1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,640 Thank you, Steve. 2 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:14,240 What a mellow cello. 3 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:19,360 Played by such a nice fellow. 4 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:24,620 I'd like to play one, but all I can do is bellow. 5 00:00:24,620 --> 00:00:29,960 And having taken that far enough, would you turn please to Romans 12? 6 00:00:29,960 --> 00:00:42,640 I hope that wasn't on the tape. 7 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:47,760 All of us need to beware of the dangers of over familiarity, don't we? 8 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:54,800 That can cause us to be less alert at times when we need to be alert. 9 00:00:54,800 --> 00:01:00,600 An example of that would be an experience that I suppose many of us have had of driving 10 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:10,120 from perhaps home to work and waking up arriving at work wondering how we got there. 11 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:14,840 The over familiarity with the road caused our minds to be wandering somewhere else as 12 00:01:14,840 --> 00:01:17,600 we were driving along. 13 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:22,760 That's the reason that people tell us that most accidents, automobile accidents, occur 14 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:28,120 within 20 miles of home because there we feel comfortable and we're overly familiar with 15 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:31,320 the road. 16 00:01:31,320 --> 00:01:33,760 In relationships the same thing can happen. 17 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:40,560 It is a sad thing that we tend to neglect and to take for granted the ones that we know 18 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:45,820 the best and love the most. 19 00:01:45,820 --> 00:01:50,040 And that can happen as well with the Word of God especially when we come to a familiar 20 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:55,160 verse like today, Romans 12.1. 21 00:01:55,160 --> 00:02:01,640 I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and 22 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:11,100 holy sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. 23 00:02:11,100 --> 00:02:15,960 You may have heard scores of messages on this verse but I pray that the Spirit of God will 24 00:02:15,960 --> 00:02:23,280 make it afresh to us today and that we will be alert to what He wants to say. 25 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:28,960 Would you bow together with me please and let's sing the chorus that we've learned in recent 26 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:29,960 weeks. 27 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:31,660 Open our eyes, Lord. 28 00:02:31,660 --> 00:02:33,200 We want to see Jesus. 29 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:34,740 Open our ears, Lord. 30 00:02:34,740 --> 00:02:35,740 Help us to listen. 31 00:02:35,740 --> 00:02:38,740 Let's sing it together. 32 00:02:38,740 --> 00:02:45,720 Open our eyes, Lord. 33 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:53,840 We want to see Jesus. 34 00:02:53,840 --> 00:03:02,320 To reach out and touch Him. 35 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:10,040 And say that we love Him. 36 00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:18,760 Open our ears, Lord. 37 00:03:18,760 --> 00:03:26,200 And help us to listen. 38 00:03:26,200 --> 00:03:34,520 Open our eyes, Lord. 39 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:43,280 We want to see Jesus. 40 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:49,460 And Father, I pray that you will deliver us today from the danger of over familiarity 41 00:03:49,460 --> 00:03:51,960 with your Word. 42 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:57,840 May there be something new and fresh that the Spirit of God would say to us, strike 43 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:04,600 us anew with this truth that we may respond anew. 44 00:04:04,600 --> 00:04:09,380 I pray in Jesus' name, amen. 45 00:04:09,380 --> 00:04:14,040 We have come to the end of the doctrinal section of the book of Romans but certainly not to 46 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:16,300 the end of the book. 47 00:04:16,300 --> 00:04:23,280 As is true with most of Paul's epistles, he makes a transition at this point into the 48 00:04:23,280 --> 00:04:29,880 practical application of the doctrine he has taught. 49 00:04:29,880 --> 00:04:33,240 Doctrine should make a difference in the life. 50 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:40,020 If we know doctrine only for doctrine's sake, we have missed something. 51 00:04:40,020 --> 00:04:46,680 Doctrine is intended to have an impact on the way that we live. 52 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:52,520 The apostle takes the doctrine that he has taught us regarding salvation in the first 53 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:59,800 eleven chapters of the book and now in chapters twelve through sixteen applies those doctrines 54 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:04,480 in ways that are very personal. 55 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:11,400 He speaks especially about our relationships to people and groups around us. 56 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:19,440 He talks about our relationship to other believers, our relationship to persecutors, to authorities 57 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:30,080 over us, to our neighbors, to weaker brethren within the fellowship of God's people. 