Paul Washer | A Living Sacrifice | Christ Church Radford

I want to begin by looking just briefly to passage in Jeremiah chapter 12 in this passage Jeremiah is offering a complaint to God about the triumph of the wicked the wicked seemed to prosper he seems to be suffering he wants an answer from God and God responds to him in Chapter 12 verse 5 if you have run with footmen and they have tired you out then how can you compete with horses if you fall down in the land of peace how will you do in the thicket of the Jordan now what is he teaching here he's saying Jeremiah it's going to get worse it's going to get far worse than what you can imagine at this moment and Jeremiah if in this slightly difficult time you are not able to run you are not able to stand then you most certainly will not be able to run or stand when times get tough and something very important especially I'm addressing everyone but especially the young men today you were not born in a culture or a generation that creates strength you were born in a culture and a generation that has sought to create nothing but weakness in you lack of conviction lack of the ability to plant your feet in the sand and go against everyone for the cause of Christ your generation teaches you nothing of that and right now right now if you find it difficult to walk with Christ now than fear I'm not a prophet or the son of a prophet this is not from some vision or even an interpretation of Scripture this is from just being a student of history if there is not a revival in this country and you do stand as a Christian and I mean stand then your generation may suffer far more than any generation that's ever been on this continent and if you're a weak now you will cave then question is what should we do what should we do well I can tell you what you shouldn't do you don't need to go back into previous generations and find some sort of model of John Wayne or a cowboy or a soldier and then draw your example from that no you must do what every generation must do if it's going to be strong in the Lord and serve the Lord and honor the Lord you're going to have to live in Scripture I so often hear these young men talking and talking and talking and talking and talking and talking but they cannot stand and they do not stand because they do not kneel in the study of Scripture and in prayer a young man and a young woman that spends time in prayer before a holy God that lives feeds upon the Word of God can stand when everyone else falls so the question is this you're going to play Christianity you're going to get in all sorts of groups and have all kinds of fun or are you going to be that person who gets in the Word of God and gross who gets in the Word of God and becomes conformed to the image of Christ that's the question I can tell you that when I was at the University of Texas countless brothers around me countless brothers going out doing things being part of Christian organizations and now after more than 35 years I look around and most of them are completely gone back into the world why Christianity is difficult it is not going with the stream it's going against the stream it is a fight it is a fight just to walk in the convictions of scripture how much more is it a fight when you decide that it's not all about Jew and it's not all about your family but it's about four billion people who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and you decide to put on soldiers boots and fighting to give your life to something yes some of you here today who are very devoted very godly you also need to understand something this is not just about your piety and this is not just about you getting your family to heaven this is bigger than you bigger than your family it is about taking the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world no matter how it hurts or what it costs that's what it's about and I can tell you I see so many young men wasting their strength in foolishness just outright childishness instead of becoming men and thinking about taking the gospel to the world of dying for Christ I was just with a brother recently and we were laughing together I said well brother I just hope your jail cell is beside mine I would love the fellowship it may come to that but so be it we must be strong but we can't be strong based on personality we can't be strong just based on some silly experience at a conference we are only as strong as the time we spend before God in his word and in prayer that's what makes us strong Joshua has to enter into the promised land he has to fight bloody horrible paddles what is he told to do to gather up all the arms to get blacksmith to start creating weapons no he's told to meditate upon the word of the Living God and that would make him strong and courageous the young men in first John they were strong why because the Word of God and dwelt him in 12 them so now let's go to the book of Romans chapter 12 now if you notice up here it also had Psalms 1 earlier and that is because as I study more and more through the Scriptures I am astounded at the constant relationship I am finding between either the sayings of Christ the writings of Paul and the old testament and when you look at Romans chapter 12 in a sense we're seeing a new testament version of psalms 1 now he says in verse 1 therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice now he is asking of you everything everything not a few hours a week not that you just give up some sin he is telling you to give the most costly thing you can possibly give and that is your entire life that's what he demands recall now all those teachings of Christ the man who gains his life loses it the man who loses his life for my sake is the man who finds life this is a call to die you're all probably familiar with Jim Elliot and one day after his martyrdom a friend flew over the site over the beach where he had been martyred and the pilot said right down there is where Jim Jim's friend said no it wasn't pilot ghosts yes it was I was here I drove the plane I I picked up