Let's start again. The text before us this morning is one of the most crucial in all of the scriptures for our understanding of the Christian life of biblical sanctification. It's the beginning of the application section of the book of Romans, and Paul's just spent eleven chapters teaching us about the gospel of Jesus Christ and all its many implications. 

I understand the book of Romans really is an explanation of the gospel, sort of an expanded version of the gospel, meant to bring us to a deeper understanding of who Christ is, what He has done, and who we are in Him. In the first three chapters, we see the condemnation of all men in Adam, their guilt before a holy God. Beginning at verse 21 in chapter 3, we see the good news of justification by grace through faith in Jesus alone. We see that God, through faith in Jesus in chapter 4, imputes His righteousness to us by making us fit for heaven. 

Then in chapters 5 through 8, we see Paul develop a most wonderful doctrine, the doctrine of regeneration, which is what we're going to talk about this morning, explained by our union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. These chapters explain not the positional truth of justification, such as in chapters 3 and 4, but the actual change that God has performed in us by His grace and power. 

This regeneration was promised as part of the new covenant way back in Ezekiel 36, Jeremiah 31—a new heart, a new spirit, the Holy Spirit living in us, permanently indwelling us. Paul tells us we are new men, we are new creations in Christ; we've died to sin, we've died to the law, we've been released from the bondage of the fear of death. All of these amazing truths are the premise, they're the basis, they're the why we must now live a new kind of life as believers in Jesus Christ. These are the mercies of God that Paul talks about in Romans 12:1. 

This is the new birth to a new life, and it's all of these great indicative truths upon which Paul bases his imperative statement, his command here in Romans 12:1 and 2. I beseech you, brethren, he says, I beg you, brethren, by the mercies of God. This phrase refers to all of the great doctrines of the first 11 chapters, and the call is to live out who we are. Live outwardly in your walk, by your actions, in consistency with who you are inwardly because of the regenerative work of God in salvation, the power of His life in you.

This is the message of our text, the admission of Paul, and it's the explanation of biblical sanctification. Let's look at those verses again, Romans 12:1 and 2. "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."

Well, I've given you six points on your outline this morning: 

1. The mercies of God,
2. Reasonable service, 
3. Stop being conformed, 
4. Be being transformed, 
5. The renewing of your mind, 
6. Biblical sanctification. 

In Romans chapter 6, Paul asks this interesting question. He says, "Do you not know? Do you not know?" My brothers, my sisters in Christ, do you not know? He makes this statement in response to an objection to the grace of God in Jesus Christ, superabounding grace and the presence of our abounding sin. I want to look together at that passage as we begin, Romans 5:20. 

"Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more; so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?"

Now look at what Paul says, verse 3: "Or do you not know that as many of us as were placed into, baptized there means to place into, it's a dry verse, that as many of us as were placed into Christ Jesus were placed into His death?" We were united with Him in His death; therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 

"For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin; for he who has died has been freed from sin." 

Paul preaches the pure gospel of grace and a life lived by grace through faith, and there's a concern, there's an objection. Paul says if grace superabounds where sin abounds, he's telling us that when we sin, God's grace covers that; God's grace overrules that. 

So the objection, the question, is, "Are you saying, Paul, that we should sin all the more? Are you saying that we can sin all we want and God's grace will cover it? Are you antinomian, Paul, against the law?" And Paul's answer to this objection is, in essence, this: if this is your response to grace, if this is your question in response to the gospel of grace, then you really do not understand salvation in Jesus Christ. 

"Do you not know? Do you not know that we died, that we were buried with Christ, that we rose again to new life, that we are new men with new spirits and the Holy Spirit with Jesus Christ living in us? We died to sin; we were buried, and we rose again with Jesus. Do you not know that we have been so fundamentally, so drastically changed in regeneration that we can no longer continue in sin as we did in Adam, that we now must walk in a new kind of life?"

