Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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Please remain standing as you're able,
and let's give our attention to Romans chapter
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twelve. Coming back to Romans,
Romans Chapter Twelve, verses one and two,
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Romans twelve, verses one and two. I appeal to you, therefore,
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brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a
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living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to
God, which is your spiritual worship.
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Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of
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your mind that, by testing,
you may discern what is the will of
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God, what is good and acceptable
and perfect. You may be seated,
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as we be in Romans Chapter Twelve. We enter into the last, or
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next to last, of in the
last large portion of the book of Romans.
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Here, all the way up till
about the end, Paul is going
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to be giving us lots of very
practical instructions about how we are to live
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our lives as Christians. I'm all
kinds of things, from how we love
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to showing hospitality. He's going to
talk about how we identify Christians, how
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we are to relate to the government, all kinds of things. You will
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touch on many, many aspects of
our lives and and we will go through
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these these chapters slowly and carefully and
and thoughtfully and and prayerfully. But you
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have to understand, and we will
continue to emphasize this point throughout this connection
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of these chapters and these instructions to
everything that has come before. You cannot
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separate one through eleven, from twelve
to sixteen. They're not two books.
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There one book and they're tied together. And Paul ties that, not himself,
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there in verse one and he says, I appeal to you, therefore,
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on the basis of all these things
I've been saying, not just the
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last few verses in Chapter Eleven,
but the whole argument from one through eleven.
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Because of that, by the mercies
of God, now do these things.
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There's a response that follows. You
remember at the very beginning of Romans,
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in Romans, Chapter One, Verse
Sixteen, Paul said this, for
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I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God
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for salvation to everyone who believes.
I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel,
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Paul says. He's not a shame
because it's the power of God for salvation
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to everyone who believes. When he
uses that word salvation, he has a
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very comprehensive, a very full sense
of that word. When we are saved
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by God through the Mercy and grace
of Jesus Christ, it's not just a
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part of us that's saved, it's
all of us and for all time.
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God doesn't do things halfway. He
doesn't start a job and not finish it.
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When he died for us on the
cross, there's not a single drop
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of his blood that was shed in
vain. God intended the complete and entire
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salvation of his people, and so
because of that, Paul is not ashamed.
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He's proud to preach this good news. He's happy to preach this good
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news. He wants to even suffer
for it that others might be saved.
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And so when Paul speaks to us
about the kind of lives that we live
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and response to that Gospel, when
he talks about us being saved, he
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has not just the beginning of our
lives in Christ, but the middle and
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on into eternity as well. He
said that the power of God is for
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salvation. So, in other words, it's not just in our justification,
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not just that Declaration of righteousness that
we have in having Christ's righteousness imputed to
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us and our sins imputed to him. And it's not just at the end,
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in our glorification, when all we
will have resurrected bodies, be completely
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sinless and have everlasting life, but
in the in between times, two the
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Times in which we all find ourselves
and these last days, in two thousand
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and seventeen sanctification. God works in
us, he saves us, and the
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Gospel is that power. It's the
engine that drives, it's the fuel that
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feeds us and helps us, the
Gospel being the promises of God that come
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to us by his spirit, because
of his son. They save us in
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our justification and our sanctification, in
our glorification. So that means that when
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we put our faith in Jesus Christ, to everyone who believes as he says,
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there's power in that. Our Union
with him therefore results in a new
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way of life. In other words, it's not just a thing on paper.
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Being a Christian isn't just a membership
letter or a name on a church
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roll or even, in God's own
mind, just a thing that he's declared.
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Union with him results in new ways
of living. So he's going to
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talk to us about those things and
it's a very comprehensive thing he has in
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mind. Let me give you one
example or a metaphor that Jesus gives.
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He talks about us being united to
him like a branch has to a vine.
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When you graft one plant onto another. You have one plant now and
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the branch is receiving its life,
it's vitality, from the vine. The
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branch begins to bear forth fruit.
But how does it do it? Is
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it doing it on its own power, by its own strength? No,
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if the branch was by itself,
lying on the ground, it would be
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dead, producing nothing. But because
it's united to the vine, it produces
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good things, sweet things, enjoyable
things. It's the same true. The
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same is true for our Christian life. When the Gospel comes to us in
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the power of the spirit and we
believe it and we are united to Jesus
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Christ, things happen. Life changes, sin still remains. It's a process.
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It doesn't up and all at once, but there is a change.
