Elements of Christian Living

45 minutes to an hour after services. As I want to read to you a verse from a translation of the Bible that I believe I've ever used before. See if you recognize the verse that I'm going to read. It's a very well-known one. It's something you've heard probably been around probably hundreds of times. Probably read it that many times as well. But let me read this to you from the J.B. Phillips translation of the Bible. It says, There's a couple of words in there that should have given you a clue. Let's turn in the Bible over to Romans 12. Romans 12, verse 1. Certainly in the book of Romans, but this is a pivotal verse in the book of Romans. As we've been reading in there, and if you've been following along with the schedule, you just read this a few days ago. A pivotal verse in the book of Romans should be a pivotal verse that defines our lives as God called us and as we chose to follow Him. Let's read it from the New King James.

In the 11 chapters before we get to chapter 12, Paul has talked about so many things. He has laid so much groundwork for us to know. He has educated the Romans. Remember that he did not even visit Rome at the time he wrote this letter. But what he laid out for them in the first 11 chapters is something that should be part of all of our foundations. Really, the book of Romans is a foundation that if we understand the concepts that are in it, we can understand Paul's writings. So many people in the world will say it's difficult to understand. They misinterpret what he has to say. But his writings are very clear when you take the time to look at them. He covers a number of subjects that are fundamental to all of us. He talks about justification. All of us should be able to define what justification is, to understand his place in the Bible. He talks about righteousness. What is righteousness? He talks about being under grace versus being under the law. And that was a topic for his time, certainly, as Jesus Christ had only recently been crucified and then resurrected. Still a topic in our day and age. So many don't understand what it means to be under grace or under law or what the difference is. He talks about the Holy Spirit and the importance of it, how the Holy Spirit in us, when we repent and when we're baptized, makes us sons of God. Not adopted sons, like it's translated there in the New King James Version, but literal sons. Because it's not him who's taken someone foreign to him. He's put his own spirit in us. Just like your DNA flows in your children, God's spirit flows in us. So we are indeed sons of His when we repent, when we receive the Holy Spirit, when we live by it. And we will be resurrected if we live for the rest of our lives and die with that spirit actively living and guiding us. So there are so many things that Paul talks about. We could have a sermonette or a sermon on each one of those topics. Just to refresh our minds if we haven't heard it, or for those who may be new, to understand what those mean. So that when we get questions from the world or comments from the world, we understand exactly how to apply those. Because Paul, throughout the entire letter here to the Romans, he comes very clear in, we obey God's law. Jesus Christ didn't do away with it. Jesus Christ didn't come. He certainly came to play the penalty for us. But He didn't do away with the law. And we live by faith, he says. But we have to obey as well. In fact, that's one of the themes of the book that I want to spend just a few minutes on. Turn with me back to Romans 4. Romans 4, verse 1. Paul brings up Abraham. Of course, Abraham was a gigantic figure. A gigantic figure in the Bible, a gigantic figure to the people back then. The Jews almost looked to Abraham, almost equal to God, it seems. They were Abraham's seed, you remember them saying. And they counted that heritage as something very, very precious, which it was to them, because of Abraham's obedience and belief in God. But Paul addresses that here. He says in verse 1, What then shall we say that Abraham our Father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified, there's that word, for if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. Well, Abraham, Genesis 26, verse 5, tells us, Abraham obeyed all of God's commands and statues. He obeyed God explicitly and completely.

But that isn't why he was justified, because of what he did. He goes on to say, for what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

He believed God. That was accounted to him for righteousness.

Now, he quotes Genesis 15, verse 6 here. And the first time the Hebrew word that's translated, believed, occurs in the Bible is right there in Genesis 15, verse 6. So, we talked about the word, believe, in the New Testament, and the depth of what it means. Remember the Greek word, bestoio, p-i-s, p-e-u-o? It has a meaning far, far greater than the way we would use the word, believe, today. And the Hebrew word in 15, verse 6 in Genesis, is the word, amon, a-m-a-n. Let me tell you what the word, amon, means. It means to stand firm, to trust, to be established. And it has one other meaning besides that, and that is to turn to the right hand.

To trust, to be established, to be firm, to turn to the right hand. Now, the commentators and the concorances downplay to the turn to the right hand. Those don't talk about that much, but I think God built something into that word to show what Abraham did. Abraham, we know, did trust God. He stood firm with God.

He gave up everything in life as he knew it. He moved to a land which was contrary to what the culture of that time was to follow God. And the Bible tells us he followed God implicitly. He obeyed his commands, his statutes, his judgments, in face of what the world, or in spite of what the world would have wanted him to do.

Ammon and the Greek word pistoia, which is the equivalent of the Hebrew word ammon, speak of a time where there is a life, if you will, a life-changing event that occurs in our life. Something that alters the way we think. Something that alters the way that we react. Something that changes our life that we can never, well, I guess we can go back, but we should never go back to the way we were before.

