Romans 12 by Paul Washer

let's open up our Bibles to Romans chapter 12 in verse 1 Paul writes therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship and do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect now I want you to look at something here Satan is a liar but there is one thing that he says in the book of Job that is rather true rings true you can take away a lot from a man you can take away his house you can drink of his car all his bank account his Goods and everything else and it will do him damage but not as much damage as touching his body when you ask a man to give up his very life you are asking that person to give the most precious thing they possess something that cannot be replaced once it is spent and that's exactly what the Apostle Paul is calling us to do here in this text look what he says present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice he's asking us to give ourselves entirely to Christ to God to God's kingdom now he goes on he says at the very first part of this verse he says I urge you brethren this is something very very important look when you hear a preacher or if you are a preacher and you see something of an extraordinary passion in them that's the way it ought to be why should it be this way because when we stand up before people we are not talking about minor topics we're not talking about minor things or trivial things we're talking about the things of life and death and heaven and hell and when we admonish to do something if we're admonishing you according to the Word of God we are admonishing you to do something that will not only impact your life but impact all of eternity when the preacher calls out for you to repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand to obey that is to gain life eternal to deny that is to go to hell and spend all of eternity under the wrath of Almighty God you see so Paul when he tells you look give your life to Him he's not making a suggestion he's not simply putting forth an idea he doesn't have the attitude of take it or leave it he is saying this is our new reality this is what life is all about if you are Christian it is nonsensical to hold back it is irrational to keep your life for you you ought to give it to him the most precious thing that you have you give it to him you present it to him no pulse urged us to do this Paul's admonished us to do this but from where do we gain the motivation when you hear me say and repeat what Paul is saying that we should give our lives as a living sacrifice to God most of you are in hearty agreement you agree that's the thing that ought to be done so that's not the problem the problem is but where do I find the motivation where do I find the the impulse where do I find the strength where do I find a passion that endures that continues so that daily I'm laying down my life so that daily I'm following him so that daily I'm pressing on to know the Lord and to be more useful in his service brother Paul I agree that that's what we ought to do but I find that I lack the strength and the motivation the force of will to do it now let me simplify what I'm saying you should love God more is that not true you should love God more I should love God more than I do I should we all recognize that you know a horrible thing a preacher can do is tell you you need to love God more but then not tell you how to find a greater love for God so telling someone something they ought to do and they're not telling them how to do it and leaving theirs leaving them there stuck between two opinions helpless well I'm going to tell you that you need to love God more that you need to be more passionate about God you need to be more devoted to God you need to be more given over to God but I'm not going to leave you there I'm now going to tell you how that can be accomplished and it's not a quick fix it's something that requires endurance but it is something that can transform your life over time and it's found in this text look what he says therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice what are we to do present our bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice from where does the motivation come by the mercies of God and what does he mean the more you understand and comprehend the more you sound the depths of the mercies of God toward you the more you will be motivated and strengthened to present your life to him as a living sacrifice or in other words let me put it this way the more you understand the mercies of God toward you as they are revealed in the cross in the Gospel work of Jesus Christ the more empowered you will be to actually grow in devotion and grow in laying down your life for him that's what he's saying by the mercies of God by your comprehension of these things by these things becoming greater and greater realities in your life you will begin to be like the Apostle Paul constrained to present yourself to Christ constrained to follow him now I want you to see something that's very important here if you have the new American Standard or even other translations you it begins here in my English text therefore therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice what must we do present our bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice where do we find the motivation for doing that by sounding the depths growing in our understanding of the mercies of God revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ now the word therefore that little preposition is absolutely essential because here's what Paul is doing therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God the mercies of God here have just been defined for you in the first 11 chapters of the book of Romans and what Paul is doing is basically this for 11 chapters I have shared with you the mercies of God as they are revealed in the person and work of Christ now based upon what God has done for you in Christ the greatness of this work I want you now to present your life as a living and Holy Sacrifice you see that this is very common for Paul in the book of Ephesians we find the very same thing in chapter 4 in the first three chapters of Ephesians we have the deepest theology in all the Bible you want to know where the deep stuff is go to Ephesians one two and three it's absolutely astounding and how does he begin in Ephesians one in Christ in Christ in Christ in Christ in Christ every thing that God has done for us in Christ and basically those three chapters are revealing to us everything God's done for us in the person of his son I like to say it this way outside of the son you have nothing in the son you have all things you have no part with God apart from the Sun but in the Sun God is yours and you