Paul Beseeching in Romans

Romans chapter 12. I was afraid to mention it, but the Lord wouldn't give me anything else, so it's Romans chapter 12. Romans 12, verse 1. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, or your spiritual worship.

Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye might prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now chapter 15. Romans chapter 15, verse 30.

Now I beseech you, brethren, it could be read, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayer to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints, that I may come to you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. Now chapter 16, verse 17. Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause division and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you have received, and avoid them.

For they are such that serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own bellies, and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. The Lord has promised to bless to us the reading from his good word. Now this is the third time Romans 12, verse 1 and 2 has been read at this conference, and I make no apology for reading it again.

Way back in the 60s, an Easter conference in Belfast, over a thousand people were present. First speaker was A.M.S. Gooding. The second speaker was Albert Leckie, and the third speaker was Jack Hunter.

Now those three names mean nothing to many, but they mean everything to me. A.M.S. Gooding got up, he said, we're going to read the first two verses of Romans chapter 12, and he spoke for perhaps 35 minutes, and if you want it, you could get it, no problem today. Go to Voices for Christ, put in A.M.S. Gooding, and you'll get his message in Romans chapter 12.

The second speaker was Albert Leckie, and he says we're going to read today the first two verses of Romans chapter 12, and he spoke perhaps for three quarters of an hour. The third speaker got up, Jack Hunter, and Jack Hunter said, I'm glad I didn't come to speak on Romans chapter 12, turn to Exodus chapter 3, but I'm glad I've come to speak on Romans chapter 12. Now what I'm going to do, we've read the three I beseeches of Paul in the Roman epistle.

He beseeches in chapter 12, he beseeches in chapter 15, and he beseeches in chapter 16. So we're going to consider the three I beseeches of Paul in the Roman epistle, but before I touch that, I'm going to touch this chapter in a very general way. Our brethren yesterday touched it beautifully, and I'm going to touch it how it appeals to me in Romans chapter 12.

Now first of all, you're the believer in relation to God. Then you're the believer in relation to the world. Then you're the believer in relation to himself, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, the believer in relation to himself.

And then the believer in relation to his gift. Now I'm told in Ephesians 4, why I have a gift. I'm told in 1 Corinthians 12, why I have a gift, but I'm not told in Romans chapter 12, why I have a gift.

What's taught in Romans chapter 12 is this, if it's prophecy, give yourself to prophecy. If it's ministry, give yourself to ministry. If it's teaching, give yourself to teaching.

And if it's exhortation, give yourself to exhortation. And then how does it finish? Now remember, you're listening to an old coal miner. Okay? You're listening to an old coal miner.

Listen to what Paul says. He says this, if your enemy hunger, feed him. If he's thirsty, give him a drink.

For in doing so, thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. Now, remember you might not get this, but if you're a bit Scots, you'll get it. This is not coal out the coal cellar.

This is coal out the cupboard. I don't know if I should tell you this one or no, but it's only laugh you're going to get. There was a couple, they weren't getting on too well.

Their marriage was almost on the rocks. They met individually with the oversight of the assembly. So the woman came first and they spoke to the woman.

And then the husband came and they spoke to the husband. When the overseer said to the husband, did you ever think about heaping coals of fire upon her head? Then he thought for a moment, not really, no, but I often thought of using the poker. So you need something to waking you up on a Sunday afternoon.

Now I'm going to quote what Amos Gooding said in his message. And I want you to listen. Now, remember it's 1960.

Listen to what he says. 90% of Christians know nothing about the first two verses of Romans chapter 12. If that was true in the 1960s, what about the day we're living in? Now, Paul is going to beseech.

Now I want you to notice it's not an apostle commanding. It's a shepherd. It's a teacher that is beseeching.

Now let's think of the first thing. He's begging the saints. He's pleading with the saints.

He's praying with the saints that they might present their bodies a living sacrifice. Now I want you to notice in the three chapters that we have read, Paul always gives an incentive. Paul always gives an encouragement.

And you might say to me this afternoon, what's the incentive? What's the encouragement to present our bodies a living sacrifice? It's the mercies of God. The mercies of God. Now let me say this.

In the first 11 chapters of the Roman epistle, what did you read about? You read about the gospel of God. You read about the grace of God. You read about the goodness of God.

You read about the compassions of God. You read about the mercies of God. And that's the incentive that Paul gives for those saints to present their body a living sacrifice.

Now what does it mean? We used to hear it when I was a young Christian. You never hear it now, but you're going to hear it now. If He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.

I don't last when I heard that one, but when I was a young Christian, we heard it time and again. Now young Christian, we're glad to see you here this afternoon. And I've come to tell you this.

God does not want part of you. God wants all of you. For example, He wants your eyes to behold Him.

