Romans * 86
Holy
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
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.
As we stated last night there are 10 things that the apostle Paul mentions here in these first 2 verses of chapter 12.
ROMANS 12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that ye #1-present
your bodies –this speaks of how important the presentation is.
#2- a living sacrifice, - this speaks of a sacrifice
that has been made alive, by God’s very life in us. Therefore what remains to
be examined is the following seven points.
#3- holy,
#4- acceptable unto God,
#5- which is your
reasonable service.
#6- And be not conformed to this world:
#7- but be ye transformed
#8- by the renewing of your mind,
#9- that ye may prove
#10 what [is] that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God.
Last evening we
continued in our study of the Book of Romans chapter 12 and verse 1-2. and we spoke on the Living Sacrifice.
The Apostle Paul is
speaking here no longer of a blood sacrifice which represents a dead sacrifice,
but he is speaking of a living sacrifice. one which is
not dead, but rather one which has been made alive. And in HEBREWS
So we see by this
that it s not the works but rather our consciousness of God that that counts.
Paul is telling us here to purge our conscience fro dead works, in order to serve
the Living God.
In ROMANS 12:1-2
he tells us how we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice and it is by
renewing of our minds. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed (How are we
to be transformed? ) by the
renewing of your mind,(And what will that do for us? He says,) that ye may prove
what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (It’s all about the Will of God. Jesus
said, It is written in the volume of the Book, I have
come to do thy will O God. Jesus, said Father, not my will but thy will be
done. And Paul said in Colossians “Let this mind (this attitude) which was
in Christ be in You.) Notice here, as
he continues
Now, this morning I would like to focus our attention on the next element in Paul’s view on how to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God. And this morning, we will look at what it means to be Holy. He said this living sacrifice is one that is Holy, and so we want to know what it means to be a living sacrifice that is holy.
Notice, point # 3, He said, Holy. We are to present to God not only a living sacrifice but a Holy sacrifice. And how is this possible, for there is none holy but the Lord.
HEBREWS 6:1 ¶ Therefore leaving the principles of the
doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and
of faith toward God,
So we see that our
works are considered dead before God. Those are works without Faith. For Works
that express Faith have been anointed by the Holy Spirit, and have become an
expression of His Life.
HEBREWS CHAPTER 5 AND 6 57-0908M 184-106 We
could take it verse by verse, each one of those things. Baptism, we believe it.
"There's one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism." We believe that
there's a baptism. We believe in the resurrection of the dead: absolutely. We
believe Jesus died and rose again. We believe that. Laying on the hands for the
sick, that's what it said: "These signs shall follow them that believe. If
they lay their hands on the sick, they shall recover." We believe that.
But what is that? Paul said, "It's
all dead works." It's something
that you do. Now let's go on to perfection. Oh, my.
Notice brother
Branham is telling us here that the things that we can do for God is all dead works.
There is nothing we can do that will merit anything, for if we can do anything
then Christ died in vain. God does not want a dead sacrifice, he wants a living
one. Br. Branham continues by saying, …
“We're coming into the Tabernacle, not the
foundation, the Tabernacle, the Tabernacle Itself. That's the foundation: the
law, and the righteousness, and joining church, and being baptized, and laying on of hands. Them's
all orders of the church, but now let's go into perfection. And there's only One
that is perfected; that's Jesus. How do we get into Him? Through
the Methodists? No. Pentecostal? No. Baptist? No. Through any church?
No. Roman Catholic? No.
Now, Paul told us
our living sacrifice is to be Holy, and the word he used here is the Greek
word, hagios pronounced,
(hag'-ee-os) and
it is made up from two root words, hagnos which means
pure,
chaste, clear, sacred, pure from carnality, modest, immaculate and clean.
The other root word is Thaipo and it means, to cherish with tender love. Or tender care.
So we see that
bringing these two words together we have a purity that comes as a result of tender
love and care. Therefore, we have purity out from the motive of true
tender care, and
we see modesty that comes from
tender love, and we see a sacredness out from and in response
to pure love. We have a
life pure from carnality one that is modest, immaculate and clean,
not from a fear of retribution, nor from a fear of
penalty, but as a result of an inner motive of Tender Love and Tender Care for
our Savior. This holiness that Paul is speaking of here as not the result of a
rigid and disciplined life style, but a result of true caring and tender love
for God.
How contrary this is to the disciplined and rigid life of the legalist. Those are people who through fear of retribution from a Holy God live in fear and walk in fear and tremble at the thought of eternal separation from God and Heaven. These are people who do right not because it is the right thing to do, but they do right because of fear of penalty for doing wrong.
