[0:00] This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfred, Georgia. It is our prayer that you will be blessed by the preaching of God's Word. Take your Bibles if you would and open them with me to Romans chapter 12.
[0:10] Romans chapter 12. I am so excited to get to share with you this passage. We've been in the book of Romans for a long time. We have come through 11 heavy chapters of doctrine, teaching, that have shown us a lot of things.
[0:23] And now we break into a practical section where he says, I want to tell you how you put that, all that stuff I've been teaching you, how do you put that into practice?
[0:34] And so that's where we are today. Romans chapter 12 and verse 1. Would you read with me that verse? The Bible says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
[0:52] So we're going to talk about a living sacrifice today. And if you've got your Bible open there, you go ahead and mark all three things I want you to see today. It's all because of the mercies of God.
[1:03] Underline that. It's because of the mercies of God that we make, number two, a living sacrifice. And number three, that is a reasonable service. So it is the mercies of God that calls me to make my life a living sacrifice, and that is a reasonable service to our God.
[1:23] Let's have a word of prayer and ask God to bless our study of the word of Romans chapter 12, verse 1. Father, I love you. And I thank you for this chapter. And I pray, God, that you would help us today as born-again believers, as Christians, as your children, to know that it's time to make our bodies a living sacrifice.
[1:43] I pray you'd help us understand that. I pray you'd help us to put it into practice. I pray that it would become a reality. And I will give you great honor and glory and praise for all. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, I'd like to start off by telling you, let's kind of get what a living sacrifice is.
[1:59] And in history, or in the Bible, as you said, the Bible, you have learned a little bit about that. And maybe one of the first stories that might bring that to mind to you will be the story of a guy named Isaac.
[2:11] Do you remember Isaac? He's Abraham's son. And God tells Abraham to take Isaac, his son, and go up in a mountain and there sacrifice his son. And he tells Isaac, he tells Abraham to take Isaac.
[2:23] Now, what you might not know is that Isaac is in his late 30s, mid to late 30s when he took him up on the hill. Some of you probably thought that he was somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 or 10.
[2:34] But he's a grown man. He is plenty able to protect himself. And on the way up the hill, he carries the wood on his shoulders that he'll be sacrificed on. So he carries all that wood up the hill with him.
[2:47] And his dad has the knife. And he looks at his dad and he says, Dad, we got the fire, got the knife, we got the wood. Where is the lamb that will be offered on the sacrifice?
[2:58] And his dad says, well, the Lord will provide himself a lamb. The Lord will provide himself a lamb. Don't worry about it, son. But all the way up that hill, he knows that he is carrying the wood.
[3:10] He knows they got the knife. He knows they have the fire. He knows there's going to be a sacrifice. His dad knows that he's going to be sacrificed. And as they climb that hill, they get to the top of the hill. And actually, they build the altar.
[3:22] And then they tie Isaac up. Now, his dad's a fairly old man. He's about 100 and something years old. The boy is only 30 something years old. He could easily defend himself. But he willingly and voluntarily allows himself to be tied up and laid on top of the sacrifice, on top of the altar, ready to be sacrificed.
[3:40] Then his dad raises a knife to plunge it into his heart and to kill him. And the God of heaven stops him and says, Don't take the life of your son. Turn around.
[3:51] I have a ram caught in the thicket that will take his place. And that's really where we learn one of the most beautiful things. Substitutionary death. Somebody taking our place. Jesus taking our place on the cross of Calvary.
[4:03] Why don't you just think a minute? What it must have taken for a young man in his mid-30s, that's plenty old enough to take care of himself, old enough to take the wood up the hill with himself, old enough to get up there and allow his dad to tie him up and lay him on the altar, because he thought that's what God wanted.
[4:19] He was willing to live and be a living sacrifice or a dying sacrifice. He went up alive and he came down alive. But his life had been given and sacrificed.
[4:30] You and I are called to give our lives a living sacrifice, which means allowing ourselves to be put in a position we're probably not all that keen on being put in. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be tied up and laid on an altar.
[4:43] I can only imagine what it must have been like to think I'm giving up my life. But that's the idea of a living sacrifice. You're not going to die, but you're going to give a living sacrifice. It's far easier to be a dying sacrifice, to throw yourself over a grenade.