Look at Paul's conclusion to this great work of God. Let's begin in verse 8, chapter 6: "Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." And here again, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more, death no longer has dominion over Him. 

"For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts, and do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God; for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace."

Remember back in chapter 5 there, he said in Adam, sin had dominion over us because we were under law, sin and death. But now we live under grace, righteousness unto eternal life. Sin shall no longer have dominion over you because you died to its controlling power; you were removed from the realm of the law and placed into grace where we now stand. Under the realm of grace, we have righteousness and fruit by the power of the Holy Spirit unto eternal life. 

My friends, we must know the doctrine. We must know the truth concerning what God has done in our salvation in regenerating us, how this has changed not only who we are but our relationship to law, sin, and death. He goes on in Romans 7 to tell us that we died to the law in order that we might live to God. This was a necessary thing to happen in order for us to live unto God—that we no longer live by the letter, but we live according to the Spirit. 

We first must know the mercies of God, the doctrines of our salvation. This is why it's so damaging to teach that we as believers are still vile, wretched sinners, that we are desperately wicked and our hearts are deceitful above all things. This is why it matters that we understand that we are no longer under the law, that the law cannot and was never intended to be a means to holiness. 

We must understand, we must know who we are in Christ and how God intends that we should live a holy life, His means for holiness. So we must know the truth of our regeneration and who we are in Christ, and then as Paul writes in verse 11 of chapter 6, we must make a choice to believe, to reckon, to take an estimate, to count up the facts, to do an inventory. 

God has just given us seven major truths concerning our regeneration, our death, burial, and resurrection with Jesus in the first ten verses of chapter 6. Now He says, count it up; consider these truths. What do they mean? How should they affect your understanding of who you are and how you should live? 

Interestingly, He uses the same root word in Romans 12:1, "logikos," it has the word logic in it; it means rational, it means reasonable. Paul says, "It is logical, listen to this, it is logical, it is reasonable based on the mercies of God, all of these great doctrines I've been teaching and expounding, including those in Romans 5 to 8. It is your reasonable service." 

It is logical and rational for you as a believer in Jesus Christ to live a holy life, to present your members, yourselves, your bodies as a living sacrifice, as weapons of holiness to God. Let me ask you, my brother, my sister in Christ, based on all you know and have been taught in your Christian life, do you believe this? Can you believe this? 

It is reasonable, it is logical for you to live a consistent, holy life for the glory of God because of what God has done in you through regeneration, because of the very life of Christ in you as you walk by faith. Is that your expectation today and every day? Based on the mercies of God, the words of God and what He says is true of you as a believer in Jesus? 

I'm not asking if this has been your experience. I'm not asking you about your feelings or your emotions or even your wisdom. I'm asking, what does the Word of God say? And knowing these truths, what is your expectation for holiness in your life one day, one moment at a time? And by the way, how do you expect this to be worked out in your life? What is God's means to holiness in this new covenant life? 

These are vital questions for us to consider as we consider the mercies of God, the great doctrines of our salvation. No, we must first know, what does God say? 

It's our reasonable service. Now look at verse 2 of our text, and let's find some absolutely wonderful treasures to give us a clear understanding of what Paul's saying about the Christian life and how we should live. In verse 12:2 he says, "And do not," literally he says, "stop being conformed to this world." 

This is something that's ongoing, that's happening. Stop being conformed to this world, but be being transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. I want you to focus on two words in this verse. First, the word translated "conformed," and then we'll look at the word "transformed." 

These two words are the keys to understanding what Paul is beseeching us to do based on the mercies of God. I want to give you Kenneth Weiss' definition of these two terms from his Greek word studies. You'll find these two definitions on the back of your outlines. First, the word "conformed." 