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There's a pattern that we begin to
follow. Getting a little bit ahead of
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myself, Paul says in verse two, do not be conformed to this world
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or this age. Not Don't follow
that pattern. Don't be conformed to the
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thing that you aren't a dead thing, an evil thing, a sinful thing,
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be conformed to the thing you are, a righteous thing, a holy
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thing, one of God's children.
So, as we approach all these commandments,
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I want to start out by laying
this foundational idea that if you're a
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Christian, if your faith is in
Jesus and you have believed the Gospel,
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which is the power unto salvation,
and a holistic salvation, beginning, middle
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and end, then you don't have
anything to fear when it comes to a
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long list of commands and exhortations and
rules for living. You don't have anything
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to fear because the law is no
longer condemning you. It no longer says
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you will die because of this,
and if it does and convicts you of
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sin, then you know it's convicting
you not whender the curse of the law,
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but under the blessing of new life. God has already taken the curse
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on himself. He's setting before us
the pattern of life. That doesn't make
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it optional, it doesn't make it
a thing that you can kind of take
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or leave, but it changes the
way that we think about it, it
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changes the way we feel. It
so when our hearts are pricked, when
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our consciences are pricked, and we
say, you know what, my love
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isn't genuine, or I don't show
hospitality, or I'm not a good steward
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of my gifts, or whatever it
is that we say, that's true of
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me or that's not true of me, and whatever it is, we don't
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react by becoming fearful of death,
of curse and wrath. Instead, we
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turn and repentance, knowing that the
Gospel is the power of God into salvation
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for everyone who believes. It.
Also means that when we hear these commands,
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both here or in any time in
our Christian life, there's a kind
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of joy that should be sparked within
us. The Commands of the Lord,
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David says, are sweet and wonderful, like drippings from the honeycomb. If
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you are a Christian, if your
faith is in the gospel of Jesus and
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in Jesus himself, then the commands
of the Lord are sweet because they no
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longer are threatening you with death,
but instead they're showing you the path of
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life, what it means to glorify
God, what it means to please God.
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Of course, if you're not a
Christian, then hearing these commands will
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bring much fear to you, and
it should, because, apart from the
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righteousness of Jesus, apart from that
Gospel that we are given, we stand
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just with the law. We stand
are called to stand up next to it
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and ask, well, how do
you measure up? How does he measure
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up? How does she measure up? How close do you come and bend
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the basis of that? Will you
be saved or will you not? Well,
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it's not good news for any of
us when we approach the law in
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this way, apart from immediate or
apart from Jesus standing between us, because
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when it's just us in the law, you know what, all we have
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is sin and wrath and the promise
of conviction, because none of us can
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stand and look at the law,
look in the mirror and say, yeah,
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I'm perfect, I've got it all
together. As we reflect on our
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year just past, who of us, in just the past year can say
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that was the most excellent year?
I finally did it? A sinless year?
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Of course not. is riddled with
troubles and trials and temptations that were
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fallen into, apologies made and forgiveness
is asked. And perhaps there still some
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things that we need to tie up, and they're always will be things that
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need to be healed and restored and
forgiven and till the Lord comes again.
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Knowing that I'm I'm calling you from
the very beginning, don't look at the
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law that way. Don't put yourself
in a position where you stand face to
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face with the law without Jesus.
You and I, all of us,
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need the forgiveness of sins, because
we all have sins and we know that
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because of the law, because of
these commands that are given. So,
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if you're not a Christian, become
a Christian. If you don't know Jesus
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and are standing apart from him,
if it's just you trying to measure up
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to the Commands of God's Law,
to the righteousness that he commands, recognize
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the conviction that say on your heart
and the doomed failure that you are and
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will be. Recognized that the convinced
that the wrath of God will come upon
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you and it will be terrible.
But the Gospel, the good news,
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that Jesus has come to save people
who are dead in their sins, to
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bring people out of Wrath, to
be a physician that heals us. When
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you trust in that, know that
it is not just a message or a
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nice idea, but it is the
power of God for salvation to everyone who
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believes. So it's in that light
that we begin thinking about all of these
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commands. I appeal to you,
therefore, brothers, a word that means
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brothers and sisters, by the mercy
of God, on the basis of that,
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on the promises he's made, on
the forgiveness he's given and gives,
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now do these things. And here's
how he talks about it. First,
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he says, present your bodies as
a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to
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God, which is your spiritual worship. Then he says, don't be conformed
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to this world, but be transformed
by the renewal of your mind, that
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by testing, you may discern what
is the will of God, what is
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good and acceptable and perfect. Next
time I'm going to focus on verse two
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in particular. How do we know
what the will of God is? How
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do we discern it? How do
we test it? It's an important question
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that every single one of us should
be able to answer. Will think about
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that next time. Today I want
to simply focus your attention on this holistic
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obedience that God wants from his children, this kind of complete, complete obedience
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that God wants from us as Christians. First, notice this first part in
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verse one. He says we are
to present our body these as a living
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sacrifice. Notice a couple things about
this. First of all, he uses
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the term body. This does several
things. I think it should bring to
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mind several things. First, it
teaches us that our faith in Jesus is
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is not just an idea or an
ideology or even a theology. Our faith
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is not just good intentions. Our
faith isn't just a trying or wishing to
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do well, but it's actually faith
comes in and is played out in in
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actions, in our very bodies.
