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[0:00] I certainly feel the need for God's help this morning. So let's begin our time this morning in prayer.!

[0:30] Whatever we need. And so I certainly stand in need of your strengthening this morning. I am in need of your Spirit's guidance. I pray, Lord, that your Spirit will move with us.

[0:43] That your Spirit will be the teacher. We'll open our understanding. I pray that you'll keep me from error. That you'll keep me from excess. And may the truth of your Word ring out for your people this morning.

[0:58] May you be glorified. In Christ's name. Amen. And please turn me this morning to Romans 12, verse 1.

[1:14] Which will be our text for this morning. I'm reading from the English Standard Version.

[1:25] If you have a different version, yours will read. Slightly differently. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers. By the mercies of God.

[1:37] To present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Holy. And acceptable. Which is your spiritual worship. And today we'll be speaking on the topic called to worship.

[1:54] And I've chosen to organize the message under three main points. One, what is worship? Two, how do we worship? And three, why do we worship?

[2:05] This morning we're going to deal with the passage a little bit differently than you'd normally see done. We're actually going to start at the end of the verse. And work our way back to the beginning.

[2:17] It's a bit unusual, but I think it will be effective for what we have to accomplish this morning. So let's look at the last word in the verse. Which is worship.

[2:29] Here we find the Apostle Paul calling those in the church at Rome to worship. But what is worship? Worship. We often have people speak about our gathering on a Sunday morning.

[2:41] And they say they really enjoyed the service. But they especially enjoyed our time of worship. And immediately we understand what they mean. They mean that time when we congregationally, we corporately sing and lift up God's name together.

[2:56] When we pray corporately. That's what they mean by worship. And I can identify with that. I think many times or for many years I've done the same thing.

[3:08] I look forward to our time of worship. Meaning our congregational singing time together. But if we look at the passage this morning. There's no hint from Paul of singing.

[3:22] Most of that congregational singing. There's nothing about musical instrument. There's nothing about music. There's nothing about a worship leader. So we're left to think.

[3:35] What is Paul talking about? What is this worship that he talks about? We wonder, based on our traditional understanding of worship. Just what it is that he means.

[3:46] Has he missed the mark? But of course the answer is no. In fact, he is right on target with what he should be saying. Paul is speaking about a form of worship that is not confined to singing alone.

[3:58] Now worship is the expression of reverence, adoration to God. It's our expression of devotion to the God of the universe above all other things.

[4:10] And we can certainly do that through music. We can certainly do that through singing. But it's not the only way that we can do this. Just to give you food for thought, so you can start going the direction that you want to go this morning.

[4:27] I wonder if you ever noticed in your bulletin how we refer at Kingdom Life to that congregational singing in the morning. Without looking at it, can you recall how we express that?

[4:40] I see some curious looks on your faces. Sometimes it's something that you might gloss over, you mightn't take notice of. So why don't you go ahead and look in your bulletin now.

[4:52] And see, does it say time of worship? Or does it say worship time? That's right, it says worship in song. And that's because those who've crafted the bulletin over the years have sought to communicate to the congregation and to those who visit us that this is only one form of how we worship God.

[5:12] We worship through song. And it's very powerful because if you consider it in that way, you then begin to consider what are all the ways of worship and what is worship.

[5:27] That's just one form of worship, singing. But Paul refers to this another time in 1 Corinthians 10 and 31. You don't have to turn, I'll read it for you. Where he says, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

[5:47] And Paul here is referring to food that is offered to idols. And he is seeking to convince his audience that if they receive that food with thanksgiving and dedicate it to God and not to idols, then they are not committing a sin.

[6:02] All right? But he doesn't confine what he says just to food and drink, how we receive food and drink. Paul widens his explanation when he says, whatever you do.

[6:17] He applies that principle to all things. He's saying that everything we do is done with, if done with reference to God, if done to exalt God, if done to glorify him, is worship.

[6:33] And more than that, in Romans 12 and 1, he gives us a biblical definition of worship. Paul says, worship is presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice.

