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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/don-wardell/living-for-god/
Romans, chapter 12. Epistle to Romans, chapter 12. We'll read verse 1. The apostle, when he ministered, we get a good clue how he'd done it. There's a word that he uses quite often. Each one are studying themselves.
He said, I beseech you. I'll come back to that just briefly before we come into our message. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
Now we'll make just very brief readings on these Bible characters. Acts, chapter 9. Acts, chapter 9. Come to verse 6. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? The Lord said unto him, Arise and go in the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
It's the Apostle Paul. Genesis, chapter 22. Apostle Paul, we take it that he was a younger, in his younger years, young man, we might say. I have other younger individuals in my mind, but just one here now.
This is in Genesis 22. Abraham is an aged man. I read that for a particular purpose, too. Verse number 5. Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I, the lad, will go yonder and worship, come again to you.
Genesis 37 and verse 5. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and told it his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. He said of them, Here, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed. Second Kings, chapter 22.
These three characters, Bible characters, that will conclude our reading as we group them together now. Joseph is one. We have Josiah. Secondly, verse 1, Second Kings 22. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign.
He reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidiah, the daughter of Adodiah the Basque. Verse 2 is my key verse. He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, walked in all the ways of David his father, turned not his side to the right hand to the left.
A final reading is Daniel, chapter 1, verse 8. Daniel chapter 1, verse 8. But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with a portion of the king's meat, and with the wine which he drank.
Therefore he requested of the prince of Euryx that he might not defile himself. Now just mentioning quickly, as you think of Joseph, Josiah, and Daniel. Joseph would have been in difficult circumstances, but when we think of Josiah and Daniel, these three particularly, they lived in difficult, dark, hard days.
But they lived for God. Now that's my title today. My subject is Living for God. I could give you a few other ones too. There are different messages. It's not that I just changed the heading on them, but I think they'd all fit underneath this one.
It's like my Sunday school lessons. If I start on Monday, hopefully they'll all link together by Friday with them. I don't like to wander around too far. And my thoughts, going on for God, living for the glory of God.
This one here would fit in very well with this. It's another subject, like I say, putting God first. Those are other messages in ministry, different Bible characters that are in view with those, different verses.
But these individuals, what they teach us is the blessing, the value of living for God. And I want to say this, as we think of the days in which we live, and it's been alluded to quite much here. We're aware, good to know.
We look around our circumstance, our surroundings. I believe it takes more of God to live. In days of departure, and drifting, and getting away from God, and all those things, than it does in a day of revival and blessing.
These individuals, they teach us that, like Daniel particularly. In a strange land, I wonder do we feel comfortable in this world? Are we comfortable with their language and all that accompanies them?
That's Daniel. And Daniel there, he will have one word when you come to him. I'll give you, you can get your dictionary out, or whatever you need to do, or think along. I usually think of Daniel under the word S.
Separation, we'll just come to that. Now, very briefly, and I'll try to come right down to the mark of a quarter after. Not, I need to do like her brother Carl Payne, I labored with him for many years, he just walked off the platform, closed his Bible.
But I don't know if I can really give total justice to these individuals, but primarily I want to come to my gleanings from my dictionary. I have a word with each one of these, and as the dictionary defines them, it'll help you.
I'm coming now to our first reading in Romans chapter 12 and verse 1. Now, at the Mount Sterling Bible Reading Conference, this chapter was taken up in the afternoon, and we wouldn't fault the brethren because they're striving to cover the chapter.
But this first verse is very, very outstanding. He says, I beseech you. Now, that's a word of grace. Paul, when he ministered to the saints, thinking of his background, he sought to identify with those in his audience as a sinner saved by grace.
He was capable of doing just the same as anyone else, and he didn't speak like we have in the law. The law says, do it or else. But grace says, I beseech you. That's why the apostle ministered. I beseech you.
There's nothing worse than someone standing up and saying, this is the Word of God, do it or else. You know, Paul, he says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren. Now, most generally, we think of this individually, and that's what I want to speak to today from an individual standpoint of view.
But really, this verse here, we know it comes to an assembly. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, that ye, he's talking to all of them. I was come to a pause when I've been to think the day in which we live.
Is there an assembly? If there is, please let me know. That would be like the Roman assembly, where Paul could come to this point. He said, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you have sent your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
He's talking to all of them. You know, here is assembly, and what an assembly. He's seeking to, as a whole body, and we are the body of Christ. That simply means that we are in Christ, and we're inseparable.