You can read along with me here from Weiss' commentary. He said, "This word refers to the act of an individual assuming an outward expression that does not come from within him, nor is it representative of his inner heart life. The prefixed preposition 'soon' adds to the meaning of the verb the idea of assuming an expression that is patterned after some definite thing. The verb is present imperative, meaning that Paul is telling them to stop an ongoing action. Paul exhorts the saints: stop assuming an outward expression which is patterned after this world, an expression that does not come from nor is it representative of who you are in your inner being as a regenerated child of God." 

Let's look at the word "transformed." He says, "Stop being conformed, but be being transformed." The word "metamorphome," which speaks of the act of a person changing his outward expression from that which he has to a different one, an expression which comes from and is representative of his inner being. 

This word is used in Matthew 17:2, the transfiguration, where Christ was transfigured, and Weiss says, "The translation could read, the manner of his outward expression was changed before them and his face shone as the sun and his clothing was as white as the light." Jesus pulled back His flesh, as it were, and showed us the essence of who He is on the inside. 

Paul says, "Change your outward expression, how you live, from that which you had before salvation, an expression which came from our totally depraved nature and was representative of it, to an expression which comes from your regenerated inner being and is representative of it." 

I'd like you to keep those outlines and go back. I can read over these explanations from Weiss several times this week and ponder what he's saying about our sanctification, about our Christian life. 

If the instruction of the New Testament, the epistles to the churches in particular, is that we are new men in Christ; therefore, we must live like new men. This is who you are; therefore, live like this. I remember an illustration Pastor Krenze used years ago. He let his dog out and he was running the dog around the house and out in the yard, throwing a bump or whatever, and he looked over, and there was a big pile of bear dung there. 

He looked at it, and the dog looked at it, and he went running at him, and the dog beat him there and rolled in that. Why did that dog do that? Because that's who he is. That's his nature. What is your nature? Who are you? This is who you are; therefore, live like this. 

It’s pretty important, really, if that's the admonition of the New Testament to us. It's important that we understand who we are, as Weiss says, in our inner heart life. This is why I believe that passages like Romans 5–8 are so important to rightly divide, to properly understand, because they teach us about the drastic change that has happened in regeneration—the fact that we, our old man, our old nature, who we were in Adam, died, was crucified, was buried, and rose up a new man in Christ, was made righteous, justified unto life. 

That is to say, the spiritual life of God was imparted to us. God came to live in us and out through our lives as we abide in Him. So the question is this, to borrow a phrase from David Needham: Christian, do you know who you are? Again, if we don't first know, then we have no hope of applying these truths. 

If we believe that we are sinners, that we have two natures, that there's something that we lack in order to live a holy life, something we are still trying to obtain, if we are in essence at least partially still who we were, then there's an expectation to still live like who we were. But this is not what the Scripture says. 

They teach us repeatedly, "You are a new man; you are a new creation; you have put off the old man; you have put on the new man; you have been crucified with Christ; our old man was nailed to that cross; that man in Adam." Why? "That the body controlled by indwelling sin might be rendered powerless." 

Now if we have died, been freed from sin, from law, from the fear of death, now hear me, let's be clear: that sin principle still dwells in me. The same sin that dwelled in me in Adam still dwells in me now, but my relationship to it has changed. And it's not the essence of who I now am in my spirit. 

It's still there; it still must be dealt with. But it's not who I am. It does not define me nor control me as it did before in Adam. Turn over to Ephesians 4 with me, please. Let’s look at verse 17. 

Ephesians 4:17: "This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness." 

That's a pretty good description of the man in Adam in our world. But he says you shouldn't walk that way anymore; why? Because you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him as the truth is in Jesus. 

What's the truth that's in Jesus? "That you put off," and that's aorist tense, "you have put off concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and you are being renewed in the spirit of your mind, present tense, and that you have put on the new man which was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness." 

You should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles, as who you were, because it's no longer who you are. You have put off the old man; you have put on the new man. Aorist tense, one time, done in the past. 

We see the same thing in Colossians 3. At verse 1 he says, "If then you were raised," we should say, "since then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things of the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." 