He wants your ears to listen to Him. He wants your tongue to speak for Him. He wants your heart to love Him.

He wants your hands to work for Him. And He wants your feet to walk for Him. And He deserves it.

And He demands it. I remember reading about a woman from India. She had two sons.

She had one son that was strong and healthy. And she had one son that was weak and sickly. And she took the long journey to the Ganja River.

And when she came to the river, she hugged the strong son and covered him with kisses and then cast him into the river. A few days later, the question was put to her. Why did you not put the weak and the sickly son into the river? Why the strong and the healthy son into the river? Listen to her words.

My God deserves the best. Young brother, young sister, our God deserves the best. And if we leave this conference and we're going to practice Romans 12 and verse 1, you'll turn the locality upside down.

Much more could be said. I leave it there. But then the world.

I'm a boy that likes translations. You know how Mr. Philip puts his translation? Don't let the world mold you, squeeze you into its mold. What kind of a world are we living in? A wicked world, a sinful world, a world that's cold, a world that's crooked, a world that is corrupt.

You know the trouble today? The church is so worldly, and the world is so churchy, and it's difficult to know the difference. And if I read Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, we should be different in a threefold way. The sleep that marks the world should not mark us.

Let us not sleep as do others. The sorrow that marks the world should not mark us. We sorrow not as others which have no hope.

And the sin that marks the world should not mark us. Not in evil concupiscence as the Gentiles, which know not God. We should be different from the world.

Now that's enough for Romans chapter 12. I want you to notice Romans chapter 15, and Paul is beseeching the saints to pray for him. Now I just noticed this sitting in my car this the other hour there.

Notice how God is presented in Romans 15. You read about the patience of God. Look at verse 5. Now the God of patience and of comfort.

So you read about the patience of God, and you read about the comfort of God. Look at verse 13. Now the God of hope.

And look at the last verse of the chapter. Now the God of peace be with you all. Now what I want to make very clear this afternoon is this.

Paul was praying for those saints. You might say, what was he praying about? Well, he was praying for their oneness, for their unity. He was praying that they might by one mouth, by one heart glorify God.

He was praying that their joy and their peace might be full. And he was praying that the God of peace might be with them. So remember, Paul was praying for those saints, but Paul now is beseeching the saints in order that they might strive together in prayer for him.

Now what's the incentive for you? What's the encouragement? By the power of the Lord Jesus and by the love of the Spirit, he prays that they together might strive in prayer to God for him. Now three things he prays for. First of all, he wants them to pray that he might deliver from men that don't believe.

That's the first request. You pray for me that I might be delivered from men that are disobedient, that don't believe. That's the first request.

The second request is this, that the gift that Paul received from the Gentiles to give to the Jews might be accepted by the Jews. That's the second request he makes. And then thirdly, he wants to come to them by the will of God and that together they might be refreshed.

So here's a man and he wants the saints at Rome to strive together in prayer to God for him. And you mark my words, if Paul needed the prayer of the saints, each one of us need the prayer of the saints. But then thirdly, very quickly, I want you to notice four things.

I want to notice those men. Secondly, I want you to notice the masters they serve. The third thing I want you to notice, I want you to notice their material.

I want you to notice their methods. And the fourth thing I want you to notice, I want you to notice their motives. Now what's the incentive? It's the teaching, it's the doctrine that they have received.

That's the incentive. Now let's think of the men. Notice what we've to do with those men.

We've to mark them and we've to avoid them. Now time and again in the Bible I'm told to mark men. For example, mark the perfect man, behold the upright, the latter end of that man is peace.

We've to mark the perfect man, the Lord Jesus. I come to Philippians chapter three, Paul says this, be ye followers together of me and mark them which so walk as ye have us for in samples. In order in Philippians chapter three, I've to mark men to follow them.

But when I come to Romans chapter 16, I've to mark men in order that I might avoid them. Why? Notice two things, they cause division and they deceive the hearts of the simple. So they're men who cause division, they are men that deceive the hearts of the people of God, you've to mark them and avoid them.

Who do those men serve? Well, we're told this, they serve not the Lord Jesus. In other words, they're serving self, they're serving sin and they are serving Satan. They serve not the Lord Jesus, but their own bellies, their self-serving self.

What's their methods? What's their material? Good works, fair speeches, that's the material they're using to deceive the people of God. What's their motive? What did our brother William bring before us yesterday? Six things God hates, seven are an abomination unto Him. What's the seventh? He that soweth discord among brethren.

We had a man back home in Scotland, he used to say this, don't drink the water, there's a fly in it. The man in Scotland didn't say that, but there's a fly in it. The man in Scotland once said this, there are men that water the saints, there are men that watch the saints, there are men that weary the saints, and there are men that worry the saints.

And I leave it with you, Paul is beseeching, Paul is begging on those three chapters in which we have considered.