are God's and all the mercies that you will not even be able to discover over it a life of eternity all the mercies of God are yours in Jesus Christ he says in Ephesians one through three and then he gets to four and he says now therefore live this way and what does that tell me the more and I know I sound like a broken record but I there's a purpose the more I begin to comprehend the mercy and the grace of God in Jesus Christ not just past mercies not just present mercies but even future grace future mercies that are going to be granted to me throughout all of eternity the more I understand all of this and how it comes to me only in the death of Christ the more I am now empowered to live my life you see that's why Paul talks about in 2nd Corinthians 5 that he was constrained that the love of Christ constrained him it defined him it pushed him forward everything that he was it was motivated by his understanding of what God had done for him in Christ now let's look at it another way I've told you that you should love God more how do you do that how do you make yourself love God more you know there's a thing from physics you know if I lay on the ground and I'm laying on the ground of course with my clothes on and a belt around my waist and I'm laying on the ground and I've got both hands on my belt as I lay on the ground and I'm pulling up like this with all my might and straining with all my strength and you say what are you trying to do I said well I'm trying to lift myself off the ground you say it's not gonna work that's not the way physics works you can't apply the force in that way and expect it to pull you off the ground but that's the way a lot of people are with regard to the love of God I need to love God more yes but how do you do it well I'm gonna tell you how I have been married for 23 years to my beautiful wife from Peru chotto casado we're older than we were she's not you're not honey if you're listening you're not older I'm older but we're older I love her now far more than when I first laid eyes on her and the first time I laid eyes on her I mean she rocked my world I mean I almost fell over I almost passed out but I loved her more now than I did then why now first of all she's a virtuous woman but she's an imperfect woman why do I love her more now because I see more of her virtue now then I saw when I first met her and what does that virtue in her do it draws out my affections so the more I see of her virtue the more that draws out my affections I don't you know sit in a corner like doing exercises groaning and moaning and she looks at me and says what are you doing I said well I'm trying to love you more it doesn't work I mean it's not how you love somebody more it's my Freight you don't really do anything you're not the one making yourself love someone more but rather it's the virtue in that person that's drawing love out of you it's drawing affection out of you so the more I know of her virtue the more my affections are drawn out toward her and I appreciate her I value her I esteem her do you see that it's the same way in Christianity truly I know it seems too simple the more that you see of the virtues of God if you're regenerate if you're truly Christian because if you're not a Christian the more you see of the virtues of God the more you'll hate him but if you're Christian in your heart has been renewed recreated in the image of God and has righteous affections then the more you see of the attributes the works the beauties the excellencies of God the more that will draw out your affections and the more motivated you will be to follow him do you see that I hope you can see that all right now sometimes I pray play a rather cruel game but there's for purpose someone who's really excited about all their academics send their titles and everything else especially a young man I'll ask him this question but did you before you went to Bible College how many years did you dedicate to studying that tributes of God I always put it that way how many years he goes well I didn't I mean I read my Bible okay well when you were in college Bible College and you got that extraordinary degree of yours how many semesters did you dedicate to studying the attributes of God well you know we had one semester in systematic and well two semesters in systematic and in that we studied that to buttes of God okay well when you went on to get your master's how many years and that master's program did you study the attributes of God well that wasn't what I got my masters in and so I didn't really well when you went on to get your PhD how much time there did you spend studying that two beats of God well I mean again that's I was I got my PhD in something else okay well now that you've been in the pastor it for 10 years how many of those years have you dedicated to studying who God is you know what I find out you can have men who are experts in Greek and Hebrew studied systematic and everything else but we talk about their study of who God is it's almost zero is anybody beginning to see a problem here I mean we're Christians this whole thing is about God and yet very rarely are the attributes of God taught very few people in a church could actually sit down and write out a one-line definition of the attributes of the different attributes of God or even mention the different attributes let alone sound the depths of them and begin to understand the excellencies and the beauties of every one of those attributes the magnificence of God so do you see the problem this is one of the reasons why our for God is so little in the church again let me say this there's this new idea out there that all we need is the gospel and basically live in antinomianism I don't agree with that at all but here's what I want you to know what does it matter if you learn all the rules and there's no power to obey them there's no passion there's no love what if you learn of all the duties of a Christian and all the things of the Great Commission and everything but we all know a lot of those things but where is the power where is the strength where is the zeal from where do these things come they come from knowing God Richmond should not boast in their wealth wise men should not boast in their wisdom strong men should not boast in their strength the one who boast should boast in this that he knows God that he knows God and what is primarily the job of the preacher the preacher does not come and give you moral isms our quaint stories it is his job to exegete God he goes into his study he lives there he's on his knees he's in the word he's executing he's reading he's studying but it's not just an exegete a text it's the exegete God it's to reveal God it's to explain God it's to