Romans * 83

Your Reasonable service

October 13, 2002

Brian Kocourek, Pastor

 

Let us stand in honor of His Presence as we would read from His Holy Word. ROMANS 12:1    I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think [of himself] more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

 

Let’s bow our head in prayer, Dear Gracious Living Father, we come before Thy Great Throne of Mercy, Your Living Word to present ourselves to you this morning as Living Sacrifices. An we do this Dear Father not in a way which would be legalistic or in a sense of payment, but with Love in our hearts for you and for your Great Mercy which you have shown to us by sending down your dear Son, our beloved brother Jesus, to pay the price which no man could pay. And we thank you Father in Jesus’ name, that name which we know is your own and which our brother Jesus came in that name, and in which we are to do all things in that name. For there is no other name by which man can be saved. And so Father we would ask that your Word would become alive in each and every one of us through Your bountiful Grace, in Jesus name we pray. Amen…

 

You may be seated.  

 

As I mentioned before, I have felt led to return to the series on the Book of Romans and pick up where we left off which is in these verses of Scripture in Romans 12. This will be number 83 in our series, and in our last message from this great book of Romans we spoke on presenting your body as a living sacrifice.

 

Now, since this has been over two and a half years, I think it would be good to go back and review Romans 12:1 again in its entirety.

 

Now, the Apostle Paul opens this chapter by saying, ROMANS 12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, In other words, (I implore you, therefore brethren, or I urgently request, therefore brethren. And if we would just stop here for a moment and ask why Paul’s language was so strong. He is saying I beseech you therefore, brethren, and this word beseech he used the Greek word,  parakaleo    {par-ak-al-eh'-o}which means to  beseech, - comfort - exhort - desire - pray - intreat  or simply to call to one's side for a summoning, in order to address, or speak to, in the way of exhortation, entreaty, comfort, instruction. To admonish, exhort, or even to beg, entreat, beseech; to strive to appease by entreaty in order to console, to encourage, comfort and strengthen by consolation. Or to bring about this consolation or comfort through means of instructing and teaching.

 

And this is precisely where I have come through all the teaching I have done through out the my world travels and teaching the brethren the doctrine in so many places. I have come to ask myself, what is the purpose of them knowing so much.

What is the purpose, What is God’s purpose behind revealing Himself in such a great way to us? What is rthe purpose of God bringing to us such great doctrinal truth? What is it all about? And I come to one conclusion, it should change the way we live. God has come to change the living.

 

ISAIAH 55:6  Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: 7 Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it. 12  For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap [their] hands. 13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign [that] shall not be cut off.

 

Notice, the word of the Lord will not return to Him VOID. That means it will not return empty or without having effect. Therefore, I se the purpose of the doctrine as not just so we can know God in a better way, but we are to know Him better so we ourselves can become better. The word should have such a lasting impression on us that it changes the way we think, and act and speak. It should never return void, and if the word has fallen on a soul that it does not affect, then that soul has not received the engrafted word, but the word has only fallen in a soil that has not been tilled and made ready to receive the seed.

 

God wants a harvest for His efforts. He does not sow in vain. He sows with a purpose.   And so we see the Apostle Paul here calling for the brethren to come to the place where they have come to a peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and in having done so, He now in a comforting way tells them by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service. If we break this statement down there are several parts to it, that must be reviewed as a whole. Let’s just label these on the board so we can examine them in the light of what we know.

 

1.      Present your Bodies.

2.      Living Sacrifice

3.      Holy

4.      Acceptable

5.      Reasonable

6.      Service

 

 

 

 

Let’s begin this morning by looking at number 1.     Present your Bodies. 

 

   The first thing he said was to present your bodies, and so he is speaking to us of our approach. This is the presentation or approach that he is telling us is so very important in our coming into this wonderful presence of God.

 

From the message, BELIEVEST THOU THIS? 50-0716  E-81 Brother Branham said,  It's your approach to a Divine gift what brings the results. It's the way you come to it. Isn't that right? The way you approach anything...

