The Call to Commitment to Christ

Transcript

GRM 805
9/01/2002
The Call to Commitment to Christ
Romans 12:1,2
Gil Rugh


We talked this morning about the cost of following Jesus Christ, the cost of discipleship. I want to follow up on that this evening with the next logical step, and that is the call to commitment and our walk as believers. We’re going to look into the book of Romans.

The first 11 chapters of Romans really unfold the theology of what we talk about when we talk about becoming a follower of Jesus Christ, what is entailed in believing in Him, entering into His salvation. The book of Romans very logically and orderly develops the theology of the gospel beginning with a clear presentation of the sinfulness of every single human being. “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” so in the opening chapters of Romans there was that clear presentation, proof if you will, that both Jew and Gentile alike are under sin, guilty and condemned before God.

That being the case Paul moved on to establish the righteousness of God as provided in Jesus Christ. Having established that we are all sinners that we cannot be saved by our works even the best of works, even the best attempts to keep the works of the Mosaic Law cannot bring righteousness to a life. All were left justly condemned and under the penalty of sin which is death. Then in chapters 4 and 5, the end of chapter 3 through chapters 4 and 5, chapter 3 verse 21 to chapter 5 verse 21, Paul established the righteousness of God, how that God in mercy and grace provided His Son to pay the penalty for sin so that in Him we might receive the righteousness of God.

Back in chapter 3 as he began this section, verses 21 and following he said in verse 23, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace.” Now you’ll note the redundancy there. Justified as a gift by His grace. A gift is something that is given to you, not something earned. God’s grace is something given to you, not earned or merited, but stressing the fact this is something God has done for us because we could not redeem ourselves. We’ve been justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus. So that at the end of verse 26, “He might both be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ.” He goes on to explain justification by faith through chapters 4 and 5.

Then in chapters 6, 7 and 8 he talked about the matter of sanctification, which is God’s provision for us to live lives of righteousness. We’ve entered into the righteousness of God through faith in Christ. He has applied the righteousness of His Son to our account so that we have been declared righteous in Christ. Now we who have been declared righteous are to live righteously. That’s really the subject of chapters 6, 7 and 8, which will lead us to where we are going in our study in a moment. Chapters 9, 10 and 11 talked about the sovereignty of God and His salvation and how this salvation will ultimately impact and include the nation Israel, so that all Israel will be saved in the sovereign plan of God who works His purposes in salvation according to His will.

Look back at chapter 6 of Romans for a moment. Paul enters into a discussion of the doctrine of what we call sanctification. As you’re aware the same basic Greek word lies behind the word sanctification, the word saint, and the word holy. We’ll be talking about the word holy a little bit later. Same basic root word in Greek. The key idea is to be set apart, someone who is sanctified or who is a saint or who is holy is set apart from sin to God. God Himself is perfectly holy because He is completely set apart from sin. We talk about the doctrine of sanctification we are talking about being set apart from sin to God. Chapter 6 began, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase?” Because our sin and the greatness of our sin and the multiplicity of our sins have magnified the greatness of God’s grace, that His grace is greater than our sin. And people are always ready to corrupt the truth to excuse their sin, so some would say well then, the more we sin the more we magnify God’s grace. So even my sin is not bad and evil, because it becomes and occasion for God’s grace to be showcased, and His forgiveness. Paul says such a thought is inconceivable, “may it never be,” verse 2. It’s an impossibility. “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” You see now he’s going to talk about how we live the Christian life. It’s a new life, the life of righteousness that we have received in Christ. You understand that it’s based on the fact that we have died with Christ, we have been baptized with Christ into His death, into His burial, into His resurrection. As we’ve talked before, I think the baptism here focuses on the baptism of the Holy Spirit which has placed us into the body of Christ according to I Corinthians 12:13, “for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.” It’s our identification with Christ that makes us one with Him spiritually. God views us as having died when Christ died, as having been buried when Christ was buried, and having been raised up to a new life when Christ was raised from the dead.