58 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:36,520 Our outline of the book of Romans entitles this section, The Righteousness of God Revealed, 59 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:39,160 or Man's Service. 60 00:05:39,160 --> 00:05:45,400 For he speaks here about our service to the Lord and to others and in that service the 61 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:51,520 righteousness of God is revealed through our lives. 62 00:05:51,520 --> 00:05:58,920 Before he gets to the main application and the personal application of the doctrine, 63 00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:03,920 he gives us a prelude in the first two verses. 64 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:09,920 In this prelude he urges upon us a fundamental action. 65 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:16,880 Before any of us can be prepared to obey the various commands regarding our relationships, 66 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:23,040 we must take this action that is urged upon us here. 67 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:27,860 He says, I urge you therefore, brethren. 68 00:06:27,860 --> 00:06:34,880 Notice that the apostle does not demand us to do something. 69 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:44,560 What he is saying here is short of a demand, but it is more than just an encouragement. 70 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:52,860 The word urge is the word parakeleo and it means an authoritative appeal. 71 00:06:52,860 --> 00:06:59,200 I believe the apostle, by the inspiration of God's Spirit by the way, chooses not to 72 00:06:59,200 --> 00:07:08,160 use the word command here so that our response to the doctrines of grace might not be legalistic 73 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:19,920 ones but rather might be glad response, willing response from the heart. 74 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:24,400 But even though the apostle says, I urge you, please do not think that what he is saying 75 00:07:24,400 --> 00:07:30,960 now is only an option that we can exercise if we wish. 76 00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:37,040 For unless we take the action that he urges upon us here, we are disobedient to God. 77 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:39,600 It is that critical. 78 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:42,280 Let's examine in detail what we are urged to do. 79 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:51,080 He says that we are urged to offer our bodies, ourselves as a sacrifice to God. 80 00:07:51,080 --> 00:07:56,600 There are five points in verse one which will give us an understanding of what he means. 81 00:07:56,600 --> 00:07:57,960 Please follow along with me. 82 00:07:57,960 --> 00:08:01,920 Point number one, the action that is encouraged. 83 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:02,920 What is it? 84 00:08:02,920 --> 00:08:11,080 Well, he says we are to present our bodies as a sacrifice. 85 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:21,320 This verb present is a technical term from that day involving the presentation of a sacrifice. 86 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:25,360 It literally means to place beside. 87 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:30,640 You can see the idea of placing something on the altar. 88 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:35,520 It means to put at the disposal of another. 89 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:39,700 It's not a word that's new to us by the way in Romans. 90 00:08:39,700 --> 00:08:46,080 If you go back to chapter six, we'll review where we have seen this verse before. 91 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:54,680 In verse 13, where he says, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to 92 00:08:54,680 --> 00:09:03,600 sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God. 93 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:10,620 So he says, don't go on presenting yourselves to sin, but present yourselves to God and 94 00:09:10,620 --> 00:09:15,520 your members, that is the members of your bodies, as instruments of righteousness to 95 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:18,240 God. 96 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:22,920 Then he says a similar thing in verse 16. 97 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:30,680 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are 98 00:09:30,680 --> 00:09:37,240 slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin or of obedience? 99 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:43,000 And then in verse 19 he says, beginning with the second sentence in the verse, for just 100 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:50,460 as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in 101 00:09:50,460 --> 00:10:00,520 further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification. 102 00:10:00,520 --> 00:10:07,520 That's the same word as we come to in chapter 12, present your bodies. 103 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:14,160 It is a word that was used of the Lord Jesus Christ back in Luke chapter two, and here 104 00:10:14,160 --> 00:10:20,400 you can see it in a little bit of a different context, as he is brought to the temple by 105 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:22,400 his parents. 106 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:29,000 In Luke chapter two, verse 22, when the days for their purification, according to the law 107 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:38,240 of Moses, were completed, they brought him, Jesus, up to Jerusalem to present him to the 108 00:10:38,240 --> 00:10:41,040 Lord. 109 00:10:41,040 --> 00:10:46,800 As it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be 110 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:50,300 called holy to the Lord. 111 00:10:50,300 --> 00:10:54,320 And they came, he says, to offer a sacrifice, according to what was said in the law of the 112 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:59,040 Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. 