The Joy of Giving It All (Part 4) — Paul Washer

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Again, I want to encourage you To come out this evening and to listen. Participate to be praying and specially for those who are members here bring friends. You you do know that the Christmas time of year is the highest rate of suicide in the entire year.

People get so built up about what Christmas ought to be and then it just doesn't seem to turn out that way. That's what happens when we take something that is primarily of the Lord and turn it into something secular.

Presenting Ourselves as Living Sacrifices

There's no life. There's no light. There's no peace. Maybe if you bring someone tonight, they'll come to know the Lord. They'll come to know him. Let's open up our Bibles to Romans chapter 12. I want to finish What I started a few weeks ago, I also want to tell you that as Most of you probably know today is my last day and tomorrow my family and I we head back to To Illinois and back to the mission and then on to Peru and then on to I'm scheduled for Peru the Ukraine Siberia Africa, so wherever I Will be coming back here when I am needed maybe once a month or however much it takes to help you as you Spend this time in transition still looking for a teaching preaching elder.

It has been a tremendous privilege For my my family and and for me to be here with you tremendous privilege. It'll be a great sorrow in our heart to leave but as I always say who are we and what are we?

Jars of clay dust breathing holy breath. We serve the Lord and we serve a master and. And this is not about us this is not about me this is not about my family. This is not about you. It's about the kingdom of God and it is about the will of that God.

And is it about the advancement of his work in his name? As George Whitfield said when he was dying I Now go the way of all flesh. Let my name die with me. That he and he alone might be exalted. That he and he alone might be exalted.

Romans chapter 12 verse 1. Therefore I urge you brethren by the mercies of God To present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God. Which is your spiritual service of worship and do not be conformed to this world.

But be transformed by the renewing of your mind. So that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Let's pray Father I pray that you would help us and that this would be a benefit to your kingdom the pleasure to you.

In Jesus name. Amen. You may be seated. Just a kind of review verse 1 that catches all up. Paul says therefore I urge you brethren two things very very important here. First of all, Paul is speaking as a pastor.

He's speaking as as not so much a fiery prophet not so much as a wise and authoritative apostle. But he's he's speaking as a pastor. He says I urge you I encourage you I exhort you. It's it's sort of the same way and I've used this illustration before when a parent knows that their child is going down a wayward path.

They are not dispassionate in their words, but they speak with great passion child. Listen to me. Hear me. I've been down that road. You must listen. There is a better way. There is a way that seems right unto a man, but it leads unto death.

It is a pathway of the dead. Don't go down there or listen child. Don't be discouraged. You can do this. Come on. That's kind of the same thing we see here with the Apostle Paul. He's urging the people of God pleading with the people of God exhorting the people of God to do a certain thing now another thing.

That is so very important especially at the eve of my leaving and that is the word brethren. The word brethren is so extremely important. I Don't stand up here and preach like God's anointed. I Stand up here and preach like a brother.

To brothers and to sisters. Yes, I must pray. Yes, I must be called. Yes I must read the word but the Bible says in the book of first John that all of you are the anointed of God. And it is not simply this thing of this one man standing in front of you who knows how to dot every I and cross Every T and God is speaking through him know every time I say a phrase I have a desire to speak it forth run down the platform and sit on the front seat to receive it.

I need this as much as you and when I preach you're to be open to correction and when I Come down. I am to be open to Correction. We are brothers in Christ. We have those of us who have been born again by the Holy Spirit we all Are the anointed of God we are all to study scripture.

We are all a part of this royal priesthood. Therefore I urge you Brethren by the mercies of God. There are so many things used today to manipulate people and Many speakers are master manipulators. People who can make you dance make you press make you even jump off a bridge and the ones who speak in the really Religious realm are usually the best at manipulating people.

What is the motivation he said. I urge you by the mercies of God what is it that I am to use. To motivate you to give your life away. The one thing I am to use is this Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead on your behalf.

Your motivation comes from the fact that God Almighty has set the sinner free your motivation Comes from love look at what he has done for you. There is a time for hard rebuke. There is a time for preaching on the fear of the Lord but you know the one thing that breaks my heart more than absolutely anything is Is when my heart is cold or when my my way is is wayward.

