Sermon series: BEHAVING LIKE A CHRISTIAN

Subject: HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?
Part 2

Romans 12:1-2 Amplified Text
"I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy, (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service and spiritual worship.
Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in sight of you]."

The Book of Romans is a profound and detailed presentation of our Christian faith by the Apostle Paul. The first eleven chapters of this letter reveal God’s mercy to sinners in that He sent His Son to die on the cross for our sins. The last five chapters of Romans explains our obligation to God. The early message of the letter is the way we all can come to God through Christ and the closing part of this letter tells us the way we can all live for God through Christ.
The subject which we are going to be discussing for the next number of weeks is a very practical matter...How are we as Christians instructed to live out our faith in the world we live in? What does it mean to be a Christian? Should the life-style and value system be different for a Christian than a non-Christian?
James, in his epistle near the end of our New Testament, very clearly deals with the issue of Christian living and the changes that should mark our lives and actions as Christians. He writes:
"What is the use (profit) my brethren, for anyone to profess to have faith, if he has no [good] works [to show for it]? Can such faith save him?
Verse 17--
"So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead).
Verse 20--
"Are you willing to be shown [proof], you

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foolish (unproductive, spiritually deficient) fellow, that faith apart from [good] works is inactive and ineffective and worthless?
Verse 24--
"You see that a man is justified (pronounced righteous before God) through what he does and not alone through faith [through works of obedience, as well as by what he believes].
Verse 26
"For as the human body apart from the spirit is lifeless, so faith apart from [its] works of obedience is also dead."
It is my deep conviction that the way we live out our Christian faith in our world is extremely important! The Bible is exceedingly clear in defining what Christian character should be like.
"For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:11-13).
The gospel call to faith presupposes that sinners must repent of their sin and yield to Christ’s authority. Surrender to Jesus’ lordship is not an addendum to the biblical terms of salvation; the summons to submission is at the heart of the gospel invitation throughout Scripture.
Faith is the acceptance of a gift at the hands of Christ...the gift of forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. It is a very wonderful thing; it involves a change of the whole nature of man; it involves a new hatred of sin and a new hunger and thirst after righteousness. Such a wonderful change is not the work of man; faith itself is given us by the Spirit of God. Christians never make themselves Christians; but they are made Christians by God.
It is quite inconceivable that a man should be given this faith in Christ, that he should accept this gift which Christ offers, and still go on contentedly in sin. For the very thing which Christ offers us is salvation from sin--not only salvation from the guilt of sin, but also salvation from the power of sin. The very first thing that the Christian does, therefore, is to keep the law of God; he keeps it no longer as a way of earning his salvation--for salvation has been given him freely by God--but he keeps it joyously as a central part of salvation itself.
Christ’s death on the cross paid the full penalty for our sins and purchased eternal life. Salvation is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone--plus nothing!

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Salvation is all God’s work. Those who believe are saved utterly apart from any effort on their own. "He saved us, not because of any works of righteousness that we have done, but because of His own pity and mercy, by [the] cleansing [bath] of the new birth (regeneration) and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out [so] richly upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior." (Titus 3:5-6)
Salvation includes a transformation of the inner person. "I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]: it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me." (Galatians 2:20)
The nature of the Christian is different, new. "We know that our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with Him in order that [our] body [which is the instrument] of sin might be made ineffective and inactive for evil, that we might no longer be the slaves of sin." (Romans 6:6)
The unbroken pattern of sin and enmity with God will not continue when a person is born again. "No one born (begotten) of God [deliberately, knowingly, and habitually] practices sin, for God’s nature abides in him... His principle of life, the divine sperm remains permanently within him...and he cannot practice sinning because he is born (begotten) of God.
By this it is made clear who take their nature from God and are His children and who take their nature from the devil and are his children: no one who does not practice righteousness [who does not conform to God’s will in purpose, thought, and action] is of God: neither is anyone who does not love his brother (his fellow believer in Christ)."
(1 John 3:9-10)
Those who truly believe will love Christ. They will therefore long to obey Him. Behavior is an important test of faith. Obedience is evidence that one’s faith is real. On the other hand, the person who remains utterly unwilling to obey Christ does not evidence true faith.
"Whoever says, I know Him [I perceive, recognize, understand, and am acquainted with Him] but fails to keep and obey His commandments (teachings) is a liar, and the Truth [of the Gospel] is not in him. But he who keeps (treasures) His Word [who bears in mind His precepts, who observes His message in its entirety], truly in him has the love of and for God been perfected (completed, reached maturity). By this we may

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perceive (know, recognize, and be sure) that we are in Him.
Whoever says he abides in Him ought [as a personal debt] to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which He walked and conducted Himself." (1 John 2:4-6)
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
There is a false teaching that is spreading throughout the church world and it goes like this....
Submission to Christ’s supreme authority as Lord is not germane to the saving transaction. Neither dedication nor willingness to be dedicated to Christ are issues of salvation. The news that Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead is the complete gospel. Nothing else must be believed for salvation. Repentance is not essential to the gospel message. In no sense is repentance related to saving faith. To "believe" unto salvation is to believe the facts of the gospel. "Trusting Jesus" means believing the "saving facts" about Him, and to believe those facts is to appropriate the gift of eternal life. Those who add any suggestion of commitment have departed from the New Testament idea of salvation. Submission is not in any sense a condition for eternal life.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN...THE ABOVE PARAGRAPH IS HERESY! It is known as NO-LORDSHIP SALVATION and it is the popular salvation message being preached by many ministers today! Their message...You can acknowledge Jesus as Saviour but you do not have to server Him as Lord.
But our text from Romans 12 says something very different!
"I appeal to you, therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy, (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship." Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the entire renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect in His sight for you." (Romans 12:1-2 Amplified Text)
Paul says, Take your body; take all the tasks that you have to do every day, take the ordinary work at the shop, the factory, the business and the office and offer all that as an act of worship to God!

