Moved by Mercy

Well, the title of our study today, Moved by Mercy. Moved by Mercy. Now, I invite you to open your Bibles, and let's turn to Romans chapter 12. Romans 12, it will be the source of our study this afternoon. You'd like to turn there. Romans 12 verses 1 and 2 is where we'll begin, as we do come to this incredible and impactful days of unleavened bread, that we will begin tomorrow and beginning tonight.

And the truly great and humbling story about the days of unleavened bread is that they begin with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And with that, this feast of unleavened bread is a festival which helps us to properly respond to that sacrifice. And we are to respond to that sacrifice simply stated by replacing sin with righteousness. We go through that physical act here at the beginning of these days for the next seven days.

We put out the leaven symbolic of sin and we take in, during these days, unleavened, symbolic of Christ and his righteousness. Jesus was resurrected during these the days of unleavened bread, and he now comes to the life of a called believer to accomplish that very thing. And it is that this incredible mercy and grace with which propels us, this mercy, this grace, moves us into these unleavened days. God's mercy moves us. God's mercy in this way, the giving of his son, does not leave us where we were.

It certainly doesn't leave us where we are. The act of Jesus Christ moves us to want to become like him. It's a deep desire to move away from anything that separates us from God the Father, namely sin. And so mercy, God's great mercy, drives us to these unleavened days. And as we will see from the Apostle Paul here, he puts it this way, that we are to be moved to that which is good, acceptable, and within the perfect will of the Father. So Romans 12, verse 1 and 2, just two verses, Paul writes, 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.

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. Let's stop there. So just know these words are being directed to us. They were being directed to God's church in Rome. They're being directed to us today. And what Paul is urging the church to do now that Jesus Christ has died and been raised to life is to take seriously what is required of them. Phillips paraphrases this opening verse in this way. I think it's a pretty good quote.

Quote, with eyes wide open to the mercies of God, I beg you, my brothers and sisters, as an act of intelligent worship to give God your bodies as a living sacrifice. Unquote. So we're going to get to this whole notion of what it means to give your bodies to God as a sacrifice. We're going to get to that action point in just a moment. But first, because first I want to explore with you what this beseeching is.

What is this begging here, which Paul puts forth here? I beg you, as Phillips translated, as an act of intelligent worship, I beseech you. This is your reasonable service. The reasonable service, that word in the Greek, is logikos. It's where we get the word logical.

So it's important for us to understand that this is not an exhortation from Paul on the basis of emotion. It's not an attempt by Paul to appeal to the emotions of God's people. We can be familiar with that. We can have teachers of the Bible appeal emotionally.

It's not unusual to see that, of course, where the person in leadership looks to move, stimulates individuals with an emotional appeal. That's not this. That's not what Paul's tone is. This is one of entreaty. I beseech you, or I urge you. This verb, it's not heavy-handed. It's not, I command you. But at the same time, it's not merely suggesting that this is a possible response. Here's a couple of ideas that I think you might think about. Go away and consider them. No, it's not that as well.

So his tone is not heavy-handed, nor is it a soft suggestion. Rather, it's a beseeching. It's an entreaty. This is a captain of a team going out onto the field and saying, come on, let's go together. Let's go to victory. That's the tone here. Let's move on. Let's go. Come with me. So it is marked with an urgency here. So that's the tone of the appeal. But what I want to move to is even more important here.

And what we want to look at is the basis of this appeal. So before we get to the action point, before we get to the words after, therefore, give your body. I want to talk about this urging here. I want to talk about the basis of the beseeching. Because you'll notice verse 1, I beseech you. And he says, brethren, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God. So the therefore that now comes just before this, he's tying into all that he said from chapters 1 leading up to chapters 12 here.

All throughout this letter, Paul has been enforcing and reinforcing the foundational nature of God's mercy. With mercy as the basis upon which a sinful person may be put right with God, the appeal is made upon that foundation.

