Date: Lord's Day morning, December 15, 1940Place: UnrecordedScripture Reading: Rom. 12:1-2
Prayer: Lord, in the past You have not been able to gain much in us. May we gain something of You today so that You can gain something in us. We are poor, defiled, empty, and weak. We come to You with a sober heart, looking to You for Your mercy. Lord, be merciful to us, even today. In Your name we pray, amen.
Romans 12 shows us that God's compassions are the starting point of all spiritual things and God's will is the terminating point. We are saved through God's compassion, forgiven through God's compassion, and receive eternal life through God's compassion. God's compassion has put us in this way and leads us on in this way until in the end, we can prove God's will, that which is good, well pleasing, and perfect.
During the past few days, many people have asked how we can know God's will. Many people think that knowing His will is a matter of technique. They think that as long as they have the right technique, they can know God's will. But the knowledge of God's will is not a cheap thing. It is a very precious thing, and it demands a great price from those who want it. The more precious a thing is, the higher the price one has to pay in order to have it. Many of God's children ask, "How can I know God's will?", but they never ask, "What kind of person is qualified to know His will?"
Romans 12:1-2 speaks of three things: (1) consecration — presenting of oneself as a living sacrifice, (2) transformation by the renewing of the mind, and (3) knowledge of the will of God. This shows us that there are conditions to knowing God's will. I have a heavy word within my heart, which I will tell you if you allow me. There is no way I can help some people to know God's will; helping them to know God's will is like helping this table to know God's will. You can give a person a set of formulas for knowing God's will, but the man himself will still not know His will. You can explain the way to know God's will, but he will still not know it.
First, we have to realize that God's will is not for an unconsecrated person. If a man has not seen God's goal and not realized that God's redemption is for the purpose of reaching His goal and if he continues to live for himself, he cannot know God's will.
In the Old Testament one could be either a priest or a sacrifice. He could not be a priest and a sacrifice at the same time. But in the New Testament, a man can be both a priest and sacrifice at the same time. You may ask, "What is a living sacrifice?" A living sacrifice means a person who is killed, laid on the altar, and burned to ashes. The most important issue for those who are serving the Lord is not how much they have done. That is not real service. The most important thing is being a living sacrifice. What a man does can never surpass what is laid on the altar. Even the most holy and acceptable service to God cannot surpass one's service on the altar. It is not a matter of our words, works, zeal, miracles, gifts, or even tears. It is a matter of the cross operating within us.
Friends, the day will come (I have said this many times) when God will break the backbone of your natural life. You may say, "I have heard this many times." However, it is not a question of how many times you have heard this, but of whether or not your backbone has been dealt with by God.
Many people realize that their self is a troublesome thing. Often when I pray with others or when I listen to others praying, they weep as they confess their destitution, defeat, flesh, and carnality. They tell the Lord that they want to be dealt with. But even though they pray this way, they are still not dealt with. I have seen people who are very cautious about themselves; they read the Bible and pray every day, and they make resolutions concerning this and that. But day after day they remain weak and defeated. Even the humility of some people is an ugly thing. The problem is they have never become a sacrifice. If I pluck off a few hairs from a bull or cut its skin a little, that is, if I deal with it a little here and a little there, I will only fill my neighbors' ears with the bull's cry. In reality this has no real effect. The whole bull must be offered on the altar, killed, and burned, before there can be a sacrifice. Our dealings before God must not be fragmentary; we are not here to deal with ancillary things. We are not here to deal with a little temper here, a little pride there, or a little something here and a little something there. These kind of dealings have no spiritual value. The important thing is having our backbones broken once and for all.
Romans 12 says that we have to present our whole body. It is not a question of how many times we have offered ourselves. This presenting is not a fragmentary offering where we offer a little here and a little there. This is a once and for all total offering, in which the whole person is laid on the altar. If a man is constituted with only that which is visible, he has nothing but outward, manufactured behavior. This is counterfeit spirituality, and there is no spiritual reality behind it at all. Some say that they are useless, but one cannot find others who have more self-esteem than these ones. Some speak in a humble way, but one cannot find others who have more pride than they. Brothers and sisters, have you experienced God's thorough dealing? This kind of thorough dealing can save God much trouble. Many people experience isolated dealings from the Lord, and these dealings make them prouder than they were before. But those who have gone through a fundamental dealing cannot be proud even when they want to. Only those who are willing to present their bodies as a living sacrifice to God are well pleasing to Him.
Many people are talking about their ministries, but no ministry can match the ministry of the cross. When we present ourselves to be a sacrifice, we are not offering ourselves to plow the field or to bear burdens, but to be a sacrifice, to be slain. An ox is a beast of burden or a beast for tilling. But after it is offered up and has become a sacrifice, its ministry is no longer the bearing of burdens or the plowing of fields. Its ministry is to be slaughtered. Real service is the service of sacrifice. The knowledge that we have of the cross cannot exceed the ministry of the cross in us. When the Lord was on earth, He served God with the cross. Humanly speaking, He did not do anything before the age of thirty. But remember: His public ministry began with His baptism. The cross is the starting point of our work. Everything that exists before the cross has no spiritual value. If a man has not experienced Golgotha, his life, work, spiritual pursuit, and progress are all works and things. Only that which has passed through the altar constitutes a sacrifice, and only that is well pleasing to God. A Christian must go through a basic dealing of the cross at least once. You can call it by whatever name you want, but every Christian needs a fresh start. How hard it is for one to drop his own will and stand for God's will!
