Understanding Romans 12: A Guide to Christian Conduct

If you have your Bibles, find Romans chapter 12 with me this morning.

We're going to be finishing up Romans chapter 12 today, Lord willing.

And it has been a wonderful study looking at what it means to present ourselves a living sacrifice unto the Lord.

We see that in this chapter.

It tells us that it is our reasonable service to give our lives to God.

And now he tells us how we're supposed to do that.

He tells us to be humble.

He tells us to be unified.

He.

He tells us to exercise the gifts that he has given us through grace, to help others see the truth of Jesus.

He talks about how we're supposed to love others.

He talks to us about how we're supposed to empathize with other people.

There in verse 15.

Rejoice with them that are rejoicing.

Weep with them that weep.

He talks about us being unified in our minds in verse 16.

And now we're coming to verse 17, and we're going to see him basically strengthen his argument that he gave all the way back to verse 14 when he said, bless them which persecute you.

Bless and curse not.

He now comes back in verse 17 to strengthen this thought, to amplify this thought.

And he says, verse 17, recompense to no man, evil for evil.

Here in this passage, really, for verses 17 through 21, we're seeing a Christian's response to when someone does wrong to you, the Christian's response to evil.

And this is sometimes a very difficult thing for us and our flesh to understand because the world tells us a completely different message.

The world tells us to get even.

The world tells us to give back what is given to us.

But here in verse 17, he uses this word, recompense.

Basically, what this means is don't return evil for evil.

And the reality is, is that we will have evil done against us, we'll have evil done around us.

But the teaching here from Paul is this, though we might experience evil, though we might have evil done in our own life and in the lives of others around us, we are not to return that evil.

He actually references a passage of Scripture found in Proverbs.

Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 22, which is essentially.

It's a direct quote from that passage that basically says that as a believer, as a person who has experienced the love of God, as a person who has.

Who has experienced the forgiveness of God, it is not our job to return that evil back to a person who commits evil around us.

The way we could put it is this.

Someone else's sin does not give me the Permission to sin.

Oftentimes we recognize that sin is bad, but we justify our sin because we have been sinned against, right?

We're, we're able to say, you know what?

I would have never done that, but that person did that, and that person made me do this.

The Bible tells us in the book of James that we can't blame anybody else for our sin other than ourselves.

So the idea here is this.

There is going to be evil done.

People will sin against us, but that does not give us a right to return that back to them.

The Christian should, if they are walking in Christ in the Spirit of God, they should allow this opportunity, not to be an opportunity for sin, but a responsibility to point other people to Jesus Christ.

The Christian should refuse to let another person's evil determine his or her response to what is going on in their life.

And I think a lot of times what happens is, is that we are on track, we're doing the right thing.

And someone comes in and says something or does something, and that knocks us off our track.

And we get to a place in our life where instead of thinking that I should honor God, I'm thinking about getting even.

And the world says, get even.

The world says, return it back.

If they say something bad about you, say something bad about them.

If they hurt you, you hurt them.

But the Christlike believer should say, not.

I'm going to get even, but I'm not going to repay evil for evil.

And I'm actually going to use this as an opportunity to point someone to Jesus.

And that's really the whole idea in this passage.

Verse 17, all the way to verse 21 is all about using this opportunity when evil is done against us, to point people to the One who can change their heart, who can change their life.

And he says in verse 17, recompense to no man, evil for evil.

And then he says this.

Provide things honest in the sight of all men.

What's he talking about here?

Well, he's saying this.

Be prepared, think ahead, prepare your hearts and your minds for how you will respond in your life in the idea of reflecting Christ to them.

I need to be prepared today as I wake up, as I go about my daily walk to understand that every decision that I make has an opportunity to reflect Jesus in my life.

And so he says, be ready, provide things honest.

Or in this case, honorable.

The idea here is an honorable response.

How can I, as a believer honorably respond to someone who is not Christlike?

The Christian's conduct should be honorable, not just before other believers, because that's sometimes what we think.

Well, I need to be on best behavior when I'm at church.

That's sometimes what we think.

And I'll even make a joke sometimes.

I'm like, guys, don't lie about this.

You're at church.

But the truth is, is that this is not just when we're talking together with other Christians.

I don't know if any of you have children and you've said this phrase, hey, you shouldn't be acting like that at church.

Well, really, maybe we should say, don't be acting like that anytime, right?

Because the idea is not that we are supposed to be a certain way at church and then a different way when we're in the world or when we're at home or when we're at work.

Here he says in verse 17, provide things honest or honorable in the sight of all men.

The idea that he's getting across here is that it's not just about building other Christians up.

Even though we should act this way around other Christians, this is a way that we're supposed to respond to all men that we come across in this world as a testimony, as a light, as a hope for those that don't have Jesus as their savior.

So our response to conflict is part of our testimony.

I want you to think about that here this morning.

It's not just how we act at church.

It's not just how we act in a ministry.

It's not just how we are when we're together in a Bible study.