Paul is a perfect example of that. Paul was on the road to Damascus. While he was on the road to Damascus, he believed that he was doing right when he persecuted true Christians. He believed he should round them up, and he was even consenting to their death. And he was literally stopped in his tracks and blinded.

When God opened his eyes and Jesus Christ was revealed to him, he was a totally different man.

What he saw, what he experienced when God opened his eyes changed him forever. And when he marched out of Ananias' home and back into the world, he was a totally different man.

He believed Jesus Christ. He believed in Jesus Christ. He didn't before, but it's something that so rocked him that it changed his very being.

Now, we don't know exactly what Abraham did before, but if you look at Josephus, he makes some comments about who Abraham was. A great man, apparently, in the city that he was in, in the land of Chaldea. An astronomer, probably held in high regard. And Josephus would tell you that, what, if he looked up in the skies, he realized, this can't be this little God doing this and this little God doing that. There has to be a greater God than just these little gods that we worship. And God opened his mind, and Abraham began to follow God. It changed him completely. He turned from his old way of life. He turned to the right hand. He believed, and it caused a change in life direction to him, to follow God. He believed God, and that was accounted to him for righteousness.

When our eyes are open, that should be a life-changing direction from us. We're told, turn from the old, turn to God. If we believe, if we really understand God, if we're rocked to our core by what God has opened our minds to see, we don't walk the way we used to walk. We don't talk the way we used to talk. We don't get entertained the way we used to be entertained. Now we've turned to God, turned away from our old way, and we believe God. So when I say the word, believe, today, I want you to always think of that. It's not believe like we would use it in everyday language, but let's believe and talk about believe the way the Bible talks about it. In the Old Testament, and in the New Testament as well, you know, Christ in Mark 1.14 or 15 says, repent and believe the gospel. There's many, many people in the world who would tell you, oh, I believe. I believe in Jesus Christ. You know what? They don't believe the way that the Bible says believe. Because if they believed the way the Bible said believe, they wouldn't be living the way they're living. Because when you believe the way the Bible says believe, when you believe the way Abraham did, when you believe the way Paul did, when you believe the way Peter did, when you believe the way we should, we don't live in the world or the way of the world around us. We live a different way. Abraham turned and when he believed God, he obeyed God implicitly. Now, there's people out in the world who would tell you, all you need is faith, right? Isn't that what it says? Does Abraham believe? So if all we have is faith, that's enough. Abraham's works didn't count for anything.

Oh, Abraham's works do count for something. Our works count for something. It tells us back in James 4, faith without works is dead. All you do is believe and you don't do anything about it. If it doesn't create any motivation or any energy in you, it's dead. We're never saved by the works. Abraham also obeyed. He obeyed and he had faith. Exactly what it says about the saints in Revelation 14, 12 and also back in chapter 12 of Revelation. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus Christ. Or in the other place, the testimony of Jesus Christ. Believing is obeying and following God or having faith in Him. Paul addresses this at the beginning of the book and at the end of the book. You can turn to Romans 1, verse 5. I'm going to read to you Romans 1, verse 5 from the God's Word Translation, which is one of the newer translations that uses a little bit different verbiage to help us understand what is being said here. It says in Romans 1, 5, Through Him, Paul says, we have received God's kindness and the privilege of being apostles who bring people from every nation to the obedience that is associated with faith. See, that says obedience through faith in Romans 5, but the obedience that is associated with faith. We have to believe God. We have to have faith in Him. But faith has to be associated with obedience.

If we have one without the other, we're missing something. We're only halfway there. And if we're halfway there, we're not there at all. Over at the other end of the book, Romans 16, the very last verse of Romans, Paul strikes the same accord. Romans 16, verse 26. Let me begin in verse 25. I'll read it from the New Team James and then highlight for you where it talks about the same phrase to the obedience that is associated with faith. Verse 25, To Him who is able to establish you, according to Paul's gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest, and by the prophetic scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith, or for the obedience that is associated with faith. To God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever.

We have to have faith. The faith has to produce works. We have to obey the law. It comes hand in hand if we believe in God, if we believe in Jesus Christ. Turn back to Acts 5. Acts 5 and verse 32. Acts 5, 32. We are His witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit which God has given to those who obey Him.