 

MINISTRY OF CHRIST  53-0607  E-62   But, brother, let me tell you something now. It's your attitude towards any Divine gift, your approach to that attitude determines what you're going to get out of it.

 

PROVING HIS WORD 65-0426  31    It's your approach. The attitude is what it takes. And that's what it is tonight, dear friend; it takes the attitude. We are, and believe that we are in the Presence of Jesus Christ, but it's your attitude that brings the results. The mechanics is here and so is the dynamics. If you can just get started, God will do the rest.

 

So, even in the very presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is our attitude and our approach to God that will determine whether we get anything out of His Presence or not. In the old testament the High priest was the only one who was permitted to bring in the sacrifices of the people into the very presence of  God. And that high priest had a rope around his waste and on the hem of his garments he had bells, and with each step that he took, those little bells would ring softly that he was approaching the Presence of God in that Pillar of Fire which remained above the Mercy seat. The bells were not for his sake, and nor were they for the sake of God to hear his approach. The bells were for the other ministers to be able to hear that approach, because if the bells stopped for a certain amount of time, then they knew the high priest had mis-stepped and had dies in the Presence of the Living God.

Therefore we know the approach is all important in presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice. We have already pointed out in this series the fact that when he is speaking of present as in presenting your body, we are also looking at the word PRESENT in terms of what you are to give. It is a present. And the presentation of the present is just as important as the gift you give. How you give a gift is very important and can mean more to the receiver than the gift itself.

 

How I have learned this lesson over the years the hard way living in a household of women, with my wife and three girls. A woman looks at the wrappings, the paper, the presentation of the present in a way which looks for meaning, thoughtfulness, and caring.  I think sometimes that men don’t look so much at the presentation, but I tell you it does matter.

 

Let me explain what I mean…How many of you like Pie? My favorite is either Apple, Lemon Me range or Cherry, or sometimes Pumpkin. Actually, I like them all, but I also have to be in the mood to eat them. But no matter what, the presentation of the pie really matters. I don’t really care to have it thrown in my face. And I don’t think any of you really would like that either. 

 

Most men love it when they come home from a hard days work and can smell that pie hot pie that has been just taken out of the oven. That’s part of the presentation. You receive the gift of the smell of that pie even before you receive the taste, and so the presentation is what counts.

 

What if you came home from a hard day of work, and your wife hands you a frozen pie and says here, I bought you this pie, bake it yourself… You see what I mean. And so we must look at the way we bring our present to the Lord. It’s our approach that makes the difference in how he accepts it.

 

Now, The apostkle Paul said this Present we are to present is a living sacrifice, He said, I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice.

 

Now, once we have the approach right.  We can enter into the holiest of holies and present the article of sacrifice. From the message,  

 

LAW OR GRACE  54-1006   127 brother Branham said,    Now, the high priest, being anointed, going in, he had to take the blood of an animal with him or he would die.  And another thing, about his garment. Did you know, at the end of that garment, did you ever know what was on the end of it? He had something on the end of it. And every... It was a little thing hanged down at the end of the border of his garment, and it was a pomegranate and a bell, and a pomegranate and a bell.  And he had to walk a certain way when he went in. He couldn't make hisself just any way. He had to walk a certain way. For every time he made a step, them bells had to play, bumping against the pomegranates, "Holy, holy, holy unto the Lord." Then the Lord heard him on the approach. Amen. Hallelujah.  There it is. God hears you if you're coming God's provided way on your approach, for you're coming, crying from your heart, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty." There you're entering though, when you come seeking for the Holy Spirit. See? "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty." 131And then, the congregation, the only way they knowed... Now, if you went in there not dressed exactly that way, he'd a died in the--in the door. He never come out no more. He died in there, if he didn't go in dressed and anointed to go in. Now, the only way the congregation knowed whether he was right or not... Oh, my. The only way the waiting congregation knowed whether the high priest was right or not, they heard the noise of them bells. There was a noise in there, and that's the way they knowed whether he was right or not.   I wonder if that same thing works today. If you go by a church, and everything is just dead and still, I don't know. But he makes a noise, you know; he lets the people know that God's still on the throne, God answers prayer, people still have the Holy Spirit, shouting the praises of God, glorifying God, making a lot of noise. The congregation say, "Well, He must be around here. This is a live place." When we go into the holiest of holies and claim to be Christians, there's got to be some noise made. And I don't mean some--a lot of nonsense. I mean some real, true noise. That's right. Now, watch here.  Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,  By a new and living way,... (not the old law)... when he has reconciled for the... through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;  And having an high priest over the house of God;  Let us draw nigh with a true heart and with full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from... evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that has promised.)