So that’s how salvation occurs for us. When we place our faith in Christ we are identified by God with Christ through the ministry of the Spirit. The penalty for my sin is paid, because I am identified with Christ at His death, burial and resurrection to new life. Verse 4, “Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death in order that as Christ was raised from the death through the glory of the Father,” note this, “so we too might walk in newness of life.” You ought to have that last phrase underlined, “so that we too might walk in newness of life.” Just not to save us so that we don’t have to go to hell, not save us so that some day we can go to heaven. He saved us so now we can live differently. The word walk denotes the pattern of our life. Now we live differently, we walk in newness of life. “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this that our old man was crucified with Him that our body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin.” When we studied Romans 6, and have on several occasions, that body of sin, the body that is controlled by sin is done away with. Or it means that its power has been broken, it no longer rules in our lives - sin. We’re no longer slaves to sin. That is God’s solution. That is the only solution to the sin problem. There is no other freedom from sin, the consequences of sin.

I was reading one of the news magazines in the stack I had when we returned from vacation. It was talking about the problem with children and some of the problems that are coming down to younger age, and bipolar they call it now. I think before it was manic/depressive, and the swings they’re having. So often these are tripped by things by alcohol, drugs, certain other situations. They realize you cannot control the consequences of sin or the characteristics of sin. It is destructive. It controls a life not to make you better, but to destroy you. The freedom from sin comes only in Jesus Christ, and apart from Him every single man, woman and child is enslaved to sin. Jesus said he that sins is the slave of sin, and the Bible says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. If all have sinned and he that sins is the slave of sin that means every single person is a slave of sin. That’s why Jesus said if the Son shall make you free you shall be free indeed. That’s what we’re talking about. We should no longer be slaves to sin.

There is true, genuine freedom, but you have to die to have that freedom. That’s what happens to you when you place your faith in Christ. You die with Him; the power of sin over you is broken. For he who has died is free from sin. So now, verse 11 says, “even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts. Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Sin shall not be master over you for you are not under the law but under grace.” You see the law could not set you free. It could demand righteousness, but it did not enable you to obey its demands. The law could condemn, but the law could not free. But in Christ there is freedom.

Verse 17, “thanks be to God. Though you were slaves of sin you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed. Having been freed from sin you became slaves of righteousness.” You were not set free from sin to live your life as you please. They are no free people in one sense, there are only two kinds of slaves—those who are slaves of sin and those who are slaves of righteousness. Now those who are slaves of righteousness are truly free, because you are free when you can function as God created you to function. We were created to function in a relationship with the living God, to honor Him with our lives. So true freedom comes in being enslaved to God and righteousness. You were slaves of sin, you’ve been freed; you are now slaves of righteousness. “I’m speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.” In other words, this was an analogy, slavery, this picture. “Just as you’ve presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness,” that’s always the deterioration of sin, it’s always from bad to worse, from worse to worser, from worser to worsest. There is no improvement. “So now present your members as slaves to righteousness resulting in sanctification.” Verse 22, “But now having been freed from sin, enslaved to God.” Beautiful truth. There is freedom. The world is beset with the concept of addictions and all the terminology that goes with it. We have been set free in Christ. It is not only possible to live a godly life, but also it is required that we live a godly life.

So come over to Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 begins the last major division of the book, and as Paul does characteristically in his letters after establishing a firm doctrinal foundation of explaining the theology of the Christian life, he gives instructions regarding our living out our theology, living out Biblical truth. Beginning in chapter 12 verse 1 and running through chapter 15 verse 13, I believe it is, he talks about various areas of our lives. Chapter 6 he talked generally, we’ve been set free from sin and slave to righteousness, now present the members of your body as slaves to righteousness. What does that mean? Well in chapter 12 verses 1 and 2 he’s going to give an overview, a summary. Then beginning with verse 3 he goes into different areas, not exhaustive, but different key areas of how one who is now enslaved to righteousness lives and conducts himself.