When I've been selfish when I've been arrogant when I've been all those things and maybe finish the day out not even thinking about really what I'm doing and then all of a sudden just look in the mirror and See what I am and realize that before I Believed in him He loved me and That he loves me still it is the love of God this habitual continuous unconditional Never-ending love of God that makes me want to give my life away and be something other than what I usually am.

It is God's love. Everything in our life should be motivated by this one thing. Why should you be kind to your wife? Christ is kind to you. Why should you be truthful in a manner of integrity because he who called you is faithful.

Why should you be a servant because he went to the cross and was obedient not only to death but death on a tree on a cross. You see your motivation is the love of God. Why should you do missions? Because God loves you and healed you.

Why should you reach out to people God reached out to you. You see all the motivation comes back from God, but you know what from all the preaching that I hear on television and things today I'm beginning to think that for most people That's just not enough.

They're more impressed with the possibility of God may be giving them a Mercedes than they are with God having given them his son. I Think if I were to preach a message to all of the people call themselves Christians in America and just preach on The glory and beauty of Jesus Christ that awaits us in heaven after I was done.

Most people would give me a quizzical look and go well, but what else? Because Jesus doesn't seem to be enough. But for all true believers all those who have been regenerated by the power of God indeed He is By the mercies of God to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice the word present.

So very important here to put at his disposal to lay at his feet. To put yourself in a position that you are useful to him to no longer offer your the members of your body. To unrighteousness as instruments of unrighteousness, but to offer the members of your body to Christ and to his will.

To cut yourself off from all those things that would make you unusable and To chase hard after those things that are most pleasing to God present your bodies. I said a few weeks ago. This word body is so very important because it it keeps us from being super official and super spiritual.

Well, he has my heart. Well, if he has your heart He'll have your mind. He'll have your eyes. He'll have your tongue. He'll have your ears. He'll have your hands. He'll have your feet. He'll have your body.

Can't judge a book by its cover. Jesus didn't say that. As a matter of fact He said just the opposite. You see if you've given him your heart That will be displayed in the rest of you. And if it's not displayed in the rest of you then be careful about making grandiose statements about your heart.

You know, it seems There are songs that speak about our love for God and our love for Jesus and they're appropriate we see in the book of Psalms David speaking about how he loves the Lord and You know, I've got to the point where it's very very difficult for me to sing a song like that.

I Just don't see much About my love for God that's worth singing about. Oh I could sing all day about his love for me. But when I look in the mirror of God's Word and I take an honest look at the love of Paul Washer.

Sometimes it makes me nauseous. So many people think I'm motivated by my love for God. Well That won't carry you very far. But I am motivated by God's love For me and I want to present my body my life as a living and holy sacrifice.

It's a living sacrifice. First of all, I think this means something very very important that if you have yet to come to know Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior. You can give nothing to God. The Bible says you're spiritually dead and all your works are dead works and all our greatest most just and most righteous works are nothing but Filthy rags before God in order to offer your life as a sacrifice to God.

You have to receive the sacrifice made for you on that tree 2 ,000 years ago when the Son of God bore your sin and was crushed under the justice of God so that a just God might forgive wicked people. Also living works is this idea of of zealous.

Exciting vigorous Christianity we get so excited about so many Stupid things so many vain things. So many things that are not eternal and we are so excited. And yet when it comes to Jesus, how vigorous are we in our Christianity?

How zealous are we? Goes on and he says present your bodies a living and a holy Sacrifice this means more this word holy means more than simply. Legally, you're dotting every I am crossing every T. See the word holy comes from its basic root in Hebrew means to cut like you're cutting carrots and separating them over it means to cut and separate and Being holy is not just that you keep the rules.

God is holy because he's unique and separated from all other persons and things. There is none like the Lord we're holy when we see him that way. When he is unique in our lives when he is separated from everything he is not common he is not profane he is our God and we love him and run to him a Thing about holiness that I want to say this morning that I wasn't able to say in the last time that I preached on this passage.

And it's this. Most people today think of holiness as separation from sinful things and that is a step in holiness. But that's not the fullness of holiness and that's why people are so well Confused about it and they lack motivation.