And what we find is that it is understanding God's great mercy toward us, which is the starting point to observing the days of unleavened bread in the proper way. And it is the starting point, understanding the mercies of God, which will help us come to these days and truly fulfill them. Being moved by God's mercy, a critical act to consider. It's a critical basis upon which to come to these days. Because if you think about it, the days of unleavened bread are really action orientated, aren't they? You know, I don't want to oversimplify these days, but the days of unleavened bread are certainly do this and don't do this, right? A major point of action with these days. Remove these things from your life. It's a physical act that we do, but it's more importantly it's a spiritual act. Remove the leaven. Leaven in the Bible represents sin. Remove that and take in unleavened bread. Take in Christ. So this is the the actions, the activity of these days. But again, before I can be moved to these unleavened activities, I need to know where the motivation comes from. Because it's perfectly understandable, and I'm sure it happened at that time, for someone to come to the Apostle Paul and say, Paul, you're beseeching me on the mercies of God.

Okay, why do I need the mercies of God? You know, someone might say, I hear you, but I don't really need mercy. I don't believe you're beseeching me on this. Why do I need it?

That's an important question to ask. And rather than me try to explain it, what we find is Paul has been explaining and giving the answer to that very question again, all throughout the beginning of this letter. And Paul addressed that very question a few chapters back. So if you'd like to turn back with me to Romans 5. Paul here, again, Paul is leading us to this therefore action point. But before he gets there, he needs to explain that we have a need so that the beseeching will really hit home to our hearts. Why do we need mercy? So if he's going to beseech us on the basis of mercy, what does that mean to us? Well, here it is. Romans 5. Let's read verses 12 through 17. Here, brethren, is why we need mercy and therefore by him beseeching in this way, it should transform us. Romans 5 verses 12 through 17. Here's where we are. Therefore, just as through one man, speaking of Adam, sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned. For until the law, until the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses. In other words, what he's saying is death still reigned even before Mount Sinai. So from from Adam to Moses, when the law was codified, he's saying sin was still there. Death still reigned. So this is no one is exempt from this death that he's speaking about. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam. If your sin is not like Adam's, it doesn't matter. Adam, who was a type of him who was to come, so this is now transitioning us to Jesus Christ. You'll notice the capital, him. Verse 15, but the free gift is not like the offense.

For if by one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from the one offense resulted in condemnation. But the free gift which came from many offenses rejoices resulted in justification. For if by one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one Jesus Christ. Let's stop there. So let me summarize this for you. Why do we need mercy in this way? Why should Paul beseeching us of the mercies of God mean anything to us? Well, it's there. Again, verse 12, therefore just through one man Adam's sin entered the world and death through sin and thus death spread to all men because all have sinned.

Okay, there's your condition. Death. But he, Jesus Christ, acted in this way for us. Verse 15, verse 15 again, but the free gift is not like the offense. For if by one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of this one man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. So we have this sinful nature. Death has spread to all men, all women. There's no dimension in our humanity that's not touched by sin and therefore there's no dimension in humanity that's not touched with death. Our minds, it affects our minds and how we think. It affects our emotions and how we express those things. It affects our wills and what we determine to do. And the Bible says we're orientated away from God and that we in many ways have committed to our own way and that way has brought us death. And it is on the account of that that we need God's mercy.

God's mercy is His love in action. God's mercy is responding to our condition and He died so that we would have access to live and not just live in this physical life, live eternally.

But again, the offer of mercy and forgiveness in that we will not be moved to the activity of this week, the days of unleavened bread, until we understand our need of it.

And again, and actually, I think the reason and myself included, while we come to these days, I do this every year. I look back and I think, wow, I have not made good progress here spiritually.

I'm in the same rut in many ways as I was a year ago. And it may be because I've completely missed God's mercy and my need of it. Somehow or another, consciously, subconsciously, I feel like I'm doing okay. Well, we are in a dreadful condition and Jesus Christ came to give us, get us out of that dreadful condition.