113 00:10:59,040 --> 00:11:04,880 By the way, that indicates to us the kind of sacrifice they brought and the poverty 114 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:08,280 in which Joseph and Mary lived. 115 00:11:08,280 --> 00:11:13,640 They brought the very least expensive of sacrifices. 116 00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:20,840 But notice that they brought Jesus as an infant to present him in the temple, same word. 117 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:25,520 In accordance with the law of Moses, they were to literally physically bring him and 118 00:11:25,520 --> 00:11:33,740 offer him to God because he opened her womb as a male. 119 00:11:33,740 --> 00:11:40,400 That is the word that the apostle Paul, by the Spirit, chooses to use for you and me 120 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:46,400 in the presentation of our bodies to God. 121 00:11:46,400 --> 00:11:52,400 Now this idea of a sacrifice, of an offering, is underscored by the word sacrifice in Romans 122 00:11:52,400 --> 00:11:54,800 12.1. 123 00:11:54,800 --> 00:11:58,680 Present your bodies a sacrifice. 124 00:11:58,680 --> 00:12:05,240 That is a word that comes from a verb meaning to go up in smoke. 125 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:07,920 Very picturesque, isn't it? 126 00:12:07,920 --> 00:12:17,520 It is a word that was used of the burnt offerings in those days when they brought their offerings 127 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:19,440 to the temple of Israel. 128 00:12:19,440 --> 00:12:26,240 It involved the death of the animal and literally the body of the animal went up in smoke. 129 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,000 It was a burnt offering. 130 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:36,140 An interesting idea and insight into what our offering ought to be. 131 00:12:36,140 --> 00:12:43,280 He says, present your bodies as something that goes up in smoke. 132 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:52,500 The idea is that our sacrifice of our bodies is to be as complete a commitment, as total 133 00:12:52,500 --> 00:12:59,600 and as irrevocable as a burnt offering. 134 00:12:59,600 --> 00:13:01,720 This is something that we are to do, by the way. 135 00:13:01,720 --> 00:13:04,680 God doesn't do it for us. 136 00:13:04,680 --> 00:13:10,640 He says, I urge you, brethren, to present your bodies. 137 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:15,280 He says, it is your spiritual service of worship. 138 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:18,000 And so it's an action we are responsible for. 139 00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:20,240 We are to offer our bodies to God. 140 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:24,960 Have you done that? 141 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:28,280 Let's think about the offering itself for a moment. 142 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:36,240 Have you ever wondered why the apostle didn't say, present your souls to God or present 143 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:39,520 your spirits to God? 144 00:13:39,520 --> 00:13:42,800 Why does he say, present your bodies to God? 145 00:13:42,800 --> 00:13:45,880 I think there are three reasons for this. 146 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:51,800 Reason number one, Paul was a Hebrew and the Hebrew idea of saying this would have meant 147 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:55,120 one's total self. 148 00:13:55,120 --> 00:14:02,200 The Greeks separated the body from the immaterial parts, but the Hebrews did not. 149 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:06,120 When they spoke of the body, they thought of the total self. 150 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:10,680 And so probably this apostle has that idea in mind. 151 00:14:10,680 --> 00:14:16,200 He is saying, actually, present all of your powers, all of your capacities to God as a 152 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:19,000 sacrifice. 153 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:26,840 Secondly, it is the body which is the instrument that you have to serve God. 154 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:32,520 And that's what this whole section now is going to talk about, our serving God. 155 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:39,520 We make our decisions in the immaterial part of us, but that decision then is related to 156 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:42,060 our bodies. 157 00:14:42,060 --> 00:14:45,240 And then our bodies relate us to people around us. 158 00:14:45,240 --> 00:14:49,400 It's our contact point with society. 159 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:56,280 And so he emphasizes that the instrument that we have to serve God with, our bodies, we 160 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:59,720 represent that to God as a sacrifice. 161 00:14:59,720 --> 00:15:04,480 There's a third reason I think he emphasizes the body at this point. 162 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:08,960 And that goes back to something that we've learned already in the book of Romans. 163 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:17,640 And that is that our bodies are the seat of indwelling sin. 164 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:26,280 We have seen before that when we trusted the Lord Jesus Christ, we died to sin because 165 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:28,840 of our identification with Christ. 