Sermon
How Should We Then Live? Part 2
May 8, 2005
Pastor Donald Sheley

I'm going to ask you to take your sermon notes today and the reason for the notes is because I have put all of the Scripture text in the text of the lesson. And you will notice that I have used a number of the Amplified texts from the Scriptures. It's an expanded version of the original text. As you know the New Testament was written in Greek, and the Greek is a much more precise language than our English, and thus it takes oft times many more English words to explain the original meaning of the words as they are found in the original text, and the Amplified Bible does that. And that's why I use it and you'll be able to see the expansion of the meaning of the text.

Today we want to continue on in our subject, which we're going to be talking about all summer long - Behaving Like A Christian - and I think it's an extremely practical subject, but this entire chapter gives us the directives as to how we are to live out our Christian lives in our world around us. And I think it's a very, very practical subject, and I pray that you will join with us Sunday after Sunday as we go through this text.

Paul begins by saying, "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]."

So Paul begins this wonderful chapter and says I beg of you, I appeal to you that you live your lives in a holy, godly way that becomes a living sacrifice and I want you to use every faculty that you have of your body to bring honor to Christ. Now let's go to the lesson.

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, and the last five chapters of Romans explain our obligations to God. Now 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.

Now 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 from God's Word to live out our faith in a world we live in? What does it mean to be a Christian? Should the life-style and the value system be different for a Christian than a non-believer?

Now James deals with this subject in his epistle near the end of the New Testament. He very clearly discusses the issue of Christian living and the changes that should mark our lives and actions as Christians, and this is what he writes... Remember James was the pastor of the first Christian Church in Jerusalem immediately after Christ's ascension. Here's what James 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 he continues, "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). Are you willing to be shown [proof], you foolish (unproductive, spiritually deficient) fellow, that faith apart from [good] works is inactive and ineffective and worthless?"

Verse 24 he continues on, "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]."

And then he closes this second chapter at verse 26 with these words, "For as the human body apart from the spirit is lifeless, so faith apart from [its] works of obedience is also dead."

Now it's 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. Paul writes and discusses this matter with Titus his young preacher and this is what he says, "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."

Paul says to Titus, now that salvation has come, it teaches us that we are to die to ungodliness and worldly lusts, and that we are to live soberly, righteously, and godly in our world.

Now 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 very heart of the gospel invitation throughout the Scriptures.

Faith is the acceptance of a gift at the hands of Christ. It's 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 a thirst after righteousness, and such a wonderful change is not the work of man. Faith itself is given to us by the Spirit of God. Christians never make themselves Christians, but they are made Christians by God.

Now it's quite inconceivable to me 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 in salvation from sin--not only salvation from the guilt of sin, but also salvation from the power of sin. And the very first thing that the Christian should do is desire 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, and salvation is by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone--plus nothing. Pause.

Now immediately I placed that there because oft times when we preachers begin to speak of good works, some think that we are implying that good works earn your salvation. That is totally wrong. That's not what I am implying. I'm speaking of good works as the result of a transformed life that has been changed by the power of Christ, and that life when Christ comes to live should reflect Christ's likeness.

Salvation is God's work. Those who believe are saved utterly apart from any effort of their own. Paul again writes to Titus and he says, "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."

Salvation includes a transformation of the inner person. Paul writes in Galatians, "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."

And the nature of the Christian is different; it's new. Here's what Paul writes in Romans, "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."

Now the unbroken pattern of sin and enmity with God will not continue when a person is born again, and I think this is a tremendously important set of verses; it's written by John. Look at what he says, "No one born (begotten) of God..." That is, when we say that we are a Christian, that we've been saved, he says, anyone who is born of God, has been saved, cannot "[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)."

Pause. Now John is not saying that because we are Christians we don't sin. We do sin. We fail our wonderful Lord over and over again, but what John is saying is because the divine sperm, that is the very nature of God, has been implanted within us as the work of His precious Holy Spirit, we're not going to be comfortable in sinning. That divine nature within us is going to react and going to make us very uncomfortable when we start doing things that are ungodly and unrighteous. It's just there, and that's what John is saying. He is saying when God's nature is within us you just can't go on living in sin and still call yourself a Christian, because you're not.

Now let me explain. Many, many years ago we were building our church over near Seton Hospital and a young man came in from the Navy and he gave his life to Christ. His name was Bob. And I remember Bob, the sailor, coming down the isle and he made a genuine commitment of his life to Christ as his Savior and Lord. And I was delighted that morning, and we also were doing work in building our church because the first church we built by volunteer labor, so we were on Saturday up on the roof nailing down the plywood. And Bob arrives on the job so they put Bob with me. And Bob and I are up there just hammering away and once Bob missed the nail and hit his nail, and boy I mean he let out cuss words that would make a sailor embarrassed.

