"O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver
me from the body of this death?" But the deliverance is in the eighth
chapter, especially in the second verse, "For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death."
What a mercy this is!

Sixth: _For those of us who believe there is no condemnation_. Romans
8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in
Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."
Judgment is past because he has been judged. We have nothing to do
with the great white throne; Christ as our substitute has met sin's
penalty and paid our debts. What a mercy this is! No wonder Paul is
thrilled with the thought of it.

Seventh: _No separation_. Romans 8:38-39, "For I am persuaded, that
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." So that for time we are safe and
our eternity is sure. Was there ever such a catalogue of mercies? In
the light of all this the Apostle exclaims, "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"
(Romans 12:1).

It is a good thing to study Paul's "_therefores_." He is a logician of
the highest type.

In Romans 5:1, there is the "_therefore of justification_."

In Romans the eighth chapter and the first verse there is the
"_therefore of no condemnation_."

In Romans the twelfth chapter and the first verse there is the
"_therefore of consecration_," and this as a matter of fact is the
outline of the Epistle.

II

_Present your bodies_. This means the entire yielding of one's self to
Christ. It corresponds to the Old Testament presentation of the burnt
offering all of which was consumed. Back in the Old Testament times
for fourteen years there had been no song in the temple, for it was
filled with rubbish and uncleanness, but the rubbish was put away and
the uncleanness vanished, the burnt offering was presented and the song
of the Lord began again. If you have lost your song and have been
deprived of the harmony of heaven then present your bodies a living
sacrifice.

There is a threefold division in man's nature.

_The Spirit_, where God abides if we are his childre