They think holiness is just I need to stop doing this this this this and this and that'll make me holy. You stop doing that and that and that and that and that. So that you can run to him and Participate in his will for your life and the emphasis here is not always saying hey Hey separate from bad things separate from bad things.

The emphasis is come on to me. God's saying come on to me eat at my table. Come to my dwelling place. In the presence of God there is fullness of joy. Let me give you an example when my little boys Ian or Evan we're learning how to walk.

You all know the process the procedure they eventually get where they can pull themselves up on a table and They'll be pretty confident as long as they've got one hand on that table. They'll kind of just walk around the table.

They'll smile and laugh, but they've always got one hand on the table now as a parent as a Parent I did not walk a few feet from my sons and go Leave the table leave the table leave the table. What did I do?

No, I said come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. There's a big difference. Come to dad. Come fellowship with me come experience my joy. Come have the pleasure of being in an obedient relationship with me.

It wasn't so much about leave the table leave the table. It was come to me. Come to me. Come to me. And that's where we miss it when you just leave the table you become a self-righteous legalistic Pharisee.

But when you leave the table to dwell with him. Then it will be well with your soul. Now another thing about this exquisite example that I've given you from children. It's this. My son has to make it's probably the first moral crisis in his life.

He's come to a dilemma a moral challenge he wants to get to dad, but he wants the table and He's just found out that at least in his universe his dad is the unmoved mover. His dad's not going anywhere.

His dad's not going to come any closer. So he has got to make a choice. How much do I want dad? Holiness is a manifestation of your heart. How much do you want God? Because see the thing is you can't have this other stuff and have God at the same time.

You've got to make a choice. You've got to make a choice. I believe in the sovereignty of God in such an extent that it would offend most of you. And yet I'm not a philosopher. I'm a theologian. I Everything and there's not a maverick molecule in the universe and yet all the time I am being told make a choice and that choice will affect you.

Now there it goes. I could stand here all day. I've read all the books. I could bring them all out. But it still comes down to this God is sovereign. And yes, you are responsible. Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God.

Should that be our desire? Most certainly. What is your desire? Above all other things but to be acceptable to God. This word is I think more appropriately translated pleasing to God. It brings the personality of it together to be pleasing to a person not just acceptable to a principle your desire to please him a Few years ago Twyla Paris wrote a song.

She says I drop my sword and look up for a smile. I Didn't call it that but playing basketball and every time I did something other than throw the ball away or fall down over the free throw line I looked up at my dad.

In hopes of catching a smile. Just wanted to be pleasing to him. Some of us who are older, we have forgotten about that. But if if you had any sort of relationship with a father at all when you were playing sports, I mean, if he showed up It's like you couldn't even concentrate anymore.

You were just like dad. Did you see that? Or oh, I hope dad didn't see that. There was this great desire. It didn't matter about everybody else. I mean, you know, the greatest coach in the NBA could have been sitting there, but that wasn't important.

Dad is looking at me. And the desire to be pleasing to him motivated you to run when you thought you couldn't run anymore. That's the same thing here. You all are far too mature. Are in the words of a hillbilly, you've just gotten too big for your britches.

You have forgotten that you and I will never be anything other than children and it should be the desire of your heart. Your father's pleasure. That it be acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

You want to do something spiritual is going to take a whole lot more than a hallelujah. And the hallelujahs are good. It's gonna take more than that. Because your hallelujah is acceptable only to the degree that you're laying your life down.

It's like oh one preacher. I heard one time. He was he's so funny. He goes, you know Christians don't talk they don't tell lies, but they sure sing them every Sunday. We'll sing all sorts of things. Sometimes I am just afraid of you.

You'll be singing things and going. I don't know if I'd say that or not. You're making some pretty big claims Lord. I'll follow you anywhere. Be careful. He just might take you up on it. Your spiritual act of worship is giving your life away to Christ.

This word spiritual can also be translated and probably more strongly into reasonable. It's the only reasonable thing to do think about it is the only thing reasonable to do. First of all, it's not reasonable to lay down your life for a man.

It's not reasonable to follow a man. You follow a man. Congratulations. You're in a cult. All men are liars. All men are cowards. Sister, you don't have to say amen on that one so much. You're right, though.