 

Notice, the only way that they knew there was life in there is by the sound that was being made. And as long as we got the right kind of sounds being made, then we know we are alive and walking in the presence of the Lord. Now, notice, brother Branham said, not a bunch of nonsense, but a noise based upon truth.

 

HEBREWS 10:19     Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20    By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21    And [having] an high priest over the house of God; 22    Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. 23    Let us hold fast the profession of [our] faith without wavering; (for he [is] faithful that promised;)  24    And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:  25    Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 26    For if we sin illfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27    But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28    He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance [belongeth] unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31 [It is] a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

 

Now, this boldness is not a disrespectful attitude, like a bull in a china shop that has no respect for the value of the china, but it is a parrhesia    {par-rhay-see'-ah}  -which not only means  boldness but it also speaks of  confidence and a freedom we have to speak, an  unreservedness in our speech; openly, frankly, without concealment; without ambiguity, without the use of figures and comparison It is a speech that is  free and fearlessly confident, a cheerful courage, resting in assurance. 

 

That's the right kind of sound, having a freedom in speaking the Word of God, Knowing you are saying it correctly. Having an unreservedness of speech. That's Malachi 3:16  But not just talking the Word, but getting into the Word until the Word gets into you.

 

Mal 3:16 Then they that feared the LORD  spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard [it], and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. 17 And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. 18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

 

From the Message, TOKEN THE  63-0901M   Brother Branham said,  35-3    Notice, they were not just yet come together to talk about the message. They come together to apply the blood, to apply the token.(and that is what we are talking about this morning, Weare talking about our approach to our present to God which is our own living being, being given to him in Love as a living sacrifice.)Brother Branham continues here,  That's what you must do. It's time that we laid aside all the foolishness of the world, time we laid aside everything else. We've seen enough now, that we're positive, sure, and the Token must be applied. Without it, you're going to perish; you must perish. That is the only thing. Oh, don't come together, say, "I believe it." Get beneath it. Get into it. How to do it? By one Spirit we're baptized into the Body of Jesus Christ. Everybody believe with all your heart. See? He was not responsible for any out from beneath it. But you believe. Get beneath it. Israel didn't come together to say, "Let's all go over to Goshen today. We'll drive up to Goshen. You get on your camel, and we'll take the ox cart, and we'll take the Joneses over here, and so forth, and the Goldbergs, and we'll all go up to Goshen. And you know what? Moses is going to speak today." That wasn't it. No, sir, brother. It's to get beneath that blood. Yes, indeed. Not to talk about it, get into it. One of them say, "You know, Mr. Goldberg, I actually know that's the truth. Yes, brother, I believe it is the truth. I know that it is the truth."

 

Now, we are talking about presenting a living sacrifice to God, not a dead one. But one that has been made alive! And just talking the Word will not do. We must enter into that Word.

 

I JOHN 1:1   That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2    (For the life was manifested, and we have seen [it], and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship [is] with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4    And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 5       This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6    If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7    But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 ¶  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and ttruth is not in us. 9    If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

 

You can't just talk it, you've got to walk in it, and that means a commitment.  Talk is cheap, but John said here, if you WALK in it, that means you will FELLOWSHIP in it, and that means you will share it and  partake of it, and live it.  Talk is the first part, you come together to talk the word but that is not all of it. That is only the beginning, the walk is the what follows.

 

 Let’s just bow our heads in prayer.

 

Gracious Father, we have come today and we have been faithful to look into thy Word of Life. Now we would ask that you would release the Life that is within the Word upon us that we might also live it in Jesus Name we pray, Amen.