the body right there is where Jim died said no it wasn't I was with Jim when he died in a little church several years ago when he offered his life to Christ when did you die where's your tombstone God is calling us to offer our lives to him offer our lives to him now we need to ask ourselves a very important question what could be the motivation for this what could cause a man to do something this radical well we have a few here and then I'm going to take you in a few other places in the New Testament and show you what can drive a man to do this first of all in the immediate most immediate context if you look it says therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice now the word therefore is very important because it's connecting us to what precedes and what precedes immediately is one of the most glorious statements in the entire Bible verse 36 for from him and through him and to him are all things what is he saying from God God is the author the architect and designer of absolutely everything this is all his doing it all originated with him it is his plan every place you go everything you see it's because he planned it he's the architect of it so it says for from him are all things and through him not on the primary cause of everything that is but he's the agent the effective agent through which that occurs everything that is exists because not only did God call it into being but God sustains it if God we are not deist if God were to turn away for just a fraction of a moment from this planet it would dissolve into nothingness and chaos he's the primary cause he's the effective cause and then he goes on to say this to him are all things he is the end cause the final cause he is in Latin the Sunan bonum the greatest good he is the reason why everything was made everything is even events every event that ever happened has been orchestrated in some way by God for the ultimate purpose of displaying his attributes to thee to the entire universe that he might be worshipped as God now based on that when this kind of God says give yourself to me the God who originated you designed you who through his mediation brought you into being and for whom you were created see that's that whole passage in Romans 3:23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God it doesn't mean this simply that God has this glorious purpose for you and you need to find it and when you find it you'll feel good about yourself No what he's saying is you weren't made for you you were made for him and only him exclusively him I wasn't made for my wife my wife wasn't made for me my daughter wasn't made for me we were made for God by God for God and when God calls and he does to every human being but especially his people they are to say yes Lord as I said yes Lord here am I take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee I'm yours every beat of the heart every breath every fiber and Lord every beat of the heart and every breath and every fiber that does not serve thee then let it be accursed I hate it it is all for you but now there's another motivation that was immediate context in the extended context of the book of Romans we see another motivation why we should stop playing games and give our lives to God what is it he says therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God His mercies his undeserved kindness 'as lead us to give ourselves to him and what are those mercies that Paul is talking about well again the preposition therefore he's linking chapter 12 to the first eleven Verte first eleven chapters and in the first eleven chapters what do we have the gospel of Jesus Christ the universal sinfulness of all of mankind chapter one chapter two that the Jews are under the same guilt chapter three Gentile and Jew all condemned by the law of God because there is none good no not one and then one the end of chapter three Christ's grace the death of the only begotten son on behalf of a sinful race that the Justice of God might be appeased and the wrath of God extinguished and all the Grace and tender mercies of God might rightfully be poured out on his people why do we give our life to Him because He died for us there's a young used to be young man that I know very very well who was riotous and popular and came to know Christ and a few days later where he used to be the star of the show he's standing in the middle of the university with tracts handing them out and telling people jesus loves you when his friends grabbed him and pulled him into a side room what are what are you doing have you lost your mind he died for me was the only response from that young man and I know him if you talked to him now 35 years later why why do you work so hard why did he do this he died for me I need no other argument I need no other plea it is enough that Jesus died and then he died for me that's why I despise contemporary evangelicalism and it's party and it's entertainment and everything else it needs to attract people because apparently Jesus is not enough well he is enough to his people he is enough now I want to just run over to one of my favorite people the Apostle Paul and second Corinthians and I want to look at another motivation actually the same one he says in chapter 5 verse 13 you see some people in Corinth were saying Paul was out of his mind yes he was an intellectual yes he was a brilliant man yes he was a scholar in many rites but have you seen him sometimes he will just go too far in this willingness to die this willingness to suffer this hard stance he takes not willing to back up always going forward refusing to compromise and what did they say about him look at verse 13 for if we are beside ourselves that's what they were saying oh we'll give you Paul the guy's dedicated he just takes it too far he says if we are beside ourselves it is for God it's for him really do you honestly think that a man who is on fire a woman who is on fire for God is actually going to be honored by this filthy stinking fallen world do you think you can have it both ways do you think a