It just hurts me. I'm just glad you said it instead of my wife. But it's true. I mean we are so frail look. I mean, you're really gonna follow somebody who sometimes gets angry because he can't tie his shoes.

You're gonna follow a man. It's unreasonable. Follow Jesus Christ the Incarnate Son of God who laid down his life. Defeated death rose from the deadness ascended at the right hand and is King as we speak.

That's not unreasonable at all. It's not unreasonable. As a matter of fact, it'd be unreasonable do any other thing. I was speaking one time. I was in this little cafe in Lima Peru and I just finished some language classes and I was sitting around with a few Peruvians and and this guy and his girlfriend and I'll never forget this.

She said I was talking to him about the Lord and she kind of did the woman at the well thing on me. He's tried to change the the direction of the conversation from her to someone else and she said well, you know I understand what you're saying that brother of mine though.

He's totally unreasonable. He's an atheist. He doesn't believe in God like me and I said well, actually I have a lot more respect for your brother than I do for you. She said what do you mean? Well, he's very logical.

He's reasonable and what he's doing. He said well, what do you mean? Well, your brother says there is no God and He lives like there is no God. That's reasonable. He's wrong. But at least there's a train of logic here.

You say there is no you say there is a God and yet you do not seek him do not desire to know his will. And even if you knew it have no intentions in Submitting yourself to that will now that is unreasonable.

It's your spiritual or reasonable service of worship now verse 2 and do not be conformed to this world. Literally do not be made out of the same mold. From which the world comes now, what is the world?

You know, there's books worth the definitions on this word, but I think it would just come down to this any idea attitude thought style Tradition. That would contradict the nature and will of God. That would oppose what we know about God's nature and oppose what we know about God's will.

Do not be influenced. Do not be shaped by any thought or attitude of culture or tradition or any other thing? That would put you in opposition to the person and will of God. Now I've got news for you.

You live in a fallen world and at least most of you are awake for about 16 hours a day. You spend 16 hours a day in a fallen world. That is constantly Influencing you. Now some of it you can avoid Television things like that and you should avoid more.

Some things you simply cannot avoid. Some of you in your jobs you have to put up with horrendous Immoral things and immoral people who are always challenging you who are always trying to influence you who are always trying to see you fall.

The Bible doesn't say that's good or bad the Bible's just saying it's a fact we live in a fallen world that is going to Influence you a culture that's going to influence you much more than you realize.

You are so much more Influenced by your culture than you know, and so am I. We are. I could give you a million illustrations to show you That you are much more Influenced by your culture. You take a let me just give you an example.

You take a family that comes over from from Mexico. They come over from Mexico. Okay. Look at how the first generation of that family lives. The ideals they have about family about saving money. About working hard that all this stuff good stuff strong stuff stuff that builds country stuff that builds societies.

Stuff that promotes family. You just take a look at that and then look at the next generation. The children of those people who came over and then by the time you get at least to the third generation.

They're all acting just like Americans. Think about that how quickly we are influenced by our Surroundings let me just give you an example. I know that the women will hate me on this one. I'm not trying to be a chauvinist or anything, but it I mean you got me so I'm getting you guys back.

It's this just think about this and this applies to men. And I'm not saying that I'm preaching against mixed bathing or anything like that. I just want to point out a fact to you what Christians Wear to the beach if someone had dressed that way 65 years ago.

The secular authorities would have either thrown them in jail or put them in an asylum. Is that not true? I Want you to think about this just for a moment. Think of it. Don't get don't get angry anything.

Just think about what I'm saying because it is true lost people Would not Portray themselves in public. It would have been an absolute disgrace to them. But Christians now do it freely. Now don't say I'm preaching against this or for this or no.

It's just true and it's just if in 65 years our culture has been Christian culture has been this influenced by the world. What's it been like in 2 ,000 years? See how much your culture Messes with you.

We think that just because we go to church just because we you know Read the Bible some that the culture really doesn't have a grip on us and that we're really not conformed to it. That is not true. It is a cultural war out there.

At least that's what them. That's what some call it in reality. It's a spiritual war spiritual war. Now do not be conformed. That's a command. You know so many times we're into all this psychology about well, you know, maybe I need to try this.