166 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:32,480 A dramatic thing took place. 167 00:15:32,480 --> 00:15:37,000 We died, really died. 168 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:46,080 The old man died and we were resurrected a new man, a new person with a new life principle 169 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:48,560 within us. 170 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:55,280 And yet within our bodies, there still dwells that principle or that power of sin. 171 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:58,040 It still is there and we struggle with that. 172 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:03,400 We saw that in Romans 6 and 7. 173 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:09,920 Now because our bodies serve as the seat for that indwelling sin, that's where it is. 174 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:15,720 And because that's where the battle is, he says present your bodies as a sacrifice to 175 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:19,800 God. 176 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:24,360 He uses two words to modify this a little bit. 177 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:29,800 He says present your bodies a living sacrifice. 178 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:34,840 That's in contrast to the Old Testament system of sacrifice in which of course the animals 179 00:16:34,840 --> 00:16:44,600 were killed and the blood was sprinkled in a certain way according to the law for atonement. 180 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:49,560 I'm kind of glad he says offer our bodies alive, aren't you? 181 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:57,040 We're to offer our bodies living, vital to the Lord. 182 00:16:57,040 --> 00:17:02,000 And he says furthermore that it's a holy sacrifice. 183 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:07,960 The flesh and blood that we live in is not sinful in itself. 184 00:17:07,960 --> 00:17:09,360 Sin lives in our bodies. 185 00:17:09,360 --> 00:17:12,480 It uses the members of our bodies. 186 00:17:12,480 --> 00:17:17,520 It uses our drives and our capacities to express its evil. 187 00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:22,500 But our bodies are not sinful in themselves. 188 00:17:22,500 --> 00:17:29,320 He says when we offer our bodies to the Lord, it is a holy sacrifice. 189 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:31,040 Our bodies are consecrated. 190 00:17:31,040 --> 00:17:33,400 They are set apart to God. 191 00:17:33,400 --> 00:17:38,800 Our bodies are devoted to special use by God. 192 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:44,120 They are not for just a common ordinary purpose. 193 00:17:44,120 --> 00:17:56,680 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20 reminds us that the Holy Spirit of God is in us. 194 00:17:56,680 --> 00:18:03,280 Your body functions as God's holy of holies during this age. 195 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:11,280 God does not live somewhere in a tent that is carried around on poles and then set up. 196 00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:13,600 But God lives in your body. 197 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:18,680 Your body is his holy of holies. 198 00:18:18,680 --> 00:18:22,160 When you and I begin to understand that, it will make a difference in the way we treat 199 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:26,160 our bodies and use our bodies. 200 00:18:26,160 --> 00:18:32,920 Our bodies are the temple of God, says the apostle. 201 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:37,680 It's a holy sacrifice and a living sacrifice. 202 00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:40,920 He gives us also an assurance. 203 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:43,120 He says this is acceptable to God. 204 00:18:43,120 --> 00:18:47,680 It is well pleasing to God when we give the sacrifice. 205 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:50,720 Well you say isn't God well pleased with all sacrifices? 206 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:55,240 The answer is absolutely not. 207 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:58,000 God is not well pleased with all sacrifices. 208 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:05,800 An example of that, go back into the Old Testament to Isaiah chapter 1. 209 00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:12,680 Now remember that Isaiah is not talking to some pagan tribe somewhere. 210 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:17,640 Isaiah is talking to the people of Israel. 211 00:19:17,640 --> 00:19:26,560 In chapter 1 and verse 10, I want you to notice the words he speaks to the people of Israel. 212 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:33,840 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. 213 00:19:33,840 --> 00:19:37,960 Give ear to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah. 214 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:45,400 Do you want Sodom and Gomorrah to represent? 215 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:52,800 That which is perverse, that which is reprehensible and rejected and judged by God and yet he 216 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:55,560 calls his own people here by those names. 217 00:19:55,560 --> 00:20:03,760 He goes on, what are your multiplied sacrifices to me, says the Lord. 218 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:09,800 I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. 219 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:15,120 I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. 