Not long after I was saved, a sister said, "When you pray, you have to pray for what God wants, not for what you want." I answered, "If I do not ask for what I want, why do I need to pray at all?" Later, God dealt with me, and I became different. I was not as bothersome as before, asking God for this and that all the time.
The section above covers the negative aspect. Now let us consider our positive union with the Lord.
In verse 2 the word "mind" in Greek is nous. The word "bodies" in verse 1 is soma in Greek. When the outward body is presented as a sacrifice, there is one positive result: the renewing and transformation of the mind. Verse 2 points out a matter on the negative side: "Do not be fashioned according to this age." In the Bible the world refers to the world organization and the world spirit. It does not necessarily refer to the outward things of the world. A Christian can shun all the things in the world, but the spirit of the world can still be in him. The Israelites left Egypt in their bodies, but their minds were still craving Egypt. Who can give up the love of the world? Only those who are consecrated and whose minds have been renewed and transformed can give up the love of the world. Many Christians act and live the same way as the people in the world. Their minds and thoughts are the same as the people in the world. We often say that a person is very political or that he is very smart or business-minded. When God delivers us, He delivers us out of all kinds of worldly minds. A perplexing thing among God's children is that their guidance concerning God's will is often based on their mind. They discern God's will according to their political and business-like mind. But when the cross touches our whole being, it touches our mind as well. Only those whose minds are renewed can have a transformed mind.
In Romans 12:1-2 there are things that we should do and things that we should not do. We should not be fashioned according to this age. This means that we should not walk according to the manner of this world; instead, we should be renewed and transformed. Renewal is on our side, and transformation is on God's side. This means being changed from the world image and our self image to the image of the Lord. This is transformation. Not only does our mind have to be renewed in regard to sinful things, but in regard to our total walk and spiritual life as well. In this renewal we experience resurrection. Originally, the sacrifices are dead. But when Christ lives in us, we have the mind, the thoughts, and the understanding of Christ.
Not everyone can know God's will. Only those whose bodies are presented as living sacrifices and whose minds are renewed and transformed can know His will. Then the knowledge of His will comes effortlessly and spontaneously.
God's will is the manifestation of His life. His life is clean and pure; it enables men to discern the flesh and the natural man and delivering men from carnality and worldliness. Only those who are delivered from these things can know God's will and prove what the will of the Lord is. When we present our bodies and are renewed and transformed in our mind, we can know God's will. There is no easier or lighter way than the cross.
The easiest and quickest way to know God's will is through the cross. Only the stripping and smiting of the cross will expose the natural life, the flesh, the lusts, the world, and the human mind. Only through the stripping will we know the power of the cross. It is useless to lecture, teach, or exhort others. They may be very eager to learn. But if they have not consecrated themselves, they will not receive any help at all. However, when the cross operates in them, their mind will be renewed and transformed. The natural life must be dealt with before one can see any result in the spiritual life.
It is easy to criticize, but it is hard to have a vision of the spiritual things. It is easy to slander, but it is hard to discern and to judge. There is a difference between proper discernment and criticism. Those who are in the light will discern without criticism or slander.
What do we know about God's will? Romans 12:2 says that God's will is good. Because something is good does not necessarily make it God's will, but all that is of God's will is good. If a believer's mind is renewed before God, this mind surely will be good. Many people can talk about God's will with their mouth, but only those who know the cross can say that God's will is good. God's will is also perfect. This means that it is flawless and irreproachable. God's will is also well pleasing. When we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, we are doing something well pleasing to God, and God's will also becomes well pleasing to us. At this point all murmurings cease, and there are no complaints against heaven or against man. God's will is not in man's mind, wavering and fluctuating like the waves. It is something that is manifested before men. Only those who rest in the Lord can know God's will. If a man is in a state of turmoil, confusion, grievance, and unrest, it means that he does not have the mark of the cross. Such a one cannot know God's will. If we criticize, complain, or are dissatisfied with God's will, it means that we have never consecrated ourselves to the Lord. If a man thinks that his means are better and his ways are higher, it shows that he is void of light and has not seen the cross.
In order to know God's will, we have to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. We should not be fashioned according to this age, and our minds must be renewed and transformed. These three things are the conditions for knowing God's will. God's will is a great thing. When we have these three facts with us, we will have no problem in knowing God's will. Otherwise, we will never know it in a genuine way.
Prayer: Lord! May these words not be words that just come out of our mouth. May they be the cries from our heart. Be merciful to us. We do not want to be dealt with in a fragmentary way. Deal with us once and for all in a fundamental way. May we not murmur, and may our only fear be of not knowing Your will. We look to You for Your mercy and shining so that we can know God's will thoroughly and clearly. In Your name we pray, amen.
