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I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
Overcome evil with good.
The Apostle Paul opens chapter 12 entreating, pleading with the Romans to give their bodies to God as a living sacrifice. He entreats them to do this “by the mercies of God” or rather “because of all that the LORD has done you.”
What has the LORD done for us, what has he done for you that would cause you to give yourself to Him as a living sacrifice?
Well first Apostle Paul records in Ephesians 2:11-13
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
The NLT says at one point we were “outsiders” we use to be heathens, we use to live apart from Christ, we were excluded from citizenship of being God’s people, and we did not know the covenant promises God made to His people. We at some point in our lives lived in this world without God and without hope.
But thank God for the blood of Jesus!!!
Paul says in verse 13 “But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.”
Paul also records in an earlier verse:
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
God who is RICH in mercy. Did you catch that, God who is RICH in mercy.......thank God that his mercy didn’t run out on us. All the wrong that we were doing, all of the disobedience, and rebellion we were in, thank God His mercy never ran out......he had enough mercy to cover my faults, to cover my issues, to cover my sins, to cover my habits.
And I want you to know and realize this morning your not saved because of something you did, you’re not saved because of your own goodness.
The bible says that no one is good but God.
But the reason why you’re saved, the reason why you can glorify God this morning is because you’re saved by God’s grace! You’re saved by the kindness of God, you’re saved by the love and the goodness of God.
And if you’re here and you’re not saved......know that the LORD desires for you to be saved!!! He desires to deliver you and set you free from the devil and from the bondage of sin.
When Jesus shed his blood and died on the cross:
He did it to bring an end to Satan’s rule over your life.
He shed his blood, and died for you to be free from the power of sin and death!!!
JESUS DIED.......He shed his blood to bring you peace in your life and for you to have peace with God.
I don’t mean to keep going backwards in scripture but I gotta grab a verse from this same chapter where at verse 1 Paul says:
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
I use to be dead yall, I was dead in trespasses and sins, I was dead to God, but thank God he quickened me.......he made me alive, and He did it by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead!!!
And now as Apostle Paul says in verse 6:
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
And now Paul says in verse 8
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
If you’re saved, if you have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, if you know the LORD has forgiven you your sins, and you are saved......you ought to testify to about 3 people and tell them “neighbor I thank God I’m saved!!!”
That’s why you ought to live for the LORD!!! He didn’t have to save you, He didn’t have to destine you to eternal life, He could’ve called someone else, He could’ve choose someone else but He choose you, he picked you and called you out of the world.
Now we gotta live for Him!!! Now we gotta give Him glory, now we gotta testify to the dying world about the goodness of Jesus!!!
God has done so much for us! I have some more reasons why you ought to serve the LORD!!!
The LORD suffered, he suffered in order to purchase you with his blood.
The LORD continues to be gracious and merciful to us
He continues to shower us with blessings and a lot of times we don’t deserve it.
He continues to open doors of opportunity in our lives.
When a door needs to be shut, He shuts the door blocking access to things that would be to our detriment.
He heal our bodies, He protects us, He strengthens us, He changes us and conforms us to the image of His Son.
He fights for us so that we don’t have to fight our battles.
He’s a friend when I’m friendless, His a father when you’re fatherless, He’s a doctor when your sick, He’s a lawyer in the courtroom.
All this stuff the LORD has done for us.....and we don’t want to serve HIM!?!?! All this stuff the LORD has done for us and we want to sit back and not do nothing!? The devil is a liar.
YOU BETTER SERVE THE LORD!!!!
This is why Paul says in verse 11 of Romans 12th chapter:
Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;
Let me read this in the NLT:
Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.
That’s part of the problem, it is one thing to be lazy, but when it comes to the LORD, we cannot be lazy!!! We can be slow and slothful in the LORD’s business.
Paul says we have to work hard and serve the LORD enthusiastically!!! You ought to serve the LORD with some excitement!!! You ought to be glad to be here!!! Don’t you know there are people who want to be here but they can’t be here. I visited with one of the saints this past week and they expressed their desire to be here, but there body is working against them.
Here it is, you got activity of your limbs, here it is you are clothed in your right mind, and you sit there watching everyone else praise Him, I guess you came to observe.
I need all the praisers in the house to tell someone “I didn’t come to observe, I came to participate, I came to worship, I came to praise, I came to pray, I came to hear from the LORD, I came TO SERVE THE LORD!!!!
And you ought not only be excited to be here, when you’re at home you ought to be excited to serve the LORD, you ought to be excited on your job, on your bus stop, in the grocery store. So excited that you gotta tell someone about JESUS!!! So excited that you gotta testify to someone about the goodness of the LORD!!!
You better give the LORD all of you......He don’t want a part of you, He wants all of YOU!!!
So to reciprocate back to God, to show our appreciation for the things he has done, we need to give our bodies.......our total being to God.
Let our whole being be a living sacrifice, that’s holy and acceptable unto Him.