Now, there's a memory verse. The Holy Spirit which God has given to those who obey Him. Now, there's many people in the world who would tell you, I have the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit told me this, the Holy Spirit told me that. You can go on TV and you can hear it. If those people don't obey God, if those people aren't living the way of life that's prescribed in the Bible, if those people aren't keeping the same commandments and obeying Him just like Abraham did, just like Paul did, just like Jesus did when He was on earth, just like Peter, James, and John, they don't have the Holy Spirit. They don't have it. They may have a spirit of good. They may have a spirit because we live in a world of evil and good, but they don't have the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God. We must have faith just like Abraham did. We must obey just like Abraham did. The obedience and the faith go hand in hand. And as Paul talks in the book of Romans, as he goes back and forth when he talks about under grace and under law, and he talks about the Jews and how they want to be under the law and their living and their trusting in the works that they do. But they're not believing in Jesus Christ because he says Jesus Christ was a stumbling block to them. They didn't want to believe He was the Messiah. They don't want to believe that they put Him to death. They just wanted to believe they always did. The way they always did. Missing something. They have part of the truth. They don't have all the truth. The Church of God, the people that God calls, have all the truth. And Paul bemoans the fact that His people, the Israelites, the chosen people, the physical seed of Abraham, wouldn't accept Jesus Christ. They wouldn't believe the way that He did. Some of them did, but they rejected Him. They rejected Him when they killed Him and crucified Him, and they rejected Him even after He was preached to them.

No, they simply wouldn't believe, because God wanted that nation of Israel. He wanted them to be the model nation. He called them in the Old Testament, my own special people, a treasure on earth. I'll give you my commands. I'll write them on your hearts. I will let you ride on the high hills of the earth if you will just follow Me, if you will just believe Me, the way your father Abraham did, the way your father Isaac did and Jacob did. But Israel didn't do it.

The people of the Jews in the New Testament times, they didn't do it. They wouldn't believe that Jesus Christ was there.

And Paul bemoans the fact that they wouldn't believe.

But because they wouldn't believe, he says there's an opportunity, and God opened up salvation for the Gentiles.

And as you read through Romans, and as you see him making theological point and doctrinal point after doctrinal point after theological point in the first eleven chapters, he comes to a magnificent conclusion where he praises God and is wondrous at how much God has worked into the creation and how much He loves us and how big His plan is for all of us.

Because in Old Testament times, and in the Jews' mind, they were the chosen people. They had the opportunity, but they rejected it.

Just the same way we could reject God's calling when He gives it.

And so, let's turn over to Galatians 3.

You see, as you read through the book of Romans, some themes in Romans that, throughout the other books, later on in the book, you'll probably remember in Chapter 14, he talks about the same thing we talked about a few weeks ago.

Meat offered to idols and how food shouldn't be a stumbling block for people. Same thing he was talking about in 1 Corinthians 8.

You can see him talking about under grace and under law. And here in Galatians, the people of that church were having the same problems that the people in Romans were.

They weren't getting it. People were coming in and telling them, no, no, you've got to do this. It's the works that count.

Well, the works do count, but that's not what salvation is. Salvation comes through Jesus Christ.

In Galatians 3, let's look at verse 5.

Therefore, he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?

As he talks and he reasons with the Galatians, is it the works that are causing the miracles or is it the faith that's causing the miracles?

And then he quotes the very same verse we talked about in Genesis 15. Just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

The same message. The same message you'll see in other epistles of Paul as well. They believed God.

The Jews rejected. God opened the door to Gentiles because of the rejection of the truth by the Jews. Let's drop it down to verse 26.

We, the Roman church, the Galatian church, the church today, all of us are part of the church because of what God is doing.

Verse 26, you, he says to the Galatians, the same thing he would say, or he says to you and I today, For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, because you believe in Him.

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

And God, who has always wanted to work with a people, a people who would be a treasure to Him, a people who would live His way of life, that would be an example to everyone around them. The Jews, the Israelites, said no.

But in the New Testament times, He's put together or called the new group of people.

Where there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female.

For you are all one in Christ Jesus.

A people, as Peter says in 1 Peter 2.9, a people that weren't formally a people, but now are the people of God, now have the Spirit of God, now are a group, now the people that He's working with, the people that He looks to, the people that He calls His own holy special people, when we believe, when we follow, when we trust, when we turn from the left in our own way to His way.

And He says, and if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

He ties the old and new together. We are Abraham's seed, if we believe. We are God's seed, if we believe.

He wants us to believe. He wants us to understand. He wants us to be in the Kingdom.

And the group that He's working with today are the people that He has called out of this world.

Doesn't make any difference what their background is. Doesn't make any difference what their ethnicity is.

Doesn't make any difference whether they're young or old, male or female, slave or free, if we use Paul's language there.

All one in God's sights, and all one and all equal as we should look at each other. Let's go back to Romans 11 then and see what Paul says as we lead up to this transitional verse in chapter 12.

Let's pick it up in verse 28 of chapter 11.

Concerning the gospel, and he's talking about Israel. You look at the verses ahead, the physical nation of Israel. Concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. They don't agree with you. They're not part of us. They're not part of the family that God has called. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. They are part of that heritage of Abraham. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. See that? The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Once God calls us, He's not going to take that calling back. We can hand it back. We can say, I don't want it. I don't want what you have to offer. I don't want to take the time to study and to stimulate and absorb the Scriptures.