220 00:20:15,120 --> 00:20:22,640 When you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my courts? 221 00:20:22,640 --> 00:20:27,320 Bring your worthless offerings no longer. 222 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:30,880 Incense is an abomination to me. 223 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:40,640 The new moon and Sabbath, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. 224 00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:44,760 I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts. 225 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,440 They've become a burden to me. 226 00:20:47,440 --> 00:20:50,760 I am weary of bearing them. 227 00:20:50,760 --> 00:20:54,800 So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. 228 00:20:54,800 --> 00:20:59,520 Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. 229 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:01,200 Your hands are covered with blood. 230 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:04,720 What is God saying to his people here? 231 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:10,840 He is saying, I am not well pleased with the sacrifices that you bring because they are 232 00:21:10,840 --> 00:21:13,800 empty rituals. 233 00:21:13,800 --> 00:21:18,600 You bring the sacrifice to the temple and then you go out and live like the devil. 234 00:21:18,600 --> 00:21:21,280 You go out and live in sin. 235 00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:22,840 Away with your sacrifices. 236 00:21:22,840 --> 00:21:25,440 I will listen to your prayers. 237 00:21:25,440 --> 00:21:26,440 They are worthless. 238 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:29,920 Who requires you to come and trample my courts? 239 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:34,160 Those are strong words. 240 00:21:34,160 --> 00:21:35,880 That's how the book of Isaiah begins. 241 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:43,640 Look how it ends, chapter 66. 242 00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:47,360 Just to encourage you, things do get better in the middle. 243 00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:57,400 But as he closes the book, he rebukes them for their hypocrisy and he says in verse 3, 244 00:21:57,400 --> 00:22:01,200 but he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man. 245 00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:05,040 He's no better than a murderer, says God. 246 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:08,060 Killing of the ox was a sacrifice commanded by God. 247 00:22:08,060 --> 00:22:15,680 He who sacrifices a lamb is like one who breaks a dog's neck. 248 00:22:15,680 --> 00:22:21,920 He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine's blood. 249 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:25,360 Think how that must have struck the Jewish ear. 250 00:22:25,360 --> 00:22:31,360 He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. 251 00:22:31,360 --> 00:22:36,720 As they have chosen their own ways and their soul delights and their abomination, so I 252 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:42,880 will choose their punishments and I will bring on them what they dread because I called and 253 00:22:42,880 --> 00:22:48,080 no one answered, I spoke, but they did not listen and they did evil in my sight and chose 254 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:53,200 that in which I did not delight. 255 00:22:53,200 --> 00:23:00,140 And yet you and I are told that when we come to God and we offer to him this sacrifice 256 00:23:00,140 --> 00:23:06,040 of our bodies, it is well pleasing to him that we do that. 257 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:09,000 No friend, God is not well pleased with every sacrifice. 258 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:15,080 I'll tell you the sacrifice God is well pleased with every time. 259 00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:20,120 That is a contrite and broken spirit. 260 00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:22,920 That pleases God. 261 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:24,880 Remember old Saul? 262 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:27,800 God told him to go and to wipe out the enemy. 263 00:23:27,800 --> 00:23:31,040 He was to leave nothing alive. 264 00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:34,280 So Samuel came to check up on him. 265 00:23:34,280 --> 00:23:37,520 He had some accountability, you see. 266 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:43,000 Saul obeyed the word of the Lord, yes we have finished him off. 267 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:49,840 Then in the back, ah, ah. 268 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,640 Samuel said, what's that I hear? 269 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:54,360 What's the bleeding of the sheep? 270 00:23:54,360 --> 00:24:00,200 Oh well, you know, Samuel, we did keep a few of the sheep, but they were to be sacrificed 271 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:04,040 to the Lord. 272 00:24:04,040 --> 00:24:08,320 Samuel said, Saul, God wants something more than sacrifice. 273 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:10,320 What is it? 274 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:12,040 Obedience. 275 00:24:12,040 --> 00:24:14,840 Obedience. 276 00:24:14,840 --> 00:24:19,320 When you and I come and bring our bodies to the Lord and we, as it were, put them on the 277 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:26,000 altar as a living holy sacrifice, that is obedience. 278 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:31,240 And God is well pleased with that sacrifice. 