We're all in need of mercy, the mercy of God. Because until I understand my need for mercy and the forgiveness of God, the meaning of the days of unleavened bread won't mean very much to me. You know, if someone comes and says, I beseech you therefore brethren on the mercies of God, present your bodies as living sacrifices, you know, be holy, acceptable to God at your reasonable service. Well, and you might say, well, that's very kind of you, but I don't need the mercies of God. You know, if you don't have this understanding here, but if you know and you know that you know Romans 5 and the condition that you and I all are in, then when someone comes and says, I beseech you therefore on the mercies of God, well, that does something to me. You see?

So Paul is issuing this call to the believers in Rome to commit themselves, respond to what is required here, respond to what's been given to you.

And this is a very main theme of Paul. If you know to look for it, when you begin to read Paul's letters, you begin to see it all throughout his writings. Let me just give you two cross references to really nail this down for you. If you'd like to keep your marker here, let's turn to two cross references where Paul writes about this very thing. First is found in Titus 3 verses 3 through 7. If you want to turn there, keep your marker there in Romans, and turn to Titus 3 verses 3 through 7.

Again, what we're going to see here is the great power, the great moving of mercy.

And Paul is writing to young Titus. He's a pastor, and Paul's telling him, this is the basis by which you need to begin your ministry. This is the basis by which you teach your people. You need to base it all on mercy. It all flows from that. Look at this. Titus 3 verse 3. For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we've done, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by his grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Okay. So, we're in a death condition. Here we have the hope of eternal life. So, Titus, young Titus, this is how you make your appeal, he says. I want to remind them, though, of their condition. This is not a good condition. Foolish, disobedient, deceived, various lusts. They were deceived. You'll notice Paul includes himself in this. We ourselves, he says there in verse 3. So he's saying, I was the same. Alice lived in envy.

But when the kindness and love of God are appeared of our Savior. So, when this kindness and the love of our God, our Savior, appeared toward man, appeared, this is the transaction point. An actual transaction occurs here. The kindness appearing. It appears to you in a personal way. This is to you, personally, sitting here. This is the offer that you can be on the receiving end of all that was accomplished at Christ's crucifixion. Reconciliation. Back to the Father.

Be given life. So, you're in this condition. And then here we go, verse 5. Verse 5, And not because of your works of righteousness that we've done, but the reason that you have life available to you again is because of his mercy. He saved you. Because of his mercy, he saved you.

So, if grace is whereby God gives us what we don't deserve, so God gives us what we don't deserve by grace, mercy, we could say, he doesn't give us what we do deserve. So, he doesn't give us death.

He doesn't allow that to be the final conclusion.

And the reason he doesn't apply the condemnation to us from our sins is because he's applied it, the condemnation to his Son. That's the essence of mercy.

So, that's the first reference. One more reference. I just want to show you that this is a common theme throughout all of Paul's writing. This appeal on the basis of God's mercy. Paul writes to the Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 2, if you'll turn there. Paul makes the same point again. Ephesians 2 verses 1 through 3. Paul takes this same approach. It's an appeal on the basis of God's mercy. He will once again say, you were this way, but now you have understanding that God's mercy now is able to move you to a different condition. So Ephesians 2 verses 1 through 3.

And we have this death and life contrast here. Ephesians 2 verse 1, and you, he made alive.

Who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which he once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. That's Satan the devil. The spirit which now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom we also we all once conducted ourselves in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh in the mind, and were by nature children of wrath just as others. Okay? But, verse 4 and 5, but God, who's rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. So Paul says again, God who's rich in mercy. Now, why do I belabor this? Why belabor this?

