Romans 12:01-02 - In Depth - Pastor Chuck Smith - Bible Studies

shall we turn down our Bibles to Romans chapter 12 here Paul declares I beseech ye therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God we find that Paul here makes a three-fold appeal the first appeal is that we present our bodies unto God back in chapter 6 of Romans Paul said yield therefore your members as instruments of righteousness present your body unto God or yield your body as an instrument for god to use writing to the Corinthians Paul said know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit you are not your own you've been bought with a price therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are his we were redeemed by Jesus Christ from our life and slavery to sin not that we should live after the flesh any longer but that we might now live and walk after the spirit our old man the old nature was a servant to sin and Satan's ploy was the misuse of the body drives to bring us into bondage to our body knees he controlled us through our flesh urging us to a flesh dominated existence but Jesus seeks to control us through the spirit urging us to a spirit dominated life so here is my body I can use my body as an instrument of evil and as I look around the world today and I see the evil things done by man how man is yielded his body is an instrument of so much evil even so Paul is exhorting us now to present our bodies as an instrument that God might use God desires to use my body for his work for his glory through my hands he can lay his hands upon people through my voice he can speak to people you see when Jesus took upon himself a body by taking upon himself a body he took upon himself certain body limitations so while Jesus was in the body he only had two hands with which to do his work he only had two hands that he could lay upon the needy but now that he has ascended he now has many hands or he desires at least have many hands to do his work while he was in his body was he was limited to locality but now we are to be his instruments he desires still to do the same works that he did while he was here he said the works that I did shall you do also and greater works are more in number shall you do because I'm going to the Father so rather than having just two hands with which to minister to the needs of the people today he has thousands of hands he wants your hands to be yielded as his instrument that through you he might do his work so the appeal is to present your body unto God then he might use your body that he might fill your body with his spirit and then he might use your body as an instrument to do his work how are we to present our bodies Paul tells us we are to present them as living sacrifices there are many times people who avow their willingness to die for the Lord chances are you will never be called upon to die for the Lord and I don't know that the Lord is calling us to die for him he's really calling us to live for him I sometimes believe that it would be easier to die for the Lord than it is to live for the Lord if you die for Lord then it's all over you know and I think that I would not have as much trouble dying for the Lord as I do have living for the Lord so he doesn't want you to present your body as a dead sacrifice to die for him he wants you to present your body as a living sacrifice that I might live sacrificially for him I am to present my God my body acceptable unto God holy and acceptable unto God they were familiar with the bringing of an offering to present it to the Lord and having it rejected by the priests during this particular time the priesthood had become fairly well corrupted the high priest was a sad you see he was a humanist he didn't believe in spirits angels resurrection and he had made a profitable business out of religion one of the requirements of the sacrifice that you brought to the Lord was that it had to be without spot it had to be without blemish in other words God didn't want you to offer to him some sick sheep some sheep that have been torn up by a wolf or you know wasn't much value and so God required that the sheep that was brought for a sacrifice could not have any birth defects spots nor could it have acquired defects blemishes scars from some attacking wolf or whatever so the priest was the one who made the judgment upon the sacrifice whether or not it was worthy to be offered to God now they happen to have little stalls there on the Temple Mount where they would sell sheep or cows or does that were acceptable you could buy them at highly inflated prices out in the marketplace you could purchase a dove for just a few cents here in the temple precincts to purchase a dove that would be acceptable by the priests they were charging five six seven dollars this is the practice that Jesus squared off against when he drove them out of the temple the temple ground he said my father's house is to be called a house of prayer for all nations that you've made it a den of thieves so if you would bring one of the doves that you've bought out on the street for a few cents the priest would look at it oh I can't take this this dove has a blemish on it here look you know and and he would refuse to take the Dove that had been purchased out on the street but you go over there the tables and you get you one that you know I can offer to God and of course Caiaphas was the one who was raking the loot off of the of the cell of these in animals at inflated prices so they knew what it was to have an offering brought to God but not accepted by the priest he wouldn't accept it to offer it to God it is true that God did not want any offering that was just a cast-off you remember when David wanted to buy the threshing floor of a Runa he's a tall take it I'll give it to you and he said oh no I will not give unto God that which cost me nothing it was David's purpose to get the threshing floor so that he could build the temple there or say son could build the temple there ultimately he was going to give it to God but he said I will not give to God that which cost me nothing God wants