Exposition of Romans 12:1-2, Part 1

Introduction to a Series on Practical Christianity

0:02 This adult Sunday school class was held on February 7th, 1988 at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. While we're waiting for others to take their places, may I urge you to just look at two portions of the Word of God, one in Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, and then the other in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, 1 Thessalonians 4, 1 and 2, and Romans 12, 1 and 2.

0:46 All right, let us now pause and seek the face of God again in prayer, asking especially for His grace and blessing to rest upon our study of His Word together.

1:29 Our Father, as we have praised You in song, acknowledging You as the world's Creator and Sustainer, we now come to acknowledge, acknowledge You as the only one who can give us spiritual illumination, and then, having given light to our minds, can give grace to our hearts that we may run in the way of Your commandments. And we do earnestly pray that as we embark upon this new study this morning, that Your Spirit will attend us in every facet of our dealing with Your Word, that we may, understand it accurately,

2:12 and that we may obey it diligently. Send Your Spirit upon us, and upon those who instruct in the classrooms beneath us. May this building today be filled with Your truth, as it is taught and understood and received. We ask in Jesus' name.

2:34 Amen. Now, we have announced for some time that the next major, series of studies in our adult class would be one dealing with the very general subject of practical Christianity. And the more I thought about that general description of our study, the less satisfied I felt with it, because it assumes and almost embodies some very heretical notions, namely, that there is any other kind of Christianity but practical or working Christianity.

3:15 But when the series was originally preached under that heading, it was the concern in using that title to underscore that we would be dealing with intensely practical dimensions of the Christian faith, those that were more explicitly and patently practical, as opposed to, or in contrast with, those that are implicitly, but less patently practical. And in rethinking these issues, perhaps our studies could be more accurately, albeit more lengthily, described as biblical perspectives and directives

3:57 on burning practical issues of our day. Biblical perspectives and directives on burning practical issues in our, and eventually, God willing, in the course of these studies together, we will cover such subjects as the biblical concepts of male and female identity, roles and functions, the biblical view of work and labor, the biblical doctrine of leisure and the use of time,

4:37 diversions such as the movies, TV, and other subjects, such concerns, aspects of the biblical teaching on the home and the training of our children, marital relations, husbands and wives. So you can see that these will indeed be matters that are intensely and pervasively practical issues and in a very special way, issues that are burning issues in our own day, issues that need to be addressed because of society, some of the peculiar pressures brought upon us as the people of God in terms of the general climate of society,

5:22 in terms of the substance of the education to which many of us were subject in our most formative years, and in terms of the manifold pressures of the so-called experts who glut the popular media, and I mean by that, family magazines, newspaper articles, Dear Abbey columns, etc., with their pontifical advice and counsel on these and other related matters. Now, if someone were to ask the question,

Biblical Warrant for Practical Instruction (1 Thessalonians 4:1-2)

6:00 is their biblical warrant for giving concentrated doses of biblical perspectives and directives on burning practical issues, 1 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians, chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, should forever settle the answer of the word of God to that question.

6:25 Here the apostle writing to this relatively infant church, among whom he had labored for only a period of three weeks, yet he can write saying, Finally then, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you receive the Holy Spirit, received of us how you ought to walk, and to please God, even as you do walk, that you abound more and more, for you know what charges we gave you through the Lord Jesus. So though the apostle was in a relatively pagan context,

7:10 chapter 1 reveals that many of these Thessalonians were idolaters prior to their conversion. He says, As you turned unto God from your idols to serve the living and the true God, some of them were converts out of the synagogue, who would have been devout Jews or proselytes, but many of them were raw pagans, and yet, in the midst of this tremendous concentration of gospel preaching to found the church, Paul also took a considerable amount of time to give to the Thessalonian Christians in their spirit, spiritual infancy, and in their relative ignorance, specific ethical and moral directives,

7:55 and he did so in the form of charges. For you know what charges, what positive, explicit directives we gave you through the Lord Jesus. And these directives concentrated, according to verse 1, on matters of how they, that is, how they were under obligation to walk in such a manner as to please God. So if anyone ever questions the propriety of doing what we are doing, and says, well, if we have the Holy Spirit and we love Christ,

8:37 then certainly we will, as it were, instinctively float into proper patterns of behavior under the impulse of love, love to Christ, and under the transforming influence of the Holy Spirit, and there is really no need for detailed, ethical, moral, practical instruction. Well, that is sheer nonsense. And to call it anything less than that is to flatter it. And here in this passage, and I take the time to use it on the threshold, really, of what is just the introduction to our initial study, so that you will have, as God's people, a good, a good polemic.