You know, sometimes we think we are on our own. We're not. What we do and what we say affects each other's, and we can't just live independently. So that's why this comes to that an assembly. Can you think of an assembly that is really consecrated?
That's what this verse is talking about. Now, that's another subject in my ministry, and I like to just have a one subject. That's consecration, but we're going to touch on it here. I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God.
Now, I'll just mention one of the mercies of God, and then you can add on to that. He says, therefore, in view of all that he said before, as we know, he says, by the mercies of God. Note that that includes the sufferings of Christ for our sins.
Wasn't it the mercy of God that he suffered for our sins? But it includes all those great and wonderful truths. Think of that assembly that he writes to at Rome, and this is a masterpiece. This epistle really is, and he unfolds to them great truths like justification, redemption, and so forth.
He says that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Now, David Livingstone, if you've read his biographies, he would tell you in this verse, he's a missionary that blazed a trail to dark Africa. I've read a little about him.
When he died, those dear natives that loved him so well, they carried him to the coastline. One thing amongst his possession was the Psalms and New Testament. They said the Psalms were so black, you couldn't read them.
He said these words, say not sacrifice, but privilege. Now, that word body, it encompasses the thought of body, soul, and spirit, which is your reasonable service. Now, I'm going to just have to call a stall here quick and move on, but this verse here, very simply, I believe it's a crisis and a process.
It's not something that just happens. It happens once for all, but it's ongoing. There's a crisis and a process. There is a point of time, ideally as we come to the Apostle Paul, it happened when he got saved, you know, but there's a point of time, a place where a person recognizes and acknowledges the claims of Christ upon him.
You know, we're not our own. I don't belong to myself. I've been bought with a price, the most precious price that was ever paid. I've been bought body, soul, and spirit. Now, consecration in the Bible is a subject, and it just simply means this.
I'm yours. I'm all yours. I don't know a great deal about the priest and tabernacle and all those things, but I know this, that before a priest, before they were consecrated, they were sanctified. Sanctification means to be set apart for God, wholly for God, set apart for God, and consecration has the idea of your hands being full, full.
They're closely linked together. They're very close, the two words is, because a person that is going to be busy for God, he's going to be set apart for God, and here he calls on these believers that they would present their bodies, a living sacrifice, wholly accept them, God, which is your reasonable service.
The crisis is when I, it's really a deliberate act of the will, where, and it's based upon what? Appreciation. I'm going to repeat that word in my message, I trust, a little later. It's based on appreciation.
That's what it says, by the mercies of God. Because of all what God has done for you, the Apostle Paul, as we're coming to him, as he was there smitten to the ground on the Damascus Road, saved by the mighty grace and power of God, saw the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ in Shekinah glory, the blazing light of God, and he understood that this one that was crucified had died for him.
I hear the Apostle Paul say, he did all that for me, what can I do for him? That's what he said. Lord, what will thou have me to do? I hear him, he didn't probably know the poem, but I know it. Someone wrote the poem, I surrender, I surrender, overcome by love divine.
It's appreciation because of the love of Christ to me. The crisis, it happens, but then there's a process. It's a daily thing. And we make up our mind, I'm going to live for God. I want to live for God.
I think I'm going to take a little time out of this here, because it was very interesting to listen to our brother Patterson tell this, because the first time I ever met him, and Romans 12 is right in my mind here, I've got to get back to it, but I just met him for about two minutes or three, and he says, I've got something for you.
As that black earth in Wisconsin, all day meeting, went out to his vehicle, come back with a nice framed plaque, and had a poem on it, and he'd give it to me. You know, I had learned a verse from that poem, because I heard it from a real gifted brother, Jim Allen, but now I had all the poem.
A great treasure. And the little poem goes like this, one little line that I remember so well. Two little lines I heard one day, as I moved along in my usual way, they rang in my ears again and again, repeating in solemn sweet refrain, only one life will soon be past, only what's done for Christ will last.
When it comes to living for God, I want to tell you, there is a cost involved. There is a cost. And with discipleship, now that's another subject. I spoke on that once in Wisconsin, a brother from Arkansas saw me later on, and he told me that he remembered it, and I don't know if people preach on that too often, but when it comes to discipleship, it's like this, you pay the price, or you don't, follow me.
Didn't we hear that today? Follow me, follow me. That's what our brother is trying to tell us, to follow him. And when it comes to discipleship, that's the idea of discipleship, someone that's ahead of you.
