In this sermon, the preacher uses the analogy of Niagara Falls to illustrate the continuous flow of God's grace. He emphasizes that God's grace is like a mighty river that never stops flowing, regardless of whether we can see it or not. The preacher then discusses the story of Abraham as an example of someone who believed in God and was counted as righteous. He encourages the audience to allow God to take control of their lives and produce beautiful melodies and harmonies. The sermon concludes with a story about a young man playing the organ in a church, which symbolizes the beauty and power of God's grace.

Romans chapter 11 and verse 27. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes. And as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake. For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief, even so have these also now not believed that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. It's a favorite phrase of Paul's, I obtain mercy. It goes running right through his writings. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgment and his ways past finding comfort. For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counselor? Or who hath first given to him? And it shall be recompensed again unto him again. For of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen. 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. 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. Just so far, may God bless his word to our hearts. Let's have a word, a moment of prayer. Our Father, we thank thee for thy precious word. Thou dost speak it to our hearts. Thou dost say. Thou dost lift it from the page and place it within our innermost beings. And we pray that this morning might be no exception to that, that we might know and hear and sense the felt presence of the Almighty here in our midst. Come and speak to us. We open our hearts wide to the inflow of grace. We pray thee that thou wouldst have mercy upon us and come to us in our need. We need thee. And we pray that we might sense thee as thou dost speak thy word to us even now, for Jesus' sake. Amen. Romans is the greatest theological treatise in the New Testament. Paul outlines the gospel message in the book of Romans. The first 11 chapters are dealing with the doctrines of salvation and then he applies those first 11 chapters, the doctrines, to their hearts and to their lives. So that it is first of all the principles, the first 11 chapters of the Christian faith, and then the practice of the Christian life in the last five chapters. The two major divisions correspond to the distinction between teaching and application, instruction, putting into practice. Now that is, Paul does that with a number of his books, not all, but some, like Ephesians particularly, and Colossians also and others. But here it is dramatic, it is marked. There is an application from chapter 12, verse 1, to the end of the book. And I want to speak to you on that first verse of chapter 12 this morning. 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. I want to speak on the subject of absolute surrender, something we all need, I think. Notice the preeminence of consecration here. Notice the people to whom he appeals. He says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, he could be speaking as a Jew to Jews, but because the Bible, the book of Romans, is spoken not only to the Jews, but also to the Gentiles, he is obviously speaking as a Christian to Christian brethren. He is speaking to those who have the life of Christ, and who are dwelling in Rome. So spiritually they are brethren, geographically they are in Nero's wicked regime in Rome. Very few periods in history have surpassed this period in its absolute immorality and debauchery. Augustus began with his long reign of over 40 years from the 27 BC, and then came Tiberius, and then came the mad Caligula, and then Claudius, and then Nero. This was the time that Paul writes. Nero was one who began his reign well, but ended very badly. In fact, he murdered his mother, and he committed suicide at the end of the day. And in this period where there is absolute immorality, there was just dreadful immorality, or right through that period, and particularly at Rome. Paul is writing to the Christians of Rome, and he is saying to them, if you are going to maintain a Christian witness, brethren, you who are Christians, you who are born again children of God, you have got to be utterly consecrated to God. There is no other way in which you will stand in the midst of all that tragic immorality. So that the people to whom he appeals, then notice the passion with which he appeals. I beseech you, beseech you, therefore brethren. Here is a word, and a very astonishing word to come from the heart of God. We have sinned against him, we have been under his judgment, and he has saved us, and now he appeals to those whom he has saved. He says, I beseech you, I beseech you. So here is an amazing exposure of God's heart anguish. He is dealing with his own children, and he is saying, I beseech you, brethren, to present your bodies a living sacrifice. So God is desirous of total consecration. Those whom he has redeemed ought to be, ought utterly and completely in his hands. It's an astonishing word. I have a number of Bibles on my shelf, and I noticed that in five, the word says, I appeal to, and another three, I entreat. Another five, I beg. Weymouth says, I plead with. So here is Paul pleading with the Romans, but it is God speaking, this is God's word. God is appealing to these Christians in Rome, and with such a strong word, I plead with you, I beg of you, I appeal to you, I invoke, I call on, I beseech, I entreat. It's an amazing thing that God has to say that to his own children. It's an appealing word. And then, it's an arresting word. The Greek word here is parakalo. Para, beside, kalo, call, I'm calling you to be beside me, to look at the mercies of God. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. So he says, come alongside of me, and look down at the mercies of God. The reason why you should give yourselves to him. I beseech you, by the mercies of God, that he present your bodies a living sacrifice. So here is the preeminence of consecration. Paul is emphasising this thing to his own brethren, the Christian people. Then, not only the preeminence of consecration, notice in the second place, the plea for consecration. And the basis of the plea here is the mercies, or the compassions, in the Greek of compassion, the mercies of God. Now, where are the mercies of God? And to find that, we have to go down the Roman road that Paul has brought us along. Here in chapter one of Romans, we find that Paul says, I am separated unto the gospel of God, in the first verse. Separated unto the gospel. Undeserved in grace, unparalleled in glory. Amen. And then, verse nine, he says, I serve with my spirit. God, I'm serving with my spirit in the gospel of his son. So he's serving God in the gospel. And he says in the 16th verse, it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, and he was surely believing, so he was experiencing the power of the gospel. And then he says also in the 16th verse, I am not ashamed of the gospel. And he says in the 15th verse, I am ready to preach the gospel. So here we have Paul, separated unto the gospel, serving God in the gospel, experiencing the power of the gospel, not ashamed of the gospel, ready to preach the gospel. His relationship to the good news. That's what gospel means. Glad tidings, good news. I'm going to tell you all about the glad tidings. And he says it there in the 17th verse, the just shall live by faith. And that's the text for the whole of the book of Romans. The just shall live by faith. Then he begins. The good news. Notice how he begins. Verse 18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold down the truth in unrighteousness. Wrath he's speaking about. And then he goes on into that first chapter. Notice what he says. They have known God, but they have glorified him not as God. And they changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man. God, verse 24, gave them up to uncleanness. Verse 26. For this cause God gave them up to vile affections. Verse 28. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, so on. Here is a dreadful list of sins. My, there's a list of sin in Matthew chapter 15. And there's a list of sin in Mark chapter 7. And there's a list of sin in Galatians chapter 5. But it's nothing approaching this. This is an exposure of the heart of man. And he says, All this sin, all this sin is in the mankind, for they have fallen from grace, and the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness. So, this man here whom he describes in the first chapter, the reckless man of chapter 1, is under the wrath of God. And then he goes on to chapter 2. Notice he says, Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judges. For when thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself. Without a judge doest thou the same things. He says, don't think that because you're not living an immoral, open, blatantly wicked life as the man in chapter 1, don't think that because you're self-righteous in your actions and you're living a good life, don't think that you will escape the condemnation of God. Look, he says, verse 2 of chapter 2. You are sure that judgment of God is according to truth. You are pointing a finger at them, those who are living like this, but you have got these things in your heart. These things are in your heart. You're living an outwardly respectable life and a good life to all the people around about who would say, my word, those are good living people, they're decent people, but the things are in your heart. He says, look, the judgment of God is according to truth. And he says in verse 6, it's according to accumulated guilt who will render to every man according to his deeds. Verse 2 is accumulated guilt. Verse 6 is according to his deeds, it's judgment according to works. And he says in verse 11, there is no respect of persons with God. So you're going to have to be judged irrespective of who you are. It may be that you're the greatest person in the whole community here. Or it may be that you're the lowest person in the whole community. It makes no difference for God, we will stand before Him in judgment. And then he says in verse 15, the law is written in their conscience. So in the 15th verse, it's an exhaustive, it's complete, it's inward, God sees. And verse 16, He sees in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, He sees the secrets of the heart. And He says it's according to these things that you are being judged. Don't think that because you're not outwardly wicked that you can escape the judgment of God. You too are under the wrath of God. For the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness. So we have the wicked man, the reckless man of