9:18 If you are questioned, someone should ask you on Tuesday morning, by the way, what went on in your church Sunday? Oh, well, in our adult class, we started a new series. Oh, you did? What is the series?

9:29 Well, I forget what the new, longer title was, but the old, shorter one was Practical Christianity. Oh, that sounds interesting. What's it going to be about? Well, one of our elders is going to be leading us in a study of the Word of God, addressing such specific matters as the study of the Word of God.

9:46 As biblical perspectives and directives concerning male and female roles and identities, husband-wife relationships, a biblical view of work and labor. And if they say, wait a minute, you don't need all of that. Why, in my church, we just come together and worship the Lord and get so in the Spirit and full of the Spirit and so have our love to Jesus intensified that we just automatically do what's right and what pleases God. Well, I hope you'd be able, lovingly and graciously, to challenge them and say, that's not the teaching of the Bible.

10:22 And if they said, well, where in the Bible does it specify that there ought to be clear, explicit directives on how to please God? I hope you would turn to 1 Thessalonians 4, verses 1 and 2, and give the little exposition that I've given you this morning. All right? So you're armed, I hope, with a working polemic for what we are doing.

The Indicatives-Imperatives Principle

10:44 Now, because of this, very fundamental biblical principle, and I articulate it, some of you old-timers, this is old hat, but a lot of you, this will be the first time you have heard this. When we turn to the Word of God and ask the question, how does the Word of God approach the subject of the behavior of a Christian, we find in the Scriptures a definite pattern emerging in the Word of God. And it can be stated several ways. Some have stated it this way.

11:24 The great indicatives of the Gospel are the foundation of all the imperatives of the Gospel. Now, will someone tell me what that big mouthful means? When people say the great indicatives of the Gospel, what is an indicative statement? Someone want to venture?

11:48 You're a guess.

11:51 How is that term used? Yes, Henry? All right. An indicative is a statement of fact.

12:02 It is a statement of what is, whereas an imperative is a command or a statement of what ought to be. When I say that I, Albert N. Martin, am standing behind the lectern placed on the left of the reduced platform in the multipurpose room, this room of Trinity Baptist Church, that is a long indicative statement. That's a statement of fact.

12:33 And if you ask what I mean by reduced, again, you who are new among us didn't know one time that platform was twice this height. So it put those of us who preached up in the rarefied air. And before this place was air conditioned, that first summer, I tell you some of us thought we were literally going to faint when all the hot air was out. The air was up there, trapped, and the poor preachers were huffing and puffing away, breathing it.

13:01 But anyway, that's what I meant by this reduced platform. Well, that's a statement of fact. What is a statement of command or imperative would be Albert N. Martin ought to speak and enunciate his words with sufficient clarity to be understood by every person, including those sitting on the pew on the back of the church.

13:23 And I think that's a statement on the back row by the wall of the kitchen. Now, that is an imperative telling me what I ought to do. Now, when we turn to the Scriptures with the question, how does the Bible lay out the duties of a Christian? One of the ways to express it is this, that the great indicatives of the Gospel undergird and support and give direction and motivation and power to the great imperatives of the Christian life.

14:02 In other words, again and again in the Bible we are taught that we are to be and to do what we are to be and to do because of what we are and what we have as the people of God. So it is God's provisions, in Christ, and the application of those provisions to us by the Holy Spirit, the great indicatives, the great facts of Gospel provision, which underscore the imperatives. And all of the directives, the motivation, the power for the imperatives

14:45 rests down upon the indicatives. And if we do not understand that, to dive right in to some of the imperatives is to fall prey to the very legitimate accusation of having a merely moralistic teaching. If this study on practical Christianity, if our concern with Biblical perspectives and directives on certain burning issues in our day is to be thoroughly Biblical and to be a Christian, then we are to be a Christian. And if we do not understand that, and that is to say, thoroughly Evangelical and Christian, we must approach it within this Biblical framework