Our response to conflict is also a testimony of who Jesus is to us, because that's really when the test comes.

I don't know about you, but there's times in my life where I'm not really tempted to be rude to somebody else.

When everyone's being kind to me, when am I tempted to be rude?

When there's conflict?

When am I tempted to do evil to someone else?

Usually when evil is done to me.

So the true test to our testimony is how do we respond in the midst of conflict, in the midst of pressure?

Because oftentimes when we are put to the press is when what's really inside of our hearts and minds will come out.

And that's what he's saying here.

He says, be honorable in the sight of all men.

The way that we could put it as Christians is this.

I have to be responsible for my decisions that I am making in my life.

I can't allow someone else to be responsible for my bad decisions, because that's often what we do.

We Say, well, I would have been completely fine in my life.

I would have responded in an honorable way if that person would have just been respectful to me.

That person must be respectful to me.

If they're not respectful to me, I'm not going to be respectful for them.

And that's really what the world tells us.

That's what our flesh tells us.

But here what we're seeing is that we cannot look to someone else to dictate our response.

We must look at Jesus to dictate our response.

And Jesus would never have us living in a fleshly way, rendering evil for evil.

So he says, provide things honest in the sight of all men.

Let's use conflict and evil as an opportunity for our testimony to be seen to the world that we are different.

And that's what Romans chapter 12 is all about.

And really, the rest of the book of Romans, Romans 12 all the way to the end of the book is all about living differently, living differently than the world, living with a different narrative, living with a different hope, living with a different response.

Because the world always responds in the way that makes sense to our flesh, right?

To eye for eye, tooth for tooth, evil for evil.

You know, be nice to those that are nice to us.

But we looked at this last week.

That's how the heathen acts.

Everyone understands that we're supposed to be kind to people that are kind to us.

But.

But the Bible takes it a step further for a believer, that we are supposed to love our enemies.

We're supposed to do good to them that persecute us.

And so he says here, live honorably before all.

Not for them to lift us up and say, well, they're a great person.

It's ultimately to point people to Jesus.

And that's what we're going to get to here in this passage.

And then he says in verse 18, if it be possible.

Now, I love this phrase because sometimes in our life we cannot live at peace with others because they are not wanting peace.

But he says, if it be possible, as much as lith in you, that phrase there essentially means this.

With all of your heart, with all of your efforts, with everything in you, do your best to live peaceably with all men.

Paul recognizes that peace requires two parties.

Let's say, for example, here this morning, someone comes in and they do wrong to me, and I want to live at peace with them.

I'm doing everything that I can to live at peace with them, but they're not willing to reconcile with me.

Well, the truth is, is that I will not have peace with that person because they are not willing to have peace.

But Paul recognizes that, yes, there are two people involved, but you cannot control someone else's response.

You can only control your response through the power of God.

I can't force someone to think a certain way.

I can't force them to respond a certain way, but all I can do is be on my side of the the situation, to live peaceably to the best of my ability.

So verse 18 tells us that we are supposed to pursue peace in our life with all of our hearts, with all of our minds, with everything in us, if it be possible, live peaceably with all men.

So do everything within your power to forgive, to apologize, to speak truthfully, to refuse retaliation, to pursue reconciliation.

I believe that there's times in my life, and I think if we're all honest with ourselves here today, that maybe we've all been a part of this, that we have not pursued peace or pursued unity.

We want it to happen.

Sure, I don't want to have conflict in my life, but I'm not going to pursue it.

I'm not going to work for it.

That person's going to have to work for it.

But here in this case, he says no.

The other side of the focus is this.

I have to be the one who's in the right place.

You may be able to make peace happen, but if you can't, don't make it on your side, don't make it your fault.

You aren't the reason that peace is not happening.

It's that other person.

So here in this case, he says, do everything that you possibly can to live at peace with everyone, with all men.

Not just other Christians, but all men.

That's the testimony that we're called to have as believers.

We're called to live a life above the conflict.

There's an opportunity for us.

There's a phrase that I had used with a fellow brother in Christ a while back, and we were talking about this.

We're like, hey, we have to love above the conflict.

We have to love above the differences.

Now, again, the love is not an acceptance.

So if I'm having a conflict with someone, it doesn't mean that if I love them, I'm accepting the wrongdoing.

And by the way, there is a place for justice which we're going to talk about here in a few moments.

It doesn't mean that we overlook the person's wrongdoing, but what it does mean is, is that we're loving them enough to not allow ourselves to feed back into that vicious cycle of evil for evil.

He says in verse number 19, dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath.

For it is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.

Here in this case, he quotes Deuteronomy, chapter 32, verse 35.

He's reiterating something that the people would have already understood.

It's not our place to get revenge, he says.

It's it's not your place to get even.

In this case, he's saying it is God's responsibility.

It means that justice matters, but justice is not placed into our hands.

It means that justice doesn't ultimately begin with me, but it ends with the Lord.

God sees what happens in our life.