I want to focus on verses 1 and 2 with you. “I urge you therefore brethren.” You note that, this is a command, an exhortation. “I exhort you brethren,” and there is a seriousness here and a warmth, both. It’s a therefore on the basis of what I have just taught you through the first 11 chapters of this letter, as we have it. On the basis of the fact that you who were lost and dead in sin have entered into the righteousness of God through faith in Christ, and have now been set free to serve God, “I urge you therefore brethren by the mercies of God.” That’s all of God’s mercy, God’s grace that we have been saved, and Paul can call them brethren. The basis of God’s mercy in saving you, in setting you free and bringing you into newness of life, “I urge you; I exhort you to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. Present your bodies as a spiritual act of worship. We have been set free, what? To serve God. We were slaves of sin, we are now slaves of righteousness; we were slaves of the devil, we are now slaves of God. Now our life is to be a life of worship, and to summarize it, we present our bodies to God as an act of worship. Same thing he said in chapter 6 when he said present the instruments of your body, all the parts of your body, what you do with your eyes, your ears, your hands, your feet. Present your body and all of its activity to the Lord to be used for righteousness. Before you gave your body over to the pursuit of sin, to indulging in sinful activity, the lust of the flesh. You did that without restraint, you didn’t serve God at all; understand that. Before we were saved by the grace of God, we never did anything pleasing to God. Romans chapter 8 says “those that were in the flesh cannot please God.” So as unregenerate people we were consistent, we consistently served sin and the devil. That’s what Paul talked about at the end of chapter 6. So now we are to serve Him.

So, present your bodies, all that we are, all that we do with these bodies as a sacrifice, something that is given over to God and there is a comparison here. In the Old Testament, remember, Old Testament believers brought animal sacrifices to God, all kinds of animal sacrifices, grain sacrifices, and so on, the expression of their devotion and worship of God. Now we do not bring animal sacrifices, grain sacrifices, and so on, but there are still sacrifices we offer in our worship. The all-encompassing one we have here is our body in all of its entirety. There are other places in scripture like in Hebrews 13 that talk about the praise of our lips as a sacrifice to God and so on, giving of our material possessions as an act of sacrifice to God. Paul referred to the Philippians’ gifts that way in chapter 4. But here it’s all encompassing. Everything we do with our body is to be done in the context ultimately, I am doing this for the Lord. Whatever you do, you do it as unto the Lord. It’s in the context of ongoing worship offered to God. You present your bodies as a sacrifice.

That word sacrifice is modified by three words, living, holy and acceptable to God. A living sacrifice means that we give of our bodies in all of their activity. Of course, there’s a contrast with the sacrifices that were slain in the Old Testament, put on the altar and their blood was shed, but the living sacrifice here emphasizing the fact it’s what we do with our lives. Sees bodies as living, active in what we are doing. Everything is put in the context of service to God. That is the guideline and restraint that we have. We live in newness of life. Anything that could not be done as an offering to the Lord, pleasing to Him is out of bounds, because I have given Him my body.

It is to be a holy sacrifice. That means it’s a sacrifice separated from all sin all that would defile. In chapter 6 verses 12 and 13 the members of our body are not to be used as instruments of unrighteousness, to do sinful things, that which is holy. This gets into a serious matter. Turn over to I Corinthians chapter 6, I Corinthians chapter 6. You know we think sometimes well, you know, the church has deteriorated so much, but the church has always struggled with issues, pursuing the world, as Paul is going to talk about in a moment. But you ought to note something, verse 15 of I Corinthians 6. “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ, and we were identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection? For by one Spirit, you were baptized into one body.” W
When I was identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection in newness of life, that action also made me part of the body of Christ, the spiritual body, the church. Now note what he says. “Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot?” You see here is just one area of sin, immorality. Commit immorality, you’re really taking that which belongs to Christ now and joining it, in this context, with a whore, a harlot. Sin becomes, if anything, a much more serious matter, a much uglier issue. I have been joined with Christ in a permanent relationship, He’s the one who will never leave me nor forsake me, my body has become the temple of the Holy Spirit. I cannot ask Christ to wait outside the door, I cannot tell the Holy Spirit to leave and go have a cup of coffee for a little while, I want to do some things I wouldn’t want you involved with me. Paul said to the Corinthians, how can you be involved in immorality? Are you going to take that which belongs to Christ and join it in an immoral relationship? Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Verse 16, “do you not know that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee immorality. I have been made one with Christ. God forbid that I should now defile this body, which is His with immorality,” specific sin Paul is dealing with here, although he deals with other sins in the context of this letter as well. Down to verse 19, “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? You have been bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body.” It’s no longer yours. It’s His. Our responsibility is to glorify Him.