let people know the beauty and glory and power and excellency of God so they walk out excited not about just what they're supposed to do but who he is who he is that's our job as preachers and even though as preachers we should love people and in one sense be people people people persons we belong to God we spend more time with him than we do anybody else when I was first called into the ministry and I went in to talk with my pastor who was one of the most phenomenal men of God I've ever known even after all these years I've hardly met a person like him I walked into his office I said pastor Weaver I've been called to preach he turned around man he was intimidating about six foot six silver hair all back man he looked at me he said boy can you be alone I thought he meant that if I preached the truth I'd you know people wouldn't like me that's not what he meant what he meant was this while all the other boys are going on Christians ski trips together and running around in bachelor packs and doing all their little Christian stuff together and everything else can you just be alone with God when you grow older does your wife know that although she has your heart she doesn't have your heart of hearts and there are times you get that look in your eye and she just has to step away because you're going to be alone because you belong to someone else and you spend your time with him and churches those of you who aren't pastors know this yes pastors ought to visit the sick and many other things but some of your pastors will never be able to be what they should be because of you you should encourage your pastor to be in his study to be on his knees to be praying to be seeking out the glories and the beauties of Christ so that on Sunday and Wednesday or whenever he gets in the pulpit he can tell you something that will warm your heart like the road to Emmaus something about God now think about this some of you been Christians for five years 10 years 15 years 20 years 30 years but how much time have you actually studied who God is how much time have you really considered what the gospel is you see you start learning things like the beauty of God is so great that if you were to catch one glimpse of his beauty without being supernaturally strengthened it would melt your mind down to nothing and you would turn into an imbecile but the beauty of God is so great that if he did not strengthen you it would kill you to see the smallest fraction of it the delight would overwhelm your heart and burst it those are the types of things that will drive a man and a woman out into the mission field those are the types of things that make martyrs sing because they know their God the men and women down through church history that did amazing things it was not because they were amazing people it's because they saw something that most of us don't see more of God more of his beauty more of his grace how can you have the motivation to do what he says here to present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice it is by knowing more of who God is in Christ and what God has done for us in Christ and the more you know that the more you see it the more you're moved no one has to light a fire under you you don't have to go to some conference somewhere to get all fired up he is your fire the knowledge of his beauty is glory that's what moves you we live in such a superficial age and I detest it when ministers I detest it when ministers and ministries try to reduce time with God down to some little thing of daily bread or five-minute prayer or this or that those are not substitutes for truly walking with God there is no substitute for time and I'm not just talking to ministers if you are to truly know the gospel if you are to truly know God you have got to realize you have a priority your priority is as it says in Hosea to press on to know the Lord that's your priority and in doing that everything else will find its corrective measure you say well I need to be a better husband so I'm going to study more about how to be a better husband you already know more than you can obey I was preaching for one of the master Academy international schools in Samara Russia and I had to preach I think it was like 26 sermons on marriage we were on sermon 18 and I still had not mentioned marriage they said what are you doing I said all of you know about marriage you just don't have any power to carry out what you know so why should I just give you more principles to burden you with them but show you where from where the power comes is knowing him knowing him I urge you brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and Holy Sacrifice isn't amazing he says present the eras tense here the tense indicates not every day doing it over over rededicating your life but this is kind of a prophetic call you know the there with the prophet where he says how long will you limp between two opinions if bail is God then worship Him but if God is God then give yourself to him that's kind of what's going on here once in your life make a decision where you're going to stand on this are you going to live in mediocrity it is a horrible thing mediocrity but how much more horrible is it when it is lived out in light of what God has done for us in Christ are you going to continue in mediocrity are you going to start digging down to know God and to know Christ and to know the gospel so the the mediocrity is swept away and you become zealous for the things that are truly worthy once and for all making a decision and standing upon it to present yourself to God that you belong to him you belong to him and look what it says here present your bodies I've always wondered why why is this language used here well if you go to Roman's 6 we still have the same kind of language Romans 7 there's this idea of body body body I almost think at some time that the Holy Spirit wrote this through the Apostle Paul because he knew about us I'm sure every generation has this problem but we seem to excel in this problem and what is the problem you see somebody in the church living in sin living in rebellion against God and you tell them look you need to get right with God and what do they tell you you don't know my heart don't you judge me you don't know my heart you don't know what's in my heart uh-uh you don't know my heart so you just back off buddy look buddy I don't need to know your heart I just have to watch your body do you know what your heart is your heart is the control center of everything you are in Scripture it is the control center of your will the control center of your emotions the control center of everything and so you can't say Jesus has my heart without him having the rest of you that's why Isaiah