Hard Truths by Brother Duke Hansen

         Good morning. Today we are going to read from the book of Romans chapter 12. We will begin in the first verse. Through out Paul's writing in the New Testament, there was one constant Paul was always speaking about to the church. It was the pursuit of holiness. 

        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.

        Paul only knew of God's mercy towards him and to no one else. If there is any struggle on the part of someone regarding mercy, a lot of other parts of the faith will make a person feel lost. There are many self professed believers of the faith who don't know what mercy is. Some view mercy as a flaw or weakness. Some don't even know how to give themselves mercy.

        There are many people who are content to stay in one position. There is no growth, no learning, no understanding, nor a show or desire to do so. Too many people stop their walk of faith at the start with salvation, content with just getting into heaven. The bible is more than just miracles, curses, healings, and personal histories. It is an instruction manual toward holiness. You and your flesh is what is keeping yourself from heaven. Jesus put the earnest money down on you when he died on the cross, but your life has not been purchased from it. 

        Too many people don't study to show themselves approved. We live in a time and age of the honest sinner. The terms holy and acceptable are separate categories Paul wrote about. Our flesh will always blur the lines between the two.

        2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will, of God.

        Doing what is acceptable to God is not just holy and acceptable. It is in mortifying your flesh. The definition of mortify is to subdue the body of its needs and desires by self denial or discipline. You have to be in charge of your impulses and desires!

        3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

        In the scheme of things God gave everyone the same measure of faith, grace, and mercy. It is what you do with them that matters. The Holy Ghost leads his church to all truth. Many Christians are quick to think of themselves more highly than they ought to. 

        Let's look at a couple of people in the Bible. Look at Jonah. Look at his change. He was instructed by God to preach to the country of Nineveh. He despised those people and ran from his calling where it landed him in the belly of a great fish. Now God could have gotten a hold of Jonah at any point before he was tossed overboard off the ship and swallowed by the fish. Jonah realized what he had done and God had his attention. Yet, like many of us today, even after Jonah evangelized to Nineveh and they repented, he was still mad at God. He sat on a hillside where God grew a gourd to cover the man's head from the hot sun. God then created a worm to destroy the gourd. Rather than be mad about the gourd or the worm, Jonah was mad at God. That's how a lot of us are. God gives us some direction, we get some motivation to follow through. Because our minds see an outcome and God sees a different one, we are quick to blame him over something we had no say in in the first place. We were merely his tool. 

        Look at Job. Job was a chieftain with lots of land, cattle, and children. His children didn't fend nor sacrifice for themselves. They leaned on Daddy to keep them in the almighty's good graces. They didn't take personal responsibility. Heaven isn't for everyone. If you don't take the initiative to change when you age into accountability, you won't get into heaven.

        Look at Paul. There was a change in his character. The incarcerated man writing letters to different churches he started was a far cry from the man on his missionary journeys.

        You are to be a living sacrifice. You are going to slip up, fall short, step into it. There will be mistakes. It's for you to overcome and become blameless. God is not moving away from his church, but his church is moving away from him. The words conviction and responsibility are dirty and taboo words in some sanctuaries. 

        In life we put people into boxes through observation. We use deduction, history, stereotypes, and prejudices to label everyone around us. If for example you know someone who can't handle rejection because they fly off the handle when they receive it, you label them based off that. We all label people in our life, reducing them down to one character trait or flaw. There are all kinds of different sized boxes and labels out there. Who is going to get you out of the box or remove the label on you? It's you. Has it ever seemed no matter how old you get, God places the same types of people around you? It's hard for us to overcome our prejudices of others, especially trying to do that in our flesh. How many people reading this has said to themselves about someone "I'm done with them!" You don't permit the grace and allow them to grow or change in your mind. You won't remove the label. Stephen gave his life for the opportunity to change the life of Saul in the book of Acts. He was found blameless and stoned to death. There was no change in Saul without Stephen. What if God wants you to check on that person you've washed your hands of? To view for improvements? If there is, you need to develop a different opinion of them. You need to forgive them for their wrongs. This is a hard truth. Jesus' instructions are plain as day and difficult for us to follow.

        No one can make you obedient in life. Somehow we need to understand and have spiritual perception when God is working on people we've already labelled. We want those around us to see and praise the change with us, and God wants us to go and do likewise. We don't want to take the time with somebody we know they weren't worth our time. How much they treat you is how much you will allow in your life. Does this mindset shorten spiritual growth? It does because it's your flesh and it's exhausting. If you aren't killing your past, you need to be hard pressed to remove it. There's always a price for sin, but with God there is always reconciliation. We have problems with reconciliation to ourself, and major problems when its given to others. You need to remind yourself to keep yourself under self evaluation and judgement. Did Jonah matter? Job? David? Abraham? You have to look back at being blameless. That is your goal. Every one of us matters to God. Think of those people you haven't let out of their box. Will they remain there tomorrow?