person who's truly gonna walk with Christ is even going to be honored in this evangelical community of dance and fun no Paul said okay you say I'm a madman then just know this I'm a madman for him and I'm not ashamed of it and then he goes if we are of sound mind it is for you yes toward him I'm a madman but toward you I'm saying I teach you you know my word it's validated and then he goes on here's the here's the point for the love of Christ controls us controls us constrains us drives us drives us now I think Oh Paul's great love for Christ drove him no that's not what Paul saying you've got the genitive backwards here Paul is not saying my great love for Christ compels me because no man's love is consistent not even Paul's what's he saying then he's saying this Christ's magnificent enduring immutable love for me drives me do you see the difference how are you doing today well I'm pretty up no I'm down well I'm up again I'm down and so goes also your labor for Christ but if you sit there and realize this is not about my love for him it's about his love for me I will meditate on his love for me and be driven by that uh everything changes because it doesn't matter how I feel doesn't even matter how spiritual I am this day his love is the same it continues driving driving and his love drives harder than any whip I've ever felt across my back and then one more ambition one more motive and this is a complete change of pace now second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9 therefore we also have as our ambition whether at home or absent to be pleasing to him life death he says whether I'm alive whether I'm dead I have one ambition if I'm free if I'm in prison if people around me love me they're stoning me I have one ambition and what is that to be pleasing to him you see it's not about being brave I learned this a long time ago something that has helped me more than anything else it's not about being brave it's about being wise you said what do you mean alright let's say there's a man and he's six foot six 250 pounds full of muscles mmm a star and he says if I don't do what he says he's gonna beat me up that's frightening now let's say the stand beside him is a man that's ten feet tall 600 pounds full of muscles the greatest fighter in the world and he tells me if I don't do what he says he's going to get me what am I going to do I'm fighting the smallest of the two I may be scared to death of the smallest of the two but I'm still gonna fight the smallest of the two I can look at men and be afraid of them and still keep going forward why because I'm more afraid of him he's bigger than they are they can kill my body he can kill my body and cast my soul in hell so I don't like that language then you don't like what Jesus taught because that's exactly what he told his disciples when he was telling them you are going to face horrendous persecution and trials but let me tell you there don't fear those Romans don't fear the mightiest army on the planet that the world had ever known don't fear them fear the one who can not only kill your body but cast your soul in hell and Paul says this in verse 10 for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body according to what he has done whether good or bad now he's not talking about salvation here but he is talking about a genuine true judgment that every believer will face and I want to be honest with you I can't put the two things together and I've not found a theologian who can either there are some things in Scripture that we must hold an attention if you are a believer in Christ the smallest weakest believer in Christ you know that a wide-open door is left for you in heaven and that when you cross over into glory Jesus didn't die so that the first thing you see from him as a scowl on his face you know you will be received you know you will be loved yet at the same time the Bible teaches clearly and it was enough to create reverence and fear in the heart of the Apostle Paul he said I am going to be judged and verse 11 he says therefore knowing the fear of the Lord we persuade men many people misinterpret this passage they think it means Paul seeing these lost men here and how they're in such great danger he's going to go over there and tell them the truth regardless how they respond that's not what he's teaching Paul is teaching something completely different he's saying knowing the fear of the Lord and knowing that God's going to judge me for how I respond to them I'm going to go to them and I'm going to preach the truth even if they stone me do you see the difference so we must be a motivated people and how are we motivated we are motivated by understanding the greatness and the glory of God we are motivated by understanding what God did for us through His Son Jesus Christ and then there is also each and every one of you will stand before God on that day I can't tell you how many professors come to me and they'll they say you know they have this student several students who don't do the work throughout this semester they're going to flunk and everything else and they all come at the end of the semester yeah proof can you give us a you know some work lists and make up material maybe write a report or something and most professors do that today mine never did know you're gone there's not going to be anything like that there's really not you're gonna stand before God one day and you're going to be judged period no replay no backup you know give me a little more time can I turn in some extra homework none of that exists you will be judged and as a believer you will be judged now let's go back to two Romans chapter 12 Paul says therefore I urge you brethren there's one thing I tried to tell young preachers all the time yet preaching is not just about the communication of information that's not what it's about that's not the goal that's a means to the goal goal is transformation and that's why preachers not only tell you things that are true they beg you to listen they urge you they push you and that's what Paul is doing