says I'm a man of unclean lips and I dwell among the people of unclean lips he's not so much concerned about lips but Jesus told us what is true out of the mouth the hardest revealed is he hears the point and I hate to break your little heart but nobody cares about your heart ok the issue is not your little heart issues not about what you feel inside it's not it's about what you do because that is what truly manifests the content of your heart what you do and if he has your heart he'll have your ears and your eyes and your tongue and your hands and your feet do you see that Paul will not let us get away with anything here no super spirituality here no mystic no Gnosticism here no no no Paul's not gonna allow it he's talking about the Hebrew idea the biblical idea of man is a totality if you truly love God it is going to be expressed in your heart soul mind and strength to live in a certain way offer your bodies as a living and Holy Sacrifice now what does this mean a living sacrifice the two ideas here and one of them may be true both of them may be in this idea one is this idea of zeal of being passionate of being zealous we can become zealous about so many things but we are called upon to give it give a zealous life unto God and how do we do that we do that again by knowing more about God and His gospel but also let's not be super spiritual we do that also by relying on one another I am a very weak man but I am a very blessed man because I am always surrounded by men who love God by people who love God so that so that in their lights I sometimes see my lack of zeal and I'm able to repent that's what the purpose of the church is about we are to be a people zealous for God so that when one of us grows cold he's brought into the community sees the zeal of others he repents and we are to be a zealous people not a foolish people not a people filled with just pure emotionalism or enthusiasm but a people with real zeal real fire because of the work of the Spirit of God among them and the knowledge of God among them the idea here also is one of life and here's something that it would be really helpful if you can grasp this so much today of energy and zeal in the church I would describe it as mechanical as springing forth from some program or some eggs uber --nt leader or some new methodology of ministry it's mechanical true life is not mechanical true life does not come from a program instituted in a sunday-school class through life comes from God from the Spirit of God from the Word of God one of the worst things you can do is go into a church that isn't very active and make it active just by your own personality or just buy some new program that some church used in the States and it caused them to grow by a hundred and fifty percent so now you're going to do it here know true life is spiritual and it comes from the spirit and it's founded upon the word brothers listen to me how much do you pray how much do you pray as a congregation talk to me about your congregational praying in your church I'm not talking about all of you gathered around for for an hour the first 45 minutes is people getting up like a town-hall meeting and sharing about everybody else's sicknesses and problems and then it's closed with about ten minutes of prayer that's not what I'm talking I'm talking about congregational praying where you're just seeking the Lord my house will be a house of prayer he said you talk about spiritual life exposition of the scriptures is absolutely necessary for spiritual life but if you think it's just all exposition of Scripture you're wrong because you're only doing half of the opposite aaalac duty they said we will devote ourselves to prayer and the Ministry of the word not just the Ministry of the word and not just the praying of leaders but the praying of the congregation and not just as individuals but as a congregation I can say this because I'm not an elder in my church so I won't be boasting matter of fact my job in the church on Sundays when I'm there is to help my with my wife set up the tables for lunch but our elder when he first came on he said we will pray so we have a Sunday morning service a Sunday morning service we don't have Sunday school we're not against Sunday school we just don't have Sunday School Sunday morning service the main service starts at 10 o'clock that main service starts with one hour of corporate prayer that's not the prayer meeting before the service that's the service one hour of corporate prayer it took our pastor and now our two elders it took them about a year and a half to teach us how to pray corporately because that corporate praying is simply this we are gathered here this day Oh God because we are all empty and you are the God of all fullness we need you we need you to speak through the worship we need you to enliven us in the worship we need you to speak to us through the word we need you to speak to us in our fellowship meal afterwards we need you with us empowering us you must move our we have nothing this Sunday that is what goes on and then there's the worship and the about an hour exposition of the word prayer prayer your life can come from some silly little gimmick or it can come from the spirit of God but don't tell me it's come from the Spirit of God where there's no prayer because I won't buy it Bethany Jones the wife of Martyn lloyd-jones said this no one will understand the expose expository ministry of my husband unless they first of all understand that above all things my husband was a man of prayer prayer true spiritual life true spiritual life remember John 15 it's not just about the Word of God abiding in you but you will ask because the Word of God abides in you because you are cultivating the mind of Christ because you are understanding the will of God you will ask and you the Father will do it and you will be fruitful prayer prayer prayer I'm really scared about all this movement of wanting to return to the Puritans I love the Puritans but I'll tell you this it's really easy to adopt their theology what's different what's difficult is to adopt their devotional life you want to see a work of God then go out and pray like David Brainerd prayed you see now he's just a living sacrifice holy Ness do you know what holiness is do you know what the Bible is saying when the Bible says God is holy because I want to be honest with you most people don't have a clue what that means they really don't if if when you hear the word holy are holiness the first thing you think of is sinlessness or moral purity you don't understand holiness you don't and that kind of definition will lead you to legalism every time what does it mean that God is holy because in defining that then we can