You know? A lot of times we're always ahead of the Lord, or too far behind, or something like that, but someone that's ahead of me, someone that's over me, someone that I'm responsible to, I'm to act in his interest, I'm to hear his voice, I'm to obey his command, all those things, see?
I follow the Lord. See, there was a lot of people who followed the Lord when he was here. Great multitudes. When it comes to real, true discipleship, there's a sifting part, and that's in this verse, and I just want to come to these here today, because I trust God will dig deep in your heart today.
We don't want people just in the meeting, you know? We want them living for God. And that's what the Lord wants. And when it comes to discipleship, I think of those multitudes that followed, the Lord, he sifted them down.
And finally he said to his disciples, will you go away also? Peter speaks out and he says, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. Peter, thank you. You know what he says? He's got his focus on the right person.
That's what we're bringing to discipleship. We have to, as our brother has been emphasizing, the Christ and his place. We need to get our eye fixed on him. If Peter says, we're following you because of who you are, you have the words of eternal life, see?
And we get, you know, today, I'm just wondering, Christian day, if we haven't got so busy and so preoccupied with the things of time and sense, we've been sidetracked from going in for living for God.
Maybe we're more interested in building better houses, driving better cars, and so forth, than living for God. Nothing wrong with those things. But I tell you what, we've been sidetracked from the very purpose for which God has left us here, and that is to live for him and put him first.
You know, there's Abraham and he put God first in his life. Would we be a loser? Never. Those that put God first, he always gives them the best. He does. And that's proof of that here in these verses.
So now what I want to do, and I'll try to wind this up quick here, is help you. Because I need help myself. You know, I've been in ministry meetings and heard some of the older brethren, and I just come right to me and say, oh God, here I am.
Here I am. You know? Here I am. God wants you tonight. Totally. Not just a little here and a little there. He wants you totally. Completely surrendered. Fully dedicated to him. The Apostle Paul. What a man.
You know what? The Apostle Paul. What's the secret of his life? I think it is in those words that we hear and read. We read it over in a sermon. What would that have me to do? The very fact that he said that indicates a desire to do the will of God.
I want to know the will of God for my life. And he said, what would that have me to do? The secret of his fruitfulness, prosperity, and blessing was his desire to do the will of God. Lord, what would that have me to do?
That's what Romans 12 is talking about. You know, when we think of discipleship, I look this quick up. I know it from memory, but when I get up here I might forget it. Luke chapter 9, verse 23. I definitely want to quote this.
If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. Deny himself. Now there's a difference between self-denial and denying self. Deny self would be like not eating something.
You deny yourself. But self-denial is when you diminish, not I, but Christ. Let me see, where was I at here now? Apostle Paul, on Damascus Road. That was a crisis in his life. Day by day, owning the Lordship of Christ.
Is he Lord? He certainly is. Our brother Jennings made that clear. Lord of my life. Mr. Hamilton used to minister to us. He said one of the most outstanding things you never could hear. He said he's not Lord of all.
He's not Lord at all. I wonder would it be today that we would bow before God and say, oh God, now I want to consecrate myself to Thee. My time, my talents, my treasures. Here's the Apostle Paul on Damascus Road.
This is what I wanted to say as we pass on quickly. The Apostle Paul had an objective before him. He did. He certainly did. I'm going to come right to the end of my message. There's Daniel. We all know he purposed in his heart.
Purpose in his heart. The Apostle Paul had a purpose in his heart. You know what he said there in the book of Acts? That I might finish my course with joy. That is purpose of heart. I want to finish well.
You know, I don't know if this is exactly right, if people agree with me, but when I think of the judgment seat of Christ, you know, is it possible to arrive there and just only leave? To finish is where it comes.
You have to finish. You have to finish. There are men in my day, and they, you would know maybe, I'm speaking to myself, half your life you could teach and be a stalwart for the truth of God. And the last half, deny it by your life in practice.
What is there in that? You've undermined all that you've done before. I don't know. We need to come to grips with the things of God and really see where we are. It's not too late. It's not too late to live for God.
The hour is late. The day is dark. The day is evil. You know, we, like Daniel, when it comes to separation, now that's a subject in the Bible by itself more or less. Being set apart for God, sanctification.
But there's, Daniel, he was separate from it. What about separation today amongst God's people in the assembly? Do we believe in it? Separation from evil, the world? You know, we can't stop it. You might as well try to stop the tide, or Niagara Falls is trying to stop it.