God knows what happens in our life.

He will judge rightly.

And part of this is trusting that God will do what he says he will do.

The Bible says, vengeance is mine.

This is God speaking, Vengeance is mine, I will repay, sayeth the Lord.

So what happens oftentimes is that we have something happen around us that maybe someone wrongs us, someone lies about us, someone says something to us, someone abuses us, whatever it might be.

And we think it's my job to, to make it right.

It's my job to bring about justice.

Well here for the believer, it doesn't say that it's my job, it says that it is God's job.

Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.

Now why does this not come to pass in a lot of Christians life?

Why do we overstep that and say, you know what, it's my job to make this even.

Oftentimes it's because there's a faith element here.

There is this idea that I must trust that God is going to do what he says he is going to do.

So when I see this and I say, well, God tells me to make it a place where I trust him to do it.

Vengeance is his, it's not mine.

But I say, you know what, I see that, but I don't believe that.

I think I need to step in and do this.

It's essentially saying this.

God isn't handling it the way that I want it to be handled.

So I'm taking control.

And essentially it's this.

I'm not believing that God is doing what he needs to do.

That's a lack of faith.

A lack of faith is saying, I don't trust that God is going to do enough.

I don't trust that God is strong enough.

I don't trust that God is good enough.

That's what we're really saying if we don't believe that God is doing what he says he's doing, we are then looking at it from the perspective that we know better.

So it's this, really what it should be doing is this.

When I refuse vengeance, it's saying, God sees this.

I'm going to trust Him.

I'm going to make sure that he is the one who is going to take care of this in my life.

That's faith.

It's believing that God is going to handle it.

In his timing and in his way.

We have to believe that God is going to make all things right.

If we don't believe that God is going to make all things right, we have a major issue in our trust to Him.

We have a major issue in our life of faith.

Because if I trust that God is going to save me and bring me with him one day for eternity to spend my whole eternity with him, and I believe that he saved me, and I believe that his death is enough on the cross for me.

I believe that his resurrection is enough for me in my life.

But I don't believe that he's good enough for this problem in my life today.

I'm inconsistent in my faith and I'm probably lacking in many other areas with my faith.

And so here it is a matter of faith to trust that God is going to do what he says he is going to do.

I know it's difficult now.

What this passage is, is saying is that I must not retaliate.

This is not saying I, I can't stop evil around me.

That's not what this passage is saying.

This is not a passage of pacifism that says, well, you know what, someone's harming me or harming someone that I love and I just need to overlook it.

No, this in no way is saying I can't stop evil.

What it's saying is, is that I don't render evil for evil.

I hope you understand the distinction there.

This is not turning a blind eye to those things around us that are going on.

I think as Christians, we are supposed to stand up for the truth.

We are supposed to fight for the One who doesn't have a voice.

We're supposed to be the one who are protecting those.

And the Bible even speaks of the importance of peacemakers and the importance of keeping that whole understanding of doing what is right.

So it's not about turning a blind eye to the evil around us.

But what it is saying is that though I'm trying to stop the evil around me, I am not supposed to give back to those that are committing evil.

Evil things.

I'm not supposed to reciprocate sin for sin in my life.

And there's a big difference there.

A lot of times people will talk about this passage and say, well, there's nothing that you can do about evil in your life.

There's nothing that you can do about those that are sinning against you.

Well, the truth is, is that there's certain areas that we can't stop.

There are certain areas that we can build boundaries.

There's certain areas that we can separate ourselves from.

But at the end of the day, it's not about doing evil to them.

It's about allowing ourselves to be in the light, in the truth, so that we can walk in accordance to God.

And we know that because of the next verse.

It's not just about avoiding evil.

It's not just about holding back retaliation, but it's even more so, as verse 20 says, Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him.

If he thirsts, give him drink.

He actually here is quoting another passage of scripture in Proverbs, chapter 25, verses 21 and 22.

And what it's saying here is that as a believer, we're to think differently.

One of those aspects of thinking differently is not just restraining evil against other people, but actually doing good to those that do wrong to us.

And that's.

That's a hard pill to swallow, even for.

For me this morning.

I think about times in my life where people do something to me and I can, at least by the grace of God, restrain my anger against them.

And I don't retaliate.

I mean, I even had a chance this week driving here in Middletown.

There was a person who did something very dangerous, and I got.

They got in my way.

And it could have been really bad.

And I had everything, you know, what I want.

I won't tell you what I wanted to do, but I didn't.

God restrained me, and I just drove and went the opposite way and had to do a lot of praying for the rest of that day to calm my heart rate.

But it's not.

As a Christian, it's not just about restraining myself.

Even though that's a good thing, that's a start.

But the indwelling of the spirit, yes, restrains me from doing evil.

But also the Bible tells me to then do good.

And that's the step that a lot of us forget about.

We say, well, well, I'm not going to go off on that person that does wrong to me.

But I'm never going to ever do anything good for them.

I'm not going to go out of my way for them.

