What once bothered us doesn't bother us anymore. What once activated our conscience doesn't seem to anymore. What we knew was outside of God’s boundaries, and therefore functionally outside of ours, lives inside our boundaries, and it doesn’t matter to us anymore. It is a scary place to be. The hard heart is a stony heart. It is not malleable anymore. It’s hard and resistant to change, no longer tender and responsive to the squeeze of the hands of the Spirit. There is evil in our hearts and in the acts of our hands, and we’re okay with it. Could there be a more dangerous place for a believer to be?
Paul David Tripp

CL. The Living Sacrifice.

ROM. xii. 1. “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.”

DOCTRINAL discussions with Paul lead to practical con-
clusions.
I. The duty which Paul lays down. He asks for a sacri-
fice—not an atonement, but a daily oblation of gratitude.
We are to make the transformation of our souls mani-
fest through our bodies—our members the instruments of
righteousness.
II. Let us notice what qualities the sacrifice should pos-
sess. It must be—
1. Living, not dead like the Jewish sacrifices.
2. Holy.
3. Acceptable to God, by Jesus Christ.
4. Reasonable—one which it befits the Christian as a
rational being to render.
III. The motive by which the offering is enforced—”The
mercies of God.” He brings the entire motive power of
the Cross to bear on us.
W. M. Taylor, D.D.