Romans 12:1-2 as the Framework for Practical Living

15:30 of seeing that the imperatives, the directives, the perspectives of how we ought to live rest down upon the indicatives of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Now I know of no passage in all of the New Testament which makes this more clear, though there are dozens that make it clear. I know of none that makes it more clear than Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. So God willing, today and next Lord's Day and possibly into a third, we will be studying this passage together as setting the Biblical framework

16:13 for this entire series of studies. Now we're not going to go back and re-expound it as we enter each new chapter, each new category of study, but we will be making reference to it again and again and again. And at a pastoral level, at least I'm committed to urging people whom the Lord may bring among us midway through the study or at any point in the study, urging them to go back and get the first couple of tapes and to listen to them to set this in a thoroughly Biblical perspective. All right?

Overview of Romans 12-15: Paul's Practical Concerns

16:49 We turn then to Romans 12, 1 and 2. Having given you, first of all, a general polemic for the whole idea of specific moral and ethical instruction and then having tried to set before you why we must begin where we are beginning, let's begin. Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living, sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.

17:31 And be not fashioned according to this world or this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now, obviously, as we look at Romans 12, and read through chapters 12, 13, and 14, and 15, the apostle is moving into a section in the epistle in which his great concern is the transformation of the minds of these believers

18:16 to the end that they may prove in their own experience and outworking in their own lives the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. You will see the concerns that follow these first two verses of chapter 12. Verses 3 to 8 deal with the subject of the exercise of gifts within the church. He calls them to sober assessment of their own gifts.

18:48 And then he calls them to the mutual use of those gifts within the body. Verses 6 through 8. And then, in verses 9 to 16, he underscores the need for those graces which keep the household of God dwelling together in peace and harmony and love. Let love be without hypocrisy.

19:15 Abhor that which is evil. And then he deals with the necessity of manifesting grace to the outside world. Verses 17 to 21. Render to no man evil for evil.

19:31 Take thought for things honorable in the sight of all men. As much as lies within you, be at peace with all men. So you see, he's dealing with the practical matter of how do we relate with people outside the pale of the intimate church family. Then, as most of you know, in chapter 13, verses 1 to 7, he deals with the Christian and his relationship to the civil government.

20:00 A very practical issue. Particularly, remember, an epistle written to people whose gathering was pretty much under the shadow of the imperial palace. This is the epistle to the Romans. The seat of Caesar's government.

20:15 And then he deals with what we might call the pattern of evangelical law-keeping in general. In verses 8, through 10 of chapter 13. And then he calls upon God's people to live a contrasting moral and ethical life. A life that is in direct contrast to their former pattern and to the world.

20:40 In verses 11 through 14. And then in chapter 14 through chapter 15 in verse 13, he deals with the whole subject of Christian liberty, particularly as it pertained to the problem of a church at Rome made up of people with a Jewish background and some of their peculiar hang-ups about kosher meets and special days and Gentiles who came with a totally different set of practices and perspectives and how to see them blending in one church fellowship without grieving the Spirit, without grieving one another, causing one another to stumble into sin or without having

21:25 to split up into a Gentile Roman church and a Jewish Roman church. Now, why do I take all of that time? Well, to show that as Paul stands on the threshold of his own little mini-series on biblical perspectives and directives on burning practical issues of that day, he introduces that particular series of practical Christianity by calling the people of God to these vital perspectives in verses 1 and 2.

The 'Therefore': Connecting Doctrine and Duty

22:08 He does not plunge right in to the practical concerns. Rather, what he does in these two verses is to tie together this whole section dealing with the practical burning issues of the day with the church at Rome. The section that preceded that was the pervasively doctrinal section, here we have an apostolic spirit-inspired example of how the indicatives of the gospel relate to the imperatives, that is, the obligations and the duties that grow out

22:50 obedience to the gospel. So then, let us come to these verses and we will consider it now under the general heading of the Apostles in the Bible. ...entreaty

23:03 on the threshold of his discourse on practical concerns this morning in the time that remains at the introduction of the entreaty and then, God willing, next Lord's Day morning, the substance of the entreaty. Under the general heading of the introduction to Paul's entreaty,

23:30 the introduction to Paul's entreaty, notice, A, its connection with what precedes. Its connection with what precedes. Now, what key word tells us that there is an intimate connection between what Paul is now about to write and what goes before? What is the key word?