here he says therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God by what God has done for you in Christ to do what present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice now there's something very important here the word present and I really want to nail this guy's we all know that even when we're striving to do our best we know there will be failure we know there will be a need for brokenness but I want you to understand something this word present is an Arras tense and he's not saying what he's not he's not admonishing us like you know in some churches they have altar calls every Sunday and every Sunday you go up and rededicate your life and rededicate your life and rededicate your life and start over again and over again and over again that's not what this text is teaching this is kind of a a prophetic moment here remember when the Prophet came to Israel and said how long will you limp between two opinions if God is God then serve him as God if Bale is God then goeth Bale and that's the call that's being given here at this moment stop it he says just stop it one day you're hot one day you're cold one day hear this one day through that one day you're in one day you're out stop it for once in your life commit yourself you say but how you know I sincerely I do that but but but if sincerely you do that then after you do that sincerely do this start studying the Word of God as though your spiritual life depended upon it because it does start studying scripture scripture listen young people listen to me for a second it's my job I write books and I preach that's all I do but let me share with you something it's not uncommon for me to be working in the scriptures writing a book for 10 hours 12 hours a day but guess what if that's all I do I will grow weak in the mornings in the evenings sitting down and feeding upon Scripture simply to nourish my soul starting in Genesis and working all the way through the book of Revelation and then starting again and again and again feeding upon the word reading the word studying the word meditating upon the word memorizing the word obeying the word and being broken when the word is not obeyed by me you you have no sense of of Jewish piety there's nothing of Jewish piety apart from the word of God the law of God true Jewish piety and there's no Christian piety apart from the Word of God being absolutely Center in your life there is none forget it I don't care how zealous you are evangelistic you are you can just go down through a long list of all your virtues but I can tell you this if the study of the word of God is not front and center in your life you're weak you're weak you're weak you're weak so he says present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice now he uses the word bodies here which is kind of unusual so my physical body why would he do that I don't know but I'm glad he did and here's why you walk up to someone they profess faith in Christ they're walking in the world they're walking in ungodliness and you tried to address the matter in their life and they say oh quit judging me you don't know what's in my heart I don't need to know what's in your heart it's written all over your body what's in your heart what you're doing with your body tells me what's in your heart and so he's not saying here oh do this romantic kind of philosophical thing in with you oh I give my heart to Jesus that's not what he's saying you see in in the in the biblical view of mankind he's not all these Greek divisions you get everything or nothing if you have truly given your innermost being to Christ it is going to be reflected in your outermost being your body in the way you behave in the way you act and your desires your ambitions your goals it will be reflected in that so he says stop with all this silly nonsense and cliches about hearts and feelings deliver yourself over to God give yourself to God now present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice living the idea here is this is not just some empty religious ritual this can not be done in the flesh a person who is not a Christian cannot do this this is a person he's talking to people who have not just prayed a prayer who have not just made some decision at some sort of youth camp or evangelistic meeting he's talking about a group of people who have been born again and that word is so overused and abused what it means is regenerated that the Spirit of the Living God has made them a child of God has transformed their stony heart into a living heart of flesh they're responsive to God in college ministry I've so so often it's terrifying why because you'll invest so much in a guy or a girl invest so much time and everything else but you begin to notice that if you don't ask them about the Bible they don't study the Bible if you don't ask them about prayer and prod them to pray they don't pray if you don't go and get them and bring them they won't come and sooner or later you realize that you're not dealing with a person who's spiritually alive a person who is spiritually alive will respond to God's call and when they find themselves wavering which we all do they hate that wavering it brings contrition to their heart it's living sacrifice and it's a holy sacrifice dear young people listen to me I really I I tried to comprehend I know what kind of world at least I have an idea of what kind of world you're living in I know how how corrupt things were when I was a young person I can't imagine what it's like today but you can't you cannot throw this holiness thing out every time I bring up holiness in a youth meeting or something usually the response is well that's legalism you need to understand something the Bible has commands and if you think that's legalism then then you don't well you don't have anything to do with the Bible there are things that God loves and we are to run to them passionately and there are things that God hates and we are to get them out of our lives we are to get them out of our lives Leonard Ravenhill was an old preacher from years