In other words, it's not just a
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thing that we think about. It's
not just an idea that we bat around
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or a system that we put together
like a puzzle. There's it's lived out
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in our bodies. The faith that
we believed has a physical aspect to it,
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in the way that it bears fruit. Paul's already dealt with this.
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Actually, this is not the first
time that sanctification and obedience to God is
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mentioned. Let me remind you of
a few verses in chapter six for example,
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I'll read three verses. First,
chapter six, verse Thirteen, where
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Paul says do not present your members, that is, members of your body,
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hands, fingers, etc. Do
not present your members to sin as
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instruments for a righteousness, but present
yourselves to God as those who have been
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brought forth from death to life,
and your members to God as instruments for
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righteousness. To do the opposite is
is like committing treason. You, as
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a Christian, are one that has
been brought from death to life, you're
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shining with the light of the glory
of God. To then take yourself,
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your body that God has given you, that is caught, that he is
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called holy and acceptable, that a
body that he's promised resurrected life to and
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then walk over to the dark side, the dominion of darkness, the Kingdom
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of the evil one, and say
here I am, I'm ready to serve,
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when Satan himself would recognize you as
a holy one, as an acceptable
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one, as one of the children
of God. It's a thing that doesn't
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make sense. It's a thing that's
terrible, it's a thing that, as
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I say, is is a treasonous
thing to cross sides like that. Don't
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present your members as instruments for righteousness. Here I am, my feet,
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my mind, my body. I'm
here ready to serve you. UNRIGHTEOUSNESS,
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no, but present yourselves to God. Use my hands, use my life,
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use my body to serve you,
because I am one who has been
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brought from death to life. That's
verse thirteen or Verse Sixteen, I do
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not do you not know that if
you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,
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you are slaves of the one whom
you obey? Sort of an obvious
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point, right. Don't you know
that if you go to someone who say
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I am your faithful servant, I
am your slave, that that is your
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master? Right? It's a very
simple basic point, but Paul puts it
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in these very moral terms and spiritual
terms. He says, do you not
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know that if you present yourselves to
anyone is obedient slaves, your slaves of
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the one whom you obey, either
of sin, which leads to death,
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or of Obedience, which leads to
righteousness? There's a choice we make,
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in other words. And then verse
nineteen. He says, I'm speaking in
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human terms because of your natural limitations, for just as you once presented your
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members as slaves to impurity and to
lawlessness, leading to moral lawlessness and,
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as he said earlier, to death. So now present your members as slaves
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to righteousness, leading to sanctification.
You see what Paul saying? He's saying
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when you put your faith in the
mercies of God, in the grace of
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God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and you say to him you have
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saved me and I am yours,
and now use me, you become no
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longer a slave of impurity and lawlessness
and terrible things, which leads to darkness
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and death. You become a slave
of the most holy God, which is
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not a terrible thing. To be
bound forever to him who loves you forever,
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to be bound to him forever who
promises to care for your every need,
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to direct your every path in every
good way. That's a wonderful thing
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and it leads to sanctification, to
holiness, to life. So, going
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back to chapter twelve, he says
present your bodies, and then he adds
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this this phrase as a living sacrifice. Our bodies and other words, are
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not just our minds. We don't
just come up with an idea, we
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don't bat around a theology, but
we present ourselves our whole selves, and
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we do so as a living sacrifice. This is another way that Paul emphasizes
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the comprehensive nature of who we are
in him and how we are to live
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our lives. A sacrifice is,
of course, something that's given, that's
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sacrificed, particularly under God. A
sacrifice is something in the Old Testament.
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If it was an animal had to
die, I suppose, a plant to
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you don't present a living sacrifice.