24:04 Jerry? Why is that a key word?

24:10 You've asserted, now prove. Whenever we find a therefore in the Bible, we must ask, what is it there for?

24:27 Now, that little gimmick stuck with me. I don't know who said it to me as a very young Christian. He said, whenever you find a therefore in the Bible, ask yourself, what is it there for? Because it is telling you what I'm now reading is a deduction, a conclusion with respect to something that has gone before.

24:50 So, when we, when we confront the word therefore, we must stop and tell ourselves, I cannot understand the heart of this particular portion of the word of God unless I see its connective which is bound to it by the word therefore. And this is a common Pauline construction. Can you think of one or two other instances in the epistles where Paul connects a connection, a connection, a connection, a connection, a connection, a connection, a connection, a connection, a concentrated section of practical instruction with a concentrated section of doctrinal instruction and he binds the two together with a therefore to let us know that he's making the bridge

25:35 from this to this. Can you think of one or two other examples? All right, Steve?

25:42 All right, will you read that for us? Ephesians 4 and verse 1. So, basically, the first three chapters of Ephesians, though they bristle and ooze with many, many, many practical matters, they are essentially and substantially doctrinal in their essence or in their substance and though there is much doctrine in chapters 4 through 6, the primary thrust of these next three chapters is practical and so the apostle ties the two together with the word

26:26 therefore. I beseech you, therefore, in the light of all that pertains to God's gracious working in your calling as opened up in the first three chapters, these are the practical implications and demands of that in the basis or on the basis of these great indicatives, here are the imperatives. In the light of what God has done for you in Christ, here is how you are to live before Christ out of gratitude for God's gracious work on your behalf. Can you think of another passage where the apostle does this?

27:06 Yes. Aaron?

27:10 2 Corinthians 4, 1. Alright, 2 Corinthians 4 in verse 1. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry.

27:21 Well, you see, if you pick up the chapter and start reading, you'd say, what ministry? Well, immediately, you see, you'd have to say, wait a minute, he's been describing his ministry or this ministry and it's in the light of what he has said about the ministry. That he now says, we faint not, we have renounced. So we realize that we cannot understand or come to grips with the thrust of chapter 4 of 2 Corinthians without going back and finding what he said in the previous chapter or chapters concerning the nature of the Christian ministry.

27:55 Well, these two should suffice and remembering again that we have many new Christians with very little background in the knowledge of the Bible and the Bible and I hope some of you who are more mature and older in the faith will not feel that I'm teaching down to you. But we're very conscious at a pastoral level that we have a tremendous range of biblical knowledge and many whom God is saving and bringing among us have very little background in some of these very elementary things and so I hope none of you feels insulted or in any way feels that I'm talking down to you. I'm not doing that at all. But I do want to be certain of the preceding eight chapters.

Review of Romans 1-11: The Doctrinal Ground

28:40 I'm sorry, the preceding eleven chapters. Now then, here's where we come for some of your general knowledge of the book of Romans. And isn't it kind that in the Lord's providence we're reading through the book of Romans in our public reading. Will someone tell me what is the general substance of the first three chapters of the book of Romans up to chapter three in verse twenty.

29:03 This is a simplified outline. But basically if you had to put it in one or two words how would you describe the thrust? We have some introductory material in chapter one one through chapter six to verse seventeen. But basically if you had to summarize in one or two words what is the thrust of those first three chapters up to verse twenty of the book of Romans.

29:29 Someone want to venture a guess? All right, Bart. A man's total depravity, man's guilt, the subject of sin, guilt, and therefore man under the wrath of God. All right, then chapter three verse twenty through to the end of chapter eight.

29:49 Again, this is very, very streamlined, oversimplified. But what would we say in one or two words or three words is the great theme then of chapter three verse twenty-one through the end of chapter eight.

30:03 Don't look for something profound. Yes, Sens?

30:07 Justification by faith, that's certainly one of the major strands that's in there, but we also have the teaching of chapter six which deals with God's provision of sanctifying grace in that we've shared in the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection. So we need to have something that's more general. What is justification by faith? It is a part of a larger thing.