understand what it means to be a holy person well this is what it means the word in Hebrew the word holy the the root is to cut the idea of cut separate something distinct cut away removed separate from everything else what does it mean that God is holy it means that he is in a category all to himself that's what it means he is unique there is no one like God no one that's why it is very wrong to put God in a conjunctive relationship like God and king or God and country don't do that he's not in any category with anyone else our cease parole puts it in a wonderful way he says let me ask you a question what's more like God the Seraphin standing in heaven the great angelic host there in heaven the cherubim and the Seraphim are a worm crawling on the ground which ones more like God the answer is neither of them there's no one like God how foolish do you think I would be if I stood up here right now and I boasted and bragged about being closer to the Sun s you end and the rest of you because I'm on this platform it'd be ridiculous well there's far greater difference between the Seraphin and God God is not like us or like the Angels just bigger and better he's not like us or like them at all he's in a completely distinct category and it is the category of highest worth the category of greatest value infinite value infinitely above all other value combined he's separate distinct and of greatest value and when you start seeing God that way it begins to change everything for example a lot of evangelicals have no problem when the preacher says everything God does he does for you because he loves you I'll leave Angelica's go who that's wonderful does it for me that's right but if a preacher like me stands up and says everything God does he does for himself primarily for himself and for his own glory then everybody gets mad now think about that just think about that for a moment if I tell you God does everything he does for you you're like yeah but if I say although God is benevolent to his creatures primarily everything God does he does for himself and you're bothered by it well he's an egomaniac and you're not you little worm let me give you an example let's go to philosophy for a moment maybe a little bit of Jonathan Edwards made a little more modern if you see a guy standing on a sidewalk in the rain in his underwear outside his house and you say why are you doing this and he says I don't know then you draw the assumption that he's irrational he's irrational but if that same man in his underwear in the rain outside of his house is standing there and you say why are you out here and he says because the house is on fire he's rational he's rational why is he rational he has a reason for what he is doing now the most rational creature will choose the most rational or highest reason for what he does do you see that it's not just you choose a reason for what you do you choose the highest reason what could be the highest reason God would choose for do anything would it be you are you the highest reason are you the greatest good are you the one most worthy for things to be done for absolutely not if God chooses the highest reason to do what he does it is himself he does it for his own glory who is more worthy of love than God who is more worthy of God's love than God himself God loves himself his affections are poured out upon himself primarily above all other things because he is the one most worthy of love and it is because he is that way that he is able to pour out affection upon you because if he gave you affection only based upon what you deserve and what you're worth he could do nothing but condemn you but because he does it for his own glory and his own worth then he is able to extend great value to you and save you and exalt you so what does it mean that God is holy he is in a category all to himself the category most of most worth most worthy of love most worthy of praise most worthy of of doing all things for his own glory and what does it mean for you to be holy when you recognize God's value as God recognizes his value and you begin to live your life and do everything you do for him when he becomes your highest reason for what you do if holiness is nothing more than God is sinless then you're going to walk around and just think about rule keeping and avoiding sin and you can become a Pharisee and a legalist but if you truly have seen so much of the glory and beauty of God that it's captivated your heart and you see him as the one who is most worthy of every breath then you do things for him and now it's not legalism it's relational it's worship why do I say no to the world the Christian says it's not just because God tells me the world is bad but it is because I see that he is infinitely more beautiful than anything the world can give me just hold your place for a second in Romans and go to 1st Thessalonians let's see if I remember where this is it's been a long time since I preached there look at 1st Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 9 for they themselves report about report about us what kind of reception we had with you how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God and to wait for his son from heaven whom he raised from the dead now I want you to look at the order you turned to God from idols maybe you're not catching the order here it should be written you turned from idols to God because you turn from those things to something else but he says no you turn to God from idols in the Greek scholar Hebert who if you can get all his commentaries get them he points this out very clearly he goes it's not that these people were just growing tired of all their idols you know they were just don't want these idols anymore there's nothing and they begin to look for something else and Paul just happened to wander by know what's going on is this they're sitting there worshiping their idols they're all about their idols I mean they love their idols they were they were happy satisfied content with their idols and then all of a sudden Paul comes and he proclaims to them a God who so excels their idols they see such a beauty in this God such a greatness to glory that they're captivated and torn away from the idols because of what they've seen and that is to continue on throughout our entire Christian life that is why we are to grow in the Grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ the more I know I sat there for about six months or eight months in the Garden of Gethsemane last year just hours a day the Garden of Gethsemane garden disseminate oaring through everything from ancient church fathers the Greeks the Puritans the reformers looking at the text myself going back and forth and at the end of it I thought