I don't want to turn from my old way of life to your way of life. I want to be more like the world. I enjoy being in it, and I don't want to give it up. We can hand it back, but God will never take it away from us. His calling and the gifts He gives us are irrevocable. He is always there if we seek Him. But we have to seek Him, and we have to respond to the call.

For as you were once disobedient to God, and all of us are in that category, as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience. Jews, the physical nation of Israel, that wouldn't obey God, that wouldn't believe Him, now have obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they may obtain mercy. God will work with us, and eventually the whole world will understand and choose God, or choose His way, or have the opportunity to. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all. And you can see, as Paul talks through this, this isn't something he just sat down and came into his head that morning.

He's been thinking about God's plan. He's been thinking about what God is doing. And as he pieces it all together, as he's meditated, and as he's reflected on what he knows, and let God's Holy Spirit, he feels the magnificence of what God has done, and how He's opened up salvation to all the world. Because God's plan is for everyone, not just a select group of people, but for everyone. Everyone will have a chance. And so Paul wells up in this emotion and says, Oh, the death of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out. How wonderful is this God that we worship, that He is fair to everyone, that He really, truly loves everyone, and that the way of salvation would be made available to everyone in the time God calls Him. For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has become His counselor, or who has first given to Him, and that shall be repaid to Him. For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. And so Paul concludes the first part of the letter, for he talks about all these fundamental principles that we should be well aware of.

And if everyone was fully aware of them, we would be able to understand and explain the book of Galatians and what was going on there, what went on in Colossae. And the other places where Paul writes, because he uses the same principles in much many of his epistles. But he goes from education. He goes from, here's the theology, here's the doctrine, here's the truth. And then in chapter 12, he takes the turner and says, okay, now I've taught you this.

How do you apply that into your life? What do you do now that you know it? We've been talking about reading the Bible, studying the Bible. It's great to know. It's great to have the knowledge. It's great to be able to answer how do you apply it. What does it look like when you put it into practice?

And beginning in chapter 12, he begins to talk about that. And he says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Stop there for a moment. Because in those two verses in Romans 12, there's an awfully lot of meaning packed in. We've read the verses, like I said, dozens and dozens of times, maybe a hundred times or more, or heard them.

And sometimes when we hear things over and over again, it can lose the meaning of what Paul is saying. So let's just pause here a little bit and look at some of the words that Paul uses, because God doesn't put any of these words in the Bible lightly. And as he inspired Paul, there's a reason that he uses the words he does.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. And he's just expounded the mercies of God, what God has done, how he's worked with Israel and the Jews, and opened up salvation to all the world and everyone that he would call, that you present your bodies. Now, there's that word, present. Some translations will say that you yield your bodies. Some translations will say that you surrender your bodies. The Bible says, present your bodies. Now, there's a difference. Certainly yielding, certainly surrendering, is part of what we do as Christians.

We yield our will to God. We surrender our will to His. We pray, thy will be done. Now, we give up our ideas, our thoughts. We surrender them to Him and ask Him to put His thoughts and ways in us. The Greek word that's translated, present there, isn't the Greek word for yield or surrender. It's much, much, much, much too long for me to pronounce, so I'm going to just give you a strong number, 3986. I wasn't even going to try to take the time to learn to pronounce it.

Greek, 3986. It means to bring before, command, give presently, stand, or put yourself at one's disposal. You're called of God. You see everything Paul says. Look at everything that God has done for you. Now, you present yourself before God. You don't come with back arched, dragging your feet, pushing you somewhere else. In the right sense of the word, you're proud and honored to present yourself before God.

The same word, the very same word, is used in Luke 2. Luke 2. This is the occasion after Mary, Mother of Christ, had passed her time of purification, and they were coming to the temple to fulfill the law that was associated with the newborn child. Luke 2, verse 22. Now, when the days of her purification, according to the law of Moses, were completed, they brought him, referring to Christ, to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

They were happy to present him to God. They wanted to be there. It was their responsibility to do that, and they wanted to be at that temple. It was an honor to present the baby to God. Mary knew what child she was carrying. She didn't come, and her husband Joseph didn't come along with her, wishing they could be somewhere else, wondering why them. They were honored to present themselves before God. Paul uses the very same word when he talks about you and me. When God calls us, when we believe, will we see what God has done?

Now, what he's opened to us, the possibilities, the future, the eternity, and everything, that we can't even describe, he says, you present your body to God. You come before Him, you stand tall, you be glad you're there, you say, here I am.

It reminds me of a general calling someone, one of his soldiers. He doesn't come in there disheveled and wishing you were somewhere else. He comes in there and he salutes, and here I am. I am at your service, sir. Present your bodies to God. And speaking of the physical here, you're going to present your bodies to God so that He can work with you.