When you come back to Romans chapter 12, “we present our bodies a living sacrifice, a holy sacrifice. Parts of my body are set apart for Him, and I go about my daily activities, my job, as Peter or Paul would write in their letters to those who were slaves, addressed to those who were slaves, you do your service as unto the Lord. Everything. The mundane activities of life that I am responsible for. But in all things, whatever, I must avoid sin.

This is what is acceptable to God; it is well pleasing to God. The word acceptable is something pleasing to Him; it’s acceptable to Him. It is the worship that He desires. It’s just not; we think we’ve honored God when we came together on Sunday to the worship service. We are to gather together, we’re not to forsake the assembling of ourselves, and God has established a church and its manifestation in local churches. But you understand our worship is to go on every day of the week, in all of our activities. I am there as a member of the body of Christ, I am there to serve Him and it’s His body, it’s not mine. I’ve been bought with a price. So how I do my job, what I do at my job, how I conduct myself at various activities is to be done in a manner that is pleasing to Him.

This is our spiritual service of worship; this is worship that is acceptable to God. The spiritual service of worship, spiritual, we get the word logic from this Greek word, logikan. You can hear it, logic. It can be rational, reasonable, and spiritual in the sense it’s in the realm that is pleasing to God. But it has that flavor. This is what is reasonable, that we would worship Him in such a way. This is the true worship of God. Happens in that realm, it is basic, down-to-earth daily life. When we begin to move our worship to one side, into the emotion so that I identify worship with something that stirs my feelings, that happens on occasion, may involve genuine worship, may not. To swing to the other side, we go to the liturgical. We see a move of evangelicals moving to liturgical churches like the orthodox churches or the Roman Catholic because there is what? Something in the form, the ritual, the routine. You see what God is talking about as our spiritual, reasonable service of worship here? It is our serving Him in all that we do. The Jews found security in the temple system and its sacrifices and that, but it’s done and so to go through those forms issued in the book of Hebrews. It doesn’t do anything. We need to get down to what is genuine worship. It is having committed myself to Jesus Christ, trusting Him alone. Now all I do with this body is done to be pleasing to Him, honoring to Him.

Do not be conformed to this world. Now we’re getting the negative side of the positive. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed. Present your body to Christ, to God. As a sacrifice means you won’t be conformed to this world and this world system. That word translated world is really this age. Don’t be conformed to this age, the things that characterize this period of time. You see a list of those. Go back to Romans chapter 1. Nothing changes, you can read these kinds of lists in other places as well, but we’re in the book of Romans. Romans chapter 1 verse 29, they are “filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful.” Those are the kinds of things that characterize this age and the people of this age, the people of the world. Those kinds of things. “Do not be conformed to this world,” the works of the flesh of Galatians 5 would tell us something of what this age is like and what the characteristics of this age are. Don’t be conformed to this world. Don’t be shaped by it. One of the translations, don’t be pressed into this world’s mold, this age.


Turn over to the book of Galatians chapter 1, I was going to read it to you, but I’ll have you look at it with me. Galatians chapter 1, Romans, I Corinthians, II Corinthians, Galatians chapter 1 verse 4. Who, referring to Christ, “who gave Himself for our sins” note this that He might deliver us out of this present evil age. We are not to be conformed to this age; we’ve been delivered. That’s in Romans 6 as well. As you come back stop in I Corinthians chapter 1, that’s just after Romans, I Corinthians chapter 2. The contrast in verse 6, “we do speak wisdom among those who are mature, a wisdom however, not of this age.” The truth of God is not found to be wise by the people of this age. You see, this age is characterized by sin, it’s characterized by a rejection of God’s truth. Down in verse 8 of I Corinthians 2, “the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood.” This age is characterized by sin and the pursuits of the lust of the flesh. It’s characterized by a rejection of God’s truth.

But we are not to be conformed to this age, but we are to be transformed, back in Romans chapter 12 verse 2. “Be transformed,” the Greek word we bring over into English as metamorphosis. We are to undergo that metamorphosis, that change. It is not just changing our clothes so that our appearance looks better, but this is a change that permeates our being and is rooted and founded in the transformation brought about in the newness of life we have in Christ. Now that newness of life is to be permeating all our being so that we live differently, we are transformed. How are you transformed? Present tense. This is a process that is going on in the command given. We are to be being transformed by the making new, the renewing of your mind. This is the work of the Spirit in the new mind we have in Christ.