chapter 1, and we have the righteous man of chapter 2, and we have the religious man of chapter 3. See? He says what advantage then has the Jew? What profit is there in circumcision? Much every way. Chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. They've got the word of God. Wonderful. Wonderful that the Jews have got this privilege. But they, that didn't help them because look, God says to them they are all under sin, Jews and Gentiles. Verse 9 and verse 10, As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one, there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God, they are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable, there is none that doeth good, no not one. Verse 19, halfway down verse 19, listen, That every mouth may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. My! So the religious man of chapter 3, his religion didn't even save him. And my dear friends, religion won't save us. We can put as much religion on as possible but that's not going to save us. And here we stand, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness. It is royal wrath. It is the wrath of retribution. It is revealed wrath. God's wrath remains upon all those who are wicked and outside of God, outside of Christ. There in the first chapter, the reckless man, the religious man, the righteous man. They are all under condemnation and they are all under the wrath of God. There is no hope. There is no life in the dungeon. They are all under the damnation and condemnation of God. They are doomed and they are damned and for them it is wrath, wrath, wrath. What a terrible, terrible thing. What a terrible state. Poor? Good news? Huh? Good news? Where is the good news? This is not good news. This is terrible news. I thought you were going to tell us about the gospel. The gospel which you are proclaiming. And now you are telling us that we are judged. That there is no way out. Every mouth is stopped and all the world becomes guilty before God. We are condemned, every one of us. My dear friend, if you are outside of Christ this very morning, that is your state. You are under the condemnation and wrath of God now. What a terrible state to be in. Good news? Let's go on from verse 19. Verse 21. Look at what he says. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifest. Yes sir. But. The pivotal word in scripture. But. But and now. When? When you realize that there is no hope whatsoever. You are doomed and damned. There is no way out. And then you can cry Lord save me I perish. Ha ha. At last we have got to this thing. You see my friends. Today we have in modern evangelism a very strange kind of a gospel that is being preached. Come to Jesus. Don't you want joy and happiness? Come to Jesus. Don't you want peace? Don't you want rest of heart? Come to Jesus. Come on. Don't you want it? Of course you want it. Come along. So they come. Chewing their chewing gum. Coming walking down the aisles. Coming to do the almighty a favor. We are going to accept Jesus. And they kneel down and they say yes Lord we accept it. They are expecting joy and happiness. And they are as saint as the man in the moon. They don't get anywhere near to God because they haven't realized that they are sinners before the Holy God. They are condemned. There is no way out of this thing. You have got to repent of your sin. You have got to turn to God from that. There is a conversion which must take place. May God get us right through to that. The right kind of foundation. Paul lays the right foundation you see. When he is preaching the gospel he is going to tell the gospel in a moment. But he is laying the foundation. Now he says Now the righteousness without the law is manifest. After wrath of God was revealed now when you see how bad it all is the righteousness of God is revealed. Hallelujah. Listen to verse 24. And look at verse 23 and 24. Look at these ten mighty words he begins with. Verse 23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that have passed through the forbearance of God. My word. What an accumulation of tremendous theological force. Here he is saying You see Now the righteousness of God is being revealed being justified freely by His grace. We don't deserve it. We cannot earn it. We cannot work for it. It's given. Here is the spring of justification. Grace. Grace. Grace flowing like a mighty river. We were standing at the Niagara Falls the other day. And I recall the time when a man stood there with his little son for the first time he'd gone to see the place. And his little they were awed by this mighty spectacle. By the way I've seen Victoria Falls in Africa. I wouldn't want to make any comparison but I must say Victoria Falls is a mighty, mighty, mighty stream of water one mile wide going over. Now it's a little bit bigger than Niagara but nevertheless we'll leave it at that. I'm in America I'd better talk carefully. Niagara. He stood there with his little boy and they stood in awe at this marvellous sight. And the little boy tugged at his coat and he looked down and he said, Yes son. He said, Daddy. Yes son. Daddy. Does it flow all night too? Yes son. It flows all day when you can see it. And it flows in the night when you can't see it. It just keeps flowing. Yes. The grace of God flows like a mighty Amazon. It just keeps flowing. The spring of justification. Grace. Now we're into something wonderful. He goes on to chapter 4 and he gives the description of Abraham. Who is the illustration