Well, as we come to these days of unleavened bread and we belabor this because of all I'm about to say, we belabor this because there is some action needed after the therefore. So if you'd like to turn back to Romans 12, we have to get a hold of this. The basis of the beseeching, the entreaty, is based on the mercy of God. And what will happen if, you know, if we do not get a hold of this and we move from, I beseech you to present your bodies a living, sacrifice, holding an acceptable God without the foundation of mercy will immediately go wrong here. This is a call to God's people who have been drawn to his Son. The Father draws you to his Son. If you're in that blessed position, this is you. And so this is a call to people who are on the receiving side of mercy to do this.

Okay? So this is not a call to God's people. Do this and you'll be accepted.

You know, we read just there this is not according to our own acts of righteousness while we were still sinners. So this beseeching is you're on the receiving side.

The receive you're a receiver of God's mercy. So do this. Be who you are. You now are the children of God. You are a son and daughter of God. Be who you are. Be who you are. And if you need a model, there's your elder brother, Jesus Christ. You're in this family. Be who you are. That's the beseeching here. Become all that God intends you to be. This is a call to those who believe in Jesus Christ, have responded to that call. They believe and they respond to the punishment that we know He took for us to provide us forgiveness we don't deserve. This is to the church who have actually had their eyes open to the good news, who understand that we were objects of nature. Now we're objects of mercy. This is the appeal. And it's an appeal that we be absolutely changed by the mercy of God. Absolutely changed. Nothing in our life after this point should look like it did.

Again and again we see that list. You were once this. Envious. Hatred. Insert your conditions here.

That's who you once were. Today you are receiving end of God's mercy.

And now we're getting to the action point. And only then, once that basis is established, will the beseeching mean anything to us. You know, I can bring a fire truck to your home and say your house is on fire.

And if you don't know it's on fire, you might say, well that's nice, but thank you. But no thank you. You know. But of course, if you know you're in a dreadful predicament and you receive the offer for the quenching of the fire, you're going to be moved by that offer of help. You see? Incidentally, the only way we are convicted by our sin is by God's grace, His Spirit. We have to have a desire to be convicted, though. That's why the days of unleavened bread are so important. During these days we bring God into our self-examination.

And it's difficult to pray, but we say, Father, let me see me. Let me see it. I need to know my condition. I need to see myself. Truly see myself.

If you don't know that you need to be saved, why would you need a Savior? You know?

So I want to see myself mercifully. Mercifully, Father, I want to see myself in the reality, in the rebellion against you, so that then I will be driven to find your mercy.

By Christ's living and perfect obedience, He took the condemnation by His sacrifice. His blood washed away our stains, and by His death and resurrection, we have life opportunity available to us. Eternal life. And so it is from that act of gracious mercy that we move into the days of unleavened bread. And it's awesome. Again, like I mentioned, it's awesome. You know, the days of unleavened bread don't come before the Passover. The Passover comes while we were still sinners. That's the driving point to fulfill what these days require. So we should be spurged to righteousness.

So at the heart of Paul's exhortation, in view of God's mercy, I say these things to you.

So Paul has done all the hard work of laying down the condition of man and providing the solution through Jesus Christ. Therefore, I beseech you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, in view of His mercy, here it is that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. That is your reasonable service after receiving this mercy and this opportunity for life. 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. So he wants us to offer our bodies. What does this offering look like? What does this moving, being moved by mercy, look like? You may say, I think it's fairly straightforward, and I think it is. Words are important here. These phrases are important.

He doesn't say, I want your money. He doesn't even say, I want your intellect or whatever it may be.

He says, I want you. You. You, as a living sacrifice, your whole life on this earth, is to be a living sacrifice to God. I want you to offer everything you are. What does that mean? It represents all of, all that I am, all that I think, all that I feel, all that I know. Present your bodies a living sacrifice and be holy, he says. That's the bar.

Be holy. Be acceptable to God. Be holy and acceptable to God. How? How? By not being conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of your mind.