[4:59] People have been known to do that. Just jump in front of a bullet and to protect a president or to protect some friends. But to be a living sacrifice, to every day know that this day is not about me.
[5:10] This day is not about what I want. This day is about me voluntarily, willingly giving up my heart, my desires and my plans to serve God. And somebody else did that. Another living sacrifice would be Jesus.
[5:23] And Jesus also climbed the hill in his 30s. And he also carried wood on his shoulders. And he also willingly died. And he did ask for his father. He said, if it be possible that this cup pass from me, but not my will, but your will be done.
[5:36] And he went up on the hill and he was crucified, but he lives because he was buried. And he rose again three days later. And he's a living sacrifice who willingly gave his life for us, not for himself, for us.
[5:49] He loved us and he gave himself for us. And so today, as you look at this and you study with me, a living sacrifice. Know that Jesus called on us to give our lives a living sacrifice.
[6:00] The Bible says in Luke chapter 9 and verse 23. We'll be back to Romans in just a second. The Bible says in Luke chapter 9 and verse 23. Jesus said unto them all, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.
[6:18] For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. That's not a popular verse in the Bible. Look at your Bible, would you?
[6:30] Look at your Bible in Luke chapter 9 and verse 23. Look what he said to him. You want to follow me? You want to come after Jesus? This is definitely not a prosperity gospel message.
[6:41] It wasn't come after me and I'll make you rich. Come after me and you won't go hungry. Come after me and you'll have a happy house. Come after me and everything will work out. He said, come after me and watch this, what he said. Let every man that comes after me, number one.
[6:54] Can you say what he told him to do with me? In verse 23, you come after him and the first thing you do is deny yourself. Can you say that with me? Number one, you deny yourself. And number two, you take up your cross.
[7:04] What's the first thing you do? Deny yourself. What's the second thing you do? Take up your cross. How often do you take up your cross? Daily. It's not like, well, one day I decided to go to the front of the church, put myself on the altar and say, God, I'm yours.
[7:18] I'll do anything you want me to do. Shoo. Glad it's over now. Go back to living my life. It wasn't. Every day I get up and say, it's not about me. And the third thing in the verse is, follow me. So what was the first thing in the verse?
[7:29] You are to deny yourself. Number two, you are to take up your cross daily. Number three, you are to follow me. That's what he told us to do in Luke chapter 9, verses 23 and 24.
[7:41] So go with me, if you would, to chapter 12 and verse 1. And let's study through this passage, if you would, with me. Romans chapter 12 and verse 1. Paul starts off and says this, I beseech you, I beg you, I ask you, I implore you, I call on you, therefore, brethren.
[8:00] Now the therefore is therefore a very good reason. You ought to put a circle around that word therefore, and you can just draw an arrow backwards in your Bible towards Romans 1, 2, 3, 4, all the way to chapter 11.
[8:11] Because he says, hey, you've heard 11 chapters. You've heard 11 chapters about what God's done for you. And he says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.
[8:24] So he called them brethren. He said, I'm talking to Christians. I'm talking to born-again people, my brothers in Christ. You're my brothers in Christ. And he said, I talk to my brothers, and I ask you, I challenge you by the mercies of God.
[8:37] So we want to stop there and think about the mercies of God. What gives the apostle Paul the right to say, you ought to give your life as a living sacrifice?
[8:48] Where in the world does he come off saying, you ought to give up your life? Where in the world does Jesus have the right to say, deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me? Where in the world does he have the right?
[9:00] Paul said, I can tell you where. I've given you 11 chapters of where. So go through with me some of the things you've seen in the book of Romans as you've come through it. The first thing we've seen, Romans chapter 3 and verse 19, we're all sinners.
[9:15] We're all sinners. We're completely lost. We were completely lost, and we were without any hope. Look at Romans 3, 19. The Bible says, now we know that whatsoever things the law saith, it says to them that are under the law.
[9:29] Look at it. That every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. So here's what he did in Romans chapter 1 through 11. He said, the first thing I want you to do, let's get on even ground here.
[9:42] Let's get on even ground. Let's just decide we're all in the same boat. He said, I'll tell you what I gave the law for. I gave the law so every one of you would shut your big mouth.
[9:53] Every one of you, all of us, all of us for all of eternity, we have failed Almighty God. We have sinned. We have been rebellious. We have done what we wanted to do.