[6:51] That brings us to our next point. How do we worship? So if music and singing are not the totality of worship, then what does other worship look like?

[7:07] Well, we said earlier that worship is our expression of love or adoration for God, the true God of the universe. It's exalting his name. It's adoring him, that expression of all those things.

[7:22] But Paul doesn't say, to do that, we should just say that with our lips. He doesn't say that we get together and we say, God, we worship you, we worship you, we worship you. Or, God, we adore you.

[7:33] Or, even God, we exalt you, we exalt you. But he gives a very vivid picture of what it is to worship, presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

[7:48] Paul uses language and he uses a demonstration or an illustration that was very familiar to his original audience. The church at Rome was a mixture of Gentiles and Jewish members.

[8:05] And those with a Jewish background had a long history of presenting sacrifices. And we can be confident that, given the time that Paul was writing this, around 57 AD, that even the Gentiles, even the non-Jews, were pretty familiar with sacrifices.

[8:25] But particularly the Jews, because their understanding of sacrifices was something that went back hundreds and hundreds of years and it was given to them by God himself.

[8:38] Their history of sacrifices spans back, like I said, hundreds and hundreds of years. And in the book of Leviticus, you find God giving his people very specific and detailed instructions on sacrifices, approximately 1,400 years before the birth of Christ.

[8:56] And the book of Leviticus dedicates seven chapters, the first seven chapters to the practice of sacrifices, explaining exactly what was to be sacrificed and how it was to be sacrificed.

[9:10] And the number of chapters and the details given, it communicates to us that sacrifices are important to God. Through the revelation of Scripture, we have come to understand that sacrifices are important and they were required by God because they literally saved lives.

[9:32] They saved the lives of those who were offering them. Those animals that gave up their lives, they were accepted by God as substitutes for the lives of those who were offering them.

[9:49] He accepted the life of the animal in return for the life of those who offered them. And this was necessary because God, in his perfect holiness, cannot tolerate sin.

[10:05] So we see in Genesis chapter 2, God gives a command to Adam. He says, you should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And he says this to Adam, on the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.

[10:19] And of course, in Genesis chapter 3, we see Adam and Eve disobeying that command. And they eat of the tree. And in doing that, they've fallen.

[10:32] They have a broken relationship with God. That results in a spiritual death. And it also triggers their physical death. And so God was pleased to allow people to sacrifice animals so that they would have a way to approach him, to bridge the gap in our fellowship.

[10:59] And it's a very vivid picture of this animal giving the ultimate price, giving up his life for the life of someone else.

[11:10] And the witness of scripture affirms that all men and every man is in this situation. Regardless of our birth, regardless of our nationality or our status, we all were in need of this substitute.

[11:31] Romans 3 and 23, which Paul writes to the church at Rome, says, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

[11:43] No one is left out. And no one is excluded. So since we've all sinned, we all need to appeal to this sacrifice.

[11:55] We will talk about that more shortly. But here, we see Paul switching things up a bit. Paul is sort of changing the historical understanding that the Jews had of a sacrifice.

[12:12] Because here, he's talking about presenting a living sacrifice. And the whole understanding that they have of sacrifices was that the sacrifice had to die.

[12:27] So now, Paul is bringing something new. And to talk about this living sacrifice, we can say three things about it to make it clearer.

[12:38] Number one, the sacrifice is our bodies. And two, the sacrifice is holy. Three, the sacrifice is acceptable to God.

[12:53] Let's talk about our bodies. The sacrifice that Paul speaks about, it is us. And that's said explicitly in the passage.

[13:05] And that's not to say that God is interested just in our bodies. He is interested in us in our entirety. And the next verse, Romans 12 and 2, would give some indication of that.

[13:18] Because then Paul goes on to talk about the renewing. He stresses the renewing of our minds. So it's not just that God is interested in our bodies. He's interested in us in our entirety.