Well, here in this case, was it saying, I.

In some ways, I struggle with the fact that this is in scripture.

I look at this and I say, yeah, but it makes so much more sense just to avoid them and forget about them and write them off.

But no, it says here that if your enemy hungers, feed them.

If he thirsts, give him drink.

What.

What is he talking about here?

Well, what he's saying is this.

There's a purpose to this good.

It's not just toleration.

And like, well, I guess I have to do good to these bad people.

And I. I guess they're just going to stay bad forever.

No, there is a purpose to this because it is our kindness that may awaken our enemy's conscience.

And all we have to do is read the rest of the verse to understand this.

We have to understand context.

Because like, if a person has never read the Bible and I say, okay, guys, you supposed to be good to those that are bad.

You're supposed to love your enemies.

That.

That doesn't make a lot of sense.

And we want to know the why.

Any of you that have ever had children, if they're like my children, they always want to know the why.

Guys, we're not doing that why because.

And I have to give them a reason.

Sometimes I don't give them a reason.

Sometimes my reason is this, because I'm your dad and you obey, and that's all there is to it.

But as a Christian, there are going to be times when God just is going to say, this is the why.

This you why is because I'm God and you're not.

And that's how it is.

That's how God even responded to Job in some instances when Job was asking questions.

But the beauty is, is that within our relationship with God, he does give us the why behind many things, and he gives us the why here.

Why are we supposed to feed our enemy?

Why are we supposed to give him drink?

He says, for in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

Now, let me stop here.

This is a passage of scripture that can be misunderstood without again understanding context.

Because I've heard this preached this way.

If you want to get back at your enemies and give them problems, just do good to them because you're just going to throw fire at them.

Well, if we understand this context, this isn't about being excited about God's judgment upon them, because what do we see in the very next verse?

Be not overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.

So we're understanding we're doing something good here.

So what is he talking about here?

What is he talking about heaping coals of fire upon our enemy's head?

Well, in most cases, when this reference has been given in the Old Testament and the New, this is speaking of God's conviction and judgment upon an individual.

You would say, well, then it's God's judgment.

We should be celebrating God's judgment upon them.

Well, no, it's our kindness is supposed to awaken our enemy's conscience to a place where that enemy needs to make a decision to follow God.

So the enemy expects us to render evil for evil.

Right?

Right.

So the average person, when they do wrong to someone, they're expecting that person to do wrong back to them, because that's the system of the world.

Our enemy would expect retaliation.

Our enemy would respect anger.

Our enemy would respect all those things that the world tells them.

But when our enemy, instead of receiving retaliation, receives grace, what happens?

They experience a.

A Christlike love and grace that they have never experienced before.

And what we see is that our goodness causes that enemy to recognize the wrong that they have done and hopefully lead them to a place of shame, conviction, repentance, and hopefully reconciliation.

And if the person refuses to repent from their sin, then yes, God is going to bring some level of judgment in their life.

But we on our side have done what God has called us to do.

The outcome belongs to God.

So this heaping coals of fire upon someone is either going to bring someone to a place of shame, conviction, and then hopefully repentance and restoration, or it's going to bring them to a place of more rebellion and anger and frustration and bring them to a place of judgment.

But instead of us rendering evil for evil and continuing that cycle, we render what is good to them, we return what is good to, and then it is God upon their heart, working in their lives.

And so the whole idea, the why behind feeding our enemies and giving them drink is not so that we can get them in judgment of God.

It's so that they can see the love of God and hopefully in their hearts see their wrongdoing and have that shame and conviction of what we are doing by responding in good to them and it's obedience to God.

And ultimately that's what heaping coals of fire upon their head really means.

It doesn't mean that if I want to get back at somebody, well, instead of me Saying something bad to them, I'm going to do good, and I hope it just plagues them for life.

I. I hope that, that my enemy keeps feeling more pain, because that's contrary to this passage.

This whole passage is about doing good to those that are evil to us.

So me wishing torment for their life is not good.

That's not doing good to them.

So what's my hope?

What's my desire?

What's the purpose of giving love and grace to my enemy?

So that they can understand that there's something different out there, that there's something more out there, that they can find forgiveness and grace.

How can an unsaved person experience and understand the forgiveness and grace of God if they've never tasted of it?

The only way that they can experience the grace and forgiveness and the love of God is through his children showing what has already happened in our life.

So, for example, if I cannot reciprocate forgiveness to somebody else, I might not be able to say that God has forgiven me.

Jesus even said that to some degree when he says, hey, if you're not able to love people and forgive people and be patient with people, maybe you haven't experienced the love, grace, and patience from the Lord.

The whole idea is that the only way that I'm able to give grace and love and patience and peace and all these things that he's calling us to do here is because God has so abundantly brought that upon my life that I want those that are my enemies, those that are evil, those that are in sin, those that are unsaved, to see the difference in me so that they can ultimately see the difference in knowing Jesus for themselves.