[10:04] We've had that rebellious streak in us. And he said, hey, completely lost. Shut your mouth. You're guilty. Guilty. How many of you have come to a place in your life where you'd say, I recognize that I have been guilty before God?
[10:18] If that's true about you, say amen. See, that's what he said. Hey, I'm going to talk to you about the mercies of God. You were guilty. You were guilty. Now look what he said in Romans chapter 3 and verse 10. Romans chapter 3 and verse 10.
[10:30] See, we've all sinned against the holy God. We all sinned against the holy God. He said, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. Well, why would we need mercy? Because we were all guilty.
[10:42] Because we've all sinned. The Bible said in Romans 3.10, and you've marked it already as we came through here, but maybe you've marked it again. In Romans 3.10 he said, as it's written, there is none righteous.
[10:54] No, not one. There is none that understands. There is none that seeks after God. They're all gone out of the way. They are together becoming unprophil. There is none that doeth good.
[11:06] No, not one. So there is a clear Bible teaching. We were guilty. We had sinned against the holy God. That's why he says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.
[11:20] Because you see, it isn't like we deserved it. It isn't like we walked up to God and he was like, wow, glad to get you. You're the pick of the litter. We're having an NFL draft and I pick you. You're number one in the country.
[11:31] Actually looked around and said, all of y'all are guilty. All of y'all have sinned and none of you are righteous and none of you measure up. Romans 3.23, the Bible said, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
[11:45] Nobody measures up. None of us ever measured up. You know, if they'd have been measuring and saying, all right, if you're this tall, you get in. You ever take your kids to Six Flags?
[11:57] Well, if you remember when your children were small, you took them to Six Flags and now we take the grandkids to Six Flags or something like that. It is so funny. They can't wait until their hand or their head meets the top of that little thing that sticks out and says, you can't ride this ride unless you're this tall.
[12:11] And boy, you ever watch your children or your grandkids? When they're walking over to that thing, they're tiptoeing. You can see them. They start way back over here so that when they get over there, they'll measure up. And as soon as they can get past that guy that's checking them out, they're so excited.
[12:26] And then when they get past it, they look around at all their little brothers and sisters and say, ha, I'm tall enough. I measure up. Nobody ever measured up in God's economy. None of us ever.
[12:37] The Pope never measured up. Mother Teresa never measured up. Gandhi never measured up. No one ever measured up. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.
[12:49] I beseech you by the mercy. Why do we need mercy? Because we were all guilty. Because we all sinned. Because we never measured up. And because Jesus loved us and died for us while we were still sinners.
[13:00] In Romans chapter 5 and verse 8, the Bible says, start in verse 6. For when we were yet without strength. Circle that in your Bible. We were without strength.
[13:11] In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Now wait a minute. Look here. Who did he die for? Those without strength and those that were ungodly. Those without strength and those that were ungodly.
[13:24] I don't know if you ever noticed. Over the years, I've witnessed to people and talked to people. And they'll say stuff like this. They'll say, let me get my act straightened up. Let me get my life cleaned up. And then I'll come to church.
[13:36] Let me kind of fix this about myself or fix that about myself. And I'll be there. But here's what the Bible says. He didn't die for anybody who got their act straightened up. He didn't die for anybody to have things going good in their life.
[13:47] He said, I died for those that were without the ability to get their life straightened up. Without strength. He said, I died for those who were ungodly. He said, I didn't die for the godly ones. You could come up to God and say, I'd like to get saved.
[13:59] No, you need mercy. You need mercy because here's what he would say. He would say, hey. You might say, I have done all this and I have done all that. And I'm a Baptist. And I'm a member of the vision by this church.
[14:10] And I got standards and regulations in my life. And I do right and I do good. And you say, well, I didn't die for you. I died for ungodly people. Not good ones. Not halfway good ones.
[14:20] I died for rotten ones. Ungodly. I died for those who had no strength and no ability to go forward. Romans 5, 6. But when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
[14:32] For scarcely for a righteous man will one die. Yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God. That's a big but God right there. You should circle that. But God commended, proved, showed, exhibited his love toward us.
[14:48] In that while we were yet sinners. Circle the word yet in your Bible there. While we were yet still sinning. He didn't say, hey, when you quit doing all the bad stuff, I'll die for you.