and years ago from England and he sent me a track one time when when he heard I was young man I was struggling he sent me a track and the track basically said this others can you cannot what did the track mean well he said listen if you want to truly be used of God then others are going to be able to do things that you're not going to be able to do if you want to be an instrument that God can use you have to draw a line in the sand and not cross it there are some things you cannot participate in there are some things you cannot watch you cannot listen to you cannot be a part of a holy instrument unto God's this offer present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice acceptable to God acceptable you have to make a choice even as a Christian anything anything that is a stumble anything that is an obstacle between you and your relationship with God has to go you know I tell a lot of people this and it makes them mad but I said they they go man I just why can't I go farther and I say well maybe because you really don't want to go farther maybe because if you go farther it means you're going to have to let go of some things and you don't want to let go of them there are things you cannot do there are places you cannot be there are things you cannot watch without grieving the Spirit of God and quenching the life of the Spirit within you you have to realize that the problem is and listen to me you've already heard our one of our pastors praying for other churches we believe there are other churches around here that are really really good and things like that we're not the only group that's for sure we've got our own problems but listen you sit in most churches they're never gonna talk to you about holiness because it'll chase the college students away just recently I saw a sign and I looked at it because I was like what is this sign about because the only thing I could make out with my poor eyesight was these big words fun and so I came near the sign fun what what kind of fun it was a church and the biggest word on that sign was fun I didn't see Jesus Christ anywhere I saw really good music they said I saw really good times I saw a lot of beautiful people with smiley faces I didn't see Jesus I didn't see cross I didn't see holiness I didn't see anything just fun right in the middle of it brothers and sisters young and old that's not Christianity if we have a sign in this church and there's some other word other than Jesus Christ that's the biggest word there I'm tearing the sign down I don't even going to ask for permission from the pastor's I'm just going to tear it down and just to wait what comes but I know this I'll have to climb over the pastor's to tear it down no this is about Christ and about giving our lives for him and giving our lives for our brothers and sisters in Christ and giving our lives even for people who hate us giving our lives for four billion people have never heard the gospel giving our lives for the glory of Jesus Christ well I'm going to stop but let me just let me just say this one part here it's your spiritual service of worship is the way the new American Standard translates it it could also be your rational service of worship to give your life to God to Christ is the act of worship and it's rational the word can also mean rational it is the most rational thing you could ever do is to give your life lock stock and barrel to Christ now let me put a caveat on this if any man any group of men any preacher or any church comes to you and says it is rational and spiritual for you to give your life to us run run as fast as you can I am a preacher of many many years I've preached longer than a lot of you've even been alive a lot longer but men are men and men are fallible you do not give your life to men or preachers or even someone like the Apostle Paul or a group of people like a church oh give your life turn it all over to us run you give your life to God in a personal relationship with God His Son Jesus Christ Holy Spirit and in that you will be committed to people you will be committed to other believers you will faithfully hopefully attend a church and be a vital member there but it is rational to give your life to only one and I have to say that in this day and age where there's so many dangerous things being taught no college students you don't give your life to a man you give your life to the man Jesus Christ and you radically follow him you can respect ministers if they're worthy of respect you can show honor to whom honor is due but you give your life to only one and that is Jesus Christ well I got through one verse there sorry I beg you I beg you give your life to Christ and you young men I didn't even get to the part that I wanted to teach you and that is this look your generation your culture is never going to prepare you to be a man of God and you ladies a woman of God but neither could my culture and generation do that but the Word of God can and following the example of Jesus Christ can this is not about becoming John Wayne it's about becoming conformed to the image of Jesus Christ it's not a strength of muscle or steel in your backbone it's the strength of loving Christ Christ loving you and you loving others enough to live and tell the truth before them even when it's costly if there any questions I will be here after the service the pastor's will be here but I hope that God's dealing with your heart and drawing you closer to him let's pray father thank you for your word so much Lord so much in your word please help us and lord help especially the young people here today strengthen them and make theirs a glorious generation that serves you that the grace given to my generation might be superseded by the grace given to them Jesus name Amen

Channel: HeartCry Missionary Society

Views: 55,760

Rating: 4.9444718 out of 5

Keywords: paul washer, heartcry, jesus christ, missions, bible, sermons, gospel, missionary, society, god

Id: NVRz2fDqTTc

Length: 45min 57sec (2757 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 08 2020