us to offer to him our bodies as living sacrifices holy and acceptable unto God the second appeal is that we would not be conformed to this world now there are extremely strong pressures upon us today to do just that to conform to the worldly standards around us there is such pressure that oftentimes we are reluctant to speak up against an evil situation because we know that when we do we're going to be facing all kinds of ridicule and mockery we're going to be called prudes we're going to be told that we belong to the Victorian Victorian era that that belief is outdated and there is all kinds of pressure for us to be conformed to the worldly patterns to be conformed to the worldly standards but Paul is begging us I beg you brethren I beseech you present your body unto God as a living sacrifice don't be conformed to this world today I think that the big thing in the world is is the emphasis upon self we hear so much about your self-image we hear so much about body consciousness body awareness the body beautiful so much about self-esteem and that seems to be the big thing in the world today hey number one take care of yourself you know sure it costs money but I'm worth it you know indulge yourself indulge the flesh after all you're worth it and that is the big thing in the world today is is the take care of yourself look out for yourself get your part of it be not conformed to the world because the world's standards the world's fashions and those fads are actually being orchestrated by Satan if I conform myself to the world then I find myself conforming to Satan to his will as Paul was writing to the Ephesians in chapter 2 he said among whom we all had our manner of living in times past as we walked according to the course of this world according to the Prince of the power of the air that even now works in the children of disobedience so as Paul talks about the course of this world he then points out who is directing the course of the world the Prince of the power of the earth that is now working still in the children of disobedience so if I am conforming to the course of this world I am actually conforming to Satan's will for he is the one who is directing in control of the course of this world I believe that Satan inspires men to evil and to evil deeds I believe in divine inspiration and through divine inspiration we have glorious music that edifies the blesses glorious paintings that edify and bless through divine inspiration glorious words that strengthen and build us up but I believe that even as God inspires man in his creative talents I believe that Satan also inspires man in the creation of evil things and I believe that art can be just as devilish as it is godly and just as degrading as it is glorifying I believe music can be just as degrading as it can be a blessing I believe that words can be polluting and degrading even as they can be edifying and I believe that Satan inspires to pollute and to destroy whereas God inspires to build up thus as I watched the world and the patterns and the fads and the mores I am told I bye Paul here II actually is begging don't be conformed to this world the 3rd appeal he makes is that we might be transformed by the renewing of our minds first appeal present your body as a living sacrifice unto God second don't be conformed to this world the 3rd appeal be transformed by the renewing of your mind Satan so often comes to us and approaches us through the mind planting a thought in the mind the Bible tells us that that sin actually begins with desire that is a evil desire it's in the mind I began to think about it I began to let my imagination go with it oh I could do this and I could do that and my you know and and my mind begins to take it and play with it and and I began to fantasize and visualize myself in these experiences you remember when the general of the Syrian army namin came to the Prophet Elisha for the healing of his leprosy the Prophet sent his servant gehazi out and said my master tells it told me to tell you just go down to the Jordan River and dip yourself seven times in the Jordan River and you'll be cleansed of your leprosy naman was mad he said what an insolent character doesn't he know I'm the general of the Syrian army men salute me when I walk by men do obeisance to me this guy didn't even have the good grace to come out and talk to me himself send a sermon oh and he was go ahead and home just mad we've got beautiful rivers in Damascus why should I give in that muddy jordan river but as they were going along one of the servants said hey you know what if the Prophet had said to you you know go kill the seven-headed dragon and bring back the seven golden apples and you know you'll be healed if he had given you something difficult or hard you would have jumped into it you ever liked to have done that simple thing just dipping in the river look we're coming the juror everybody should see what I happen to try it who knows so he talked him into it and I can hear all name and grumbling as he's dipping you know first time and then looking at still their white flesh and rotting dad but do it again you know and as he came up the seventh time he looked he couldn't believe it the whiteness the rottenness was gone the flesh was pink and healthy he got so excited jumped in his chariot and turn around let's go back to the prophet and he came back to the prophet and he tried to unload on the Prophet all kinds of loot silver and gold and beautiful garments and all but Elijah said no I don't want any of your chunk you keep it and so as naman was heading back to Hayes I his servant had seen all of the gold and silver and the garments and all that name room was trying to pass off on to his master and so he took off after him and so they said hey it looks like someone's chasing us and so naman said well yeah wonder what you know is the problem and so they waited no guys I finally caught up with him in he said is everything all right at all yeah everything all right but my master just so happened that he had some guests come and they're pretty sad shape and so he