I'd never want to sin again I never want to sin again I never want to be about me again what he did there in disseminate goes beyond what the modern preacher even has a clue about what happened to him there and you walk away you don't need you don't need you know someone scaring you with hell you don't need to be scared with the judgment throne of Christ you're just sitting there looking that's the beauty and the power and the glory of this Savior in Gethsemane as the wrestles with evil itself and suffers immeasurably and you go I never want to sin again Lord look never never as that songwriter said never never let me outlive my love for thee kill me Lord if you know that I'm going to grow cold just kill me just by seeing him that's what Paul saw and Damascus saw it you know what repentance is metanoia changing of the mind although some Greek scholars now argue against that idea but I think it holds you say how can repeat just change your mind well my dear friend you're sitting here calmly right now because in your mind you do not believe this buildings on fire and it's not but if in your mind you believe this building was on fire everything else about you would change you see that Paul the Apostle I mean it's it's if you just meditate for a while on what happened to him in Damascus it's absolutely it's like it's like reality itself totally flipped for the Apostle Paul it was totally transformed like like a man who would walk outside after doing so 40 years of his life walking out to get the paper every day and then he walks out one day and the sidewalk is like the ocean and the sky is green and birds are flying backwards and dogs are meowing and cats are barking and everything he knows about reality has totally changed Paul was dumbfounded it was like he was hit in the chest with a truck he didn't know what to do he was terrified why because he left Jerusalem on the way to Damascus how he thought in his mind that Jesus of Nazareth was the greatest false prophet and blasphemer that it ever walked the planet that's what he thought he left Jerusalem for Damascus thinking that the Christians were the enemies of God and must be exterminated like vermin that's what he thought and on the road to Damascus he meets Christ and in one moment he realizes everything about reality his entire reality was wrong he was wrong about everything that mattered everything do you see that he was wrong about everything the one he thought was the greatest blasphemer and false prophet turns out to be the son of the Living God and the son of man of Daniel seven the ones that he was exterminating like rats were the children of God and therefore he sat there three days without eating or drinking and everything changed and it's the same with you and me how you have a fifteen-year-old girl quite attractive and she's just all about herself she loves looking in the mirror she loves the clothes she loves the modeling books and that all the things and going to the stores and the malls and she just cares about the way she looks and how she's presented to the boys and everything about her and then one day she hears the gospel preached and she realizes that every thing everything she thought was wrong twisted black stupid and wrong that everything about her life was Antichrist and filthy she changes a businessman he goes to church she's moral extremely wealthy loves to flaunt his wealth but once more wealth thinks he's the most respected person in town everybody looks up to him some fear him thinks man he's of all the people he's arrived he has arrived and then one day here's a street preacher and the Spirit of God moves in his heart and he sits there and he puts sits there on a curb with his head between his knees and he realizes he's been wrong about everything see these are the types of things that we're talking about here is why Paul is saying I urge you brethren this is not about getting your best life now this is the difference between heaven and hell of life having meaning our life ending in futility and it all comes down to either first of all initially meeting Jesus but then after meeting Jesus growing in our knowledge of Jesus and then he says a Holy Sacrifice acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship the word spiritual here can also be translated rational it is not rational to give your life for man matter of fact that's a cult to give your life for a spiritual leader that's a cult but to give your life to the Son of God who loved you and gave himself for you that's rational that is rational we do not live in a rational society do you really realize that we're postmodern where we have I mean all the rules of classical logic that built Western civilization everything has been thrown out the window we're not rational I just listen to people every day and everything I learned about logical fallacies I mean they're just casebook studies every time someone opens their mouth we're not rational most rational thing you can do is surrender your life to Jesus Christ and brothers and sisters listen to me that's why the local church is so important I can use my own life as a testimony I can't do this by myself it's not just private study it's not just private prayer but it's also being around brothers and sisters in Christ who also are walking in that path holding one another accountable not legalistically not fair it's a eclis but sometimes I'll walk in church and I see a deacon or something that is just so fired up for the Lord and it just breaks my heart when I look in the mirror at myself that's why we need to be in churches where the Word of God is being preached and where people are really encouraging and admonishing and stimulating one another to press on to know the Lord he goes on he says and do not be conformed to this world the idea here is a mold do not be pressed into the world's mold brothers and sisters in Christ let's say that someone has a bloody forehead it is a long-standing wound that they have and they've gone to every doctor in Sydney and they can't find a cure and I show up and you say brother Paul you know we've gone to every doctor in the world and we can't find a cure I mean the man's forehead is bloody all the time bruised and bloody could you just pray maybe God would show you something I said well okay I'll pray but let me just observe him and I'm sitting there watching him and it's one o'clock in the morning I'm just sitting there by his bedside and at one o'clock the clock goes ding and he stands up out of bed goes over to a brick wall it goes BAM and goes back to bed taking notes clock strikes 2:00 ding-ding gets up out of bed walks over to the same wall bam bam I think I'm seeing a pattern and I go around the clock 24 