And I'm sitting there as Bob is swearing and sucking on his finger, and finally he stopped and he looked at me, he said, you know Pastor, that's the first time I ever heard myself talk. And he said I listened to what I said and it wasn't very nice, was it? And I'm now starting to laugh with joy. He says, what are you laughing about Pastor? I said, you know Bob, two weeks ago you never listened to the words that fell from your lips. It didn't make any difference. Now, you've placed your trust in Jesus Christ and He's your Savior, and His spirit dwelling within you all of a sudden awakens you to listen to what you are saying, and you realize that your language was ungodly.

He said, I've never experienced this. He said, Pastor, if you'll forgive me I'm going to ask Jesus to forgive me and I don't ever want to talk like that again. And we had a little prayer meeting up there on top of the roof, and Bob grew to love Jesus Christ, became a great leader in the church, and after many years became one of our elders and after retiring moving to Washington and he still serves God in his church there.

But here's my point - all of a sudden because the spirit of God was in his heart the things that were wrong became exceedingly sensitive to him, and that's what John is saying. When there is a true born-again experience where our lives have been transformed and God's Spirit has come to live within us, you just can't go on habitually cussing or living a life that's not pleasing to the Lord.

Now we have a situation that happens here very, very frequently. We live in a society where living together without the benefits of marriage is very, very common; cohabiting together without marriage. And very frequently we have these couples come to church, and immediately when they're in the presence of God in the church and then they listen to the message and God begins to stir in their heart and the Holy Spirit commences to do a work in their heart, I frequently get a call on Monday morning and they say, Pastor, we were in your church yesterday and we've got to come and talk with you. I say, come.

They say, Pastor, you know, we never realized but our lifestyle is sinful and we've got to stop this. What are we going to do about it? And I immediately say, well if this is what you want, why don't you go down and get yourself a marriage license, you get back here, and we'll have a wedding right in our own church office. And we'll get this matter taking care of immediately.

What I'm suggesting is, that when the heart begins to be dealt with by the spirit of God there becomes a sensitivity to what is ungodly and what is unrighteous, and a true born-again Christian will want to depart from that way of life and make his determination and his dedication to serve Jesus in holiness and in righteousness.

"Whoever says, I know Him," I'm done at the bottom of page 3, "[I perceive, recognize, understand, and am acquainted with Him] but fails to keep and obey His commandments (teachings) is a liar." Now old John is very straight. John says if I say I know Him, if I say that I am a Christian, and I fail to keep obeying His commandments and His teachings, I am self deceived. I am 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 perceive (know, recognize, and be sure) that we are in Him. Whoever says he abides in Him..." That is whoever says he is a Christian, he's abiding in Christ, "ought [as a personal debt] to walk and conduct himself in the same way in which He (speaking of Christ) walked and conducted Himself."

John says, listen, if I say that I am a Christian there should be some characteristics of my life, the way I live, the values I live by that should be Christ-like. If I say I am following Christ I'm going to be following in His footsteps. I should seek to live as Christ lived, and he says that will take place if I really am a born-again Christian.

Now you say, Pastor, why is this subject such an important subject? Because look at, I'm at the top of page 4, and I place my next paragraph with WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! Now this paragraph I have copied directly from the pages of the writers who said this. But I'm going to show you a false teaching that is abroad in the land today.

Here's what they say:
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. (Well that's so different than what we just read, isn't it?) 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 (that's strange - almost every scripture we read says repent). Thus 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.

Suggested...this is what they're saying...if I mentally give assent to these facts - yes, 2000 years ago Jesus lived, 2000 years ago they nailed Him to a cross, 2000 years ago they placed Him in a tomb and He rose from the dead. I believe that. And it's implied that if you believe the historical facts concerning Jesus that's salvation. Just giving mental assent to the historical Christ.

Read on with me - Those who add (that's the Scriptures and me) any suggestion of commitment have departed from the New Testament idea of salvation. Submission is not in any sense a condition for eternal life.

Now ladies and gentlemen, the above paragraphs are heresy. It is known as NO-LORDSHIP SALVATION and it is the popular salvation message being preached today. Here's the heart of the message...You can acknowledge Jesus as Savoir, but you don't have to server Him as Lord. Implied, just give mental assent to the historical Christ, then go on living in your sin any way you want to, God's obligated to save you in the end.

Folks, my deep concern is that people who believe that on that eternal day will stand in the presence of Christ and He will say to them, depart from Me, I never knew you. I never knew you.