It's an honor, an honor to be called by God, an honor to have Him open our minds to the truth He's given to us. In the same manner, we present our bodies each Sabbath day, don't we? God calls us and tells us, come into My presence. And so we present.

We present ourselves before Him each Sabbath day. But we present our bodies to God throughout our lives, for our whole life. Let me read to you from the Amplified Bible how they translate that.

Make that decisive commitment to Him that you will yield all of yourself to Him. The poll goes on in verse 1. Present your bodies a living sacrifice, an alive sacrifice. He didn't call us to a dead life. He didn't call us to a dull life. He didn't call us to a life that is boring and unexciting. He called us to something that is the most exciting thing on earth that we could be part of.

You offer your bodies a living sacrifice because He didn't call us to just kind of be at a status quo, but that we would be growing and learning and being developed in His service for the rest of our lives. Never a dull moment. Because what's ahead of us, what's ahead of His people, is eternity and a universe that we can't even imagine.

Just as it says in 1 Corinthians 2.9, He hasn't even entered the hearts or the minds of man. Present your bodies a living sacrifice. You give it to Him. And then He says, which are wholly acceptable to God. Well, we know from the Old Testament, sacrifices were never unclean, were they? God pretty much laid out for Israel what sacrifices were. They would be clean.

They would be unblemished. They would be holy and set apart for God. Now, none of us are without blemish today, but we are blameless in God's eyes. If indeed we are living His life, if indeed we are letting His Spirit lead us, we may fall, we may sin.

But if we are being led by Him, we get back up again and get on the road. We don't let it deter us. And He looks at us as sins, and He keeps us moving forward. Give your bodies a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, clean, letting Him clean, purify, perfect. You make the determination to set it apart from the world and give it to Him.

Which is, He says, your reasonable service. What Paul is saying there is, if you really get it, Romans, if you really get it, if you really understand everything that God has done, there's only one logical thing to do. And that's to present yourself to God and let Him work with you. There is, and we all have choices, but there is only one choice when you understand.

The word translated, reasonable, there, if you look it up, it says that it speaks more to logic or intelligence. So some of the newer translations will say, this is your intelligent service, your logical service. Someone in Jacksonville this morning mentioned that their margin said your rational service. If you're a rational human being, if you're thinking, if you understand what God has called you to, there's only one choice you can make, and that's to present yourself to Him. And He speaks of the physical there because God wants body, mind, and soul.

Not just part of us, but all of us. And in verse 2, as He moves from the transition of doctrine and theology to application into our lives, He talks about the mind. Don't be conformed to this world, He says, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Let me read to you from Elikat's commentary for English readers, based on verse 2 here.

He says, We want the world to look at us and say, hey, they're one of us. Don't be conformed to the world. Don't do the things. Don't want to do what they want to do. It says, So he says, You've had this life-altering experience. God's opened your eyes. Like Paul, you should be turning around and going the other way, not the way you've always walked. Don't be conformed to the world. That's the way you used to be. But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now, when we responded to God's call, when we repented, when we were baptized, we told God we committed Him. Through baptism, He washes away our sins.

Pictures death. Death of the old person. Death of the old way of doing things. Forgiveness of sin. Totally washed away. A burial of old self. And up out of those baptismal waters comes a person who is brand new in God's eyes. A person upon whom we should be praying to God, write your laws and principles in our minds and on our hearts. You've washed away all the old, all the old habits, all the old ways. Yes, we have to work at them. Yes, we have to use God's Spirit to have the strength that they know to the things that we naturally want to do when they're contrary to God's will.

But He gives us that strength, and it becomes stronger and stronger as we use it more. That all gets washed away, and it's a new person. So He says, you don't come up new. You're not a new person, and then be conformed to the world. That's the past. Now be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And the Greek word for transformed there is the word metamorpho-o.

We've spoken of metamorpho-o before. I gave a sermon on it a year or two ago. And I'm not going to take a long time to talk about it here this afternoon. You can go back into the tape library, the library on the website, and find that sermon if you're interested. But metamorpho-o is the Greek word from which we get the word metamorphosis. When we think of metamorphosis, there's one thing that should come into our mind. If we go back to elementary school science, what's the thing that comes to our mind? When we think of metamorphosis, we think of the butterfly or the caterpillar and the butterfly, right?

You look at a caterpillar, you would never imagine that that caterpillar could turn into a butterfly. This is kind of cute, furry insect, you know, walking along on a leaf. And then all of a sudden it's transformed into this beautiful thing that's flying through the air.

Metamorpho-o. Paul uses that word to describe what God wants to do with us. This imperfect, going nowhere, dead, lifeless, base person has the opportunity to turn into something absolutely astounding, when God calls.