And that's what he's saying here in verse number 20, verse 21 is, don't be overcome with evil.

Do not be.

Be not overcome with evil.

That's what sometimes the testimony of a person is.

They.

They just have that evil done to them.

And then instead of allowing that to be an instance of reflection of Christ, they allow that evil to overcome them.

If someone hurts us and we respond by being hateful or bitter or vengeful or cruel, their evil has overcome us and now it controls us.

The evil that they did to us is now essentially dictating our lives.

That's what he's saying here.

He says, don't be controlled by someone else's evil.

Don't.

Don't let that happen at all.

He says, be not overcome with evil, but overcome or conquer evil with good.

This is the point of all of this.

The Christian doesn't overcome evil by being better at being evil.

Right?

I'm going to be more crafty.

I'm going to be more vengeful.

I'm going to be stronger than that person.

No, a person overcomes evil by doing good in the face of evil.

And that's the way of Christ.

That's, that's what he has called us to do.

That's exactly his example that he gave us.

And you can see that in First Peter chapter two.

I want you to turn there with me from Romans, and I want you to see the example of Jesus.

If anyone gives us an example, It's.

It's Jesus.

First Peter chapter two might have said verse chapter three, but it's first Peter, chapter two.

And if you go with me to verse 21, we see that Jesus is our example to live this way.

And it gives us a great description of how Jesus responded when people did evil to him.

Now, I've heard people say, well, I'm not Jesus.

Well, of course we're not Jesus.

None of us will be perfect.

But isn't Jesus our example?

Isn't that what we're described to be?

Isn't spiritual growth being more Christ like.

It's not about being more like someone else within the church.

I think that one of the major issues of spiritual growth is the issue of comparison.

I would even go as far to say that one of the issues of holding us back from spiritual growth is, is, is the enemy of comparison.

Why?

Well, let me give you an example of this comparison.

I talked about this in my Bible study here this morning.

If I'm looking at this person right here, and let's say this person is in church every single day.

They memorize all the different parts of the bible.

They've got 25 ministries.

I could look at that person and say, I'll never be like that person.

I could never achieve those things.

So you know what?

Instead of me trying to do my best and serving God and, and growing in Him, I'm just going to give up because I'll never reach that.

That leads me in a place of inactivity, which leads me to a place of spiritual stunted, stunting my growth.

But then the other side of comparison would be this.

I could look at this person over here and say, well, you know what?

I do more than them.

I serve more than them.

I know more about the Bible than them.

So you know what?

I don't need to grow because I'm better than them.

Right?

Both of those comparisons lead us in the very same place of Inactivity and not growing.

Either if I'm comparing myself to this person who does more than me, or I'm comparing my person to this person who doesn't do as much as me.

Either way, that's a bad comparison because it leads me to a place of not doing anything.

Because either I'm defeated or I'm in a sense of pride and apathy to think, well, I don't need to grow because I'm better than that person.

We can always find someone who's doing more than us in religiosity, or we can always find someone who's doing less than us.

So spiritual growth is not necessarily a matter of comparing myself to other people.

It's a matter of comparing myself to Christ.

And let me tell you that if you compare yourself to Christ, we all fall short of the glory of God.

So that what that means is that we're always supposed to be striving to be more like him each and every day.

Now, obviously Paul says, imitate me as I imitate Christ.

Follow me as I follow Christ.

But it wasn't the end all be all to follow Paul.

It was ultimately to follow Christ.

So here is an example to this first Peter, chapter 2, verse number 21, and says, for for even here unto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us in a sample an example that ye should follow his steps.

So here in this case, we're talking about different levels of submission, different levels of humility, going through different struggles, going through a pain and suffering.

And he says, hey, expect this.

If you're following Christ, this is what's going to happen.

Why?

Because he's our example.

We're supposed to follow him.

But now here's his example, verse 22, who did no sin.

Now this is where we're different than Jesus.

We commit sin, he committed no sin.

And then it goes on to say this.

Neither was guile or lies found in his mouth.

Jesus never said the wrong thing.

Jesus never responded to in anger.

When it came to sinful anger, Jesus responded in anger in a few instances, but it was always righteous indignation.

But that word guile there means deceitfulness.

It means lying.

Jesus never responded in hateful speech.

Then it says in verse 23, who, when he was reviled, reviled not again.

That's the principle that we see in Romans chapter 12.

Jesus certainly was reviled.

Jesus certainly was persecuted.

There was evil done to him, but he did not respond in evil.

When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously Isn't that what we're supposed to do?

We commit ourselves to God, who is the righteous judge.

God is going to make this right.

So Jesus, as our example, did not respond in his persecution with more persecution.

He did not respond with evil for more evil.

It says right there at the end of verse 23, he committed himself to him, the Father that judges righteously, who his own self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed.

The Bible says that we now have an opportunity to live in this type of righteousness because of what Jesus Christ has done.

The change is not me trying harder.

The change is not me comparing myself to somebody else.