of the one who believed God and was counted for righteousness? Abraham, the great father of the faithful. He says, Do you remember? We came from Romans chapter 12 verse 1. Do you remember? Come stand alongside of me, Parakello. And look at the grace of God. Look at the mercies of God. You see where you were? You were under the judgement, under the condemnation, under the damnation of God because of your sin. But now, but now, but now there is justification. God has redeemed you in Christ. Ah, what a wonderful thing. The mercies of God. I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God. See the mercies of God? They're beginning to appear now. See now he goes on to chapter 4 and tells about Abraham and David. And then he goes on to chapter 5. Notice, notice chapter 5 he starts, Therefore being justified by faith. Notice, Here are the blessings of justification. Now we come to the positive effects. Yes, I remember one day we were sitting in church at the back and a man was preaching and he said, The gospel is only positive. There's nothing negative about the gospel. I jabbed my wife in the ribs. I said, No! I suppose you shouldn't do that sort of thing in church. But he was making a very dreadful error. I mean it is negative. There is judgment. But now we come to the positive. Now when we have come to the place of justification he says, Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Here we have the peace now. And we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope. Here is the joy. Here is the access. And not only so but we glory in tribulations knowing that tribulations work as patience. Patience, experience, experience, hope. Hope make us not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us. Love shed abroad in our hearts. Peace, joy, access, faith. My! We have been brought into the fellowship of the Son of God. We have been by His death and by His life we have been drawn together to have fellowship with the Lord who condemned us but now who welcomes us because the condemnation has come upon the one in verse 6 who died for the ungodly. See? And now verse 9 looks much more than being now justified by His blood. We shall be what? Saved from wrath through Him. So chapter 5 verse 9 is the answer to chapter 1 verse 18 where the wrath of God is revealed. Now chapter 5 verse 9 we are saved from what? How? By being justified by His blood. There is the ground of justification. And chapter 5 verse 1 being justified by faith there is the principle of justification. Oh! We are into rich territory friends. See? We are justified by grace alone. We are justified by blood alone. We are justified by faith alone. We are justified by Christ alone. Hallelujah! God lifts us from the dungeon where we were condemned and under the terrible judgment of God. He has brought us out because someone took the judgment for us. Took the punishment and now He offers us life. Oh! To you who are under the condemnation of God this morning let me say, come! Jesus' arms are open. He would invite you. Come and be justified by grace, by blood, by faith, by Christ. And you can leave this church today a child of the living God having trusted in the One who took the punishment and released us and released you from the dungeon. Amen? Praise the Lord. And then He goes on in chapter 6, you see. He speaks there about deliverance from sin. I don't know whether... I would love to speak this week on chapter 6. I don't know whether we'll get there. But chapter 6, wonderful, wonderful chapter of emancipation from sin. One of the great chapters of the Bible. Knowing this that our old man is crucified with Him. By the way, chapter 5, verse 5, verse 8. Christ died for us. Chapter 5, substitution. Chapter 6, our old man is crucified with Him. Identification. Taking us deeper now. And then He's speaking about verse 14. Sin shall not have dominion over you. My, here is release from the power of sin in chapter 6. And then in chapter 7 He's speaking about liberation from the law. From the old husband. From the law to which we were bound before. Christ has liberated us. And then in chapter 8 He's speaking about being in union and in communion with God. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. So here we have the chapter beginning with no condemnation. And ending with no separation. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Verse 35. See, this wonderful chapter where the Spirit takes control in chapter 8. And the Spirit guides us. And the Spirit leads us. And the Spirit witnesses in our spirit. Here we have the union and the communion in chapter 8. The mercies of God, brethren. See, we're looking down at the mercies of God. We were in the dungeon. But now God has justified us, chapter 5. God has liberated us from sin, chapter 6. God has liberated us from the law, chapter 7. God has brought us into communion with Himself, chapter 8. Chapters 9 to 11. Chapters in parenthesis. God in government, jurisdiction. God in control of the nations. The Jews had the message. But the Gentiles were grafted into the vine. He is in control of all things. And then He comes to the end of chapter 11. And He says, Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. You see all this road that I've been taking you along, He says. How unsearchable are His judgments. And His ways past finding out. Who has known the mind of the Lord? Who has been His counselor? He is speaking wonderful, wonderful things. And He's been telling