But Paul said this sacrifice is Holy out of a different kind of motive. A motive that is stimulated by tender Love and tender care for the One Who gave them new birth. Oh, how different the two motives are. One binds you while the other sets you free, and yet they both will produce the same works, and the same outward acts. But as I mention going into the study of these two verses, the things Paul begins with here is setting our minds on the importance of the presentation.
If you will recall the man who comes home after a hard days work to the aroma of an apple pie baking in the oven, and fresh baked bread sitting out on the counter and the aroma of a nice cooked meal, and the atmosphere has been set to give a wonderful presentation of this gift of supper to him, while on the other hand we saw the man who came home and his wife hands him a frozen TV dinner and says, put it in the oven at 325 and I’ll see you in an hour after I get home from shopping.
Both men receive the
gift of a supper from their wife, but what a difference in the presentation of
that gift. And that is the same way God looks upon what we do. Your Holiness
ads nothing to God, but if you present your gift with tender love and care to
Him, He looks upon your motive, He looks to the very recesses of your heart,
and He knows your presentation, if it is motivated by Love or by fear.
LEVITICUS 20:7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy:
for I [am] the LORD your God. 8 And ye
shall keep my statutes, and do them: I [am] the LORD which sanctify you.
Our Holiness is a
result of a cleaning act which can only come from God’s word. It is not an act
in our flesh, produced by our disciplines life, but it is an expression which
begins in our mind, and is conveyed outwardly through the actions of our
bodies.
In PSALMS 119:9 we
read, ¶ Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his
way? by taking heed [thereto] according to thy word.
So we see that it si taking heed to the Word that brings cleansing in our Life. Listen, I have seen Women who live so high and mighty, and are so heavenly bound that they have their noses up in the clouds, and look down in disgust upon mortal man as though they are mere sinful creatures and a much lower race than they themselves are. Do you think God is pleased with that? Do you think you can bring that kind of an attitude before God and it be an acceptable attitude? I don’t think so!
Jesus met those kind of self starched people in his day and they were the Pharisees. So he told them a story about the two different ways of approaching God.
LUKE 18:10 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the
one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus
with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as
other men [are], extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or
even as this publican. 12 I fast twice
in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13
And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as [his] eyes
unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified [rather] than the
other: for every one that exalteth himself
shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall
be exalted.
It’s the approach that counts. One man approached God with a broken and contrite heart and God openly accepted his prayer while the other man had lived no doubt a much more disciplined life, but look at his approach. He wasn’t looking for forgiveness! He was proud, and gloating how much better he was than the sinner next to him. And look at Jesus words concerning that man. Jesus said he was not even justified, whereas the man who approached God in contrition went away justified, cleansed, and free from all guilt and stain in the eyes of God.
Paul said, ROMANS 4:1 ¶ What shall we say then that Abraham
our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? 2 For
if Abraham were justified by works, he hath [whereof] to glory; but not before
God. 3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God,
and it was counted unto him for righteousness. 4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh
not, but believeth on him that justifieth the
ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 6 Even as David also describeth
the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth
righteousness without works, 7 [Saying], Blessed [are]
they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. 8 Blessed [is] the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
9 ¶ [Cometh] this blessedness then upon the
circumcision [only], or upon the uncircumcision also?
for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for
righteousness. 10 How was it then reckoned? when he
was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in
circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 11 And he
received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith
which [he had yet] being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them
that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be
imputed unto them also: 12 And the father of circumcision to them who are not
of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our
father Abraham, which [he had] being [yet] uncircumcised. 13 For
the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, [was] not to Abraham, or
to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if
they which are of the law [be] heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made
of none effect: 15 Because the law worketh
wrath: for where no law is, [there is] no transgression. 16 Therefore [it is]
of faith, that [it might be] by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to
all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is
of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
Jesus said in Luke
chapter 7, them whose sins, are many, and are forgiven; loveth much: but to whom little is forgiven, [the same] loveth little.
LUKE
Notice then that
forgiveness produces much more love in the individual than all the doing will
ever produce. Jesus is letting us know that when we have a willing heart, ready
to forgive, we will be loved more. And in the same illustration he tells us
that if we are perfect in our actions but have a rigid and stony attitude
toward others we can love only little.