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There are two things involved here--our innermost self that does the presenting and our bodies that are presented. It should almost go without saying that it is useless to give our bodies if we have not, first of all, given ourselves. Our Christian life begins with a surrender of our heart and life to Jesus Christ, trusting in Him as our Savior and Lord. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:1-10).
When we surrender our heart and life to Jesus Christ as our Saviour, His Holy Spirit comes to live within us. "Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness" (Romans 8:9-10).
"Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit which are God’s" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Now, because we have come to a personal relationship in Christ and His Holy Spirit dwells within our hearts, we are admonished to glorify God in our bodies. That is why Paul is telling us to present our bodies a living sacrifice unto God.
Paul had already told the Roman believers, "Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather

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offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness" (Romans 6:13). The body enfolds our emotions, our mind, our thoughts, our desires, and our plans. Thus, the body represents the total person; it is the instrument by which all our service is given to God.
One of the great paradoxes of Christianity concerns the Christian life: We must die in order to live. We find this teaching many places in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament, but the basic, foundational statement is by Jesus who said, "If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow He. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will save it" (Luke 9:23-24).
Paul sets down at the start of Romans 12 the first principle for learning to live the Christian life--SELF-SACRIFICE. In Paul’s culture a sacrifice was always an animal that was presented to a priest to be killed. So Paul is saying by this striking metaphor that the Christian life begins by offering ourselves to God for death! The paradox is that by offering ourselves to God we are enabled to live for Him! God wants us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices--daily laying aside our own desires to follow Him, putting all our energy and resources at His disposal, and trusting Him to guide us. Our new life is a thank-offering to God.
Paul gives us a biblical and spiritual reason for the presenting of our lives, our bodies, our hearts as a living sacrifice to our wonderful Savior and Lord. Our text says, "I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies....
THE MERCIES OF GOD! Let’s think, for just a moment, on this blessed subject our merciful, Almighty God who is our Heavenly Father. ‘I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever; with my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations. For I have said, "Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens." (Psalm 89:1-2) "For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him." "But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him." (Psalm 103:11, 17) "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly

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from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin." (Psalm 51:1-2)
"Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever." (Psalm 118:1)
In the eleven chapters in Romans preceding our text, Paul has mentioned many of the mercies of God which should excite our hearts with devotion and dedication to our Christ.
In chapter 1, verse 16 we are reminded of the mercies of the gospel. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek."
Think what the gospel has done in you? The only way to receive salvation is to believe in Christ. The gospel is powerful because the power of God resides in it by nature. The gospel is the inherent power of God that gives salvation to all who accept it.
"Praised (honored, blessed) be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)! By His boundless mercy we have been born again to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Peter 1:3)
"But God--so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment) and made partakers of Christ’s salvation." (Ephesians 2:4-5)
The gospel is the efficacious means by which God saves men from sin and misery, and bestows on them eternal life--the instrument by which He triumphs in their hearts, and destroys in the them the dominion of Satan.
In chapter 8, verses 31 through 39, Paul writes concerning the mercies of God’s love. "What then shall we say to those things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or

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peril or sword?
As it is written:
"For Your sakes we are killed all day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter." Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:31-39)
What a thrilling mercy of our Heavenly Father! Nothing in space, from height or depth, can take us away from God’s love; these words denoted astronomical terms that cover the entire heavens; thus, no supposed astrological powers that might have been thought to determine people’s fate have any power over God. Nothing in all creation can take us away from God’s love or thwart His purposes for us. God has acquitted us; therefore no one can condemn us. Christ is risen; therefore nothing can ever separate us from Him!
In chapter 5, verses one and two, Paul reminds us of God’s mercy of peace!
"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."
Jesus said: "Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled." (John 14:27)
"To all of you that are in Christ Jesus (the Messiah), may there be peace (every kind of peace and blessing, especially peace with God, and freedom from fears, agitating passions, and moral conflicts). (1 Peter 5:14)
Our text tells us that because of the mercies of our God, we should make a decisive dedication of our total self as a living sacrifice...a life that is devoted and consecrated in service and worship.
Such a life, as Christians, is our reasonable and intelligent service to our God. It is reasonable because of what God has already done for us through the mercies of the gospel and it is reasonable because of what God continues to do for us and will do until His purposes for us are complete.
When we consider all the blessings that are ours as born-again believers, it should cause us to abandon our lives in love and service to our Christ!