The change and the hope of living the way that Romans 12 tells us to live is by responding to what Jesus has done and allowing him to rule and reign in our lives and giving us an opportunity to see Jesus give us the victory in overcoming evil with good.

So here in this passage, he references the Old Testament, Proverbs, chapter 20, verse 22, that was, don't repay evil with evil, but wait on the Lord.

Deuteronomy 32, 35.

Vengeance belongs to God.

And ultimately he tells us that it's not just restraint, but it's also giving that grace.

Paul takes those principles and he applies them to the believer living under the Gospel.

Sometimes people will say, there's no, you know, just get saved, trust in Jesus, and then you know you're going to heaven, so just live the way you want to live.

That's not biblical.

Though we will make mistakes, though we will struggle, though we will turn to sin in certain instances in our life.

And it doesn't mean that we lose our salvation.

The call from God is to live differently.

The call to God is to present our bodies a living sacrifice.

It's not just getting a ticket that's stamped to heaven.

It's about, yes, I get to go to heaven now I'm going to live differently.

And Romans 12 is all about living differently to those that are within the church, to those that love us, to those that don't love us, to those that do evil.

It's all about being different.

And so Christ's full connection is this.

He is the perfect embodiment of Romans chapter 12.

Jesus gave us what it meant to be sacrificial.

He gave us what it meant to be loving, gracious towards those that are harmful to him.

When he was reviled, he did not revile back.

When he was persecuted, he didn't Retaliate.

When he was falsely accused, he just trusted God to make it all right.

When he was hated, he prayed for his enemies, and ultimately, as he was killed, he gave his life for sinners.

So Peter summarizes it there and he tells us exactly what Paul is telling us in Romans chapter 12.

It's about becoming more and more like Jesus.

And it ties us back to Romans chapter 12, verse 1.

That's where Paul starts and that's where he finishes.

Here in this chapter, he says, by the mercies of God, you present your bodies a living sacrifice.

I know the human mind thinks about Romans 12 and says, that's impossible.

I could never be a person who gives food and drink to my enemy.

I could never be a person who completely rejoices with those that are rejoicing, weeping with those that are weeping.

I couldn't be a person who doesn't seek revenge.

I couldn't be a person who all these things are telling us to follow here.

I could never be this type of person.

Well, in and of our flesh, we can't be.

But because of the mercies of God, we're able to do these things.

God calls us to do impossible things.

And the Bible says, without him, we can't do that.

John 15:5.

Jesus says, without me you can do nothing.

But he also says in the New Testament, with me all things are possible.

So if we look at the Christian life and we say, yeah, that's impossible.

That's just Jesus using an exaggeration.

That's just Jesus going beyond and saying, yeah, this is really what you should be doing.

But we know you'll never do that.

The idea here is this.

Yes, God can change our heart, he can change our minds.

And that's what he says there in verse one of the chapter.

He says, present your bodies a living sacrifice.

Why?

Because of the mercies of God, folks, let me tell you.

The only reason you have what you have in your life, the only reason I have what I have in my life is because of the mercies of God.

We sang the song this morning, yet not I, but Christ in me.

If you're tempted to think that your accomplishments have been because of you, if you're a believer here this morning, those gifts are given to you by God through His grace.

Every day is a new mercy.

The fact that you have breath, the fact that you have life, the fact that you're able to come here to this church today, the fact that you have folks in your life that care about you, that's all by the mercies of God and ultimately, ultimately the grace that God gives us and the salvation that we find in him and the forgiveness that we find in him is because of his mercy to us.

He says, because of his mercy, we present our bodies a living sacrifice, not conformed to this world, but being transformed by the renewing of our mind.

We think differently, and that's how we live out the will of God in our lives.

So if you've been struggling with the idea of the Christian life and thinking, I could never be that way, I could never act that way, I could never forgive somebody, I could never hold back and allow God to take care of this well in our flesh, that might be true, but in the mercy of God and in the spirit of God and the change that he brings in our life and that transformation that he brings in our life, yes, we're able to see things in our life that we never expected before.

Doesn't mean that you're going to be perfect.

It doesn't mean that all of us are on the same path of, of.

Of growth.

Some of us are on different levels right now.

Some of us are new Christians.

Some of us have just started the walk.

Some of us have been Christians for 50 years.

And so the, the person who's been saved for 50 years is going to be looking a little bit differently, should be looking a little bit differently than someone who got saved last week.

But that doesn't mean that one person has more grace than another person.

It just means that one person has experienced God more in their life.

I want to take you to one last passage of Scripture.

Then we're going to kind of conclude with our thoughts here this morning.

I want you to go to 2 Corinthians, chapter 5.

One of the amazing things about our salvation is that we get to spend eternity with our Savior.

That's amazing.

That's the hope that endures in our life, that we're not living for this world, if we're living for this world.

Paul mentions this in, in, in First Corinthians.

He says, basically, if all we're living for in this world is this world, it's hopeless.