hours every time we get to 12 o'clock this guy's beating his head against a wall 12 times the next day you all come in for a consultation and I say look I'm no doctor but I think I may have found something that we ought to look into what is it well he's beating his head against a brick wall people will tell me they say other Christian life it's like some great mystery how do you grow you can't grow it's just you know there's and then there's all these books with all these secret ideas and different plans to make you grow and everything else brothers and sisters is found here do not be conformed to this world that's the plan I really like power lifting I'm old now but I really like power lifting you know you need to let me teach you about power lifting okay if you have a professional power lifter he works out every day well probably five six times a week okay his workouts very important he also eats six times a day six times a day yes and it's not any fun food it's usually just tuna and quinoa all right and broccoli eats six times a day if you tell that powerlifter look you got to make a choice you either miss your workout or miss one meal he'll miss his workout because they've come to discover that the biggest part of all this is what you eat it really is it really is most of the physical ailments not all of them but a lot of them could be totally put away from our modern society because we basically most people are suffering from malnutrition they're overweight but they're suffering from malnutrition because what they eat is garbage now that tells us something spiritual he doesn't it you're in this world awake usually most of us about 16 hours a day 16 hours a day you are being bombarded with the filth of this world 16 hours a day you are being bombarded and some of its not even necessary you watch things you shouldn't watch you read things you shouldn't read you allow yourself to be captivated by things that should not captivate you and then you have a 15 minute I'm going to read through the book of songs brothers you are what you sisters you are what you eat says do not be conformed to this world get these influences of the world the ones that you can cut away from you cut them away cut them away Paul goes in at length here to talk about the Olympian to talk about the athlete do you realize that when some person they're six years old and they're discovered that they have an amazing ability in gymnastics do you realize that from that moment on they become a slave to gymnastics gymnastics becomes their master in powerlifting in anything like that it becomes your master why you no longer eat like all the other kids you no longer spend your time like all the other kids you no longer sleep like all the other kids everything is geared around one thing winning a gold medal that's not even gold brothers but we have a reward that doesn't perish do we know what is your discipline how do you discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness think about it no plan no regiment and yet we wonder why we don't grow so 16 hours a day we're bombarded with the filth of this world yet we have no plan of reading scripture of prayer a fellowship with the Saints look you making it out of here out of this world without shaming Christ is your goal you making it out of this world having served your generation like it was said of David that is your goal you don't have any other goal and the older I get as a preacher and the more I see preachers fall I can tell you this my great goal is to make it out of here without a scandal without shaming my Lord discipline discipline discipline I would encourage you to cut things out of your life that are influencing you cut them out and start adding things to your life that influence you toward godliness the Word of God reading it studying it memorizing it meditating upon it obeying it sharing it you see holding one another accountable I'd love to tell this story about this famous violinist I don't even know if he actually exists but it made it makes it for a good story he's at the end of his life and he plays his last concert he's an old man plays beautifully it's a mass and when he finishes a young boy young violinist comes up to him and says sir I would give my life to play like you and the old man looked at him and said son I did give my life to play like me how many people I give my life to preach like that I give my life to know the Bible like that well some people have given their life and that's what you've got to do do not be conformed to this world but be transformed metamorphosized it's the same word used it is from where we get that word it's a word used of Christ in the Transfiguration be transformed it's something supernatural it's not just discipline or strength of will it's this the Word of God is powerful and the Spirit of God works through the Word of God and if you want to be transformed then stay in the word looking for greater and greater visions of God in Christ greater revelations of who God is of what he's done for you of his will for your life cultivate that is a word that you need to write down and write down cultivate cultivate cultivate cultivate what cultivate the mind of Christ and how do you cultivate the mind of Christ by being in Christ word there was a time when I was younger that I read so much of Alexander McLaren it's an old preacher man in Victorian Alexander McLaren I just loved Alexander that I realized that I was starting to without even knowing it my way of thinking was being shaped by him without even trying the way I logically pursued a text was being shaped by him one time years after my father adopted I came home to visit my mother and I stood on the back porch where my dad used to stand and look out over the ranch and my mom walked out and she went Paul look at you I said what she goes look at you my dad would stand there with his knees locked back like this with both hands like this and with his head tilted to the side and would sit there and look at the ranch kind of like this she said look at you you're standing just like him I mean it's identical I never tried to imitate him I never even really noticed that he locked his knees or anything it was just that always being with him always being with him it's the same way in the word it's not a mystery I had someone gets so mad at me on the internet because I said look it's really not a mystery those who say they just can't grow in Christ I only have one question for you how much time are you spending in the Word of God and prayer and this guy wrote back you're such a simpleton and give simplistic answers to people my wife was in Romania years ago and she was teaching these ladies and one lady came to her after