Paul in a sense uses a play on words. He uses living then sacrifice which is somewhat strange. Why is it strange? Because according to scripture, when a proper sacrifice was given unto God, usually something died.
Genesis 4th chapter, during the time of harvest, Cain presents an offering to the LORD, he picked some of his crop and offered it to the LORD. But Abel, brought the best portions of his first born lambs from his flock.
DID YOU CATCH THAT??? Abel brought “THE BEST” of his first born lambs from his flock.
There is something else here, the difference in the effort put forth from these two brothers.
Cain bent down and picked some produce, but here is the thing, it was time for harvest, it was something that he was going to do anyway. He just decides “Hey, it’s harvest time, I’m going to gather together all of the crop and while I’m at it, I’ll set aside some for the LORD.
Abel on the other hand, takes something that was dear to him, something that was useful to him, something that he could have benefited from, and he gives it to the LORD.
The effort it took, the time it took, the sacrifice of his own will to give God the best sacrifice he could give Him.
It doesn’t become a sacrifice until it is something you could really use or benefit from. IT IS NOT A SACRIFICE UNTIL YOUR WILL HAS BEEN TESTED!!!!
ABRAHAM!!!! The LORD said to Abraham, sacrifice your son, your only son whom thou lovest!!! The child of promise. Abraham’s will, his faith was being tested.
The bible declares that The LORD accepted Abel’s gift, but he rejected Cain’s gift. Why?
Because to make a sacrifice.....something has to die!!!
The Lord then speaks to Cain and says in verse 6 “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”
Again the LORD says “if you do what is right, you’ll be accepted, but if you refuse to do what is right....then WATCH OUT!!! SIN IS CROUCHING AT THE DOOR, EAGER TO CONTROL YOU, BUT YOU MUST SUBDUE IT AND BE ITS MASTER!!!
Back to the Text:
Paul uses the term “living sacrifice” to let his readers know that you are not to go and kill yourself, but to give yourselves wholly to God, in order for God to use you, give your whole being to God in order to worship Him.
Be reminded, that Paul is talking to a group of people that were use to bringing animals to the temple to sacrifice for the forgiveness of their sins. They offered animal sacrifices to the LORD for trespasses, for daily renewal and fellowship with God.
So now that JESUS paid it all, now that Jesus died for the remission of sins, now that Jesus rose from the dead and sent back the Holy Ghost which renews and enables full fellowship with God, they ask “well what do we do?” “We use to worship God through animal sacrifice........HOW THEN DO WE WORSHIP GOD?”
Paul says “the way that you worship God is by giving your bodies (you’re total being) as a living sacrifice, give the LORD your mind, give The LORD your body, give The LORD your spirit.
Thou shalt love the LORD with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength!!!
LIVE HOLY!!! This is the way that you worship Him!!!
Living Sacrifice.......means that I have to die to self!!! The part of me that doesn’t want to submit, the part of me that wants to be like Cain and just do enough to get by. The part of me that wants to be in full control. The part of me that wants to do things opposite of the will of God. That has to die!!!
Then Paul says in verse 2:
And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Be not conformed to this world. Don’t follow the world’s customs, don’t follow the world’s behaviors, don’t follow the world’s trends and fads. The world is the system of people who are out of the will of God. It is the unsaved, unrepentant, unregenerate people who defy God in word, deeds, and ideas.
Paul then says “but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
God has to transform you. YOU CANNOT TRANSFORM YOURSELF!!! GOD HAS TO DO THE WORK IN YOU!!!
God can change you into a new person and the way that God transforms people, the way that God changes people’s mind, is that He changes the way that you think!!!
It starts with the word of God, it is the word of God that saves us, it is the word of God that convicts us and pulls us out of the world (if we believe it) it is the good news of the gospel.
The good news of the gospel says there is a better way. The good news of the gospel says that you don’t have to be bound by sin.....Jesus made a way for you to be free!!!
The good news of the gospel says that you can have a relationship with God himself, no matter what you have done, Jesus died so that your sins can be forgiven.
The word of God changes us, but then after we have faith, after we believe the good news of the gospel, the LORD baptizes us with His spirit.
To baptize means to immerse. The LORD baptizes us with his Spirit, and when he does this it means that we are fully in the LORD!!! When we are fully in the LORD, when the LORD is fully in you.....He’ll begin to change you, you’ll become more and more the children of God because God now lives inside of you.
When The LORD takes up residency within you via His Spirit, Paul then says “so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
To prove means “to know” when you receive the Holy Ghost, you will know what the will of God is for your life, and when you know God’s will, you know that God’s will is good, God’s will is pleasing, and God’s will is perfect.
Summerize:
Jesus overcame evil with good. How? He gave his life for us, he shed his blood so that we can be purged from dead works.
If you want to see evil defeated, the only way to defeat it is to overcome it with good!!!
We want to see a decrease in gun violence?? Overcome evil with good. We want to see a decrease in hate crimes? Overcome evil with good. We want to see a decrease in gang activity, senseless murders, human trafficking, and the like? Then we must overcome evil with good!!!