Really, if you do, the animal
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has to die first and then it
is given to God. Paul takes the
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same idea here, but then changes
it slightly. He says that we are
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to present our bodies as a lit
as a sacrifice. Yes, we give
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ourselves over to him, but not
as a dead thing. We don't say
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I need to pay for my sins, so slip my throat and take my
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life. We say Jesus Christ is
paid for my sins. I now live
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and I live forever, and I
give myself over to you. It's a
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wonderful thing. It describes again that
sort of comprehensive sense in which we give
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ourselves to God. Well, there's
one more way that this is emphasized,
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and that's in the verse two,
where it says do not be conformed to
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this world or to this age.
The time in which we live is a
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time that is full of a lot
of darkness. Paul says that in the
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last days there will be all kinds
of things. People are doing, all
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kinds of ungodly things, a world
that is filled with treachery and hopelessness and
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lawlessness. This is not a point
that needs to be proven. I don't
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think it's taken for granted. We
all know it's true. The world in
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which we live clings to the things
of the evil one, but Paul says
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we are not to be conformed to
that. We are to be conformed to
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something else. We are to follow
another pattern. What I mean to say
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is, as we think about our
bodies and now he tells us to think
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about this age in which we live, in the entire context of our lives,
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it's to be lived out according to
a different context, a different world,
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a different age, and namely the
Kingdom of Heaven. We are to
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follow after another pattern, to be
conformed and transformed in another way, and
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it is the way of the will
of God. All around us there are
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people saying choosing other paths, going
other ways, doing other things, little
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towers of Babel being constructed all over
the place, men declaring himself to be
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God and to be ruler and king
over all, and in that choice and
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in not calling himself God, he
chooses his own ways. I want what
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I want and I want it now, man says, and there is a
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temptation and a pull on us to
do the same and to follow after ways
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of unrighteousness and wickedness. And Paul
Says No. If you are Christian,
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if you are living your life by
the mercy of God, if you are
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living, then present your bodies as
a living sacrifice and don't be formed to
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this world. Instead, be transformed
to the next one, to the will
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of God. That is good,
acceptable and perfect. It happens by the
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renewal of all your mind, by
this active process of giving yourself over and
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over and over again, to testing, to learning, to knowing what is
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God's will, and that then going, in your body and in your soul
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and with everything you have into God's
path. When we do that, we
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find that even the must most mundane
tasks of our lives take on something new.
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Outwardly, washing dishes from a Christian
and a non Christian may not look
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any different, but inwardly, to
know that in doing a simple chore,
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whether it's Washing dishes or taking out
the trash or going to work or caring
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for a loved one, whatever it
is, that when we're doing so boys
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servants in the House of the Lord, when we're doing things that are good
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and acceptable, when pleasing to God, when we're doing things that are filled
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with life and light and godliness,
it changes sometimes how we do the thing
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and at the very least it changes
our attitude, it changes our hopes,
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it changes our perspective. This is
how we are called to live our lives
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with one another in our government,
in all kinds of aspects which Paul will
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get into. We live our lives
in the will of God and by His
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grace. Now it's a process.
Much of it will start in your mind
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and not really seem to work itself
out, and even in our minds we
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have trouble sort of sorting through things
and understanding things and really knowing what God's
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will is. But over time God
promises US growth. He says that you
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will learn to discern good from bad, light from darkness. Remember what Paul
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says in Philippians. Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever's right,
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whatever is pure, is good,
whatever is lovely, whatever's admirable. Think
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on these things, and who wouldn't
want to? We love the good,
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we love the things that come from
God and are from him. Now,
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if you don't think in terms like
this, if you're not used to thinking
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of your body and your soul,
if you're not thinking of if you're not
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used to thinking of yourself in this
comprehensive way as a servant of the Lord,
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then let God's words speak to you
and begin to change the way you
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think about your life. Know that, when you believe in Jesus and you
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trust in him for forgiveness of sins, you belong no longer to impurity and
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lawlessness and to slavery, but you
belong to him who's righteous and good and
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holy. Know that, when you
belong to him, we are called to
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begin to think in these new ways. Indeed, it's kind of impossible not
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to think in these ways when you're
a true Christian, because he doesn't just
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change us in a book, he
changes US internally, ourselves, our bodies,
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our emotions, our thoughts, are
wills, are consciences, the spirit
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of God is at working in us, and let us believe that and trust
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in him and move forward in our
lives, seeking more and more to know
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him and His grace, to know
the faith by which we live and to
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continue walking in it. Let's ask
God now that he would help us to
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do these things, to begin and
to continue to think of our lives as
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servants of his in every way.
Let's pray
