THE PRACTICAL SIDE OF THE GOSPEL
Grace & Glory
An excerpt from the study of Romans

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" - 12:1.  We have in these three following chapters - 12, 13 and 14 - the practical side of the Epistle of Romans: for herein are contained all the exhortations and admonitions based upon the mercy of God declared in the Gospel. When the truth revealed in the former chapters has been grasped by the heart in living faith, the results will be manifested in practice. The twofold reckoning enjoyed in the sixth chapter is very effective in silencing the old man and awakening the new man.  Paul begins this portion of his Epistle, which may very truly be called man's side of the truth, by the leverage of God's side - which wonderful provision has been his theme heretofore. Because of all the preceding matchless grace, we are now urged to present our bodies to God. And notice that each body is as "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God," because of the treasure which it contains - the new life. For when we count the old man dead, God    sees the body as an earthen vessel - the receptacle for the display of the Life of Christ. And this is counted as our reasonable service. That is, it is in harmony with reason, that we should give to God that which He has redeemed at such infinite cost. Paul suggests it as a privilege, not a duty, of which we may gladly avail ourselves by his reminder. And this is real Christian service or worship. It displaces the forms of divine service as formerly connected with the law. This will necessitate nonconformity to the world, and will result in a transformation God-ward. The process will be accomplished by a continuous renewing of our mind; thus proving or finding, "what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God" - 12:2. That is, we thereby learn God's will for us personally, of which there seems to be three distinctions - three progressive stages - we might say, in the school of Christ. The first is His GOOD WILL; later, we find His more ACCEPTABLE WILL, as we walk with Him; until finally we are in the very ocean of God's PERFECT WILL, fixed and unchanging as His own eternal decrees.

c:

Hi.

Yes, if you follow through the references to sanctification in the New Testament, some refer to positional sanctification (the true believer has already been set apart for God', and others refer to the believer's conditional sanctification: the challenge day by day to live in the light of what our position in Christ already is, through the work of Christ's blood shed at the Cross.