If we truly believe the way the Bible talks about belief. If we truly commit, if we present our bodies and our minds to God, if we repent or baptize, receive the Holy Spirit, if we do the things that would allow our minds to be transformed, because it isn't just a snap and all of a sudden we're brand new people with brand new minds, we have to work at it. There's things we have to do. What are some of the things that we do to have our minds transformed? We can immerse ourselves in spiritual matters, can't we? We can read the Bible. We can pray.

We can do some of the things that we've talked about in the last few weeks. We can read the Bible, but if we just read the Bible, that's not enough.

If we just read the Bible and put the checkmark there, and 30 minutes later we think we've done our job and we don't think about it again until we open the Bible the next day and continue from there, it doesn't do a whole lot of good. We have to study the Bible. We have to understand what it is talking about here. We have to meditate, just the way Paul obviously meditated to come to the conclusions as he did at the end of Romans 11.

We have to see and let God paint the picture in our minds of what he's doing and see the beauty of it. We have to use his Holy Spirit. We can memorize, as we talked about, some things to actually plant it and make it part of us. There's one more thing we can do, too. We can run and we can associate with a new group of people. Not the people we used to associate with in the world, but God puts us into a body, a group of people.

We're members individually, but we're members of the group that he puts us into. We have fellowship with each other. So when we live the new life and we immerse ourselves into the Scripture, immerse ourselves into God, immerse ourselves with people of like mind, our minds transform. Out of the old comes something much more pleasing and beautiful to God. Out of the old, life that we may have thought was okay, comes a joy and a peace and an establishment that we never, never experienced in life before.

Even when there are trials, even when there are difficulties, because we believe God, because we know Him, because His Holy Spirit that makes us one of His children is in us. So Paul, as he's talking here, tells us all this in this transitional period. And he says, by the renewing of your minds, this new mind that you have, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. How do we prove it?

We go back into God's Word. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God. It's profitable for instruction, correction, doctrine, reproof. Everything we need to know is in here. And we prove what is the acceptable and perfect will of God. And then he says, it's time to do it.

It's time to do it. And beginning in verse 3, down through the next three chapters of Romans, Paul talks about what does a Christian life look like? We know we've been affected. God has rocked our world by opening our eyes. We've presented ourselves to Him. He's put His Holy Spirit in us once we were baptized, after we've repented. What does a Christian look like? What does a Christian church look like? How do the people interact with one another? How do they behave? And in the next few chapters here, I'm not going to go through all the chapters, but I'm going to go through a few of them here as we read through.

Beginning in verse 3, and list some of those things that God would say, as He inspired Paul, is the picture or the elements of Christian living or a Christian life. Let's look at some of them here beginning in verse 3. "'For I say,' Paul says, "'through the grace given to me, everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think.'" He starts off with that one.

So point one, what a Christian looks like? He doesn't think of himself more highly than he ought to think. Same thing he says in Philippians in a well-known verse. Humility. We know humility is one of the first steps in coming to God. It's not us who does. It's not us who learns. It's God who teaches us. We've just responded to His call and everything else He does. So the very first thing He says is, "'Don't think.' Or a Christian wouldn't think of himself more highly than he ought to think." Very next phrase.

But to think soberly. He will think soberly. He won't take his calling for granted. He won't take it carelessly. He won't take it casually. He'll be serious about his life. He'll be serious about his calling. Verse 4. Then he goes into how he works with the body. We can just take an example of the body that we have here in Orlando.

"'Foras we have many members in one body, but all the members don't have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ and individually members of one another.'" So He talks about the relationship of individual members.

We work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. But God puts us in a body. He puts us in, for those of us here, in this body, that we would work, that we would interact with one another, that we would grow in that area as we fellowship with one another and practice and put into practice His principles.

Verse 6. Having them, differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. In Ephesians 2, Paul talks about the church of God. He says that God provides everything it needs. Every joint knitted together, God supplies everything that His body needs. So here in this congregation, we have everything we need to do God's work and to please Him. And he says, if He's given you those gifts, then He hasn't given us all the same gifts. As He goes through this, use them. Don't sit on them. Don't withhold them. He's put us here to learn and to work with one another, to grow as we work with one another.

Because when Jesus Christ returns to earth, we'll all be working with one another. We're not going to be little isolated people all by ourselves. He's going to want a family that's working, that each has the talents He's given them, and happy and content in the jobs that He has given them to do and the functions in which they serve. Having then gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. If prophecy, let us prophesy and proportion to our faith. Or ministry or service, we'll say, let us use it in our ministering or serving. He who teaches in teaching, He who exhorts in exhortation, He who gives with liberality, He who leads with diligence, He who shows mercy with cheerfulness.

Do it! Do what God has called you to do. Follow Him. No room in the Church of God for ladder climbers, people saying, that's not me. That's not what I want to do. I need to do this.