Notice how the Word of God shows us that our cleansing brings forth two things, holiness and Love. And it is these two things together that merit with God. We are not clean and therefore holy. We are cleansed by the Love of God and the tender mercy of God and therefore, have become holy unto to. Set aside for service because we have a right heart, and our heart first has become holy. Our heart first has been cleansed, and because we can see our own condition is as filthy rags, and we have been made clean by the blood of the lamb, we then have a tender heart for others and a forgiving heart for others and as we love, and tenderly care we are made holy.
Therefore our
holiness is not a state of our actions, but a condition of the heart. And if it
is true holiness it will bubble over with Love.
EPHESIANS 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also
loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it
to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;
but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Notice Paul is
saying Love that you may sanctify. Love that you might
cleanse. Love that you might make holy.
TITUS 3:5 Not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration,
and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
It seems we so
overlook the simple things, and yet that is where God hides, is in simplicity.
Everyone wants the challenge to do the big things, and yet it is in those
simple acts of love that cleansing and therefore holiness are born.
I KINGS 5:1 ¶ Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a
great man with his master, and honourable, because by
him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, [but he was] a leper. 2 And the Syrians had gone
out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the
PSALMS 51:7 ¶ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Holiness and
cleansing is born out of Love. JOHN 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to
condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
And our Love comes
from being loved first. I JOHN
ISAIAH 1:16 ¶ Wash
you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes;
cease to do evil; 17Learn to do well;
seek judgment, relieve the oppressed,
judge the fatherless, plead for the
widow. 18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool.
IT WASN'T SO FROM THE BEGINNING 60-0306 E-54 Sent His Holy Spirit down here to come into
our flesh, which He has sanctified with His own blood... You believe in
sanctification? "Be ye holy, for I am holy." Now, you cannot be holy.
I'm not depending on my holiness. I have none. But I'm depending on His
holiness. It's His holiness that I'm looking at. Not what... Well, not what I
was, but what He is. That's it. Go back to the beginning. There it is: Jesus
Christ the same yesterday...
Notice then our
holiness is not what we do for Him, but what He has done for us.
I SAMUEL 2:2 [There is] none holy as the LORD: for [there
is] none beside thee: neither [is there] any rock like our God.
There is none that
is Holy but the Lord, and when He cleans you up and fills you with His HOLY
Spirit, then having the same Spirit and same Life in you as in Him, you are now
made a Holy people.
LEVITICUS 20:7 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy:
for I [am] the LORD your God. The cleansing comes first and then
Holiness follows. But it all begins because of Love, for He first Loved us, and then gave of Himself, a part of Himself to us
to live through us.
I THESSALONIANS
4:7 For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. 8 He
therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who
hath also given unto us his holy Spirit. 9 ¶ But as touching brotherly love ye
need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one
another.
Notice how you cannot
separate Holiness in the scripture from Love for that is what it is. It is Hagios,
it is a Tender Loving Care. That’s what Holiness is. And that is what is
expressed through holiness.
I PETER
Oh, my Peter begins
by speaking on being holy even as God is Holy, and then he swings right into
showing how we express this holiness, and that is by loving the brethren.
1 Peter
And if this God life
comes forth from God’s Word, and lasts forever, then our love of the brethren
will not diminish and become less, but will rather
grow. And if our Love for the brethren does diminish, then our holiness is
waxing hard and becoming mere works as well.
DEUTERONOMY 7:6 For thou [art] an holy people unto the LORD
thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself,
above all people that [are] upon the face of the earth7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were
more in number than any people; for ye [were] the fewest of all people: 8 But
because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had
sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and
redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of
Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he [is] God, the faithful God,
which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love
him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
Because He loves us we are made Holy. Then let’s take that attitude and do the same. Let this mind which was in Christ be in you. Let this attitude which was in Christ be in you.
PHILIPPIANS 2:1 ¶ If [there be] therefore any consolation in
Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels
and mercies, 2 Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love,
[being] of one accord, of one mind. 3 [Let] nothing [be done] through strife or
vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem
other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every
man also on the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in
Christ Jesus:
Let us pray. Dear
Gracious Father we are so thankful that you first loved us and have shown us
the way, and expressed your love to us through the death of your only begotten
so, that the very Life that you placed in Him might come back into us, and that
through that act of love, we have been freed from our own self righteousness
and have become Holy, by a Holy God, whose Holy Spirit has come through Your
Holy Word to live your Holy Life full of Love and compassion and Loving tender
care through our own vessels, that we might become the very Holiness of God.
And we thank you Father for what you are continuing to do through your Word in
this hour. Amen.