279 00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:39,480 The verse closes with an explanation. 280 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:47,280 He says regarding this sacrifice that we are to present to the Lord, that it is your spiritual 281 00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:54,200 service of worship. 282 00:24:54,200 --> 00:25:00,160 The word service of worship, and I say word because that translates to one Greek word, 283 00:25:00,160 --> 00:25:05,800 is a word that talks about the service that priests did in the temple. 284 00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:08,900 It was a priestly duty. 285 00:25:08,900 --> 00:25:14,840 He says regarding this sacrifice that we bring that it's a spiritual service of worship. 286 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:19,840 And that word spiritual in the original language is a hard one to translate. 287 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:22,920 It doesn't come into the English real well. 288 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:27,040 But if you listen to the Greek word, you will pick up an English word from it. 289 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:31,160 The Greek word is logikos. 290 00:25:31,160 --> 00:25:35,360 And you may be able to hear there the word logic. 291 00:25:35,360 --> 00:25:41,600 That's why the King James Version says, which is your reasonable service. 292 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:48,680 The Phillips translation says it is an act of intelligent worship. 293 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,160 What is the point of this? 294 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:59,520 The emphasis that Paul is making here is that in contrast to the often formal and thoughtless, 295 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:06,080 even hypocritical sacrifices at the temple, the sacrifice we are to bring is to be a deliberate 296 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:09,960 spiritual decision. 297 00:26:09,960 --> 00:26:16,760 It is an act of worship before God resulting in our service to Him in all of our relationships. 298 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:21,680 And that's what he's going to talk about in the following verses and chapters. 299 00:26:21,680 --> 00:26:27,580 But the point is that we are not to be like those Jews in that day who brought their sacrifices 300 00:26:27,580 --> 00:26:30,900 without really thinking about it. 301 00:26:30,900 --> 00:26:35,340 They just did it because that's what they were supposed to do. 302 00:26:35,340 --> 00:26:37,800 You and I are to bring our bodies. 303 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:39,760 We are to know what we are doing. 304 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:44,080 It is to be a definite, intelligent decision on our part. 305 00:26:44,080 --> 00:26:51,960 I present my body as a sacrifice to God. 306 00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:56,280 And in doing that, you are doing a priestly service to God. 307 00:26:56,280 --> 00:27:00,780 There are certain sacrifices we are to offer as priests, aren't there? 308 00:27:00,780 --> 00:27:05,920 Our praise to God, Hebrews chapter 13. 309 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:13,940 We're to offer our sacrifice to God by sharing what we have with those who have need. 310 00:27:13,940 --> 00:27:24,080 There he says we are to bring our bodies as a living sacrifice, a holy sacrifice to God. 311 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:25,600 Why should we do that? 312 00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:27,240 What's the cause for it? 313 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:33,800 Well, he says, by the mercies of God, I urge you to do this. 314 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:37,280 Notice that mercy is in the plural. 315 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:43,000 That's a Hebrew way of saying it's a manifold expression of God's tender mercies I have 316 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:45,560 in mind as I write to you. 317 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:53,360 It's not that God has been merciful in one way or in another way, but that in many ways, 318 00:27:53,360 --> 00:27:56,520 God has been merciful to you. 319 00:27:56,520 --> 00:28:04,160 Calvin said, until men really apprehend how much they owe to the mercy of God, they will 320 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:12,960 never with a right feeling worship him, nor be effectually stimulated to fear and obey 321 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:13,960 him. 322 00:28:13,960 --> 00:28:17,800 In other words, Paul is saying, look at all you owe God. 323 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:20,520 Look at what God has done for you in mercy. 324 00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:22,880 What has God done? 325 00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:25,040 Think back with me through the book of Romans. 326 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:29,480 Maybe we'll understand what is in Paul's heart as he says this. 327 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:34,040 By the mercies of God, you were a condemned sinner. 328 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:39,920 And yet God made provision for your forgiveness through the propitiation, the sacrifice of 329 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:42,680 his son, Jesus Christ. 330 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:47,400 By faith alone, you have entered into a new relationship with God. 331 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:53,960 You possess a new standing before God, that of justification. 