Two Keys to God's Will I

Two Keys to Knowing God's Will

9/7/14

"Surrender Is Not A Four-letter Word"

Romans 12:1-2 "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

These verses hold two crucial keys to a great many of the blessings available in the Christian life, including the ability to discern God's will!

We can sum them up in two words--Surrender and Transformation.

I'm going to give you a little truth statement that will be the watchword for this series:

"You will never be what you ought to be till you do what you ought to do."

We will never be what we ought to be as Christians until we do what we ought to do by totally surrendering to God, and experiencing transformation through the renewal of our minds.

THIS I KNOW: Surrendered and transformed is always the testimony of every mature, fruit bearing believer!

So let's deal today with surrender...

Present your bodies a living sacrifice

Now, the motivation for the presentation of our bodies is found in the beginning of verse one, which says:

"I beseech you therefore, my brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies..."

Now, any time we see the word "therefore" in the Bible, you need to see what it's there for.

Because the word "therefore" means something has preceded it you need to pay attention to.

In this case, it is the phrase "the mercies of God..."

The Bible is drawing our attention to everything God did for us as laid out in the first 315 verses of Romans!

In a nutshell, Paul first shows us in chapter 3 that we were all hopelessly lost in sin and were under God's wrath for it.

"There is none righteous, no not one..."

"There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God."

"We have all turned aside...there is none that does good, not even one."

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

As a result of our sinfulness, "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness" (Rom.1:18).

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But the Bible doesn't leave us there; a Rescuer was sent to save us, a Redeemer, a Savior...

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Ro. 5:8).

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And next, Romans tells us how to access this great salvation--by placing our faith in Him.

"God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood" (3:25).

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And having placed our faith in the atoning power of the blood of Christ, we are JUSTIFIED.

"...a man is JUSTIFIED by faith..." (3:28)

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Now, Paul says in chapter 12, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by these mercies of God, that you give Him your bodies...

And by implication, give to Him all that you are, all that you have, and all you ever wanted to be.

FACT: When we give Him all of us, He gives to us all of Him!

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NOW WATCH THIS: Giving your body (and by implication, all of you) to The Lord, is the beginning of what the Bible calls SANCTIFICATION.

Sanctification means you set something aside as special.

It means to dedicate something, to separate something for special use.

ILLUS: Take your valuable China for example.

We don't put China in normal cupboards, but place it in a "China cabinet."

Why? Because it's more valuable than normal plates. It's special.

We don't bring China out for the kids to eat hot dogs off of while they sit on the floor watching TV! No, we give them paper plates.

Why? Because China is reserved for special use, special occasions, holidays, important people, and so forth.

This is what sanctification means. We are no longer our own. We have been bought with a price by the precious blood of Christ.

And to God we are special, set aside for the Master's use!

Hence, we are to dedicate, consecrate, set ourselves aside for The Lord!

So when we present our bodies, this is the idea behind it--the Christian is God's China, His special vessels for the work and purposes of God.

FACT: Giving God your body is the outward evidence of an inward surrender to God for His glory...

LISTEN: All spiritual growth, power and victory spring from this one fountain, this one foundation, this one defining moment event--the hour of full surrender!

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The Bible says that Giving to God your body, your all, is the apex, the highest form of worship:

NKJV says it is your "reasonable service."

RSV says it is your "spiritual worship."

The Phillips Translation, "your act of intelligent worship."

It's the only way to go if you intend to live a life worthy of The Lord.

Eph. 4:1 "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received."

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ILLUS: A young military man returning from a war in which he had done bravely had a medal pinned on him by a general who said,

"The way you have acted is a credit to your uniform."

We want The Lord to one day, as it were, pin a medal on us saying, "The way you lived was a credit to your Christian faith."

But that will never happen without presenting our bodies in full surrender to the Captain of our Salvation!

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This is the first important key to knowing "...what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

Then the Bible goes on to say, present your bodies...

II. A living sacrifice

In the O.T., any sacrifice made to God was first killed, then offered.

But here the Bible says we are to become a sacrificial offering, set aside in sanctification to The Lord, while still alive!

ILLUS: Chicken and pig

A conversation is said to have taken place between hen and a hog when they passed a church and saw the subject of the pastor's sermon entitled, "How can we help the poor?"

After a moment of silence, the hen said, "I know what we can do. We can give them a ham-and-egg-breakfast!"

The hog stopped in his tracks and said, "Wait a minute! Such a breakfast would be a contribution for you, but for me it would mean total commitment!"

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In the church there are hens and there are hogs.

Some give their very all to The Lord Jesus and become "living" sacrifices" for Him!

But many Christians take the chicken way out!

They go to church a couple of Sundays a month and say, "There's my egg!"

They put a little tip into the offering and say, "There's my contribution to the cause!"

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But then you've got those who say with Paul, "I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace" (Acts 20:24).

Now, let me share a little secret with you...

It's the "hogs" that walk very closely with Jesus, and that discover the deep riches of the Christian life!

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ILLUS: In the news was a story about an express package from England that came to a South African town.

The man to whom the box was sent refused to pay the delivery charges, and for about fourteen years the box was used as a footstool in the express office.

The one to whom it was sent died, and later the box was put at auction with other unclaimed articles.

Out of curiosity, a man bid it in at a low price. When he opened it he was greatly surprised to find several thousand dollars worth of sterling in English banknotes.

Because the intended recipient had refused to pay a comparatively tiny delivery charge, he had missed a fortune!

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Listen church: The comparatively small price of total surrender to God is nothing compared with the spiritual riches that become yours when you give Him your all!

REMEMBER, you will never be what you ought to be, until you do what you ought to do!

The Bible says that when we fully surrender as a living sacrifice, it is "Acceptable to God" which means "well-pleasing."

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QUESTION: Have you fully surrendered to The Lord?

Are you like the hen, making little contributions along the way that don't really cost you anything?

Or are you like the hog having given him all of you as a living sacrifice?

PRESENT YOUR BODIES A LIVING SACRIFICE...that you may know what is that good, acceptable, and perfect will of God."

LET'S PRAY