"When Christ, who is our life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. For put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, covetousness, which is idolatry." He says you shouldn't walk like that anymore, just like he says in Ephesians 4. 

"Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them. But now you yourselves are to put off all these, anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another." 

Why, Paul? Why shouldn't I lie to my brother? Because it's wrong? Well, it's wrong for the man in Adam, too. Why should I not lie? "Since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and you have put on the new man who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him." 

Once again, Paul highlights the truth that our new life is directly related to our death, the death of our old man, and our resurrection to new life, the new man. Stop being conformed by this world, the wisdom, the philosophies of the world of men, of theologians and even Bible teachers if they're not simply preaching the Word, the truth, the mercies of God. 

Don't allow this world to shape and mold you into its image. Know and reckon the Word of God. Believe what God says is true about who you are, and be being transformed by the renewing of your mind by the Word of God. Let your outward action come into consistency with who you are on the inside. 

We noted that the phrases, "have put off the old man," "have put on the new man" are in the aorist tense, meaning they happened once in the past; it's done, it’s finished and been accomplished. But in those passages like here in Romans 12:2, the renewing of the mind is in the present tense, denoting an ongoing, continuous action. 

You have put off the old man; you have put on the new, but you are being renewed in the spirit of your mind. Here in Romans 12:2, Paul gives it as a command: be being transformed by the renewing of your mind. 

My friends, this is how the battle is won. This is how fruit is born, how we live a holy life and bring glory to God consistently, as God intended in saving us and regenerating us and coming to live in us. Turn over to 2 Corinthians 10 with me, please, 2 Corinthians 10 at verse 1. 

"Now I, Paul, myself, am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent and bold towards you. But I beg you that when I am present, I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."

What are the strongholds and arguments? These are the wisdoms of the world, the philosophies of men, the false teachings in the churches, the feelings and emotions that argue against the truth of the Word of God. Cast them down, pull them down; how? Our weapons are not carnal—not psychology and philosophy and twelve-step methods and self-improvement programs, pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps—they are mighty in God. We are to be taking every thought captive that comes into our mind. Captive to what? The obedience of Christ, the Word of God. 

So in other words, "I don't feel like I'm dead to sin." What am I going to do with that thought? Am I going to reckon what God says to be true? He says I'm dead to sin. Take it captive. The battle of the Christian life is a battle of the mind. It's a battle to know and to believe the Word of God, to continually renew our minds to the truths of the Word of God, and by His grace and power to live these truths out, live according to the truth of who I am. 

The why is perhaps the most important. Why I can now live a new and holy life in consistency with the perfect will of God. Because I have died, because I have been born again, because I am free from sin and law and death, because I am a new creation, and Jesus lives in me—the why is perhaps the most important and I think it's the most lacking in the church. 

There's not an understanding of who I am in Christ, but God also gives us some insight into the how for our understanding of biblical sanctification. Turn over to John 15, at verse 1, a familiar passage, Jesus speaking to His disciples. He says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of me that does not bear fruit He takes away and every branch that bears fruit He prunes that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me."

"I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing." Our life is not one of our own sufficiencies. Paul makes this clear in 2 Corinthians 3, talking about ministering the new covenant. He says our sufficiency is not from ourselves but from God, and we have such trust toward God. Not one of law-keeping or meeting some standard. Our life is wholly dependent on Jesus and we have a desperate need for Him each moment of each day. Without Him, we can do nothing. 

Paul brings even more clarity in Ephesians 3:14 to 21. Look at Ephesians 3:14 with me, please. He says, "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Here's what he's praying: that He would grant you according to the riches of His glory," and I'm going to go with that, aren't you? How about according to Sigmund Freud? How about according to the pharmaceutical companies? Let's go with according to the riches of His glory. 

"To be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man. That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us."

In Ephesians 1, Paul said it's the same power that raised Jesus from the dead that's at work in you. "To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever, amen." 