[15:00] He didn't say, I'll be here to save you when you quit doing all the bad stuff. He said, while you were yet sinners, Christ died for us. When did he die for us? Not after we came to church. Not after we got baptized.
[15:12] Not after we got cussing and lying and cheating and stealing and being proud and arrogant and boastful and greedy. That's not when he died for us. He died for us while we were yet sinners. How about this one?
[15:23] Romans chapter 5 and verse 20. He said, I want you to know that I have more grace than you have sin. For by the mercies of God. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice.
[15:38] Mercy. The whole book's been about God's good and I stink. The whole book's been about how I'm bad and he's good. The whole book's been about how great God is and how bad we are.
[15:50] Look at what it says, if you would, in Romans 5 and 20. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But when sin abounded, grace had much more abounded. Do you know what God did?
[16:00] Look at this. God wanted you to be really nasty. And he wanted you to know you were nasty. He wanted you to know you were nasty. So he said, hey, I brought the law in so sin would get really deep and really bad and you would see how dirty you were.
[16:17] And when sin got deep, my grace was deeper still. I love more than your mess ups. And here's the thing. You can look at yourself and you can think you're pretty clean.
[16:30] But if you don't step out into the light, you don't know. When I was a boy, lived on a farm, and we had what we called the pine grove, which was a bunch of pine trees that they were raising to sell pine.
[16:43] And so when you went into the pine grove, I mean, it got relatively dark. And I used to go up there and play all the time. And we only, you know, I only had the, I had church clothes, school clothes, and play clothes.
[16:56] And they were, that's about it, three of it, one of each. And so I would go up there and play. And sometimes I'd actually play in my school clothes. And when Mother would come home, I knew she'd kill me if I got them dirty.
[17:07] And so I'd be playing up there and I'd look down and I'd brush myself off and I would be so clean. Everything was okay. But, you know, as soon as I walked out of the pine grove and got where the sun hit me, I'd look down and I'd be like, uh-oh, I'm dead meat.
[17:19] When I get home, she's going to kill me. Because light showed me how dirty I was. And the Bible is written to say to you, you are without purity. You are sinful.
[17:30] You are ungodly. You are without strength. And so we're sin that abound. Grace is much more about. So Paul said, I tell you, we can ask you to give you life as a living sacrifice because the Bible's clear.
[17:42] It's the mercy. It's the mercy of God. Romans chapter 5, verse 8. Romans chapter 5, verse 20. How about this one? After all that mess up and all that junk and all the ways we failed him.
[17:56] Romans chapter 8 and verse 1. You remember reading that one when we came through? Romans chapter 8 and verse 1. Look what it says. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
[18:07] Did you ever? I'm sure you didn't. When I was in school, I used to get in trouble. I don't know. I didn't sit still and I wasn't quiet. My teacher told me one time. She said, Austin, shut up.
[18:18] I know you can't say that anymore. But back in the 60s and 70s, you could still say that. She'd say, babbling brooks are shallow. Still water runs deep. I'd be like, what's that supposed to mean?
[18:30] She said, you are obviously shallow. And often she would say, you're going to have to see the principal. But it'd be Friday. It'd be Friday. And she'd say, you're going in to see the principal on Monday.
[18:43] I'd go home on Friday. I was in her respect the whole weekend. And I knew I was going to get in trouble. I knew condemnation was waiting for me. And I really wasn't that worried about the principal.
[18:54] He was a member of my church. But he was a pretty nice guy. But I mean, he didn't mind whipping you with a board back in those days. You know, when they could pick you up off the floor. What I really hated was him and daddy went to church together.
[19:06] And I knew that I had double condemnation waiting on me. I would meet Mr. Wagster. Mr. Wagster would meet my dad. And Monday I would get it from Mr. Wagster.
[19:16] And Monday night I would get it from dad. You know what condemnation? How many of you ever had heavy, heavy hanging over your head say amen? Oh, not us. Not us. There's therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
[19:30] No heavy, heavy. No remembering what you did. Hey, you know you were told about that movie theater they're going to show someday. When you were a kid, you were told, when you get to heaven, they're going to show a video of all of your life.
[19:42] And they're going to show everything you've ever done. And you're going to be sitting there with all the gazillions of people around the world. And they're all going to watch your dirty, filthy, scumbag little life you lived. You better do right because they're filming every bit of it.