them of the mercies of God. We didn't deserve this. But we've been brought into His fellowship. Why? You see, gratitude now becomes the irrepressible fountain of consecration and service. We can do nothing else but give ourselves to God. We cannot stand aside. You see, there's that little word, therefore. I beseech you, therefore. And whenever you see a word, therefore, in scripture. You must always ask, what is therefore? So you find out, why does He say therefore? Because of the mercies of God. He's brought us all the way along. Delivering us from the power of sin, from the law. Bringing us into communion with Christ. Realizing that He is in control of all things. We worship Him. Now, look. Paracano. I beseech you, by the mercies of God. Come stand by me. Look at it. See it well. Now, I beseech you. I implore you. I entreat you. I beg of you. Come. Give yourselves to God. That's the only logical response that we can have. Isn't it? The plea for consecration. And then the principles of consecration. Not finished yet. The principles of consecration. Here we have it. Notice He says here. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God. That you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Holy. The word is H-O-L-Y. Acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable sin. So it's a living sacrifice. It's a sacrifice that is alive. Now, how do you understand that? Because all the sacrifices in the Bible died. The sacrifices were brought to the altar. They were killed and they were placed on the altar. They were given to God. It was a sacrifice. When Jesus came, He was the great Lamb of God. Who came to die. And what did His death accomplish? His death accomplished life everywhere in the world. I've sat in the huts in Africa, around a pot, putting my hand in, together with all the other Africans, around the pot in the steaming, smoking hut, your eyes stinging with the smoke, putting your hand into the pot and eating together with it. But the fellowship around that pot was wonderful. And I've sat in other places of sophistication and riches and the fellowship there is wonderful. God has His people everywhere. This is a worldwide scene. Here we have everywhere God has moved us into every area. The body of Christ is everywhere. Now this is the body. Jesus Christ, when He came, He came to die. To bring salvation to all the world. We are the body of Christ. And we are the living sacrifice. And the only way that salvation is going to be brought to others is that we follow the pattern which was laid down for us by our Master. He died that others might live. He died that others might live. And the only way that they're going to live is that we die. The corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die. If it doesn't, it abides alone. One little corn of wheat. All its life, one little corn of wheat. But if it's buried, it dies and there's a harvest. A harvest, a harvest, a large harvest. And so it is necessary for us to die to our selfishness. To die to the things which we want to do selfishly, sometimes opposed to the will of God. Sometimes just in a lackadaisical, lethargical, apathetical way which doesn't involve us too much in the work of God. But when we die to ourselves, then others live. Paul said, I die daily. He says, I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. It's not I but Christ living. I have been crucified. The cross of Christ has worked deeply in me. And because I'm dying, I die daily. I go out onto the road. I've been in prison. I've been in shipwrecks. I've been in all kinds of difficulties. But I am dying. I could have taken on a huge, big position there in Jury, in Jerusalem. Yes, I could have been a big shot. But now I'm dying. But what has happened? Because you die in the prisons, everywhere, others live. Death worketh in us, he says, but life in me. This is the underlying principle of the Christian religion. The king's highway of service is paved with self-sacrifice. I die, let others live. Now this became very clear to me when I saw the consecration of the priests in the Old Testament. The priest came and was consecrated to the serpent. They slew an animal and they put blood on the thumb of the right thumb, and the great toe of the right foot, and the ear, the right ear. Signifying that death had come to the old things. The things I used to be, I do them no more. Do you remember that little song? The places where I used to go, I don't go anymore. My faculties, I'm dead to the other things. I am now, I am now alive unto God. For the oil was poured, and the priest had the oil poured upon him. So it was a new life. He died to the old, he lived to the new in the service of God. That is a living sacrifice. I die. I am identified with the cross of Christ. But I live, and I live a thousand times more. Effectively, because I have died. Because Jesus lives in me, and he lives through me. The cross is the secret of service. Now, it's a sacrifice that is alive. And then it's a sacrifice that is an act. Sorry, sorry, it's a sacrifice that is holy. He said, I beseech you therefore, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy. In Exodus we read, The altar shall be holy. And in Matthew 23 we read, So I come to the altar, and I identify with the sacrifice that is there. The sacrifice of Jesus. And he came to die, so that he could put away sin. I identify with that offering. I give myself to him. And I say, Lord, I identify with thee, I