Back up to chapter 7 verse 6, “we have been released from the Law having died to that by which we were bound so that we serve in newness of the Spirit, not in oldness of the letter. We are now being transformed by the newness, the making new of our mind.” That’s the newness of the Spirit. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation. Old things have passed away, new things have come” II Corinthians chapter 5. So now as new creatures in Christ, having been made new, now our minds operate differently. We are being made new in the area of our mind. This is important, you see where the work of the Spirit centers in transforming the rest of our lives and our activity in our mind, which controls us, determines what we do. My hand just doesn’t go out and act and operate, it functions according to the directions it gets from my mind. I make a decision. I want to pick up this book, so then instructions go out and it happens. As the Spirit is making new my mind and I am operating in the newness of my mind and maturing more and more in Christ, then the activities of my body demonstrate that.

Turn over to II Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18, II Corinthians chapter 3 verse 18. “But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.” That mirror we are beholding is really the new covenant, what we have as our New Testament. We are “beholding in the mirror of the Word of God the glory of the Lord.” This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, “and we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit.” As we are studying the Word of God, taking in the Word of God, the Spirit of God is using the Word of God as the nourishment for our new lives in Christ. As Peter wrote in, I Peter 2, “as newborn babes long for the pure milk of the Word of God that you might grow in respect to your salvation.” Just as a newborn baby as he takes in that physical nourishment, it’s absorbed into his body and begins to develop and mature and so on, so the Word of God is the spiritual food, and it feeds our minds. Thus, we are undergoing a transformation, we are being changed, if you will, from the inside out. Not just trying to conform to a set of rules and regulations from the outside, but the Spirit of God who now dwells in these bodies as His temple is working on the new minds, we have in Christ to use the nourishment of the Word to change us, to change our minds. We think differently, we act differently. It’s an ongoing process.

Come back to Romans chapter 12. “Transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you may prove what is the will of God.” This work of the Spirit in our hearts and minds, and you know we have a responsibility here, the presenting of our bodies in submitting to Him, beholding in the mirror of the Word His truth, then we are being made new in the area of the mind. That enables us to know, to approve, to do the will of God. It’s interesting. This word to prove what the will of God is, same basic word was used back in Romans chapter 1. Turn back there. The verse just before we started reading a few moments ago. Romans chapter 1 verse 28, “and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind.” That word translated depraved is the same basic word translated prove. We may prove or approve what the will of God is. It has a negative on the front, a different form of the word, but it’s the same basic word with a negative on the front. You put the Greek letter “a” on the front of the word and you’ve made it negative. These are people who have an unapproved mind, so it is a depraved mind, it’s a mind that is not able to do the things that God would have it do. It is given over to sin. In contrast as a result of the work of the Spirit, we who had such unapproved minds are now able to function in the realm of approving the will of God, knowing what it is. Acting accordingly. People always want to know; how do I know the will of God? Well, fill your mind with the Word of God, submit to that truth, allow the Spirit of God to use it in your life. That’s what enables you to know the will of God. Ultimately and foundationally the will of God is revealed in the Word of God. You hear people saying silly things. I was reading in a magazine article of a man who is supposedly singing songs that he thinks are more religious and helpful to people today. He has no idea what the Word of God says. He says I wouldn’t darken the door of a church, there’s too much condemnation there. We all know that Jesus simply said we have to love each other and that’s all that matters; and he knows nothing of what he’s talking about. That is not what the will of God is. You come to the scripture and learn the will of God.