[19:53] Not mine. Not yours. Ours has been forgiven by the blood of Jesus Christ. Been washed away, cleaned up, and put away. And I will never face condemnation. So he looks at me and says, I can tell you by the mercies of God, I ask you to present your bodies a living sacrifice because we've got a lot of mercy.
[20:10] Can you say amen if we've got a lot of mercy? We've got a lot of mercy. How about another verse for you? If you would, Romans 8.35. Well, what would happen that could mess up all this good stuff you're saying about me?
[20:21] What would happen that would mess up all this good stuff you're saying about my salvation? Nothing. In Romans 8.35, he said, what could separate us from the love of God that we have in Christ Jesus?
[20:32] And this is what he does. Not this, not that, not this, not this, not this, not that, not whatever anybody's not thought of. None of it shall separate you from the love of Christ. The love of Christ.
[20:42] None of it will ever be able to separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. In Romans 10.3, mercies of God. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.
[20:55] In Romans 10.3, you know what happened? Listen to me. You do have to be righteous before God. Look at me. You need to listen to this. You do have to be righteous before God.
[21:07] God doesn't let you in unless you're righteous. And so the Jewish people and all the religious people in the world, they're all working on being righteous. I mean, every one of them, they got this little checklist. Did I?
[21:17] Yes, I did. Did I? Yes, I did. Did I? Yes, I'm doing pretty good. And they check off everything they do right. And they say, man, I'm doing good. I love my neighbor. I gave the March of Dimes. I'm a good guy.
[21:28] I gave the Red Cross. I go to church. I don't steal. I don't lie. And they're checking it all off. But here's what happens with us. He said, we learned that the end of righteousness is Christ.
[21:40] I'm not righteous in myself, but I'm righteous in Christ. And so I have this new life, not based on what I did, but based on what Jesus did on the cross of Calvary.
[21:50] And so Christ is the end of the law for every one of us. You don't have to worry about the law. You can't keep it, but Jesus did keep it. Read with me, if you would, Romans chapter 10 and verse 3.
[22:02] They, being ignorant of God's righteousness, they didn't understand how it worked. They went about trying to establish their own righteousness, and they have not submitted themselves on the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone that believes.
[22:17] I don't need to establish my own righteousness. Jesus, I'm going in on His coattails. I'm going in on what He did. I'm righteous through what He did. Last thing before we leave this righteous thing is this.
[22:29] In Romans 11, 36, He said, get all this. Listen to me, you've got to get this. All this good stuff God did, He did it not for you, not for me.
[22:40] He did it to magnify Jesus. And magnify God, and to make God big. So we would come to church today and worship Him and say, God, you're big.
[22:52] And God, you're great. And God, you deserve my worship. You are a wonderful, wonderful God. We're not here to talk about how good the preacher is. We're not here to talk about how good you are.
[23:02] But we're here to say, man, what a great God. Look at what it said in Romans 11, 36. It said, for of Him, that's of Jesus, and through Jesus, and to Jesus are all things, to whom Jesus be glory forever.
[23:18] Amen. So our church won't have anybody walking here. I'm a child member. A child member of Division Baptist Church. I'm all right with God. Now we'll be walking here going, I know Jesus. I know Jesus.
[23:28] Hey, who are you? I'm nobody, but I know Jesus. Hey, how do you think you can get into heaven? Oh, I don't think I could, but Jesus is going to take me in. Everything I have, for Him, to Him, He is everything.
[23:41] So go with me to Romans 12, verse 1. I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God. How many of you would admit to me that He has been a great and merciful God?
[23:53] Say amen. Oh, He's good. Oh, He's good. Because I am looking at some dirty, rotten, stinking sinners, and if God just knew what I know about you, you'd probably be in trouble.
[24:03] And if God knew what you know about me, I know I'd be in trouble. But guess what? It's all under the blood. Jesus took care of it on Calvary's tree. Amen. Amen. And I am saved by His goodness.
[24:15] I am saved by His grace. And so Paul looks at me and says, Number two, present your body a living sacrifice.
[24:28] That you give your body, that you yield your body, that you give me your body a living sacrifice. A living sacrifice. That's what He's calling us on the subject.
[24:39] And I want you to notice what He said. Would you circle the word body? I think some of us got the idea that when you serve God, it's about your heart. Well, He's got a good heart. And He gave His heart to Jesus.