We have to stand apart from it. We can do that. Daniel, he was separate from it all. We'll never lose out by being separate from God. Now, here is Abraham. I'll give you that one there quick. And Abraham, I'm thinking of ambition.
Ambition. That word comes with Romans chapter 12. This is trying to help you to carry out your vows, you know? You get up in the day and you say, well, I'm going to live for God today. But you know, I'm in this body.
And the sisters in Newfoundland, particularly the older sisters used to tell me, Dad, you better start saving yourself for your old days. I kind of got that, because sometimes I went three directions at one time.
Burned two candles on both ends or whatever. I don't know what I was doing. And I realized that, you know, I have this body. And if I lose my health, don't push me too hard. Don't push me too hard. Don't push me too hard.
If I lose my health, I have lost the vehicle that I can serve the Lord to the maximum capacity. So we need to take care of our bodies. It's for the Lord. But you know, my body, it does tell me what to do.
A lot of times, like even this morning, I got up early. I won't tell you what time. But I got up and, oh no, I've got to go preach today. That's my body. But you know, before I got out the door and I got here and there's nobody here, well, wow, this might be kind of easy.
I'll get to preach forever to myself. Nobody's in the auditorium. Well, I try to preach it to myself. But you know, my body tells me, you need a vacation. Take it easy. Sit down. And that's what we're doing.
And probably that's characteristic of the work here in the Midwest. You know, when a work gets old, it gets stale. It does. I'm not pointing fingers or picking on anybody. But when you get old, there's a tendency to take it easy.
Apostle Paul, he never slowed down. He pressed on towards a goal, and the goal was Christ. That's ambition. Now Abraham, and we'll just leave Abraham briefly in your mind. And what Abraham did he was called.
It says there that God did tempt Abraham or try him. God only tries those that trust in him. Those that trust in him, he tries him. And faith, it has to be tried or you wouldn't know you have it. That's faith.
He is a great man of faith. Abraham, as you look at Abraham, I can tell you a couple things about him quickly. He was a man of the altar. He was a man of prayer. And Abraham, you know what he could tell you?
I've answers to prayer. I've seen God move in my life. He prayed. And Abraham, when he began to pray, God began to move. I think it was Matt Murphy, I heard him a couple times in my life. He was in Newfoundland one time, too, when we were there.
Certainly enjoyed his ministry. And Matt Murphy, some brother come to him, he said, if you know of anybody that can get the ear of God, ask them to pray for my unsaved son. Well, here was Abraham, he prayed.
Now here, God called him to offer up his son. Now, this here, he said, abide ye here at the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. Now, I went to La Crosse one time. Now, this was a message that I'm not bemoaning this at all, because I feel more comfortable in a local assembly.
People have told me, Don, you do a lot better when you're all by yourself, when no preacher's around, whatever. But I ministered on five secret sacred spots in my life. And as a brother here today, I'm not going to tell you who he is.
No. He told me, I can use that. I hope he does. I hope he does, because he's working at the ministry good, and I've heard him different times. There's Abraham, I think we could call this a secret sacred spot in his life.
It is when everything you leave it all behind, like taking up the cross. Take up the cross, he's going out in one direction, he's not coming back again. He says goodbye to his friend, I'm going out, and I'm going to be crucified.
That's taking up the cross. I'm not coming back again, and that's going to be the end of me. What's wrong with discipleship, if I was speaking on it, I'll tell you now. Discipleship is, the biggest hindrance to it is yourself.
Yourself gets in the way. That's what happens. The world is just full of that thing. Defend yourself, man. Stick up for your rights. Feels good, do it. You know what happens when you do that? You get all flustered, nervous wreck.
That's what happens to people, when yourself gets in the way. See? That's what we were singing, till he come to take me home. Be this my one ambition, Lord. Self send the world to overcome. I think we need to start with ourself, right?
Before we point fingers at other people, when it comes to the assembly, we need to work at ourself. We've got a long ways to go. I thank God that he has preserved me, and any measure that I keep my focus on the man of Calvary.
That's my only preservative, is looking at him. Here's Abraham, as we think of him now. Just briefly, abide ye here in the S. If you know anything about it, and I'm sure most everyone here does, I would not want to say that you haven't.
There's spots in your life, where you come and you realize, there was a calmness in your breast, there was a peace in your heart. I'm moving in the will of God. And that's Abraham. He is called, he's been tried and tried by God, but here's Abraham, crisis after crisis after crisis.