about two days and she said you know it she said try to you just always give everybody the same answer she goes what do you mean you're telling us we need to spend more time in the Word of God in prayer why is that and she said well because she's need to spend more time in the Word of God in prayer do not be conformed to this world will be transformed by the renewing of your mind how do you renew your mind he doesn't specifically tell us here renewal is usually associated with the Holy Spirit and the Old Testaments also associated with the Word of God but let me start with what I think is priority I believe that the Holy Spirit most works in my life through the written word of God and so that's my priority for renewing the mind but before I get to that priority I got to realize something else doesn't matter how clean I wash my clothes if right after I wash them I throw him back in the dirt in order to advance in the positive you must first deal with the negative there are some things you've got to stop you got to start saying no - you just got stopped just got stopped one of the things you do in scriptures you discover the will of God you discover what God hates and you cut it off of you you cut it away from you and you discover what God loves and you wrap your arms around it so don't think that just because you're reading the word and then you go watch filthy movies all the time this is going to do anybody any good you listen to stuff watch stuff all these they don't think I am blown away by the young reformed guys I'm seeing I mean they just blow me away and I'll tell you why I hear I'm talking about Calvin talking about the Puritans everything else and then they'll say hey afterwards you won't go see this movie and I know from reading Christian reviews the movie is is trash it's like this is just cut off now where people think they can love Jesus and love the gospel and read the old guys and their antinomian and they just go live in filth and think it's okay there's somehow above it you're not cut the stuff out of your life that God hates cut it out just stop it or you're not going to advance I don't know how to say it any clearer there's some things you just have to stop and then you go on and it's the Word of God that's the primary means of renewing the mind the Spirit of God using the Word of God but then there's also good books and there's also fellowship true biblical fellowship when was the last time a Christian listen to me when was the last time you called up a fellow brother in Christ or sister in Christ and you went out to maybe get a bite to eat get a cup of coffee or something and you actually talked about Jesus after church and the sermons are over how much time have you actually sat around the church and talked about what you heard talked about Jesus there's not hardly any Christian Fellowship going on in most places in the evangelical community unless it's around football or rugby or essential oils and homeschooling we just get everybody in there fellowship is to be around Jesus around Jesus transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is listen and I take this in part from brother from dr. MacArthur something that I read years ago if a person has made the commitment by the grace of God to seek first the kingdom and they can honestly say in all my weakness by God's grace that's my commitment seeking first the kingdom renewing their mind in the Word of God cultivating the mind of Christ then much of what is called discerning the will of God in specific situations can be determined by what are the desires of your heart I went to Peru to be a missionary because I want it to go to Peru and be a missionary I left Peru because I wanted to go back and start a mission organization it's amazing the amount of freedom there is when someone has made the commitment to seek first the kingdom and they're actually as a life practice renewing their mind and the will of God as you cultivate the mind of Christ as you submit your thinking to scripture as you learn to think like God thinks then you will understand the will of God you will know the will of God in most situations there will be no need for some exceptional revelation because you simply know the Scriptures and your heart and mind are being bent towards the will of God and house the will of God described here good if it's not good it's not God's will if it doesn't lead to your spiritual health your growth in Christ honoring God advancing the kingdom it's good and then what else acceptable not acceptable to your culture you know you need to really understand the difference between morals and ethics because there's a big distinction you know morals are morals are not what people think morals is society is norm with regard to what is right what does society say is right that's dangerous because what society said was right 25 years ago is obliterated now it's not just acceptable to your society are acceptable to your Christian friends is it acceptable to God can God's Word verify it and if God's Word can't verify it it's not acceptable and then pleasing and that's what it really comes down to isn't it pleasing to God that we give our life as a pleasing sacrifice now in the next sermon I'm going to pick up and then we're going to hit the gospel full-on but I did all this today to get you to see that I don't want you walking out here just with a clearer understanding of propitiation and then go around and use that word to show all your friends how much they don't know I want to study the gospel in light of change change I've gotten more practical in my old age sometimes I walk by some students and they're all talking about eschatology and they always there is guard some you know infra lapse Arianism versus super lapse Arianism or something like that and they'll say brother Paul what do you think and I go I don't know brothers I'm just trying to love my wife I want the gospel that is preached to change the way you act as a man change the way you act as a woman change the way you act as a child and a teenager change the way you act as a father changed the way you act as a mother a son a daughter a minister a congregant as Christians as Christians let's pray father thank you for your word and it is true I pray that you would work in the heart of your people for their good for your glory in Jesus name Amen

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Views: 50,795

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Keywords: Revival, Character Of God, Free Sermons, Video Sermons, Jesus Christ, What Is The Gospel, SermonIndex, What Is The Truth, Paul Washer

Id: 3nfPL69oAUY

Length: 73min 16sec (4396 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 15 2019