die with thee. And the purpose of thy death might be worked out in me. That sin is dealt with in my life. So here you see, it's a reaffirmation of what he has just said. A living sacrifice of death. It's holy. How can I be holy? By identifying with Jesus, who died to make me that way. I trust him to take my sin away. I trust him now, this very morning. Lord, I want to give myself to thee. In a new way altogether. Deal with me. I want to be alive unto thee. Dead unto other things, but alive unto thee. I want to be holy, because of the blood of Jesus Christ touching me. I am identified now. It's a holy sacrifice. It's a sacrifice that is acceptable. This is the acceptable sacrifice. I bring myself utterly, completely. I'm willing to die to things which would hinder, the things that would hinder the workings of God, in my life and in other lives. Lord, I die now with thee. I come to thee now. It's an acceptable sacrifice. And then it's a sacrifice which is complete. He says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies. Notice the body. Ye are not your own anymore. Brethren, look at the mercies of God, see where you've come from. You've been redeemed. You're not your own anymore. The body is the instrument by which all human service is rendered to God. The Christian's body, says C.H. Dodd, is his individual personality as an acting, concrete whole. And C.K. Barrett says in his epistle to Romans, a commentary, by body, for means the whole person. Karl Barth says, to present their bodies, the whole person. John Wesley says, your bodies, that is yourself. My body. Every part that is of me. My will with its choices. My mind with its thoughts. My heart with its affection. My body with its instinct. My personality and its prejudices. My life and its relationships. My imagination and its fancy. My soul and its feelings. I with every bit that is of me. Here I give myself away, it is all that I can do. And tomorrow you will say, high heaven that heard, that solemn vow, that vow renewed, shall daily hear. Till in life's latest hour I bow, and bless in death a bond so deep. I give myself all together. A sacrifice that is alive. A sacrifice that is holy. A sacrifice that is acceptable. A sacrifice that is complete. A sacrifice that is an act. It's an interesting word, this present. The Greek word is peraspesai. And it is written in a tense which doesn't exist in English. It's called the ericit tense in Greek. And it means an instantaneous happening. There are various aspects of this ericit, but one of them is instantaneity. The door is shut in that moment. You can say it in another tense. Say it in the perfect tense for instance, and you can say the door is shut and it remains shut until this moment. That's what it says in the perfect tense if you want it. But if you say it in the ericit tense it emphasises the moment of the shutting of the door. Christ died, ericit tense. The house burned down, ericit tense. My sins are forgiven, ericit tense. In a moment. And he uses that tense here. I beseech you therefore brethren that you present peraspesai. It's a thing which I do in a moment. And as a matter of fact this is the word used when the priest takes the Hebrew worshippers sacrifice and places it on the altar. Josephus uses it in some of his writings. Where he tells us the Hebrew worshipper brings the offering, the priest slays the lamb, and he takes the lamb and places it on the altar. Peraspesai. One thing that Hebrew worshipper knows is this, that he will never get that lamb back again. It's gone forever. He's given it to God. Peraspesai. Gone. Oh the joy of utter surrender. Utter, complete, abandonment to him. I give myself away. Peraspesai, take me. Now, this moment. Oh who will do that even this very morning. Perhaps you're not saved this morning. Perhaps you're still under the wrath of God. Come, he will receive it. Come, he will take that offering. Perhaps we've been holding back, holding back, holding back. No more. Every bit that is of me, Lord, take it now. Peraspesai. You can have it. And finally it's a sacrifice that is an attitude. It's a reasonable service. It's your reasonable service. It's a difficult word to translate, logikon. Paul is a great logician. It's reasonable. The Revised Standard Version says, your spiritual worship. Karl Barth says, your logical worship. And F.F. Bruce says, the service of obedience as the only reasonable or logical response to the grace of God. You know, Abram and Isaac were going up the hill. Do you remember? And Isaac said, Father, that's all. And he said, as they trudged on, heavy step, yes, my son? He said, Father, here's the wood, and here's the fire. Where is the offering? He said, God will bring, God will provide himself a land for an offering, my son. But Abram had said to the men, you carry here the service. Carry here. I and the lad will go, and we will worship, and we will return. Worship? He wasn't going to sing choruses. He was going to lift the knife and plunge it into the heart of his beloved son. Worship. Your spiritual worship. Death to anything that can hold you against the will of God. I place it on the altar. I worship. That's true worship. That's true service. That's where service begins. That's why some people go out into the mission field and come back. Sometimes they come back fully in the will of God, I don't want to say anything about that, but sometimes they come back failing, failing, failing. Because they never got to this