[24:52] But Paul said, we're not just talking heart here, buddy. And we're going to talk about mind in verse 2. And will in verse 2. But in verse 1, He said this. He said, I want your body. I want your body.
[25:04] I don't know why anybody would want this one. But He said, I want your body. Romans chapter 12 and verse 1. And I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your... Would you say the word out with me? That you present your bodies.
[25:16] How many of you got a body? Hold your hand up. He wants it. How many of you got hands? He wants them. How many of you got eyes? He wants them. How many of you got tongues? He wants them. How many of you got lips? He wants them. How many of you got feet?
[25:26] He wants them. I want you to present them. He said, and this is what I want. I want your body. A living sacrifice. I want your body holy. I want your body acceptable unto God. I want your body.
[25:38] In 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 19, here's what the Bible says. Your body belongs to Him. In 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 19, the Bible says, What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you're not your own?
[25:55] Your body, your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? Now listen to this. You're in a warehouse this morning. You're in a warehouse with black walls. You're in a warehouse. And you might say, well, this is no church. I can tell you that.
[26:09] This is no temple of God. I can tell you that. You're right. And if it was the finest brick structure you'd ever seen and looked like the best church you'd ever seen, it still wouldn't be where God lives. He lives in your body.
[26:20] Say amen. He said, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies. In 1 Corinthians 6 and verse 19, he said, That is not your body. What? Know ye not your bodies the temple.
[26:32] Then he said, verse 20, you are bought with a price. 1 Corinthians 6, verse 20, you are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your, what's it say?
[26:43] Glorify God in your what? Body and in your spirit, which are God's. I thought I owned this thing. I thought I owned this body. But God said, no, I own it.
[26:56] It belongs to me. In Philippians chapter 1 and verse 20, the apostle Paul said, I want to use my body to glorify and honor and magnify God. It doesn't matter if I have to do it by dying or by living.
[27:09] I'm going to use my body. I'm going to use my body. You used your body when you walked in here this morning. You used your body every time you stood up and sang a song. You used your body when you opened the Bible. You used your body when you used your eyes to look up here and listen.
[27:22] When you read the verses behind my head, when you marked them in the Bible, he said, I want your body. I want you. I didn't get married last, about 40 years ago. I didn't want Betty's mind.
[27:34] I wanted her mind. I wanted her heart, but I wanted all of her. And you know what he says to me? I want all of you. I'm not satisfied with a picture. I'm not satisfied with a Facebook relationship. I wanted her as mine.
[27:45] And he says to me, glorify God in your body. It's mine. Magnify Him in your body. In Romans chapter 6 and verse 12, where we studied already, Romans chapter 6 and verse 12, he said, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal or your dying body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof.
[28:04] Listen here. Look, look, look, look, look. This is a dying body. Yours is a dying body. You might not realize it, but your body's only got an X number of times to get up in the morning. I promise you, you only have X number of times to get up in the morning and it will be over.
[28:17] And he said, hey guys, hey guys, don't let sin control your body. Don't let sin control your body. Look at Romans chapter 6 and verse 13, if you would.
[28:28] Right there where you are, Romans chapter 6 and verse 13. Neither yield you your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
[28:43] Let me explain that to you. That's pretty tough. Instruments. My hand's an instrument. My foot's an instrument. My mouth's an instrument. This morning, how many of you sung songs from your heart, and you really sang them, and the noise was coming out of your mouth, and you might not have sang well, but you tried to sing to Jesus more than the song time.
[28:59] Say amen. That means you yielded your voice. And you said, I'm going to use my voice to praise God. And you did that. How many of you sometime this week have taken your eyes, and you've been in the Word of God?
[29:10] How many of you have gotten on your knees and spent some time in prayer? How many of you have used your mouth to honor God sometime this week? In other words, he said, hey, don't give your body, your hands, your feet, your eyes, any part of your body, don't let it be done for wickedness.
[29:24] Give it to God. Give it to God. Say a living sacrifice says my body might want to do something that doesn't please God, but that's not what I'm going to do. Because by the mercies of God, he asked me to present my body a living sacrifice.
[29:38] So I'm going to say, hey, no, no, no, no porn for me. No porn for me. Because my body might want that. My spirit might want that. My eyes might want that. But no, no, no. I present my body as a living sacrifice.