332 00:28:53,960 --> 00:29:00,120 By the mercies of God, you were also at that time united with Christ, identified with him 333 00:29:00,120 --> 00:29:03,500 in death, burial, and resurrection. 334 00:29:03,500 --> 00:29:06,600 As we have already stated, your old man died. 335 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:08,520 A radical change took place. 336 00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:12,280 You were raised a new man. 337 00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:18,000 Whereas before you were enslaved to sin, by the mercies of God, now you are freed from 338 00:29:18,000 --> 00:29:26,560 it so that you don't have to obey its impulses in the physical members of your body. 339 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:33,160 By the mercies of God, you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of life in Christ 340 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:40,320 Jesus, which enables you to put to death the deeds of the body, the Spirit who enables 341 00:29:40,320 --> 00:29:50,440 you to pray, who personally guides you through life, who witnesses assurance to you that 342 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:56,120 you are the child of God and if a child than an heir, and a joint heir with Jesus Christ 343 00:29:56,120 --> 00:30:00,040 of all of his future glory. 344 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:06,320 The Spirit intercedes with unutterable groanings for you according to the will of God. 345 00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:12,800 Furthermore, by the mercies of God, you are kept secure for your eternal destiny as one 346 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:15,740 who loves God. 347 00:30:15,740 --> 00:30:20,880 You have been foreknown to salvation. 348 00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:25,240 You've been predestined to be like Jesus. 349 00:30:25,240 --> 00:30:31,480 You have been effectually called by the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit into faith. 350 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,200 You have been declared righteous in the sight of God. 351 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:40,360 You have been guaranteed your future glorification with Christ. 352 00:30:40,360 --> 00:30:47,720 By the mercies of God, nothing can separate you from that loving purpose of God. 353 00:30:47,720 --> 00:30:51,740 By the mercies of God, you are the recipient of his mercy. 354 00:30:51,740 --> 00:30:56,720 For the gospel was proclaimed to you as a Gentile due to the failure of God's Old Testament 355 00:30:56,720 --> 00:31:00,560 people Israel. 356 00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:07,360 Because someone was sent to you by the mercies of God and declared the word to you, and you 357 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:12,920 heard it and believed in Christ and called upon him, you've been saved. 358 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:20,520 By the mercies of God, you were cut off from the wild olive tree of your Gentile ancestry 359 00:31:20,520 --> 00:31:27,200 and you have been grafted into the olive tree of God's purpose and blessing and privilege 360 00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:31,360 promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 361 00:31:31,360 --> 00:31:36,640 Not because you were worthy, but because you were chosen of God to be an object of mercy. 362 00:31:36,640 --> 00:31:45,520 Therefore, by the mercies of God, present your bodies to God. 363 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:54,160 It means to consciously take the reins of control and to put them into the hands of 364 00:31:54,160 --> 00:32:00,560 God. 365 00:32:00,560 --> 00:32:06,480 Have you offered your body to God as a living sacrifice? 366 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:13,760 Are you abusing your body with alcohol? 367 00:32:13,760 --> 00:32:17,240 Are you destroying it with drugs? 368 00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:23,720 Then you cannot say that you have given your body to God as a living sacrifice. 369 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:25,320 Are you destroying it with overeating? 370 00:32:25,320 --> 00:32:31,880 I could have gone a long time without mentioning that, I know. 371 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:35,840 Let's be frank about it. 372 00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:42,120 Are you abusing your body by lack of proper exercise? 373 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:51,160 Are you abusing your body because of being sexually unconstrained? 374 00:32:51,160 --> 00:33:00,200 Are you involved in a relationship which compromises your body, the temple of the Holy Spirit? 375 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:06,720 If so, then you need today to present your body to God as a living sacrifice. 376 00:33:06,720 --> 00:33:12,680 Are you willing to allow God to do with your body what He wants? 377 00:33:12,680 --> 00:33:16,920 If God wants to take your body and use it as an instrument over on some mission field 378 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:26,440 in Indonesia, are you willing to say, I'm willing? 379 00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:29,420 Use me there? 380 00:33:29,420 --> 00:33:33,720 If God wants to cause your body to be afflicted with an illness that will limit you for the 381 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:39,960 rest of your life on this planet, are you willing to say, God, if that's what you want, 382 00:33:39,960 --> 00:33:41,740 I'm willing? 383 00:33:41,740 --> 00:33:46,840 My body is yours? 384 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:51,560 Are you willing to even take the step of obedience and allow your body to be immersed in water 385 00:33:51,560 --> 00:34:02,100 as Jesus commanded us as an illustration of His death, burial, and resurrection? 