You know what? God will put you where He wants you to be, and if you're in the wrong place, then He will find, He will lead and get you to where you need to be. Let us use the gifts. Verse 9. Let love, let agape, be without hypocrisy. No room for hypocrisy in the Church.

Don't do the things you do to be seen by others. When people see of you on the Sabbath day, it's the same thing they should see of you if they visit your house unexpectedly on a Monday, Tuesday, or any other day of the week. If they drop in on your workplace, they would see the same person that they're accustomed to seeing in Sabbath services because we are genuine and sincere people who are living and being led by the Spirit of God 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Not just putting on a show for Sabbath, not just putting on a show of service, but dedicated to service whenever we see the opportunity.

Next sentence. Abhor what is evil. Abhor. Strong word, abhor. Hate what is evil. Now, we live in a world where there's plenty of evil, isn't there? And sometimes that evil can kind of just become commonplace to us. We live in a world that, you know, we're in this country. Same-sex marriage was just ratified as the law of the land. Evil, according to the Bible. It doesn't say that we should abhor the people. Abhor what is evil. And the world around us would tell us, you know, this and that and whatever, and have every justification for it. But God would say, abhor what is evil.

Don't let the world rub off on you. Don't be conformed to the world, Paul would say. You don't be echoing the same things that the world would say as a justification for that, and for abortion, and for premarital sex, and for every other thing that God would say is evil, and apart from His law. You know what the truth is, and you cling to it. Don't let yourself be compromised or swayed by the world. Cling, he says, to what is good. We have a little list.

Cling to what is good. What does Paul say? In 1 Thessalonians, he says, Prove all things and hold fast, that which is true. Hold on to it for dear life. Don't you dare let go of it, he says. Cling to what is good. The world around me may say, It's garbage. It's old bastions. It means nothing. Not in this day and age. You cling to what is good. Cling to the truth that's right there in the Bible, in the Word of God. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love. He puts us in a body.

We all have different gifts. We all have different needs. We all have different trials. We all have different health statuses, financial statuses. We all have different...this is in many ways, and God designs it that way, so that we are kindly affectionate to one another. Paul says in Philippians, look out for the needs of one another. We'll get to that here in a minute. Look out for the needs of one another. Be affectionate to one another. Get to know one another. Enjoy one another's company. Everyone here should know each other.

And we should love one another. When you look at each other, you love that person because they're part of your family.

In honor, giving preference to one another.

Verse 11, not lagging in diligence. God didn't call us to a life where we're just going to lay around and do nothing.

Many of the world would say, once you're baptized, once you've been saved, they will say, you're done. You don't have to do anything else. Once saved, always saved. God didn't call us to that life. He called us to a life of diligence and work. Christ says, the Father works and He works. And for the rest of our lives, that is eternal lives. We will be working. He's looking for diligent people who put their effort into things and put their effort into their calling. Fervent in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope. Do we rejoice in the hope that God has given us? The fact that Jesus Christ died for our sins, the fact that He was resurrected from the dead, the hope of eternal life, does that cause us to rejoice? Is that the thing that's in the front of our minds when we wake up in the morning? It's just part of who we are. We have that hope that is ever before us of what God has promised, because we believe Him and we follow Him. Do we rejoice in that hope? Paul says, true Christians who believe, who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus Christ, they'll rejoice in that hope, and they'll be patient in tribulation. They won't throw off their hands when trouble comes. They won't throw off their hands and quit when a trial comes. They won't throw off their hands and say, this can't be the way of God because He never would have wanted me to suffer. He would have never wanted me to experience this. No, they will be patient. And as David says over and over and over in the Psalms, wait for God. He may not answer, yes, the first time you pray, but you believe that He will do it. And you are patient, and you don't let trials or the things that may confront us or tribulation separate us from God. Christian is patient, always looking to God, waiting for Him, knowing that He will deliver, and knowing that He is in charge, and knowing exactly what we are going through. Continue, he says, steadfastly, in prayer. He talks about knowledge. You know, in the time before this, someone who has got the relationship with God that he prays. And doesn't just pray by a clock, saying, I've got to get my x-axis minutes in today, but a real prayer where you are connecting with God. A real prayer where you are talking to Him, and allowing Him through the Holy Spirit to help you understand things, and you can feel God when you pray. Continue steadfastly in prayer. Distribute to the needs of the saints, and give them the hospitality. Welcoming one another. Enjoying one another's company. Willing to share what we have. Happy to see each other. He says in verse 14, Bless those who persecute you. That's a tough one, isn't it? Bless those who persecute you. I don't know. I don't know if I'm that one yet. But, as we allow God to grow in us, His Spirit to grow in us, we will get to the point where we would bless those who persecute us. Just like Jesus Christ, who, when He had gone through all the agony He went through, was able to say, as He was there on the cross or stake or whatever you want to call it, Father, forgive them. They don't know what they do. Bless those who persecute you. Christians, an element of Christian life is, we would end up, or we would become, people like that.

15. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Someone among you has had a wonderful thing happen. Be happy for them. Share in their joy. If they've had a loss or something devastating has happened, share in their sorrow. Be there with them. Just like you would for your wife, just like you would for your children, just like you would for your family because He has put us in a family. Know one another. Fellowship with one another. Develop that bond that the Holy Spirit in us should bond between all of us and with God. 16. Be of the same mind toward one another. No respecter of persons. Not that I'll talk about this, I'll talk to this person more because they have this and that and whatever, or they can help me advance, or whatever it is. Be of the same mind toward one another. There is no place for respecter of persons in the community or the Church of God.

Don't touch your mind on high things. Don't be like the world. That's conforming to the world. There's no place for that in the Christian life or in the Church of God. But associate with the humble. Another point we can mark down on our list. Don't be wise in your own opinion.

How many people have allowed that to take them away? I have this idea, and I'm not letting go of it. I know more than this person. I know more than this, etc., etc., however you want to praise it. Don't be wise in your own opinion. Lean not onto your own understanding. It says in Proverbs 3, verse 5, We pay no one evil for evil. Christ, when He was reviled, He didn't revile again. He patiently took it. We look at the world around us. If we conform to them, we would repay evil for evil. It's one of the ways of the world, isn't it? We look at TV and this political race. Someone says something bad about me? I can do you one better. And often we see that. It says, we pay no one evil for evil. Patiently take it. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18. If it's possible, as much as it depends on you, because it takes two to make peace, as much as it depends on you, live peaceably with all men. What did Christ say? In His opening words of the Sermon on the Mouth, He said, Blessed are the peacemakers. When Christ comes and His kingdom is on earth, it will be one of peace, where people live peacefully with one another.

And He says, as much depends on you, Christian. As much as it depends on you, you live peaceably with all men. The other person has to abide by that as well, and sometimes it's just not possible. If the other person doesn't want to, but as much as it depends on you, you live peaceably with all men. Don't avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.

Verse 21, He talks here about feeding your enemy. Well, let's just read that. Therefore, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.

And chapter 12 concludes with, Don't be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Now, if you went through that chapter from 3 down to the end of the chapter, you would have 18 to 20 points that you could list for yourself and say, This is the element of Christian living that's there in Romans 12. This is what Paul, inspired by God, says, This is what a Christian looks like. Now, we could have that list and we could kind of examine ourselves against each of those points and say, I've got work to do in that area. God needs to help me in that area. I didn't recognize until I really looked and analyzed my situations that I may not be living up to that element of what God has asked for us to do, but it would be helpful for us to have a list made from Romans 12, to just kind of put up, maybe on our desks, to look at every once in a while. In fact, I've listed and I've got 24 of them here from Romans 12 and 13. And I'm going to let you go through, I'm going to give you one more point here, and I'm going to let you go through chapters 13, 14, and 15 and see what Paul is talking about. You can list for yourself about what God would look for in a Christian. And as we apply the truth, as we apply the theology, as we apply the Scripture, what will we begin looking like? Because Jesus Christ says, when we return, we will recognize Him. You know why? He'll look like us. We'll be like Him if truly we have yielded to Him, if truly we have presented our bodies to Him. Over the course of the rest of our lives, we'll begin to look, think, and act like Him. Last point in 13, and then I'll conclude. 13 is an important point as well, chapter 13. Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore, Paul says, we see therefore He's going to make a point, whoever resists the authority, resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. So we live in a land. The land has laws. We abide by those laws. We pay our taxes. We do things. We're good citizens. Does it mean we believe everything we say? The law of the land is also some very heinous things that would be evil in God's sight. Abortion, same-sex marriage.

We obey the law of the land, but not when it conflicts with God's law. We're good citizens. Just as Jesus Christ was good citizens, it's not the example in His life. And then you can go through the rest of the chapters here and see what Paul is talking about, because the last four chapters there, he's talking about when we apply the Scriptures into our lives, and what we will become looking like.

We have to know. We have to learn. And the book of Romans is a very good example of understanding the truth, laying down the theology, and then applying it into your life. That's what God has called us all to do. And the book of Romans is a very good place to learn and understand what God is doing here and the concepts that you will find in the world when people try to deter you from what you believe. Well, let me conclude back in chapter 16. I'm not going to use my own words to conclude this. I'm going to use Paul's word here. I'll just conclude beginning in verse 25 of chapter 16, something we've read already. But we'll read it again in the context of all we've talked about today. Now to him who is able to establish you according to the gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ. According to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began, but now made manifest. And by the prophetic scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith, to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.