30:33 All right, Ron? The grace of God revealed in the gospel. Someone else want to bet? Randy?

30:41 Pardon? Union with Christ? All right, someone else? Yes, Henry?

30:47 Okay, all right. Wouldn't that be a nice again, a little simple but I think it helps us. God's remedy for the problem described here. In those opening chapters we see man in a state of sin, a state that involves his guilt, his depravity, he's under wrath, he in Adam has fallen, there is this horrible, horrible picture painted and yet, here in these chapters we have a marvelous description of God's provision for those very problems, provisions in the person and work of Christ and in the gift of the Spirit.

31:28 Don't ever stop.

31:31 The provisions in the person and work of Christ and the gift of the Spirit and then in chapters 9 to 11 we've seen the great question of why have the Gentiles in masses embraced this salvation and the Jews by and large rejected it. The great problem that when this marvelous message of God's provision in Christ for sinners has been preached among all the nations we find that by and large the Jews through whom that salvation came have rejected it and Gentiles in masses are receiving it and that great problem is dealt with in chapters

32:15 9 through 11 and it's ultimately resolved as we've seen in our reading in God himself and in particular in the sovereignty of God. So, Paul is assuming that the minds and the spirits of the Roman Christians are feeling the fresh impression of all that he has written in these previous chapters pressing in upon their spirits and then he says in the introduction of his entreaty I, I beseech you therefore in the light of all of this reality in the light of all of the substance of what has gone before

The Necessity of Doctrinal Understanding for Practical Obedience

33:00 I beseech you therefore whatever I'm about to plead with you to do or to be or to become derives its leading perspectives its motivation its pressure from all that has gone before. So, what does that tell us about anyone who may have come late to church that Sunday morning when one of the leaders or the elders or one of the official readers was reading Paul's epistle and he came in all out of breath and plopped down in the assembly right when the reader came to what we now know is chapter 12.

33:45 What does that tell us about that person? And he heard these words I beseech you therefore by the mercies of God and he listens very intently what should he do? Maybe I'll put my question this way. Soon as the meeting was over that morning what should he do?

34:11 Alright, Cliff? He should find out what happened in the first 11 chapters so he'd know the context of the...

34:18 Yeah, he'd be sitting there hearing others going mmm, mmm, that's right yes, I see the reason what are they they're all excited about Paul saying this, this, this he'd say, you know, somehow I'm not hooking up like they are and he'd go to the elder or the reader and say, excuse me, brother but I obviously wasn't with it I mean, the people it was evident that they were catching the thrust of what Paul was saying I beseech you therefore and when he spoke of all those things they were making the connection and their hearts were running out I somehow missed something very vital and he should be concerned to become acquainted with the basic contents of what preceded

35:01 in order that he might appreciate the perspectives the pressure the motivation of the things that followed to state it as simply as I know how the ground under our feet in considering practical concerns of Christian living must always be redemptive it must be ground that is made up of the stuff of what we were in Adam what we were by nature what we deserved from God what we have become in justifying grace in virtue of our union with Christ

35:46 what we have become as those who have died to the dominion of sin have risen to newness of life have been given the gift of the Spirit it must be in the light of what we are as the elect of God and only when we are consciously standing on that redemptive ground can we properly receive and respond to the most practical directives now if that is clear from this passage and I think it is and from many others what does that tell us about every single Christian in relationship to what we have come to commonly identify

36:28 as Christian doctrine what does that tell us about every Christian and his relationship to fundamental Christian doctrine Dan? now you think you can retain that and repeat it at about twice the decibels because that is hitting the nail right smack in the head dead center with a good hundred pound hammer alright so nail it down again for us Dan it shows that no Christian can be indifferent to doctrine

37:12 and to walk a right you need to understand that the Christian doctrine is not the Christian doctrine it is the Christian doctrine and the Christian doctrine and the Christian doctrine and the Christian doctrine is the doctrine of the Bible he is going to order his way to right no Christian can be indifferent but someone says but I am just not that way I am a practically minded person and that is alright for these guys with their you know beach ball size heads and these gals that govern as well but you know I just wasn't put together that way and you know to think about these matters and know ye not that as many of us have been baptized into Christ I mean that is a concept that it just didn't grab me I find that hard to grasp baptized into Christ and buried with Christ and raised with just