[13:28] But there's good reason for us to focus in this passage now on the sacrifice of our body. Because there are some contradictory thoughts to that.

[13:42] There's one contradictory school of thought, for example, that I have come across many times in the Bahamas. And perhaps you have also. Some people have this idea that they call body sins.

[13:54] Body sins. I don't know if you've ever heard of it. But I certainly have run across it a few times. Now this type of thinking was that what you did with your body didn't matter.

[14:10] People who believe in this concept of body sins think that if you commit a sin with your body, as long as your heart, as long as in your heart of hearts you desire God, you're truly committed to Him, what you do with your body doesn't matter.

[14:28] Because your body is not eternal. And eventually it's going to be destroyed. But the Spirit will live on forever. And I see some people nodding heads and shaking heads and smiling.

[14:39] So I take that as an indication that you've come across this in some form. This type of thinking is rooted in what was called Gnosticism. And Gnosticism is a fairly modern term for a very ancient set of thoughts and ideas.

[14:57] It was very pervasive in the first and second centuries. They claim that material things, the physical things, are inherently evil. Evil and the spirit, including the spirit that's inside us, was inherently good.

[15:15] So under this thinking, what you did with your body did not matter. This belief was condemned as heresy by the early church. And it should be condemned now. Scripture does not support it.

[15:28] And Romans 12 and 1 soundly refutes it. See, if the body didn't matter, then why didn't Paul say, I appeal to you brothers to present your spirits as a living sacrifice.

[15:44] Paul does not do that. And he does not do it because our bodies matter. That is his point. We worship with our bodies.

[15:55] The things we do with our bodies should all be an expression of our adoration and our devotion to God.

[16:08] All of it should exalt him. It should bring glory to him. And in those moments, we are worshiping. The phrase living sacrifice, it conjures up a paradox in our head.

[16:25] It puts together two things that really should cancel each other out. Two things where if one is true, the other one should be impossible. Paul is talking about a living sacrifice.

[16:40] But how could something that is living at the same time be dead? Because a sacrifice was meant to die. Well, Paul definitely intends that his audience, the Romans, the church in Rome, should continue living.

[16:58] He is not saying to them to go someplace and kill themselves. That is not what he means. What he is saying is that they should be dead in a certain sense.

[17:11] They should be dead in the sense that they have no will of their own. They should be dead in the sense that their life is now offered up to God. And their will is subject to his.

[17:25] Whatever they do, their whole life should be doing only what God would have them to do. And we can put that in practical terms. In many ways, we can think of things that we do or we encounter in our daily life.

[17:43] For instance, many of us work. We go to a job. We are in the workplace. We are in the workplace. And there may be people who attack us constantly. There may be people who drag our names through the mud.

[17:56] Who may even lie on us. Who may plot against us. Who are trying to perhaps discredit you. And our natural inclination, what rises up inside of us, is to confront them in the same way.

[18:09] To meet force with force and fire with fire. We naturally want to lash out at them. And some of us, we could be tempted to put together some creative and colorful words to confront them with.

[18:23] But what we are called to, to be a living sacrifice, is to prevent that, to go against that. So instead of fixing our lips to, in some cases, cuss them or bring them down or maybe even lie back on them, what should come out of our mouths is gracious speech.

[18:47] We should find ourselves loving our enemies and doing good to those who persecute us. And that's not a natural thing to do.

[18:59] Certainly not natural for me. Maybe for one or two of us it might be. But I doubt it. We are called to be living sacrifices.

[19:11] And that means resisting those natural inclinations. And Paul says this again. And we read this a few weeks ago in Galatians chapter 2. He says, It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

[19:29] And Christ himself said it. In Luke 9 he says, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

[19:44] See, Jesus didn't lie to us. He didn't promise us that if we followed him that we would have some blissful spiritual experience. He would be on some spiritual high 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

[19:56] He didn't promise us that we would have easy lives. If that's the route that is going for you, then God bless you. But that's not what's promised.