thought if you could just give him a little bit of the golden little silver and few of those garments you know that he would appreciate that and Eamonn said sure you bet and he gladly gave them to gaze I and gaze I took them back and hid them came whistling along you know and Elijah said as the Lord liveth where have you been is it I've been anywhere he said did not my spirit go with you when you chase down Neiman he said is this a time to be buying servants to be buying fields to be planting vineyards and orchards and hiring the crews to harvest them now what Elijah was doing was reading what was in Behe's eyes mind before he took off after name and he was thinking wow I just had part of that so I could buy these fields and I could plant these vineyards and I could have olive orchards and you know oh man I could have servants and you don't and and sin you see begins in the mind so often what I could do with it what I were all here and he could see himself you know with these fields and and and all and it was there in the mind Satan comes often through the mind to attract us to draw us away and we so often are guilty of playing with that idea and if we play with the idea we can soon find ourselves engaging in that very evil and thus it is important that we learn to be transformed by the renewing of our minds we are told in 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 beginning there with verse 4 for the weapons that well just begin verse 3 for though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of the strongholds now casting down imaginations by the renewing of your mind you do this by casting down imaginations don't entertain these thoughts don't play with the idea don't fantasize with it because if you are fantasizing in your conscious mind it has a way of planting itself in the subconscious and you find your subconscious begins to work on a plan and devise a scheme whereby it can become a reality in the certain laws of metaphysics that men have discovered they teach you how to plant things into your subconscious mind Napoleon Hills book Think and Grow Rich and they advocate that you begin to use visualization just picture yourself driving that Mercedes see yourself behind the wheel you know feel the acceleration and the plushness and just see yourself there you know put a little goal up there on the mirror I am going to be driving a new Mercedes by December II another and every morning when you shave just look at it you know I'm going to be doing it by December and you plant that in your subconscious mind and then your subconscious mind begins to work on it and begins to work on a scheme and devise a plan where your desire can become a reality Think and Grow Rich now the Bible tells us to cast down these imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Jesus Christ so be transformed don't be conformed to the world be transformed by the renewing of your mind by bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ Satan can plant evil desires in your mind saying can bring into your mind evil thoughts unfortunately we can't stop him from bringing them into our minds but we can't stop from playing with them but when the thought of evil comes into your mind bring it under control cast down the imagination and bring that thought into the obedience to Jesus Christ don't Harbor the thought that works in in in other ways too you take someone has done something really rotten to you and you keep saying I'm going to get even with him and you begin to then think of all the ways you could get all the dirty things you could do to get even with him and you let your mind just go with that no no no don't be conformed to the world the world way is to get even you know get your revenge but the biblical way is to turn it over to God so bringing every thought into obedience into captivity under the obedience of Jesus Christ the best way really to renew our minds is through the Word of God Jesus said that every branch in me that bringeth forth fruit he washes it that it might bring forth more fruit now you are clean through the word which I have spoken on here you know I find that the Word of God is just like a good shower when I'm all grimy and dirty within from my contact with this filthy world it's just good to go home and open up the Bible and begin to read it and just begin to experience that cleansing effect of the Word of God the renewing of our minds through getting into the word and and just reading the word so that is the third of the three in Junction's that Paul gives us here in Romans 12:1 and 2 he begged you he pleads with you I beseech you therefore brethren that you will present your body as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto God don't be conformed to this world be transformed by the renewing of your mind now the basis of his appeal is too full he first of all appeals on the basis of the mercy of God it is interesting to me that so often today we hear appeals based upon the wrath of God brother you better repent or God is going to do something to you you know and and in the basis of the appeal is man God's judgment is going to fall and gods going to wipe you out and gods going to fry you in hell and and all of this you know wrath of God kind of a thing is the basis of so much appeal today it is interesting to me that in the scriptures the appeal is usually to the goodness of God know you not that it is the goodness of God that brings a man to repentance the appeal is because of the love of God Paul said the love of Christ constrains me the appeals are often for because of the grace of God that is given unto us here Paul's appeal is the mercy of God we are told in the scriptures that as high as the heavens is above the earth so high is his mercy over those that fear Him now how high is the heaven above the earth I have concluded that we don't know for when I was in school I was taught that the heavens are some 4 billion light years above the earth the furthest galaxy out is about 4 billion light years away since I was in school they've tripled it now the furthest