No, God just looks at you and says don't do it. What part I don't do it don't you understand just don't. You know, it's a powerful thing. It really is when you begin to realize something as a Christian I can say no I.

Really can you see the secular world secular psychology? The only thing they want to ever teach you to do is to cope. To cope and mope and mourn just cope. God doesn't. God wants you to be transformed and victorious.

Now I can be careful I use that word victorious because for many people in this city It means that you're never going to be sick. You're always going to be wealthy and everything's going to go great. That's not what I mean victorious when I mean victorious.

I mean trusting in Christ and being conformed to his image. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed. From this word and grief we get metamorphosis. Be metamorphosis. It is not just you need to understand something Christianity because it has been taught in America for so long to be nothing more than a human decision.

Salvation is a human decision. Therefore your growth in Christ is a human decision. Salvation is a human decision. That's optional. You can choose therefore sanctification is a human decision. That's optional and you can choose that's not what scripture is really teaching us.

Salvation is a supernatural work of God by which the very heart of a person is changed and they become a new creature and That work of salvation is not just past tense. I have been saved. I am being saved and one day I will be saved.

I Was justified made legally right before God the moment I believed in Jesus. I am now being sanctified and everyone who has truly been justified will be truly sanctified and It is a supernatural work of God.

He who began a good work and you will finish it. He will not go halfway. He will do it. It will bring about a supernatural transformation. We're being transformed from glory to glory. And say well that none of that's a reality in my life then be afraid.

It could be you do not know him even worse. He does not know you. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed. How by the renewing of your mind. One of the hardest things in America one of the reasons why we've got such a mess that we've got in this Christendom in America with everybody preaching everything you can imagine.

Let me give you the history of how we got there. Around the turn of last century There was an influx of liberalism terrible liberalism. Most of it coming from Germany and from Europe. Higher criticism attacking Scripture destroying it saying it's not.

It's not anything to be believed. It's archaic ideas of wasted people and on and on and on and on and on and some of the greatest seminaries in America became The proponents of all these lies. Now what happened?

Well seminaries and things like that are taken over by ungodly unbelieving religious people which are about the worst people on the face of the earth and True Christians withdrew. But in Withdrawing they reacted our theology is not supposed to be based on a reaction against something wrong.

It's supposed to be based on Scripture and this is the idea that Christians started holding dear. They made it almost their motto. We don't want none that theology stuff. We don't want none that doctrine stuff.

We just want Jesus. You know, we don't want to deal with the mind it's of the spirit and there became this great divorce Between the mind of the Christian and the supposed spirit life of the Chris. Well, you got Jesus in your head, but you don't have him in your heart.

That's an absurdity. It really is you can say it. It sounds good, but means nothing. You see the Bible teaches that although there are people teaching false things in the name of academics that the mind is Essential in godliness the mind is essential in Christianity.

You don't disengage the mind in order to be spiritual. It begins in the mind as a man thinks so is he. It begins in renewing our Mind. You're in a world 16 hours a day. That is telling you lies. Influencing you towards ungodliness if you are not in the Word of God.

Renewing the Mind Through Scripture

Renewing your mind you are in trouble. I have mostly it usually occurs young men will come to my office no matter where I am and it's always with the same problem problems with their thought life. And if we all were honest, that's where everything begins problems in our thought life.

Even if it's not something immoral about the opposite sex. It's always problems in our thought life whether it is depression anger bitterness. Whatever it is. It all comes back to Thinking on biblical things and I'll always ask him I said well how much time do you spend watching television?

How much time do you spend going to the mall? How much time do you spend here and there and how much time do you spend in the word? It's a no-brainer son. It's a no-brainer. You're allowing you're presenting your members to unrighteousness to become members of unrighteousness.

But you're not presenting yourself to God and his word to become holy. Your mind is full of all these things because this is all it gets garbage in garbage out. We must renew our mind now. Let me just stop stop here for a second and just hit a problem over the head that I know is a problem in Most people's lives here.

I'm not a prophet or the son of a prophet. It's just been around for a while. I know this is your problem. You don't know how to start studying the Bible and You'll start studying it and become so discouraged you won't even know what to do anymore.

Then you'll make another great New Year's resolution to start reading from Genesis to Revelation. Get to Leviticus and you wear yourself out you you give up again. Let me tell you the most important thing you could do with the Word of God read it for enjoyment.