Go with me to the bottom of page 4. Paul says, take your body; take all the tasks that you have to do every day, take the ordinary work of the shop, and the factory, the business and the office, and offer it all as an act of worship to God. That's what Paul is telling us.

Quickly go with me to the top of page 6, and here at the bottom of page 5 we begin the Scripture verse, "Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather (now I'm at the top of page 6) 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."

Now the body enfolds our emotions, our mind, our thoughts, our desires, and our plans, and thus, the body really represents the total person; it is the instrument in which all of us act out our service which is given to God. And that's what Paul says present your bodies as a living sacrifice unto God.

Now Paul doesn't ask this of us just as a cold requirement for being a Christian. You'll notice again he says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present yourselves a living sacrifice. Paul is saying, listen, I'm making this statement to you that you should present yourselves unto God, but there is marvelous reason why we do it. He says, because of all the mercies of God; that God has been so merciful to all of us and when you go back and consider the mercies of God, how can you not offer yourselves entirely in service to Jesus Christ? Because of His mercies, Paul said, I'm asking you to present your bodies.

Now he starts that verse with 'therefore', and old Dr. Barnhouse says when he puts a 'therefore' it's there for a reason. In other words, what Paul is saying, therefore, that is, everything I've said already in this letter gives you the reason why I have the right to ask you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice. And when you go back through those eleven chapters, the mercies of God are absolutely immense.

You go to chapter 1 verse 16, Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ because it's the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. And you stop to think of the mercies of God that have flowed into your lives because you've heard the gospel of Jesus Christ; that He went to the cross to die there for you and for me and for all the world to become our Savior, and because of the cross the mercies of God that flow from Calvary are immense.

I was thinking of this. Seventy-four years ago I was born in a little town of 300 people in the Sierra foothills. My mom and dad were not Christians. They didn't know what Jesus was all about. They had no knowledge of why there was a cross. They had no knowledge of the mercies of God. There was a little white church that had about 20 people in it and somebody from that little church came by our house and shared the love of Jesus with my mom and my dad. And my dad gave his life to Christ, and my mom, and their lives were transformed. There were five little boys in our family. And because now the mercies of the gospel had come to my dad and mom they began to teach us boys the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Christian way.

We grew up, and today I think Oh from that family there are over 30, and out of that family I think there are 7 of us that are ministers today. The mercies of God; they flowed into my life. The mercies of the gospel flowed into the life of my boys, and now they are flowing into the life of my grandchildren. And day after day I say, Jesus, thank you for sending those wonderful folks years ago to my mom and my dad, and told them about the mercies of God's grace in forgiving sinners.

You sit here today...Sometime in the past, in some way or another, somebody shared the gospel with you, and today you are on your way to heaven, you've been forgiven, and you've been cleansed from all of your sin. And Paul said because of all the mercies of God the least we can do, the most reasonable, the most intelligent thing we can do! is say, Jesus, because of all that You have done for me I want to live for You.

You go to chapter 2 verse 4 and Paul starts talking about the long suffering of God, and His forbearance, and His patience with us. And I think back over the years how many times have I come to God and said, God, I'm almost ashamed to ask You again, but I need forgiveness for this thing. And His patience is long-suffering; His kindness; He's been merciful, and that verse comes: if we confess our sins, even if it's the thousandth time, He forgives us and cleanses us.

Have you ever thought about the mercies of His long-suffering with us? Have you ever paused just to say, Jesus, I want to thank you for being patient with me? Those are His mercies that flow to us. Our children today brought a wonderful message and from the eighth chapter he talks about the mercies of His love. God so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son. Christ so loves us that nothing - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING - will separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And in the old hymn writer picked up his pen and he wanted to write about the love of God, and I think it's one of the greatest stanzas ever written in modern music, he says if we could ink the ocean fill, and were the skies of parchment made, and every stock on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God would drain the ocean dry and there wouldn't be enough parchment in this sky to write of His marvelous love for us.

And here's what Paul is saying, I urge you, I beseech you, I beg you when you take into consideration all that God Almighty has done for us, the least, the most intelligent, the most sensible, the most practicable thing we can do is to present our bodies to Him to live out His life in us. That's what Paul says.

Let's pray.

Father, we sometimes become so forgetful. We take so many things, so many mercies, for granted. We are so unappreciative so much of the time, and yet Paul reminds us that if we'll stop long enough and think about all the mercies of Your grace, forgiveness, Your patience, and Your long-suffering and Your love, it can only bow our hearts in worship and surrender. Forgive us for taking all of Your mercies so much for granted. And may it be this week we present our total self to You to live out Your life through us. Please help us O wonderful Christ. Amen. God bless you. God bless you.