Holding forth the Word of Life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ
Philippians 2:16
Trinity Reformed Baptist Church
Topeka Kansas -
http://www.gty.org/resources/Print/Sermons/45-
http://www.gty.org/MediaPlayer/Sermons/45-
Your Spiritual Service
"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 spiritual worship. And
do not continue to be conformed to this world but be being transformed by the renewing
of your mind, that you may approve what is that good and acceptable and perfect will
of God." Romans 12:1-
An unregenerate person cannot give God his body for service, cannot give God his mind, cannot give God his will, cannot respond to God at all, 1 Corinthians 2 says, that the natural man can't even understand the things of God. They're utter foolishness. There's no way that Scripture would ever appeal or the Holy Spirit would ever appeal to an unregenerate person to make a supreme act of dedication to God. So the implication here is that the soul must come first in repentance and faith to regeneration.
However, most Christians never really come to that place fully.They become victims of the philosophy and psychology of the world around them. They flirt with the world, they flirt with the flesh. They flirt with their own personal indulgences and desires. They buy into many worldly activities. They entertain themselves with the world's mode of entertainment. They think along the lines the world thinks. And so they never really come to the place of total commitment that is discussed in the above scripture and therefore they forfeit the fullness of the blessing that God would have for them.
God no longer desires that any kind of animals be offered to Him. There is no more animal sacrifice pleasing to God. That Old Testament era has ended. Now what God wants is what kind of sacrifices? Living ones. Our Lord wants living men and women. The central act of all new covenant believers are the presentation of their bodies which are their hearts, their souls, their minds, and all that they possess to be presented daily to God as a living sacrifice. So the Christian’s will is to do the will of their Lord as He has commanded us.