Read the thing systematically. From Genesis to Revelation over and over and over again and not being Discouraged about what you do not understand. Begin in Genesis and read through the book and if you get to something like Leviticus now, I'm going to sound a little Sacrilegious here, please understand me.

I'm not. I'm just being truthful when you get to Leviticus our numbers and You get to some of that stuff and you're thinking man, this really is just bogging me down then do this. Until you get to another part.

That really entered and then keep going now you say now hold on the Bible's the inspired Word of God. I've gone through jungles believing that truth. So don't challenge me on that. What I'm telling you is this.

There are some things in the Bible that I read through a bit quickly and I'll tell you why I don't really understand it. It's not really right now a great need in my life to understand it and One day under the sovereignty of God if I'm faithful and he will be faithful he'll bring me back to those places when I'm older.

He'll show me maybe something of what they mean. But right now my little boy has no business studying the Pythagorean theorem. Or quantum mechanics or anything else like that if you will take the New Testament, let me give you an example.

I did this when I was first converted. If I if you would take the New Testament begin in Matthew and read all the way to the end and write out. Just no more than one phrase. Everything you don't understand like you get to Matthew 1 21 or something say I don't understand this.

I don't understand what this means. Okay, keep going when you get done you will have. You will have two or three notebooks just with one line questions and here's what you do. The second time you read through the New Testament, you know, it's going to happen.

You're going to answer some of your questions. You're going to get some more questions. You're going to answer some of your questions and then go back through again you're going to answer some more questions and still have some other questions that come forth and You're going to see that you begin to literally answer your questions with the Bible because one of the principles of Bible hermeneutic hermeneutics is that the Bible is the best commentator of itself.

Just read the thing. Just read it. Don't worry about whether you catch it how much you know, don't know. Just read it over and over and over again. When I go to seminaries and speak from a seminary pulpit I plead with the seminary students just to read their Bibles.

When I go to a pastor's conference, I plead with them make it a daily lifelong practice to read the Bible Systematically from Genesis to Revelation over and over again and read it to enjoy it to drink it in.

I know I've got to run a lot of rabbits because it's my last day. Let me share something with you about Bible study and prayer. There are times that I pray with my boots on there are times I pray with my boots off.

There are times I study the Bible with my boots on and there are times I study the Bible with my boots off. There are times I am with believers with my boots on. And there are times I'm with believers with my boots off.

Now, what do I mean? There are times When prayer is nothing but hard terrible work. I Am on my knees and I am interceding on behalf of people. Ministries things such as that it is work. You see many of you think well, you know if I'm gonna pray I've got to enjoy it.

No prayer is work. Sometimes even that work is enjoyable, but you've got to see it as work. I pray with my boots on. I Intercede for this church. I intercede for people. I intercede for the mission intercede for my family.

When I'd rather be asleep when I'd rather just be in bed when I'd rather go walk in the woods. No on your knees with the boots on working but if that's all prayer was It'd be a terrible thing. I Pray with my boots on but I also pray with my boots off.

Not interceding not fighting not seeking with a sword for the kingdom to advance not rebuking demons. But Simply sat back in my chair or walking down a lane. Or in the night watch with the Lord. Just beholding his presence and enjoying him.

If you don't have both of those You'll lose whatever you have. It's the same way with the word sometimes there are passages of Scripture and They've got to be wrangled over and fought over and you're you're studying and you're praying and you're dissecting every word and Diagramming every sentence and you're going to all the commentaries and you're calling people and you feel like if you have to get one more Thought in your head to understand this text your head's going to explode.

It is work and it wears you out. I've worked in hay crews dug sewer lines. I've just about done everything you can do on a farm and I want to tell you something. Nothing makes me more tired than fighting with Scripture.

But but there are other times When we approach Scripture with our boots off, it's a love letter from God. It's something to be enjoyed to be read to be memorized to be meditated upon. Sometimes when we're with Christians, it's hard work have your boots on there are many needs a Lot of work to do here.

But then if you never pull your boots off you never get your feet washed. It's time to have your boots off and just enjoy one another. Have a good time renewing of your mind. Through the water of the Word of God and prayer.