[20:09] He promised us we'd have to take up our cross. And we know what the cross meant for Christ. It meant suffering. It meant sacrifice.

[20:21] It even meant his death. And so we are called also to suffer in that way. To not have a will of our own. But to be living sacrifices.

[20:36] And the holy sacrifice. And when Paul calls for us to be holy living sacrifices, he is echoing the words of God written in Leviticus. Where God himself calls his people to be holy.

[20:49] Holiness is a separation from God. It's being a separation. Not from God, but a separation from others. It's being set apart from others.

[21:03] And to be marked in a distinct way. And dedicated to God. And we often think of holiness in moral terms. We think of us doing our best to do what is good.

[21:17] But Reverend Dr. Joel Scrandret. Of the Trinity School of Ministry. He makes the point that before moral behavior comes in.

[21:27] Because there are moral implications. To us being holy. But before that comes in. Our holiness is wrapped up. In our relationship.

[21:39] With God. He makes the point that our holiness. Is relationship driven. And in an article entitled. What God means. When he asks us to be holy.

[21:51] As he is holy. Reverend Dr. Scrandret. Points out. That Leviticus 26 and 12. Quotes God as saying. I will be your God.

[22:03] And you will be my people. And he then says this. Thus. Thus. Prior to any consideration of morality. Biblical holiness.

[22:16] Describes a unique relationship with God. That God has established. And desires with his people. This relationship has moral ramifications.

[22:27] But it precedes moral behavior. Before we are ever called to be good. We are called to be holy. Unless we rightly understand. And affirm the primacy of this relationship.

[22:40] We fall into the inevitable trap. Of reducing holiness. To mere morality. In other words. There is no holiness.

[22:51] Without God. He makes himself our God first. And then we live out. Being his people. And just interject here that.

[23:05] You know. This point. Points to. Scientification. And. It's really being helpful to me. To sit in discipleship class. And. Learn more about.

[23:16] Scientification. And hear what is. Given to us. It really is a means of grace. To be able to sit in. Discipleship classes. And. The richness of. Theology that we are met with.

[23:27] To be able to equip ourselves. To. Speak with others about. Our faith. And share the gospel with them. It's amazing. And so. If you. Are not.

[23:38] Or have not been attending. Discipleship classes. I'd encourage you. To attend. Because it really is. A rich. Means of grace. And if you. Perhaps don't have a right.

[23:50] To come out. Or some other thing. Prevents you from coming. Perhaps you ought to speak with. One of the elders. Or. One of the people who are. Designated as. Deacons or deaconesses.

[24:01] So that provisions can be made. You to come out. And enjoy this means of grace. So the passage we have come to today. Where we are called to present our bodies as living sacrifices.

[24:16] We could never. Live out. We could never accomplish it. Without reference to. A relationship with God. Specifically we need to understand.

[24:27] And interact with his. Revelation of himself. Through Christ Jesus. Which we will see. More clearly. In a moment.

[24:40] But without that reference to God. We would just be people. Trying to be good. We would be people. Who are moral.

[24:54] For that morality. Would not. Equate to holiness. Because our good deeds. Would not be directed to.

[25:06] God is an act of devotion to him. So God. Is needed. For our holiness. For our holiness. What does it mean. To be accepted.

[25:17] Or acceptable. Unto God. Paul says. That the living sacrifice. Ought to be acceptable to God. For this point.

[25:29] It might be helpful. For us to refer to. The first. Worship service. That's recorded. In the Bible. And that's found in Genesis chapter 4. So if you would please. Turn to Genesis 4.

[25:40] And we will read verses 3. Through 5. Genesis 4.

[25:53] Verses. 3. Through 5. And I'm again reading from. The English Standard Version. In the course of time.

[26:05] Cain brought to the Lord. An offering of the fruit. Of the ground. And Abel. Also brought up the first fruit of his flock.

[26:16] And their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel. And his offering. But for Cain. And his offering. He had no regard.

[26:26] So Cain was very angry. And his face fell. So from this passage.