[29:50] There are drugs and alcohol or whatever that can control your life and take over. He said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I present my body a living sacrifice. Sex and illicit stuff, pride and arrogance and the way you could talk and everything.
[30:04] He said, no, no, no. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice. In 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 27, Paul worked at keeping his body in submission.
[30:21] You see, your body, you don't want to get up in time to have quiet time with God. You know how that is. In the mornings before you go to work, it's hard to get up or hard to make it to church or hard to give, hard to work for Jesus, whatever it is, knock on a door, whatever it is.
[30:39] And he said this. He said, I keep under my body and I bring it under subjection. I bring it into submission that by all means when I preach to others, I myself should not be a castaway. I want to keep this body under control.
[30:51] I want to do what's right with my body because I want to honor God with my body. Now, it's time to quit, but let me just show you something real quickly. Listen to this. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your body a living sacrifice.
[31:12] Christianity is not some kind of highfalutin mental spiritual thing that doesn't affect where your feet will go this week. It does affect you. It is not some kind of highfalutin thing that doesn't care where your eyes go.
[31:25] It's not some kind of I went to church and I worshiped God and it was ethereal and I was in a room I was interested. I got all emotional, but now on Monday I do what I want. He said, no, no, no, no. Every day, deny yourself.
[31:38] Take up your cross daily and follow Him. I beseech you to be a living sacrifice. By the way, that is often hard to do. It's hard to do. I can only imagine what it must have been like for a 35-year-old guy somewhere in the neighborhood of early 30s to late 30s to get up and walk three days into the wilderness with his dad and to have all the wood tied on a burrow's back and to have the knife and the fire and everything ready and the rope ready to tie the sacrifice down and they're going to climb that hill and on the way up the hill he looks at his dad and he says, Hey, Dad, we forgot the sheep.
[32:14] We forgot the ram. We forgot the animal that needs to be sacrificed. And his dad said, Don't worry about it, buddy. God will provide. But in his heart, his daddy knew it was going to be Isaac. On the way up the hill, I don't think Isaac was like some little 14-year-old boy that didn't have enough sense to figure it out.
[32:30] I think Isaac might have thought to himself, Huh. Huh. What's going on here? It's kind of weird. And then when they get to the top of the hill and they build the altar and his daddy says, Thank you for building the altar, son.
[32:40] Now lay down on the altar. Let me tie your hands, buddy. And Isaac climbed up on the altar and he laid down and he tied his hands and tied his feet and I can only imagine Isaac saying, Dad, what in the world are you doing?
[32:53] And Abraham said, Son, I don't know. But the God of heaven wants me to offer you as a sacrifice. And I know, son, that you'll live. Hebrews 11 tells me this.
[33:04] I know you'll live because he promised you to me and he promised me you're going to have kids but I've got to sacrifice you. And Isaac said, Go on, Dad. Whatever you need to do.
[33:15] And Abraham raised the knife and was ready to plunge it and God said, Stop. I know now you would offer your son. But it was a living sacrifice. And this week, you'll be called on to do things with your body.
[33:26] Maybe stuff like sexual immorality. Maybe stuff like arrogance and pride that will lift you up and make you think you're better than others. Maybe greed and covetousness.
[33:38] I don't know what in the world it might be. But here's what he said to you. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
[33:56] My body belongs to Him. My mind belongs to Him. Where I walk belongs to Him. What I talk belongs to Him.
[34:08] I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. And by the way, that's just reasonable compared to all the mercies I've already talked to you about.
[34:26] Father in heaven, I pray You'd deal with our hearts. I pray You'd draw us close to You. I pray You'd help us to be people of Your book, people that obey You, people that take for real the things You say.
[34:36] And I pray You'd make the Bible come alive in our hearts today. I pray, God, for those that aren't saved this morning, that have never truly known the forgiveness of their sins, that You might convict them and save them.
[34:48] And I pray for Christians, dear God, that they might step forward and say, I give my body, I present my body a living sacrifice. I just want to do with my body whatever God wants me to do.
[34:59] I'm His. This message was recorded at Vision Baptist Church in Alfredo, Georgia. For more information, log on to www.visionbaptist.com where you can find our service times, location, contact information, and more audio and video recordings.