galaxy they say is about 10 billion light years away does that discourage me oh no that thrills me that means God's mercy is that much higher for as high as the heaven is above the earth so I is his mercy towards those that fear Him so I've just discovered how merciful God is lately his mercy is increasing year by year as we discover the vastness of this universe as high as the heavens and so Paul's appeal is first of all upon the mercy of God I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God the next appeal is to your reason that you'll present your body as a living sacrifice holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service that's that's only the only reasonable thing you can do you see you were hopelessly lost you were enslaved to sin you were a servant of unrighteousness your life was being destroyed and controlled by Satan and there was nothing you could do to rid yourself from that place a rapid destruction but Jesus who is great in his love and mercy wherewith he has loved us even when we were dead in our trespasses and sin died to redeem us from the power of thing now he has redeemed me that I might serve Him so it is only reasonable in that he bought me that I submit my body to him as his servant that's only reasonable which is your reasonable service if you are a servant then it's only reasonable that you serve your master oh if people would only serve God with the same verb and zeal and excitement with which they serve the devil somehow Christians believe that they were saved to just sit and do nothing not so you were redeemed that you might become his servant and thus the reasonable thing is just to give your body to God that it might be an instrument that God can use as he pleases for his work so Paul appeals to reason as well as the mercy of God now the results of obedience to Paul's appeal the result of presenting your body to God and not conforming yourself to the world but being transformed by the renewing of your mind the effect of that is that you will be able to prove what is the good and perfect and acceptable will of God for your life now I think that probably one of the most common problems that people talk to me about is the problem of knowing what is God's perfect will for my life if I only knew what God wanted me to do or what God wanted me to be then I would have no trouble but I don't know what God wants all I can only know the perfect will of God for my life I want to live in the perfect will of God for my life would you pray for me that I might walk in the will of God well here Paul tells us how to discover the perfect will of God for our lives it's by presenting your life to God presenting your body that it might be come truly the Temple of the Holy Spirit his dwelling place and that you might then yield your body unto God to be used for his work wherever however not to be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind and as you do God will reveal to you what is that good and perfect and acceptable will of God for our lives however you will discover that God's revelation of his will is progressive God's not going to take you home tonight and put on the claudius coat before you the rest of your life now tomorrow you're to get up at eight o'clock in the morning and after you eat breakfast you're to read five chapters and you should start reading tomorrow morning and first Corinthians chapter seven and go on to chapter 12 and then after you're through with that if you'll you know go out and start the car and no he doesn't he doesn't lay it out in in in detail in advance but God's revelation of his will for your life is a progressive revelation and you see he won't even tell you the next step until you've taken the first step and the first step is just to present your body into God as a living sacrifice not being conformed to this world but being transformed by the renewing of your mind that's the first step now you take that step and then you get the next step God will begin then to lead you the second problem with the leading of the Spirit in our lives is that it's so often is so natural that I don't even recognize it as God leading me somehow I want God to lead me in some kind of spectacular way I want to go out in the backyard and have my dog speak to me must be God because my dog can't talk you know or I want to hear an audible voice I want to go into a trance I want God to do something just really remarkable you know but God works in such natural ways in revealing his will to us several years ago before can ever married I was driving my convertible up to Ventura up to Santa Barbara actually I was going to spend the night with my aunt and then the next day drive back to Ventura where I was to speak on Sunday night in the church there and as I was heading up through Hollywood it was such a beautiful day I got the inspiration hey why not just put the top down and take Sunset Boulevard down to Pacific Coast Highway and drive up through Malibu what a beautiful day and I always loved that drive along Malibu and pull out there at that point in your Point Mugu and and watch the surf break and and you know top down beautiful day nice you know so I pulled off on the Sunset Boulevard and from you know the Hollywood there it's a long drive down Sunset Boulevard a lot of signals in the whole bit but I had plenty of time and boy when I finally came on down through the canyon there saw the Pacific Ocean oh oh so pretty and as I made the turn from Sunset on to the Pacific Coast Highway there was a young couple hitchhiking I'm all by myself and why not pick them up and so I picked them up and as we started up the road talking about a beautiful day and awesome are you guys going well we're going to go to San Francisco what do you hope to find in San Francisco we're looking for work were you from Montana what kind of work you do I'm a farmer I couldn't find any work in Los Angeles so we thought we'd go to San Francisco so eight men there are no farms in San Francisco either but between here in San Francisco there was a lot of farms and so as we continued