So, in other words, this world, whatever belongs to this world, whatever is earthly in its nature, whatever is not heavenly, we could say. Everything that is contrary to what's holy and acceptable to God, that you are to put to sacrifice. You are to put to death everything that is of earthly nature. We had just read there in Romans 5, through one man's sin, I mean, through one man's sin, death entered the world and death spread to all men. So, essentially, we are called to break the cycle of sin. And it might be a prayer that you pray later on tonight. I don't want to participate in spreading death. I don't want to participate in that thing, that sin that spreads death. I'm breaking the cycle. I'm starting here with me.

I want to be a living sacrifice. Put to death your earthly natures. Do not conform to them. So, let's really nail this down. What does this tangibly look like? Not conforming, but engaging in transforming, renewing. These are, some of these verbs are present tense. This is a daily transforming, a daily conforming. It's approving daily what is good and acceptable will of God.

Daily proving these things in our lives. It is, for example, the refusal to allow my eyes to wander to that which is sinful. The moment I recognize it, reject it, put it to death.

The refusal to allow my mind to contemplate. The minute that sinful thought comes, put it out.

In other words, my success in this endeavor, not to be conformed, but be transformed, is in my success, it lies in the ability for me to redirect my eyes, or to re-channel my thinking, or to re-organize my affections when they're not right. And this might help some of us here today, because our prayer really shouldn't be, remove me from the battle. You know, Christ said, I pray that you not take them out of the world. And here we're not supposed to be of the world. So what is this?

So, maybe change your prayer not to be out. You know, we're in the world, but be, I want to be renewed while I'm here. Give me the strength here. I'm not praying that you remove me from the battle, because I know it's effective toward my purpose, but I pray that you'll give me the strength and the ability in the battle, this renewing. It's a lifelong process. It's a daily proving that which is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So it's not that you lost the battle when the temptation arises in your heart. That's not when the battle's lost. The battle's lost is when you put your affections on it. Renewing. Be renewed always. Engage in the practice of deliberate rejection of earthly desires and deeds. At the moment you become conscious of it. You know, I find it interesting that Paul writes here, and he brings the mind into this, doesn't he? Be transformed by the renewing of the mind. So, you know, in many ways that's what it's all about. Our minds are control towers for our bodies. Unless we have some deficiency, our bodies are in submission to our minds. So it starts here in our mind. So this is where we have to be transformed.

The mind is where we consider possibilities. Sometimes we consider sinful possibilities. We got to take that out, and it's so difficult sometimes. But this is what we're to be doing.

A living sacrifice. We're to be sacrificing that which our self is drawn to. But we're going to sacrifice the self in order to be who we are. And the devil may come along and bring attractions and temptations to us, but he doesn't make us sin. Tom Sawyer, I don't think it had it right, you know.

I think he told Aunt Polly, the devil made me do it, you know.

No, well, for the called believer, that's not so. It's rather when I sin, I submit myself to the earthly desire rather than submitting to the Spirit. I sew in the flesh at that moment instead of sewing in the Spirit. But if we're living in the Spirit, we're making Christ the center of our lives. And again, this everything that we're speaking about is the essence of the Days of Unleavened Bread. There is a negative component to it. There is a putting out. Absolutely. We saw that list. Fleshly desires, envy, hatred, you know. We have to put that out. But I got to tell you, if you don't replace it with that which is unleavened, those things will come back. So it's this negative aspect, putting out. And then there's this addition, this positive aspect of adding out with the leaven in with the unleavened. That's the Days of Unleavened Bread. And our motivation? Mercy. All is on the basis of the mercy shown to us.

So as we conclude, are you being moved by His mercy? Again, truly the humbling story of the Feast of Unleavened Bread is that they begin with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He died and was resurrected during these days. And He now comes to the life of a called believer. And He shows us incredible mercy. And that should move us. He says, now you are the Son of God, the Daughter of God. Be who you are. So today, I will beseech you as we conclude as Paul beseech you, uh, Saul. I beseech you today, brethren, to be moved by the mercies of God.