386 00:34:02,100 --> 00:34:06,520 Have you made this definite commitment of consecration where you've presented your 387 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:07,600 body to God? 388 00:34:07,600 --> 00:34:10,720 The tense of that verb means to do it once and for all. 389 00:34:10,720 --> 00:34:14,720 The idea isn't that you won't have to come back and reinforce it later, but that it is 390 00:34:14,720 --> 00:34:22,680 to be so definite, it is to be so sure that you know you've done it. 391 00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:26,360 If you're not sure whether you've done it, then you need to do it today. 392 00:34:26,360 --> 00:34:32,400 And be sure from this point on, make a definite decision on your part. 393 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:35,040 Is your body in check? 394 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:40,520 Or is your body dominating your spirit so that you cannot do the things that you would 395 00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:43,160 like? 396 00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:46,800 Someone has said the problem with the living sacrifice is that it tends to keep wiggling 397 00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:49,360 off the altar. 398 00:34:49,360 --> 00:34:53,840 I think all of us can identify with that. 399 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:58,440 And it may be that you have made that commitment at some point in your life you're sure of 400 00:34:58,440 --> 00:35:06,040 that, but that today your body is causing you to be less consecrated than you ought 401 00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:09,680 to be and you need to reinforce that decision. 402 00:35:09,680 --> 00:35:12,200 Will you? 403 00:35:12,200 --> 00:35:22,240 Let's pray. 404 00:35:22,240 --> 00:35:25,040 Perhaps you need to pray something like this. 405 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:39,840 Dear Father, I present my body as a sacrifice to you. 406 00:35:39,840 --> 00:35:51,640 I place my total self, all of my capacities, my energies, my potential on the altar. 407 00:35:51,640 --> 00:36:02,640 And I say to you that the reins of control are in your hands. 408 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:14,400 I offer myself to you and take my hands off of my life. 409 00:36:14,400 --> 00:36:19,720 Use me for your glory. 410 00:36:19,720 --> 00:36:24,280 With our heads bowed, our eyes shut, I wonder if you have made that commitment for the very 411 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:28,080 first time this morning. 412 00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:33,640 And by the uplifted hand you would say, Pastor, today I prayed those words or something like 413 00:36:33,640 --> 00:36:34,640 them. 414 00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:42,280 And in my heart I have this morning made this commitment of presenting my body with all 415 00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:49,280 of its potential to God as a sacrifice. 416 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:53,960 Today I have made that commitment for the first time. 417 00:36:53,960 --> 00:36:56,880 Would you lift your hand as a testimony of that? 418 00:36:56,880 --> 00:37:00,280 Yes, God bless you. 419 00:37:00,280 --> 00:37:01,760 Others? 420 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:08,760 I am aware that many of us have done this in the past. 421 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:13,080 We may not be able to name the hour, the date, but we know we have made that commitment. 422 00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:20,380 But there are many of us who today need to reinforce that commitment and to say afresh 423 00:37:20,380 --> 00:37:24,360 to the Lord, my body is yours. 424 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:28,160 Do with it what you will. 425 00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:33,240 And today as a reinforcement of a previous decision, you're saying by the uplifted hand 426 00:37:33,240 --> 00:37:35,680 that's my commitment. 427 00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:39,880 I am saying to God afresh today, my body is yours. 428 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:42,000 Would you lift your hand? 429 00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:44,720 You've done it before, but today you're reinforcing it. 430 00:37:44,720 --> 00:37:49,320 Yes, God bless you. 431 00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:52,240 Others? 432 00:37:52,240 --> 00:37:59,680 Father, we understand that this is to be an intelligent act of worship. 433 00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:08,720 Not to be done carelessly or thoughtlessly, but reverently, soberly. 434 00:38:08,720 --> 00:38:14,080 Are some of your children still struggling because sin has so dominated their bodies 435 00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:18,780 and thus their spirit that they're not sure at this point they want to make the decision 436 00:38:18,780 --> 00:38:22,160 that's urged upon them by your spirit? 437 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:29,040 I pray that before they leave here today, they will make that definite commitment. 438 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:35,320 Show them the danger of neglecting overly familiar truth. 439 00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:40,600 And then if there be someone here without the Savior altogether, I pray that that one 440 00:38:40,600 --> 00:38:47,480 would trust him today and come to know eternal life. 441 00:38:47,480 --> 00:39:05,880 In Jesus' name, Amen.