Here we have a series of purpose clauses that link up to each other and build upon one another. How does God intend that we live out this new holy life in Christ? First, continual, constant renewing of our mind to the Word of God, and choosing to believe what God says is true. You get that right, you're going to be okay. 

We must also understand that our life is as a branch abiding in a vine. Jesus brings the support, the life-giving grace that produces fruit out through us as we remain in Him by faith, looking unto Jesus. And we see that here in Ephesians 3 as well. 

First, we see that God's plan and purpose is to impart strength to our inner man by His Holy Spirit who lives in us according to His grace, according to all that He has, His riches and glory. And as the Holy Spirit imparts strength to our inner man, Jesus is able to settle down and be fully functional out through us, living His life in and through us, this through faith—faith in Jesus and His Word, trusting Him, yielding to Him to make it all work. Not by our power, not by law, but by the Spirit, by Jesus living in and through us. 

And it is in the abiding relationship that we come to know experientially the fullness of the love of Christ. And we see this affirmed in the last statement there in Ephesians 3, "for it is God who is able." It's God who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, "to Him be glory in the church." 

How does God intend we live a holy, consistent life that brings Him glory? We must know. We must reckon. We must continually renew our minds and let the Word of Christ dwell in us richly. This is what it means to walk in the Spirit, and it is the Holy Spirit who will impart strength to our inner man. It is Jesus who will live out His life through our members by His strength and power as we walk by faith, and it is God who can do exceedingly, abundantly more than we could ever ask or think and offer His glory. 

My brothers and sisters, He has in our regeneration, in our salvation, given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. He has fundamentally changed who we are so that our spirit now is in agreement, witnesses with His glory. 

It’s reasonable. He's not asking us to live contrary to who we are. He says, "I have made you a new creation in Christ; now live like who you are." It's no less than Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who have come to live in us and strengthen us and empower us to live a life consistent with who we are—a life of holiness, Christ-likeness that brings glory to God and men to Christ, as we take His message of salvation and transformation to a lost and dying world. 

This is no passive affair. Don't misunderstand me. This is an absolute striving, "agonizomize," a word by agony, right? It's a battle. But what's the battle? The battle is to know His Word, believe His Word, and trust in Him to produce the fruit. 

Christian, do you know who you are? I beseech you by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice to God, which is your reasonable, logical, rational service to God; it's your spiritual act of worship. Stop being conformed by this world so that you look to and trust the wisdom of men and not the truth that is in Christ Jesus, and be being transformed by the renewing of your mind so that you might prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God as you walk in this world, as you live this life of purpose for the glory of God. 

This is biblical sanctification and this should be our expectation for our lives today and every day by the grace and power of God, by the very life of Jesus Christ in us by faith. What did He say? He has predestined you to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. He who is faithful will do it. Should it be your expectation? Yes. 

I'll close with Paul's words in Galatians 2, and this just happens to be our text next Sunday. "For I through the law died to the law in order that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It's no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. In the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. The life that I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God. He loved me; He gave himself for me. He's gonna, you know, I don't have to worry about his part; he's gonna do it. He's faithful. 

I need to worry about my part. Look to him. Believe him. Trust him. Saturate yourself in the Word. Think his thoughts. He'll work out the details. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank you that you tell us the truth. We thank you for your Word. We thank you for the Holy Spirit who guides us and teaches us. Thank you for what you've done in Christ and our new birth, our regeneration, our death with him, our burial with him, our resurrection with him, and thank you that you have done all of this so that we might live a new life showing the power of the gospel and bringing you glory and being a witness in this world. 

Help us to understand that what you want is for us to need you, to look to you, to have a relationship with you so that you might work out your will in our lives. Help us to obey you, to believe you. The commands of the new covenant to believe Jesus and love one another. Help us to love men as you love men and help us to bring your saving message to the world. 

For your glory, in Jesus' name, amen.