Roman 12 1-2

Roman 12:1-2

Faith Christian School - 2/15/05

Clinton Township, MI

Original sin, salvation, our condemning sin, justification, adoption, God’s righteousness, grace, predestination, sanctification and mercy.

This is a short list of the phenomenal, life transforming truths Paul taught in chapters 1-11 of Romans.  He got into all that theological “stuff” for 11 chapters.  After we get through all of that, we come to the first two verses of chapter 12.  Let’s read them…All of the wonderful truths from the first 11 chapters are useless until we take these two verses and live them out in our personal lives.

How many of you have never heard a message or lesson on these verses?  Just because they are familiar to all of us, please do not check out mentally and tell yourself that you’ve heard it all before.

As we go through these verses, I would like to focus on four truths Paul communicates that must be lived out in our lives.

I.  First is Personal Salvation

Paul says that he is addressing believers.  He uses that word “brethren”.  I know that this is a good Christian school.  Before we get any further into these verses I want to encourage you to examine your life.  Just because you come from a Christian home, go to a good church, are a student in a Christian school doesn’t make you a person worthy of eternity in heaven.  The only way that God sees anyone worthy of heaven is when they personally trust in the shed blood of Christ to save them from their sins.  Have you personally made that decision to follow Christ?

Ok, let’s keep going in these two verses.

Paul says “I beseech you”  What does that word mean “beseech”?

Any ideas?  It means, “I beg of you, I plead with you.”  How many of you have seen the kid in the store who just saw the coolest, most awesome tasting candy in the world (at least that’s what he thinks) and he wants it right now.  He starts by asking mommy for it.  Then he starts to pester her a little more.  “Mommy, mommy, mommy, can I please have that candy.”  Mommy still says no.  And then he really starts, “Mommy, I want it right now, please, please, please, I want it, give it to me, mommy, I want it….”  You know what kind of begging I am talking about.  That is the intensity with which Paul is pleading with the reader – the Christians at Rome and you and me today.  He is saying, “Please, please do what I am about to talk about!”

He then says, “I plead with you by the mercies of God.”  What are the mercies of God? Any ideas?

Let’s look at two passages.  Turn to Isaiah 53:1-8….Now turn to Matthew 27:27-38.  That is the mercies of God.  Paul is saying, “I have the authority to plead with you to follow these truths because of God’s great sacrifices for each of us.”  He is saying that he has the authority to tell us in the words to come how we are to live our lives and that authority is the ultimate display of mercy that God showed us on the cross, giving His only Son for you and me.

So, Paul say far has said, “I plead with you, based on what God had done for us.”

Here we find the next truth after Personal Salvation

II. Second is Daily Dedication