'm up to. Just rest in my goodness. Or there's sorrow, and there's brokenness, and there's despair, or there's a trial that you're going through. some form of suffering and God through his word just says here's something I want you to rejoice in for the day to find joy in the midst of all of this and finally maybe there's an example a character maybe you're reading about the life of David or the life of Saul or the life of Samson or life of Joseph and you see in that passage an example of of someone you want to be like, or someone you want to avoid being like. But the key to all of this is this is question four. How do I respond to the truth of question one, two, and three? And I tell you, I promise you, I promise you, if you start doing this, if you start reading the Bible in this way, it'll come alive. and your obedience will be a joyful obedience, not a grudging one, okay? I promise you, money-back guarantee. You've given me nothing, so I don't owe you anything, but money-back guarantee, I promise, read the scriptures this way, and it will enrich your devotions, because you'll be packing open that word, asking, God, show me you. And you know what God's all about? God is all about showing himself to humans, and all about being in relationship with them, so he'll answer. get into the scriptures. Now very quickly, I know this is a bit of an interesting thing, but turn your Bibles to Psalm 36 and quickly we're going to have an experiment of this. Psalm 36, and we're just going to go through this and then we'll be done, but we're going to have a call out I am someone who enjoys awkwardness. I don't know why. It's a weird thing of me, but I enjoy awkward silences. And so what we're going to do is we're going to go through the four questions just quickly, mind, and I want you to call out. Okay? And we all want to be out here by 7.30, so you may call out quickly so we can go, all right? But here we go. Psalm 36. What I want you to do is question one, who is God according to Psalm 36? 36. So let's read this passage of scripture. I have a message from God in my heart concerning sinfulness of the wicked. There's no fear of God before their eyes. In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin. The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful. They fail to act wisely or do good. Even on their beds they plot evil. They commit themselves to a sinful course. They do not reject what is wrong. Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies, your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, Lord, you preserve both people and animals. How priceless is your unfailing love, O God. People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast in the abundance of your house. You give them drink from your river of delights, for with you is the fountain of life. In your light we see light. Oh, continue your love to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart. May the fruit of the pride not come against me. or the hand of the wicked drive me away, see how the evildoers lie fallen, thrown down, not able to rise." So as you read there, shout out some things that described God in this passage. Who is God in Psalm 36? Merciful, right? God is merciful in this passage of scripture. His mercy means he's not giving you what you deserve. What else is God in this passage? He's faithful. He's true to his promises. He's true to his people. He's true to his character. God is faithful. Anything else? He's righteous. He is good. He is perfect in everything that he does. What else is there? He's just. He will be just in all that he does. He will be fair. He will have equity in everything he does. Someone else call out over here. He's loving. God is loving to the creation, okay? So there's some beautiful ones there. That's a bunch that we can see. Number two, what has God done in this passage? What is God doing in this passage? What will God do in this passage? He preserves people and animals, right? It means he sustains them. He takes care of humans and animals. And right when I was telling Victoria, stop flushing so much, God's word, hey, I stand people. I preserve, I look after people, Alan. Take it easy, son. What else? He is our refuge. He abundantly meets our needs and he protects us at all times. We find safety in the shadow of his wings in verse seven. Anything else? What was that? He satisfies us. Isn't that beautiful? In this world where there's so much materialism and everyone said, if you just had this, then you'll be happy. And then we get it and we're not, God says, hey, I'll satisfy you. Come to me instead. What was something else over here? He is light. God is the source of light and anything else is darkness and sin. And we come to him for light and holiness and warmth. In verse 11 to 12 it says, he's going to destroy the wicked and the pride. So then number three, who am I according to this passage? Who was I? Who am I? What will I be according to this passage? In verse one to four, that was us. So what happens is when you read verse one to four, Probably you thought that's them out there, right? That's the sinful people. That's you before Jesus. First one to four is you before Christ, right? God, that's who I am. Thank you so much that you've delivered me from being like that. I'm no longer that person that's only by your grace. Verse 11 to 12, we were the ones who were going to be condemned, but not anymore. What else are we according to this passage? We're loved, we're loved by God. In verse 10 it says, he continues his love to those who are righteous. Are you righteous? Are you upright in heart? Not through your own efforts. through the efforts of another, through Jesus Christ. So this is you right now, someone who is loved, someone who God continues to love. You're the one in verse 7 who finds refuge in the wings of God. You're the one in verse 6 who God continually provides for. That's who you are because of God's grace and mercy and love. 36 then, how do I respond? What does this passage tell us to do with these truths? Or how should we respond to what we see here in this psalm? What can we do with verse 1 to 4? Be thankful that we're not like that anymore, that God has rescued us from that, right? God, that I'm no longer that person. We can pray that God would rescue other people so they're not like that anymore. What else can we do according to this passage? I'm enjoying the silence. Okay. Great. Be joyful. Where does it say, where is that coming from? Yeah. Yeah. We respond in joy and praise to God. Yep. In verse 5 to 7, we can praise God for the rich character we see there as we read this passage. And then after we've read it, God, thank you so much that your love reaches to the heavens. You're so faithful to me. And we can praise God and enjoy for these things. Verse 6, maybe we can rest in that truth when we're doubting, when we're worrying about our financial needs, our emotional needs, our physical needs. We can realize, no, actually, God is preserving and looking after you. someone who said God satisfies us, so what should we do with that? Seek our satisfaction in Him and not in the sinful world around us. So there's so much, the scriptures are so rich, if we would only learn what it means to mine the depths of what the Word of God says. I entrust these four questions to you and I ask you, apply this way of reading the scriptures to your life. Find God in the word. Find his grace and his mercy and his goodness in the scriptures. Find refuge in this. If you're a Christian, this is your word that ascribes your God and apply it to your lives as a joyful response. And if you're not a believer, again, open the scriptures, find God in this, find his rich character and mercy and grace and love. See what he's done in the person of Jesus Christ and and then respond to that the way we respond in faith, believing that our God is good. Amen. Thank you.