writing along and began to ask him about the relationship with Jesus Christ which they didn't have any and so I began to share with him and by the time we got to Ventura they were ready to receive the Lord so we pulled over prayed together and they accepted Christ into their lives and I told him hit this is a farming community this might be a good place to you know stop and see being get a job and I said I'm going to be here tomorrow night at this church and I drove by and children the church I said meet me here tomorrow night maybe you know we can help you and I knew the foreman of the Delmar Lyman air ranch mr. Jenkins and I thought well I can maybe talk to him about this couple because he does all the hiring for the ranch and so I left them off in Ventura I continued on to Santa Barbara as soon as I got to Santa Barbara the phone rang at my aunt's house and my mom said honey I need you to come home I need help I said well who's Paul there well he afraid to do what needs to be done I need you so I had to get in the car and drive all the way home to salmon realize that hey this trip to Santa Barbara was you know a empty load but then I got to realizing you know the Lord had me make that trip just for that young couple so I went home took care of what needed to be done the next day I drove back up to Ventura stopped and got Kay on the way and that night in the church as I spoke when I gave the invitation at the close of the service this young couple and I was surprised to see him because you know you meet people you think you'll never see him again but they came forward they wanted to make a public commitment of their lives to Jesus Christ and so there were many people who had come forward that night and so I was talking with a lot of them and finally I spotted mr. Jenkins and I said oh there's a young couple he says yeah I met them I went down to pray why something go forward so I went down to pray with him and he said I already gave him a job I've got a house for him out there in the north and then I thought about that inspiration to put the top down and go up you know Malibu now I thought that was my flesh and my flesh enjoys you know a ride up the coast but suddenly I realized that that was an inspiration of the Spirit God was actually guiding me because he was wanting to apprehend this young couple and so he you know Here I am well on my way up towards Ventura and suddenly he puts this crazy thought in my mind why don't you go to coast you like going up to Kosovo and drove all that way down Sunset Boulevard just so he could reach this young couple and suddenly you get that flush Wow God was leading me but you see it was such a natural way that I did not realize it until the circumstances were complete and this is so often the case God leads us in such natural ways that we don't recognize this is the leading of God so in the leading of God in your life realize that it is progressive one step at a time the first step was hey why don't you go up to Santa Barbara spend the night with your aunt because man she makes the best enchiladas in the world and I used to love to spend time there with my aunt in Santa Barbara and so why don't you go up on Saturday spend the night and then you can just drop down to Ventura and speak Sunday night ah great idea the second step was when I was going up Ventura Boulevard there and the inspiration came hey turn on impact I turn around and go back to Sunset and take the coast such a beautiful day you might as well enjoy the beach and then when I turned on I don't pick up hitchhikers but there was governor oh well I'm all by myself and you know seedy looking kids my little pick him up and see what can happen you know and just the progressive revelation of the will of God but in very natural ways that you might prove what is the good and the perfect an acceptable will of God for your life it's so great to just say Here I am God whatever it is that you want whatever it is that you have for me today I'm open I want to be your servant in the morning when I wake up the first thing I do as I come into a conscious state the first thing I do is say well good morning Lord my life is yours I want this day to count for you so I want you to lead me Lord in whatever plan you might have for my life today feel free to interrupt any plan that I have that's not in accordance with what you want use my life today Lord for your glory and then I begin my day but I begin it by presenting my body as a living sacrifice unto God and I believe that God does manifest his will through my life in a progressive manifestation day by day I don't know what he has in store for me tomorrow but by tomorrow night I'll be able to tell you what God had in mind for me tomorrow as God progressively reveals his will to me he'll do the same for you but you've got to make yourself available don't be conformed to the world the worldly pattern let your mind be transformed by the renewing of the Spirit through the Word of God and God will lead your life so we pray father we thank you this evening that we can just present our bodies to you God when we think of all of the wasted years trying to do our own thing trying to fill the needs of the body try to satisfy his desires chasing the rainbows searching for the gold forgive us Lord our foolish thoughts our vain imaginations and help us Lord that we might cast down those imaginations that would exalt themselves against you and your will in your plan help us to bring every thought into captivity unto the obedience of Jesus Christ that we might walk with you Lord that life in the spirit in Jesus name Amen

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Keywords: Bible, God, Jesus, Christ, Love, Hell, Death, Sex, Marriage, Drugs, Satan, Porno, Cancer, Sports, Girls, Music, Holy Spirit, Children, Family, Heaven, Healing, Pregnant, Aids, Gay, Movies, TV Shows, Animals, Israel Prophecy, Last Days, Christian, Jewish People, Gentiles

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Length: 54min 50sec (3290 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 26 2017