37:56 let's get into chapter 12 this passage says you hold your horses and sit in chapter 6 until by the enablement of the Holy Ghost you understand something of what it says and if you say well I am just not put together that way what you are saying is I will defy God's way of making me holy and if you say that in the face of light you have reason to question whether you've ever bowed to the authority of God so there is no such thing as room for doctrinal indifference and Dan has hit the nail right on the head with regard to the fundamental doctrines of the faith

38:41 they provide the basis and the foundation of the most practical concerns of the faith what can be more practical than how in the world am I to relate to that joker that sits in that palace whose shadow is cast over our little meeting place here in Rome he's godless he's pagan he worships false gods and he expects people to acknowledge him as a god how in the world am I to relate to him Paul says read the first 11 chapters of my epistle and then I'll tell you yeah but I want to know he says read the first 11 chapters of my epistle yeah but in chapter 13 keep your hands off it he says till you've read chapters 1 to 11 yeah Paul but

39:25 keep your hands off you won't understand and feel the pressure and the weight and the perspectives that you ought to in terms of how to relate to Caesar unless your soul is percolating with the truths of chapters 1 to 11 so there is no room for doctrinal indifference now does that mean we all have to have such a great grasp on biblical doctrine that if Pastor Nichols should get laryngitis you could step right in and teach his systematics course in the academy well none of us would complain if that was true of the whole congregation

40:09 I think we'd all rejoice but no we're not saying that we're not saying that but remember the bible was not written to academy students nor was it written for academy or seminary professors and so this very epistle with everything that preceded the therefore was written to a church made up of artisans of slaves of the full spectrum of any ordinary cross section of human society and in a unique way according to 1 Corinthians 1 God has chosen the great masses of his elect from quote the lower class

40:52 for behold your calling brethren not many noble not many mighty not many wise some doesn't say not any but not many behold God hath chosen the foolish and the things that are not and the base and the things that are despised God hath chosen James says the poor in this world to be rich in faith so for the most part God's elect are chosen from down because God wants no flesh to glory before him he wants no one to look at that new humanity and say well they must be something special in themselves and that's why God

41:37 made them his own rather they look at them and say they ain't nothing in themselves their God must be great who's made them what they are Fox the author of the well-known work Fox's book of martyrs called from 1 Corinthians 1 that five-fold description he called them God's five ranked army of descending human weakness God's five ranked army there's the nobody's up front and then behind them is the weak and the despised and the things that are not that's God's five-ranked army of descending human weakness and if you're in the army my friend you ain't got nothing to brag about well don't want to get diverted but you see you see the point

42:22 now that we're making and why I've parked so long on this introduction of Paul's entreaty that therefore binds together all that preceded with all that follows and it's only as our souls constantly constantly feed upon the realities embodied in Romans 1 to 11 that we will be able to carry out evangelically the directives of Romans 12 to 15 to state it more generically it's a it is only as we continually feed in faith upon the great doctrines of the Christian faith that we will be in a position

The Objects of the Entreaty: 'Brethren' and Spiritual Regeneration

43:06 to fulfill the great duties and practical responsibilities of the Christian faith alright so having looked then under the introduction at the connection which went before therefore now let's notice who are the objects of this entreaty the objects having looked at the connection now the objects well he addresses them as brethren I beseech you therefore brethren now this naturally flows from the preceding remarks Paul is using this term in a distinctly Christian way

43:50 now in one sense all human beings are brothers in that we are members of the human family and though liberal liberalism has abused that concept we must not recoil from it it is a biblical concept Paul uses it in Acts chapter 17 and even quotes a heathen poet to justify or to support to illustrate that consciousness that as members of the human family we are all in one sense brothers however in this portion of the word of God it's used in a very limited and well defined sense concerning all who are members of the family of God by regeneration

44:35 and incorporation into Christ now let me ask a very simple question here in the earthly situation what makes people brothers nothing profound anyone want to venture a nice simple obvious answer yes pardon blood makes them brothers alright expand on that a little bit for us Vince how do they get the same blood okay what makes two men brothers they have the same parents what makes us brethren in the Christian sense we have the same spiritual parent by nature the scripture says we are not the children of God though we are