What about areas that scripture doesn’t address? Should I buy a red car or a white car? Should I take this job or this job? Should I buy this house or this house? But you know, the remarkable thing. When your kids are young, they reach a certain age they begin to say how will I know what to do when I’m a parent. What do you say? You’ll know. How will I know? Well, there’s no way for them to know. When you’re 10 you can’t know. It’s hard enough to know when you become a parent. But what happens? There is growth and maturing. The time comes, if you’ve matured as you should and learned as you should, it’s the next step. You just can’t go from 10 to 20 or 25. Many believers struggle in the realm, I don’t know what the will of God is, I don’t know what to do next. Well, you have to mature. There are no shortcuts. We want to dabble around and not take seriously the matter of maturing, and then we get to a place where we need to know the will of God and then we’re floundering around here, and we want someone to tell us. Tell me how to raise teenagers. I can tell you; you have to be a Godly parent. Well, that’s a big help. It’s the answer, isn’t it? Well, there are no shortcuts to that. I have to mature. I have to grow. I have to become what God wants me to be. Then I learn, and those decisions become more natural in the supernatural, if you will, natural in my new life in Christ. I’m not all tied in knots over these matters. Why? I have the confidence before the Lord. Well, the scripture doesn’t give you a verse on that. No, but I walk with the Lord in a relationship with Him. He has worked in my mind. So that is the work that goes on. It is His intention that we know His will. That comes through the nourishment and the work of the Spirit through the Word in making our minds new. That is a process here, present tense, making new. It is an ongoing thing. We are to continue to mature, and I am mature in relation to what I once was, but I am not as mature as I will be in continued growth.

So come back to chapter 12 verse 2. That’s a wonderful transformation that has taken place, from those who had unapproved minds and minds that were unable and incapable of doing what was pleasing to God, we are now those that God intends to know His will, to discern His will and act accordingly. The will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect. That’s the will of God. It’s that which is good and acceptable, pleasing and perfect. He intends us to know that, to function accordingly. So, you see the deepest doctrines, if we can say that the last section before chapter 12 in Romans. Chapters 9, 10 and 11, have some of the fullest considerations of the Biblical doctrine of the sovereignty of God, His work in election and those matters. We say well look let’s just leave it, however God did it, He did it. To deal with the ultimate salvation of Israel, well look I leave the future in God’s hands. Whatever He does is all right with me. But you understand this is all built into the purpose and plan of God and me being able to function as He intends me in the daily activities of life. People today, even in the so-called evangelical churches, they don’t want to seriously grapple with the Word, they want to go and have someone give them a self-help talk, six points on succeeding in business, seven steps to raising beautiful children, and on we go. I don’t want to mire down in all the doctrinal things; I just want to know what I should do. Well, I can’t help you. I can’t help you. God can’t help you because that’s not His way. We don’t come to God and say here’s what I want from you, Lord, here’s how you do it. Now I’m waiting. God doesn’t work that way. He’s in charge. He intends us to know His will, He intends us to live our lives in every area in a way that is pleasing to Him, and He tells us how that must be done. The beginning point is glorious salvation. You have to die to sin. If you haven’t died to sin, if you haven’t been identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection I can’t help you. You are a slave to sin. You serve the devil. I can’t help you. All I can tell you is there is freedom that is only found in Christ. We’re back to where we were this morning, the provision Christ has made, the terms on which that is given to you.

Now that we have believed in Christ, here’s what it takes to grow. We see people destroying their lives. They’ve been born as healthy babies into the physical world, they’ve grown, then at a certain point they decide they’re going to do certain things that begin to destroy their body, or disease sets in and destroys them. I have to be careful as a believer I stay on track. One thing sin does, it brings confusion and turmoil and disarray into the life, even the life of a believer. The devil delights in confusion, so I back up and say wait here’s the foundation. Lord, you set me free. I not only do not have to sin, but I am also obligated now not to sin. This is your body, not mine; this is your life, not mine. You have provided the power of your Spirit who resides within me. You have given me your Word as my nourishment so as I’m nourished on the Word and submit to the Spirit, I can live every day of my life honoring and pleasing to God. There is never any reason I have to sin. Now don’t go out of here and say Gil said he never sins. There is never any reason I have to sin; the tragedy and sad thing is I do. But we strive for that perfection that He has provided us in Christ. These bodies are His, that’s our ongoing sacrifice. When you get up and go to work in the morning you say oh, I wish I were in church where I could worship the Lord. You are at your job where you are to worship the Lord because what you do with your body is to be done in such a way that is pleasing and honoring to Him. Beautiful to know my life has no mundane, meaningless activities, because everything is done as an act of worship to the God who has called me to Himself.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your grace. Thank you for a salvation that is so complete, so full, so final. Thank you that in your Son we have been given everything necessary for life and godliness, that in Him are found all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and it is in Him we have been made complete. Lord, may these truths grip our hearts and minds, may we grow and mature, be shaped by them so that indeed we might be presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to you, not being conformed to this world but being transformed by minds that are being made new. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.