[26:39] We can. Make an easy observation. About the offerings. That. These two men brought before the Lord. Abel's offering was distinct.

[26:51] And noteworthy. While Cain's. Was not. And this is easy to see. When we look at. How each offering was described.

[27:03] For Abel. We're told that he brought. The first fruit. We were told. Sorry. The first born of his flock. And we're told that he brought. Fat portions.

[27:14] Of those animals. But for Cain. We can't find. Any similar. Descriptions. We can't find. Adjectives. That tell us about.

[27:25] What he brought. We're not told that they were. The first of his fruit. We're not told that they were. The fattest. Or the juiciest of his fruit. We're just told that they were fruit.

[27:40] So all we can say about. Cain's offering is that. It was remarkably. Unremarkable. On the other hand. We look at Abel. And we.

[27:54] Can surmise that Abel. Took great care. In what he gave to the Lord. While Cain apparently did not.

[28:07] And why would that be? Well if we look at the. Passage. It doesn't just say that. God.

[28:18] Did not have regard for. Their offering. But God did not have regard for. Cain. Himself. Not have regard for Cain. Or his offering. But had regard for Abel.

[28:30] And his offering. And I believe that points toward. Something that's operating inside these men. It points to their heart.

[28:42] So one reason for. Abel taking great care. And Cain. Probably. Apparently not taking such great care. Might be that. Abel was giving.

[28:53] With reference to God. He was giving out of reverence. To God. While perhaps Cain. Did not take that into account. Perhaps his offering.

[29:05] Was done more of obligation. Of tradition. It was what was expected. His duty to do. Perhaps he forgot.

[29:16] That the offering. Ought to have reflected. His devotion to God. And his adoration. Of the living God. And I didn't intend to speak much about.

[29:28] Corporate singing here. But. I think we can. We can draw. A similar. Analogy. With our time of corporate worship. Our time of corporate singing.

[29:42] Do we give good care. To what we bring to God. On a Sunday morning. Are we being thoughtful. That we are offering up praises.

[29:53] To the living God. And what we give to him. Is it really a show of devotion. For the God of the universe. Our creator. The one who sustains us. You know.

[30:05] You might be tempted. At times. Especially if you are feeling tired. To slump on a chair. Or to not. Really sing. Wholeheartedly. You might be tempted.

[30:16] Not to sing at all. And you have to ask yourself. Is it. Is it that because. I have not given good care. Or proper care. That I am offering up a praise.

[30:28] I am offering up a sacrifice. To the triune God. This passage is often used. To describe how we. Ought to give financially to God.

[30:40] And as another aside. You may also see in your bulletin. Well. These days we write. When it is time for offering. Welcome. And giving. But.

[30:51] There was a time. We used to. Term it as. Worship with our finances. Again. Communicating. That we can find. Worship.

[31:01] In all the things that we do. And. The reason we don't do it now. Is just a space issue. But again. We can apply. This passage. To all aspects.

[31:13] Of our lives. Everything we should. We do. Should be worship. Give. Now we can only do that. If we are making reference to God. If we are mindful.

[31:24] That what we are doing. Is giving to him. Is honoring him. Then we. Are doing what is right. Then we will be accepted.

[31:36] So God is a part of this transaction. We should not only. Have him in mind. But we should know that he is the center. Of our giving. He is the center of our offering.

[31:48] He is the object of it. And it is he. It is God. Who does the accepting. Now final point. Why do we worship?

[32:03] We worship God first of all. Because. That is our purpose. Man. And by man I mean. Everyone who has ever been born. We were created.

[32:15] To worship God. Our life is meant to be spent. Lifting him up. And glorifying him. God's right to be worshipped. Is wrapped up in his being.

[32:27] The creator. Of all things. It is natural to expect. The created thing. To be meant for. Its creator.

[32:37] And we see that in. Psalms 24. When David says. The earth is the Lord's. And the fullness thereof. The world and those who dwell therein.