I mean, I get, you know, a certain amount of years, a certain amount of money, but then that's it.

That's.

That's.

That's the end.

But the Bible tells us that as a believer, we have something more.

We're living for eternity.

But that's not where it stops.

He says in Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, verse number 17, this amazing thing.

He says, therefore, if any man, any person be in Christ that's having salvation in him.

He is a new creature or a new creation.

Old things are passed away.

Behold, all things are become new.

That means that yes, one day we will be with him.

But right now, God is changing us.

God is growing us.

God is making us think different ways, respond in different ways.

And there's going to be times where we stumble.

The Bible says in the book of Psalms that though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his hand books.

There's gonna be times when you struggle in this.

There's gonna be times when someone sins against you and you say, you know what?

I'm gonna respond back.

And you respond back in the flesh.

Yes, there's gonna be times when that happens.

But what the Bible says is that in that moment we should recognize that that is the wrong thing.

We should be pricked with the conviction of the Holy Spirit.

We should make that right.

And we should learn from that decision that we made, learn from that bad decision, learn from that fleshly decision, and understand that we don't have to do that.

That's not our default setting anymore.

Our default setting now is that we're new creations.

We're transformed by the renewing of our mind.

And God has called us to be different.

And so as we come to the end of Romans, chapter 12, we see that the world is evil.

We know that the world is evil.

There might have been a time when maybe some of you and even myself thought that, well, there people are generally good.

You know, the world is generally good.

I think if we just open our eyes, turn on the news, take any time, we realize that the world is evil and there's evil around us.

So there's no way of getting around that the world is evil.

But as a Christian, we don't allow the evil around us and evil that maybe we've even experienced to dictate our life.

And so when we're renewed in our mind, we respond differently than the world.

When the world sees evil, it's just more evil.

Keep feeding the system.

When a Christian sees evil, we feed it with good.

Because the Bible says that good overcomes evil.

Because why?

We've received the mercies of God and because we have received the mercies of God, we don't repay evil for evil.

We don't seek revenge.

We don't become bitter.

We can trust God with justice, we can trust God with peace.

We can trust God with actively doing good to our enemies so that he can change their hearts and ultimately we can overcome evil with good, but in the greatest sense, it is God who is overcoming evil with good.

And we know that we are just pointing people to a relationship with him.

The way that we could summarize what we've talked about here this morning could be this.

Don't let someone else's evil make us someone that we're not.

I don't know if anyone's ever come into your life and tried to tell you who you are, like, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks a lot.

I appreciate you telling me what you think about me, but really, I should not go off of what other people say about me.

I shouldn't go off of even what I say about myself.

Because sometimes I'm going to tell you, I say things about myself that are not true.

Sometimes evil in the flesh get me to think about lies about myself.

Like, man, you know what?

I'm not as good as I think I am.

Or, you know, I'm not a good father, I'm not a good husband, I'm not a good whatever.

And those are lies that sometimes the enemy throws in our mind.

But what I will say is this.

Who we should trust is what God says about us.

That's.

That's what matters.

What does God say about me?

Well, the Bible says that if I am in Him, I am his child.

If I am in Him, I am equipped.

I am given power, I am given hope, I am given confidence, I'm given a gift.

And ultimately, it's not about what someone else says about me.

It's not even what I say about myself.

It's what God says about me.

And that is the definition.

That is my identity.

Folks, I know we're living in an identity crisis.

In this world today, there are people who have no clue who they even are.

They don't even understand what their purpose is in life.

They're trying to find it through all different means that the world defines.

But folks, I'm going to tell you the only way to find your true identity is to walk in Jesus Christ and to know that he is our heavenly Father, that nobody can take that away from us, that no one can take away the salvation that he brings to us.

And that as a child of God, we are joint heirs with Christ and we have every opportunity to serve him and to live differently within this world.

That is the identity that matters.

So.

So, yes, we are going through an identity crisis in this world, but the Bible tells us where our identity is found.

Our identity is found in Jesus Christ.

So when I'm hurt as a child, of the King.

Though it might hurt physically, it might hurt emotionally, it might even hurt spiritually, I don't have to retaliate.

Why?

Because I know my father is going to take care of it.

I know my father's going to handle it.

And when I'm wrong, I don't seek revenge.

When I encounter enemies against me, I do good to them.

And the.

The Bible tells us that when that happens, we're able to see the love of God flowing through us so.

So that that person can experience the love and grace of God and evil can be overcome with good.

So how do we fight evil in this world?

The only way that we fight evil in this world is not by doing evil, not by reciprocating hatred, not by reciprocating all these things that the world throws our way.

The only way that we can see evil change within this world is by shining the light of Jesus Christ to them, by responding in goodness, by responding in forgiveness, and responding with patience as hard as in our flesh.

That it really is.

It's the necessity for a Christian to live differently and to be Christlike.

And that's Romans chapter 12.

Now, we're going to come back here in a few weeks and we're going to be talking about Romans 13.