And why I read Abraham is, these other men are young. Don't think you're finished yet. You're not finished. He's over 100 years old, I believe, and he's called to offer up his son. He's just seeking to elevate him.
The poet wrote these words, I want to scale the utmost heights and catch a gleam of glory bright, but still I'll pray till heaven I find. Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. Lord, lift me up and let me stand by faith on heaven's table land, a higher plane than I have been.
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground. We're looking at the horizontal too much instead of the vertical. And here was Abraham, and God called him, and this is a point in his experience, and it must be where everything of self is crucified.
Every worldly ambition is set aside, and Abraham says, I must go, and I must go alone. Go alone. And he says, I and the lad will go yonder and worship. I tell you, Abraham was a man that knew what it was to worship, to sacrifice, to worship.
And the word here is evaluation. Now I'll have to find my dictionary a little note here quick for you. Evaluation is a careful appraisal, careful appraisal to determine the significance or worth. Is it worth it, living for God?
Is it worth it to live for God? He evaluates the cost. He says, I will obey the Lord. God took him through this awful ordeal of offering up his son. It was no easy thing. He called him, and you know what?
In the end, it left a mark on him that he never, never forgot. Some of God's most choiceless saints, they may have never stood on a platform like this, but I tell you, I've met them, and the choiceless saints are the ones that most tried.
They know what it is, suffering, pain, trials, difficulties, but they learned God in the trial. Whatever you do, don't lose your hand on God. Don't lose your hand on God. Abraham, he was strong in faith.
That's evaluation. And then Josiah, we're running here a little past here, but we'll stop quick here. Josiah is emulation. Now, it's kind of a little bit on my vocabulary, but I've heard it, and I know it fits right this year.
He did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. He walked in all the ways of David, his father. Now, we'll give you the definition of this word here, emulation. Emulation, I'll tell you, it's not imitation.
To imitate something. Emulation is to admire. It's to admire, like admiring a person, seeking to live like them, like the world calls an idol, in a real good sense. See, he emulates someone. Thank God for all the older saints that we would seek to emulate, to seek to be like them.
And it even has the thought to emulation is ambition, and its endeavor is to equal. It's even to excel someone else, yeah, in a good way. It's achievement. It's ambitious. You know, there's a man in the Bible, and I'm going to read the verse to you.
It's 2 Kings 2, verse 9. It came to pass that when they were gone over, Elisha said to Elisha, ask what I will do for thee before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.
Good request? Yes, it was. Know what Elisha said to Elijah? I'd like to be twice the man you are for God. That's what he said. He really wanted to, yeah. I tell you, we need to, you know, we need to, we need to be motivated.
That's emulation. We'll just leave Josiah. He's one of the best kings that was ever raised up. And then there's Joseph. Oh, Joseph there. Joseph, he is appreciation. That's a real good one. Appreciation.
And we'll just close in a couple minutes here with Daniel. There was Joseph. He dreamed those dreams. Very simply, you know what it was? He knew, and his parents knew, that God was going to raise him up to a place of exaltation and glory.
You know what he appreciated? God chose him. Know why God chose him? The grace of God. For reasons I don't know or understand, God has chosen me to be a man of God. And of all people, to a place of exaltation.
You know, believers today were destined for glory. He lived and he appreciated that. His whole life was characterized. That's appreciation. Appreciation, the dictionary says, is a sensitive awareness, gratitude, valuation, a favor, critical estimate, to grasp the nature, worth, quality, significance of, to admire highly, to judge with heightened perception, understanding, fully aware.
That's appreciation. He really appreciated as he thought of those dreams that that was the meaning of them. Then Daniel, I must stop here. Daniel, he purposed in his heart. He purposed in his heart. He did not defile himself.
He was one that had purpose in heart. Do you have any purpose of heart? Purpose to live for God? He had purpose of heart. And you know what the word is? It's association. He was very careful about association, wasn't he?
And his purpose of heart. The word that describes him. See, these here words that I give you, they will help you to fulfill your vow in presenting your body, soul, and spirit to the Lord. Evaluation, emulation, appreciation, association.
Association has to do with to keep coming with, company with, to have common interest and ideas. They told us when I grew up at the conference, always seek someone that's more spiritual than you are. I wonder, what about the people are more spiritual when I come by them?
Well, anyway, that's our work, to seek to lift up others and to really seek to look for those that are spiritual. That'll be a help and a blessing to us and to grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.