[32:50] This passage. It points to God. Owning all things. Because everything was created by him. There is nothing. That God does not have a right to.

[33:02] And by extension of that. All things. Ought to be glorifying him. Ought to be pointing back. To his glory. The scripture points to the duty.

[33:15] Of all created things. To glorify God. And man is no exception. On the sixth day. God created Adam. And so we were.

[33:29] Also created by him. Our purpose then. Is to glorify him. So that's in a general sense. A general description. For all men.

[33:42] Man without exception. Is created to worship God. But for some men. For those who are. Called by him. Those who are believers.

[33:53] In the Lord Jesus Christ. We are especially called. To worship him. And we see this in the way. Paul begins. Romans 12 and 1.

[34:04] He says. I appeal to you therefore. Brothers. By the mercies of God. You have to point out here. That Paul specifically. Is addressing.

[34:16] Brothers. He's not addressing. The world at large. He's addressing the saints. Those who have been. Brought into the family of God. And now call him.

[34:27] Father. Those who are now brothers. And sisters in Christ. Additionally. We should point out that. At the beginning of Romans 12. Paul uses a very important.

[34:39] Transition word. It's one of those linking words. That you learned about in school. The conjunction. And he uses. Therefore. Therefore. And you would recall that.

[34:50] You know. From your days of English. Conjunctions are used to. Link things. Link phrases. Or clauses. In this case. Therefore. Is linking.

[35:01] Two thoughts. It's linking. A cause. And an effect. The cause. Is the mercies of God. God. It's the engine. That drives the effect.

[35:13] Which is. Our worship. Which is. Presenting our bodies. As a living sacrifice. It's important. To see that. The mercies of God.

[35:26] Come first. It's the principal thing. And our worship. Is the effect. Or the proper response. To God's mercy. The King James Version says.

[35:39] It is our reasonable. Service. So it's only reasonable. That in light of the mercies of God. That we worship him. So what are these mercies of God?

[35:55] The mercies of God. That Paul refers to. Are spelled out. In the first 11 chapters. Of Romans. He demonstrates. To the brothers in Rome. How God has shown mercy.

[36:08] Especially to the believer. And in doing this. Paul is following. A familiar pattern of scripture. In God's redemptive story. Of his people. Throughout time. God first.

[36:20] Presented the case. He established his character. And his works. And then he leads his people. Into relationship with him. Based on that. You see this for example.

[36:33] When. God gave Israel. The ten commandments. He doesn't call them together. And then he simply blurts out. Commands to them. What he says to them is.

[36:46] I am the Lord your God. Who brought you out of the land of Egypt. Out. Of the house of slavery. He reminds them of who he is.

[36:57] And what they are to him. He is their Lord. He is their God. And then he reminds them. What he has done for them. He has brought them.

[37:08] Out. Of the oppression. Of hundreds and hundreds of years. Of bondage. And the hardship of slavery. So when we can. See this pattern.

[37:20] We can also apply it. To the book of Leviticus. The events of Leviticus. Take place. After the events of the Exodus. And. It's interesting that.

[37:31] The original Hebrew. Name for the book of Leviticus. Translate. For us as. And he called. And he called. The book of Leviticus.

[37:44] Is God calling his people. Into a deeper relationship. With him. It's calling him. Or calling us. To be holy. But this happens.

[37:54] Only after the Exodus. Only after. God delivers his people. From bondage. So Paul is holding. To that pattern. It's only after.

[38:06] Explaining the mercies of God. That he calls. The saints at Rome. To present their bodies. As a living sacrifice. Now we said just moments ago.

[38:19] That the mercies of God. Were presented throughout. The first 11 chapters. Of Romans. And Paul shows his audience. In Romans 3. 23. That. We all were sinners.

[38:32] And if you could recall. Two weeks ago. Our brother Sean. Being bringing his message. He points out. In Romans chapter 5. That while we were yet sinners. While we were yet sinners.