place before they went. God wants a spiritual change before he requires a geographical change. And this is the change that is needed. Where I yield myself utterly to him and he possesses me completely. Long ago there was a man who was an organist of a large cathedral. He was sitting practicing one day up there in his organ loft and a young man came along and sat beside him and said, could I play a little on your organ? He said, no, I'm afraid not. I am the organist here and no one is to play this organ but me. So the young man played with him and eventually he said, all right, I'll go down and listen to what my organ sounds like because I don't know what it sounds like because I'm up here all the time but what it sounds like down there you can play. And so he went down and sat there and suddenly that church was filled with music that it had never heard in its entire existence. The chords, the harmonies, the marvellous runs, the whole concert was being used, the feet, the hands, on every aspect. The music, music came forth, streamed into that church, marvellous music. And the old man sat and wept at the music, the beauty of it. And just as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. And the old man looked up to see where the young man was and he was passing him on the way to the door. He turned, he said, Sir, who are you? Who are you? And back came one word, Mendelssohn. And he put his face in his hands once again and he wept and he said, and to think I nearly didn't let him play. My dear friends, the master staff. He was to put his hands, able hands, in that light of yours and bring forth such beautiful melodies, such harmonies that you have never dreamt of. They can do it. Don't hold him away from the concert of your life. Let him put his hands there and handle it. And you'll be amazed at the beauty of it. Alan Redpath once told of how he was coming back from one of his preaching trips and as he walked into the house, his two little children, two little girls upstairs, they suddenly heard that Daddy had come home. Daddy's home. And they bounded down the steps. One outran the other and she ran towards Daddy and she grabbed him around the legs, held him tight. And she turned and looked at the other little one coming down the steps and she said, I've got all there is of Daddy. Rather daunting to a little girl and she stopped and she didn't know that Daddy's been claimed. What does that all mean? I've got all there is of Daddy. And Alan said, I beg him to come. And as she ran towards me, I picked her up and held her in my arms. And she looked down at the other one and she said, Daddy's got all there is of me. My dear friends, has he, your heavenly father, got all there is of you? Wouldn't you like to come even now this morning and say, Lord Jesus, I am here. I'm giving myself away. I look at the mercies of God. Look where I was. In the dungeon of despair. In the slough of despond. But your grace has lifted me. I've come a long way through all these journeys of life and you've been with me. Oh, I give myself utterly, completely, irrevocably, eternally to you, the lover of my soul. Look what you've done for me. The mercies of God. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I can't do anything else. I give. Parastasize. It's mine, it's yours forever. Who will do that this morning? Who will say, I'm coming now, Lord Jesus. I come now. Let's bow in prayer. Oh, our father, we thank thee for the great invitation of God. The great sacrifice of Christ. The call to our hearts. Come to us, Father, and speak on this morning. Speak on over the dinner tables. Speak on as we leave this place. Speak on this afternoon. Bring us back again to hear more of the unsearchable riches of Christ. And come to us, blessed Savior. Accomplish thy purposes in us. Lord, we are here not to play games. We're here specifically, right here for this revival weekend and this week. And we cry to thee that thou wouldst have dealings with us, Lord. That we might not just escape the hands of God. Handle us, we pray thee. Come to us. Call thy power to come upon us and cause us to yield utterly and completely to thee, the Savior of all. Oh, Lord Jesus, thou art worthy. Thou art the bright and morning star. Thou dost ravish our hearts. Thou art the fairest of 10,000 to our souls. Come and reveal thyself again and again to us during this week that we might know the power of God and that we might see the face of Jesus and that we might know the will of the Savior. Lord Jesus, come, we pray thee, and call thy hand to rest upon us in great power. Come now, even now, blessed Lord, as we wait before thee. I wonder, friends, if there are those right here this morning who want to say, I'm coming now. I give all to Him. I didn't realize all the greatness of this great salvation. I'm coming now. I'm giving myself now to Him. Parasteisai. Away, I'm giving myself away now. Are there those who would like to do that? Perhaps it would help you to come to the front. Are there some kneeling here already? Maybe? Others would like to come? Would you like to come? Say, Lord, I'm coming now. Every bit that is of me, take me this day. Lord, you know our hearts. You see us as we are, and we pray that you might know the wonderful, glorious revelation of God to our souls during these days. Come to us, blessed Savior, and accomplish thy purposes in grace in all our lives. For Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Thank you, God.