45:20 his creatures spiritually we are children of the devil John 8 44 1st John 3 9 and 10 those two passages forever established that men by nature are the children of the devil the devil is our spiritual father and it is only when by grace we have been incorporated into Christ that God adopts us into his family and he becomes our heavenly father and we then become brothers and sisters within the family of God and why do I pause to underscore

46:04 the obvious because there may be some sitting here this morning and I would be very surprised if there were not that much of what has been said this morning has gone clean over your head though I've tried to speak simply and if I've used any larger words explain them illustrate them others have sat here and obviously been understanding by the way they've been responding and you've sat there and you've thought to yourself saying huh those people must be smart he asked the question I don't even understand the question and they understand the question and even give an answer not only seems to satisfy him but the other people go mmm and nod their head and this is all going clean over your head am I talking to someone in that position

46:48 my dear friend may I say it lovingly you know why that's all going over your head because you don't understand the language of the family because you're not in the family you see you're still in Adam a sinner lost and under the wrath of God you are bringing to this class perhaps 140 IQ a good elementary school education maybe even a college education and you're bringing to it a good mind an alert mind but you see you don't bring to it the one thing necessary to understand spiritual realities you've never been born of the spirit and the scripture says the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God for they

47:33 are foolishness unto him neither can the natural man he know them neither can he know them now the word can is a word of ability that's why when some of your kids ask me can I do this I look at them and I say well I think you have the ability no I don't mean that I say what do you mean well may I you see may is a word of permission can is a word of ability and God says in first Corinthians too neither can he know them now that's a humbling thing you know you have a fairly good mind you've had a fairly respectable education yet you've sat here this morning and really if your thoughts could be projected up on the blank side of this blackboard it would be embarrassing your face would be

48:17 beet red because 90% of what you've heard has gone clean over your head and you have felt like a total dunce my friend God has let that happen to you to humble you to let you feel the truth that you cannot know spiritual reality but , until you are born of God's Holy Spirit so don't go out of here angry don't go out upset and mad go out thanking God that he's humbled you and that he's shown you that you don't even know the alphabet of spiritual realities because you are yet in your sins in Adam under wrath and condemnation and the only thing that's

49:02 enabled others to understand and to respond with perception and enthusiasm it's not because they have better intellects than you it's not because they had better education they've received divine life by God's grace and God offers that life to you in Christ he offers it to you in his son but you see he resists the proud and gives grace only to the humble and it'll humble you to have to go to God and say God how did that preacher get inside my head and read my thoughts has he got some kind of special sensors in the chairs and something hooked up there he was talking about me go to God

49:47 and say God thank you for humbling me I came in here proud as a peacock and Lord you've shown me I'm a dunce Lord have mercy on me give me eyes that I may see give me a heart to understand give me an understanding of what I am as a sinner and what you've done to make provision for sinners in Christ that I too may know and feel the pressure of those words I beseech you by the mercies of God I want to be able to respond as others have friend go to Christ find it in Christ and to you who are the Lord's people may I urge you

50:31 to go back and if only speed read go back through Romans 1 to 11 and see as we come to our second introductory study next Lord's day if you don't feel a little bit more of the pressure of the apostles words I beseech you therefore while our time is gone let us pray and commit our study to the Lord our Father we are so thankful for your holy word we thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit who enables us to understand your word many of us can remember

51:15 when we too were veritable dunces before your word we would thread the words through our eyes but we had no perception we could not understand and we thank you that now we see because you have given us spiritual sight and we pray for those who may have sat here this morning whose case we have described be merciful to them Lord that ere they pillow their heads tonight they too will see and understand we pray for your people that we will feel afresh the tremendous pressure of all of the glorious indicatives

52:00 of the gospel all of the wonderful things that you have declared are true of everyone who is in Christ and feeling the pressure of those great provisions may we come to our study of practical duties and directives under the impulse of gospel perspectives and gospel motives that Christ and his cross and the gift of the spirit and your sovereign discriminating grace will never be far from our minds in the performance of our most practical duties hear our prayer and answer us for Jesus sake

52:44 amen