[38:44] Christ died for us. See. While we deserved God's wrath. While we were heading. For his judgment. While we were wicked men and women.

[38:55] God sent Christ. To die for us. There's nothing that we did. That deserved it. It was only the great mercy of God.

[39:08] That sent Christ. To die for us. And so that's the great mercy. That Paul holds out. To the brothers. In Rome. And there are many other mercies of God.

[39:20] That he points out. Too many for us to. Cover now. As I said. They cover 11 chapters. But I think we all can agree. That this one mercy alone.

[39:32] This mercy. Of God. Taking enemies. Who were. Headed for his wrath. Who rightly deserved his wrath. And then.

[39:44] Turning them into. His children. Who now. Received no wrath. But who sit at the same table. That alone.

[39:56] That mercy alone. Deserving of us. To turn our hearts to him. And worship. And this is not some far off concept.

[40:07] This is not something that applied only to. The church in Paul's day. But it applies to us right here. And right now. Romans 3 and 23. Is for all of us. All of us have sinned.

[40:21] That means we were all separated from God. We all deserve his wrath. We were all heading. For his judgment. That means we all were in need.

[40:33] Of a sacrifice. And we have that sacrifice in Christ Jesus. So when we realize this. Is that we can come together.

[40:46] In congregational song. Perhaps at the apex of worship. In a week. We can come together. And join our voices. And say. Who is there like you?

[40:59] And who else could give their life for me? Even suffering. In my place. So when we realize. That Christ has done. All the work of our salvation.

[41:11] By suffering. By suffering and dying. That's when we can have confidence. In our salvation. And we can sing now. Why this fear.

[41:23] And unbelief. As in the father put to grief. His spotless. Sinless son. For us. And understanding that makes all the difference.

[41:37] That's when. Grace becomes so sweet. And we realize. That our salvation is secure. Not because of what we did.

[41:50] What we can ever do. But because of what Christ. Has done for us. In obedience to God. And we can sing corporately. How sweet the sound. Of saving grace.

[42:03] Christ. The Christ was our lamb. He gave his life.

[42:21] All those sacrifices. Offered by people. Over hundreds. And hundreds of years. They pointed to Christ. Christ. And they covered sin.

[42:37] For a time. But God. In promising redeemer. He was pointing to that sacrifice.

[42:48] That would last forever. One that would cover all our sins. The Christ suffered and died.

[42:59] Not for his sins. Because he had none. He died for our sins. God's great mercy.

[43:10] Is that while we were yet sinners. While we were wicked men and women. God sent Christ to die for us. So in appealing to that blood. That sacrifice.

[43:20] We can live. God. In view of this. We must present. Our bodies. As a living sacrifice. So if you are.

[43:34] Not a believer. If you are not worshiping God. You have to ask yourself. What is it that you have put above God? What is it that you find that.

[43:46] You are to worship. More than the living God. Who is sent a substitute. For his people. And if you are a believer. What does your worship look like?

[43:59] Are you truly presenting your bodies. As a living sacrifice? Are you surrendering your life. To the will of God? And do you do that in all things?

[44:10] Or is your worship. Confined to. Maybe a half hour. Or 25 minutes. Of corporate singing. Or maybe some time spent singing in your car.

[44:24] Or during your morning devotions. Have you truly made your body. A living sacrifice? And if that's what.

[44:37] Your worship look like. If you haven't truly made your body. A living sacrifice. I encourage you to reflect. On the mercies of God. And to reflect on the sacrifice.

[44:49] That God has given. Once and for all. To cover your sins. And to redeem you. When we understand. What. God's mercies are to us.

[45:04] Then we will gratefully. Turn our hearts to him. And worship him. And then we receive more grace. Because he will give us the grace.

[45:16] To live out what he has called us to do. Holiness to him. I appeal to you therefore brothers. By the mercies of God.

[45:29] To present your bodies as a living sacrifice. Holy. And acceptable to God. Which is your spiritual worship. Let's pray.

[45:41]  Let's pray.