Romans 13 tells us how to live differently as citizens in whatever nation that we're living in.

It's a very polarizing passage of scripture.

But what I'm going to tell you for the rest of this book, understand that what we're saying here is the different.

I know it's different.

I understand that what we're talking about here in church is different.

But the Bible tells us to live differently.

Well, nobody lives this way, Pastor, in this world today.

There's a reason for that.

Because everyone in the world is not walking with the love of Christ.

They're not walking with the hope of Christ.

I. I want to take this down to the more personal level for you today.

Some of you might be facing evil in your life.

This passage is not about justifying evil.

This passage is not diminishing the pain and suffering that you might have gone through in your life or that you might still be going through in your life.

It's not about that.

God will make things right and there is a place for justice here on this earth.

There is a place for doing what's right and stopping evil around us.

But the way to do that is not by reciprocating evil.

The way to do that is by shining the light of Jesus Christ upon people's lives and Telling them that the only hope is found in him.

I'm not saying here today that we have to just keep being abused and being hurt and just overlooking sin around us.

No, the Bible says that we respond with good and that's the way that we see a difference.

And I hope that it's something that encourages here today.

Maybe some of you are just going through pain and suffering right now.

Maybe it's a loss, maybe it's fear, maybe it's inadequacy, whatever it might be that you're struggling with today.

If I'm real here this morning.

Okay, let's.

What.

What did the Bible say in Romans chapter 12?

Love without dissimulation?

That means love without a mask.

Okay, I'm going to take off my mask today and you're going to take off your mask right now and let's just have a real moment.

All of us are struggling with something.

All of us are wrestling with things in our life that maybe nobody else knows about.

It might be a personal sin that we're wrestling with.

It might be an issue that we're dealing with, with a spouse or a loved one or a friend or work or.

Or pain.

Whatever it might be, maybe even some of you are dealing with doubts about your own faith.

I don't know what your struggle is here today.

I don't know what is being told to you in your mind and through the lies of this world.

But what I will say is that where you're going to find your answers, where you're going to find your sufficiency, where you're going to find your identity, where you're going to find everything is not through what the world tells you.

It's not through what your feelings are telling you.

It's not even what your heart is telling you.

The world says, follow your heart.

The Bible says your heart is wicked.

It's deceptive.

So where do we trust?

Where do we turn to?

Where do we look to?

How do I love my enemy?

How do I respond back with good when evil is done to me?

The only way that we can do that is by going off of the identity that Jesus Christ has given us as a child of the King.

And that is Romans chapter 1 through 11 telling us everything that we have in Jesus Christ, we can cry out.

Romans 8, Abba, Father.

We have access to the Father.

We're joint heirs with Christ.

Romans chapter 8, verse 1 says, there's no more condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.

The end of Romans chapter 8 tells us that there's nothing that can separate us from the love of God, that we're more than conquerors in Jesus Christ.

And so that is your identity.

If you are in Jesus Christ here this morning, that is your hope.

That is your identity.

And I pray that that's something that you can look to today.

Don't allow the lies of this world.

Someone else is evil.

Someone else's vitriol in their language to you dictate how you stand in Jesus Christ.

How you stand in Jesus Christ is what the Bible says.

You stand in him, hope, with hope unashamed of what he has for you and the hope of Jesus Christ.

And so I pray that that's something that you can lean on.

As we continue the study in the book of Romans, I'm going to ask if you're able to to stand with me, every head bowed, every eye closed, as the music plays here this morning.

For the next few minutes, what I want you to think about is number one, where do you place your identity?

Who are you?

What's your purpose?

If it's anything outside of being a child of the Lord, a servant of the King, then we miss our purpose.

We miss our focus.

If you have trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior here this morning, that is a great thing.

That's the best decision that you can ever make.

But secondarily, have you made the decision in your life to live differently, to respond differently, to look to Christ as our guide for every relationship?

Have you looked at conflict in your life as a way of testimony or as a foothold that Satan can grab you and pull you in with bitterness?

Folks, I'm struggling right now, even in my own life, with certain things that I'm wrestling with.

And if I'm wrestling with things, I know that all of us to some degree, are wrestling with things.

And it's not about understanding everything, but it's about giving it over to God and saying, God, you understand this.

I'm going to put it in your hands and you're going to be the one that handles this for me.

It's trusting that he is good.

It's trusting that he is all powerful.

And it's trusting that he will have it all under control.

And I give my life to Him.

That's you.

This morning.

I. I pray that you can come and give that over to him today.

If you don't know Jesus as your savior, trust in Him.

He came and lived a perfect life, died on the cross, rose again on the third day, and offers you the gift of salvation.

It's not about works.

It's about faith in his work that he gave for you.

Lord, I pray that you be in this time of invitation work in hearts and lives.

Lord, help us to see you as our Heavenly Father, the answer to all of our problems, the hope of eternity and I pray that you can heal us in our brokenness.

Lord, I thank you for what you do Jesus name Amen so.